Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility Jump to content

Output Issues


Recommended Posts

Love the sound of my rig when I can get it to make a sound.

 

I play my Hd500/Dt 50/JTV at home all the time. Never have a problem. I turn it on and it works. I took the rig to a rehearsal studio last night, it worked for one minute and then no output at all. All the lights are on but no sound. I bypassed the HD500 and went direct to the DT. No sound. I unplugged and replugged everything. The sound came back but with diminishing volume level. Shortly thereafter, the output was gone again.  I moved the amp to another outlet in the rehearsal space and it worked for the rest of the rehearsal interrupted once by the no output thing. Unplugging and replugging everything seemed to fix it that time.

 

The same thing happened to me at a gig. Lights on, no output. I went through the whole unplug/replug/bypass deal but wasn't able to change outlets. I wasn't able to get any output. I just used my Two Rock instead. Thank god I brought it! After the gig I took everything home, plugged it back in…no problems. What gives?

 

One shouldn't have to completely tear ones rig apart and then put it back together in the hopes of getting the friggin thing to work!  

 

My music friends keep telling me the reason that I'm having these issues is because Line 6 makes cheap poorly made crap! And I keep saying "No, no, it's INEXPENSIVE, but not cheap and it is most certainly not crap! And this rig really sounds fantastic! I can do all of this really cool stuff with it."  To which my music friends reply, "Well, lets hear it!" And there my dumb lollipop goes unplugging and replugging and lever switching and bypassing and fondling this and wiggling that and searching for other outlets to plug into down the friggin' hallway. All while they get to play music and have fun.

 

It's embarrassing! I am a pro player and this is SUPPOSED to be pro gear. 

 

Any ideas? Thoughts? Am I doing something wrong? Is there something I need to get? Or is this just cheap poorly made crap?

 

 

 

**UPDATE**

 

I just set up my rig in my studio. Works perfectly! Sounds Incredible! I am a very confused man right now! I need a hug…...

  • Upvote 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

you might need a power conditioner for the rehearsal space... i can't explain it... but i have seen others have issues at gigs with shoddy power.

Thanx! I'll check out power conditioners. But it begs the question, Why does shoddy power ONLY affect my DT. Other amps are plugged into the same shoddy power source. But only my amp looses output. One thing to add, there is also a very loud pop that sometimes happens when this output issue rears it's ugly head.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe because the other amps do NOT behave like a ...computer.

 

I always power my HD500+JTV through a UPS (tech specs attached).

I noticed you didn't mention a DT 50 being plugged into your doohicky. I don't want to run out and purchase a bunch of stuff if it won't help me with my amp issue. I spoke to 2 L6 people. One tells me that the gear is fine and its a power ath the location issue. The other tells me that my amp have have bad/loose/weird tubes. not sure what to do and I have a gig tonight! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do not own a DT amp.

 

I play stereo (direct XLRs) to PA and I use a Crate BV60 tube amp as stage monitor. All units (ie HD500+JTV+Crate tube amp) are powered throught the UPS.

 

Before buying the JTV, I used a Fender Prosonic Custom Shop, 4CM'ed to the HD500 with a 1972 Strat.  With this configuration too, the Fender tube amp and the HD500 were powered via UPS.

 

Tube amps are very sensitive to power ubnormalities (fuses blown away, tube bases burn-out, capacitors damaged,etc). So, regardless if your problem is power quality or not, I should recommend to protect your investment via UPS or similar device.

 

May be you should have your DT amp checked by an (Line6?) amp-tech?

Rgds/John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do not own a DT amp.

 

I play stereo (direct XLRs) to PA and I use a Crate BV60 tube amp as stage monitor. All units (ie HD500+JTV+Crate tube amp) are powered throught the UPS.

 

Before buying the JTV, I used a Fender Prosonic Custom Shop, 4CM'ed to the HD500 with a 1974 Strat.  With this configuration too, the Fender tube amp and the HD500 were powered via UPS.

 

Tube amps are very sensitive to power ubnormalities (fuses blown away, tube bases burn-out, capacitors damaged,etc). So, regardless if your problem is power quality or not, I should recommend to protect your investment via UPS or similar device.

 

May be you should have your DT amp checked by an (Line6?) amp-tech?

Rgds/John

I appreciate your words. Alas, since you don't use a DT, they're not very helpful to me on this particular issue. But I do want to protect my gear and a power conditioner might not be such a bad investment. The L6 person tried to tell me about the temperamental nature of tube amps as well. When I plugged my Two Rock into the same crappy power source, it worked just fine. In this situation, I am left wondering why out of the 4 tube amps that were plugged into the same crappy power source was the DT the only amp that wouldn't work; needed to be unplugged and replugged or moved to another power source? This seems a bit more than just a fickle tube amp being sensitive to power abnormalities. 

