clay-man

So I've noticed something. Comparing the HD's strat to the JTV 69s' pickups, are absolutely spot on when using a 1/4 cable. Like, almost completely indistinguishable. Using the mag pickups with a VDI, they sound way brighter. Why is there no cable simulation on the mag pickups when it's through VDI? It sounds way different then when using a 1/4, honestly. If the HD is that accurate, why was it modeled with the guitar cable? Does the modeling bypass any resistance of a 1/4? How does it do that? I'm trying to compare the HD vs 1.9 and over time, I keep choosing HD more and more over 1.9, and noticing how 1.9 has characteristics that don't really exist in the guitars it models. 1.9 can make killer tones, but I don't think it's as accurate. I don't know, just some observation, what do you guys think?

Does anyone know if contact cleaner is ok to use on potentiometers? If so, then I might try using some of that in the tuning selector and then flipping the tunings fast for about 10 seconds and see if that helps.

Sounds to me like there's s*** in the tuning selector that makes the calibration off. Return your guitar for a replacement JTV69.

Well, to be honest, they sound awful in the demo, but there's been demos where I feel like they sound different then actually having it in your hands.

Awesome! I'm glad it helps. On a side note, when I break strings, they no longer slip into the guitar as the tape catches the ball end of the broken string! No more worrying about ball ends in the guitar anymore either! It really does work, and I highly recommend trying it out if you're having odd noises from the guitar. No mods to the guitar, just loosen your strings and dampen the ball ends with tape or something to your preference. I never knew how much the strings behind the saddles contributed to that much noise before. I did it on all strings and the guitar sounds way better now. No more pinging noises on any of the strings when picking them.

It would be really disappointing to me, but at least they still have the Variax going with the Variax Standard guitars. Maybe Yamaha can do a better job putting them in stores than Line 6. Line 6 is known for gear, not guitars. You have to hear of it by word of mouth really. It's how I got to find out about it. I knew of Line 6 for a while, but not the Variax guitars, because if I did, it would of been something I got waaay earlier. I hope they can do variations of the Standard guitars if they do continue the route of offing the JTV line. I really don't think James Tyler has THAT amazing guitars. I mean, they're great, but not great towards my preference, as in I'd prefer other guitar designs over his. I did grow on my JTV69, but I still ultimately want something more of a Telecaster than a Strat.

Some of the electrics sound good. The tuning system, hate to say, is probably superior to the Variax since it's, well, Antares and they're probably the best pitch shifting company on the market right now. The Acoustics sound meh though. I blame that on the mag pickups and the electric strings. Not enough top end. That said, the Variax still has one of the best pitch shifting systems for a guitar, and I haven't heard any pitch shift pedal come close to sounding as realistic in alt tuning as the Variax. The Electrics on the Variax are amazing, and the only true gripe I still have is the palm muting being a bit more bassy and lacking treble of a real guitar, but the palm muting improvements have seriously helped with it a long way. My JTV sounds miles better than my 600. I like some of the features the Auto Tuner has, but ultimately, for playability, Variax wins. I want to treat the modeling like it's just another guitar, and I love having the model and pickup selector be on the guitar, not a floor board. ATG is better than the Roland stuff, but I probably wouldn't take it over a Variax.

Well, I haven't seen any JTVs in the store that are past 2013, so it's possible. I think it's bullcrap that they'd do that though. I really don't want to have an option of only having a Strat style Variax again. One of the key complaints in the first Generation Variaxes was to have higher quality guitars, and more options. I know the Yamaha is probably great and all, but they're stepping backwards if they discontinue the JTV line up.

I go to a local shop though I'm sure they're a chain too. They don't carry Line 6 stuff but when I play my Variax at their Open Mic shows, everyone is very interested in the guitar. I should be a spokesman for the Variax.

