Community : Discussion List - James Tyler Variax

Make your Variax sound a 100% better..

support@line6.com — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 17:51:35 GMT

Well recently in another discussion I ran across an Idea to help eleviate some of the sympathetic resonance that occurs with the variax guitar.Link here http://line6.com/support/message/485558#485558 (quite amplified do to the Full Range of the Variax and HD500 capability's). I expanded on his Idea and chose to add vibration relief on the Bridge also. (there are pictures showing what I did on the other discussion). I wanted to express my extreme satisfaction in the results I am getting. Over the last few days of practice I am amazed at the sound quality of the modeling. (greatly improved I think from the lack of sound artifacts being modeled along with what I was playing). Also the quality of the alternative tunings I used to never use the 12 string models cause I thought they sounded terrible at times especially tuned down. Now they sound phenomenal no warble sounds, just true to what I was playing. I am not kidding I sat for about an hour going through the different models and tunings amazed at how great they sounded. ( the last time I was ever impressed by a piece of gear was about 16 years ago I bought a 5150 combo and fell in love with tube distortion, just loved the sound of it.) made me enjoy playing. I am hoping that others try this technique and have the same results (Truely I do).. Thanks for Others in these forums that have always been helpful for me...

Truss rod adjustment on JTV-59 is backwards!

support@line6.com — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 12:36:41 GMT

Has anyone noticed that the truss rod turns in reverse from normal on the JTV-59? Normal is righty-tighty, lefty-loosey. For the JTV, if you want tighter, turn left; for looser turn right! Dunno if the 69 & 89 are like that also.

This thing really needs a manual other than the quick & dirty one supplied with the guitar. . .

How to Stop the Variax Headstock String Vibration

support@line6.com — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 12:27:17 GMT

I made this video to show why people place things over their strings past the nut. Check it out. Velcro String Dampener and Gear Update

IN this video I also discuss how I will be purchasing the L3t here to complete my "dream rig." Videos to come asap once I get it. Thanks!

Any news on when the "hd" update is coming?

support@line6.com — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 21:06:15 GMT

Saw the namm mention, but no date set as far as I can tell. Very much looking forward to the udpate. Anyone from l6 care to chime in with details?

Replacing JTV59 neck pickup with P90. Experienced only need apply.

support@line6.com — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:56:13 GMT

Has anyone replaced the neck pickup of the JTV59 with a p90?

Does anyone want to give me advise on wiring?

I think that the wiring diagram is here somewhere, but is the P90 wiring a wire for wire replacement?

this is my baby http://elderly.com/new_instruments/items/JTV59-TSB.htm

She makes me play with her more than any other.

(i glued a white felt ring from a stack of CD's to the outside of the 3 way switch)

Low strings sound choked off/warble on alternate tunings

support@line6.com — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 23:36:01 GMT

I always assumed the strange notes I heard on my jtv when using alternate tunings was a result of my ears hearing the standad pitch strings conflicting against the amplified alternate tunings. I wanted to find out for sure, so I put on a fresh set of strings and got to testing. I also lowered all pickups on the bass side so they were flat to the pickguard and raised the low e string. The low strings all sound fine when going through the mag pickups. The piezo pickups sound pretty good on standard tuning, but they sound wrong when playing any of the detuned modes. Strangely, the high three strings sound fine when detuned.

I recoreded this clip with my headphones and pc speakers off. I starte out in standard tuning, then drop d, then baritone, and finally back to standard. There was no amplified sound to phase out the piezo sound. The low strings (here only the e string) sound warbling and choked off. I did try the various firmware versions and the 1.7x seems to exhibit this behavior less that the latest firmware.

Wondering your thoughts on this.

https://soundcloud.com/project-dome/jtv-variax-warble-example

JTV-69 neck replacement

support@line6.com — Fri, 18 May 2012 21:22:02 GMT

posted once before with no response, so i'll try again. can i put a Variax 600 neck on my JTV-69?

i'm a maple board guy ! besides, i don't really love the stock neck. also, will a Jap Fender Strat neck fit?

thank you in advance for the help.

volume balance

support@line6.com — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 19:45:15 GMT

Those who already have a JTV, like Neal, I would like to chime in on this one with some real world experience. One of the things that popped into my head as another possible advantage of the JTV (or any variax, I suppose) was that I would be able to have better volume balance between my single coil and humbker tones. For instance, on my dual humbucker guitar, I can switch to middle position which gives me one coil from each humbucker, but I get a considerable drop in volume. With a JTV, I would assume I'd be able to balance this with tweaking the variax models so as not to have such a volume drop when going to single coil tone, correct?

