cruisinon2

The 1.9 models are quite good. I have flipped back and forth a few times, and honestly can't decide which I like better. Why not try that for now and then see if you can convince Line 6 to send u a working USB dongle? Then just cross your fingers with the rest of us, and hope that 2.1 doesn't suck. I get your frustration tho...many of these problems should not exist at this point. Doesn't bode well...but at the same time, there are so many models in there, there's gotta be some you'll like even without building custom ones.

So, I'm all for better quality portable music.. But remember, the quality is only as good as what you're using to listen to it with.

 

True...but the final link in the chain, what we're all listening with...is a brain. And seriously, how many quality brains do you run across in your daily travels? The answer to that question makes me shudder...which is why a product like this will never catch on with the masses.

 

There will always be shiny expensive stuff for the rich folks, and the handful of others who know what good is, and who are willing to pay for it. But Joe Average consumer wants things cheap, fast, and big (big in the 'more bang for your buck' sense...not necessarliy physical size). For this reason, whatever the next phase in music storage media turns out to be, it will likely be even sh*ttier in quality than MP3's. The next thing that comes along that allows the storage of twice as much music in half the space, and at half the cost, is what people will gravitate towards. Most people don't want, or care about quality. They want something that gets the job done at a price they can afford...there will alwaye be more beat up Chevys than Ferraris.

Since my original post I have done some more testing ...

 

POD XT Live

- Drivers 7.3.6

- USB Firmware 1.12

- Flash Memory 3.01

 

If I roll back to Workbench 1.75 and to firmware 1.71 in the JT-59 and then use my POD XT Live to connect the Variax JT-59, I can successfully upload custom models to the guitar!! Therefore, the problem is NOT the guitar, my computer or the cables.

 

HOWEVER ... Even with these older versions, if I try to use the Variax USB Interface "puck", the upload of custom models fails. In other words, if I do not use the XT Live and use the puck instead. I get the message "Your Tyler Variax has stopped responding. Please try resetting the power and click 'Refresh' in the tone locker" in Variax Workbench 1.75.

 

For both of these tests (and in my original problem) I am making SURE to use the SAME USB port on my computer for every step.

 

So ... my conclusion at this point is that there is an issue in the Variax USB Interface device (yes, I have reflashed it with the 1.03 firmware). There does not appear to be a rollback option for this unit.

 

PS: See attached JPG for a pic of what I mean by "Variax USB Interface puck" just for additional clarity.

 

Doesn't surprise me. Plenty of people have had issues with that ridiculous USB dongle.

Unfortunately, 2.0 seems unstable on certain guitars. Lots of weird things reported if you read thru the forums, and hardly ever the same problem twice. The only "fix" that seems to work is repeatedly reflashing the firmware, hoping that it will eventually "take". Some have reported success after several attempts...nobody knows why this works, but sometimes it apparently does.

 

You can also try rolling back to 1.9, then create your custom models and see if you can save them to the guitar. If it works, then thats a pretty good indication that 2.0 is the problem, rather than the guitar. If it still won't load the models, might be the JTV.

So in order to put my digital delay pedal in the 'simulated effects loop' I just place it AFTER the mixer?

There's nothing 'simulated' about the fx loop. Its the same as any other amp...only difference is you can choose where it sits in the signal chain. Generally speaking, a delay would go after the amp model and mixer, yes. Placement depends on the effect.

Wait, you mean I can't just return my wife to the store and get my money back?? Haha! Could you take a look at my previous post concerning pod questions real quick though?

Download the advanced guide...its all in there. There's a whole chart for each effect...explains all the parameters.

The stereo and dynamic (diff. delay times for L and R channels) delays won't do u any good unless you're running more than one cabinet, or if you run both L/R outs to a PA.

no idea what that is...

 

It's the one with the built-in Fetzer valve...

So utilizing this worm hole, time travel delay, you would hear your own notes before you even played them?  That's so cool. :D Can you apply it to any notes you played before like in 1987?  And in hearing the "future notes", could you correct mistakes and would the "future notes" then be corrected so that if you were to then go back in time, the previously incorrectly played "future notes" would then be corrected?

Personally, I don't wish to be reminded of any notes I played in 1987...I was dreadful then, lol. Of course that didn't stop me and my buddies from butchering 'Pour Some Sugar On Me' at the 8th grade dance...ugh, thanks for the flashback!!! LMAO...

