phil_m

Yes. The JTVs come with the Workbench interface and a short VDI cable to go from the Variax to the interface. One thing, though, if you already have the HD500 or 500X (or another POD with a VDI interface) you'll want to pick up the longer VDI cable with neutrik connectors on both ends if you want to use the the JTV with the POD a lot. The short cable may be alright at home if you're not moving, but even then it's not a good long term solution.

I can understand some amount of frustration. I get it to a point. But, really, I don't think the reason Line 6 release the X version of the HD Pro had anything to do with them thinking the first version was "underpowered". From what I understand, the chip they were using for the original version was being discontinued and replaced with a newer, faster chip for the same price. So I guess they did what they considered to be the least intrusive thing - they simply plopped the new chip into the existing design. The thing is your two HD Pros still outperform a single HD Pro X by quite a significant amount (assuming, of course, that you could use them both in tandem at the same time).

There is a slight audio gap when changing presets on the Vetta. It doesn't have anything to do with the foot controller. It's just that when you switch presets, you're essentially telling the processor to stop doing one thing and start doing another. So there's a slight gap. If it bothers you a lot, you can compensate by putting a delay pedal in the effects loop.

But you're making Line 6 say something they weren't saying. I'm sure it's for this very reason that Line 6 used the words "up to" in the ad copy. If they flat out said dual signal chain with 8 effects at, you'd have a good point. The fact is that they at least allude to the fact that there may be some limitation.

I understand criticism and even disappointment. But reading a marketing spec sheet as literally as a legal document, I simply don't understand. If you're going to complain about the way Line 6 markets, you should rightly complain about everyone else. It's just the way advertising is done. It's not lying. It's simply not. It's trying to portray the product in the best light possible. If that bothers you, well, then it does. But you can't blame Line 6 for doing what essentially all of its competitors are doing. Personally, I think Line 6 is actually a bit more subdued than some of its competitors, but that's just me. As far as "he who shall not be named", he really went far beyond criticizing the products or the company. He was engaging in personal attacks. That's pretty much the one thing that won't be tolerated here.

As a side note, this whole conversation regarding marketing speak reminds me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdGDkawumS8 "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, do these sound like the actions of a man who's had ALL he could eat?"

I think you'd have to read all those statements very literally to say they're lies, but even they aren't lies. "Heavy-duty" is a term like "natural"... It has no defined meaning. People can say it about just anything. Again, completely subjective. I have dialed in tones quickly. I posted a tune up here yesterday. It literally took me about about a minute to get that tone. The most important words here are "up to". I have plenty of tones where I do have all effects slots filled. There are some where I can't because of the DSP limit. Not trying to just be a fanboy here, but if you're going to accuse Line 6 of lying, the evidence needs to back you up. It simply doesn't. If you don't like the way it was marketed, that's fine. Just don't go saying something that isn't true.

So what about any of that is lying?

No one will delete this post, and no one who's commented here is a Line 6 employee. There are occasional posts by Line 6 employees here, but those people all have "Line6" in their username, and they have the Line 6 logo under their avatar (as opposed to the "Line 6 Expert" icon underneath our name). http://line6.com/support/page/kb/_/general-faq/line-6-community-members-experts-and-technica-r147

You can't run 8 Octo Verbs and dual amps on the X series, either... Who would want to do that, anyways? I think the thing is Line 6 knew that some people would be upset, but they offered the flexibility anyway. I remember hearing that there was at least one person on the original design team that didn't want to offer the dual amp option at all, but in the end, the team decided to at least give people the option even if it it meant that people would be more limited in their effect choices. The way I see it, it's pretty useless to rail against that sort of thing. It is the way it is, and you either like it or you don't. The processor speed in the HD500 and HD500X isn't something that's going to be changed in an update. The fact of the matter is that it's still a pretty powerful processor for a $500 device. I look at this way. The M13 still sells for the same price (it was briefly on sale before Christmas, but I think it's back up now). It's processor is slower than the HD500, and it doesn't do any amp modeling. It really just all depends on your perspective. Anything you buy for $500 is going to have some limitations. If it's a tech-based device, there's a good chance the same money will get you a lot more in a few years. That's how it goes. The laptop I bought 3 years ago isn't worth anything now, as far as resale is concerned. It doesn't make me regret purchasing it, though.

I've used pedals with my DT-25 ever since I've had it. It reacts pretty much like I'd expect it to. I don't think you'd have good results putting an OD or distortion in the loop. As far as what I've found that works, I guess I haven't had any issues with any of my pedals not working. Currently, I'm using the Wampler Dual Fusion as my main OD pedal, but here's a list of other pedals I have on my board: Black Arts Toneworks Pharaoh Mooer Green Mile (a Tubescreamer clone) Mooer Blues Crab (Marshall Bluesbreaker clone) Fulltone Plimsoul Mooer Pure Boost (essentially a clone of the Xotic RC Boost, using it as clean boost) The DT-25 reacts in a similar way to my other amps, so I'm not sure why you're having problem. Maybe it is that particular OD pedal that you simply don't like?

I worked up this solo chord melody arrangement to perform over the holidays, so I wanted to record it while it was fresh in my mind. I'm only a fake jazz guitarist, so be merciful... This is direct via USB with the HD500 using the Twin model. The only effects are the 63 Spring Reverb and the Dynamic Delay at a very low mix for some additional space in the mix. The guitar is an Ibanez AFJ95. I decided to use that instead my JTV simply because I have flatwounds on the Ibanez, and it cuts down on the string noise for these tunes that requires a lot sliding up to chords and so on. http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12627978

Do you have the master volume on the HD500 turned up? That was the one thing that changed in the update. Before the master volume on the HD500 was bypassed when using L6 Link. Now it's in the signal path, so if it's down, you wouldn't be getting any sound out of the DT-25.

