cruisinon2

For Christ's sake is a glitch, you're not being persecuted.

Your argument is that the plink has a mechanical origin. If so, it has some physical location. Wherever it is, it isn't going to hop from one string to the other. Regardless of which component is responsible for the noise, the piezo lead carries with it the tone generated by the string that we all actually want to hear, as well as this awful plink. Exactly how does plugging this wire into a different input on the board separate the note from the plink, and piggyback it onto a different string? The signal going through that wire has them both. Where's the filter that's isolating and rerouting just this horrendous noise? It doesn't make any sense. I don't claim to know what's causing it, but if it has a mechanical origin, it would be inextricably linked to the string that's in physical contact with whatever this mechanical issue is. I fail to see how it can be relocated at will by moving wires. But regardless, it's fairly obvious that neither one of us is going to convince the other of anything, so I see little point in discussing it further. L6 threw in the towel long ago anyway, so nothing's gonna change. And you can do what you like with your socks...that's none of my business. ;)

Two thoughts: 1) "Signature models" of anything tend to be comically overpriced. Add some fancy electronics, and God only knows...though time will. But I wouldn't expect it to be cheap. 2) Frets are like brake pads...they're a consumable part. Unless you go stainless (which I highly recommend), sooner or later you need a grind and polish, and eventually a re-fret. Stainless frets will eventually wear too, but their lifespan is MANY times longer than traditional frets. The first guitar I put stainless frets on was about 4 years ago...it's a daily player, strung with 11's, and there's hardly a mark on them. Still 98% of the mirror finish they had on day 1. And while you can expect to spend $200-$300 for a re-fret (that's for regular frets, stainless will typically cost a bit more) it's still a fraction of what you'll spend on this thing.

Well that all depends on the degree to which the frequency response of the device has been deliberately manipulated. A lot of consumer-level headphones fall victim to this. The full range of frequencies might be represented, but the low end response is often so exaggerated that they're effectively useless for an application like this. Might be great for listening to hip-hop at 1000 dB, but it'll make your Helix thump like a 8 ton kick drum...

NO, NO, NO....don't do that. It's a pedal jack, not a "line in". That connection powers those floorboards, and accepts commands from it, but it's not designed to accept an audio signal. You don't want to send juice to the POD. You'll damage it, and possibly the Spider as well.

If you're happy with the sound you're getting, that's really all that matters. And while any box you plug into will sound slightly diffrent than the next, if they're both FRFR (or reasonably close to it), what you're sending to FOH should be pretty damn close to what you're hearing in your monitor. Not identical perhaps, but that's hard to achieve unless all the speakers are identical...and even then nothing's guaranteed. As for the extra $400, the Stagesource speakers have several diffrent modes...PA, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, floor monitor, etc, that each fiddle with the frequency response slightly to suit the intended application. Floor monitor mode for example, will attenuate the low end a bit to compensate for the low frequency coupling that creates the "boominess" that tends to occur when you lay a speaker on the ground. Is it worth it? Hard to say. I've got an L2T which I like a lot, but I have no doubt that I could get results just as good with something a bit less jarring to the wallet. If you like what you have, game over. It's all good...

If the Spider has an FX loop, yes. Otherwise you're stuck going from the POD into the front of the amp. In which case, you're daisy chaining two modelers together, and that tends to produce results that are somewhat less than inspiring.

I can see the line forming already...wonder if L6 pays for enough bandwidth to handle that much traffic. Well if the site crashes, we'll know why. ;)

I remember those guitars being discussed around here a while back...I think the artist himself even posted a few times, if memory serves. Seems to have been in the pipeline for a while now.

Do you find that insulting people is an effective way to get them to do your bidding? No one else seems to be rushing to provide you with of clip of this exact patch either...I suppose everyone's ability should be called into question.

Lol...

Yes, I do...which only underscores my point, as does edstars' excellent and detailed description a post or two above this one. If the low E string, or anything and everything that is physically in contact with it, is in fact the source of the noise, then routing the signal from that Low E saddle to a different input on the board will not succeed in magically transporting said unwanted noise to notes generated on a different string altogether. It defies logic.

Exactly...

No one disputed that. Not once. In fact, that's precisely what myself, and several others have said since the beginning. How wonderful that we're all in agreement now. The patch itself is just one of a long list of variables that vary from one player to the next. What it sounds like to me is not what it will sound like to you, as we likely don't have the same exact gear. Whether or not you wish to believe that is entirely up to you. Now if you'll excuse me, it's getting late. I'm expected at the Ministry of Tone Propoganda by 9am. So many people to mislead, so little time...

You can try any approach you like. You can refuse to believe established, and easily verifiable facts if it pleases you. But you will never get the answers you seek this way. Buy the thing and set up a patch, any tone you're heart desires. Listen to it through a guitar cabinet, an FRFR speaker, and headphones. You'll have 3 very distinct tones. Then tell me that the way sound is monitored makes no difference. Or you can just continue to be belligerent and dismissive of those who are trying to help you. No skin off my arse either way. Good luck to you.

