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I used to own a POD 2 and a SPIDER III 120 watt amp - both of which, I loved. The POD HD500X completely blows them away! I'm using it for recording and the HUGE array of amp and effect models is just what I was looking for. Pretty much any sound I can think of, I can dial up. What impresses me the most is the depth of editing. For instance, there are adjustable parameters for the tube amp models that would be difficult, if not impossible, to adjust on the actual tube amp. And all these fine adjustments ARE audible. BRAVO and KUDOS to LINE 6! AND zZounds should be commended for this very smooth and enjoyable transaction. Shipping was very quick, and the Play As You Play option was extremely convenient. BRAVO and KUDOS to ZZOUNDS, as well!

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First off, the good... The sound quality is great. I've had mine for a week and the possibilities are absolutely endless. If you're only using this to go guitar>hd500>front of your amp, you're selling yourself short and should probably be using a much lower-tier processor. If you're not familiary with the 4-Cable Method, you need to stop what you're doing and look up the line 6 videos on it immediately! This expands your capabilities 10 fold with this pedal! The sound is crystal clear, I would even say it shimmers. You're absolutely open to virtually any sound from any amp, effect, microphone or guitar (if you're rocking a variax, like me). The ease of use is rough... It most definitely has a learning curve, but for quality gear, this is a small price to pay! Most of my praise comes from the 4 cable method, which allows you to basically split this pedal in two. What I mean is, it allows you to send some of the processing to your amp's preamp and some of it straight to the power amp. The pros spend dozens of thousands of dollars being able to replicate what this pedal does for $500. To elaborate: Wahs, compressors and distortions/stomps always sound best in the "pre" portion of the signal chain (before your amps preamp), but effects such as flangers, reverbs, choruses, tremolos, etc. sound best in the "post" portion of the signal chain (after the preamp and just before the power amp). The 4-cable method allows you to do that and it makes your sound so professional. Another capability you have with this pedal using the 4-cable method is bypassing your amp's preamp completely and using a modeled amp by going straight to your power amp. Again, you need to watch videos from Line 6 on the 4-cable method in order to understand this. It is complex, but it is PROFESSIONAL! Build: This thing is built rock solid. Line 6 always builds solid gear. I still have my Line 6 Pod XT Live, it's about 6 years old, and it works like a charm. The display is bright and crisp, also customizable between three different displays, and the LED rings surrounding the floor buttons gives it a great appearance. It looks professional, sounds professional and is built professional. I rated 4/5 on the "wow" factor because there are still better units out there (at 3-5 times the price, though), so there are better possibilities for modeling/effects, but you. will. not. beat. this. product. for 500. Customer support: Line 6 has a very expansive forum in the Community section. In this forum, you'll find not only well-versed and experienced long-term users of line 6, but actual Line 6 employees answering questions in these forums. I've never had to call them or email them, but then again, that's because of a great forum. The bad: You cannot copy a specific effect and transfer it to another patch. This is tedious because you have individually program every patches effects from scratch. Also, the learning curve. It is very difficult to grasp this pedal, especially if it's your first effects processor. I owned the Line 6 POD XT Live before this, and albeit similar in many ways, I'm still struggling to keep up. Bottom line: It's a learning experience. You have 30 days from the time you buy this to return it, so what have you got to lose? I promise you won't want to return it if you're willing to put in the effort and time to learn this pedal's capabilities. I'm satisfied.

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I'm a guitar teacher,have a masters in composition with minor in jazz guitar and full time musician and have my own studio. I bought several effects processors around this price range,returned them all.This one FAR excedes all of them. Yes, you have to tweak patches a bit to your specifications,so what!! I'm a multistylistic guitarist,thus i need patches for country,metal,funk,jazz etc. This has prisitine,very high quality presets,tons of great sounding effects,very realistic and diverse amp models. I personally don't believe you have to pay $1500 for a great processor and this unit proved ut.I have very high standards for tone and I'm a perfectionist. This processor passes all my tests and far exceeded my expectations.!! I now have both the rack one for my studio and this one for live purposes . I'm 100% happy.I can't stand geek heads who fuss and complain in these reviews about minuscule,petty technical issues . It usually means they can't play their instrument well and are waiting for the magic in the bottle "perfect" processor that meets all their neurotic ,micrcosmic demands/needs. I've seen Great players like Steve Morse,Eric Johnson and others make musical magic live with very basic equipment. Don't pay attention to geek heads,buy this processor you won't be dissapointed.

