Acoustic Simulator

    What's been working for me is piezo bridge p/u (similar to Ghost) using a profile from RE called 'Acoustic GSP'. Use it for both fingerpicking and strumming. Haven't really tried it with magnetic p/u but I bet it would get pretty close. I tried all of the other acoustic profiles and that was the one that sounded most convincing to me.


    I own the Boss Acoustic pedal and it just adds too much noise to be usable.

    Quote from mrs-zambesi

    Me too! And, imho a very underrated guitar!!! :thumbup:


    Agreed, except for the durability of the electronic switches etc.


    Quote from lef38

    Yes because there is a piezo bridge in it.
    Other than that i've tried the mooer acoustikar pedal, haven't been impressed. It's still far away from the sound you cna get with a piezo.


    The piezo is irrelevant in this case; the thing models LPs, Strats, 12-strings, semi-hollow jazz, Ricks, dobro, sitar, Tele, resonator... it's all in the proprietary modelling process (DSP).


    In fact, the acoustic models sound nothing like piezo-electric acoustics. Not even slightly. They sound like... proper acoustics, even simulating the accentuated string noise whilst changing finger positions. Tap the guitar's body and... thud. Uncanny, and in a different league altogether. This is why I always mention it when someone starts a thread of this or a similar nature.


    Quote from heldal


    Agree wrt playability and the analog circuitry, but the quality of the proprietary switches for the variax-circuit is horribe. At least that's my experience with a Korean-built JTV59 that I had. I owned it for a year, but could only use if for a few weeks. It spent most of its time in a workshop waiting for parts. The frets were uneven on arrival so I wasted a bit extra on a plek-job. The guitar had a comfy neck and decent sounding humbuckers so in analog-mode it would work as a stand-in for my LPC, but the modelling-switches made that part a complete disaster. This was when L6 still operated on their own so maybe Yamaha with their attention to build-quality could bring some positive influence. I haven't tried a more recent example so I can't tell if the switches yet have been redesigned to last longer.


    Yup, it took, wait for it... 7 years for me to arrive at a guitar that worked properly and stayed in tune! I started with an original Vax700 (electric version), gave up on it after spending 2 years trying to get it to stay in tune (spent heaps), then spent 5 years going through, oh I've lost count now... at least 5 units, all of which had issues which involved waiting up to 9 months(!) to be fixed (the boat from L6 HQ to Australia must be real slow - slower than walking pace, in fact).


    So yeah, all up I've not heard a L6 disaster story as bad as mine, and yes, although my frets were spaced OK, I did experience the only unit the wholesaler knew of where the machine heads were so misaligned I could see it from across a room... without my glasses on, and I'm very short-sighted! If you turned all the winders to make a "straight" line(!), the distance between them varied from 3 to 8mm, for example. You couldn't fit a hand-winder onto half of them...


    Short story: I couldn't agree more, and have also wondered whether or not the Yammy acquisition will make a difference down the track. The software side of it's certainly there, but the hardware implementation leaves a lot to be desired IMHO.

    Quote from Monkey_Man

    Short story: I couldn't agree more, and have also wondered whether or not the Yammy acquisition will make a difference down the track. The software side of it's certainly there, but the hardware implementation leaves a lot to be desired IMHO.


    Yes, it's a sad story. I have no experience with the older Variax-models, but all it would take to fix the current JTVs (Korean and US all have the same problem) is a proper durable design for the Variax-switches. There is a new line out (variax standard) that is based on Yamaha strat-clones, but I don't know if they've improved the switches on those. Visually they seem to be the same as before.

    Agreed.


    I haven't followed the forum in a while now as I've had no need, so am unaware of how the user feedback has been on the "Yammy" ones.


    Of course, the minute I start recording later in the year, I'll probably get nervous about having to go to the L6 forum for something or other. I'm confident I sorted all my JTV issues out, mostly by myself, but the fact they they've been sitting covered in my multi-stand for a couple o' years now doesn't necessarily mean that they couldn't have "spontaneously" developed issues. I've learned not to make any assumptions when it comes to the durability of all L6 guitars, with only one caveat: I've never played the original Variax Acoustic.


    Oh, and I held onto my JTV 89F, even 'though I hate the fact that string changing is such a nightmare on the thing, purely as a backup in case my "beloved" JTV 69 dies and requires servicing, which as you'd know, can take up to 6 months or even longer here in Aus.

    I personally am enjoying profiles # 7 & 30. They sound pretty good with my PRS. Others may have different results, but so far I'm impressed. The "GSP' referenced earlier didn't work for me at all, sorry to say. I think Gerard's #7 & 30 are a very nice improvement on Bill Rupert's great Zoom profile.

    Gary ô¿ô