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"Amp B" Doesn't Seem To Work With My HD500


robbieb61
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So after having my HD500 and DT50 amp for a few years...I finally set up a "dual amp" system.

I actually did it for a gig I was playing with just the HD500 (no DT50) running through the P.A. and my monitor.
And I loved it because I have it set up for the same amp model...but with one of the amps set up for my crunch tone and the other one set up "hotter" for lead with delay.

I then set up the FS6 button to switch between the two. Now I had a crunch and lead sound with tails on the delay all in one patch. :)

BUT...after that gig was done I wanted to use this setup with my DT50, and when I hook up my L6 link to the DT50...one of the amps doesn't have any sound. :(

My first thought was the panning. So I set both sides to zero. Still nothing.

What am I doing wrong? Why doesn't the amp that is on "amp b" work through the DT50? Do you have to have 2 DT50's to do this?

I assumed it would simply use the "Amp B" on the DT50.  Help!

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The DT links only to POD channel A amp.  When you turn off Amp A in the POD, the DT defaults to its internal channel B.  I am guessing the DT volume is at zero?  You can try putting a volume pedal in front of the channel A amp block and linking it to channel B amp on the same FS.  With amp B off, leave the volume pedal off so the signal goes through amp A.  With amp B on, the volume pedal comes on but set to zero and amp A stays on.  Now the signal is blocked through amp A but goes through amp B and the DT stays linked to amp A and functions normally by L6 link.

 

You should know that the DT topology will stay linked to POD channel A no matter what model is in POD channel B...

 

Sample patch for you:  http://line6.com/customtone/tone/1102930/

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I downloaded DTEdit and fixed that problem. :)

 

But when I did that...I started fooling around with just the DT amp without the HD500

My God it sounds 1,000 times better without the HD500. And I really like my HD500!

That freakin' treadplate inside the DT blows away the one in the HD500.

I'm gonna set it up tonight with a midi cable and run a couple of cables out of the amps effects loops to the HD500 and try just using the HD500 for effects and the midi cable to switch channels and voicing's on the DT.

This might just change everything for me...

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they are exactly the same models....

what that means is that your HD500 was not setup properly. :)

some common mistakes:

selecting "no cab" (the DT does use a cab model)

input in pod is doubled (need to select an unused input for input 2)

 

I downloaded DTEdit and fixed that problem. :)

 

But when I did that...I started fooling around with just the DT amp without the HD500

My God it sounds 1,000 times better without the HD500. And I really like my HD500!

That freakin' treadplate inside the DT blows away the one in the HD500.

I'm gonna set it up tonight with a midi cable and run a couple of cables out of the amps effects loops to the HD500 and try just using the HD500 for effects and the midi cable to switch channels and voicing's on the DT.

This might just change everything for me...

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I haven't made any of those mistakes with the HD500. I've spent a lot of time with it and done my homework reading the forum over the years. 

I'm thinking that maybe it's something else. The input of the HD500, the signal in the L6 link, etc.,  not really sure. Maybe it's plugging into the amp input instead of the HD500 input?

But whatever it is...it's there. HUGE difference in tone. Just discovered the same thing with the Tweed model.
I'm going to spend a few more hours today working on this setup. And then I'm gonna use it at my gig this week. :)

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robbie, as a long time dt owner and observer of this board, I've seen this claim many times, and invariably after much discussion and gnashing of teeth it turns out...the models in the DT are identical to the models in the HD.

 

You just gotta figure out where your switches are different.

 

Sorry mate.

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No need to be sorry.
I think I know what the issue is and why it's been brought up over and over by people who own the DT and the HD500 for as long as I have.

 

When I compare the HD500 running the Treadplate into the DT50 using the L6 link it sounds really good.
BUT...when I plug straight into the amp using the Treadplate model inside the DT50 it sounds MUCH better.

I did some messing around yesterday. And what I found was...if I go from the HD500 into the effects return of the DT 50 and I don't use the L6 link...BOOM, the tone is the same as plugging straight into the DT50.

And since the HD500 does indeed sound really good plugged straight into the P.A. AND sounds great when going into the poweramp section of the DT50... that leads me to the only conclusion: the tone is losing something in the L6 link to the DT amp.

I have tons of mic cables here. So I tried different ones of varying length and brand. None of it made any difference. Not a 15 foot Mogami mic cable or a 20 foot Pro Co or a 10 foot Monster Performer cable nor any of the dozen or so other generic microphone xlr cables I have lying around.

No "switches" were needed to be tweaked. I already had my sound.

It was just as simple as going out of the output of the HD500 and into the Effects Return of the DT 50 and setting the output on the HD500 to "Combo Power Amp" and the tone was back.  :)

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I downloaded DTEdit and fixed that problem. :)

 

But when I did that...I started fooling around with just the DT amp without the HD500

 

My God it sounds 1,000 times better without the HD500. And I really like my HD500!

 

That freakin' treadplate inside the DT blows away the one in the HD500.

