first thing, you sound pretty good.. the sound is as described – tasteful in my opinion..
second, if you have a pod than I can send you the tone if you wish..
third, I think that in my record the most effective or notable sound change was all made with the Vol knob which
the POD 500X succeeded in the “Drive section” to use enough on each level of Vol.. and i think that gave me a sort of “feel” to the playing there..
in the Etude lesson which is the first time I hear, I think your sound go well with the back track but I think you can get a tasteful playing if you’ll use more technique
for more fluent sound. (a slife before, a breakdown, first note before the bit etc..)
and for that matter a VOL change is a great tool for phrasing a passage or something legato-ish which will not “go over” the lead tune.
hope you understood everything.. my English got worst through the years lol