spikey

And more than likely the board itself is "multi-layered" in its design, meaning that there are runs underneath runs within the board the processor sits on. So resoldering the updated processor even if you could get one (which i think would be near impossible), it would be a trick to get it all soldered back to every layer correctly if there are holes, and if its surface mount then thats a whole nother challenge to resolder. Not impossible, but very tedious to do even in good conditions with the right equipment ...

play it? Why, I will, I will :P

Just wanted you get you to post... ;)

Will do... Value for dollar to me means not saving a buck to kinda sound good after much tweaking. What I will pay for, and what is worth the cost to me in value for dollar is a no nonsense good sounding tone from the factory presets in a box before I ever start having to tweak them. Ive never had this before now. The FX II has this in spades. It makes sense in a guitar players mind as to what happens knob wise, and even in using the editor. Will I tweak and add to them? Sure, but they sound pretty much right in the direction of good tones, right out of the box too. Did I mention "Scenes" ? The ability to use the same patch 8 times using buttons programmed on the midi board to call up different stomps within the same patch! No stomp dancing to get there now, and programmed right in the editor... None of the "secret world" there either, as the maker of the box is very active about discussing and helping out others on the forums. He posts most every day and is very smart but able to come down to your level where needed to explain. We are all experts and students in one form or another there too, as the box is so awesome it allows such an atmosphere... No Stereo to mono what ya gotta know to do things with unity gain space shuttle magic to sound good, the chain just works... Ive also got a FCB1010 midi foot controller set to adjust the wah with full heal down, turning the wah off within a second or so, and with the tones adjusted you can go toe down direction without any pitch shift bump, and sounds like the wah just "magically appears and disappears in the patch!!! Amazing. The "Just plug into the house AND the stage at the same time stuff" works right in the editor and out of the box, and sounds killer here. No "one or the other" stuff. And Ive just "barely" scratched the surface... More later if needed... Im really impressed with the amount of player forethought that went into this box, as you might be able to tell.... Yes, Its an expensive box, and cost about 3 times what a new HDX does. And It was worth every penny so far to me. As always YMMV. Take care Silver and Ill bop in from time to time. Tell Zap to get a day job will ya?!? .. :D

Sold my Pod HD Pro about 2 weeks ago. Talk about good timing ; )... I bought an Axe FX II, and may never look back. God that thing sounds good with my Steve Morse MM Y2D... It however also sounds good with a JTV series Variax too... ;)

Its really "not" supposed to happen that way, being that the FoH isn't colored (frequency wise) for guitar cab sounds, but being that this processor is so unlike anything else ever designed for a guitar, Im betting your correct.... ;)

I once added a Roland internal 13 pin plugin and pickup (with the guts inside too) to my first red ax 500... I used the battery compartment for the tronics. Wish I still had it too. A "pro" job if I do say so myself and turned out nice. It has nothing to do with being brave Zap... You just have to have "lots" and "lots" of time and patience and go very slow and careful... FWIW I dont think that my JTV 69 in the "strat" 2 n 4 sounds cold at all. In fact Im on the side that says before the update, #2 sounded muddy... And sounds better now to me. YMMV as always...

Well yes, but I also own a vetta 2 (that has the variax digital interface like the pod HD 500/x and Pro). So take away the amplifier in it and you will have mostly a pod left over, give or take... But I see where you are using the FCB1010 and why. Nice setup there... :)

Well different strokes. I actually LIKE the newer spank models better. Less mud to these old ears... Of course the Pod patch we run it thru can make alot of difference too. :)

agreed. My JTV sounded muddy on 2&4 before. After the patch I couldn't help but like it. Sounds like a strat to my ears now and I didn't want to stop playin thru my fender blackface pod patch.

in retrospect I wouldn't have even considered the JTV without a pod to hook it to. Under my rock we play two kinds of music here, country AND western.... :P Fact is the pod gave me another excuse to buy another guitar. Im glad it worked out that way hehehe...

Silver, phil - Well different strokes I guess. But I can see your side, I just like um together. :) Also- Nice to see Hugo is monitoring the pages...

Oh yea I already did phil... Of course, I cant see for the life of me why you might own a digital guitar like the JTV without a digital platform (like the Pod) to play it thru... But I guess there's some out there... :P

" but what do pods without variaxes have to do with the topic? " Well, in my twisted way of thought process ;) - the Variax adapter type pods I think should have been considered programmed to use Workbench 1st since they have outsold the JTV's over 2 to 1 or more, as we have discussed... And other thing, if the interfaces have to use a very different software between the "plastic" interface and the Pod, thats poor R&D planning... For example if (in a perfect world) they used the same programming, then both would have been able to get the same updates at the same time.... Just talking out loud here. May be more to it... Hindsight is, well.....

Zap, phil..., I think if you counted the number of Pods with Variax interfaces sold versus the number of JTV's sold you would see its at least 2 to 1 and maybe lots more, but I digress.... Its all opinion cause neither have the figures and it all good... :D

Oh Im not frustrated, just stating facts. But they did this the last time too so i kinda expected it. And you are also right about nothing being perfect. Even where common sense shines light that there are more pods with Variax connections on them out there, than plastic interfaces... But it will happen so's its all good...

Well that's a nice way to say that, but I'm thinking that it took them just as much time to get signals out of the plastic interface as it would have getting the same signals out of a pod. So much better when they are tweaked together. Key words here however are "they decided"... And I sure can't dispute that can I... ; ) I can tell u that I'm really liking that spank #2 now. Less mud to my ears than before.

Well thats the old workbench, and it shows that your Variax is not at 2.0... The new workbench HD looks much different.

Very nice and THANKS!!!!!

Not that I dont appreciate the new software but...., I "want" to use my $700 HD Pro and workbench HD together in realtime to hear the changes made thru the patches in the HD Pro. Not thru a cheap plastic interface. I hope they fix this sooner than later...

Ive been toying around with Amplitube 3 as of late. Pretty damn decent tones there too for pure software. Im thinking Line 6 better get their moneys worth in the hardware arena now, cause in the next 5 years (and esp in the studio) we wont be needing it for the most part... ;)

I agree there is never enough dsp to suite many including me, but I just don't get why they didn't double it's power in the design phases of a new Pod... With size decreasing and power increasing in chipsets it makes no sense, unless this was just a production run change because the old chip was no longer available. But that is "pure" speculation, once again... Yes I'll go back to my corner now....

The marketing dept for most organizations would sell a polished up turd if they could save on the gold paint, but it doesn't mean they know anything. And they don't have to as long as it sells.. ; P

And yet, the outputs were totally overlooked for live use. No different cab/ no cab separations on the outs to the house, and to the stage amp.....

If you have the patience to work with the Pod and the rest of your gear, then go with the 500x. It has all you need and then some, but it is a challenge at times to get the sounds you may want. Its not perfect, but none of them are yet... If you expect miracles within minutes Id stay with pedals... My 2 cents