egelmett

Zakman's method worked for me. Thanks for the tips!

I'm having problems with Chrome accessing the site, but Safari seems fine.

Happy? Yes, but the HD500 is not the "be all, to end all".... I've been using my HD500 as a front-end to a small AD30VT for the last three years, (modded with an effects loop to use the power section) and it's been good, and consistent. I decided to upgrade to an amp with at least a 12" speaker - I wanted a "bigger" sound. I was thinking of getting a DT-25 but, you know what? IT ISN'T A REAL AMP! I said it. Can of worms opened. Sorry. It's true - any amp with Line6 labelled on it is NOT going to get anywhere near its value come resale time. Don't get me wrong, even my old Flextone I sounds decent enough, clean and driven. But, they just do not command the value of Fender, Marshall, or almost any other "real" amp brand. I ended up getting a Vox AC30CC2. Why? Because it's an amp. Pure and simple. A true-blue, analog, through and through tube amp. It will never need a firmware upgrade. It will never need to be controlled with anything else but its owner. And, it too can change its output parameters. If it breaks, it can be easily repaired. Capacitors, resistors, transformer - still available. Can anyone find an upgrade eeprom for the original Pod? Yeah, yeah, not nearly as flexible as a DT amp. Sure. I don't mean to debate "real" vs. Line 6 amps. But, it was a deciding factor for me. Rant about Line6 amps aside, I used the HD500 essentially as a front-end to the Vox as well - the same as you would with a DT-25 amp. But unfortunately, the Vox has no built in ability to change channels, so that portion of the Vox, its preamp, went unused - and what a shame. And, the HD500 (without much fuss) can't switch between two paths out of the effects loop. Oddly enough, a real sleeper of an amp came my way: a Peavey Bravo! 2 EL84, 25watt little dynamo! For really cheap. However, the original cabinet, being WAY too stout, covered in armadillo tolex and I swear, 3/4" MDF just didn't allow its tone to bloom in a pleasant way. So, you know what I did with that old Flextone I that nobody would buy, even for $100 WITH the floorboard? I pulled the Flextone amp out, and retrotfitted the Peavey in it. And it sounds glorious even with the original Eminance speakers! And the Bravo, has a sweet "almost Marshall" drive channel. It feels really good to play this bastard of an amp. But, I'd need a separate footswitch for switching the Bravo channels as the HD500 doesn't do this (like many Boss units do). So, after setting up a 4CM with the HD500 and the Bravo, I found a cheap Boss GT-8. This unit does switch channels per patch, and it's a lot easier to setup and balance levels using the 4CM. I will say that the Boss' overall sonic character is no match for the HD500. Especially, the amps. Hands down, the HD500 SMOKES anything with Boss on its name plate. The sonic sheen and dynamics are SO much better than the Boss. Problem is, the Boss unit is just far easier to integrate into a live setup. I'm not only happy with the HD500 - I love it. But sadly for me, it just isn't as flexible as I need for live use. Don't PM me...I'm not selling the HD500! It will make a good backup for the 5 year older Boss unit!

I was Googling "HD500 FX Loop Vox AC30CC" and came across this post in the old Line6 forum: http://line6.com/support/message/409733 I can't respond to the OP, or others who replied so I thought I'd do it here. The HD500 into the AC30 sounds glorious! I'd say the biggest issue in using an AC30 in a 4CM is utilizing both the Normal and TB channel in a 4CM is how to go about selecting either channel. The HD500 can act as an AB switcher (two pan effects set to turn on and off alternately with a FS assignment, input B set to "same" into an FX Loop effect) but this blows up when you stick a mono effect before the FX Loop...or you could use a hardware box to do this...but it reduces the all-in-one solution of the HD500. Or, you could resolve to use the normal channel only using boosts and OD pedals from the HD500 for gain tones. What I decided to do was not use the 4CM but use the Vox simply as a backend, just like I was using the Valvetronix AD30VT before getting the Vox AC30. It seems a bit shameful not to use the Vox's real preamps....but the problem there is you really need to crank an AC30 to get that tone! Truth is, I can't play that loud at home, or at practice..and stage volume would be too loud if I used the AC30 at "full speed". The switching between the Normal and TB channels meant adding more gear to the mix. I want to keep this simple. With the Valvetronix, my favorite preamps were the Bassman, the Park, and the 800. With AC30...almost all of the preamps were outstanding in one way or another. I say "almost" because ironically, the Line 6 AC30 preamp was my least favorite. The output is so low, if you wish to keep a clean tone. It seems to me the purpose of the AC30 preamp was its overdrive tone...I guess Line 6 figured, when you have Fender cleans at your disposal.... What I wanted to find was one preamp that could be clean, and then use pedals to dirty it up. The Brit 800 Bright was that preamp. Wow! The cleans are full bodied and have character, and when used with the Chandler Tube Driver just sounds fantastic. The Park was nice too. Even the Fenders sounded nice but lacked that body like the 800. One preamp that was a standout was the Dr. Z - now I get it! Now, I see that it's a lot like the original Supersonic...and it sounded brilliant. The AC15 model had a robust tone to it...not clean..just on the edge of break up. The Hiwatt was a bit lackluster - but louder when clean than the AC30 model. I've set the Vox's loop to +4, Master on the HD500 about 3 o'clock, combo amp power. This seems to work great. So to the OP of that thread...go for it. Try all the preamps...they all sound amazing except for the AC30! Background: I've been an HD500 owner since late 2010, playing live with a modded (for an FX loop) Vox AD30VT. This worked well - the Valvetronix technology really does have a "give" and "push" similar to a tube amp. I've used the HD500 pretty much as a front-end, using the combo power amp setting and only using the PRE versions of the amps. My favorites ended up being the Park model and the 800 models. And, I'll tell you, the feel of this setup...no doubt due to the HD500...was fantastic! The real shortcoming of AD30 is the size: 10" speaker in a cabinet barely big enough to hold that speaker. The sound was small. I decided it was time to get a real amp. I was thinking something with an FX return so I could use the 4CM because I really use the effects quite a bit for my sound. I have a Variax 300, the HD500 so why not the DT25? Possibly a Spider Valve of some sort. I wanted at least a 1x12. Weight is important only so far as tone. I'd deal with lugging an 80lbs 2x12 if I had to. I tried the DT25...it was good. I tried the Bugera V22 and a Fender Supersonic 22. The Fender was really nice. I also considered a bigger version of the Valvetronix. What it came down to is this: if I had to buy an amp just for the sake of being a good amp, which would it be? The Spiders never interested me. The DT25 is not a "real" amp. It's a hybrid and always will be. Flame me later about that... The Bugera was nice, even impressive for the price but the cleans weren't my taste. The Supersonic...wow! It has those Fender cleans in spades! But, I didn't like the drive sound and there's no master volume. The problem with no MV is that changing volumes for both a clean and dirty channel in different settings means the effects will react differently in different situations - or at least, that's what I expected to be a complication with a non-MV amp. I just wanted an amp that didn't need firmware updates, needed rebooting, or based on digital technology to be an amp. It had to be a good amp on its own. I bought a used Vox AC30CC2. I think $1000 US for a hybrid amp like the DT25 is just too expensive. Sorry Line 6 - no matter what, it's not a true blue analog amplifier and I'm afraid resale of a hybrid amp - no matter how snazzy - will fall below an amp of a similar capability in the future. I can barely get rid of an old Flextone XL at $125... with pedal! I believe the DT line will also end up at the bottom of the list value-wise because of its digital pedigree.