The 1st Hd500x Unboxing Video!

[ChristianArnold]

I just got my HD500x today and did an unboxing video for it. Check it out here! 

[TheRealZap]

allen wrench is for adjusting the tension on the expression pedal.

[TheRealZap]

it's not twice the power either!!!

closer to a 20% increase in processing capability.

[AJScott]

it's not twice the power either!!!

closer to a 20% increase in processing capability.

 

They brought a new model with new buttons and just a 20% increase in power? Bit money grabbing in my opinion.

[phil_m]

They brought a new model with new buttons and just a 20% increase in power? Bit money grabbing in my opinion.

 

:blink:

It's the same price as the HD500 was... How is it being greedy selling an updated product for the same price as it predecessor? It's an incremental upgrade. If you have the HD500, it may or may not be worth your while to upgrade.

[ChristianArnold]

Here is a pic of the 500 and 500x next to each other. 

[bjnette]

I don't feel so bad like I missed out with a 20% DSP increase. I can have it as a replacement model.

I don't have to urgently sell my existing almost one year old unit for any real reason then. Cool

 

Looking forward to the A/B video man of DSP. We existing users don't wanna feel too bad so be nice and conservative will ya.

[EnzoLoveless]

Mine is still on its way here :( But, I bought the HD500 as soon as it was released over 3 years ago... and I just sold it for 350 xD lol

So only 20% more, well... that will help me still, for some dual tones :D

Nice video :D

[DeanDinosaur]

20% increase only :lol:.  that explains why there was no big announcements or hype.That's a good thing though and it makes so much sense. If for the same cost, line 6 is getting a chip that's 20% faster, why should they keep producing the HD500 with the slightly inferior chip?! I won't be updating my HD500, but this isn't really targeted at owners of HD500, it definitely helps generate new sales and it's the right thing to do.

[dennisrford]

If you feel adventurous, you could open it up and identify what dsp chip is in there.

That way, we'll know how much more powerful it is.

[SiCantwell]

I wondered what that Allen wrench was for! Thanks for the video, looking forward to the DSP comparison.

[rodney13]

Mmmmm I'm actually thinking if heading over to the opposition the Boss GT 100. Had a good listen to one recently as was more than impressed. , I know a lot say the HD blows it away but to my ears the Boss sounds more natural. For all those one eyed HD owners who will be grinding their teeth at this post have you actually ever sat down with the GT and had a decent play?

[talwilkins]

I owned a GT-10 for a couple of years. For me the switch to the HD500 was a blessing.

My sound was so much better from the very start and has gotten a lot better since after learning to use the unit.

Of course it's all subjective and you might feel the same way after going to BOSS but I sincerely doubt it.

I do think the GT is a bit easier to use and has a bit better editing possibilities. I also still miss a few amps and effects like the Matchless and auto wah.

I've looked at a HD500 vs GT-100 review and I tried to be as objective as possible. Most of the time the HD seemed to sound more organic and natural. I think I liked only one or two sounds from the GT. Still, that's not really the best way to hear the difference, then you would have to sit down with the two yourself.

It's your choice ;-)

[ChristianArnold]

Mmmmm I'm actually thinking if heading over to the opposition the Boss GT 100. Had a good listen to one recently as was more than impressed. , I know a lot say the HD blows it away but to my ears the Boss sounds more natural. For all those one eyed HD owners who will be grinding their teeth at this post have you actually ever sat down with the GT and had a decent play?

I used to have a BOSS GT-6, then GT-8, then went to individual pedals with boutique amps (Fender 4x10 Deville then Budda Superdrive 30 halfstack), then kept the tube amp and got an M13 (loved it), then when the HD500 first came out I was geeked - all the effects of the M13 but now with AMP MODELING as well!!! I play out mainly for my church and I hated lugging around my halfstack for church - not to mention how practically impossible it is for church sound guys to control my Budda halfstack volume. So I went with the HD500 and I've been super pleased ever since. So pleased that I'll take any improvement that they make to it - hence why I bought the HD500X. Also, just to hopefully safeguard myself from future firmware updates that might not work with the HD500. 

[ChristianArnold]

If you feel adventurous, you could open it up and identify what dsp chip is in there.

That way, we'll know how much more powerful it is.

HAHA not gonna happen. Good idea though. 

 

I don't feel so bad like I missed out with a 20% DSP increase. I can have it as a replacement model.

