Palico

1. My understanding is they use a crystal so there is some various between each one off the line. Graph Tech etc... attempts to match them well but there are variances. 2. I think some are more sensative to others and pick up part little things that a mag pickup would not. I find my JTV using the peizos all of them are a bit "quacky" sounding, often this a description on acoustic/electrics as well. I can EQ them out for the most part. On the original post I had one that was really bad. Replacing it seemed to mostly solve the issue. Personally my Variax 500 has much better sounding peizos in it but it doesn't play nearly as well as the JTV 89F does. Currently I use the Mags ways more and am still working on adjustments for the modeling. I don't mind saying the modeling side of the JTV has been a disappointment to me, but I still love the guitar itself and variax side is usable. 3. Maybe. If there is mechanical problems, string buzz etc.. this is much more noticable on the peizeos than the mag pickups. But the trem itself is not causing damage to the piezos.

HD500x

DT25 head on MF and GC is on sale @ $499 great price. The DT25 combo at normal price. So I don't think it's a death spiral yet or end of life for the DT series just a good sale.

Here me on stage with mine! Okay I an't famous but the photographer did a good job of making me look that way!

Okay just because it's a less DSP and free slot, I set my volume pedal to the amp's channel volume. However; this does not fully mute the guitar? It *mostly* turns it off but on headphones if I cranck up the master volume (headphone) volume there is still just a bit of coming thought. Inssert a vol/pan and drop it and it kills all the noise. Is this a known issue? Or is this really accurate as I'm dropping the "pre" amp input but could still get a bit over the power amp? For now I guess I need to just setup volpan effect to make it work the way I need.

1. I stil have an use Variax 500. It works fine. I also recently got my JTV 89F and the nice thing about it is the magnetic pickups in will still work or at least I can rewire the guitar to work, even if the Variax side completely dies. So I think the JTV will last quite well. 2. Maybe who knows? With the Yahama purchase is what actually enticed me to finally upgrade to the JTV. I wanted to get one ahead of any switch over to Yahama based guitars. Played Yahama ones before and they are not bad guitars at all but they ain't gonna hold up to a Tyler either, even if the JTV is really a "Tyler designed" guitar. Personally the Variax side I find plinky and not really that great, althought not the bad. I find the modeling on my old 500 really was better on some models, of course I'm still working on getting my JTV balance out and working better so maybe over time I will get the modeling working better.. The my JTV fit, feel and playability however far outweights my old 500. I use the JTV as my primary and the 500 as backup for the moment.

Nope those control the settings on the DT when used over L6 Link.

Agreed on the lack of a switch and the power plug. The editor and software too me I think most people expect too much. If you got all these pedals and amps one room and started just hooking up cords and guitar how long and how much effort would it take the find the tone you are looking for? Probably a pretty good while to dial it all in and then find something what works. I look at the patches the same way. I also think there is at least one other area you missed. Volume leveling between patches. Line 6 please next time around put at DB meter on this so I can level the volume level between one patch as the next a bit easier.

Yes, I have satisfied with my HD500 and DT25 as well. The capabilities are quite amazing. And I also agree it doesn't mean we can't talk about what could be improved. This tread was mostly about it's disadvantages, that is the one I have to watch out for. I'm pretty good about not over tweaking it but it was something I got a bit lost in a first until I learned to tame myself with it.

I'll take what I see as the biggest disadvange of the POD and not really something Line 6 can fix, it's more of a problem of the technology. Option overload, you can spend way too much time tweaking instead of just dealing with the minor things instead of playing. Old school setup you had to deal with it or spend a good bit for $$$ to get a different setup. If it wasn't perfect it just wasn't perfect. I try to keep my mindset on that with the POD as well and not worry about the minor stuff as long as the overall tone fits what I need.

You won't fry anything but if the input is to much on the A/D converter you could end up with digitial distortion which doesn't sound good. If you get too much distortion on the A/D converter you might try putting in the effects loop, assuming you not using it for something else already.

