kenmac1

Opened a support ticket, a day or two back, no reply yet. Cheers Bill

Thanks rewolf, I do own pedals, which I was using until recently, but I don't usually carry them to gigs. I can only fit so much gear in my hatch, and always have my bassist and his rig with me, so space is tight. Besides in this town there has been a bad spate of gear being stolen from cars, gigs and houses in recent months, so the less I can lug around the less likely I am to fall victim. Like many guitarists, the entire idea of going down the L6 Variax / HD500X path was to eliminate the need to ever use patch leads, multiple power supplies, multiple guitars, and my old fashioned big valve amp rigs again to get through a gig. Having said that, this unit in the two months since it arrived (Bought in June) from the US (I'm in Oz) has been one freaking problem after another. Local suppliers were on back order (as usual) so I decided to buy from the US instead, hence there will be no support in Australia for this unit. This means it will probably cost me a small fortune to return to the USA to get serviced, and lose several weeks in the process. There is no way to blast air into these switches, or contact cleaner, without physically opening it. They are far too tightly put together for that. If I can workout how to do ratadats idea, I'll give that a go. I am old school, usually a guitar, wah and a couple other stompers into a valve amp. So programming these things does my head in, especially when it has crashed and lost data three times prior to this latest problem, and went into a stage where it would not even fire up past the blue screen once, so needed a factory reset again for that.

I have since resorted to factory reset the unit twice, to no avail. More than 50 people have looked at this, and obviously none of them had any clue as to why the fault is occurring as nobody replied. Line 6 really need to fix these constant gremlins in their gear. It is no use having stage gear that sounds good, when it wants to, but crashes like an early Windows operating system (make that any Windows OS) for no apparent reason, or simply decides to do stupid things like it has a mind of it's own. A side note, if I use Monkey HD, and switch the fx at position FS2 in and out via that, instead of using the actual footswitches, the problem does not occur. This leads me to believe that the fault is inside the circuitry, possibly the switch itself, or possibly a short of some sort internally. I need this thing working tonight as my band is playing. I can see me having to reassemble my old pedal board and go back to using my old reliable stage rig.

My unit keeps reverting back to patch 1A any time I press the FS2 switch. A quick summary of how it is set up. I am using an original series Variax, through the HD500X into a Small 15w Fender valve amp. So it is a lightweight compact system to lug around, but tonnes of power for club gigs. An example of the patches I am using. I have created a basic smooth 12 string acoustic clean patch as 1A, a Clean Tele into Fender Twin is Patch 1B, (Rat Distortion kicks in with FS1, Script Phaser FS2, Chorus FS3 and the typical Wah and Volume alternate on the Exp Pedal). Patch 1C is a crunch setting, Tele into the Gibson amp, with similar pedals as in Patch 1B, except the tube screamer is used in place of the Rat. Patch 1D is a Les Paul / Treadplate combo, with only FS2 being used to kick in the Pitch glide set to a 5th above (for 5th harmony soloing), and wah / volume alternating on the Exp pedal. Since I do not kick in any additional fx on the 12 string patch, this problem occurs when switching fx in and out on the electric patches. If I am using any of the electric guitar patches and kick in FS2 to operate the Phasers, or Pitch glide, the whole unit reverts back to Patch 1B. which is the Clean Fender patch. So if you imagine a hard rock solo with a driven Mesa sound suddenly drops back to a lower volume clean patch when I try to kick in the Pitch Glide, you can see how frustrating it is. Additional info which may help. It makes no difference if I am running Monkey HD or not. So if I am just using the Pod into the amp with no interface, the problem is still present, which eliminates the program or my Macbook as the cause. If I use my other Variax (same models) the problem is still present, so it is not the guitar. I have also tried different leads, the problem still happens. I have velcroed a wooden block surrounding the Loop switch so it will not accidentally operate, as I have big hoofs and had hit that button without wanting to previously, so I know it is not the loop function being turned on. After wasting well over a month programming sounds as close to my real valve gear and acoustic gear as I could muster, I do not want to factory reset the whole thing and start over, after all this is meant to be professional stage equipment, it should be reliable.

Yep, this is another issue mine is now giving me. I get readouts of 46-255, so I am losing around 20% of the range according to those figures. My unit is definitely the lemon in the batch with all the crap it has done in the last two days alone, but there have been faults since the day I got it. So far with the exception of one of my variax guitars and my newest 30w spider practice combo, every other piece of kit I have owned by these guys (or used that my mates owned) has been problematic. Series 2 head, died completely, the next combo, also died completely, repaired died again. My Bogner Spider combo, more headaches than a chick with PMS, an earlier Kidney Pod, worked when it wanted to, one of my variax guitars has been in for repairs a couple times in the last year alone. These are not cheap low end toys, they are marketed as professional stage equipment. This one the HD500x, software issues crashes in my Macbook, wiping every piece of relevant data in the machine and the macbook at the same time, gets stuck on blue screen, now this, and I have had it less than a month, (over a week of which I was not even here to use it) Sadly reliability issues seem to plague the L6 Equipment, which sucks because when they work well, they sound freaking brilliant.