 

I'm waiting for line 6 to send me a some form that will allow me to ship my amp to be serviced. I was hoping I had a kindred soul out there who had the same experience who could lend me some advice. Apparently, it's just me and my amp. Bummer...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think I figured out my part of my output issue. Loose L6 link cable. The connection at the Hd500 was not very tight. If the hd got bumped or that cable got wiggled in any way, it sent the amp into tail spin. The topologies would bounce around and finally everything just stops working. Which is why unplugging and replugging helped. It doesn't explain why when the hd was bypassed, the Dt50 still didn't work until I got it home. Maybe I needed to unplug the amp for a longer period of time for it to reset? Still exploring….

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have the same issue. The L6 connector on the HD500 appears to be loose and if the DMX cable moves at all the sound can either cut out or the DT25 will sound completely different. I'm not sure if this is something I can tighten up on my own or not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

I have a similar problem with my DT25.  Its 8 months old and has behaved brilliently until recently.  I'm having pretty much the same issues as Tboneous.  Also, the volume on the DT drops for no reason (sometimes) when using the Variax Tones (JV59).  If I switch to mag pups the the volume comes blasting back! Even though Im using the same VD/L6Link connection. If I plug guitar straight into the amp using a jack (on battery) I don't get the problem..

 

Anyone else experienced this and have any recommendations?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Allright! I have a major gig this weekend for a major NFL head coach and members of the team, local city leaders and an few all around Muckity-Mucks!

Line 6, you are on notice! I sent my amp in to be serviced for output issues and it came back with new tubes, a rattle and weird wind type noise out of the speakers. I am out of warrantee so I am stuck. The output issues seem to have been dealt with so even with a windy rattle, I consider this progress, believe it or not. Further, if I am at volume, the windy rattle can't be heard too much.

 

So I am going to roll with my Dream Rig for this gig. So far, the rig has behaved and is sounding fantastic (windy rattle notwithstanding!)

 

I swear to F'ing All….If I get to this gig and this Sugar Honey Iced Tea starts giving my the blues, If I have to reboot during my show, If I don't get any sound, If I start hearing errant pops, pings and/or whistles….I mean any trouble at all aside from my new windy rattle, after I finish apologizing to the organization that is paying me a large sum of money to be entertaining, I am loading this garbage up, driving to Line 6 and demand that they explain to me why they should not give me my money back!

 

If all goes well, they get nothing! That's what was supposed to happen in the first place! I give them money in exchange for Line 6 top of the line flagship gear that works!

 

Good, bad or otherwise, I will keep ya'll posted on how the gig goes!

 

Wish me luck!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gig tonight! Sound check went fine…Waiting for my ride to the venue. It is this space (between sound check and downbeat) where things go haywire! 

 

Don't let me down Dream Rig!

 

Fingers crossed, Two Rock backup in place!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just my two cents:

Right after purchase, I started having various intermittent, intentionally unreproducible ticky tack noises coming from the JVM (although I wasn't sure at the time) that eventually coupled with the tubes going out in my brand new DT25 all the while paired with the left scroll button on the HD500 not working 60% of the time.

 

This culminated, eventaully, in the return of the DT25 for warranty repair, sending the JTV back twice for warranty repairs that failed and eventually led to a replacement JTV.

 

The Line 6 support guys were all cool and responsive and all, and I think everything is going to shake out OK in the end (except for the damn HD500 button), but it does lend a bit of credence to the "cheap poorly made crap" notion. (Although I wouldn't exactly call the DR "cheap") It all seems robust and all, and I have a 11 year old POD live XT that still works fine (except for the display: some drunk chick poured a Captain & Coke all down in it) I have two bean PODs that I've kinda abused, but are still tickin. My Variax 700 is one of my favorite guitars: super comfortable, totally well built, never had a lick of trouble with it.

 

Here in this global economy, manufacturers like Line 6 probably swap parts suppliers  and assembly contractors and, who knows, a poorly managed Chinese factory with over-worked employees might have won the bid in recent years. Don't know. DR still sounds kick-lollipop, though. I just hope I can expect the reliability/longevity that I paid for. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Success! The rig did its job! I turned it on and it worked. Ive owned this rig well over a year and This is the first and only gig I have done with this rig where I didn't have some unexplained snafu! That's a sad statement in and of itself. No way in hell should that be the case for anyone who droped their hard earned money on the table to purchase this "Flagship" "best sounding" "most advanced guitar rig in the world" (those are Line 6 words, not mine) let's not even mention the hours spent tweaking this rig as it sounds like crap out of the box. I look forward to the day when the pain from my first year of Dream Rig ownership fades into the ether of distant memory. That can only happen when successfully gigs follow successful gigs. Last nights gig hopefully is the first step to a journey of trouble, free worry free, hassle free gigs!

 

The rig sounded Fantastic! And since this is a band that features me playing balls out bad booty guitar, IT BETTER!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...