Doesn't tube normally have a nicer tone as well? I know its all a matter of opinion but i've always enjoyed tube amps more than solid state. That carvin looks very nice. From a tone standpoint do you think the carvin poweramp would make much of a difference in tone than the rectifier power amp?

I've never played a rectifier, but it wouldn't matter if I had. There's no way to predict what will work for you and your gear, based on somebody else's experience with this amp or that amp. There's only one way to find out if you're gonna like a piece of gear or not. Sometimes that means gambling on something, and dumping it later if it doesn't work out...its like a cheaper version of marriage, lol.

 

As for tubes vs solid state...that argument will go on until the sun snuffs itself out. And at the end of the day, you either like it or you don't, so who cares what's in it? Purist tone-snobs will pontificate loudly and at length about how nothing but a 'vintage' tube amp will do, and that modeling amps are soul-less, tone sucking instruments of the devil. I've even heard people go on about being able to tell the difference between what kind of power tubes are in a given amp...EL34's vs 6L6's vs 5881's....blah, blah, blah. With some rare exceptions...most of these people are lying, but I digress.

 

Over time, tube amps are more work, and more expensive to maintain. Retubing an amp is not cheap, and as the replacements are now entirely made overseas, consistency can be an issue. They are also prone to more problems, tubes becoming microphonic, etc...and too much jostling around and something is gonna break. Also, they have a nasty way of sounding great one day and absolute crap the next. By comparison, a solid state amp will sound the same every time you turn it on, and you can throw it down a flight of stairs, and 9/10 times, it'll still work. And even if it doesn't, whatever you broke will cost pennies on the dollar to fix, compared to its tube counterpart.

 

I've had the Carvin for years....I like it, and I still gig with it. But my backup is the Spider IV HD150, and before that it was an ADA Microtube 200...single rack space, solid state power amp (they stuck a pair of 12ax7's in it somewhere, hence 'microtube', but its really a solid state amp). Because those things will always turn on, and always work.

 

But soon, I'll be going FRFR. Smaller package, and I will be able to really get the most out of the 500X and my JTV that way...just haven't decided if I wanna go with the Stagesource stuff, or something else. The price is a little steep...

On, then off. on then off. on, then off. on, then off.....

 

I know it's intensely mesmerizing, but you could just quit looking at it...I don't care if it's blinking out "Yankee Doodle Dandy" in Morse code. :P

I search for 100w power amps and it keeps coming up with things that dont have 1/4 input and output jacks, and advice on other options besides the marshall 9100?

 

I wasn't trying to steer you one way or the other, and as nice as that Marshall is, you'll be tired of lugging it around after the first gig. Those things sounds great, but you could anchor a small yacht with it. They should be put in a studio rack and never moved, lol.

 

Take a look at Rocktron's website, they have several options (all solid state I believe), some of which you can pick up used on eBay for less than $200...just beware, 100 solid state watts is NOT the same as 100 tube watts. 100 tube watts can usually melt concrete...solid state, not so much.

 

I've got a Carvin TS100 tube power amp I've been using for a number of years now. 2 channels, 50W a side, or 100W bridged mono. It drives a Marshall 4x12...always been loud enough.

I should have stated earlier I have a mesa boogie dual rectifier 100w 3 channel head. My pod is a desktop version and I bought a MKII for switching channels. I like the rectifier's tone but I like mixing amp tones even better and dont have the cash to buy a real uberschall + another 4x12. I've tried running the left output from the Pod to the effects loop return on my dual rectifier like someone said to do earlier in this thread. It works great and I even get different tones as I switch between green/orange/red channels on my rectifier while staying on the same channel on the pod. I just don't have enough understanding of how amps work to know what's actually happening.

 

Well if switching amp channels on the Boogie changes your sound, then it sounds like the Boogie's pre-amp is still contributing to your tone, which is odd. The fx return should be bypassing it. Can't say I'm positive about exactly what's going on with the signal chain either...but hey, if you like it and it's not setting anything on fire, who cares what it's doing? EVH claimed to have wired his guitar to the dimmer switch from a ceiling fan...why? Who knows...I suspect it involved large quantities of Heineken :P ...but people have been trying to reproduce his "brown" sound for going on 40 years.

http://m.pnas.org/content/early/2012/01/02/1114999109.abstract

quoted from the link above:


