Palico

Does it sound good out of the stagescape and it's not overdriving the preamp? If the answer is No then just go with it. On gain staging, my main concerned is a good but not overdriven level. So if your not overdrivin the signal anywhere (that you don't intent to anyway) why worry about how many DB is applied.

Good quick How to on how to stretch them out. He is doing a acoustic but applies to electric as well. https://youtu.be/80EuGOXgoOo?t=8m41s

Bone nuts where what was on most guitars way back. Many still like them but personally I find they are newer material such as the Graphtec you have superior. The plastic ones even are not horrible if they are cut correctly. Sadly for as much as the JTV cost, they dont' seem to be setup very well from the factory. To the OP, yea find a lutither you can take it to and have new nut put on it and cut correctly. It will be much better and likely even play better after they do a setup which will be necessary with the nut replacement.

Ordered mine for Sweetwater which is great to work with. However; I always take new guitars to tech to setup. My 89f has 2 high frets on it out of the box. The setup from the factor was decent but local tech fixed the frets and reset it up much better. Plus long way from oversees where these are build or even from a setup a sweetwater to our location and sweetwater isn't fixing out of the box minor issues such as fret ends or perfect leveling.

Yep, pretty sure you are describing it accuratley... Basically it's very very similar to the below but uses the peizo ghost inserts instead of the normal ones. One of the pics shows the arm. http://www.graphtech.com/products/brands/tusq/product-detail/ps-0080-b0-lb63-fr-style-locking-bridge-with-string-savers---black?id=f229eea9-6776-4868-a9bc-e805e1bc7d4a If you haven't worked with floating floyds before though there are some drawbacks versus normal tremolo bridges. Since the nut locks retuning is not usually possible, although you can do digitally with the varaix instead of physical. 2. Hand pressure on for muting is important to get right, too much and you throw the tuning temporary out. 3. Without a tremolo stabilizer, doesn't come stock, bends are not as accurate, and double stop bends nearly impossible. Check out this on stabilizers (http://joe.emenaker.com/TremStabilizers/CantHelp.html). Of course the big positive is work the bar as hard a you want and it stays in tune, dive to strings a slack and just let go and your nearly perfectly back in tune. The graphtech is a awesome version of it as well. I've used several Floyd guitars before and this floyd version once I added a stabilizer is easily the best I've used.

The trem on the 89F is the Graphtech Floyd Rose, routed to dive or pull up (think Ibanez style). The arm attaches via a nut type setup you tension down to your preferred tightness/looseness.

For that one there is 2 keys. The overdrive is 100% on the drive setting and dial back just a bit ~80% on the output. I'm basically attempting to hit the "pre amp" really hard to distort it. With some my LP or other guitars I used output on overdrive at 100% but the 89F mags are high output already so I dial it back a bit for them. The second is using the T75 cab (instead of the G25 or V30) since the DOD overdrive is kind of dark sounding. The presence and treble are also pretty high up. Also on this vid, I was using the DI on the DT to our PA, which is 2-way crossed over with JBL 18 subs. Although the most of the sound is coming direct from the DT, running it to our PA spreads the sound out a bit and 18 subs do reenforce it bit.

With the L6 link it's going to use the POD amp models for pre amps, no matter what. That is what the L6link is for. If you like the DT tones just set them to the same "Pre" on the Pod and it *should* (some claim it don't but to me it sounds the same) match, if it doesn't sound the same to your ears then the 4cm is all you got left. The knobs on both units are linked over l6link, except the reverb and master volume knobs on the DT. Amp B is not used over L6 link as well, Although it's still there, so you could add a separate foot switch and still use it, but without the POD effects etc...., they will only come over Amp A.

Nice! :) Here's mine in action. JTV 89F (mags) ->Pod HD500(x)->DT25 (with Direct out to the PA as well as DT25, mostly the DT though). Patch is Gate->Overdrive (drive 100% output 80%) -> Plexi Lead 100 Pre -> T75 cab -> Plate reverb. https://youtu.be/TRDz86ZL7gY

Yep, The L6 link uses the Pre amp from the PODHD500x and the Power amp on the DT. So before after the preamp determines the effects position just like you would expect looking at the screen. Tip: You might want to try the "Pre" amps as they don't have the moddelled power amps. They are desigined to work with the DT although there are not rules on this just want works for you.

On mine 89f I love the stock pickups but don't like the Piezos that much. In 2.0 up they are very quaky and even in 1.71 sound a bit thin. Maybe it's a playing/muting style etc.... all don't matter to me. I need it to work the way I play, not the opposite. But the I love the way the guitar itself plays. The trem once improved with a stabilizer and setup properly is dang near impossible to knock out of tune. And as bonus, I had one of trem small lock blocks (small block that presses against the string) break on me. I contact Graph tech to get the proper part number and where to get them. Gutiar is out of warranty at this point. They send me the parts for free although I told them I likely over-tightened causing the problem.

Too steep for me. It would be a nice to have but not worth that much. Can go wireless without the VDI much cheaper already, if I really really wanted wireless. Now like someone said put into Helix along with Helix getting a DT integration. Then that might be enough extra features and sound improvement to get me to upgrade the my rig.

Got the same setup and don't have many issues. One problem that I have found that might be related. On the DT25 where do you have the channel volume knob physically at? On my DT25 I've had the opposite once in a while where volume just cut out. I found my volume knob on the DT25 was set to zero. Well that is fine since the patch controls it anyway but it seems being at either extreme seemed to override the POD. It was basiclly thinking the I moved the volume knob when I didn't. I found just putting it at noon before I started the night seems to resolve it.

