yeah theres  always  more  room in the  rubber  room.

btw  the  bots are  on amc  this  morning      there  playing  the   one  with lucille  ball in it  right  now

JellyWheat wrote:

 

Merlin, I honestly don't know why a company would make things more complicated, rather than less. I admire your loyalty to Line 6, in a way, but frankly... I've seen your vids, thanks to links amx has provided, and I can't see Variax allowing you to do anything you couldn't do with a good guitar and a Line 6 amp.

 

I am a much bigger fan of Line 6 amps than I am of the rest of the gear, because it puts a whole bunch of VERY different amp sounds at the musician's ready disposition. I have always found the differences between guitars to be much more subtle. I'll give you an example: a friend of mine in Nashville (Bill Hullett) has played with Chet Atkins, and I have been a lifelong Chet fan...

 

No matter how many Gretsches I bought, I just couldn't achieve the chime and fluidity in my sound that Chet had in his. Bill told me (and Bill Lawrence repeated the same story to me) that Chet's nails were so brittle that he had to adopt a VERY light touch. Our local Gibson rep has been known to say behind my back, years ago, that I should learn to play as if I was NOT trying to build a house! He was so right, and I wish he had told me that to my face all those years ago.

 

Anyway, long story short, the more I learned how to pick like Chet Atkins, the closer I got to his sound. Today, I would challenge anyone to listen to one of my recordings and tell whether I am playing one of my Gretsches or any of my trusty Stratocasters. My old Telecaster is a little easier to single out. [Teles are a beast apart, especially if yer having an off night!]I don't use humbuckers any more except the FilterTrons... I find them too muddy. But I can get greasy Jazz tones, chicken pickin' tones, Mark Knopfler tones, Chet Atkins tones, Ted Greene tones, etc., out of any of my guitars, depending on how I touch them.

 

One of the most common remarks I get from my regular audiences is that I sound pretty much the same, no matter what guitar I am playing. [amx has heard me play on a bunch of different guitars, ranging from a Gibson Herb Ellis to a Howard Roberts Fusion, and I think there was even a California Tele with a 4-way switch in there, too, for good measure. He might be able to vouch for the consistency of tone...]

 

So, I choose to invest my time in that aspect of tone production, as opposed to wrestling with technology that's going to be obsolete by the time I master it.

 

I could not walk your path, Merlin, but I admire you for sticking to your guns...

 

My $0.02/YMMV

Regards,

JellyWheat

Hi JW (may I be this informal??  LOL) - I truly appreciate your story and your candor about your feelings towards the non-amp side of Line 6.

I need to address what you've very nicely written about the first few pints, um...*hiccup*, uh - I mean points.  LOL  Hey I'm just trying to keep the whole "Rubber Room" theme going while I do get a bit serious to give you a bit better insight to my reasons for my choices.

I started out like so many on here who are somewhere near the age of 50.  I happen to be right at 50 (and heading down fast!...but I digress) who had othing more than a 1976 Marshall Plexi 4-input 50watt head with the single 8x10 - yep 8 guitar 10s in one cabinet.  The ONLY thing Marshal has never reissued.  Digressing again - sorry.... And Les Paul copies, then real Les Paul 60s neck style Standards and a couple of P90 versions kinda like a Goldtop, but NOT a Goldtop.  I've never been a huge effects person, but I did have the ORIGINAL MemoryMan delay which did so many cool things besides it's main delay purpose, and a MXR Micro Amp pedal.  One of the BEST stomboxes ever made IMHO on the front end.  I knew nothing about FX loops, or other processing gear more than just seeing them in the showcase at my local music store.  I played in a manner very similar to this and I did go rackmount for quite a while back in the 80s through till 2003.  THAT is the year Line 6 came into my life with my purchase of a brand new Vetta I with the NEW (at the time) improved Longboard for $2,000.00.  Big bucks for an amp and pedalboard in my opinon, but I wanted to have something that would do the sounds I already knew and loved, BUT be able to do sounds from amps I would never buy, or could never carry around to my gigs.