"Abstract

Most violinists believe that instruments by Stradivari and Guarneri “del Gesu†are tonally superior to other violins—and to new violins in particular. Many mechanical and acoustical factors have been proposed to account for this superiority; however, the fundamental premise of tonal superiority has not yet been properly investigated. Player's judgments about a Stradivari's sound may be biased by the violin's extraordinary monetary value and historical importance, but no studies designed to preclude such biasing factors have yet been published. We asked 21 experienced violinists to compare violins by Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesu with high-quality new instruments. The resulting preferences were based on the violinists’ individual experiences of playing the instruments under double-blind conditions in a room with relatively dry acoustics. We found that (i) the most-preferred violin was new; (ii) the least-preferred was by Stradivari; (iii) there was scant correlation between an instrument's age and monetary value and its perceived quality; and (iv) most players seemed unable to tell whether their most-preferred instrument was new or old. These results present a striking challenge to conventional wisdom. Differences in taste among individual players, along with differences in playing qualities among individual instruments, appear more important than any general differences between new and old violins. Rather than searching for the “secret†of Stradivari, future research might best focused on how violinists evaluate instruments, on which specific playing qualities are most important to them, and on how these qualities relate to measurable attributes of the instruments, whether old or new."


So I wonder how all the firmly entrenched "traditionalist" guitar players would fare in the same experiment?

Holy crap!  I spend so much time trying to avoid making such noises on accident!

 

Yup...and his noise went platinum. Don't know whether to laugh or cry...

I heard that the next generation of modelers is being developed at CERN, in Geneva. Two things: wormholes, and time travel... you're gonna get to be your own delay...stay tuned ;).

Is there anything else I could purchase to perform the same task of 'slaving the power section of the amp head to drive the cabinet'? I apologize as these must seem like really noob, unintelligent questions.

 

Yes...any power amp will do that. Many options...plenty out there that are specifically designed for guitar rigs, others that are more geared towards PA systems, but in the end they are all doing the same thing as the power section in your head...they take the signal you feed it and drive speakers. You'll probably be better off if you look towards the ones designed for a guitar rig, as they are tailored to the task. Either way it's another piece of gear to lug around, but depending on what you choose, you might save a little weight and/or space compared to your head. Tube power amps will take up at least 2 rack spaces, and they're heavy. A Marshall 9100 for example, is 3 rack spaces and weighs 50 or 60 lbs...ditched mine years ago in the interest of remaining vertical, and staying off of an operating table. Or you can get a single rack space, solid state power amp from Rocktron that doesn't weigh any more than the 500...but power ratings will hardly be comparable to the tube units.

 

What's the "better" or "worse" choice will be debated until the end of time.

I haven't tried using headphones yet, still trying to get to grips with a lot of the functionality of the pedal. Matching the sound of the vox sounds like it could work though, didn't want to use amp/cab modelling through the headphones if im using my Vox preamp when im gigging, but I suppose its just a case of turning off the model and turning on the fx loop and tweaking, duplicating might be easier though, thanks

 

Like I said...no right or wrong here. But if you like the Vox that much and want to use it's pre-amp for your basic tone, then you are really only using the 500X for fx, and you're missing out on much of what this unit can do. It is after all, an amp modeler. There are a couple of dozen options in there, and you might find one that you like 10x more than your Vox. If not, there are a bunch of other multi-fx units out there that are a lot less complicated to use than the Pods.

Thanks for the quick response quys, That's what I was hoping to hear.  When I started messing around with the output options and realized that the supposed option that I would use going into a power amp sounded the best through my little combo I began to worry that I would never get that kind of sound out of it again once I ditched the combo.  Anyway, Seeing as this will be my first time upgrading to anymore more than a combo amp I guess I am a little under informed on what options are out there for me.  I am kind of limited by my budget.  I am trying to stay near the $500 range.  I am not worried about something with massive amounts of power, I'm looking for something good for gigging and playing small places (I'm 38, pretty much have given up the idea of being a rock star... this is just for fun now), if I need to get louder I can always mic my cab or run direct into the PA.

 

So it seems that the Behinger iNuke head and the 120w Marshall cab is the best bang for my buck at this point unless I am totally missing something truly awesome out there.  I am also a bit of a purest, I just like the look and feel of a nice cab behind me.. okay maybe I haven't lost the rock star in me totally yet

Nothing wrong with going that route...just know that you will end up with 3 or more sets of patches: headphones, amp at bedroom volume, and gig volume. Everything will need to be dialed in, and they likely won't be interchangable.