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First off I will tell you it takes awhile to learn how to use it. It's not as simple as stand alone pedals and takes more work to get what you want out of it. That said, if you're not afraid to do some reading (and tinkering) this thing is amazing! I have had multi effects units in the past and nothing comes close. It's a tone machine plain and simple and if you have patience you'll get the sounds your looking for. Personally it does things I couldn't achieve with pedals. I like a really "wet' lead tone, with heavy distortion and delay/reverb. With regular pedals I got a lot of noise on the repeats and there was no fix, even with a high end noise suppressor. No problem with the HD500X, screaming juicy leads with no noise! I've been playing for over 30 years and I'm really satisfied with the sounds I can create with this unit. The best $500 I've ever spent on gear (and I've spent a lot, lol!) Get it, you won't regret the decision.

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My advice... Review the included Pilots Guide before even turning on the POD! It's not difficult to use once you understand the controls. It took me about two hours to be perfectly comfortable with it. Once i was, this device enabled me to engineer any tone i needed very quickly and easily. I am a David Gilmore fan and creating his tones for my favorite Pink Floyd solos was easy. Great product

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I've owned the M13 and now I am proud owner of the HD500x. Both great if you want ease of use go with the M13 but if you're willing to take a little time and explore the HD500x will keep not disappoint! If you're a tone junkie on a budget like me this will give you your fix and then some. I love that you can run 8 different effects and your amp plus the looper makes this pedal tops for the price. I use it for recording at home but I could definitely see using it live, very sturdy and well built! I highly recommend.

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I'm a Metal Guy and when it comes to getting that right heavy Tone, Line 6 Has alwaysCome thru.The line 6 HD 500X Is just what the Dr ordered with more processing PowerMore custom options and Built to last. This is one bad Mofo. Thanks Zzounds Line 6 Rocks!

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Was able to get this from zZounds. awesome piece to my guitar rig. I play mostly at church and having the ability to setup patches at home and then utilize them going studio direct to PA has been a great thing, and the tone (which I was worried about coming from mic'ing the amp to PA) was fantastic.. just be sure and read your manual and make sure you are setting up things correctly. There are also plenty of youtube videos and forums online to help with this... Lincoln Brewster runs direct to pa and his tone is awesome. (of course now he runs the Helix) A++ product and A++ service from zZounds!!!!

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This pedal board is amazing. Flexibility for days, plus at the line 6 website you can download other users programmed tones. The computer UI for editing tones is super cool and way easier to use than the screen on the board.

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This thing is amazing! Graduated up from the AMPLIFi fx100 and it’s night and day for possibilities. My head is still spinning learning all the cool stuff I can do now with my Guitar!! It built like a tank as well!!! Can’t wait to play out with it!

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Want a AxeFx for a 10th of the price? Here ya go. I've put a lot of time into the AxeFx and it's amazing. But $2500?..... Not on my salary. This thing sounds fantastic. It takes a little more time and effort to make it sound as close to legit as the AxeFx, but it's definitely doable. And lets face it, the only people that are REALLY going to be able to tell the difference, are the hardcore musicians. If you're using this in the studio, you're golden. Playing it live requires a little more tweaking with some of the onboard settings. I couldn't be happier with it. Well worth the price. Now that the Line6 Helix is out.... I might have gone with that over this. But you'll have to decide if the extra $1000 is worth the step up.

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I have to say... When I was indecisive of GT100 or 500X, I did a massive amount of research on both and finally made my decision. Hand down the line 6 500X is winner! I read that it's hard to configure... I had no trouble for first timer to mess with this with ease. It took me no more than an hour to learn from what does what and built my sound. I'm into death metal sound and thrash and it can do both with some tweaks. I find that it to me easier to configure with petal than the program on the computer. So, let the tweaking begin.

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I plug directly into our PA at church, and this baby is a life saver. Pro level effects, easy to use, and a real bargain for all you get. I’m still learning it... but at the same time, I was rocking it out of the box. Highly recommend!

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I was looking for a practical pedal board arrangement for my small congregation. I'm a lead guitarist in a worship band and our building is not large enough to have tube amps cranked. Also, carrying my guitars, pedals, and amps to the congregation was tiring. This thing can plug straight into the PA and has great sounding effects and amp simulations. You can even set the amps to play clean with light strumming/picking and break up when you dig in. My only critique is that I wish it had more DSP space and a few more digital effects. Although with the effects loop you can add any leads you have to the mix. Overall, I love this thing. It can go straight into the PA or to an amp and it can also run stereo or mono. It's a great great multi effects board that I highly recommend.