Honestly I've never seen very much posts about electronics literally failing, especially not after they find out the guitar they got is good and continues to be good after a few years. Most failures are of physical stuff being off, or if it IS because of the electronics, it was flashed improperly and they needed to flash it again. Electronic failure is extremely rare and guitars that appear to be good in the first year end up being good for the rest of the time. Get a new one with Sweetwater and get a 2 year warranty and you'll be good. If you get a bad guitar, you will be able to swap it for a proper working one. Good luck.

If you want to brick your guitar, go for it.

I've had the 600 for 2 years and the JTV 69 this year. I honestly haven't touched my 600 besides a few times for a nostalgia trip. There are a few things I like about the 600, like the twangyness of the telecaster, and the wider fret edges on the E strings, but I still strongly prefer my JTV over the 600. Overall I like HD over the old firmware, I love the tuning knob and being able to program a tuning straight on the guitar without hooking it up on the computer. I love being able to switch the models without the tuning changing as well.

Anyone got the bundle for the defaults for workbench HD?

The whole dial in a proper tone is not a solution if the root tone is broken in the first place. Come on guys. If he's having that plink crap on his guitar, it's a serious problem, and putting a high cut filter is going to muddy his whole signal. The solution is finding the actual cause and getting rid of it, not sidestepping it and making a pseudo-solution. You can't advertise your product like that and then expect people to spend 1k on it, then shrug of such a defect such as that. It's like buying a car then finding out there's a hole in the gas line but they don't know where the gas line is.

the biggest problem is why it happens on some guitars and not all or none.

Doesn't matter. It will travel to it via vibration and make it cause a sound which is picked up by the piezos.

Battery is really really nice if you want to use it anywhere like a regular guitar.

That's the palm muted version. I'm not sure if I brought this up with you before, but have to ever tried dampening/muting any string that's left hanging in midair on the bridge? I'm not familiar with the 59, but if there's any string between the saddle and the bridge piece, that can make sympathetic noise to the piezos. Putting pieces of masking tape around the string between the bridge and the saddle gets rid of the noise. You could always give that a try.

there is no banjo like sound from what I hear on my Variaxes. Could you elaborate more? Does the attack tonally sound like a banjo? Does the sustain last as long as a banjo? Is there plinking noises when you play a string?

Agreed. This should of been a QC thing that was addressed a long time ago.

I always thought it was the piezos because of how the problem gets better and worse between switching piezos when I had my Variax 600. I don't get why people installing the same exact firmware would make people hear different variations of the pinging noise, it doesn't make sense. Physical hardware inconsistencies seems like the most logical explanation.

Also about using thicker strings, I have noticed the problem wade away from switching between a set of 9's to a set of 10's. He is on the right track honestly. I just don't get why it only happens to the E6 string though.

I have noticed the sound decreases when picking parallel to the string instead of at an angle, especially on tremolo picking. It is part of the pick attack, but strangly it only happens on the E6 string and nothing else.

I did do this, ironically the first guitar was the best sounding guitar, and even more ironically, I didn't have any real tonal problems, and mistaken a glitch in the coding as an electronic defect (if you program a high tuning and use a 12 string setting, you will get offtone sounding notes sometimes) After that I replaced it once, notice the 6th string sounded a bit plinky than my previous guitar I got from Sweetwater, then swapped for a third guitar that sounded exactly the same. Now, I don't know if it was just my imagination or not, but I swear to god, the first guitar I got had a 6th string that sounded like butter (something I've noticed straight away since my Variax 600 has a plink issue as well on the Les Paul setting). I noticed it right away. The biggest give away is comparing the 6th string to all the other strings. The plink isn't horrible, and it's actually very passible, but I was getting my DREAM GUITAR, you know? If I heard my first guitar sounding the best and get lesser sounding guitars, I'm going to complain.

Nice information. I kind of grew to accept my guitar now. My preference would like the clanging tone on the E string to be less a smidge, but honestly, it's fine. It's only really a problem with using a boost into an amp. Need to take the tone knob down a bit on the boost. I'm loving my Variax again. I might get a Standard as a backup one day.