radatats

you seem to know what you are doing but I didn't hear you mention actually adjusting the bias to match them up... I hope you did... If not see the link below... http://line6.com/support/topic/3327-dt-50-25-tube-biasing-tips/?do=findComment&comment=21863

Since your gear is already in a rack case try a tilt back amp stand. You can adjust the height and angle to suit... http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AmpStd http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GFWGTRAMP

rather than change your gear, what about just adding a USB midi connector direct from the mac to the POD? This M-Audio unit works well for about $40... http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Uno

Take a look at these Behringer studio monitors. I think you would definitely prefer these over the MS16s for not much extra money. 100w bi amped with multiple inputs and USB connectivity... pretty good. My only gripe is the proprietary connector to the other speaker but not a deal breaker... http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/STUDIO50USB/

If you turn the block off it basically removes it from the signal chain, it effectively bypasses it. You can separately assign the send or return to a controller like the exp pedal to adjust while the block is On.

It's dead simple. You just assign the FX Block to a FS to turn On and Off. I prefer to do it in HD Edit on the Controllers tab but it can be done easily on the POD too.

There is a miscommunication here. Placing a pan in front of the FX block actually might work. But you are not panning between channel A and channel B, just left and right signal data. When you set up two channels in the POD they are separate and independent and each is its own stereo path. Its not right on A and left on B unless you specifically build the patch to do that. Give it a shot, it can't hurt anything...

channel A and channel B in the POD are each separate stereo paths. No matter where you place the FX Loop it will send both left and right signals to your amp if you connect like this. I don't think you can do what you are describing.

I don't use Reaper but like the idea of doing this too. Try these links, they seem to have a handle on it... http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=116813 http://www.djemberecords.com/reaper_files/Art_of_Reabanks.pdf

Along the lines above of getting unity gain, use meters in your DAW. I use to always just use my ears and try to hear what I liked and my tones are ok BUT when I ran them through the meters I was really surprised at how all over the place I was. It is a PITA to go through and redo them all but it really is sounding better. I run my POD into the DAW using the USB and place a big meter in each channel. I am using the Brainwerx ones but I am sure others will do. I keep the DAW output off and listen through the POD. At the same time I open HD Edit to work with the amp and FX. With the guitar volume off and all amp and FX blocks off, I strum hard to get my peak and average levels. Same thing with individual notes. Then turn on the amp and adjust so I get very similar levels. Now one at a time add the pre FX like compressor and distortion and adjust to keep levels the same. If I really want a boost here I can actually see it on the meters instead of trusting my ears. Finally add all the post FX and check levels are good. When done my final patch levels are close to my plain guitar levels, peak and average. Quite a difference. I was able to remove the noise gate on a lot of patches just by going through this process. This has made the distortion FX much better for me too. You don't need an expensive setup to do this either. There are good free DAWs out there to use. Give it a try, it may save you a lot of grief...

thanks! a lot of good stuff there... I hadn't considered the IR had power section included... hmmm... definitely got my interest.

I agree these comparisons the epsi wins (or rather the Ownhammer IR's win). However, what happens when you are not recording but actually running through real cabs? Is the difference still there? Have you tried the RedWirez cab IR's? Are the Ownhammers any better? Also, I understand the cab swap part, not sure I understand why you are using pre models rather than full models. Can you explain why you went that route or was it just because you preferred the way it sounds? Thanks!

