Fender Mustang modeling kicks Line 6 @ss!

[Steve2112]

I've had the Line 6 POD HD pro for quite some time now, fiddling with this and that. I tired it to a number of configurations and parameters. I gort some good tones out of it, but they were hard to come by and somewhat few and far between. FYI I am a happy and proud tweaker, I can sit there all night turning stuff off and on and round and round. I've tamed a Voodu Valve and GSP-2101, among many others.  I prefer to go into an amp, back or front. Will also use PA/SS poweramp into 4x12. Also can go direct to PA.

  The cleans on the HD500 are decent, much more studio-like the Tonelab SE,  and so are some of the high gains. Had a lot of trouble with touch and feel of the mid-gain. I learned to use all the non-amp/preamp models sparingly if at all, when going to guitar amp. But even after all that, it was really the effects that helped kill it. The chorus is a flimsy joke. The delays are the hardest I've ever had to set...trying to get a natural sound. I've had NO trouble with Digitech or Rocktron delays. Part of it might be the metrics of it, percentages instead of actual values. But most of it to me is the engineering, just couldn't get the ms, repeats and gain just right.

 

So on a whim I ran the FX loop send of the Mustang III to my 64 Twin, dialed back most of the patch volumes and wailed away happily for a couple hours. The tones were easy to get and quite realistic. By itself, the Mustang III can be a bit...LITE. Good sounds but not much beef. Line out to the Twin made it sound SO huge....natural...easy. Modellers talk about the SRV sound, but few can measure up. The Mustang DOES it, specially when amped up with the Twin. FX were easy to dial in and MUCH more effective and present.

 

I'm curious if the Mustang floor pedal works as well. But the cool thing with the amp is the FX loop appears to be parellel. I still had volume control on it, I could turn it off or use with the Twin for an even bigger sound. Very cool.

 

Hopefully clips to come soon.