bmcoonan

Line 6 returned my HD500x after warrantee work with the following explanation: "We replaced the following switches SW5,7,8,9,10,11. and plungers for the switches." which seems to be what is occurring on most of the repairs I've seen - footswitch issue.

I received my HD500X back from Line 6 and it works just like new again. The work that was done was "We replaced the following switches SW5,7,8,9,10,11. and plungers for the switches." Back in business!

Update - on 8/4 I was told I was going to get an RMA number to send in my HD500X for warrantee work - have not heard from Line 6 since after 8/4 when they asked me to update my address, which I did that day. I'm really hoping I didn't speak too soon about the customer service part. :(

I actually made a comment on your thread before I saw you commented on mine...lol.

Just to update the thread - Line 6 support has graciously worked with me to send it back to them for repair, even though it's slightly outside of the 1 year warrantee, which rocks. There was one guy somewhat locally who was a registered service center but after talking to him, and his attitude about the whole thing (saying "find out about the warrantee first and then maybe I'll take a look at it" - what the hell?) I wasn't feeling all that confident in visiting him. So - I'll update again once the whole thing is over with and I get it back, but I at least wanted to give a huge thanks to Line 6 for supporting one of their customers - I've used Line 6 stuff for years, ever since the first POD came out - it's nice to feel like that is appreciated by them. :) Brian

Same problem with my HD500x - to the point where I couldn't control it at all. In working with support, they are allowing me to send it in for warrantee repair even though it is slightly outside the 1 year time frame. I would encourage you to work on getting the problem resolved - it's not a firmware or cabling issue - it's more serious than that - definitely hardware related. And it looks like this bug is showing up more and more in the forum with varying levels of severity. Good luck! Brian

My bottom row of switches don't appear to 'click' anymore - like I can't feel when they are actually changing like I could when I got it a year ago - the 4 up top still do, but then I don't use them nearly as much so in my experience, I don't find them to be that robust really.

Well last night, the HD500X really f'd me - thing would NOT stop doing stuff like turning delay on and off, not staying on the bank I pressed, not letting me shut the delay off when it DID turn on, changing mid-song if I WAS able to get it to a different patch, etc. One thing that I wanted to share in case anyone else uses this set up - I had a MIDI cable going to my amp (JVM210C) to change modes - last night prior to bypassing the HD500X entirely, the MIDI channel on my amp was flashing non-stop - as if I were hitting patches on the HD500X that would send a signal to change the mode - and that change was audible as well - every time it would cause a < 1 second break in the sound - which pretty much sucked. At the break I turned everything off and pulled out the MIDI cable which luckily stopped that from happening but the HD500X was still bouncing all over the place to where I couldn't use it at all. What I did - I reset the HD500X to factory, insured that it's got the latest firmware, reset my amp, swapped every cable I could and no change - I believe the issue is truly within the HD500X which I registered on 7/21/13 - just long enough to be out of warranty probably - I hope that Line 6 will help but the thing is right now a pile of nothin...cause I can't use it. I opened a support ticket - hoping that I get some help from Line 6 to either replace it entirely or provide some type of option for low cost repair - the thing is only a YEAR old. Or perhaps I just have to go back to analog, who knows.

Thanks duncann - at least good to know I'm not crazy! You know like thinking I stepped on it but didn't? lol. I have to test it out at home I guess a little - it's only happened while playing actual shows which is really why I'm hoping it doesn't get too bad. :)

Hi - Wondering if anyone has experienced the HD500x changing patches on it's own? I use the HD500x basically as an effects box to my JVM with MIDI to control my amp channels. Lately, I will be playing and step on say patch 2 - and within a second it'll go back to patch one. Sometimes it won't change at all - but more frequently it'll go back to the previous patch. Wondering if this could be something MIDI cable related? I don't have a lot of experience in that arena, but just wondering if using that could make odd things happen at times, like if the MIDI cable was maybe going bad. Anyway - thanks for any info you might have. I haven't reset the HD500x to factory or anything like that yet - I've been able to get back to where I need to by stepping on the patch button a couple times and it's intermittent - so I'm not convinced there is something wrong with hd500x yet at this point. Brian

I played with a GT10 (still own it actually) and was never really impressed by the tones I could get with the amp modeling. I also felt that the programming of it was quite intense (multiple volumes, EQs, levels etc) which I'm sure was a benefit but for me, I was looking for something that was a little easier to get going on - to me I feel like the HD500, and now the HD500x offer that. I did like a lot of the FX in the GT10 though.

