zaphodboy

I use the Gibtone with the tube dive if you want something dirty. For something more subtle I use the Tweed with a screamer. Both work for me.

Totally agree. I have found that less is definitely more with the POD HD. Sure, everyone has a song or two in their set lists which needs a 'non standard' type of tone but my stock tones now just consist of a modelled amp (I run FRFR through an L3) with suitable gain dialled in, maybe a touch of compression then the top row of footswitches set as follows FS1 drive- to my ears the tube drive is the best followed by the screamer. I don't find any of the other drives usable FS2 modulation, usually the analogue chorus, occasionally a flanger FS3 delay, usually the digital delay FS4 boost- a studio EQ with gain set to +4db I know it's a crying shame that I only use a handful of the HDs 100+ effects but I find that using this configuration of footswitches coupled with the various HD amp models (and to be honest I only use 6 of those!) I can get more or less any tone I need. Like bjnette I have been down the road of tone building, with slightly different patches for every song but really guys, life is too short, and in a live situation maybe only 1% of the crowd is gonna notice anyway (different story for recording btw). Maybe I'm literally tone deaf, or easily pleased, or whatever but a JTV with simple patches from the HD500 going into a Stagesource is awesome!

Funnily enough I came across my old Korg the other week in a junk box...I think it was the A5 which I actually gigged with in the early 90s. I plugged it into my Marshall tube amp to see what it sounded like. The result? Embarrassingly bad...fizzy....hissy.....horrible! Just goes to show how far modellers have come.

No I don't unfortunately. Even if I did though I'm not sure it would help that much. Just as one 1977 Les Paul Standard sounds different from another supposedly identical guitar so do amps. I think you'd have to compare the sound to the actual amp L6 used to do the modelling to get a true comparison. What I can say is that my rig gets a great range of guitar amp sounds and I haven't yet found a tone I can't get really close to. How authentic they sound is another matter when compared to the real thing. Electric guitar mode models a speaker cab so in theory you should use the PODs PRE models otherwise you're modelling a speaker twice. I have tried this approach but thePA mode with full models on the whole sounds better to me.

Hi Fred. My L3 is 1400w. I have it set to the 12 o'clock notch position as recommended throughout the forums. With the L3 set like this the POD acts as a master volume and never really gets past 10 o'clock i.e. there is TONS of spare headroom. I have never played through an L2 but at 800w I would have thought it was plenty loud enough and a lot more portable than my L3 for most live situations. Once you get you're HD500x you'll find either L2 or L3 works fantastically well with it. Good luck whatever you decide.

Actually I have it set to PA/ ref mode except when using acoustic tones where I set it for acoustic guitar. Setting it to Electric Guitar mode just seems to EQ it, and not to my liking. That being the case I would imagine any flat p.a. (and some are flatter than others, right?) would do a similar job. The beauty of the Stagesource is it's connectability/ switchability by the POD.

I use JTV-vdi-HD500-l6 link-L3m. It's a very flat response set up and I find that right out of the box if you add an amp block with no effects or EQ (full model, not PRE) the amp is more than usable in a live situation (apart from the JCM model which I can't get right to save my life, lol). Sure you can tweak, add EQs, effects etc. and 'make it your own sound' but IMO you don't have to do it to get a decent live sound. The only difficult bit for me is volume matching the amps....now maybe that's something L6 could look at? All IMO of course :)

Whichever model you decide to go for don't be too fazed by 'all the problems' reported on the various forums. I am sure all those postings with problems are completely genuine but just bear in mind that for every problem post there are probably hundreds of problem free guitars. It's just human nature.......people who have a problem tend to shout about it far more than those who are happy. Those of us who work in retail know this better than anyone! Good luck with whatever you decide. Assuming you don't get a problem JTV ( ;) ) you'll love it!

You'll love it. I ummed and erred whether to switch from a full tube Marshall for ages, eventually made the switch and am genuinely blown away by not only the sound but the versatility.