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As much as I do like this device, I found it difficult to dial in a good high gain tone without using 1-3 parametric equalizers. Sparkling clean tones were difficult as well. Tube screamer into a JCM 800 is fab and the Univibe model is pretty sweet too. I can play with that configuration all day. Overall I'd say you can dial in some very usable tones but it will take some effort and time. For recording you're better off using 3rd party cabinet models.

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First, let me say that I'm not a professional musician and I don't really even have any live gig experience. I have, however, been playing guitar for 17 years and have played through lots of equipment. I've also done a lot of band practice in the basement type of situations. This pedal is freaking amazing. The build quality and look/feel are great. It works very well as a USB audio interface so you don't need to have a separate piece of kit to do recording. The FX quality is astounding. I'm not a tone snob at all, and I'm not one of those "tube amps are the only way to get quality sounds" kind of guys either. However, I've always been disappointed by the distortion in digital multi-FX pedals. This one is a BIG exception. The distortion both on the amp models and the FX are fantastic. Great response to your guitar's volume control and nice breakup from clean to dirty. My goal was always to pair this with the Tech 21 Power Engine 60 which I now have. It sounds so good. Now I can dial in all my tones on the computer using the Line 6 Edit software (which works very very well) and then move over to the Tech21 and the sound is matched perfectly. I can now record or gig with just the power engine and the hd500x and I always have the consistency I'm looking for. I personal still use a separate noise gate and boost pedal because they are needed on so many FX and I'd rather not use up two spots in the chain for those. Also, I used the payment plan which is awesome. Thanks ZZounds!!

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I wasn't pleased with a single preset, but every tone I've created myself has been absolutely killer. It's ability to produce ambient/clean sounds is unrivaled for the price, and it's great for high gain stuff as well. However, it DOES require a bit of tweaking. Luckily, there are plenty of threads and videos on the interwebz as your disposal.

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I have had this beauty approx. two weeks. So far I have created my "main sound", My "clean channel" and a channel based on Stevie Ray/Jimi. What an amazing piece of equipment this is. Just barely scratching the surface on what this thing can do. It's great at low volume and Great at higher stage volumes! Best $500 I've ever spent. My band mates are also blown away by this awesome POD. Do yourself a favor. Get one of these...you will not be unsatisfied! WTG Line 6. Just WTG!

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Had a boss me-50 and I miss it but I know the hd500x can do the same effects but I still have to Learn how to use the same effects and it has at least 8,000+ more effects, 50$ more from just the hd500 model. Totally worth it. Semi easy to use but so much more to learn and experience some real sounds. Full 5stars!!

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A solid unit, but if you are expecting to find the tones of the old XTLive model, forget it. The presets are all way over the top and for the most part unusable in a live setting. Creating patches is very cumbersome unless using the pc connection. I'd say if you are a modeling amp junkie then this is probably for you. If you are looking for something to simplify your rig, this ain't it...

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As with all my other Line 6 gear, this unit is indispensable! The sound is awesome, it's built like a tank.... it's a power house in one unit! For most, this could replace most, if not all, of their existing FX on their pedal board! The only non-five-star rating I give is the "Ease of use" because it does take some time to learn everything it has to offer... which is A LOT!!!

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My use of the HD500X is unusual as I play in an acoustic duo. I play guitar, Electric mandolin, and Bass. My main guitar is a Taylor T5. I wanted a multi-fx processor that would run XLR out, would have some basic effects, but I could also use with my Fender Mando-strat, and also my Bass. For example, I created a basic acoustic patch for my T5, with chorus, reverb, and delay, and boost for solos. Then I copied that patch and tweaked it for the magnetic p/u on the T5, so it rocks out just a bit by adding a hair of distortion. Sometimes we cover songs that call for a little drive, but playing in a duo, I wanted that drive to be subtle. Just enough to change the flavor of my sound. The biggest challenge to me in a duo is how to differentiate the sound of our songs. That's why I went with the HD500X. I can easily tweak my main patch to fit my needs. For example, We cover the Kenny Chesney song, "American Kids", so I added the auto filter to my main patch to get that "Auto Wah" effect on the guitar riff. People LOVE that. I created another patch for my Fender Mando-Strat and then an entirely separate patch for my Bass. All of them sound really good. I think for the price, this is a good unit. It's fairly easy to program, compact enough, and set up at a gig is a breeze. I wish the screen was just a little bigger, but that wouldn't keep me from endorsing this product.

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I've just recently started playing guitar again & last time I owned a rig I was a broke college kid. So at most I had maybe 3 stomp-boxes and I feel a bit out of my league with this bad boy. I do love the look, build, sound of it, and the seemingly infinite amount of sounds.