And? I've been saying the same thing for years. You can't re-route a mechanically induced noise to another string by moving wires around. If the E string, or something physically connected to it is the source of the unwanted noise, then how is it possible to divorce this sound from the string that generates it, and relocate it elsewhere? Makes no sense. Never did, never will.

What are you playing through? Another line 6 product, POD, Helix, etc.? On the POD, for example you can select different input sources...Variax, Variax mags, guitar, aux, mic, etc. If you switch to a patch with the wrong input setting, the models might not produce any sound, while leaving the mags to function normally. Depends on what's selected.

Sugar-coating the truth doesn't do anybody any favors either. We could all just say : "The POD is awesome and can give you any tone you want"...which, by the way, I would argue is largely a true statement...but that's not what he's harping on. The OP wants an objective verdict on ONE PARTICULAR PATCH, origin unknown. And based on a "thumbs up" from folks he's never met, he's gonna go spend $500, load up this patch and expect to sound like Andy Summers because we all told him he would. Sorry, but I won't do that...because when it ends up sounding like an ice-pick with his gear, he'll march back in here, tell us we're deaf and/or crazy, and that the POD is garbage. It won't help him like, or learn to use the gear.

If you want a nice clean transition between the two tones, set up a dual amp patch. Clean amp in PATH A, and dirty amp in PATH B. Assign each one to the expression pedal, and you can morph seamlessly between the two sounds without changing patches or engaging any footswitches at all.

We get it...but going about it this way is utterly futile for all the reasons already stated above. As we've all tried to explain, what this patch will sound like to me, with my gear, in my studio or rehearsal space, is nearly guaranteed to be drastically diffrent from what it will sound like to you, with your gear...so repeatedly asking "Yeah, but does it sound the same as this clip?" is useless, and will get you nowhere. It's like looking at a photo of a dozen roses, and asking me if they'll smell the same as the ones you bought last month. Can't be done... Modelers are not amps. They behave differently, and require considerably more tweaking than just plugging into an amp and cabinet. And, one's chosen method of monitoring the sound has an ENORMOUS impact on the final product. You can either accept this, or not...your choice. But either way, it makes your EVH "same rig" analogy misguided and irrelevant. It's not that no one wants to help you, but you're searching for a shortcut that doesn't exist.

If we were all to judge this unit by what's available on Customtone, there wouldn't be enough landfills to house all the discarded PODs...so step one: stop downloading patches. It's an exercise in futility. Now that said...I find both the Hiway and the blackface models give really nice clean tones, especially with single coil pickups. And if you're having issues with the volume of your clean tones relative to dirty ones, it's critical that when leveling the volume between your patches, you need to set your cleans as loud as possible without clipping FIRST. Then adjust the volume of the dirty patches relative to this clean baseline level. Because distorted tones with always be perceived as louder, if you try and do it the other way, you will run out of headroom on the cleans every time, and they'll never keep up. This is true of any modeler or pre-amp/multi-fx unit.

Don't laugh...there are a million threads around here just like that! Joe Guitarist sees a couple of youtube videos with a tone he loves, and runs off to his local MegaloMusic to buy the same gear. He then discovers that instant awesomeness doesn't exist and that work might actually be involved, but instead pronounces the gear to be crap, and heads back for a refund, stopping here to vent along the way...;)

If you make the decision this way, you're almost guaranteed to end up disappointed...going about it like this is futile. Here's the problem with other people's tones: whatever it sounds like to them, with their gear, is NOT what you're gonna hear with your guitar, pickups, and chosen monitoring method (amp/cab, headphones, FRFR speakers, etc). Someone might post the most magical tone you've ever heard, and when you load up that identical patch, it'll sound like a belt-sander. The ONLY way to work with modelers (any of them...don't care who's making it) is to do it yourself, with your rig, in your listening environment. The biggest part of your tone is the speaker(s) that you're pumping it through. And if/when you do get the unit, don't expect to be cranking out awesomeness in the first 15 minutes. Expect to spend days, or even a couple of weeks tinkering until you find it out what works for you. It also pays to NOT get stuck on the idea that you have to use a particular amp model, just because the tone you're after came from that same "real" amp....you could easily find that some other model gives you the tone you're looking for, whether it says "Marshall" on it, or not.

Not if it's set to toggle between different amp models, but you could easily add an external volume pedal in the FX loop for that.

You are in "stomp box mode"...that's why each footswitch is only toggling one effect on or off within the one patch you're working with. The only other option is "A,B,C,D" mode...with that set-up, you can have 4 discrete tones per bank (each with whatever FX you choose), and footswitches 5 thru 8 can be used to toggle individual FX within each patch (A,B,C, or D). What you can't have is a bank of 8 separate presets...that's not an option. What is possible, and quite effective is setting up dual-amp patches. Path A can be a clean tone, and Path B dirty, or a rhythm tone and a lead. Each path can then be assigned to the expression pedal, and you can morph seamlessly between them. This way you'd have 2 discrete tones per patch in A,B,C,D mode...effectively you'd have the 8 diffrent tones in one bank that you're looking for.