spikey
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Posts posted by spikey
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@ spikey: glad to hear you've found something that suits you better. Keep us posted about how you feel about the Axe longer term. I know it's more $$, especially with the footboard, so I'm interested in your opinions about value-for-dollar.
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
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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.... ;)
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Nice but the do it yourself ability helped the cost a bit. You're braver than I am.
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...
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There are many of us who don't use PODs. I plug my JTV directly into my Vetta2 and call up presets using a Behringer FCB1010 MIDI pedal, and based on the Vetta forums, there are many other people who use this setup. I don't like any PODs and Line6 foot pedals because they only give me 4 or 5 presets per bank and I like having 10 presets per bank.
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... :)
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The stock Spank models (especially positions 2 & 4) are not as good as the old models, but the blending can mostly overcome that!
Cheers
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. :)
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Probably the positions I use most on my Variax, honestly, and I love 'em. Sounds much more authentic to my ears now than before. I have five other Strats currently, and I've done A/B comparisons - pretty darn close now.
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.
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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...
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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...
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Think of it this way - everyone who has a JTV has the Workbench interface. Not everyone has a POD. Hence the priority to the Workbench interface.
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
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" 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.....
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not true... the update only applies to JTV's and every one of them shipped with the plastic interface...
not every JTV owner bought a pod.... (although probably most did)
i want it to work through the pods too... but truth is truth :)
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
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While I can understand your frustration, all I can say as someone who used to work in Software, is every single thing you do, no matter how small, takes some amount of time. I for one am glad they released it now, rather than having us waiting for another few weeks to also get it working for the POD only people, especially as all JTVs are shipped with the interface cable. If Line 6 waited until everything was perfect and finished, we still wouldn't even have the POD HD500. :)
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...
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I think it's already been mentioned, but that will change in the future. They decided to release the update with this limitation rather than delay it further while they work that bit out.
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.
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Well thats the old workbench, and it shows that your Variax is not at 2.0... The new workbench HD looks much different.
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I've created a chart of the different guitars. You can download it here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27557/Variaxes.pdf
Very nice and THANKS!!!!!
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you can use the 500, 500x, or pro (or pretty much any variax enabled pod) to update... only workbench has the issue.
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...
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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... ;)
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I see the "DSP Limit" is still being reached in the HD500x, albeit at a 'higher' level. Not surprising, really, because of the device design. This argument has been going on for years, and you either like this design or you don't. There ARE Pod HD models that do not have any apparent DSP limit - the Pod HD300/400.
The following snippet is from a post I just made in another thread.
It is not intended to ignite the old debate - it's just intended to clarify (for new readers) two design approaches to the reality that ANY processor has DSP limitations. The options are: hide the limitation and prevent users from using all available DSP in most situations, or expose the limit by putting the user in control of DSP management. Your choice - but there is NO DSP processor that is unlimited. The debate really is whether or not the Pod HD dual-path devices (all models, including the 500x) have 'enough' DSP - but of course there's never enough. The real question is: do you want to be able to use all that is available, or not?
Re: DSP overload - the X3 has its DSP limitations too, as does any processor. Most processor manufacturers guarantee that you will never observe those limits by constraining your selection and placement of FX. In the X3 you can't use both a distortion and overdrive in the same Tone. You are limited to 3 FX blocks from which you can only select one instance from that group of FX. The same constraining design applies to the HD300/400 - you will never encounter the DSP limit because it is engineered away. With this design model, in any preset that uses DSP-light selections for the FX slots, there is a LOT of technically available but actually wasted DSP I prefer the HD500/Pro/Desktop design model. The user is in control of all available DSP, and the selection and placement of all FX is entirely at the user's discretion - up to the point that all available DSP is being utilized; that's when the DSP Nanny steps in and prevents you from doing any more.
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....
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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
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If that's the case, it solidifies what I've always said, the HD series was clearly designed for the performing guitarists in mind rather than the recording guitarist; factor in EQ that doesn't show frequencies, DT50 interaction, L2 functionality and the case is ironclad.
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.....
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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
Hd Pro X
in POD HD
Posted
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 ...