I'm a huge disturbed fan and I'm starting to try and play their music on guitar, but sadly i have been very unsuccessful in matching the tone of Donegan's guitar even a little bit. I know I won't get it spot-on, but anyone have some suggestions for the settings I should use on my Spider IV 15 Watt? As in mids, treble, bass, drive, channel volume, effects, whether i should use the metal or insane channel, etc.

 

There are no magic bullets for tone matching on this, or any other amp in the universe. Someone else's settings will never sound the same in your hands. The guitar, the pickups, the player, and to a great extent the volume you're playing at will all contribute to the tone. Trial and error is the only way to get even half way to what you're looking for.

Ive just started using the hd500x after years of standalone pedals and im really impressed with it.

im using the 4 cable method into a Vox AC30 cc2x, its a great setup once its up and running, ive even used some of the modelled preamps straight into the power section with great results, just have one question

 

Im trying to find a method of setting up patches through headphones for the vox because its not exactly the quietest of amps but im assuming that ill have a very different sound between headphones and amp?

 

has anyone any tips for working this way?

 

Doesn't matter how you're listening...you'll always have to push buttons and turn knobs till it sounds good. But you'll want to use a quality pair of studio monitor headphones...preferably open, or semi-open back. Closed back cans will give you an artificially pronounced low end, and you'll find yourself rolling off the bass to the point where it's at or near zero, and depending on the amp model and guitar you're using, it might still be too much.

ok guys, I apologize ahead of time if I toss too much out here at once so I will try to keep it short. just recently got a 500x and love it minus a few issues with getting the sounds right. Currently I am running into a Mustang II v2 combo amp. No effects loop on this thing so I have to run direct into the inputs. After reading through the posts here I changed a few things with my setups...

 

1) made sure that input 1 is guitar and input 2 is variax (read a few posts that said having both inputs set to guitar can cause issues)

2) Set the output settings from direct to combo amp.

 

Doing #1 definitely lowered the noise in the line. Doing #2 actually made the tones worse. So I put it back to direct. I play Metal mostly so I like a beefy tone to my guitar and setting it to combo amp seemed to really cut out the low end. So I've got a good tone coming out of my amp and I love the tone I hear coming out of my headphones (when I use them). I hope all of that made sense...

 

You're not alone with the output settings...combo/front, stack/front, etc are all just different EQ curves being applied to approximate what you'd want for a given set-up, but its never gonna work for every amp out there. You can also experiment with using full amps vs. pre-amp only models, as well as changing cabinet models, or turning cab sims off altogether. Many ways to set things up, and none of them are 'right' or 'wrong'. The deep edit parameters (sag, bias, early relflection, etc) will also color your tone significantly. Tends to be a learning curve for the 500x...mess around with everything.

 

As far as amp choices, as was already said above, it won't matter what you get, you will have to tweak things all over again regardless of what you choose. The simplest choice, in terms of maintaining consistency with your tones from headphones, to recording direct, to playing live, will be an FRFR set-up. Lots of options for that too, depending on how much $$ you want to spend. Happy hunting!

I know this, that's why I asked what is a good way to artificially do so (by using a 100w amp head's power amp?)

Not sure what you mean by 'artificially'...

 

fx send/return, and "pre-amp out/ power amp in" are really the same thing. Either way you're bypassing the head's preamp and slaving the power section to drive a cabinet. But despite the name, don't plug an external power amp's speakers outs into the 'amp in' jack...its looking for a line level signal, and you'll fry both amps.

So I am directly plugged into the HD500 and monitoring via headphones. No amp involved. I tried re-flashing once and I don't hear any change. I will try re-flashing a couple more times and see if it does anything. While I do agree that different guitars will sound different, I am not expecting the variax models to sound identical to my existing guitars. All I am expecting is to sound as good as the ones I have or even better. Actually I am expecting the latter, to be honest. I can tell when a guitar sounds good and that is where my gripe with this instrument has been so far.

 

2.0 seems to be a bit flakey. Rolling back to 1.9 is worth trying too, as some have reported night and day differences. Why is anybody's guess.

come back and fight, this is only a flesh wound...

 

 

The Black Knight always triumphs!

 

Same here. I've used both, but the extra time it takes to stomp the channel up/down button and THEN find my patch button is too long live.

 

 

It's an eternity, really...unless you're the Lord of the Dance... :P