malnack

I haven't had any issues. The only issue was getting the Soul Food level set so that when I engaged it I didn't get a huge volume boost. It varies from room to room that we play in so during sound check I engage it and then adjust it so that it is only a slight boost over the clean signal.

I use an Electro-Harmonix Soul Food as you describe. It is in the effects loop of the HD500. It made a huge improvement to my rig. My signal is passed to the DT-25 via L6 Link cable.

I've had my 59P for almost a year now. I gig about once a month but play it almost daily. It has held up well and I have not had any trouble with the switches or knobs. I also use the HD500 and a DT-25. No problems with any of them.

Same issue with my 59P. The next time you change your strings, you might want to check the tightness of the tuners. The nut on the top side of the neck was really loose on some of the tuners and in particular the G string. Each time I change strings I check them. However, even after doing that the G string is prone to go out of tune for me. So much so that I check it in between songs at gigs. I store my guitar on a stand when not in use so I don't think it is your gig bag.

Agreed. This is a browser issue at the moment. If you use Chrome, Firefox or anything other than IE, it should work.

In a recent firmware update for the HD500, they made it so the master volume on the HD500 controls the signal level to the amp. I leave my DT-25 master volume all the way up and adjust the HD500 as needed.

I was able to record yesterday using the method described. I chose the effects that I wanted for the Variax acoustic and recorded the mags through my DT-25 with a Sennheiser 421. Given this method, it is possible to also have effects on the mags (like maybe a chorus or delay)? I can add it in my DAW, but it would be great to grab one of the effects I'm already comfortable with.

Turning off the Volume Pedal block was the key. Thanks for the help!

I'm able to get either the mags or the acoustic through both the DT-25 but I'm not able to get it where the nagas are Coming out of the DT-25 and the acoustic out of the XLR outs. When I load his patch from custom tone I don't get any sound at all until I start changing input sources. Thanks for your help:)

I've been trying to replicate the steps in this Line 6 video and I can't get it to work: They even have the tone from this video posted in Custom Tone but it doesn't work for me. I have a JTV-59P, HD500, and a DT-25. I don't have the 2nd expression pedal that he uses in the video.. Not sure if that is the issue or not.. Has anyone been able to set this up? I'm using a Line 6 VDI cable as well. Could it be that with one of the firmware updates it stopped working? Thanks, Brent P.S. I've tied both setting it up on the HD500 and in HD500 Edit.

I use an Electro-Harmonix Soul Food overdrive in the FX loop of my HD500. I use it this way live and in direct recordings and it sounds great. (When I record, I sometimes take the direct out from my DT-25 amp.)

Yes. I think it is in the delay section. I use it a lot and have it assigned to one of the footswitches.

I use the auto-volume extensively in our set. It works well with both clean and distorted patches.

I've had a 59P Goldtop for a little over 6 months now. I really like it. I use mostly clean tones and when I use overdrive, it is just at the point of a nice break up. Good crunch and fine for the palm muting that I do. The action on the guitar was a lot lower than I was used to but I've grown accustomed to it. The P90's sound great. I mainly use the modeled tones (or a slight blend with the P90's mixed in about 15%), but they stand up on their own. I've done some tweaking of the levels of some of the models so they are similar when I switch from say a Tele sound to a Les Paul. The only negative I have so far is learning to play the acoustic models so they perform the best. There is an occasional overtone that has a bright sitar type twang to it. I've got the HD500/DT25 Combo as well, and getting the acoustic tone to sound good through the DT25 has taken some time.

I wasn't exactly sure where to place it and I just moved it around until it sounded the best. I could definitely tell the difference of having it in front of the preamp instead of after it. Because it was an overdrive pedal maybe that is the reason. Also, when I put it in the chain in HD Edit, I set the FX Loop to be 100% in the mix. I'm not sure if that was the right thing to do, but it made sense to me. Might as well let the pedal have full control of the signal. I used this setup at a gig and my biggest problem was were to place the pedal. I ended up using two 6 inch cables and placed it on top of a mic stand base to get it elevated. It was a little dicey getting to pedal button but it worked. One other benefit for me is that I only assign HD500 effects to the 1 - 4 switches. Now I can activate my other effects without having to eat one up with the overdrive.

