NevenT Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Greeting to you all, Newbie here. I purchased a 500x because I wanted a portable multi effects pedal board with amp tones if I chose to use them. I love the tones I get from the amps I already have, I just want to use effects when I need them. I learned how to turn off all effects and amp settings. I went in and changed the input source to be "guitar" for input 1 and "same" for input 2. I plugged the guitar into the "guitar in" of the 500x, and from the "unbalanced out left", I went to the front of the amp. I wasn't getting the full power of the amp. Something wasn't right. It sounded like the 500x was limiting the power somehow. I just wanted to have the amp be like it is if you plug in directly to the input of the head, but have effects programmed to any preset on the 500x. Like using pedals. Once I get this figured out, I'll try the 4 cable method, which I think is a good way to go, but one step at a time for this newbie. :) I appreciate the responses. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joel_brown Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 First problem. Input 1 Guitar, Input 2 Variax. If you make Input 1 and 2 the same it doubles the signal and things get overdriven in a bad way. Where do you have the Master Volume on the HD500 ? Where was the Mixer Volume set ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcbeddall Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 I had the same problem except I wasn't using a guitar amp at the time I was using a 250watt powered pa speaker, I had been using the pod XT live through the same speaker for years and for gigs and rehearsals I had the volume on the speaker set at about 40%, when I tried the hd500 I noticed the significant lack of volume at its first rehearsal, just to be heard I had to run the speaker at almost maximum volume, after about an hour we all smelt this burning smell and yeah sure enough my speaker was kaput, I got it fixed and blew it again, I tried new guitar cables, different guitar's, factory resetting the pod, recalibration of the wah pedal, and countless different patch settings and output modes etc I then put it down to coincidence that maybe my speaker was already on the way out and I had somehow damaged it internally the first time it blew, so I got an alto speaker rated at 400 watts, that wasn't loud enough either and after a few solo's I could smell it start to burn, by this time I was totally exasperated and I just gave up with it and got a zoom g5 and a fender mustang amp, volume has never been a problem since so it definitely wasn't my guitar or cables, I scoured the Internet for an answer and I had a line 6 guy looking into it but in the end I had to do something as I had no back up rig and gigs were looming, I never did find an answer (sorry) but I hope you do, I'd be interested to find out what it was as it had me absolutely baffled for months, one thing you should take from my experience is to be very careful when pushing the volume, have a feel of the back of your speaker every now and then to see if it's running hot (literally couldn't touch mine without burning my skin) I bought my unit second hand by the way from eBay so I thought there was always a possibility it had been damaged previously somehow by the seller Good luck buddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinon2 Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Running all your FX straight into the front of an amp will almost always be a mess. With the exception of distortion boxes, or a wah, most other FX (delay, reverb, chorus, etc) work best after the pre-amp. Too much manipulation before you get your basic tone never works out well in my experience. If you want to be able to place some fx before the preamp, and others after, then the 4 cable method is your only option. Watch the video...set up isn't a big deal. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RmIbByDizyM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edstar1960 Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Greeting to you all, Newbie here. I purchased a 500x because I wanted a portable multi effects pedal board with amp tones if I chose to use them. I love the tones I get from the amps I already have, I just want to use effects when I need them. I learned how to turn off all effects and amp settings. I went in and changed the input source to be "guitar" for input 1 and "same" for input 2. I plugged the guitar into the "guitar in" of the 500x, and from the "unbalanced out left", I went to the front of the amp. I wasn't getting the full power of the amp. Something wasn't right. It sounded like the 500x was limiting the power somehow. I just wanted to have the amp be like it is if you plug in directly to the input of the head, but have effects programmed to any preset on the 500x. Like using pedals. Once I get this figured out, I'll try the 4 cable method, which I think is a good way to go, but one step at a time for this newbie. :) I appreciate the responses. Cheers If you want to run the HD500x as a multi-fx board in front of your amp and only use the fx then you need to be aware that even with everything turned off and your signal running straight through you will end up with a 6db volume loss when compared to running a guitar direct into the amp The first thing to do is make sure that the switch for the 1/4 inch outputs on top of the HD500x next to the expression pedal is set to AMP and not LINE. The next thing you need to do is balance your signal so that when all fx are turned off that it sounds the same as when you plug the guitar direct in. The easiest way to do this is by using an EQ fx that has a gain control at the front of your chain to give you a 6db boost - try using the VINTAGE PRE. Once you have the HD500x with everything switched off sounding the same as plugging directly into the amp you can then try adding some fx blocks later in the chain. Rule of thumb is to keep the output volume about the same for each fx so the signal strength is the same wit it switched on or off - the only exception is for boost pedals when you deliberately want the fx to boost your volume. If you make sure the output from the HD500x is about the same as going direct from guitar or the same as going via conventional stomp boxes then your amp should always get the correct input signal level and you should be able to operate it normally. Hope that helps. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NucleusX Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Personally, I would take the amps pre-amp out of the equation and run your 1/4 outs straight into your amps FX loop return. Usually ends up sounding the best, without the added hassles of how a pre-amp and 4CM can further complicate things. Keep in mind bypassing the pre-amp renders most of the amp controls useless, and be careful with the initial volume of the POD, as master volumes will be controlled by it instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingsCool Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Running all your FX straight into the front of an amp will almost always be a mess. With the exception of distortion boxes, or a wah, most other FX (delay, reverb, chorus, etc) work best after the pre-amp. Too much manipulation before you get your basic tone never works out well in my experience. If you want to be able to place some fx before the preamp, and others after, then the 4 cable method is your only option. Watch the video...set up isn't a big deal. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RmIbByDizyM Interesting. Do you know of any places that discuss this, putting what effects before and after the preamp? What about compression? Tremelo? Flange? Phaser? Etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinon2 Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Interesting. Do you know of any places that discuss this, putting what effects before and after the preamp? What about compression? Tremelo? Flange? Phaser? Etc?I tend to use fx very sparingly...a little delay, sometimes with a modulation effect, sometimes not for leads, and just a little reverb. Chorus on the clean tones. Compressors in front of any distortion fx works best for me...opinions vary. Not a big fan of drowning the tone in tremolos, phasers, or flange....unless we're doing "Ain't Talking Bout Love", so I'm probably the wrong guy to ask about those particular fx. If you Google "guitar effects chain",or something similar, you can easily spend the next 6 months reading one article after another, all claiming to have profound wisdom on the subject. Some will boil down to personal preference, and/or the pieces of gear in question. I have a long history of using rack mount gear, usually with a separate pre-amp-->multi fx unit-->power amp-->cab. The only thing that ever went in front was a tuner, wah, compressor, and one or more distortion boxes. Now obviously there are plenty of amps that have no fx loop, so sometimes your only option is putting everything in front. Personally I've found it all but impossible to get a good sound when you are mucking around with the signal 8 different ways before you even have your raw tone. It also introduces a lot of noise, which drives me nuts. But there are lots of guys who do it...just takes work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neven Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Here's a question... Sitting here at work thinking about this stuff. If I run the guitar directly into the front of my amp, and use the amps effects loop to only go into the HD 500x's effects loop, will it work? Do you need to have the guitar plugged into the 500x at all? I will be disabling all amps or pre-amps settings, and only looking to use effects, so I'm wondering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaceatl Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Sure, but you really would not need to use the HD FX Loop.... AMP FX Send->HD GTR IN (pad on) or Aux In HD Left 1/4 out ->AMP FX Return That would give you 8 FX Blocks in your amp FX Loop.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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