Palico

As already pointed out you might try moving the Digital Delay after the amp. In front or after the amp have been used to great effect but they do sound a bit differnet. Just asking because a Delay before a Gain can sound really odd, but the HD500 seres is prefectly capable of setting up amost anything you can dream up, even the unconventioal.

+1 yep the mix should do it. What order? Delay in Gain or Gain in Delay? Gain into Delay would be the normal approach.

That should fix it. Think about it. The vol is a like the volume knob on your guitar or amp. If I want the reverb trails and delayed notes to continue after you heel down, then you can't turn their volume off.

Where you do have the Vol in the effects setup? It needs to be in front of the delay and Verb. Otherwise you cutting those off when you heel down.

Just ordered me a JTV-89F in black from Sweetwater. I'm a long time Variax 500 user so I'm familar with the toolset. But based on your experience what do I need to check for when it arrives? This one is a demo so I know it will have some scratches etc.... Also seem a lot of people Checking for "plinkly" noise on the low E?

ohhh I could have wicked fun with my vocalist with that! Now just how to routine part of the mixing console to my POD and back live without my vocalist knowing!!!! :ph34r:

Your welcome, hopefuly the information helps you get the tone you desire. That really odd one! I guess it's something really more for Bass guitar. I'm guessing that would still be a parllel loop with band pass filter on it then. On Bass guitar the last thing I would want to do is lose the low end! But I can certinaly see pass just the high end of the signal over light chorusing effect, so it would add thickness to the bass guitar but not muddy it up to much. Hmmmm. Maybe I just learned a new recording trick for bass guitar! I could simulate that in a DAW. Never thought if it before.

is this old guitar worth the money for the modeling with my hd500? - That is a decent price for older Variax. is hardware likely to fail in short term? - Who knows? I use a old 500 and it still works great. Having a bad Peizo is the most likely issue you will run into. Eventually one day the entire board might fail, but it seems they have pretty good life span in that apsect. I suspect they will out last a lot of us. is modelling very different(in quality) than the newer models? - Yes. The modelling is supposed to be better. There were a couple of post aroud here with some sound clips. I think the JTV clips sound better. Getting ready to order me one very soon, hence why I watch this forum despise the fact I don't own a JTV yet. Should I better look for newer models? (but actually I can't because I won't have 1000$ in short time.) - Up to you. The old models work and play fine. They still sound and function like they did before. Not likely your getting rid of your main guitar in favor of this one anyway, but if you wanted advantages of the JTV and have the cash then order one. is it better for me to get a cheap Squier Bullet Strat than this old Variax? - Again a personal choice. The Variax will model the strat single coil tone (and a buch of others). Most likely it will have better sound than the Squire will due to the cheaper pickups they put in the Squire. But the Variax will not feel like the Squire. It doesn't have the same neck or body shape. The variax can model the sound a great Strat, it can't model the Physicality of the guitar. And you could upgrade the Squire to the point of pretty decent guitar. Only you can really anwser which is better for you. The Variax can be a fun guitar. The JTV *should* be the better model with upgraded appoitments, but just because the JTV is out there doesn't mean the old Variax's are bad guitars or quit working. You can use get the POD HD500(x) to integrate with the Variax an power it with the VDI cable. Since your at home and don't need a stage ready cable, if you look the VDI is really nothing more than a Cat5 or Cat6 networking cable. You have to test but I'll bet one of those would do the job. The old Varaixes can chew up some batteries quickly. If you have the HD500, not HD500x, then you can also download and use the old Variax Workbench as well. The HD500x works as far as playing with the old varaixs but it will not integate with the old Workbench, the HD500 still supports the old workbench.

Oh I forgot to add. I have not idea on what that "Chorus-Effects" patch is. I assume it is likely a parallel type of effects loop with a set Dry/Wet mix. Those are not really useful with a POD.