The Vetta was (and still IS yet again IMHO) the TRUE "Flagship" amplifier ever produced by Line 6.  It had such AMAZING TECH SUPPORT back in those days and I ALMOST NEVER - still to this day as well - EVER have a problem with the amp with TWO exceptions.  Those were handled by Rick miller over the phone with me one time, the other time Rick Miller SENT ME AT NO CHARGE a couple of circuit boards for me to swap out after he asked me if I was able to feel safe doing my own physical repairs.  THIS and the amp iself is what sold me on Line 6.  I've never looked back and have gottenmore compliments about my sound(s) than I had ever gotten previously.  Perhaps I'm playing to more drunk people than my pre-2003 performing days, but I'll take the kind words any way I can get them!!  LOL

Then 2006 arrived and after watching all the demo vids for the Variax guitar (500 back then), I wanted one vary badly, but I HATED the look of the 500.  Not because it didn't have mag pups, but because it looked like a giant 1960s era Pick Guard with strings on it.  Then came the EC700s and that LOOK is what made me order one online and try it out.  I fell in love almost immediately with the feel of the guitar and the "feel" learning curve was very small for going from the LP 60s style neck to the EC700 neck.  The balance is excellent for playing live as well as it didn't weigh very much.  I think it's about 7-8 pounds??  What made me KEEP IT, was how fast those necks were on both my EC700s once I got them set up to my playing style.  And ARE as I still use them live - NOT my gorgeous JTV yet except for a few songs where I do not need to change patches DURING a song.  As the JTV sadly is NOT 100% compatible with my Vetta.  Which WAS PROMISED to us **well over a year ago**.  Obviously somewhere along the line, THAT promise became nothing the company bothered to be concerned about keeping.

Now it's 7-8 years later and I still have a terrific como amp that I truly love all the variety amp/cab sounds it can reproduce...the flexibility it has to work with as a performer.  And with the addition of the Vax EC700 and the VDI interface to my Vetta I amps...I have the most amazing multi-faceted combination of gear that can sound like nearly anything I need or just dream up.  I play in several cover bands and this is the ONLY gear I've ever owned that CAN allow me to sound like any cover songs guitar player(s) I need to sound like instead the old days where I only could emulate the notes/chords for bands who did not use Marshall sounding amps.

When you play as long as I have - using Line 6 gear as long as I have 99.5% exclusively in both stage and studio, it MAKES THE PLAYER depend on this gear ALL THE TIME for EVERY BAND SITUATION.  I don't think this is a bad thing, but it's possible all this gear could become the new 8-track tape, or the new Beta video tape recorder.  Beta recorders ARE better than VHS, but because of tech stuff, VHS won that battle because most people wanted a bigger variety of movies to choose from instead of how much better the video/audio quality might be with Beta.  So Beta died.

I agree that newer gear like Line 6 creates and sells SHOULD BE easier as generations move forward, BUT this complexity is DESIRED by many players.  Especially by players who are well versed o computers, or have techs or roadies who know all the tricks, while the actual guitar player doesn't need to know nor care about how this gear works in the real world.  I DO care, I do not have techs or roadies, I doubt I'll get signed to a major label anytime soon, but I DO appreciate what the new gear can do, I just simply wanted the new JTV guitar to work with my old amp without any hassles or headaches.

It doesn't so I bought a POD HD500 to learn about it for myself instead of just reading other people's experiences and share those expereinces with anyone who take the time to stop by my forums or read this very long winded reply.  Right now, I've got about a dozen patches ON the HD500 i like and will begin to use live, but I also have it hooked up in such a way, that I can use the JTV VDI into the PD HD500, then 1/4" FX loop send to my Vetta input, while using the MIDI to switch guitar patches from the HD500 on the JTV guitar and switch amps to what I want on my Vetta.  PLUS I can now always have one of my Vax EC700s plugged into the Vetta VDI input ready to go in case I need to switch or break a string, etc.  If I am feeling frisky, or playing a BIG venue, I can also bring my (2) DT50 1x12 and they are already programmed to match up with my Vetta patches, plus a few special patches I created on the HD500 and DT50 using all the tonal features.

It's HUGE, but so is the sound.  WOW it literally in - in my case - a pyramid of sound that is simply stunning.  When I REALLY get to know the HD500 and DT50s, I think I'll be a very "scary" guitar tone person.  It has all the potential in the world.  I just need to learn as much as possible.

And just to finish up on the new JTV guitars...they ARE amazing.  The Model 59 I have certainly is and I'm sorry to read about those having trouble with ANY of the new gear.  Have you heard my acoustic patch .mp3s I've posted??  I did "Blackbird", then I did "Silver Wheels" by Heart.  I think the acoustic models are simply amazing and a serious upgrade from the original acoustic sounds.  And yes I even mentioned having to PLAY diffeently on the 700s in get the "right" dynamics and tone, but now with the JTV guitars I can play with more of my usual style of playing and electric and differently for any acoustic patch which I was not possible before.

I strongly suggest that you try out POD Farm 1 or 2 if you have not yet for computer recording or even playing live if you don't mind bringing a laptop to your gigs.  I also strongly recommend that you at least try out a JTV guitar in whatever model (59, 69, 89) you like best.  I think you'll be pleasantly surprised and not much "tech wrestling" with these bits of gear.

Thanks again and take care,

Neal

**It's 4am and I KNOW where my bed is!!  LOL**