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I bought the podhd500x,Zzounds had it at my door in 3 days, after a little bit of a learning curve the hd500x has turned out to be better than I had expected. The downloads are a great way to get about any amp/effect, then you can tweek those until you have pretty much what you want, I checked out the four chord method of setting up parts of my effects to run after my preamp, but found out a lot people are getting great results just plugging into the amp return of the effect loop, its better than your preamp. I am a tube purist but I guess I have to rethink that now.

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Owning both the axe fxII and the POD. I feel the HD500X delivers a more true sound to traditional amps With better fx. And at a much lesser cost over the fractal unit Although it is a learning curve it is plug and play.

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I have 13 Electric Guitars. With two of them this thing sounds stellar. Both Seymour Duncan 2 humbucker configured. With these guitars the sound is so good I'm going to buy the Dt50. It likes Dimarzios second best. Then stock Gibson pickups. Then Last EMG'S

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wow all the hype, so much capability, this will be way better than all my previous multistomps (almost all ) wow I got it the next day after I ordered zounds must have esp. I unpack hook up and rifle through the presets . wow not one that amazes or delights me even the x3 live had a few. maybe if I download all the user patches they say the pod hd500 patches compatible but ive had problems with monkey deleting all my tones in past that I worked on for 100's of hours , so no instant gratification . this is not the multistomp for begginers buy a rp1000 digitech or zoom g5 and download user community patches and youl have fast gratification. this is a complex beast I wont return , im buying into the hype that ill have 1000 hours someday to plumb all its vast technical capabilities , but most probably it will gather dust.while I bask in the instant gratification of great tones from some other device why cant these multistomps come preloaded with 100 plus usable great tones from the club players that can really amaze and thrill a guitarist and I find so inspiring.club players can program edge's sound gilmour, Santana , van halen, or anything. instead we get unusable to a guitarist ring modulator, extreme pitch etc garbage that actually my kids Hasbro and mattell toys do a better job with for less, or straight up simple same old tones (ho-hum) my old battered boss gt6 will do absolutely nothing here for instant gratification the buyer is completely dissatisfied. really line 6 put your back into it fire your preset programmer (I know its the bosses kid) and get club players willing to share their craft not stars who lend their name but not there real tones to program usable thrillers . find the best of best pod 500 tones from user community. I can hear better quality of hd tones but presets left me so disappointed / uninspired I don't even want to work with it . so it will gather dust. great products are out there that astound and thrill right out of the box like tc helicon voice live play gtx wow the vocals im mediocre at best but this thing makes me sound great and with user I had 490 patches in it that just astound. when someone goes to namm and has a product the joe/ jane average can astound with right there with in home reproducible equipment that's what we should buy say no to this junk that cant deliver in your hands there are products out there that can . I have used user community with other brand products and got incredible patches that inspire and astound myself and audiences. so I know its out there the manufacturers are just too greedy / lazy to give it to us probably a great piece of gear but most of us will never have that experience with this most will be left disappointed and line 6 its your own fault for not giving us 100 patches that delight and astound right out of the box. hopefully a lot of you read this wont buy this product until line 6 recalls or releases a patch update that installed before it ships. imagine a poor kid who saved for years to buy this gets it for Christmas and then rifles through the presets and is left devastated and crying because your product doesn't deliver on the hype. even after 45 years of playing / buying everything that's how I felt with this product. if it is that good fix it!!!!!show me with right out of the box presets , not some recipe secret only some rock star with a million hours and techs can conjure. I know how to work line 6 I know how to craft great patches , but in this case ill just move on pick up another piece of gear and wail away because really I want to spend my time wailing away on my guitar basking in the glow from my own pleasure or thrilling my audience with awesome tones and effects , not wanking away on a computer downloading sorting through and trying to load patches or spending 100's of hours programming patches into a machine admit it tech snobs you like spending time programming patches into a box more than you really like playing guitar to thrill yourself or a crowd .like the great philosopher said "pick up your guitar and play" me I just want to spend every minute I can of my remaining life making love to my guitar and I lament the thousands of hours wasted wanking away programming and setting gear that doesn't deliver right out of the box. .zoounds fastest ship, best 4 pay and best return policy.

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I likee - of course I've been a shredder since 1976 so I can't expect YOU to "UNDER"-stand.... suffice it to say.... i Approve :-)

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The Roland BOSS GT-10 is the best guitar preamp. Combine the BOSS GT-10 with my BOSS GT-10 Patches and you have the best guitar amp simulator available today: http://www.jameslimborg.com/boss-gt-10-patches.html

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