Hi Daf,
I had a listen to your sound sample on headphones and I could not hear any hum - maybe its just me or my equipment but I could not hear it.
Having said that, I do know exactly what you are speaking about having experienced it myself on at least 2 JTV59s.
I was also told that this was just down to the guitar design and that all JTVs to some degree or other have hum from the mag pick ups when using the VDI cable, and that this was most likely down to the D/A convertor on the guitar and was being looked at by Line6.
Nick has not had any issue with his JTVs and I didn't experience it with my first JTV59 (or at least I did not notice it). So maybe it does not affect all JTVs - maybe some are more prone to it than others and that may be down to slight differences in production or quality inconsistency with base hardware. Pure speculation on my part.
I can tell you that my 2nd JTV59 suffered really badly from mag pickup hum, it went back to Line6 UK for repair and still had bad hum and earthing issues when it returned after having its main electronic components replaced.
My 3rd JTV59 does exhibit the problem but only slightly so I can live with it.
I have both an X3L and an HD500. If I use my JTV59 with my X3L then I can barely notice any issue, but if I use the HD500 then it is quite obvious, however, if I ensure my HD500 is connected to either an amp, a mixer or a powere PA speaker that is plugged in (not switched on - just plugged in) then the hum levels are comparable to what I get with my X3L. I believe this is because the X3L power supply provides an earth but the HD500 one does not, therefore, if I provide the HD500 with an earth route then the hum becomes much quieter. Does your JTV59 hum problem get much quieter if you ensure the HD500 is connected to an amp, mixer, PC that has an earth connection? Or does it make no difference?
The other interesting thing you state is that you get the same problem when using the 1/4 jack, and I think I had that issue with the 2nd JTV59, but that one generally seemed to have a bad earth problem. It doesn't seem to be an issue with my 3rd JTV59 but I haven't tested that for a while as I always use the VDI cable, plus I am using it mainly with my X3L which does have better earthing then the HD500, but I know that my current JTV will produce a little earth fizz/grounding sound when I touch the strings particularly on high gain settings, but I get the same thing off my Gibson LP Standard, but I don't get it on any of my other humbucking equipped guitars.
I hope my experiences have helped you a little. You are certainly not alone.
In my opinion, from listening to your sound sample, I don't think your JTV has a fault, and I think if you sent it in to Line6 to look at then they may very well say the same thing. I don't think the JTV59 should have any hum issues, but I know from experience that some do and that some are more noisy than others and the line where that noise moves into unacceptable will depend very much on your own preferences and will vary from person to person.
If you have no other problems with your JTV59 and if the hum is something that you can live with or work around then, although it may be annoying, my advice would be to stick with it for now and wait to see if Line6 provide either a firmware or hardware solution for the issue.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
Best Regards
Eddie
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