BigBob-Irwin

I would go with active speakers which are always handy for recording playing Ipad/mp3s through as well. I have a pair of ESI near 05's but there are some good active monitors on the market which do not cost a fortune.

If you are getting hiss or noise through it might not be the output valves as you have probably discovered but over the years I have used a quick and easy test to check whether the pre amp or PI tubes have gone noisy or are micro phonic and that is switch the amp on in clean mode take the back off and gently tap each 12ax7 (ecc83) with a pencil if you hear the tap come through loud change that tube.

It looks nice either way but I always took the guard off any Les Paul I have owned so when I got the JTV-59 it was all ready modded for me.

I am sure this works for you however I am not in a position to try this out as I have spent all my money on the DT25 now as I thought this would be the rig for me having always been used to hot tubes on the output since starting playing back in the day. It is now my retirement year and have blown my options money wise so I am going to try and persevere and see whats the best live tone I can get.

What are you putting the pod through live? is it a PA a guitar amp if it is a guitar amp why don't you use the 4 cable method and let the amp give the tone? I must admit to a frustration using the unit in a sense that I have the Dream Rig set up (so have enough invested into the system) and to me if I get a good studio sound if I save that patch twice one for recording or playing at home through my studio monitors then to get that sound via line 6 link into a DT25 all I should do would be to change the full amp to a preamp and switch the cab off and a few tweeks should in essence get me the studio tone but through the amp but unfortunately this is not so and there are a lot of grey areas to say the least. If I could find a constant between the studio and amp settings i.e a eq setting I would be a happy man in the meantime I am seriously thinking of setting up the DT25 with my 2 favorite amps and either using the 500x in the 4 cable method or consign the pod 500x for the studio and take pedals and my DT25 with me

Tom, If you download workbench (I use it via my Pod 500x) you can put what pickups/ Guitar combination you like and save it to the Guitar I have done this with the Custom setting and have ready to go guitars I use regular on a gig including in the middle position a rather convincing Peter Green sound. Once you have played about with the guitar you will have your favorites i.e I have changed the semi pickups to Les Paul pickups because I prefer the sound and because I can . After a while you will realize that the Variax is a great enabler of a Guitar especially if you get used to Workbench.

The Mustang III is a formidable modeling amp I had one and gigged with it and it sounds the same a low volume as it does at gig volume and for the price it is one of the best bang for the $ out there. The only reason I sold mine is because I got a Variax JTV59 which I was impressed with and decided to go the whole route with the dream rig and the Mustang partly funded that. But if I fell on hard times and had to sell all the line 6 stuff I would be happy with the Mustang III This guy did a patch every week called Mustang Monday which was compared with the real amps side by side on some video's he also did artist patches. I remember one he did where you had to vote which amp was the Mustang and which one was the real deal. You can download patches for the Mustang with there fuse software I managed to download some pretty good Dumble patches which were quite convincing.

Tom have a look at this from 6 mins 25 seconds in

Tom, There are video,s on u tube which do show you how to use the JTV59 but a quick heads up on how to get the in between positions is simple you while in modeling mode i.e Strat (spank) you press the tuning switch down ( its a push/push pot) and you will see the colour changing on the model select mode from lilac to blue which means you are in an in between position and if the PUP selector is on the bridge that means you now have bridge/middle on the strat setting if you switch this to the neck you will have neck/middle and this works for all the alternate options .

I agree with NucleusX I have used attenuators in the past and in my experience they are good at lowering the volume at a gig where you have found the sweat spot of the amp and want to reduce the volume to tolerable levels for the audience but still compete with a drummer, but to reduce the amp to bedroom volume you will loose that sweet spot sound because you will have lost the speaker interaction with the amp among other factors and will probably be back to square one with what you want to achieve by just turning the amp down. By the time you buy the amp and a decent Attenuator (they are not cheap for a good one) you would be just as well buying a good 1 watt tube practice /studio amp to do this or a second hand DT25 and use the low power setting switch on the back.

Oh your a brave man it was 11 at night when I posted and if I started I would have got the wrath of God look and I'd be running quicker than a cat through a dogs home

Thanks Tboneous I will try this out tomorrow can't do it now as the missus is in bed and I would get an other kind of distortion if I awakened her.

I am trying to set up a Joe Bonamassa preset with dual amps in my pod 500x going via L6 link to DT25 I do not use cabs and am using pre amps as usual for setting up the amp. JM uses 2 amps at a time usually a Dumble clone and a Marshall now much to my dismay although there are boutique amps in the pod Dumble(probably the most expensive in the world) is not one of them and the nearest I can get to an overdriven Dumble sound is a treadplate with a bit of jiggery pockery once I have set this up I bypassed the treadplate and dialled in a Marshall JTM45 With less OD however when adding the amps a weird thing happens the distortion is totally over the top and not what you would expect if you were actually using the real amps in a room secondly I can put both drives on each amp to zero and they are both overdriven has anyone experienced this or is there a better way to program the pod that I am missing or is trying a patch with 2 amps going to a single DT25 something you can not do properly and is reserved for the studio or 2 LT's?

Me too I built a 1KW rated ATU. They supplied a lot of kits for Radio Hams which I was quite active in the past. I am sure I could fit a kit to my Epi Les Paul which I have rewired with better pups anf 50's style Jimmy Page wiring

I do the same for volume boost as I have done for the last 46 years of playing that is turn the volume up at the solo on the guitar and turn it down when its some one else's time to shine simples and no tap dancing or programming required and probably what most folks guitar hero's did in the day so it obviously works.