Cripes Kevin, just noticed how many Line 6 products you have registered......I hope they send you a Christmas card or something!!! ;)

Hi Kevin First of all you must be hooked up the Variax to the Pod via a VDI cable so the JTV can transmit the digital signal to the POD. Assuming you have done that open up HD Edit on your desktop and click the mixer tab. you will see the Variax section on this screen. Select your Variax model from the 'VDI input' drop down and your preference for the functions of the knobs on the guitar using the 'Variax control' drop down. you should see options for the various Variax models appear and, underneath, the tuning options. Just choose which you want, hit 'send' as you would with any other patch and you're good to go. Hope this helps

When I first got my JTV a musician friend, who is VERY discerning by the way, came to see one of our gigs. At half time he made a bee line for me to tell me he was blown away by the tonal variations I was getting. As if that wasn't good enough, when I went into acoustic mode for a couple of tunes in the second half his eyes nearly popped out of his head! Now I know this is not entirely down to the JTV as the HD500 is doing a lot of the work but still I maintain that in a live situation virtually nobody will tell the difference between a JTV and an (insert favourite axe here). Sure, if you are scrutinizing the sound on it's own there may be slight differences but that's not really what the guitar was designed for.

Hi Fred My rig is JTV-HD500_Stagesource L3m, which I use for recording and playing live. This is a very flat system but even with this set up my patches don't sound the same in the studio versus live because of the extra volume live work entails (the Fletcher Munson curve). I find I have to take some of the bottom end out of the tone for live work.

Inevitably an FRFR system is going to sound better than a guitar tube amp for acoustic patches but I have read other threads about people with the DT amps claiming to have got some very passable acoustic tones. Myself I have the JTV-HD500-L3m rig so I can't vouch for them but if you search 'Rads Acoustic DT' in Customtone you will find an example which gets a 5 star rating. Good luck.

Gibtone and Park. Both really easy to dial in and are really expressive.

No worries mate. You'll find these forums really informative. There are a lot of good guys on here who have helped me no end over the years.

I agree with the Colonel. I have found my L2m to be very flat indeed but the added benefit of being able to switch speaker modes per patch I find really useful. It's SUPER loud too ;)

Hi Johnboy Welcome! Just like Silverhead says but for the speaker mode to save you must hit save on the POD and NOT through the edit software on your PC. Took me ages to work that one out!! Good luck and enjoy.

I had a problem with the first variax I was sent (from GuitarGuitar in the UK). It had a faulty controller knob. I called GuitarGuitar who sent a courier to pick it up the same day and dispatched a replacement which I received the following day. Sounds like your problem is with the retailer mate, not Line 6. Any good retailer will tell you that from a customer service perspective hiding behind a supplier when something goes wrong is just plain bad business.

It could well be the EQ settings. I had a similar problem with feedback until I read a thread on the L6 forum about the mid focus EQ. I dialled that in to some of my higher gain patches, turned DOWN the overall volume and I found I was cutting through the mix much better with no feedback. Using the mid focus EQ is a bit counter intuitive though because your tone will sound a bit harsh when you are playing by yourself but will sit in a mix much better. It worked for me, good luck!

To date I have never used any of the reso models but now want to give them a try. I would be interested to know what type of amplification people use, especially if using an HD500. Do you use amp models (if so, which ones) or do you treat them like the acoustic models and go direct? Thanks, in advance.

This thread was only started on the 24th October and got 98 replies. I just thought I'd post the link to save everybody a bit of time and frustration replying all over again! :P http://line6.com/support/topic/10055-hd500x-no-new-featuresno-updates/

This is the way I do it and it works perfectly.

I'm not sure about that Chralie. It's one of the top posts on Ideascale. It seems like a glaring ommision to me considering there are models for dobros, banjos etc which I would have thought were more niche than a nylon. I know a lot of people love the sitar etc but just sayin'.....

If I understand correctly you want to delete an effect from a patch (you said set list)? I use an HD500, not 500x but I assume it's the same. If so, on the right hand side of the effect block there is a small cross (x). Just click that and it's deleted. Hope that helps.