Pete Anderson. Here is the Rig rundown I saw before for those that might have missed it in the other post. https://youtu.be/1SN_0U1Gslo?t=23m23s He talks a bit about the changes to his Blackface which is what is modelled here.

This can work. But all the effects will be in the Amps effects loop. Modulation, Delay and Reverb effects will work good here but your gain effects such as distortion generally will not sound good. Using the 4 cable method like I had above will mean the guitar amps pre amp will be in the PODs effects loop. So you turn on the POD effects loop and then you can have the effects before or after the guitars pre-amp. It's an extra cord but give you much more flexablity with the POD. Differences. 1. The guitar goes into the POD First not the Amp. 2. The POD effects send to the Amps Guitar input. 3. The amps effects send to the POD left effects return. 4. The POD Live out to the Amps Effects return. The Bugera 333 has levels on the send and return. So you will have to play with the levels on it and levels on the POD to find the best noise ratios.

I agree. I didn't notice it in the list of new amps at first. So I saw someone posted a Rig Rundown where it was explained where it came from. So I setup a quick patch for it for some Blues and Rock type stuff using a Soul Food pedal (actual pedal) in front of it. The tone even across my DT was outstanding with no tweaking just the pedal amp and just a touch of 'verb on it, and was even better at a gig and at gig volume. That got me thinking that often we know the amps used, or at least can find the amp model used, on a lot of the tones we all desire. But who knows about these amps themselves. Are the modified, what post processing etc... The POD is wonderful device, but at the end of the day the tone is what we are all looking for. The difference between this amp model and the Blackface which *should* be the same or very similar but I find they are not. Also a lot of the old amps and guitars were different from each one off the line. Certian exact pickups on guitars have even a lore about how they came to be, how many wraps etc.... This means 2 Fender Strats in the 50s/60s etc... coming off the line could sound quite a bit different. Amps had to be simliar, not to meantion what the guitar techs etc... of the time did with them/to them for various reasons. I know it's not possible for Line 6 to necassarly get a hold of all these specific amps but I think the Black Face Pete proves that it might be worth while to explore this option for the ones they can get ahold of.

From your description I could not tell exactly how you have it hooked up. 3 connections? "Guitar in[pod] -> fx loop out, and Live out -> loop return." So the 1. Gutiar to POD. okay 2. fx loop out? connected to? 3. Live out -> loop return. okay cable 4? If you don't want to use the pre amp on the amp itself. Then normally just Gutiar -> Pod and then Live out -> loop return.

4 cable method. Cable 1 Guitar -> POD Guitar In Cable 2 POD EFF SEND -> Amp Gutiar In Cable 3 Amp Effect Send -> POD EFF RETURN (left) Cable 4 POD Live out -> Amp Effect Return. I do not think you can control the Amp channel with the POD. Maybe someone else will know. If it is possible it woudl be done via a MIDI interface and the amp would also have to accept MIDI which I do not see on Bugera head.

Possible? Maybe with a lot of work, seen it used the old Variax quite a good bit. As for parts you will have to get either get a 89F from somewhere or buy parts individually. Line 6 doesn't sell any conversion kits etc..

After my first experice with the using the Black Face Pete model at a gig, I wonder if maybe Line 6 as company should start seeking out specific amps used on some of the famous recordings instead of amps of the same type to model. What we as guitarist often want is to get a tone like various artist we like.But often the amps they used might very well have been modified along the way, as in sometimes to improve them or to just fix problems. That Black Face Pete model was killer last weekend at the show. Better I think than the standard Blackface model. Likely becuase it modeled Pete's amp, which itself has GT tubes and some other appoitments an origal Blackface don't. Anyway, just food for thought.

You check the "Master Effect" setting on the Valvestate as well? Maybe the noise is from the Valvestate preamp?