The DT doesn't have the best acoustic tones but that is to be expected. As Matt pointed out there are some good ones to be had with some work. The DT DI is actually very good. I use on stage all the time and it sounds great via a PA. Mic'ed it up before too, works great that way too. Plus for the DT. It sounds and feels like a real amp. Tone for electrics is killer. Real amp behind you sounds different and is typically more natural unless you started out guitar in the digital FRFR world. Cons, not as good for acoustic tones. L6 link doesn't work if you wanted to later move to Helix. Might be subject to change but the way it is today. Plus for the Stagesource ( I don't own one to be clear, but my observation on FRFR in general). Great acoustic tones. Good tones from the PODHD itself as well. Maybe not quite as good as the DT IMO but still good. Upgrade ability to Helix as it already built in for it. Cons, not quite as good as DT IMO. Monitoring, unless you using the FRFR as your amp and then micin'g that maybe.

1. Have fun. Typically a cover band is not looking to go on tour, be famous etc... It's for fun and any audience is gonna pickup on if you enjoying yourself or not fast. I know you likely already know this but it's a good reminder. 2. Seems like this will be done for you already, but song selection is very important. Dance-able stuff is a huge plus in lot of places but not always. You have to play songs the audience wants to hear. Also no different that your original bands, song order is really important. Needs to have flow to it. 3. Pick a genre and work in it. With covers you can play a whole lot of different material. In my experice it's been best to find a genre that works for the band and kind of stay in it. You can step out a bit but don't want to wander from it a lot. 4. This one is arguable so I will preface this is my opinion. Hit the key signature parts of the cover but don't play it note for note. Anyone can go download the original artists playing the song, so make it yours. But if there is signature parts in the leads or riff try to nail those parts. 5. Depends on your original bands sets, it could be a bit tiring to play for 4 hours or more. Often in cover bands I will play 3 or 4 sets of 45 min. to 1 1/2 hours or so. 15 minutes and back on stage. It can be wearing on you, if your not used to it. I don't know your experice so may not be issue but worth considering.

Yep , quite often. Take a good bit of tweaking to find usable tones and includes some post EQ on these. Really guess what you define as "good". My tones my not be good to your ears. Often I've found stuff on Customtone that was not to my liking but it gave me ideas on how to use things and then adjusted them more to tone I"m looking for. https://soundcloud.com/phileos-675092539/no-more

Input 1= Gutiar & Variax Input 2= Aux (nothing plugged in). Couple of things. 1. I don't use multiple paths in my setups. Just one preamps, couple of pedals over L6 Link to my DT25. 2. My normal guitars are only actually plugged into the POD when used. Unplugged after the song. On those tunes, I just turn the Variax volume all the way down.

Very true. Musicians in particular guitarist can be a very judgmental group when it comes to gear. There is something nice about gear you can just plug in and go and have a good tone. The POD is not one of them, although the learning curve is not that huge either. My point was, that I would much rather and I believe would be more beneficial, to spend most of my time working on my playing instead of working on learning gear. Although I totally agree that you have to know a bit about your gear to get the most from it and that does indeed mean some time researching it.

+1. I love the modelling technology and options it gives me. I love the sound of a good Plexi. But I can't afford an original or even reissue, nor do I want to haul it around to some of the places I play. The modelling gives me a good simulation of that and tons of pedals to play with without worrying about wire lengths,buffers vs. true bypass, line levels etc.... But the Achilles Heal of it all is option overload and worrying to much about accurate tone, instead of accurate playing. Sometimes I miss the limitations of an amp, maybe a pedal or two and guitar, just making it work even when it didn't fit the song perfectly.

I only use 2 at the moment. One for Studio or direct. And one for the my live setup with the DT25.

lol. Not that old but I had not realized the pitch variations where still common before the computer based recording era. I did some recording when I was younger to 4 track tape. To me, then at least it seemed pretty accurate but it was also a home recording type of setup so all one take all instruments at once in different rooms. Never tried to play back against it. The next opportunity I had to record, which was much later, computers were in common use. So I've mostly been recording the computer era.

My 89f did not come with Strap locks. I put a set of Dunlops one it. I have one LP style guitar and have Schallers on it. As C-note said, I think both are really good. I prefer the Dunlops because of they use a clip to on the strap side. The Schallers have nut and that nut backed off on me once. A bit of tread locker on it solved that though.

Yea on your point 1. That was kind of what I was attempting to say. The completely computerized stuff at least for me takes away from teh music in IMO. I had heard of your point 2 but never realized it was that prevalent. Heard a couple of the Robert Johnson tracks supposed adjusted back for this. To me I was not sure the adjusted tracks were/are correct. But I can say his voice on the tracks adjusted back does sound at lot more like what I would have expected someone of his time frame and statue to sound like. Cool story too. Thanks for sharing.

If your not using all 8 of the foot switches then it would likely make more sense use "ABCD" mode instead so you switch quicker. Also I'm pretty sure the tap still takes if the Delay is disabled, because the tap in the system is can be used for multiple effects. Might not be helpful in your situation but might be as you could toss the delay in once you get chorus or some musical passage if fits. I'm not doing P&W at the moment, I did in the past so I know that style does typically use a lot of delay. In my realm I often hit delays for when I jump into a lead but those are not usually tapped as they mixed pretty far back anyway.

Which is exactly why you need tap tempo..... Might not be perfect but music rarely is. Listen to a lot of the older "classic" time tested songs. Then attempt to tap them into a metronome. You will either end up with conclusion the metronome is inaccurate, which is possible, or your tap as off, possible, or the original musicians deviated a bit, very possible. Personally I don't like recording a click track for this reason alone, it doesn't feel right. Starting off with one though is different as it helps with consistency. And your drummer/musicians do need be fairly accurate.