The POD provides two things for you. 1. It a good bit of build in effects boxes. Just like real stomp boxes some of those work better after the pre-amp (e.g. in the effects loop), some work better in front of the amp. 2. It is a modeller so it has models of lots of amps and cabnets in it. Those function as PreAmps. Your bass amp is designed to funtion as complete amp by itself. It has a preamp and power amp section. So you have a choice here, you can use the POD for the modeller preamps and general stomp box effects and use the Peavey to amplify that sound. Or you can use the Peavey's preamp (maybe you like it better than the PODs preamps?) and use the POD for just for the onboard stomp box effects. On the X3 you have to choose one or the other on the HD500(x) you actually can use either. I supposed on the POD you could use either on patch by patch basis. If you want to use the Amp models on the POD and never intent to the use the pre-amp on the guitar amplier your setup is simpler, just two cables. 1. Cable 1: Instrument -> POD 2. Select amps/cab/ you like on the POD. 3. Add effects, you can turn this on and off with the swtiches on the POD. 4. Set the POD output mode to "Combo Power Amp" 5. Cable 2: POD Live out -> "Patch" Power Amp In. 6. Adjust either "Master" on the POD or the "Post" on the Peavey to adjust volume level. I'm not really sure as I can't find how that "Post" level knob on the Peavey is designed. If you like the overall sound of the Peavey and want just the stomp box effects on the POD you will need 4 cables and you will be using the 4 cable method. 1. Instrument -> POD 2. Select the effects you want on the POD. 3. Set the Amp model on the POD to None. 4. Cable 2: POD effects send -> Peavey High Gain in (try low gain might work better?) 5. Adjust EQ on the Peavey to be what you want. 6. Cable 3: Peavey "Patch" Pre Out to POD effects return. 7. Cable 4: POD Live out -> Peavey "Patch" Power Amp In. 8. Balance your volume using the POD Master and controls on the Peavey. Careful not to overdrive levels unless you like overdrive and that's what you want. Being you are running a guitar into a bass rig you might have to use a bit more high and presences in the EQ than normal. But then again the famous Fender Bassman was really a Bass guitar amp too, and SRV used Bass gutiar amps and/or cabs from time to time as well. A bass guitar cab might actually work out better if your into heavy detuned music and it will produce the low end sound better. Hope this helps you get this working.

U wanting to use the X3 live for amp models or just effects as well?

1. Is the signal good in Audicity? E.g. somwhere between -6 and 0 db? If so then you have good signal just turn down the headphone volume using the physical "master" (not channel) on the POD itself. It acts as the headphone volume and shouldn't affect what is sent to Audicty. 2. If you are not getting a good signal to Audicity or just want more there, go into the line 6 control panel (in line 6 folder) and there is a 18db boost that can send more signal to the DAW.

+ 1 with the others to a certian extent, depending on the sytle of music you play. Heavier strings have more mass therefore ring out more indeed. But as some have pointed out Billy Gibbons supposely uses 7. Many of the shreders supposely use 9s. So I think it depends a lot on the type of music you are playing. but I would agree with this as a general statement. Bigger string do have more inhert "tone". I use 10s and I find it nice balance and fit my current sytlistic choices. I have used up to 12s in the past, while the sounded great, they do affect they way you play. On the pics I actually find thin pics to be slower. They don't have much impact on the strings and bend way to much to use alternate picking or sweeping very well. Again this can be stylict choice. If you want to shred you will almost have ot have a stiff pic, which usually means at least fairly thick. And I agree the tone differences can be huge. But for nothing but chords on say an acoustic part a thin pic produces melted sound that can not be duplicated with heavy pics. Not a sytle I use so I don't own any and personally I don't recommend anything below a Medium. You just can grab single note with them well. Sharp pics I find faster because of the very narrow contact with the stiring. But they have "click" type of sound I don't like. Lately I'm into Heavy 1.5mm Nylon pics. They seem to have warm type of tone. I used the ones with grips just for the simple purpose that on some stuff I like the turn the pic around and actually scrap the grip part across the string. It's odd type of sound the ends up muddying the tone is a cool way. Again that is a stylist choice that I only use on certian songs or just parts of songs.

There have been post after post on this idea on the forums. Most seem to have idicated the two act in conjuction so if you turned down the POD master(output) its going to lower the input the tubes, thereby not getting the "cooked" effect. Similar to turning down the guitar volume, it's just getting less signal, thereby not pushing the tubes. The only thing to get the "cooked" effect at low volume is a very low wattage amp or a attunator. Althought there are tons of other advantages to having the HD500(x) with the DT. If that works for you by all means use it but I could not not recommend buying the HD500 just for that. Too many discussion on the forum with no clear answer if that really works or not.

The problem is not really the modelling, it is how we use it and what we expect from it. A great tube amp does not sound the same recorded as it does live. Tomes of material has been written on how to try to get a good recorded sound, but with a decent tube amp almost anyone can do it live. So why would we expect the Modellers to be different? They are just a digital repsentation of those old amps we know and love. Even with the old gear, if we attempted to do things live we do now all the time with the POD, would we have the same issues? So say I got a Fender Dexlue and Marshall Plexi. I hook up my guitar and some pedals to the Fender and get a wonderful tone. Then I hook up to the Marshall and get a great gain type tone. I'm happy, I show up a Rehersal. So I play the Fender on one song and then switch to the Cranked Marshall on the next. Would I expect the volume levels to comparable? Nope the amps are completley differntly. But we do this exact thing with the Modellers. The point being recorded tones and live tones are not the same medium therefore you have to build and approach them differently. A full band vs. a single guitar is differnet and you have to appraoch them differnetly. You have recevied some great tips on how to accomplish that above. In the end Modellers like the POD are wonderful tools but they do take work and understanding of how amps and effects react to get the most from them without them driving you insane. That's is why as much as I love my Line6 gear, I don't think it fits everyone either.