I'm using an Electro-Harmonix Soul Food overdrive in the effects loop in the HD500. I have it positioned 2nd in the chain behind the noise gate but before the preamp. Prior to that, I was never able to get the overdrives in the HD500 to match the tone in my head. That's not to say that the HD500 can't create a good overdrive, it's just that when I would get a decent overdrive the jump in level when it was engaged. Now that the Soul Food is in my chain, I can better manage the levels and it is really a nice overdrive. I'm mostly using it with the AC15 preamp model and it is nice. I haven't done much related to the rest of your questions.

Thanks oheman! Prior to having the Variax, I spent a lot of time leveling my patches and it was a lengthy process. Adding in the Variax, now I have different levels between the guitar models to boot. I've gone with a simple approach: I've come up with a basic HD500 patch based on the AC15 model. It works nice as a clean signal and as I play harder I'm able to get some natural breakup. Because I've had trouble finding a nice overdrive tone (and controlling it's level), I've added an Electro-Harmonix Soul Food into the effects loop on the HD500. I've also assigned a chorus, delay, tremolo, and a swell to the 1 - 4 footswitches. With this one patch and the Variax, I'm able to get a variety of tones by switching guitar models without having to change the HD500 patch for an entire gig. I've setup a few of these in the same manner with different preamp models. If I get bored with my main tone or we're doing a more rocking set, I can run with that patch for the night. Since we almost always have the house sound man, I can't rely on them to manage the guitar levels to our liking.

I have an old D'Armond SG copy in my collection. Last night while testing out the new firmware, I blended the magnetics in on my JTV-59P and I was getting some SG type sounds. I had the mags blended in about 15%.

Great article. Thanks for posting!

Based on this discussion and on some of the difficulties I've had getting the desired overdrive tone, I've added an Electroharmonix Soul Food pedal into the effects loop of the HD500. The chain is JTV-59P into the HD500 via Variax cable, Soul Food into the HD500 effects loop, and HD500 out to DT-25 via L6 cable. It sounds amazing! This is the best overdriven tone I've been able to get out of the rig. And as a bonus, my levels no longer change significantly when I engage the overdrive. I've always worked hard to keep my levels between patches correct and also level changes when the overdrive is added, but at the last gig I hit the overdrive and overpowered the whole band. Now I can better control that level in a live environment.

I have a JTV59P (along with a HD500 and DT-25). I use it for both live shows and recording. It shines in both areas. It has been a great investment. I bring a backup guitar for gigs in case of a string break, but have found the 59 to be the only guitar I use now.

Thanks! I can't remember why I switched away from the AC30. I'll have to try that version again. I really love the breakup in it and when I need the crunch using the Les Paul model with the overdrive activated is just what I need. What is strange is that at our rehearsal volume (which is fairly loud), the level sounds about right when I engage the overdrive (FS3). However, at our last gig when I hit the overdrive it seemed significantly louder. It kinda freaked me out as I felt like I was blowing out the rest of the band.

Here is the current version of my tone. I guess I switched the preamp about a month ago. I do have the previous AC30 based one as well. Give this a try and remember to dial your volume back about 15-20%. http://line6.com/customtone/tone/275611/ I've assigned a Chorus to 1, a Delay to 2, a tube overdrive to 3, and a swell to 4.

Thanks! Wasn't aware of that.

My main patch does this for me. I have a HD500, DT25, and a JTV-59P. I believe I started with the AC30 type preamp. I think changed the cabinet and mic on it until I got what I was looking for. For the guitar model, I mainly use the Tele. If I dial back the volume control on the JTV about 15%, I get a really nice clean when I play lightly. The further I dig into it the more natural breakup I get. There are a couple songs in our set that I use this to my advantage, clean and quiet in the verse, a bit more bite in the chorus and full out attack by the end. I'd be happy to share my patch. I'm at work right now so I don't have access.