Help Needed ....Looking at Line 6 JTV guitars

If you're referring to the infamous "plink", yes, it was fixed, AFAIK, when the JTVs first came out. It was definitely a serious issue with the original Variaxes IMHO.

For your style, and if you use FL, I'd definitely go the JTV89F. The 89s have a slicker action and neck, and are more suited to metal. It's HH. I've got one, but it's only a "reserve" in case of breakdown for me 'cause changing strings on the FL isn't my cup of tea. The turnaround can be many months, at least here in Australia, if something goes wrong, which is why I grabbed the '89 as well.

I can highly recommend the '69 models, although I haven't tried the all-single-coil one. Nice and chimey, comfortable to play and great for most styles. I've got the first (original) model, which is HSS.

As far as the models go, they're in a different league from the old Variax ones. The drop tuning is adequate according to my heavy-rock-head brother, and he's pretty fussy, so I'm guessing you'd be OK. My guess is also that the further you ask the software to deviate from the original tuning, the greater latency you'll incur, so I wouldn't try anything too radical. An alternative might be to tune down to half the maximum you're after, thus capturing the middle ground, meaning that you could go lower or higher in roughly-equal measure through the software and curtail the latency you'd normally experience.

I only harped on the latency thing 'cause I know how you metal heads are with timing!

Action and intonation will likely require tweaking out of the box, but once you get 'em in your ballpark, all is good. The necks especially crap all over the original Variaxes.

Hope this helps, brother.

EDIT: Oh, and welcome to the forum man!

You want one of these:

[Blocked Image: http://www.sweetwater.com/images/items/1800/VariaxPwrKit-xlarge.jpg]

Paul's spot-on, shadyru. That's the ticket right there.

I've bought several so I have reserves in case of breakage. I doubt they'll be needed 'though as the units seem pretty solid. Interestingly, I also used them for my Variax700 back in the day, but back then they were silver (metal) and black, and looked sturdier / tougher.

I've not ever placed a battery in any L6 guitar I've owned, and due to a whole lot of bad luck mainly centred around receiving DOA or dud axes for several years, I've been through at least 7 or 8. I did try the '59 BTW, but didn't like the LP-style selector switch's operation or feel. The strat-style 5-way toggle is much more intuitive IMHO because it logically follows the 5-in-a-bank paradise-titty-gym... I mean, paradigm. The '59 was a dud anyway, thankfully.

I used to use the VDI digital connection until I bought the Kemper 'cause I'd always, except for a stint in the '90s when I had a GSP-2101, used L6 modellers. Still got a bunch of spare, expensive, unused cables for it (Planet Waves) that'll probably never be used now. At least the power-supply box Paul and I are suggesting you get only requires a stereo (balanced) 1/4" jack lead. For this, you might want to go, as I did, a Planet Waves or similar-quality, gold-connector, oxygen-free etc. lead. I leave one end permanently plugged into the L6 power-supply box so as to minimise wear on it.

In case you were wondering, the DC power is sent down the spare wire in the stereo lead to the Variax. It's not technically as ridiculously-noise-free as the digital-VDI-cable method, but it's close, the noise itself is an extremely-low-level, smooth white-noisey sound that's consistent in level and never harsh; it seems to not vary at all. Practically speaking, you should never hear it anyway 'cause when compared with conventional PU levels, it pales into insignificance.

Just for beer and skittles, you might want to compare the mag PUs' noise levels with those of, say, the digital Strat models; there's a fair, direct comparison waiting to be made right there. Simply select, say, the Strat model's humbucker preset in position 1 (the rear-most) of the 5-way toggle, and push the model-selector knob in to toggle between the analogue and digital versions.

Hope this helps too, shadyru!

The pickup editing software works really well - changing the modeled pickup position and angle give you the same kind of sonic results as doing it with a real pickup. If you start making your own Variax sounds, and you want a Fat sounding SSH Variax pickup combination, try using the ES335 bridge humbucker, and use a Telecaster bridge pickup for both of the single coils, moved to the middle and neck positions.

Here follow some "wiKPAing" I've started to create since I've been interested in a Variax myself. As usual, HTH

I'd also like to point out that Line6 has started asking their users what they would like to see in the next generation of Variax.

Considering how much Yamaha's money has allowed them to do with Helix, I don't doubt that the next generation will be a quantum leap.
I'd strongly advise those who have no strict need to wait and see what they come out with

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NECKS
The 89's neck is much flatter and fast than the other models.
As far as the necks go -- they are different. I'm 6' 6" and have big hands. I have both the 59 and a 69S. I don't really have an issue with either the 59 or 69S neck size. I think it's all in personal taste...

Just chiming in to add another Elixir strings recommendation for the JTV. String noise is exacerbated with piezo transducers, and the Nanowebs resolve the issue quite nicely for me.

I think I discovered something today lol. I've been having trouble getting the jtv-helix sounds to really stand out in the mix. Through my L2t it has just been sounding a little flat. However I was trying to get a good acoustic sound today and after messing with the impulse responses combined with the jtv acoustic it was way to bright and brittle. I found that with the L2t acoustic guitar setting with the acoustic modeling on and turning down some highs and lows on the L2t I was able to get a pretty stunning sounding acoustic. But I found an interesting thing. I kept those settings on with some of the electric guitar settings on the JTV and all the flatness disappeared. The amps came alive. Has anybody tried this and gotten similar results. Who knew electric guitar with acoustic modeling and acoustic amp setting would do the trick. I even tried some A/B style tests with the L2t on electric without acoustic modeling and then back to the acoustic modeling and acoustic setting and it was a huge difference. Really sounds good!!

With an HD500(X) or Pro(X) you can blend the magnetics and modeling by selecting different inputs for a dual tone. But the 1/4" output is mono only, so you can only use one at a time. However, with Workbench HD you can blend in the magnetic pickups into an model and save it as a preset on the modeling knob.

My basic thing with the Variax acoustic tones is: use a lighter pick, nothing heavier than a Tortex Orange or Yellow; use a lighter touch than you would on acoustic-gauge strings; and use a bit of studio-style compression (to use a Line 6 POD example, Tube Comp as opposed to Red Comp); and avoid EQ unless it's to dial out something really glaring. The only thing that bugs me is that my strings are too light (9s or 10s) and I like to dig in, which requires at least 12s.

Playing with a lighter right hand touch than I normally do on the acoustic models makes all the difference for me. They can get boomy in a hurry if you strum too hard and I tend to dig in on my acoustic sometimes. Definitely takes some getting used to.

[Digital Igloo] Here's where it gets a little nutty: If you're an AxeFX user and want to get into Variax, it'll actually sound better if you add an HD Pro X (or HD Pro) in between. Variax to HD Pro X via VDI > HD Pro X to AxeFX via AES/EBU. Then run MIDI from AxeFX back into POD HD Pro X to sync preset selection, which will recall Variax settings per preset.
The whole rig is digital with very little latency.

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Hey shadyru,
there's a thread going on TGP, but the discussion is most probably going over the L6 forum as well