rumrill1

Having said all that, I just tried running my Hound Dog thru the Acoustic model and didn't get much that was usable. I suppose if you really know EQ frequencies & what & how much to cut & boost, you could get a satisfactory sound. I didn't pursue it that far. My Fishman-equipped Guild flattop, OTOH, sounded super thru the Ac model with no tweaking except a bit of bass cut. The HD Fisman is very low-volume. I put a Tube Preamp in front of the amp model, Threshold at 100% (no comp), Level to suit, just to boost the volume. Let me know if you find a good dobro sound with Pod. . .

I've been playing a lot of dobro for 50 years. I've tried everything. Now using a Fishman Jerry Douglas Aura pickup & preamp. It sounds awesome - JD uses it! - but I never had satisfactory results running it thru Pod (bean, XT,X3, HD500, or HD500x). I would always end up bypassing the Pod & running from my Aura preamp into the PA. UNTIL NOW! The new Acoustic model that came with the recent firmware upgrade, running thru a Line 6 Soundstage L2m full-range powered speaker, gives me as good a sound as I get running straight into the board. My suggestion? Get the Aura system. It's expensive & must be installed by someone who knows reso guitars, but it's the best that's currently available. I have a Dobro Hound Dog round neck that has the same pup as yours. Not in the same league as the Aura system. I intend to get an Aura system for it, same as I have in my other 2 (square neck) dobros. With the Aura you will get great sound straight into the PA, or, alternatively, into the Pod - use the Pod's new Acoustic model to tweak the Aura's EQ - and then into a full-range (this is crucial!) amp/speaker.

Thanks. I'm now looking for a used X3. I had an X3 Live before the HD500 and used it to access Workbench. Does anyone know if it's possible to make that same connection (V300 to PC) with the plain "bean" X3 (not X3 Live)? AND: what about XT? I had one of those too but I forget: does it have Variax in & USB out?

Thanks. I guess that answers my question. One more: if I get the USB interface, will I be able to get my V300 into Workbench for sure (as far as you know)? They're $100 and I don't want to gamble.

I use a Variax 300. I was always able to connect it to Workbench through POD HD500. However,since upgrading to HD500x and its accompanying editor, HD500x Edit, I can no longer access Workbench. I don't know if this is an issue with the new firmware or with HD500x or the editor. The V300 is recognized by Line 6 Monkey but WB doesn't see it.

I had this problem on most of the electric models with Variax 300 (Workbench w/global control of string levels) and later with JTV 59 (WB HD ). I rejoiced when WB HD came out with indiv string level controls but the end result was disappointing. I found that it wasn't only the string-to-string balance (which I could never adjust to my satisfaction), but the fret-to-fret balance: a string would lose significant volume in different fret positions. I fiddle & fiddled with it but never got a result that approached realism. In the end I sold my JTV for this reason. I kept my V300 as I only use it for the National, acoustic 6-and 12-strings, and banjo models. These models don't seem to have the wild string balance variations that the electric models have, and I can control it with global control.

The new acoustic model was designed to be used with the Soundstage line of powered speakers, I'm sure. Giveaway is the amp icon that shows up in Edit: it's an L2m. And sure enough, at least to my ears, it sounds stunning thru my L2M. I plugged in a newer Guild GAD-30PCE with a Fishman piezo, no onboard controls, connected to Pod HD500X Guitar input, and out to L2m thru Line 6 Link, Studio/Direct mode. The only thing I changed from the default amp settings was to lower the bass a bit. (I find this is the frequency that will vary the most from room to room.) I added a touch of Hall reverb & a Tube Comp (Thought I'd need that for sure but turned it off.) Haven't gigged with it yet but I will tonight. Stay tuned. . . Also tried it with the acoustic models on my Variax 300. Didn't need to touch anything, it also sounded great. Thanks for fixing that acoustic amp no-show issue so quickly, Line 6!

If you have a Stagesource speaker the update addresses a serious "issue": previously, the Master level on POD was disabled when a SS speaker was connected; you had to reach to the back of the speaker to adjust the master volume, so inconveniently located on the back of the SS speaker. In the middle of a show this was a major pain in the butt, especially when the speaker was placed horizontally on the floor. Now the POD's master volume works as it should. You can quickly adjust master volume by merely bending over to reach your POD, instead of turning around & flipping a heavy speaker over. If you don't have a SS speaker the update doesn't do much for you. . .

Hopefully I can transfer all my patches from my HD500 to an HD500x. . .?

I put a Masonite body on the Rick 12 bridge model. Dunno about louder but it sounds smoother & fuller to my ears.

I have a JTV59 with the new firmware installed. It works fine. But I've noticed a quirk that, as I remember, didn't happen with the old firmware: When I set up the HD500 to switch the guitar model along with the patch, it will switch to the correct model but the JTV doesn't display the correct patch in its color-coded model knob light. If I want, say, T-model 2, and switch to that model via the HD500, the light on the model knob remains yellow even tho the correct guitar model is sounding. If I switch manually to T-model 2, that light will be blue, as it should be for any position 2 or 4 model. In fact, when I use the software to switch models - this is true of the new Workbench as well - the light remains yellow no matter what model it's on, even tho I might be on a position 2 or 4 model. If I switch to an HD500 patch that doesn't change the JTV model, i.e. uses its magnetic pups, then the light is off as it should be. Has anyone else noticed this quirk? Can it be fixed so it responds as the old one did? It's no biggie, but it is convenient to glance down at the knob light and see if you're on the right model (or at least if it pos 1-3-5 or 2-3-4)

Finally had a chance to have a few hours playing the new models. I think they're a huge improvement over the old ones, especially the Tele, Dan-O & Les Paul. Fuller-sounding, more responsive to pick attack and volume control changes, and overall more realistic. I LOVE the per-preset string balance control. Finally! My only complaints: 1) Line 6, please hurry up with the HD500/Workbench compatibility! Since a lot of the new models sound quite different from the old ones, I'm having to change the tone settings for most of my Pod presets = a lot of time on battery power = a lot of recharging time. 2) Something's not right with the Spank position 2 (bridge+middle). One of the presets in the Custom 1 postion has this same model and it sounds quacky enough, but the one in Spank 2 sounds completely different. I changed the pup on/off switching in WB so the correct pups are activated (they were set wrong in the original setup) but it still sounds like a completely different guitar with 0% quack. I also tried to copy & paste the one in Custom 1 into Spank 2 position but no difference. . . 3) The acoustic models are too sensitive to string buzz. I hear an annoying fret rattle on my low E - on all frets - in all 3 acoustic models whereas there's no trace of it unamplified or in any of the electric models, no matter how hard I hit it. I use a fairly high action with 11-49 strings. 4) The models in Custom 2 position that are supposed to be in alt tunings are not, they're just standard tuning. I realize I can make up whatever I want in WB, but has anyone else noticed this?

To me the greatest thing about the new Workbench is the ability to adjust string balance PER PRESET, and not just globally as before. As I complained several times in the Variax forums, I had huge headaches with the old WB trying to find a global string balance setting that would work well for the 5 or 6 models that I use a lot. (I should mention that I play fingerstyle, mostly clean w/o a lot of gain/distortion; I think string imbalance issues are a lot less noticeable with the gain piled on.) Anyway, having said that, I notice that the new models are generally better balanced string-to-string than the old models. I find myself having to make fewer string balance adjustments per model than I expected. A good case in point is the new Tele bridge: with the old one the D string was howling loud; if I turned it down in WB then it was way too quiet in other models. The new Tele bridge model is fine with no tweaking. And a lot of the new models sound OK with the global sb set to 100% for all 6 strings.