clay-man

not possible. Line 6 has no interest in backtracking old firmware to make it compatible with the new Standard guitars. As you know, firmware applied to guitars also does some stuff to have the guitar identified as a JTV 69, 89, 59, so they don't have any interest going back and instating the Standards to old firmware they want to move forward from. Now, obviously HD and old Variax modeling were done by 2 different teams, and some will argue that one is better than the other, but the fact is that the new team made HD, whether it was rushed or not, inferior or superior.

Yeah, it pissed me off when my 2 JTV replacements had the problem more prominently. It was such a bad decision. The first guitar I had was perfect. I should of asked the question on here before returning it, but I was too scared of not being able to return it if I played it too much.

Thank you, I wanted to show this to someone before, but I forgot what it was called. Longitudinal wave. I believe this is the problem that causes the clank noises, and the problem is the worst on the 6th string. Here is an article by Line 6 talking about how they were developing ways to exterminate the problem in the (then) upcoming JTV guitars: http://blog.line6.com/2010/piezo-pickups-the-heart-of-the-matter/ It says the piezos and DSP work together to eliminate the clank noise problem, so in a sense, it really is the piezo's fault. They're probably putting in piezos that don't cut it for the job, again, bringing up the point: QUALITY CONTROL ON THE PIEZOS. So, I think the issue varies from guitar to guitar. Some guitars are normal, some have the plink, some more than others, others to unbearable extents. Some get it from playing normally, some get it from palm muting. For me, I say my guitar falls into the realm of, somewhat being there, but not bad. It's noticeable when you focus, but I do think that tone is part of the tone of modeled guitars, as most guitars have more clank on the 6th string than the other strings. Problem being is that, in some of these guitars, they're overexaggerated.

I can actually agree with this. The sound is subjective. One thing I would consider though, is how long they last. Example: Ernie Balls rust to dark brownin 2-3 days for me, DDarios last longer, and Elixirs last until they break. There's variables to consider both between sound preference and what you're looking for.out of strings.

Always try some stuff in workbench before you give up. I'd like the tele to be a tad bit twangier but I think I'll live. I think the Les Pauls are waaaay less muddy now, which is amazing. ES-335 sounds better and more realistic to me. Strat does seem weird sometimes, but eh. The biggest problem is that there's still a bit of roll off on the highs compared to magnetics. I do think the work on the HD modeling was rushed, but overall it still sounds better.

I heard a sustainiac doesn't work right with a variax. I could be wrong. Something about needing a magnetic pickup to be used in the mix to create the feedback.

Yeah but did it have anything to do with the repair?

There's 2 ways to do alternate tunings. One way is through the tuning knob by holding the model selector knob until it flashes blue, turn to the tuning you want to edit on the tuning knob, play the tuning on your fretboard, then press the model knob to test it. After you're satisfied, hold the model knob again until it flashes and it's saved to that bank. The tuning will be blue if it's a custom tuning. The second way is the old way, which is setting a tuning by patch-by-patch basis of which model you have selected. You set it via Workbench, and call it up by selecting "Model" on the tuning knob. Basically you're setting a preferred custom tuning for that exact model. It's useful if you have a preferred tuning for a certain model without wanting to use an entire Alt Tuning bank for it.

I still think it's a Quality Control issue with their piezos.

Yeah, it's something I realized with the Variax. You can't have a killswitch with the Variax. Maybe with the 1/4 output, but definitely not the VDI.

I had a situation where I swapped a new piezo on me E string with an old one from another string because the new one was having the same problem as the topic. The problem went down significantly but was still there. It's definitely an issue with the piezos. For some reason, the E string's gauge just makes the problem easy to arise. It sucks, but they need to do QC tests on their guitars to check if any of their guitars have any problems with the string tones so they can replace the problem hardware with correct ones. Sending out a $1k to sell to someone with a defect is not excusable.

How has Line 6 not corrected these issues in their quality control yet? I really hate how when people send in guitars with sound issues like this, they just send it back and say there's nothing wrong. If it doesn't sound as advertise, IT'S NOT A SUBJECTIVE TONE ISSUE, it's an ACTUAL tone issue.

It's not electronic, it's a problem with the piezos.

My guitar has that problem but nowhere near that bad. It gets worse if you dial up the treble on your amp tone settings. I sent back a guitar just because of this, and behold, the replacement had the exact same problem. Ironically, the first guitar I had sounded perfect, but I accidentally confused a glitch with a possible electronic problem and sent it back. I know that the 6th string is a tad more jangly than all the other strings on real guitars, but it's over exaggerated on his and my guitar, and it's annoying.

JTV firmware 3 compressed the firmware data by half and adds an all new whopping 10 new models! Gibson SG Gibson Explorer (With new EMG pickups) Gibson RD Fender Jazzmaster Fender Jaguar Fender Telecaster Thinline Fender Strat (Variation, now with fatter tone!) Acoustic Nylon Ukulele Customizable Synth ...Yeah, I wish.

