cruisinon2

 My results were good on my 500 but one slip and you are going to have to buy another piezo.

"Doh!"....$12.00

"Doh!"....$12.00 :D

but I play metal on an eight string, so I'm avoiding all poweramp distortion to keep things un-muddied

Have you seen Ibanez's new 9-string that they unveiled at NAMM? Thing looks like a Chapman Stick with a pituitary problem. Neck is basically a 1x4. If you've got a left hand the size of a catcher's mitt and 2 extra fingers, you might be able to play it.

8's? Can you even see those with the naked eye? ;)

These guitars can get cranky if the wind changes direction...doesn't surprise me that the piezos are behaving differently with a different gauge string. The mag pickup volume is more puzzling though, unless the string height is half of what it was, I wouldn't have thought it would change that much.

 

I have been corresponding with Mr. Bramwell at GraphTech in the hopes that I can convince them to offer some sort of dedicated kit having the pickup leads pre-cut and pins mounted ready to poke into the connector body.  All I received on the first round was the same canned response posted above, so I'm not terribly hopeful.

I doubt Line 6 would allow this. I'd think that some sort of licensing would be at issue. Nothing quite like having a stranglehold on the market and a captive audience. Companies love having proprietary everything.

The "funny" thing is, the only time I've seen a Line6 guy "participate" in a discussion on this forum that wasn't about some problem with the POD, it was only to say that we were off topic because we were talking about Led Zeppelin symbols :D 'Nuff said...

Well let's get REALLY off topic then.  Who likes green bean caseroles?

I agree!!  I have used this service center years ago when I had a problem with my Vetta floorboard.  From what I remember it took forever then too. 

 

Oh and on top of it taking forever for my friend to get his guitar back he said when he did it reeked of cigarette smoke.  I'm not excited about the prospect of them being my only option!

I agree!!  I have used this service center years ago when I had a problem with my Vetta floorboard.  From what I remember it took forever then too. 

 

Oh and on top of it taking forever for my friend to get his guitar back he said when he did it reeked of cigarette smoke.  I'm not excited about the prospect of them being my only option!

About your problem...the fact that its happening only with alternate tunings sounds like a software issue, rather than hardware. I had a similar a problem with the acoustic models when using 1/2 step down tuning...open G string was out of control loud, but only in an altered tuning. Knocked level down in workbench, and all is good.

Also had issue with the acoutic model, position 3...if the tone knob was anywhere but on '10', I got a horrible distorted echo about 300ms after any note I played. Happened after I flashed 2.0 firmware the first time, but again only happened in alt. tuning. Reflashing firmware fixed it.

Only thing I can figure is that the alt tuning algorithms are doing a lot in a short amount of time...and sometimes it sh*ts the bed. Try reflashing the guitar and see what happens...might also want to lower the string volume, see if that helps.

http://www.fullcompass.com/product/445135.html

 

there it is. very tricky to find all the jtv stuff on full compass site. your welcome. :)

http://www.fullcompass.com/product/445135.html

 

there it is. very tricky to find all the jtv stuff on full compass site. your welcome. :)

wow...nice job. you just made a bunch of friends!! well there ya go folks...anyone having insurrmountable issues with piezo wackiness, might be worth the $72 to try a different set of pickup elements...who knows?

Thanks for the heads up.  I'll head back over there and pick it up.  There's a service center in my area, but a friend of mine just got his JTV worked on there and it took over a month for them to look at it and determine the pick up selector needed some contact cleaner...

 

I may open a support ticket with Line 6 first and see what they say.

 

J

Thats ridiculous...nothing should ever sit for a month waiting for service. And for a 0.73 second blast of contact cleaner?!?!?! Was that even the problem, I hope? I wonder how long it would have sat there if it needed something really challenging, like a new set of strings.

Maybe someday a real person from Line 6 will once again acknowledge that they do have users out there in the world. Right now its more like an Amp Modeling Device Crapping Machine.

 

 

"uuugghghghhghhg!!! Got a new one for ya! See one the next one is done baking!"

LMAO... :lol:

Have had issues with the tuner only working with input one.  I've stood on stage stamping on the HD500 not understanding why the tuner bar won't appear!   When it's worked it seems fine for normal use.  I use a stand alone cheap unit that shows individual cents on a numbered scale for setting intonation. 

Hmmm...I have one patch on the 500x from which I cannot engage the tuner. Annoying as *&$%, as it's a rhythm tone I use a lot. Hold down the "tap" button, and the tuner screen appears, but registers nothing.  Switch to another patch, and it works fine...wondering if there's something about the input settings that's gumming up the works. Gotta try that later.

 

Do keyboard players have the same discussions?

 

Nah...they're too busy reminding everyone within earshot that they can sight read through Rachmaninov`s 3rd Piano Concerto, while secretly wishing that they had 20 fingers. :P

Hello i recently bought a Spider IV 15 watt, i got an epiphone les paul special(first electric guitar), I wanna get a decent metal tone, i looked up on the internet for metal tones. i tried them but when i hit more than 1 string the sound can't be understood, i mean it's noisy and unclear, Can you guys tell me about some settings? is it the amp's fault or do I need some good settings? i want a tone that can be understood, i don't want any bad noise when im hitting 3 open strings, I am very dissapointed, what do you recommend?

Well...there are those who would describe all metal tones as "noisy and unclear"... ;) (just kidding...I grew up on it myself).

Seriously though, it would be easier to diagnose the problem if you record a clip and post it. Then perhaps someone will chime in with a fix.