Hey buddy - our show was cancelled due to weather but I would have been running out from the tech 21 to the mixer...not mic'ing it because of the mic sims. However...we did practice at volume and I wasn't really happy with the sound of it so I returned the tech 21, as well as the hd500 and upgraded to the hd500x. Got it for 450 at guitar center! Now I'm going to be using the variax into the hd500x (which will still let me use the alternate tunings that I need/want) and then into my Marshall JVM. Won't be using the amp sims from the HD except for recording. I just found (personally) that I like the sound of my Marshall better. I do LOVE how the Variax and the Hd500 work together though and there are plenty of patches where I'm staying on the clean channel of my amp, but using like the tube distortion the the HD500x I'm thinking that adding the DT amps to this setup probably would make a huge difference but don't really have the $$ right now to do that- maybe down the road! Brian

Pretty sure the Tech 21 Power Engine 60 I have is FRFR - if it's not it sure acts like it. It's just a solid state clean amp and I'm totally happy with it. The patches I've made in the HD500 sound the same through head phones, into my DAW, and through the Tech 21. Thing has quite a bit of volume too if needed. I'm playing my first live gig with this set up this coming Friday so that will be the real test on the feel part of your question...hopefully it does.

Hi - I have the Hd 500 with a JTV89 now - and it seems like randomly, I lose my tunings on patches. Just a bit ago, I played on a patch that I had done several days ago and was saved and after coming back to it (after powering off the HD 500), I went to the patch and the tuning that I had configured was gone. I had to go back in, go to the menu and select and change the 'variax tuning' from don't force to custom and resave. When I went off of 'don't force' the original tuning was there but it didn't 'catch' when I switched to the patch. Seems odd and bug-like. Anyone out here have a similar experience? Thanks much, Brian

Ok - will give that a try. Thanks!

Hi everyone - got my 89 today (very happy with the feel and playability so far) but my computer doesn't seem to "see" it. And wonder of anyone might have any ideas. I have a Mac - downloaded the latest version of monkey, plugged the USB into the back (as opposed to the keyboard USB ports). Plugged the VDI into the variax, other end to the USB 'adapter' provided by Line 6, USB into the other side of the adapter, and end of USB to the back of my iMac. Seems like this is something that should just work without a lot of rigamarole. Initially, I did not have the battery in the guitar, also tried it with the battery in - but perhaps it was t charged enough yet. Does the battery need to be in to do any upgrades through monkey? Thanks much. I tried a bunch of keyword searches prior to posting but just came up with a bunch of nothing. Brian

Tech 21 Power Engine 60 rocks...$339 new I think

I just got a Tech 21 - sounds great with the HD 500 - and plenty of volume for stage.

I was using the edit software at the time...so it was plugged into USB when I powered the HD 500 on...just odd because I never had the patch in the user 1 bank at all. I'm thinking it was some type of thing on my part like I had user 1 selected but had the hd500 on user 2 maybe and it "receive selected" or something. Was curious to see is anyone might have had a gremlin like this

I had an odd thing happen the other day with my new HD 500 - I created a patch to use the Hd 500 as an FX unit only and saved it in 1a of User 2 - came back the next day, flipped on the Hd 500 and that patch was in 1a of User 2 AND 1a of User 1, effectively overwriting what I had saved there. I'm not saying I didn't do something to potentially cause this but I REALLY. Don't think I did - has anyone experienced odd things like that happening or would the general concensus be that I just f'd up somewhere? :) Thanks! Brian

THAT is what I needed to know (and am unbelievably excited about!) Thank you!

Thank you TheRealZap - and this may seem like overkill ...but it actually does change the tuning (modeled) of what is output from the variax correct? Appreciate the quick response!

Greetings, I'm sure this has been answered so I apologize in advance for the repeat - I've searched several threads for an answer and haven't been able to find a definitive one. My question is can you alter the tunings of the JTV guitars on the fly using the Footswitches of the HD500? For example - within one song can I hit open g, standard, open em just by hitting a switch and NOT doing anything on the JTV? Thank you so much - I'm getting ready to purchase but this is a key feature that I thought was possible...based on what I found, I THINK it was not originally possible, but perhaps a software upgrade enabled that ability. Thanks much, Brian