 

I'm gonna set it up tonight with a midi cable and run a couple of cables out of the amps effects loops to the HD500 and try just using the HD500 for effects and the midi cable to switch channels and voicing's on the DT.

 

This might just change everything for me...

 

Yes this might just change the way the you operate the DT. I'm going in the direction of using my HD500 for effects and MIDI implementation. I'm taking it slow though, lol. I'm not "Under Pressure" so to speak. I really like the way Line 6 made the DT's, I'm impressed!

 

http://line6.com/support/topic/14508-was-using-dt-edit-to-program-the-dt50hd-today/?do=findComment&comment=105514

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Yes sir. It's version 2.0 which according to Monkey is the latest. 

I'm just sayin'...maybe I have uncovered what has caused people to say this for the last couple of years.  But people have still insisted that there was a disparity in tone.

Because the HD500 models are the same as the one in the DT50.
And the HD500 sounds great going through the PA by itself.
But with the L6 link in the DT it just wasn't the same (which kind of negated the whole reason for the DT amp...to sound even better).

But going into the effects return of the DT amp brings it back to life! I'm gonna be using it through the P.A. tomorrow night with this setup and see how it sounds with the addition of the tubes through the P.A. :)

And I won't really miss the L6 changing the topography on every amp. The thing always made a popping noise when changing topographies (especially going from a crunch to a lead sound). So even with the L6 link I was programming it to only use one topography to stop that horrible "pop".

Anyway, I'm happy now! And I'm looking forward to running this beast the same way when my brand new Helix arrives in a couple of months.  :)

 

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Yes sir. It's version 2.0 which according to Monkey is the latest. 

I'm just sayin'...maybe I have uncovered what has caused people to say this for the last couple of years.  But people have still insisted that there was a disparity in tone.

 

Because the HD500 models are the same as the one in the DT50.

And the HD500 sounds great going through the PA by itself.

But with the L6 link in the DT it just wasn't the same (which kind of negated the whole reason for the DT amp...to sound even better).

But going into the effects return of the DT amp brings it back to life! I'm gonna be using it through the P.A. tomorrow night with this setup and see how it sounds with the addition of the tubes through the P.A. :)

And I won't really miss the L6 changing the topography on every amp. The thing always made a popping noise when changing topographies (especially going from a crunch to a lead sound). So even with the L6 link I was programming it to only use one topography to stop that horrible "pop".

 

Anyway, I'm happy now! And I'm looking forward to running this beast the same way when my brand new Helix arrives in a couple of months.  :)

 

Since I've been using my HD500 to control my DT50 via MIDI I'm liking the sound of the modelers as I think there is a tonal difference just like you seem to think.

 

I'm not sure why that is though. I thought I was using the L6 Link correctly also. Although, that was before I had issues that had my amp in the shop 3 times. The other day I connected via the L6 Link and there was no connectivity. I checked to see if my settings were correct and all looked good, so today I checked to see if the DT was updated. I knew it was updated before the problems I had but the trip to the shop "undid" that. Today I updated the firmware and I've been using MIDI out of the HD500 so I haven't checked the L6 Link yet. I'm really liking the tone I'm getting via MIDI. I'm running one MIDI cable out of the HD500 into the DT MIDI in and I'm going into the front of the amp with my guitar. Sounds great. Some patches I've got are giving me a little pop even though I'm not changing topologies such as Class AB/A or Pentode/Triode. I think it might be due to a few of my patches having different PIV and Boost settings. I'll have to to work out the bugz, no big deal.

 

Also, I've just started using my MIDI Mobilizer II and iPad to record my moves which is very cool since if I record midi out (all my moves such as footswitch changes, pedal changes, knob changes etc.) while playing a session so that next time I want to play it again I have the option to play back all those moves with the MIDI Mobilizer and all I've got to do is play. Very Very Cool in my book. Going to take some practice as I've really just begun to do this but I'm looking forward to it.

 

Was using DT Edit to program the DT50HD today

Edited by Brazzy
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  • 4 weeks later...

interesting...

I switched my ENGL gigmaster combo with the DT25 using the L6 link as only link with my POD HD500X. My gigmaster sound much better via the return.

Gonna try the return of the DT25. Hopefully my sound will come back cos using the L6 link it doesn't sound good. Inspite of tweaking to square 26

Thanks Robbie!

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Just a guess, but it could be that using L6 Link you will rely on the HD to set the DT boost and it may not because it defaults to type III and switching to IV does not necessarily enable boost.

On the other hand, when you go analog from the HD to the DT loop return and manually switch the DT to IV you might get boost turned on by default.

There may be a way to send the boost on MIDI message explicitly from the DT via an extra MIDI connection and thus you may be able to make that work even with L6 Link, though that would depend on whether the explicit MIDI command from the HD is sent after the HD selected type IV on the DT.

Please consider that this is all speculation. I do neither know whether DT boost can be enabled with a MIDI message sent by the HD nor when such a MIDI message would be sent relative to the HD selecting DT type IV (also via MIDI, though through L6 Link).

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