Quote from Forum Archives on October 9, 2008, 9:24 am

Posted by: twheeler <twheeler@...>

Hey folks,

Thanks again for all of the advice and encouragement you all offered
as I've gotten back into the world of electric guitars. Used my new
setup to lead worship for the youth last night. It went pretty well I
think.

A few of you asked for a report back after I'd had time to use the
RP500, and I also have a few questions / issues to resolve now. I'll
try to keep this reasonably succinct.

The setup is basically a PRS Soapbar SE run to the RP500 and then
straight to the board. Ran mono (1/4" to DI) last night, plan to use
stereo XLR next time.

First thing I noticed - the soapbars were, in fact, much nosier
through the relatively nice and new house PA than they were at home
through an amp or headphones. They were quiet when I had both p'ups
on (they're wound in opposite directions, makes sense), but using just
one made a bit of noise. Not totally unexpected, and not to much to
live with (well, there's one exception to that, get to it in a
minute). All in all I was pleased with the tone of the guitar itself.

I'd setup about 4 patches to try on the RP500. Curiously, the first
patch I've ever created on the device worked out really exceptionally
well. It's an "almost clean" AC30, just a touch of verb, and a subtle
chorus there if I want it. Had a relatively subtle delay setup ready
to go but didn't really need it last night. No other effects on that
patch & everyone liked the results. It's nice and clean if you play
easy & then breaks up just enough if you push it.

I also had great success with a second patch - a Roland JC120 Jazz
Chorus. Little more of a "swimmy" chorus sound on that one. It
worked really well for some fingerstyle and then gentle strumming on a
[somewhat cliché] version of Step by Step. So far, so good.

Then comes the confusion & a bit of frustration. I had set up another
patch based on an AC30 Top Boost. This one isn't clean, the pre is
pushed pretty good. It sounded great at home, just like, well, an
AC30 with the pre pushed up hard (tried it through an amp and
headphones). Well, last night through the PA, there was so much noise
from the p'ups I couldn't use it. The noise diminished significantly
when I turned both p'ups on, but that wasn't the sound I wanted. I
turned the compression off and again, the noise diminished
significantly. All I can figure is that I'm going to have to turn up
the noise gate on this patch to make it usable. Trouble with that is
I'll obviously lose a bit of the nuance and such. So, I understand
that single coil pickups make noise, but I do not understand why
they'd be pretty darn quiet on two or three patches and then
incredibly loud (as in really loud, not usable) on a different patch.
Why did it show up on the PA and not at home? How on earth does this
happen on one patch and not on the others? Is this normal? I'd sure
appreciate any advice on what to look for.

Anyways, first impressions with the RP500 are good. The unit is
certainly easier for me to understand than the XT Live. The software
interface is straightforward and user friendly. The amp models I've
played with are reasonably good, certainly adequate for my intended
use at this time.

All my best,

Trey