I don't have to urgently sell my existing almost one year old unit for any real reason then. Cool

 

Looking forward to the A/B video man of DSP. We existing users don't wanna feel too bad so be nice and conservative will ya.

Like I've said, I've gotten a lot out of my HD500. I got it the month it came out. That's another reason why I feel good about getting the HD500x. If I bought an HD500 a year ago or closer, I probably wouldn't upgrade. I LOVE THE FOOTSWITCHES THOUGH so maybe I would've still upgraded. ;-)

 

I had a little change of plans today but hopefully I will still get to some comparison videos before I sell the HD500.

 

Thanks for watching the video guys!

[phil_m]

Mmmmm I'm actually thinking if heading over to the opposition the Boss GT 100. Had a good listen to one recently as was more than impressed. , I know a lot say the HD blows it away but to my ears the Boss sounds more natural. For all those one eyed HD owners who will be grinding their teeth at this post have you actually ever sat down with the GT and had a decent play?

 

This doesn't really answer your question, but first, I don't think using the term "opposition" is necessarily a good thing. Sure, Boss is Line 6's competitor, but there's no need to make it like we're picking sides in a war. When we start talking in these absolute terms, that's when people start getting offended and feel like they're being demeaned based on what product they like better. The only other thing I've seen such personal identification with products is with some of Apple's more extreme fans. It's a weird thing. It's not like I go into my neighbor's house and see their Whirlpool refrigerator and say, "my LG totally kicks your refrigerator's butt..."

 

Anyway... There's part of me that has been tempted to pick up a GT-100 for the effects alone, but I just have never liked the way Boss designs their interfaces. It just seems that for me they are hard to understand and navigate. I've tried reading the manual for the GT-100, and I felt like I was looking at hieroglyphics at some points. So to me, this kind of trumps anything they may have sound quality-wise. I've found if I don't like the ergonomics of a product, I simply won't use it in the long run. I think this is why I end up using my Line 6 stuff at the end of the day. It's easy for me to use, and I feel like the controls make sense.

[ajm583]

I hope they make a hd 500 xl someday with a bigger screen. I'm getting old I guess but it's hard to see screen when performing live.

[DeanDinosaur]

Mmmmm I'm actually thinking if heading over to the opposition the Boss GT 100....

I still own the HD500, but I just bought an Eleven Rack. The Eleven Rack Modeling is definitely the next level up above the HD. So now  I use the HD500 as a controller and effects but the Amp models in the Eleven Rack are much more natural and realistic . 

I paid 350 for My Eleven and I'm very convinced that the quality is much better than the HD PRO at twice the price. I have no emotional attachment to Gear and I don't think anyone should.

[bjnette]

Wow! Eleven over the HDPRO and you get ProTools as well. What a score!

 

I didn't AB the HD500 to the Eleven, but to the Boss GT100. 

 

I did check out some youtube comparison videos and like the  HD modeling better in the Amps comapred to Eleven. I even liked it better than alot of the FractalAxeII Amps

 

Looks like there is a liability using the unknown recording setup nature of video demo's and reviews.

 

Even in a City like Sydney comparing one to the other in the same shop doesn't weork if they don't carry that product line and depends on the service given in the store, thus a reliance on youtube which is better than nothing.

[smrybacki]

:blink:

It's the same price as the HD500 was... How is it being greedy selling an updated product for the same price as it predecessor? It's an incremental upgrade. If you have the HD500, it may or may not be worth your while to upgrade.

Let's see...I paid $500 for my HD500 and this one will set me back $500 more, making $1000 invested.  IF I could get $250 for my now used and inferior HD500, that knocks my investment back to $750 for a Pod HD500x that other's are getting for $500 new.  That's a roughly 20% processing power increase for $250 whereas a new buyer get's it for free by buying the more powerful one up front.

 

Yeah, that's a shameless money grab on Line6's part without doubt man.  Don't confuse being a fan (as I am also) of Line6 products with being happy about getting screwed a bit.

 

Now, were they to offer this product at an upograde/trade-in price for current HD500 owners then it'd be a choice.  As it is now, 20% isn't worth the very likely money loss or the hassle to me, but it does give me a good reason to look elsewhere when I do want to upgrade somewhere down the road in memoriam of this event.