There was and when they were learning their trade there was a lot of small and not so small music shops in the uk Eric Claptons Auntie bought his first guitar and he bought more guitars from Bell Musical Instruments in Surbiton which probably had the first mail order catalogue for musical instruments in the uk unfortunatly they are no longer there. Jim Marshalls shop which I visited in my time up at Hanwell was a small affair now most of the UK music wise if you want the big names are down to the Andetons GAK Guitar Guitar etc and an other handful of music shops. Our local music shops can not get Gibson dealership or Fender or any major manufacturer because they are required to promise to have a big stock which of coarse they can not afford to be a dealer so they are left with the cheaper end of the market. The uk since EC's time has changed from a nation of shop keepers to a giant service industry. I live up in the Highlands of Scotland so rely on mail order my nearest stockist is a 340 mile round trip I ordered my Dream rig by mail order judged by demo's by line 6 video's on u tube and I am pleased with it although I have found it to be a hard learning curve and have a lot to learn yet but I do sympathise with folk who rey on mail order and are not happy. The petrol at the moment here is at its lowest price over here for years but folk from USA would be stunned at the price if they had to pay also the cost of stuff over here we pay in pounds what you guys pay in dollars.

Yes Overdrive special is what I would vote for too it would open up stuff for the fusion/blues folk and the seekers of Joe Bonamassa tone if mixed in with a Marshall

What no Dumble amp yet?

Have you tried switching the Guitar in on the pod from normal to pad when using the Tele? Have you tried the Strat and the Tele through a Guitar amp instead of the pod and if so was the result the same? if it is you might want to drop the height of the pups in the Tele or at least try and drop the volume on the Tele. To me a Tele is a half way house between a Strat and a Les Paul and does seem to have more output than the strat and is a little more gruff sounding in a nice way only need to listen to Led Zep 1 to see what I mean about Gruff, An other thing has the Tele been fitted with high output pickups if it has this may be the problem as high output pups are more focused at a particular frequencies have high "Q" and lower bandwidth which is fine if that is what you want but in my old age I have discovered less is more and prefer lower output pups and if I want a heavier sound I let the Amp/FX do the work.

Hi stevesilk1951 pleased to be of service sir I have always found axtec helpful I ordered a set of their Tesla Shark ( a play on the name slash) humbuckers for my Les Paul and soldered them up 50's wiring Jimmy Page style on the guys suggestion and found them excellent not that I play any Led Zep or Slash just like the tone. I will give their strings a blast next time I order thanks for the info. If the numerals are correct for DOB on your profile I am about 1 year older and definitely deeper in debt after getting this dream rig milarky LOL still nice to see some of us older folk embracing technology.

Enjoy. I had a day to set up for a gig I have never used the 500x (got it new as a dream rig set up)in studio mode with all the mikes cab emulators etc so did not have any preconceived expectations. What I did is set up my dream rig direct via L6 link all amps set to pre for a blues/rock gig so made it simple decided for earlier blues stuff to use deluxe reverb amp plus I set up so I could use 4 efx so tube screamer delay and trem etc next patch was in the territory of John Mayall-Free-Cream so set this up with a JTM45 plus 4 efx last patch was anything heavier than the first two to cover Gary Moore etc so this was set up the same except with a Brit J-800 this was a simple set up for the stuff I do out at a gig. Now I have had the unit for a while I have all the time in the world to play around and discover more possibilities. Now if you play in a covers band that does anything from Hank Marvin to Steve Vai and anything inbetween then you have your work cut out for you if you are in a smaller musical niche then the way I am setting up at the moment is thinking what amp/fx the artist plays and set it up from scratch sometimes other amps than you expect sounds better.

I managed with ColonelForbin's help to set up my dream Rig with 3 patches and efx in one day and played out on a Gig which went well so I would have a look for the post he sent me. I updated my 500x today via monkey and thought I broke the thing it turns out the update allows you to use the master volume with line 6 link which you could not before and my master was set low so watch out for this. Basically what I do is set the volume for what I use at a gig on the DT25 if I am at home I switch the low output switch on at the rear of the amp before I get arrested. Set your patch up on the pod with master full up and control the output of each patch with the Chanel volume on the pod if you are not happy with the volumes between each patch you or need small fine adjustments you can use the mixer in the pod on each patch if necessary.

Yes all true with Two Rock mind you we would think $2500 a reasonable price here in the UK as we pay pounds over here what you lucky guys pay in dollars. I have had a look at Fuchs Redplate etc but can not get any where to hear them the nearest dealer that has any amount of stock for Fuchs stuff is in Germany and I was thinking of getting their little Blackjack head but I was not prepared to take the chance. If you want that Dumble sound the nearest I have heard that is close and cheaper is the old Fender Rivera designed Red knob amps but it is a great but one trick pony sound which is where the versatility of the Pod/ Dream rig shines just hope that an update for the pod comes along with a Dumble overdrive special as it would certainly open up possibilities for folk that want an extra dimension with Blues /Rock sets.

Hi Neil, That's great pleased it worked out I like the EXL110's as well I tried 9's but the tone and feel of the 10's is better for me they have a special offer on these strings you get a three pack for about £12.

Well I only bought the Pod 500x about 2 weeks ago and there are a lot of amps on there but I would have loved it if they put a Dumble type amp whether its modeled on a Two Rock, Dumble or Van Wheelden Fuchs etc so have asked in the idea section for this and a Zendrive OD as it would be great for Robin Ford, Sonny Landreth tones and by mixing with a plexi/JCM800 would be great for Joe Bonamassa as well so a lot of Blues/Rock tones to be had if this was added.