JTV-89F Shipping?

support@line6.com — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 21:54:30 GMT

Just curious if anyone knows when they will start shipping from L6 to retailers (if they haven't already)? Ordered one about 1.5 months ago online and the 'received from L6' date by the online retailer keeps getting pushed back.

Thanks!

Jay

JTV-69S Warmoth neck replacement

support@line6.com — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 01:32:04 GMT

Hi, I bought a used JTV-69S on eBay. It must have been one of the early ones to be sold, because the "E" strings really liked to go off the edges of the fingerboard. I also found the width at the nut, at 41mm = 1.615', to be a little too cramped for my fingers, so...

I ordered a Warmoth neck: Stratocaster Vintage Modern, 3A flame Maple one piece fingerboard and neck, 1-11/16' nut width, right handed, Standard thin neck contour, 10-16' compound radius neck, fingerboard lenth = 22, fret size = SS6105 (stainless steel), tuner hole size 13/32 = 10.32mm (planet waves), fingerboard inlay of Arizona Turquoise stone dots, Black dots for side markers, Graph Tech TUSQ XL nut, standard 4 bolt mountiing holes, and vintage tint satin nitro finish. My reasoning for some of my choices: the Stratocaster neck fit the body of the JTV-69S perfectly (No modifications needed). My Martiin and Gibson have 1-11/16" nut widths, which I'm used to and fit my finger tips, so "Make it so", for my custom neck. My MIM Stratocaster neck fits my hand comfortably, so Standard thin neck contour is for me. The 13/32" (Planet Waves ) tuner holes are a perfect fit for the tuners that came with the JTV-69S. Standard four bolt pattern holes pre-drilled into the neck (others have written that three of the holes line-up perfectly, but only two lined up for me). The other features are more influenced by personal taste than anything else, so are not discussed. After waiting four weeks for it to arrive: I scored the edges of the fret wires with and exacto knife blade and scraped off the nitro finish that was sprayed on them at Warmoth. I did the same with the Turquoise dot inlays in the fingerboard. I put the neck on the body of the JTV-69S and screwed in the two bolts that lined up perfectly. I used a 4mm brad point bit to mark the holes that needed to be drilled. One of the holes was too close to one of the pre-existiing holes, so I filled it in with a 4mm dowel and some wood glue. I drilled the two holes with a drill press and put the neck on the body. There was no side to side play between the neck and the body, but as I found out later it didn't matter. I put the JTV-69S tuners on the Warmoth neck, carefully lined up the tuners with a straight edge and marked the little 1.5mm holes that needed to be drilled, on the drill press. I had to use a little bar soap to lubricate the screw threads to get them in. I put the strings on, tuned them up, and that's all that was needed. Yes, the nut could be filed down a little bit better, the edges of the frets could be rounded a little bit more, the truss rod could be adjusted for a little bit lower action, the intonation could be a little bit closer to perfection, but the guitar plays fine just the way that it is. I'm totally happy with the guitar. I probably will eventually tweak all of the aforementioned, but, because I have the tools and the inclination more than out of necessity. I'll admit that I really splurged on the neck. I could have gotten a much cheaper neck, but why not get a beautiful neck? I have the money and I'm going to be looking at and cradling that guitar in my arms for thousands of hours.

External GK-3 on a JTV-59: Will it fit?

support@line6.com — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 22:02:44 GMT

Has anyone installed the external Roland GK-3 pickup on a JTV-59?

I'm absolutely thrilled with the vari-ous electric and acoustic sounds on my vari-ax but want to add MIDI out to record software instruments.

Workable?

Issues?

Thanks.

Side note: I actually sold my GR-55 in order to purchase the JTV-59. Absolutely no regrets!!! Yes, the GR-55 is an amazing bundle of sound sources for the live performer. But I mostly record external MIDI sources. For that, the GR-55 was a huge disappointment. I can play MIDI bass lines on my open E and A strings using the now obsolete GI-20. Same with piano chords with open string pedal tones. Glorious! However latency on the GR-55 was a step backwards. Shame.