 

I know all about product upgrade schemes after 54 years on this economy and this is a first for Line6 who usually delivers incremental upgrades within a model via software.  This time, they have used the same shells, rebranded them HD500x models and jammed a mini upgrade (20% isn't exactly earth moving territory after all) to the CPU in there.

 

</ rant>

[phil_m]

Let's see...I paid $500 for my HD500 and this one will set me back $500 more, making $1000 invested.  IF I could get $250 for my now used and inferior HD500, that knocks my investment back to $750 for a Pod HD500x that other's are getting for $500 new.  That's a roughly 20% processing power increase for $250 whereas a new buyer get's it for free by buying the more powerful one up front.

 

Well, first of all if you're looking as guitar modelers as an investment instrument, you probably should start diversifying your portfolio. They all lose their value as time goes by. They're essentially computers in custom-built shells. People should really think of these modelers as something more like a laptop or other piece of tech. They start losing resale value the moment you buy it, but the resale value isn't generally thought of when buying new tech devices. We buy tech devices because of their usefulness over their life cycle.

 

The way I look at is this. I bought my HD500 for $425 (I had a 15% coupon at one of the online retailers) at the end of 2010, so I've had it for almost three years now. Even if I sold it as a crazy low price like $200 now, I be out a net of $225. So let's say I've had my HD500 for 144 weeks. That means my cost of owning the HD500 over that time period is $1.56 a week... I don't know about you, but I spend more than coffee per day. It's an OK deal if you ask me. Even if the resale value went to zero, and some paid the full street value for the HD500, the cost of ownership would $3.47 per week. Again, it's really not bad considering all the HD500 offers.

[phil_m]

By the way, is it a shameless money grab when car companies release new models every single year? It's just the way of retail. If anything the life cycle of Line 6 products is much longer compared to other tech driven industries. If you're business is based on selling products, you have to keep selling new products. It's not a mystery.

[smrybacki]

Well, first of all if you're looking as guitar modelers as an investment instrument, you probably should start diversifying your portfolio. They all lose their value as time goes by. They're essentially computers in custom-built shells. People should really think of these modelers as something more like a laptop or other piece of tech. They start losing resale value the moment you buy it, but the resale value isn't generally thought of when buying new tech devices. We buy tech devices because of their usefulness over their life cycle.

 

The way I look at is this. I bought my HD500 for $425 (I had a 15% coupon at one of the online retailers) at the end of 2010, so I've had it for almost three years now. Even if I sold it as a crazy low price like $200 now, I be out a net of $225. So let's say I've had my HD500 for 144 weeks. That means my cost of owning the HD500 over that time period is $1.56 a week... I don't know about you, but I spend more than coffee per day. It's an OK deal if you ask me. Even if the resale value went to zero, and some paid the full street value for the HD500, the cost of ownership would $3.47 per week. Again, it's really not bad considering all the HD500 offers.

 

Well thanks for the finance tip, but I think I got that all on my own and my portfolio is just fine thank you.  And thanks for the remedial math lesson too -- that took me back to my college days for sure.  And since I have worked as an IT Professional for over 25 years, I think I understand the nuances of shelf life as it pertains to tech products (software and hardware) too. 

 

All that aside, what I DON'T however expect is that my new flagship modeler is obsoleted in a few months time, especially in Line6's universe.  I've had my HD500 for all of 5 months now, so I do feel like it's a bit of a minor sham but that's besides the point.  If you can stop being a fanboy long enough to look at it objectively, you'd realize that this is a completely different approach for Line6 who usually extends products lifespans via firmware updates, not by hardware replacements.  I know too (before you waste time typing it) that this is a business for them, and money is king.But now instead of viewing them as I have in the past, I have to now treat them like a cell phone manufacturer and expect whatever I buy from them to be old news by the time I get my contacts imported lol....

 

Peace brother, and enjoy your new toy.

 

In any event, it doesn't matter all that much to me in that I wouldn't upgrade anyway at this point because my HD500 works just fine for me.

[phil_m]

If you can stop being a fanboy long enough to look at it objectively, you'd realize that this is a completely different approach for Line6 who usually extends products lifespans via firmware updates, not by hardware replacements.

 

Well, the X3 was essentially a hardware reboot of the XT series. The XT came out in 2003, and the X3 stuff came out in 2007. So by the time the HD stuff was released in 2010, the XT firmware was getting a bit long in the tooth.