Depends on what it would have to offer over the current. If it offers enough stuff I want them I'm in.

Check the patch on your headphones before connecting to the ValveState and see if the noise is already there. If so put a noise gate or hard gate in the patch to tame it down first. Some of the high gain models in the POD are noisy when cranched just like the real counterparts. Elemiate the possiblities. Other thing is make sure the "Master Effects" on that is turned all the way to "EFF". That is parallel loop so you need to make sure you not geting any signal from the Valvestate preamp directly.

Follow up just for anybody in the future reading this thread. Okay the new Piezo came in. It solved 95% of the problem. The noise when away on every model except for some reason the Semi model althought it's a lot less noticable on it. So after getting it setup back up. I lowered the the string volume level on the Semi on the D string and G string and it seem tolleriable for now, that model also seems very very bright sounding. Rolling off the Tone knob seems to help it quite bit and the quack then goes away entirely. Oddly enough it seems to have mostly solved the crosstalk problem as well with Alternate tunings. There is still a touch of ghost notes in it, but I think I can use it. I have not attempted it over my DT25 yet at stage volume to really tell.

+1 :) I'm loving the new models. You can count me in on this one. The 5150 cranked up can be can of angry bees, but pull it back a bit and across my DT25 it has great note defintion and sounds great. Default setting I thought could be better but those are just defaults. The Roland sounds spot on. Not one I use much but nice to have it. And finally a workable acoustic model. It's not pefect but at least I have an acoustic type model to work with and no strange setup on to get it over to the DT.

Not sure if these will work but you can try it and see. The Valvestate has a Parallel effects loop which might affect this but you can try it and see. 1. Guitar into POD guitar input. Option 1: Use the POD for amp models, not using the ValveState for anything else besides a Power Amp. 2. Set your Effects Amp model etc.. in the POD. 3. Set POD mode to Combo Power Amp. 4. 1/4" output from POD to Valvestate "Master Return". 5. Set the Valve "Effects" all the way to "Eff". Option 2: Into the front of the Valvestate. Least desirable but workable. 2. Set Effects Amp model etc.. in the POD. 3. Set POD mode to Combo Front. 4. 1/4" output from POD to ValveState Input. 5. Set Valvestate in "Normal" channel. 6. Set all ValveState EQ all to 12'oclock. 7. Set ValveState Gain on "Normal" channel fairly low. 8. Adjust VavleState "Master Volume" to taste. (if you have distortion on a Clean POD setting, adjust the ValveState "Normal Gain" and POD "Master" to remove it. Option 3. 4 cable method, gives you the option to use the ValveState's PreAmp or one on the POD. Lots of videos on youtube etc... on this. Just look up a couple for more details on this one. Very Flexable setup but overkill if you dont' need it. 2. Set POD effects as desired. Set a desired Amp model and then set Amp Model off. 3. Set POD mode to Combo PowerAmp. Might try other modes as well. Not sure exactly which would work best here. 4. POD Effects Send to ValveState Guitar in. 5. ValveState Send to POD Left Return. 6. Set the ValveState "Master Effects" all the way to EFF. 7. 1/4 POD output to ValveState "Master Return" 8. Put the effects loop in the patch. The effects loop is now the Valvestate's pre amp section. Put pedals before or after as desired. 9. Now you can set a single button to turn off the Effects loop and turn on the POD's amp model at the same time. This will effectly let you use the POD amp models or the ValveState's preamp. If there are more options I'm sure someone will come along and remind me.

Check each of the Variax postion carefully on every fret. I'm replaceing a Piezo becuase one was oversenstive but only on the open D note and more pronouced when I tuned it (manually not knob) to Eb. FYI I have the 89f, the mags are quite good. I also had 3 high frets, which my local luither fixed and the nut need to have shim removed. They really are great gutiar and if returning is not option, if you have any peizeo problems GraphTech support is very helpful. The bridge itself works really well once you get it set right.