Good suggestion except... I could not see where / how to start a new topic or thread or post a new problem or any similar buttons / menus on the screen, which is another of my frustrations with this. I did look, a few weeks back when these problems first started I wasted some time trying to find how to start a topic and get the ball rolling. The forum is laid out much the same as many others I have used, (looks basically identical to Perthbands.com) but the little button to post a new topic or thread.... If I can't see it, I cant use it, hence the decision to hijack this topic, which was one I noticed that aired a similar issue. In my case I could combine several of the problems people have, because I hit the jackpot, and got them all. Hang on that makes it the booby prize not a jackpot!

I know this won't make it past your moderators, because to put it bluntly I am pissed right off at how unreliable this unit and software really are. Seriously, it is surprising that Line 6 have not sorted this issue out yet. I've seen a few similar threads online, and my own unit which arrived less than a month ago has also repeatedly lost data, had the interface program crash every other session (Not exaggerating), and last night did exactly the same things as mentioned here. Stuck on the initial Line 6 blue screen. Hell, even the words "blue screen" sound daunting because I remember my days using PCs / Windows that a blue screen meant your whole system has failed. Frustrating does not begin to describe how inefficient and disappointing this Pod and program is. I want to be able to trust this unit with my variax guitars as my live stage rig, but the reliability factor leaves a hell of a lot to be desired. The whole reason I bought the unit (after experiencing a lot of issues with earlier Line 6 gear I have owned) is that your guys on the facebook page told me that combined with my variax guitars it would do what I want it to do. I have previously gone back to using old fashioned valve amps and stomp boxes twice after having similar issues with earlier Line 6 models, so I am now questioning my own sanity for throwing more $$$ at another of your units. The info I had seen online about the unit made it sound like it has had the gremlins, which plagued your earlier gear removed, yet the software interface program still crashes constantly, wipes everything stored in the machine as well as the folders in my Macbook. It takes hours to get these settings done, and time is money, so far at the rate I earn per hour I'd estimate this last crash has cost me well over $1000 in lost time, so it really is far from good enough. Nobody should need to make multiple backups of these settings, one in the machine and one on the Macbook should be heaps, but when your software is the weakest link and likes to take all information with it time and again, that is a sad sad state of affairs. Your program designers need to address this software problem now, because this thing is marketed as a professional piece of stage equipment, yet it is less reliable than a Windows operating system. Far from impressed with this expensive doorstop! Should I list all the issues I have had with the variax guitars while I am at it? One has been back for repairs to the circuitry three times in the last year alone. When these units are working well, they are amazing, but I find I constantly have my heart in my mouth using them, because I always expect the variax to stop doing it's thing, or the Pod or my earlier amps to give me some problem. So far the newest 30w Spider is not playing up yet, but I've only had that four weeks, so I'm not holding my breath. There is no point having a hundred sounds at your feet, if the interface programs used to program the unit via the computer is not up to speed. Other problems this HD500x has given me. Patches which are saved one way, decide not to sound the same a minute later when I go back to them as a comparison for volume settings. For example, it suddenly sounds like the amp is in a cave echoing all over the place, or on a Coral Sitar patch I set up, which worked fine for a few days, it suddenly started echoing all over the place. Turn it off, and back on, and "Oh that is what I am supposed to sound like?" it is as if the lightbulb suddenly turns on and the machine wakes up. You do not have the luxury of time on stage to sort these issues out. Sounds which were perfectly balanced one night at rehearsal, the next night are totally out of whack. ie, I switch from a clean 12 string sound with a little compression to the next clean Tele / Fender twin patch and they are perfect, then to an overdriven strat / Jcm rhythm track, again perfect sound balance, to a higher gain Les Paul, Engl sound for lead and all good. The next night I go back and the volumes are all over the place, when nothing has been done to the unit or setting that day. Turn it off and on a few times and it plays nice. Unfortunately because I bought the thing from the USA, and live in Oz, I will not get any help from a local seller, or I'd be ramming it down their throat by now. Seriously these faults are not little things that you can just get past and move on, especially in a live gig situation where I am the vocalist and only guitarist in the three piece. There is no reason whatsoever for them to be present, but it is like every session with this unit is a new headache. "Today I think I might crash the interface program, because I haven't done that since.... well yesterday. I know he'll love me for it" The next day "Well today I think I might throw some awful cavelike sounds at him, just to show him how cool it would sound to play a gig for Batman..." The next day "Ok time to knock all his volume balance settings into orbit, because I know how much this guys loves playing with my lollipoping buttons on the fly midway through a gig, while trying to sing and hold the show together..." If you can't see the level of angst I feel towards this unit by the sarcasm, then I guess I may not be the first person to list faults like this. One more thing. Why the hell can't we buy spare adapters to go on the wall wart to convert it from the US plug to the Aussie plug without buying an entire Plug unit? An adapter would cost what $2-3 max, the plug is $75 or so. I'm sure you buy these adapters in bulk, so why can't clients buy them from your distributors? And why is the supply chain in Western Australia so redundant? Oh yeah we have the HD500x on order, it will be here next month, is the response I got from three stores. Hence one of the reasons for buying from the USA. I'm over it, I could do this all day, because I am so f---d off with this thing right now. It is costing me time, money, energy, happiness.... when it is supposed to make my life as a performing musician easier and more enjoyable.