silverhead

That's the one I was talking about!! I'm waiting for April 1 2015. Betcha there's a cable-bot in the works, but only through the VDI.

It's a standard cable; the wiring is the same. Make sure you add the protective housing on the cable ends. Don't just use the RJ-45 connectors. Over time, movement of these loose ends will cause damage to the VDI jacks on the connected equipment. Or, there's this option: http://line6.com/support/topic/958-more-more-added-new-colors-cool-vdi-cable/

Ooops... sorry - I was wrongly thinking JTV-59. Thanks for the correction.

Sounds like your Tuning knob may have somehow rotated one position clockwise. Try removing it and reseating it, taking care that the Model position is at the extreme end of the counter-clockwise range of the shaft rotation. To do this, remove the knob by pulling it straight up off the shaft. If necessary, use a pair of spoons to gain leverage, using cloths beneath the spoons to protect the guitar body. With the knob off, use your fingers to rotate the shaft fully counter-clockwise. Then position the knob above the shaft so that the Model position is aligned with the light/position indicator. Reseat the knob by pushing it gently but firmly down on the shaft.

Correct - Line 6 would know the manufacturing date and engineering specifics based on the serial number, but we don't.

That sounds very similar to a problem I had with an L3t speaker. Mine was repaired under warranty - they replaced one of the speaker drivers inside. But during troubleshooting I found a couple of other things that sometimes caused a problem. Neither may apply two you, but..... - an L6 Link cable could be faulty or just not properly seated/connected. Try jiggling it (if you are using L6 Link). - the L2 speaker firmware may not be up to date. But the only way to update the firmware is using an M20d mixer. If you don't have one this is irrelevant. I would open a support ticket to work directly with Line 6 on this.

That's true - you really can't tell at the retail level when a particular unit rolled off the assembly line, unless that info is embedded in the serial number. And to my knowledge it is not embedded in the speaker products. That's why it may be better to get your unit repaired at no cost than get it replaced. First, you won't have a repeat experience; it will be fixed. And second, you'll be taking a flawed unit out of circulation so that nobody else will get the same flawed unit sometime later. Won't that just make you feel all warm and fuzzy?

I doubt that the fan-flawed units are still being shipped. More likely you got an older unit despite what the retailer told you. It could also have been sitting at the local distributor for quite some time, post-Line 6 and pre-retailer. I would open a support ticket and get Line 6 help to make sure you get a more recent replacement or get it repaired at a no cost to you.

You just need the latest update. Each update is comprehensive and includes earlier updates.

The type of pick you use matters too, perhaps more than the cable. I recall that in very early April a year or two ago Line 6 announced a pick-modeling product using some vintage picks. Don't know whatever happened to that.

Here is a HD500 preset designed for independent processing of guitar and mic inputs. http://line6.com/customtone/tone/215659/

1) Yes. I use it with no issues. Worked right out of the box, no programming required. Not sure about 2, others will help.

Not sure, but I know Line 6 prescribes that when using both DT and Stagesource, the Stagesource speaker must be connected last in the L6 Link chain. In other words, the Pod HD is connected directly to the DT amp and I believe that pairing determines things. Here's a snip from the HD500 Advanced Guide: *Note: It is necessary to always place the StageSource speaker(s) last in the L6 LINK signal chain (e.g. - POD HD500 > DT50 > StageSource L3). For more about using the L6 LINK connection, DT Series amps & StageSource speakers, please see the additional documentation available at http://line6.com/support/manuals/.

I believe that L6 Link detects whether the Pod HD is connected to a DT amp or a Stagesource speaker and reacts accordingly. Connected to a DT it configures to Live output mode (Stack Power) but with a Stagesource it retains its current output mode, presuming the user will match output mode to speaker mode using the stored speaker mode value in the preset. Or perhaps the Pod HD, which stores the speaker mode as part of its preset, uses that info to configure its output mode matching PA/Reference with Studio mode and Electric Guitar with a Live mode. At least that's been my observation - my Pod HD (both HD500 and Pro) is sometimes connected directly to an L3t speaker via L6 Link and I haven't noticed any change in the Pod HD output mode. It remains Studio/Direct and I configure my presets to set the speaker to PA/Reference. In any case, I think firmware v 2.1 is required for predictable results using L6 Link and a Stagesource speaker.

I can't see a photo either. Yes - try a factory reset. Make sure you use HD300 Edit to back up your bundle first.

I believe that Audacity by default uses a driver called ASIO4ALL. Check to see if that's what you are using. If so, that could be the cause of your problem. ASIO4ALL is a non-compliant ASIO driver and is known to cause problems with audio devices that require a compliant driver, such as Line 6 products. You should use the Line 6 driver that is provided for AMPLIFi if you are not already doing so. Even if you already have the Line 6 driver installed you may still need to configure Audacity to use it.

Please provide more information about your setup. - what are the various instruments and devices are you using and how are they connected? - what computer system and recording program are you using? What audio device and driver is your recording program configured to use? - are you using a very 'hot' guitar setup (active pickups, hot humbuckers, pickups close to strings, ...)? - what happens to your recording when you turn down the volume knob on your guitar for recording?

You need to assign the footswitches to control the desired FX. You do this on the HD Pro or using HD Pro Edit. In both cases visit the Controllers section of the edit pages / editor.

Have you installed the HD500 driver on your MacBook?

Excellent! You are right about a slightly different feel. That's because the Guitar input (and only the Guitar input) has a unique feature called Input-Z. You can obtain slightly different tonal effects using this setting. It's accessible on the Inputs Setup page (page 3 of 10). Try playing with it. The manual describes it like this: Guitar In-Z (Knob 3) - Select the input impedance of the Guitar input. This feature affects tone and feel because your guitar pickups are being loaded as they would be by an effect pedal or a tube amplifier.

When using the JTV with a VDI-equipped POD HD there is an option to reassign the JTV Vol and Tone knobs as HD FX parameter controllers. It is possible that the Hd500 preset you are/were using makes use of this option. In that situation the Vol knob will not respond as the guitar volume controller; it actually controls something else. Check the Mixer page using Hd Edit. Make sure the Vol knob is 'unlocked'.

To change speaker modes you need to manually set the speaker mode on the L2 then SAVE the preset on the Hd500. You need to do this once per preset; afterwards the speaker mode will be reset to the saved value every time you recall it. You can store a Variax model in the preset using the device itself or using Hd500 Edit. The simplest way is to use the editor; the settings are accessed on the Mixer page. Detailed procedures for using the device itself are clearly explained in the Hd500 Advanced User Guide.

What Line 6 device are you using?

Just pull it off. If it doesn't come off easily use a couple of spoons for leverage. Put some cloth beneath them to protect the guitar body and use the spoon tips to lift the knob straight up.

You can't really adjust the clipping threshold of any audio device; clipping is clipping - it occurs or it doesn't. You will need to attenuate the signal before it hits the input. You could try other hardware but I'm not sure that would result in anything different than lowering the guitar volume. In either case I expect it will affect your tone as described. I think you will need to find a way to restore your desired tone through post-input processing, while still avoid clipping in the processing. Seems like your guitar is very hot. Have you successfully recorded it without clipping at full volume using other audio interfaces?