 

I'm not sure why you consider me more of fanboy than a customer. I've bought all the units I own as well. I haven't bought an HD500X, and I'm not sure if I will. But I don't really understand the level of butthurt surrounding this release. I don't believe Line 6 is going to stop supporting the HD500. As far the people who bought the HD500 shortly before it was discontinued, I can understand some amount of disappointment, but I'm not sure how a company can actually avoid that. There's always going be people who by the previous model right before the new model is released.

[smrybacki]

@phil_m, didn't mean to come off so harsh man.  Just reread it and figured maybe you think I was flaming on you...not really so, but you have to understand to that I am not really either naive or stupid and so I guess I got wound up. 

You ought to see me going at Congress hammer and tongs sometime ;-)

 

And the X3 was a heck of a lot more of an upgrade to the XT line than this is to the HD line, agreed?

[phil_m]

And the X3 was a heck of a lot more of an upgrade to the XT line than this is to the HD line, agreed?

Yeah, of course. Although, I do remember being around when the X3L came out, and there were plenty of complaints then, too. There were a lot of people upset that Line 6 was releasing a product with all the same amp and effects as the XT. Not to mention all the hardware complaints...

 

I actually think that spending more to make the hardware more robust in the HD line was probably a decision based on Line 6's experience with the X3L. The X3L had dual processors, but the housing was thermoplastic, and overall it wasn't quite a robust as it could have been. It seems to me that Line 6 decided rather than going the dual processor route with the 500X that they would spend a bit more to make a sturdier product. In the long run, it's probably not a bad thing.

[smrybacki]

Yeah, of course. Although, I do remember being around when the X3L came out, and there were plenty of complaints then, too. There were a lot of people upset that Line 6 was releasing a product with all the same amp and effects as the XT. Not to mention all the hardware complaints...

 

I actually think that spending more to make the hardware more robust in the HD line was probably a decision based on Line 6's experience with the X3L. The X3L had dual processors, but the housing was thermoplastic, and overall it wasn't quite a robust as it could have been. It seems to me that Line 6 decided rather than going the dual processor route with the 500X that they would spend a bit more to make a sturdier product. In the long run, it's probably not a bad thing.

 

Yeah, the big thing there was multiple signal paths as I recall.  To me, as long as I am not cut out of any firmware upgrades, IE new models, effects or whatever else the HD500x gets, I am fine with this whole deal really.  I am kinda old school and rarely use more than 2 or three effects anyway...

 

Clearly, you have been down the road a bit yourself...

[ChristianArnold]

Yeah, the big thing there was multiple signal paths as I recall.  To me, as long as I am not cut out of any firmware upgrades, IE new models, effects or whatever else the HD500x gets, I am fine with this whole deal really.  I am kinda old school and rarely use more than 2 or three effects anyway...

 

Clearly, you have been down the road a bit yourself...

This is 50% of the reason why I wanted to get the 500x. I want to make sure I get all the juicy updates. It would really tick me off to not be able to get the newest amps and/or effects. 25% of the reason for getting it is because I love the new switches and lights [pretty lights :-)], and the other 25% would be having more power to make interesting sounds. 

[bjnette]

I think you can take it the way you want, depends on what data you have. 

From what I have read here on the forum, it seems likely the Processors used in the the HD500 have been replaced by the manufacturer with one that is slightly faster allowing an estimated 20% increase in dsp available.

That means that now the POD HD500 is different from the previous chip used.

So throw in better foot switches and its the replacement model still at the same price with a little fanfare.

[bmcoonan]

I owned a GT-10 for a couple of years. For me the switch to the HD500 was a blessing.

My sound was so much better from the very start and has gotten a lot better since after learning to use the unit.

Of course it's all subjective and you might feel the same way after going to BOSS but I sincerely doubt it.

I do think the GT is a bit easier to use and has a bit better editing possibilities. I also still miss a few amps and effects like the Matchless and auto wah.

I've looked at a HD500 vs GT-100 review and I tried to be as objective as possible. Most of the time the HD seemed to sound more organic and natural. I think I liked only one or two sounds from the GT. Still, that's not really the best way to hear the difference, then you would have to sit down with the two yourself.

It's your choice ;-)

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.

[talwilkins]

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.

Yeah,the effects on the GT are really good. I agree the programming is intense but I found it a bit more logical and being an IT guy I liked being able to tweak just about anything.

I'm much happier with the HD though.