clay-man

I think we just want a good amount of life out of the Variax. The only thing that makes me worry is how the Variax reacts to static electricity and moist environments. Has anyone ever played in moist environment? Like a fog machine, or just a humid place?

I can't believe I never realized it happened on my 600 as well. It seems to be the worst on the first few frets, including open string, on the A string. After I realized that I felt a little bit better. If I loved my 600 which did the same, then I can love my JTV. Personally I could switch 1 more time with their last guitar in stock, but is it worth it? What if it's not better, or yet, what if it's worse? I'd rather not mess with that. The biggest thing I'm happy about is not having that awful, awful plinking crap. It makes E standard Les paul useless on my 600.

I think I'm keeping this guitar. It's mostly the Drop D tuning where it's audible. Any Drop tuning has it to some degree but it's not as audible and is passible. I think the reason I never noticed this is because I don't use Drop D for high gain metal that much and more for rock stuff, while I use Drop A# and Drop A for more high gain stuff which doesn't have as much overtone problems as Drop D probably because of resonance issues. It's still slightly annoying but I think I can deal with it.

Holy crap. I just plugged in my 600 and it's doing the same thing. I never noticed this, ever. I guess you're right. Adjusting my playing does help, but it's kinda weird.

I have a working NES that just needs a new adapter and video adapter, and a bunch of Game & Watches from the 80's and they still work. Bottom line is, quality electronics + taking good care of it = it will last for a long long time. If you don't have quality electronics, then Line 6 will cover you with your warranty. Like someone said, it would crap out pretty early if it didn't.

Changing the string did absolutely nothing. Palm muting back further helps a bit since my hand doesn't rest too much on the other string, but it's a pain. I'm discussing another swap, but it's definitely getting frustrating. I'm looking for an upgrade of my Variax 600, not a downgrade. Like I said, it (The 600) doesn't have that problem, and neither did the guitar I sent back to Sweetwater, which was a mistake because that noise was a glitch not an electronic problem. The marginally better string spacing isn't worth not being able to use drop tunings.

Ugh. I shouldn't have sent my previous guitar back.

The variables are worse. There are overtones on all Variaxes, but the other ones I have are only high pitched harmonics that blend fine with the string and virtually is inaudible. The one I'm getting sounds like 2 notes being played and it sounds awful. I really don't like it and I want to know how to reduce it without having to constantly think about where I'm laying down my hand. I shouldn't have to do that.

Could I send my guitar to Line 6? Obviously I have a warranty. The question is, will they do anything about it?

I know it's my palm transferring the A string vibrations to the E string. The problem is that the bleed through is massive, and trying not to touch the E string or piezo while palm muting is a whole lot of work. This is how bad it sounds: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21663288/Music/crosstalk.mp3 I start on E standard, switch to Drop D, then chug the A string switching between Drop D and E standard, you can hear it go in and out. After that I play more in Drop D on the A string. I swear that the previous guitar I had didn't have this problem, and again, my 600 didn't have this problem either. I'm going to try to get the previous guitar back, but I don't know if Sweetwater will let me until I get a reply back from them. Minor improved string spacing can take a back seat to a proper sounding guitar for me.

I understand there is some cross talk between the strings, but the previous JTV I had in hand didn't have this problem that badly, and neither does my 600. The cross talk would only be some overtones that would blend with the note, the sound I'm getting sounds like 2 notes being played at once. It sounds awful. I'm going to see what I can do with Sweetwater.

Well, it sounded like buzzing, not warbling. That's the problem. Warbling is more of the note going off tracks and changing the pitch to the wrong pitch, or in some cases, wavering really fast. This sounded like the right note with buzzing on top of it. I assumed it was an electronic issue and sent my first guitar I got back. I'm starting to regret that now since the one I currently have has a legit issue in the sound. Frankly, I can live with this issue, but if it was an electronic issue, that could mean that it could get worse over time and my guitar to become functionless modeling wise. You know?

Yeah, having another problem again. This one is even worse. Setting a tuning to Drop D and palm muting causes the A string to bleed to the E string piezo and give a ghost note a whole step below the A string. The E string also does the same thing with the A string to a lesser degree. What can I do about this? I'm starting to think sending back the previous guitar was a mistake. Edit: Here's a clip of what happens https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21663288/Music/crosstalk.mp3

I also like to report that the issue I had with using a neck pickup and having an all octave up tuning exists on this guitar as well just like my 600. Playing notes near the 12th fret on any string when having an octave up tuning causes the note to phase out when you play a certain frequency that's usually on the 12th fret or a little below or above. I can live with this, but I do believe it's a glitch as well. Is there any way to report glitches to Line 6?

Sometimes, but like someone mentioned above, synths have all the same thing inside of them, and they last a pretty long time. Technology will last a good amount of time if the quality control is good, and you treat it well.

You got it to happen too? It takes a really long time for it to happen, but I played that riff for a while and it kicks in on the A string. It's always the A string for me. It's a crackling noise instead of the pitch going crazy and swinging all over the place. Thanks for testing it out as well.

So, a lot of you know that I've tried out 2 JTVs now. Both of them have this symptom. Doing Acoustic-2 then simulating a 7th fret capo causes the A string to crackle randomly. Switching out from a 12th string instruments, as well as changing the tuning from a less high tuning causes the crackling to go away. The crackling kind of sounds like what happens when you set the buffer too low in an audio program. You can hear me changing the tunings as well as model, and then I hit the whammy bar and it stopped. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21663288/Music/glitch1.mp3 Is it warble or is the DSP being overloaded by doing so much work?

Here's one more clip for tonight. This is Lester Bridge played on A string, then E string x 2. Second half is the same thing but with distortion. Excuse the sloppy playing, I'm pretty tired. Maybe I'm being very picky, but I don't know. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21663288/Music/astringvsestring.mp3

Here's a sample of playing the E string without palm muting. First half is magnetic bridge, second half is spank bridge. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21663288/Music/stratvsspank.mp3 Spank is a bit more piercing in the highs than the magnetics. I might lower the pot values

Sounds pretty good. The Lester is a bit more punchy than the old firmware. The only setting that's honestly plinky is the spank models, but a single coil strat sound is an already inherently plinky tone, but I'd say the magnetics sound a bit different than the spank models when palm muting on the E.

So you'd say I have a good Variax in terms of the E string plink problem? I don't think it's bad, and it sounds pretty great, I just feel like the guitar I sent back's E string's attack sounded smoother. Edit: Also, all clean sounds are 100% clean, no amp.

The magnetics sound pretty fine. Here's 69s bridge magnetics and then the spank bridge https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21663288/Music/magsvsspank.mp3 Do you think it sounds fine?

I got my 69s replacement today. Does this sound plinky to you? I can't remember, but I think the guitar I sent back sounded a bit smoother than this one. Please give some feedback so I can decide whether or not to keep the guitar. READ BEFORE HEARING: THE FIRST sound in the clip is my old 600, which has the problem, for comparison. THE SECOND is the new guitar. The last one is my 69s through a tube screamer-> high gain signal. Both models were Lester. HD modeling on the new guitar. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21663288/Music/plinkornottoplink.mp3

True. All they need to do for the piezos is switch them around though. For the knobs, obviously that's a different story. Maybe if they weren't mounted onto the electronic boards, but I don't know if they are or not.

The Strat model might just be lower volume so it has the illusion of having low sustain, at least I hope so. Applying an ADSR to the strat would be kind of pointless if your variax is a 69.