marrav Posted May 23, 2017 Share Posted May 23, 2017 I am using a Variax (JTV 89) into my HD500 via VDI out to an ALTO TS212. It just sounds bad. I feel like there has to be something I'm doing wrong. any heavy distortion just sounds horrible and flat like I'm playing through a $15 amp from Walmart. Anyone got any suggestions? I am currently running 2.62 and have the HD pack with all of the cool metal amps. It's kinda bumming me out that I can't get this thing dialed in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
napynap Posted May 23, 2017 Share Posted May 23, 2017 That doesn't sound right. Many of us are using Alto's and PODHD line without issue. Describe exactly how you are connecting it, and I'm sure the Variax experts will chime in here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marrav Posted May 23, 2017 Author Share Posted May 23, 2017 Variax (VDI) --> POD HD500 (Studio/Direct) XLR --> ALTO TS212 (XLR) I have tried using ground lift on both, not using ground lift on both, using the contour button, tweaking the patch, removing bass from the amp and cab. nothing seems to be working. The only patches that sound good are the ones that are completely clean but even those sound like they have a little too much bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atrain_dlp Posted May 23, 2017 Share Posted May 23, 2017 I struggled with an Alto TS212 for a while. I ended up buying a spider valve off craigslist and running my HD500x directly into the power amp and it was way better for me. I'm sure the Alto's are fully capable of producing authentic tone but I had a hard time dialing mine in. Like you, my clean tones were "ok" but the distortion stuff just never sounded right to me. Most likely due to my terrible EQ skills. Going direct into the SV power amp, my sound was immediately in the ballpark and required much less time tweaking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinon2 Posted May 23, 2017 Share Posted May 23, 2017 Variax (VDI) --> POD HD500 (Studio/Direct) XLR --> ALTO TS212 (XLR) I have tried using ground lift on both, not using ground lift on both, using the contour button, tweaking the patch, removing bass from the amp and cab. nothing seems to be working. The only patches that sound good are the ones that are completely clean but even those sound like they have a little too much bass. Using an FRFR speaker requires some getting used to. You can't treat it like a guitar amp or cabinet, because it isn't. You're dealing with a FAR wider frequency range, and much flatter response than any guitar amp on the planet. EQ-ing needs to be done quite differently than you're probably accustomed to. The low cut filter on the cab parameters are your friend. That should take care of the boomy low end . You might have to back off the bass significantly on the amp block as well... some of my patches the bass is at less than 10%, which is generally not something you'd ever do with a "real" amp. Fizzy highs are best tamed with a mid- focus EQ after the amp block. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marrav Posted May 23, 2017 Author Share Posted May 23, 2017 Do you have any patches I could try as a starting point? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinon2 Posted May 23, 2017 Share Posted May 23, 2017 Do you have any patches I could try as a starting point? That's not gonna help you much either. Customtone is full of patches you can download, and you'll find 99.97% of them utterly useless for a multitude of reasons. There are too many variables... the guitar, the chosen monitoring method, and the volume at which the patch was created being the biggest contributors. I'm not using an Alto...I run an L2T as a stage monitor live. While they may both be full range, they will not have the same response curves. At home it's either headphones or studio monitors...and I have different patches depending on the application. I'm afraid there's really no way around the experimental phase. You'll get where you want to be a whole lot faster creating your own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillBee Posted May 23, 2017 Share Posted May 23, 2017 Do you have any patches I could try as a starting point? I'm using a Tech21 PE60 myself but these FRFRs sounded pretty good there are some links in the thread. http://line6.com/support/topic/25150-pod-hd500-sharing-patches/ CC has a point CT is a crap-shoot. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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