The HD 500 HAS PLAYED ITS LAST SHOW

OGG

OGG

Master of the Meh
Done with it. Done with Line 6. Done with anything associated with Yamaha.

At the wedding gig on Saturday, the entire bottoms row of switches stopped working. This left me completely unable to switch between patches and banks without bending down between songs. This meant that we couldn't do the many great song transitions that we worked so hard on putting together. It also meant songs with more than one patch suffered because I had to choose one or the other before the song began.

Unacceptable.

Between the myriad other issues with it and the unmitigated douchebaggery of the L6 support community, this was the last straw. I'll be replacing it with a new BOSS before the week is through.

On a side note, but related... it seems that the TC Mic Mechanic does NOT like my new wireless mic. I ran the XLR out from the receiver into the pedal like you would with a regular mic, but it made the pedal go crazy. The FX kept turning themselves back on every time I switched them off. So talking between songs and people making toasts would suddenly sound like the old "today today today day day, I I I I , consider consider consider Der Der der, myself myself myself myself self elf, the the the the, luckiest luckiest luckiest iest, man man man man..." speach.

I need to research that issue. Maybe using a different channel or something will work.
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
If it were me, I would skip the multi-fx next time. Instead, get the individual stomp boxes you want and a programmable looper. It'll be more expensive, but you'll be able to get exactly the sounds you want and have replaceable components. @Dexter Inferno has a thread about programmable loopers that may interest you.
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When I have the funds again thats what I'll be doing.
 
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The one multi type unit that I've been really pleased with has been my Fly Rig. (the RK5) It makes me embarrassed to include it on the pedal board because I could do a gig with it and a tuner. I might actually make an embarrassingly small pedal board encorporating that idea.

Hmm.... I just had an idea where I could take some little strips of flooring or such and make a couple "modular boards" where I could use one, the other, or both... and they could sit side by side or one in front of the other. :baimun:
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
If it were me, I would skip the multi-fx next time. Instead, get the individual stomp boxes you want and a programmable looper. It'll be more expensive, but you'll be able to get exactly the sounds you want and have replaceable components. @Dexter Inferno has a thread about programmable loopers that may interest you.
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Yeah, I'm definitely never going back to the multifx thing. Too many compromises, and when one thing breaks on it during a live gig you tend to be fucked. :embarrassed:

I do have a Boss ME80 multifx thingie, but that just gets used for noodling with headphones/recording quick song ideas at home. For that it's useful.
 
baimun said:
The one multi type unit that I've been really pleased with has been my Fly Rig. (the RK5) It makes me embarrassed to include it on the pedal board because I could do a gig with it and a tuner. I might actually make an embarrassingly small pedal board encorporating that idea.

Hmm.... I just had an idea where I could take some little strips of flooring or such and make a couple "modular boards" where I could use one, the other, or both... and they could sit side by side or one in front of the other. :baimun:
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I was really tempted to get one of those when they came out.
 
I have a closet full of stomp boxes. Most of them are older than my kids. I like the idea of going back to them for all of those great reasons already mentioned. My only cause for hesitation is the sheer dynamic breadth of tones required to cover the material, and of course... my OCD for nailing every single tone.

What really sucks, is that I had finally reached a point with the HD that my tones sounded great. We pulled off "In a Big Country" by Big Country the other night at the wedding for the first time ever. Silky as it sounds, that was a lifelong goal realized that sort of choked me up. It took massive balls to even try and do that song. To do it and have the screaming bagpipe guitar tone was amazing. I put hours and hours into that one patch. To start over with another rig of any kind is going to be a lot of work.
 
OGG said:
I have a closet full of stomp boxes. Most of them are older than my kids. I like the idea of going back to them for all of those great reasons already mentioned. My only cause for hesitation is the sheer dynamic breadth of tones required to cover the material, and of course... my OCD for nailing every single tone.

What really sucks, is that I had finally reached a point with the HD that my tones sounded great. We pulled off "In a Big Country" by Big Country the other night at the wedding for the first time ever. Silky as it sounds, that was a lifelong goal realized that sort of choked me up. It took massive balls to even try and do that song. To do it and have the screaming bagpipe guitar tone was amazing. I put hours and hours into that one patch. To start over with another rig of any kind is going to be a lot of work.
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Well, with stomp boxes you will never get things perfect but you can get them good.
 
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Kerouac said:
Time to spring for a Fractal.
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I don't have an issue with the cost of a Fractal, but it's just too cumbersome and complicated. Our original guitarist that passed away had one and it was amazing, but the amount of extraneous shit he had to lug around with it, and the MIDI foot controller with a bazillion switches looked like a nightmare.

I just want something that sounds good, is portable/gig friendly, and is reliable. Cost is nearly irrelevant. Hell, I almost wish I hadn't given away my RP355. I had some monster tones on that thing. It was rugged, reliable, simple and small. The quality of FX wasn't quite as good as the HD, but more than good enough for gigging.

I'm doing my research this week. You guys will know soon enough what my next buyer's remorse venture turns out to be.
 
Funny to read this after I finally got to mess around yesterday with a Line 6 M5 and liked it.

Of course I like that it's only one pedal at a time that it models. Since I wanted mod factory type pedal for some time and a new delay I just figured I could get them both in one, and I love how the Qtron on it doesn't have a huge volume spike and also had a mix knob.
 
The thing for me with all of the fractal midi cyber doohickey is all the little menus and buttons. Ugh. I like being able to reach down and adjust a knob if I need to. Nobody is going to edit a patch on the fly. :embarrassed:
 
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My HD 500 I sold a few years ago was my last multiFX.

That said, I haven't played electric in months.
 
Tig said:
My HD 500 I sold a few years ago was my last multiFX.

That said, I haven't played electric in months.
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The huge difference between the HD and M series is exactly what you describe. The M unit is probably a far better choice. The other guitarist has an M 13 and it does nicely for him. He's never owned a multi-fx unit either and is sort of a technophobe. That says a lot of good about it.

I just can't do Line 6 anymore.
 
Here's mine at the moment:


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I have 3 or 4 flavors of modulation (chorus, phase, flange, and tremolo if you count that), 2 DDL's (one with a tap tempo), and a comp. I can get "pretty close" to just about everything (within reason) with this. I like nailing tones too, but it's a case of diminishing returns -- as long as you're close enough, you know that the audience really won't even notice.

I don't plan on ever going back to programmable set-ups -- too fussy for live use, as you obviously know.
 
I don't plan on ever going back to programmable set-ups -- too fussy for live use said:
Which is ironic consider that their whole shtick is about making such easier. In theory, you program your song patches, put them in order to match your set list, and you play the show with great ease and smooth transition from one to the next.

Somehow it just never works out that way. To be fair, the older units were much better at this. They may have sounded too digital, but they did what they said on the tin. Give my my old GSP 128 Artist Pro, or even my old RP3, and I'll run a two hour set without a single hiccup.

It's the addition of amp models, cab models, mic models with placement options (on center/off center) and all of the other ridiculous minutiae that makes the newer units so needlessly complicated and inconsistent. Sure, you can bypass all that stuff, but then what are you really paying for? A stomp box modeler that costs as much as a board full of stomp boxes.
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Right, and they both have their pros and cons, it's just a matter of deciding which is worse for your current needs. I don't like being locked in to patches in a certain running order, because it makes changes to that order more difficult than I personally want to deal with. And I prefer the sound of pedals, frankly.
 
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