HD500X direct

[toneo2001]

Hello, I love my HD500X through my Mustang III or monitors at home but this week I tried my new HD500X at church without amp to keep stage noise down. In our practice I first tried XLR out with "Amp" setting. I Had to turn the gain way up on the soundboard and still I had lots of distortion on the cleanest tones. I then tried every setting I could and it still sounded bad. The only way I finally got a useable sound was to go 1/4" out to a DI box with buttons out (0 db attenuation) with output set to Line, Even then the sound was tinny and too bright... I am playing a Strat with Lollar "Blackface" pickups. Any advise?? Thanks!

 

[charley]

Hello, I love my HD500X through my Mustang III or monitors at home but this week I tried my new HD500X at church without amp to keep stage noise down. In our practice I first tried XLR out with "Amp" setting. I Had to turn the gain way up on the soundboard and still I had lots of distortion on the cleanest tones. I then tried every setting I could and it still sounded bad. The only way I finally got a useable sound was to go 1/4" out to a DI box with buttons out (0 db attenuation) with output set to Line, Even then the sound was tinny and too bright... I am playing a Strat with Lollar "Blackface" pickups. Any advise?? Thanks!

I would not set it globally to Amp Out, I would set it to the Direct mode of output (can't remember the name of the setting).

Are cab sims on?

Also, set input 1 to guitar and input 2 to variax, even if you only use 1 input.

 

[phil_m]

Well, first off, amp/line switch doesn't change the level of the XLR outs. They are always going to be at mic level. If things generally sounded bad, it could be because you're in the wrong output mode. You want to make sure you're in Studio Direct.

The other thing I'd say is that if you tweak tones for use with your Mustang at home, there's a good chance those tones won't translate well to a PA system. It's best if you can use a full frequency, flat response speaker to craft your tones. That will help to make sure they translate well from system to system. I, for example, use studio monitors to tweak my tones at home, and generally, I don't have to adjust my patches a lot when I go direct to a PA.

 

[Unnecessary]

Line Level needs to be set if you're gonna use the 1/4 outputs. If you're having to boost the volume that much at the board, I suggest taking a look at your mixer settings in the HD, and also with the meters in any DAW....check your patches against factory ones to make sure you're output isn't too low...I've known some people to turn the mixer waaaaay down in the HD cause it feels cleaner, but it really isn't. And also, make sure that the sound guy is running that XLR into a mic input. I've seen more than a few times where an adapter or dual-end cable is used cause "Its gotta go into a line input, right?"

 

[randombastage]

When playing into the effects return of an amp like the Mustang you would likely have been using pre models on the Pod and the power amp and speaker cab off since you would be running through the power amp and speaker cab in the Mustang.
So, if that was the set up, be sure you use presets in the Pod with full amp model with the speaker cab and mic included and set the output to Studio/Direct.

 

[toneo2001]

Thanks for help! I have inputs Guitar 1/ Variax On the mixer I like to set it 12 oclock with 0 Decibels. Should it be more? On the HD I max out the Volume and Master. On my patches I use full amp to go direct. Thoughts? I will probably spend my day off at the church dialing everything in. I will check and make sure it is a mic input at the board.

 

[Pietro]

Yup, you'll have to write new patches.

You might find that a different amp model than you're used to works best for this.

You might get better results on the XLR outs if you pan the patch all the way to one side and use only that XLR out. They don't sum. For me, I like the 1/4 inch through a direct box better.

 

[Foss38]

I go direct to board from either the 1/4" or XLR. Output set to "direct/studio" and the "switch" IS NOT set to amp. I build my patches to set my master at 12 o'clock and the mixing console is usually around 11 o'clock on the gain (depending on sound tech). I use in ear monitors (Ultimate Ears) through an Aviom system(mandatory) and I really don't like the sound of electric guitar in them.

 

[partytrain]

That's what's great about the setlists in the hd500. I've got 2 almost identical set lists, one for running into an amp, the other for direct. The only difference between them is I'm using the full versions with cabs for my direct setlist, and just using the pre's for my amp setup. If course there is some slight eq differences as well.

 

[Pietro]

I go direct to board from either the 1/4" or XLR. Output set to "direct/studio" and the "switch" IS NOT set to amp. I build my patches to set my master at 12 o'clock and the mixing console is usually around 11 o'clock on the gain (depending on sound tech). I use in ear monitors (Ultimate Ears) through an Aviom system(mandatory) and I really don't like the sound of electric guitar in them.

I don't like the sound of ANYTHING through an Aviom, there's some weird compression going on that I hate, but it's just to hear so you play with everyone else, so I'm okay with it.