joel_brown

I'm sure he's still using something... The main thing it showed was he was using amp modelers. And not everyone changes equipment every year or needs an update every month.

So I guess Dave Mustaine is waiting for the next update too. I found these Rig Rundown links interesting. In one video he's using Line6 and the next he's using Digitech. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxeCbDukOK4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP5rDQPaVDc

My prediction is we're not getting anything. I think Line6 is working on their next gen hardware and that's atleast a year away. The competitors will catch up and maybe even be get slightly ahead then Line6 will jump back out in the lead next year. btw - I hope I'm wrong. I just hope in the future that Line will have a low end line like the HD300, then an HD500 for most people, and a high end line that kind'a competes with Axe and Kemper but for under a $1000 bucks.

You're probably wishing now that you spent the few extra bucks for the HD500. If I had all the money I wasted on buying the wrong thing with music gear... You're not alone.

I didn't know the HD400 had this limitation. Unless someone else knows a way around this ?

A trick I picked up from Glenn Delaune for stereo is to place a Delay on the Left channel and set it to 20ms. Only let the 20ms delayed sound come out of the left channel, none of the original sound and no feedback either. That way it widens the stereo effect considerably. It really gives a big sound when playing live. The further apart your guitar cabs are the better. For my normal Digital Delay, I have the Left channel set to 290ms and the right channel set to 310ms. This gives me another slight widening of the delayed sound. If you do all this stereo widening, be careful with reverbs. You'll find that you don't need much, if any. Other than that, I have the PODHD going Studio Direct into my power amps.

I use the built in Tube Compressor effect before the Amp Model and adjust it as needed for sustain and feedback. That way I don't have to go crazy with gain and distortion.

There's a lot of ways to configure it, emphasis on "LOT". I would suggest to just try the Studio Direct Out into the Effect Return of the Marshall and see how that goes. That should give you a nice tone and something that should resemble playing through a P.A. system. There's something called the 4 Cable Method (4CM). But if you don't own an amp yet then that may be premature. I would suggest reading up on the 4CM and try that before making your final decision. There's plenty of threads explaining it.

Good luck... I know that isn't helpful but you're sticking your hand in the fire and asking how not to get burned.

I wouldn't recommend it. It's not worth taking the chance of frying a $500 piece of equipment. You can get away with more amperage in the power supply because the unit will only draw what it needs but voltage doesn't work like that.

For me, any decent tube power amp. I personally like Marshall tube amps but there's a lot of tube amps to choose from. I'm sure there's other tube amps that could give you what you're looking for. I haven't tried them all by any means and I may like some others better. btw - I have tried a Two Rock amp. Wow, don't need anything else when you have one of those. And Dumble is supposed to be much better but for the price they better include hot groupie chicks.

Yes there is an extremely slight muted pause. As the only guitar player in a Black Sabbath Tribute band, it can stand out when a differant patch is loaded. Especially when switching from a semi-clean tone to high-gain with large volume changes. I've never had a guitar effects unit NOT have some micro muted delay during patch switching and have become used to this over the years. I just anticpate it and hit the pedal just before hitting the strings.

Is it worth it ? - that's a very subjective question. For me it was. I didn't mind spending $500 bucks to get something that sounds and plays better. I play out often plus do recording and have been doing so for a lot of years. $500 is very inexpensive compared to $2,000 and up for a Kemper or Axe. On the flip side, if you're happy with what you have... well you need to make that choice.

From what I've read, the new and faster DSP doesn't do much more. Maybe it can run one additional effect. You still run out of DSP real fast when dual amping. This was done because they couldn't get the old DSP chips anymore. Then the marketing department got involved. You can't expect Line6 to just say "Hey we ran out of chips and had to put this one in now".

I think you can buy a USB PC internal card for about $20 or so. If it was me and I knew I had some USB port issues, I'd invest in a USB card and get some known good ports.

Sounds to me like you need to spend some time on EQ. A little delay couldn't hurt either. Also try changing you input impedance a little.

What other USB devices do you have plugged into your computer ? Sounds like the problem has been found, just need to work on the solution. btw - I give you high marks on being persistant after buying/returning the HD500 so many times.

Sometimes the truth hurts.

If you do decide to get the PODHD, be prepared to spend a lot of time reading, learning, and tweaking knobs. I haven't seen a post yet where someone says "Oh yeah I plugged it in and dialed in my tone really quick". It's more like "After two weeks of trying I'm about ready to give up". Then finally you get it figured out and it sounds really nice. Everyone here is very helpful getting you through that process.

The 500x has a differant chip.

I took my PODHD Bean apart tonight. The DSP is not socketed and permanently soldered in place. There is no way to upgrade the hardware. We're not talking about a major change to the DSP and it could be compatible with previous instruction sets. We're not changing chip architectures so it may have worked with the current firmware. But it's a moot point because the hardware can't be changed.

That's not how it's typically done. That's why I asked arislaf how he knows about this. If everyone is just guessing then I'll buy a chip and try it, then tell everyone if it works or not.

That's interesting. You mean it doesn't actually detect that the DSP is at 100% usage ? If you don't mind me asking, how did you find out it works like that ? That doesn't sound like something Line6 would just freely discuss.

I'd still like to know if there's a way to put in the newer DSP into our existing gear. I've upgraded and built enough computers that I think I can handle swapping out a chip. Maybe I'll just open it up and see if I can buy a chip myself.

Gee all I want is a Global EQ and I'd think the PODHD was perfect. I'm a working musician plus have plenty of studio experiance doing music recording for TV that's been heard worldwide. I'd rather not have so many updates so I can practice and perform more. This statement will get me some hate mail. Maybe if some of you wannabe guitar players posting on here would stop whining about updates and learn how to tweak what you have and play the guitar better, then you wouldn't have to rely so much on updates.