Charlie_Watt

The electronics will be expensive to replace. Piezos are not too bad to replace though and they are the weak link.

He can flash it to v2.1 and that will work with a pod. This is a much more solid connection IMO than the dongle.

Companies don't stay in business by "caring" they stay in business by making a profit. Yes they have to have satisfied customers but they have to make the right decisions about what to produce and who to market to. The solution to lefties is to get their guitar modified. It can be done.

For this to work properly, the bridge needs to rock rather than have the strings moving over the saddles.. I don't think you want the strings moving over the saddles. That will make noise for sure.

I agree with cruisinon2 that it is most likely a mechanical issue. Try the standard damping techniques and look for something loose. Damp the springs in the Trem and damp the strings above the nut. These guitars will not vary from unit to unit due to electronic differences but it's hard to make all guitars the same mechanically. Piezo crosstalk is an issue when you are using alternate tunings. A little crosstalk during normal tunings does not mess up the sound but crosstalk during alternate tunings can make bad sounds. Also you should try new strings if you haven't already. Never trust the strings that these things arrive with because many were manufactured years ago.

And the warrantee covers early failures.

The XLR ground lift is to potentially reduce hum if you have a long XLR run to a PA or board that has a very different power ground. In that case, the lift can be quieter. Believe me when plugging into a regular amp, the fact that the pod is not grounded to the power ground is a blessing!

Get a Variax or a guitar with Active pickups. Magnetic pickups are hum receivers.

You are wrong that the Pod should be grounded. When plugging into a grounded amp, it is much better that it isn't grounded. You don't want extra grounds - or you have a new source of hum in a ground loop. The pod is designed to plug into an amp. If you are working with headphones only, provide a ground somehow.

Just change the input after you download - or set it up to be global.

By the time it fails there will be something far better available. Just like in the computer business. I still have my Variax500 that I have had for many years. If you are too worried, sell lit and buy a new one every time the warrantee expires. You will pay far more that way but you won't have to pay to fix it. Don't buy a Variax as in investment.

Guitar pickups are great noise receivers. That is why I love my Variax guitars. Dead silent. My guitars with magnetic pickups all get some buzz from stuff in my house. Lamp Dimmers, Fans with speed controls, Florescent lights are all nasty noise generators. If your noise changes when you touch the strings, that is most likely noise picked up by your guitar. If it goes away when you turn your guitar volume to zero, it's definitely coming from your guitar.

Volume manufacturing is not set up to do low volume custom stuff. Cost goes through the roof. I'm sure you don't want to pay double for a lefty option but that is what it would cost to produce. (I'm guessing but I have worked on high volume electronics for over 40 years)

Good points. I am glad it is working well for you!

I have been fooling more with different models and I think the best way to listen to them is to first have no amp effects. I go right into my powered PA speaker from my Pod with no modeling enabled so you hear the raw guitar model sounds. I think that most of the models are pretty good. I am still not thrilled with any of the 12 string models. They all sound too digital to me. I wish they were better because I really like 12 string acoustic sounds and I don't own a real one. (and they are kind of hard to play well)

The guitar sounds good to me. I'm sure you can get it sounding to your liking with some Workbench tweaking and some effect tweaking. Is the neck any different on this one than on the one you returned? (String spacing?)

It looks to me like the roller is too close to the bridge. Strings are at a real steep angle. Does it stay in tune ok?

I assume you are palm muting all of that. Sounds ok to me. How does it sound when you are not muting.

Try grounding your HD500. It's not grounded when nothing is connected but the power supply.

I bought an EV ZLX-12P Powered PA speaker to use with my pod. It sounds great and it can be loud. It's a full range speaker and the Acoustic guitar sounds great through it.

I do not think Line6 will have a Lefty option. Not enough volume to justify the work. It's not that hard to convert one to lefty though. Companies are not obligated to sell products that will lose money.

What does it sound like with the Mags. I do not hear anything obviously wrong with your second one. The first one sounds like you have something loose somewhere.

You will have to adjust the volume with the Keyboard if you use that input. That works fine for me.

I use the CD/MP3 in for a keyboard. My keyboard is stereo. I don't want any effects added so that works for me.

I have my XLR switch in the Ground position. It sill is quiet with my Laptop USB plugged in and the laptop charger plugged in. How well XLR works is dependent on the receiving device. If it's designed well, it will reject ground noise on the XLR inputs.