Also, you mentioned that this is your first electric guitar, so I'm assuming that you are a beginner player (apologies if this is not the case). In which case, it may be an issue of learning proper technique. I've been teaching guitar for many years, and learning to control the sound of the really high gain amp settings typically used in hard rock/metal can be challenging while you are also trying to learn the basic mechanics of the instrument. Thick distortion settings will produce all sorts of unpleasant sounding "accidental" string noises if you don't play cleanly. In other words, while playing any given string(s), you must learn to mute the remaining ones that you do not want ringing out at that time.

I came into the modelling world via an ART SGX2000 (google it!). I went back to amps for a while but then got a Behringer V-Amp and then moved onto a POD XTL, then the X3L and now the HD500x along with a DT25 amp. And I've had a Variax 600 for quite a few years.

 

Wow...blast from the past! I forgot about that thing and it's hideous pink/purple faceplate, lol. I guess it's official...I'm now old enough to have forgotten entirely pieces of gear that I lugged around for months/years... :huh:

Hey, I am a artist looking for some more volume. I currently own the line 6 Spider MK IV 75watt amplifier and i was wondering if the Line 6 spider guiar halfstack would be compatible to connect to my current amp model to increase volume.

    Thanks Hunter.

Generally speaking, if ya want more volume, you need more watts. Even if your amp had speaker outs, connecting it to a bigger cabinet isn't gonna make you any louder, because you're still using the same power amp section that drives your combo.  75 watts is 75 watts. In fact, if you don't match the impedance rating of the cab to the output of the amp, you can actually end up losing power.

I have an older 2.0 Pod that just stopped working. I have no output and the tuner doesn't even register.

Suggestions?

If the tuner isn't registering, the unit may not be receiving any signal at all. Could be either dead cable or dead 1/4" jack on the guitar (usually just a loose solder connection). Try another cable first, if it still doesn't work, then try another guitar.  Sometimes it's the simple things...

It's possible to break anything, of course. I always wonder what people do with gear when the complain about it not being "roadworthy" or whatnot.

I've often wondered that myself...heave anything across the room like an enraged baboon, and you'll destroy it.

 

Was it better back in the day when I just plugged into an amp ?.  Oh hell no.  It was a pain in the !@# back then and I had to buy a bunch of pedals with crappy transistors in them that sucked, hummed, and squeeled with wires everywhere.

 

 

Which 9V is gonna die today, lol? No thanks...I'm not going back either.

Since it is a combo amp I choose the combo power amp output setting.

This may be your problem...don't get stuck on the "correct" output setting based on your set-up. Might not work for you, certainly didn't for me. I've been running everything the "wrong" way from day one, with "studio/direct" selected (cab sims and all), no matter how I'm listening...through an amp, headphones, direct into mixer, whatever...cause that's what sounds good to me. Done that with other modelers I've had too.  It's about what sounds good to you, not what it says in the manual. Worth a try before you ditch it and shell out more $$$...no right and wrong way to do it.

Everyone wants to plug in and have it sound like the guitar in a full mix on a record, and when it doesn't they spend countless hours tweaking, forgetting that those tones come from multitracking, EQing, mixing, other instruments, the original recording equipment, etc. and so on...My POD sounds just fine if I pull up a blank patch, load up the Mesa model, and turn the gain and tone knobs a little bit...I can get it better with more tweaking, but there is nothing "wrong" with the sound without fighting the device for an hour. I'd say 1/3 of the people I talk to in the real world are thinking good modeling will make them sound better....and it doesn't work that way.

Yeah, I agree. We've all been bitten by the instant gratification bug.

"Better" is subjective anyway. Better than what? Practice makes you better. I think some players expect these amps to turn them into something they're not. In 25 years, I've never been able to get a really convincing EVH tone...you know why? 'Cause I'm not Eddie and I'm not playing a Frankenstein strat with pickups wired out of phase, and wired to a dimmer switch that he stole from a ceiling fan (not sure what he was trying to accomplish, but he swore he did it...laughed hard when I read that in some guitar rag years ago). I suspect that for most players (myself included), unless you happen to be a REALLY well rounded session player, covering a multitude of styles, most guys are gonna gravitate towards only a handful of tones anyway. I love the 500X for the sounds I can get, and for the convenience factor, but honestly it's overkill.  Many of the amps, I'm never gonna use.  I have 4 or 5 that I really like, and that works for me. But I'm never gonna sound like Wes Montgomery no matter what amp I've got...I'm not a jazz guy.

What on earth... Exclusively and only steps back :) Congrats line6

Yeah...I don't expect gear from 10 years ago to mate flawlessly with the stuff that's current, there's got to be at least one generation of backwards compatibility. Big fail.

Fulltone Clyde Deluxe...best wah in the universe.

What cruisinon2 said...fixed all my idiosyncs!

What cruisinon2 said...fixed all my idiosyncs!

Nice...glad it worked. Had to do the same for some of my models. Gets even stranger if I'm using alt tunings for some reason, especially with the acoustics down 1/2 step...open G string was SCREAMING loud compared to others. Had to knock that string down a lot to even things out. Yet, same model, same 500X patch in std tuning, no boomy G string. Who knows...these guitars get funky the more DSP you're using, but so far I've found a fix for the issues I've encountered...thumbs up for Workbench!

I haven't found many listeners that can tell the difference from a well modeled amp compared to the real thing. Especially when recorded.

There's a reason for that...the average listener also thinks that Britney Spears is actually singing whilst engaged in a choreographed gymnastics routine. I've met people who couldn't distinguish between steel string acoustic, nylon string, or clean electric. Some probably can't tell guitar from bass.

lowering the global string volume in workbench is also worth a try. piezo outputs can vary, and some guitars seem to be hotter than others.

 

To me it is like the difference between a scooter and a motorbike.

You can have a lot of fun on a vespa but it aint for racing.

 

Well, you can get around on a vespa...but I dunno about 'fun'. I'd be hiding my face, lol.