This really should go in this forum, http://line6.com/support/forum/43-stompbox-modelers-tonecore/, but, yes you have 3 total presets with the DL4. There are default settings for each delay model when you turn the model knob to bring that particular model up, but you can't change those settings. They're really just starting points. If you want to turn the delay off, you simply step on the switch for the preset that is on at the time.

I believe that specific error is simply a communication error. It could be from a faulty cable, a dirty connection, or really any number of things in the communication path between the devices. Are you using the shorter VDI cable that came with the guitar or the longer Line 6 (or some other brand) cable? The one idiosyncrasy is that Line 6 recommends using the shorter cable for the updates and while using Workbench. It seems the longer cable can potentially lead to communication issues.

The thing is that if you went by negative reviews online of products, you could hardly ever buy anything. If I look at almost any product on Amazon, the 1-star reviews usually make up at least 10% of the reviews even for solid products. I think it's just human nature to want to tell people about a negative experience with a product more than it is to talk about a positive one. Personally, I don't believe the majority of JTV's have been faulty or returned. I don't believe the product would still be in production if that were case. What motivation would Line 6 have to keep a product on the market for four years that was actually losing money in the way of returns and warranty repairs? I too am not trying to negate anyone's experience. I also wouldn't recommend to buy or not buy a product. It's a decisions they have to make on their own. My recommendation is always to try the product for yourself before buying it, and if you can't do that to go with someplace that has a good return policy.

The XPS will work. I'm not sure about the hardshell case. It seems some Les Paul cases will fit it, and some won't. There's a thread about it on the old forums here: http://line6.com/supportarchivenew/thread/61724

Yes, they do use the same algorithms. The HD PODs use effects from the M-series pedals, and those effects are the same effects from the 4-button stomps. The other thing is that having all the effects together in one pedal such as the HD500 or 500X makes it possible to sync time-based effects together. This isn't possible with the 4-button stomps.

No, to be honest with you, levels aren't something I obsess over that much. Even before I had the JTV, I would use three or four different guitars at a gig, each with different output levels, and somehow I managed to make it work. I never thought the Strat model before was too hot, but I do feel that the 2.0 Strat model is more realistic all around. I'm not trying to argue for just the sake of arguing. I just feel like there's a lot of controversy around the HD update that I find hard to understand. I guess I'm trying to filter out what is simply a preference versus what are legitimate bugs/deficiencies. It seems that a lot of the level issues come down to preferences. It does also seem that different guitars react differently. I only have my one JTV, so I don't have any way to test it. I think the issue is frustrating to people because everything we see here is anecdotal evidence that none of us can fully reproduce.

I don't know why the difference in string volumes seems to affect some guitars more than others. I suspect it might be differences in the volumes of the piezos themselves. Perhaps in 1.9 Line 6 was doing something more to deal with these inconsistencies through compression or something - I don't know. On mine, I'd say the difference in levels between the E and B strings and the others is probably less than 1db. I only noticed it because I specifically listened for it. Well, personally, I'd say I want a modeled Les Paul to react like a real Les Paul. The hotter output from a guitar with humbuckers is integral to how that guitar drives an amp, reacts with pedals, etc. So I don't think the levels should be entirely consistent between the different models. If someone wants to make it so the volume differences are less pronounced, that's a pretty easy fix in Workbench.

I notice a slight volume drop on the B and E strings, but it's not enough that it sounds unnatural to me. I'm having a hard time understanding why you can't simply decrease the volume of the other strings and increase the overall volume of the patch. I understand that there will still be volume differences between the models, but that's what happens in real life, too. A Les Paul has a much hotter output than a Strat, typically. Oddly enough, if you look around different forums, having lower volume on the E and B strings is a pretty common complaint/observance with real Strats and Teles. So perhaps this is just something that was inherent to the guitars Line 6 chose to model.

I haven't talked about it here in quite a while, but I remember discussing this at length a few years ago. The mixer pan control isn't really a pan control at all. It's a balance control. As stated above, it's not really panning a mono signal. It's controlling the balance between the left and right sides of the tones coming from each signal path. The weird thing about the HD's routing is that with a dual tone, you actually can have two separate stereo paths coming from the mixer block, but because you only have one set of stereo outputs (the XLR and 1/4" outs receive the same stereo outs), you are potentially summing these down. If you have a dual tone with stereo effect in each tone, and you hard pan the outputs, you're actually losing stereo information. So I guess the long and short is that you are limited to what you can accomplish with a dual tone as far as stereo effects are concerned.

The 2.0 Strat models definitely aren't crap at least as I'm concerned. I currently have 5 Strats in my possession, and I'd put the JTV up against any of them. I don't know what people think the JTV model should sound like to be honest with you. Sounds like a real Strat to me.

Well, I used to have an original Variax 300, which I know was the low end of the line, so it's not entirely apples to oranges, but the modeling was the same across the line. Even before the HD update, I thought the modeling and responsiveness on the JTV was much better than the original. With the HD update, I feel that the guitar feels much more like a real guitar than the original Variax and even the earlier firmware. Mine is my main guitar now, and that's out of about a dozen guitars I own. So I'd say it does its job very well.

Well, there isn't really a Line 6 custom shop. It's not like ordering a guitar from a typical custom shop where you can choose exactly everything you want. They do have more options available as far as finishes, woods, and neck finish (although, I don't think they offer anything but a rosewood fretboard on the 89F). So, unfortunately, if you'd want a different pickup installed, it's something you'd have to do on your own.