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HD500x vs BOSS GT-100,


black_JazzGuitar
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Hello guys. I might need your help here. I own the POD HD500x. I love some things, some others don't.
I've always been wondering what's better, if the HD500X or the BOSS GT-100.
Maybe if you don't want to answer based on term "better" you might tell me what you think about their differences / resemblances.

For example, I could say I have found less than 5 decent and comfortable distorted tones for solos in L6 Custom Tone, and I have practically downloaded all of them to see. I can say there are nice clean tones. That's me refering to "distorted tones for solos", for example. There's a lot of other aspects to look too.

Thanks

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"Better" is all relative and subjective when it comes to modeling.  It's all based on what you personally like as far as what you're hearing.

 

As far as differences/resemblances, pretty much the entire modeling marketplace uses the same general process for modeling...including COSM.  The exact way the do the modeling and how they interpret and exploit the results from the modeling labs is proprietary to each company.  So it will always come back to your subjective impression of what you like best.

 

I think you're problem relates to downloading presets.  You're going to find that most of the experienced people on this board and on other modeling forums aren't great fans of downloaded presets.  The ONLY way you're likely going to find the exact tones you're looking for is to learn to build them yourself.  It's really not that hard.  That's why there are so many different tones uploaded...because it's not a black art.  Anyone can do it if they invest the time to learn the system they're working with and have a good ear for what they want.

 

There are some significant issues with dowloaded presets.  First, you have no idea what specific guitar, pickups, and guitar configuation (tone and volume settings) the author is using, and how it compares to your guitar...and that can make a huge difference in how it sounds.  Secondly, you have no idea of what output rig they used to construct the preset and how it compares with yours.  And in the case of modelers, the sky is the limit in terms of variations.  They could be constructing it through headsets, or FRFR speakers of which there are big variations in quality and sound depending on the manufacturer, or even through the return loop of an amp into a standard guitar cabinet.  And that doesn't even account for the configuration of various global parameters which aren't saved with the preset such as input source configuration, input impedance, output mode or global EQ settings.  These impediments will be the same whether it's the HD500X, the BOSS GT-100, AxeFX, Helix, or Kemper.

 

I can pretty much guarantee you the HD500X can produce the tones you want.  It has plenty of facilities to do it.  But it's up to you to invest your time to learn the system and how to construct the signal paths to get you the sounds you're looking for.  That's simply the state of modeling.  And if you want to be successful at using modeling technology, that's all part of it.

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As Dragon said, maybe you should start looking at setting up your own sounds rather than using a preset/download.

 

Approach it like you would a new amp, get your "core" sound sorted out, then start adding effects. The key is to experiment and tweak.

 

I think you're asking in the wrong place for an unbiased comparison between the Line6 HD500x & the Boss GT100. It is the Line6 Forum after all! :lol: ;)

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PODHD will sound a lot better than the Boss but you will work a lot harder to build the preset.  Kind'a what's kept the PODHD in the fore front of the $500 category is how much better it sounds than the competition.  What's kept it from completely dominating that market is it's more work to get tones out of it.

 

If you want easy and close enough tone is good enough for you - buy the Boss.

 

All of us here will help you build your own tones in the PODHD and help you learn and understand what it takes to get great sounds out of it.

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There is a lot of information around here and in the web. To get your tone is not half as hard as it was when the HD500 was released years ago.

But it would be helpful to know your setup, your needs and the style you are exactly looking for. And it may be a good advice to search for your pups in CustomeTones as this could be a good first step, matching your setup.

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I've owned and tried products from both companies and you can be happy with either. However, the whole idea of how the signal chain is approached is different. I could never get into the Boss way of doing things. It never "clicked" with me. The Boss unit has a lot more flexibility (e.g., adjusting the profile of the wah pedal) but this also makes it MUCH more complicated. I'm a tweaker by nature but the Boss unit was just too much for me. I felt like I had to re-learn it each time I got it out. I chose the Line6 because I could make music easier with it.

 

All that being said, they will both give great tones and, with enough work, you could be happy with either one. 

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If you're looking for opinions of this vs that, you'd probably do better to post on Gearslutz or Gearpage. Folks there own all sorts of stuff, and they LIVE for giving their opinions to anyone who cares. Here you'll find lots of people who LIKE the POD, and enjoy helping each other with it. There, opinions (about everything) abound!

 

For myself, I had an ME-70, and it didn't take long after I got my POD till the ME-70 hit Craigslist. I currently have a love/hate relationship with my POD. Every time I get frustrated and think I'm gonna dump it, I find some new way to use it.

 

But if I had $1500.........

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In my opinion its a no brainer. I think that the HD500X is a far more versatile modeler that is capable of incredible tones.

 

You should really concentrate on building your own patches.

 

Watch my video series on the HD500X. It's a seven part series focusing on most of the important parts of tone building etc.

 

If you go to Part 1 you will see the links to the next parts on Youtube.

 

Cheers,

 

Peter.

 

 

 

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For example, I could say I have found less than 5 decent and comfortable distorted tones for solos in L6 Custom Tone, and I have practically downloaded all of them to see.

 

Thanks

Yup. And you could spend the rest of eternity looking, and never find anything useful.

 

You're always gonna have trouble trying to use someone else's tones. The list of variables is Biblical in length, and there's no way to know who did what to achieve a given sound. Guitars, pickups, amps, cabinets, FRFR speakers, headphones, outboard EQ-ing...the list is endless. What else was used to dial in a sound? No way to know. And even if you did know, you're not gonna have the same stuff...it's that simple.