I still don't think it has anything to do with cost savings. No modeling guitar uses triggers, midi signals, or any synthesis. That's why they're called modeling guitars, and not synth guitars. The point is to recreate the tone of certain guitars, not to sample different tones of guitars. Any guitar already has the required sound needed to use as a basis to simulate the sound of multiple other guitars, it's just a matter of capturing the sound of the strings before all the coloration of going through normal magnetic pickups, electronics, and tonewood things. Piezos and the Roland pickup help get the sound from the string. The piezos do get the sound individually, but there are hex magnetic pickups like the roland pickup out there. It's just a question of which is a better reference point? the piezos will yield a flatter broader frequency response, but have limitations/artifacts (Your hand blocks vibrations normally traveling from the string to the piezos when palm muting, making it sound muddy/Piezos are more sensitive to vibrations on the guitar, which can cause unwanted sounds in the signal) the magnetics can be designed to have a broad and flat response, but not as well as the piezos, but you will exhibit none of the artifacts piezos bring. Your tone will sound less spot on but palm muting will sound better. Either way, if it was trigger/midi/synth based, none of the pinch harmonics, artificial harmonics, and other nuances of your playing would show up in your tone. No one is going to buy a synth guitar to replace their real guitar. The whole point is that it's an actual guitar, but it's replicating the sounds of multiple different guitars with the accuracy they can establish.

Well, the thing is, piezos are used to get an "acoustic sound" because of their frequency response. When you strike the strings of your electric without it being plugged in, it sounds kind of like an acoustic, just not as nice, right? A magnetic pickup cuts the highs and lows and focuses on the mid frequencies of the strings. Now, I know that you can design magnetic pickups to have a more broad and flat frequency response, but yeah. Piezos, are capturing the sound of the strings, but are capturing the highs and lows too, and has a flatter frequency response. Since when you're dealing with modeling, you'll want the sound of the strings without any coloration to the natural sound of the strings vibrating, so you can leave the sound of the modeled pickups, and bodies, to the DSP. Basically, the piezos allow for the cleanest signal for the DSP to work with. So you basically want the sound of the strings before it passes through any magnetic pickups or any other coloration, and I think Line 6 thought piezos were the best choice. Here's the video I was talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHx0OWqVVnI

convolution* sorry haha

Why couldn't they made a ground wire? I mean, it's one of the biggest issues of the old Variaxes and yet they didn't fix it.

The problem is that there's not really a graphtech set that can adapt to a JTV guitar. The old Variaxes were fine, but you'll have alignment issues if you try to put them on a JTV, as demonstrated by someone who did just that to his JTV 69.

Hi Rob. I don't mean to be rude or condescending, but you're wrong. Your description of the piezo being a mere trigger is false. The audio that comes out of the Variax is the audio coming from the Piezo pickups, and processed through convulsion technology to make the piezo signal sound like that of what guitar your currently modeling, hence why I argue that using a piezo is a better reference point in theory, because of the frequency response compared to a magnetic. If it was a trigger, the sound would be one dimensional and sound like a synthesizer, and not a guitar, which would defeat the whole purpose. You're arguing that Modeling is synthesis, which in that case, they'd call it synthesis in the first place, not modeling.

I still think the piezos are probably a better reference point than magnetics, but who knows. There was a video explaining piezos vs magnetics, and one of the points in the video was that piezos have a flat, broad, frequency response compared to magnetics. I don't get why'd they would use piezos because they're "cheaper" when they put it on an expensive guitar. I think it's just their preferred reference point to use for modeling. I figured it was a decision for quality of tone vs artifacts from sound source, and they thought quality was more important than the artifacts piezo presents compared to magnetics. Depending on your playing style, it's a dealbreaker or dealmaker. The biggest question is "how real does it sound", and outweighed things like "why does it sound weird when I palm mute" That's my opinion, but I could be wrong.

I'm glad you resolved the problem! It's possible that it can happen again, but cleaning technically should get any grime that could cause the piezo case to not touch the saddle to ground it. If it ever gets really bad, you can always buy a new piezo. If you have a 69, the link you had was the right piezo. I think a 59 uses the same one too, but the 89 uses a graphtech piezo.

It's most likely a dead piezo on the G string. It's the pill looking metal things on the bridge. They are what's used for the modeling. You will need to have it either cleaned or replaced. If you have the guitar under warranty, send it in to get repaired. If it's out of warranty, you probably want to first try cleaning the piezo. If you lift it out of the saddle and clean it and the pocket with either electronic contact cleaner or rubbing alcohol, it can help fix grounding problems. If that does nothing, it needs replaced. You can order a piezo element from Fullcompass. You will have to know how to solder to replace it. Just a simple swap, nothing too hard. It's more frustrating taking apart the bridge than it is to solder the piece in, honestly.

The guitar does not do any form of synthesis in those terms. The Coral sitar model is actually some type of filter modeling effect that shoots the resonance of the guitar's attack up when you pluck a string. There is no "keyboard synthesis" going on. Same goes for the Banjo model. It's modeling the frequency response to sound like a banjo, and adding an ADSR envelope to make it sound like the sustain is short like a real banjo. Though all of what I explained is what's actually happening, that DOESN'T mean we CAN'T have synthesis happen in the Variax. They would need to write code to detect the pitch and translate the pitch into synthesized sounds. The problem though is, I don't think the Variax has enough room to have any room for such features. They already threw out the model reset function to save space on the memory for other things, so I doubt they have enough room to add synthesis to the Variax. The Variax Bass had a synth model, but they're 2 different things. Modeling is modeling, and synthesis is synthesis.