UPDATE - I have had the GMX212 for a week now and really tried to like it. On its own it is a decent little amp but it just doesn't cut it with the POD. I MUCH prefer the POD through my power amp and PA speakers even though they are a pain to lug around. The ins and outs on the GMX are nice but playing backing tracks through it is hopeless. Sounds as you would expect it to through a guitar amp. For the price its a handy backup for live use. Bottom line - its going back... :wacko:

The DXR10's are about $600 each so a litlle outside your stated budget. However, if you want to go with a pair of active monitors there are a lot in your budget of $800 a pair. Really just which ones you prefer at that point, they are pretty much all similar. Some have better connection options than others like a built in mixer or extra channels to add backing tracks or vocals. Also at your price point you might consider an L2t Stage source speaker. Totally designed to work with your HD500. Not stereo but still an awesome speaker. http://www.sweetwater.com/c134--Active_Powered_PA_Speakers/low2high/all/params=eyJkaW1lbnNpb24iOnsiUHJpY2UgUmFuZ2UiOlsiOSJdfX0

not certain on the 400 but with the 500 it becomes the soundcard and you need to either plug your speakers into the 400 or go into control panel and configure your sound options to let the sound play through the computer speakers. Hope that made sense... BUT - HD Edit has no sound capabilities so you would have to run your 400 into a DAW while editing with HD Edit... and configure your DAW output correctly.

You would be surprised at the number of us elder statesmen loving this gear... age and treachery overcomes youth and skill every time... :lol:

I went to the link and downloaded the Main and Swell zip files and the patch is in there. If you try to download the actual patch from the link you get the code which is unusable. The patches load just fine. You can either load them from the HD Edit dialog box or just drag and drop into an open slot. Check that your Input settings in HD Edit are set to preset not global or you may have an unusable configuration. PS - drag and drop has always worked for me with HD file extensions for other similar models. Any HD 500 file extension will drag and drop into HD Edit and open. You will have to save it manually if you want it with the correct extension. My experience anyways...

Sweetwater is real good about the quality of their gear and they say that all guitars include a complete set up including the JTV's... might be worth a call to your sales engineer to discuss any issues...

hey bro, we are all users here, not the factory. We do like to have a little fun here once in a while and there is nothing mean spirited about it. Just your turn in the barrel for a little jocularity... we still try to help everyone as much as possible even on the same question being asked day in, day out... not you, but just saying...

actually I didn't say your test drive wouldn't crash and burn... :)

a HUGE +1 to this post. The MAJORITY of FS problems can be fixed this way. The physical part of the switch is almost indestructible and in fact NEVER makes contact with the circuit board no matter how hard you press down. The switch on the circuit board rarely if ever fails, while it may have a bad solder joint once in a blue moon. It is usually the spring that is positioned between the physical FS and the circuit board that is the culprit. My experience on many boards including ones for other systems (Digitech) is the springs get compressed and no longer impart enough pressure to the contact above the circuit board switch resulting in poor operation. Simply spraying contact cleaner may release a sticking switch but won't fix the spring problem. Its a dead simple fix if you want to take the unit apart. Just take the spring and give it a little pull to extend its length a bit and you're back in business. The switches on the circuit board work the same as the ones on your keyboard, they are just pressure sensitive contact switches, not physical switches as you might suspect. Use a can of compressed air while you are in there to blow out the cobwebs if any and you should be good to go. Don't extend the springs too long or you might have a switch stuck on but I have never had that problem. Hey, its free and its worth a shot...

you don't have to RTFM (read the f%&cking manual) to test drive the preset but if you want to build your own or deconstruct and analyze how and why a tone was made and either works or doesn't work you definitely need to RTFM...

Adding to the others above, there are certain patches that do not have an amp such as most acoustic patches or synth patches. The bypass volume controls the signal through the amp block even when no amp is selected. If you turn it to zero there will be no output! By the same token, if you have a dual amp patch and you have it set to switch amps with one on and one off you must ensure the bypass volumes are set to zero or the signal from the disabled amp path will be mixed with the amp you want to hear. Do this for both amp blocks and the bypass state will be stored when you save the patch.

what TheRealZap said... basically you can use it as an audio interface if you want. You can record the whole mix or you can feed tracks to the mix from your computer. Do you need it? Maybe not but they don't really charge much for the added feature...

There are plenty of decent small USB mixers under $100 that should do everything you need... I completely understand the downsizing and keeping it simple approach...