 

It's never gonna sound the same for you, as it did in ShredderBob83's living room. Now that doesn't mean that ShredderBob83 is deaf, stupid, or crazy. The patch might sound great for him, with his rig, so he decided to share...but that's the rub. It's HIS rig, not yours.

 

As such, Customtone is mostly an incredible time-waster. You'll find what you're looking for a whole lot faster by experimenting, and finding out what works for you. It's unfortunate, because the concept of Customtone is a good one. Reality is unforgiving, however.

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In the end this exercise is fairly pointless unless you go read up on the manuals then go try them out yourself, preferably with your gear or similar. You take home what made you go "Ooooo" and after "the honey-moon" is over you will find + and - and end up getting both and then selling one.

 

Just MHO not a criticism btw.

 

-B 

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All the GT100 users I know pretty well only ever use the presets on the Boss. Very few of them "edit". I helped them both set up 4CM on their units as both ran their units into the preamps of their Amp. Both having an FX loop on the Amp. 

After asking each I determined each bought their units based on Boss's reputation with pedals.

 

I have tried their units out and the menus are more detailed but overwhelming in choice to be useful. 

I found that if I tweaked a preset the tone got worse and I'd revert back to the preset. Admittedly only once for each and it was about an hour each time.

 

On the HD 500 I could tweak and get a better tone than any preset or downloaded custom tone.

 

I mainly only ever edit on the unit itself. I find it very easy to get usable tones

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  • 5 months later...

A user of HD500X, GT100 and GT10. 

 

I can safely say GT100 sucks big time. You might get good fancy clean, fuzzy tones but if you want to tweak and make a real quality patch that you might enjoy playing, forget it. Especially if you are into heavy music - Tool, monuments, periphery and the like. The preset distortion patches are horrible to say the least and tweaking all day and night still gets you subpar distortion tones, really. Compared to the GT-10, the GT-100 just has that signature irritating tone quality - a little too muffled, lifeless and not at all natural. Sorry to dissapoint the GT lovers but this is my honest opinion. Obviously, I sold it.

 

The POD too in a sense, has that signature treblish (not so good) vibe to it that kinda wears out your determination to get a good guitar tone. I'd consider it over the GT-100 though.

 

But the point really is if you are serious about your music, wait, save and get yourself an axe-fx or a line 6 Helix. Ditch both POD and the GT. A good guitar sound greatly amplifies your ability to write good music and come up with amazing ideas.

 

Cheers!

BTW Great job Line 6 with the Helix. 

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  • 3 months later...

Back in the day I had a Pod and got the rom upgrade to 2.0. and then got a Pod Pro. (I also had a Bass Pod and then Bass Pod Pro... and just got a Bass Pod XT for £25! (dodgy power switch - 3 minutes of soldering later and it's 100%)

I bought a Johnson J Station, Behringer V-thing and the huge Boss floor pedal - they were all utterly vile so I ended up with a Pod Pro which I still have to this day... I've just bought a HD500 and it's as 'ahead' of my old Pod Pro as it was against all those others. 

I know this was a zillion years ago but each company has their own signature sound which tends to linger. The boss always sounded plasticy and muffled and went the way of all the others.

I have to admit I'm tempted to ditch everything and look at a Fractal Audio or Kemper...

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Interesting thread. The Line 6 Custom Tone thing makes a player think it will be easy to get one of theses HD units up and running.Roland /Boss have Tone Central as their enticement for ease of use. Neither does what one thinks it will do.

The OP will have to just put in the time to get what works for him out of any of these devices.And as far as an Axe or Helix goes those are 10/20 times harder more fiddly to use.I keep a Marshall JCM800 combo and a real nice Marshall Haze setup with a Blues Driver/ wah pedal in front and get any modeler I use as close to that as I can.Those amps are my reference points for building patches on my GP10/HD500/ME70/POD2.0 etc...those amps or live recorded guitar sounds of great players.

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The OP will have to just put in the time to get what works for him out of any of these devices.

We live in a world where plastic bags have to be stamped with a warning, explaining why it's not a good idea to stick one's head inside. Guitar modelers should come with a similar warning, expressing the exact sentiment quoted above. It would save us all from feeling like Bill Murray in "Groundhog Day".

 

Failing that, at the very least flash the same warning atop every thread on this site...in super-irritating 80's Ibanez colors. ;)

 

"WARNING! WARNING! EFFORT REQUIRED WITHIN! YOU WILL ACTUALLY HAVE TO LEARN TO USE THIS THING."

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  • 2 months later...

The tone issue is even related to room/hall that you play in. Some times you create and save an efect-amp chain then you go to studio and that is the suprise... The tone that you hear at the studio is not same with the tone that you create at home. As a result of that many people create different presets for different places. In the light of this informations the best way is spend the time.

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  • 2 years later...
On 5/6/2016 at 8:22 PM, skybone said:

As Dragon said, maybe you should start looking at setting up your own sounds rather than using a preset/download.

 

Approach it like you would a new amp, get your "core" sound sorted out, then start adding effects. The key is to experiment and tweak.

 

I think you're asking in the wrong place for an unbiased comparison between the Line6 HD500x & the Boss GT100. It is the Line6 Forum after all! :lol: ;)

 

Skybone, there are people like me who has a Line6 product and they want to upgrade. I have the POD XT Live and considering to replace it with the HD500  OR GT100.

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