Depends on your DAW really, some of them just don't bring in much signal strength. Personally I use Plug-in on my DAW to reduce the input volume to about -6-8db. The final mix works better and other plug-in seem to work better that way. But some DAW just don't get much. I've used the boost before on Bass guitar becuase my Bass just don't have much output though.

Wasn't there a 18DB boost in the POD USB driver somewhere that might help?

That is one I would love to see, to be able to purchase specific amps or pedals. However; I would also like the same thing from my cable company. But I know I'm not likely to see much of either. We are getting the Global EQ for free though. Which for the home hobbist is likely not a big thing. For the gigging guitarist that is huge.

No problem with the pricing and I plan on getting the full bundle. Axe Fx/Kemper/[insert new expensive wizbang here] inital cost is also much much higher than Line 6 charges for their products, as you pointed out. This is speculation but perhaps this is why those companies can afford to give away some of there work on upgrades because of that inital price point. Those upgrades cost money to develop, regarless of what company produces them. Programmers, Managers, Project managers, marketing staff, etc.... don't work for free.

Yep ^ what he said. The POD does have output mode for the "Combo Front" that helps some. Run the EQ on the Fender straight up and down. You might also try maxing them. I watched your vid but I didn't see the fenders, just the Peavey speakers you had behind you. Can't tell much about tone because it sounded like that was just a cheap mic in the room picking up the overall sound. Based on the style of music you play, those Fender's aint gonna cut it for inhert tone, so I doubt the 4 cable method and using the Amps preamp would work for you. If you getting your gain mainly from a pedal instead of Amp sim, you could try it, but most likely it woudl sound thin.

Are you using the L6 Link? If not likely why you don't like it. Use the L6 link and the "pre" models on the POD. They are the same as the internal models on the DT. Over the L6 link the DT uses te POD models instead of the internal ones. The only reason they might be different is if the POD Flash up to date and the DT is not. Some say they can hear a slight difference between using the DT directly and using the POD over the L6 Link. I always keep my flash on all my L6 gear up to date and I don't hear it, but I guess everyones ears is different.The concept is the POD controls and drives the DT, not the other way around. The only thing that works the opposite way is the knobs, using the L6 link. The Knobs on the DT will adjust the amp model on the POD. No the DT will not recall settings on the POD. If you dead set on using the DT directly and not using the POD amp models, you could use the 4 cable method with the DT but that would seems a waste.

Learned long ago, espcially with tube amps you don't need lots of wattage to be loud. If you want squeakly clean tone at high volume, that's where you would want the high wattage. But if your like me and actually like the amp that starts breaks up at at high volume then a low wattage amp will get you there. Played my DT25 combo outside unmic'ed in full band set. Setting on it was about half way up.

Are you going into the FX Loop on the Fenders or the Front of the Amp? That could make a huge difference. The basic problem is the Power amp and the Speakers on the Randall are not the same as the Power amp and the speakers on the Fender (even if you using the FX Loops on the fender). The POD can't change a 75 watt speaker in a 25 watt or the other way around. So the patches tweaked for one might not work in another. And some models on the POD might not work as well. Plus other factor such as if the Randall power section tube vs. what the Fenders are etc....? As pianoguyy above said you have to tweak this thing to what you are running it into. Also as he pointed out the most authentic sound is to run it into a system that is as Flat as possible, staight to PA is alternative some choose. There are others such as the PE60 amps, or the DT amps, but those are not free or cheap in some cases. I would guess most people playing the POD units live, do not use a differnet amp when they go from one location to the next. I do some Jam gigs around here where I'm not bringing my Amp, but I never bring my POD to those. I either just use what's available, or I got a couple old school pedals that I keep around. But truthfully even those old school pedals all react very differently to different amps. I've found you take some like the old standard DS-1 and plug it into a Fender and it typcially sounds weak and thin. Plug it into a Marshall, even the cleaner Marshall and you got a nice think tone. So even they suffer from the same thing. If your Randall is not loud enough for rehersing with then bring one of fenders home to tweak out or get there when you can and build up patches from ground up specificly for them.

The model packs will contain HD models as well as some of the most requested "PodFarm" models, look up the threads on "New from Feb NAMM, Line6 staff chimed into clarify a lot of exactly what your asking here. I assume the "PodFarm" models is the same as the X3 models. Still happy to have the ability to get some of them like an acoustic amp even if it's not HD. As for the FireHawk my understanding is doesnt' have the routing ability of the HD500x. It really seems like a crossover between the Amplfi and the HD500x,

true by-pass, never seen anything on that but I sure it's not. If using for effects only I think you can still use the 4 cable method on the X3, althought I'm not entirely sure. Youtube it and you see how it would be done to try.