clay-man

There's too many variables that I don't like to get this over te 69s, so I didn't. The 6 screw tremolo, the fretboard option, 2.1 firmware only. If I'm getting a dream guitar then why not go all the way?

I wanted a fender-esque guitar, and maple fretboard is a must. I fell in love with the fretboard on my 600 and prefer it over rosewood now. I just got a call this morning by them about it. They're great people. I ordered my portable amp from them as well.

For those saying "anything can be bricked", there's a difference between bricking a device because hardware craps out, and bricking a device because the design doesn't allow recovery from a failed flash. I've had my POD500 fail multiple times and it always can be reflashed because there's a hardcoded bios that can communicate with Monkey even if it didn't flash anything. I can't say the same for the JTV though. I don't know if it has any hardcode or bios or if it completely depends on the onboard flash memory. I've had a Variax flash failure before when trying to roll back and roll forward, but it still flashed afterwards. My last update gave no errors either.

Just ordered a JTV 69s today. With the price drop from 1.4k to 1k, I think it's a good time to buy. I love my 600 but I think it's time to get a proper new Variax. I ordered from Sweetwater, so hopefully if anything goes wrong I can just swap for a proper working unit. I might do some demos later on too. Can't wait to try the HD modeling.

There are some scratches in the paint the back of the compartment where the coffin lays. I imagine this is shielding, could that cause it? I used to have to put a piece of cardboard in with the coffin because it would have some sort of problem getting the power correctly to the guitar. That was when I was using the A/B power adapter. Later I fixed it and it didn't need and enforcement, but maybe that problem could have came back? Maybe I should get out the power supply and see if it's doing that again.

So I plugged an Amplug into the Variax and I touched a "metal(?)" part of the Vox logo and it gave me a ground loop noise. So, probably is a ground problem? It doesn't do it on my other guitar. Should I try that whole coating the coffin thing people do?

Personally I want a JTV because I really want to try the HD sounds for myself. Sometimes the Les Paul model is a little lacking, and I really want a good humbucker sound. I've seen demos of the 1.9 strat and 2.0 strat and I get that they sound different so it's alienating, but a lot of the comparisons I've seen of 2.0 to a real strat sound really good. Not to mention that 2.0 doesn't sound like it has a high cut filter like the 1.9 models do. It'll help get a crisper sound and let the tonality ring out better, even if the cabinet already does some high end cutting already. I would like the option to have 1.9 if I ever do want it, so I'm not getting the Yamaha guitars since they're HD only, but I'm sure I'll stick to HD.

There's no way they can have custom IRs. First off, there is no way to have external memory to hold those IR files. Second off, the internal memory probably doesn't have enough room to store IRs. WAV files are freaking huge. Third off, Line 6's cab simulation might have a completely different technique, and they'd need to add a second cabinet system. Forth, I doubt the DSP is stong enough to run the chain + the IR I do think it would be great to have an IR, and be able to switch them out between patches, but right now, the HD doesn't have the proper hardware. Tell Line 6 to keep IRs in mind when making the successor to the HD series, and for external memory cards for sure.

Yes, and I did. It might be breaking where there was a groove, cause I honestly can't see how 2000 grit isn't fine enough. I tried to sand out the groove and smooth the surface of the piezo a bit. I also put a bit of ramping on the piezo as well so there's not a sharp angle on the string. I also noticed that the string wasn't making much contact on the slope so I adjusted it a bit. Still waiting on strings to come in the mail.

I've noticed a groove in the piezos of my G string that was causing pinging noises when using the trem so I hit that piezo with some sand paper and it got rid of it. I saw a burr in the b string and sanded that out. I tried sanding the E string slot as well but it's been breaking even more, I used a guitar file, then hit it with 2000 grit sandpaper in the slots behind the piezo in the saddle where the string ramps down into the body. Is that not smooth enough? Should I use finer grit? I also tried to take out the piezo and smooth the side of the saddle ramp that goes to the piezo to prevent it from cutting the string.

Is the string better if I make the angle a little ramped instead of so sharp on the saddle? Does making more surface for the string to lay held distribute the tension better?

Optimizing coding..

There is no "wrong" one. One is just a redesign/update. That doesn't rule out the possibility of a defective dongle unit though.

When you buy something, you should buy it for what it can CURRENTLY do, not what it might do in the future, unless it's absolutely guaranteed.

Your statement was confusing: "i didn't really notice any appreciable difference in tone, certainly nothing to justify spending more than 2x the $$ on a set." Do you mean difference in the tone compared to dead strings or a normal set of new? If you mean dead strings, then the strings you took of weren't dead yet. The difference between a dead set of Ernie Balls or a set of Cleartones I had on for 2 weeks (They're horrible by the way) compared to the Elixirs I put on was night and day. I recorded a sample of the strings on day 1, and the overtones and brightness were exactly the same quality when I did an A/B comparison a month later. It only took 5 months until the strings finally died. The coating worn off, the plain strings FINALLY started to show rust (3-4 days vs 5 months? I'll take 5 months) The reasons why I use elixirs is because my sweat will rust strings within 3-4 days and it'll sound unusable in a week. I can't afford to change strings every 3 days. Any brightness that the coating might take away is minuscule at best, and a regular set's brightness will be below that in a day or two, so what's the point? It's all about the player's needs. Choose what's best for you. If you don't rust strings with your hands, then don't get coated strings. They're not for you.

How about the JTV 69s?

300 and 400 were taken down probably because most people looking towards the HD series would of just gone all the way to a 500. Not too much more, and if you're gonna go that route, you might as well take it all the way.

Weird since the 89s have the graphtechs.

Cruisinon, the point of the strings aren't for a different tone, the point is to KEEP the tone from dying out. If you have sweaty hands that eats away at your strings, then they're for you, if not, then you should use regular strings.

My 600 is the best playing guitar I have hands down. The only thing it needs is a fret job and I could get the action a little bit lower without buzzing. There is no string slippage at all. The only problem was the crappy nut, which I swapped for a graphtech nut and now it stays in tune beautifully.

Make this into a Variax http://www.rondomusic.com/photos/electric/furrianmnbsbwtre5.jpg

The shielding in the compartment where the coffin lays? I tried looking and I don't see much. Note that This also happens when trying to use 1/4 while the VDI is powering it. It could be a wire somewhere that's messed up but I looked and the wires seem fine. Also note that when it's quiet, touching metal doesn't make any noise like most grounding problems cause. It's really hard to pinpoint what's happening. I might send it in one day because I do want it back to being fully usable, it's just annoying right now.

Polyweb might not be as bright as a new set of regular strings, but the brightness content is way higher and more consistent than a set of string that have been played after a whole week. It's something I find important, especially when recording music. The tone needs to be consistent. Basically, the Polywebs are great, and they don't sound dead at all. They're still nice and bright, just not "just put the strings on this minute" bright Also, Polywebs don't shred very easily if you avoid techniques like pick scraping, as well as not wiping the strings vigorously with a rough cloth (If gunk gets on the string coating, use a smooth cloth or paper towel. You can get it off just by swiping the cloth across the strings without much pressure.)

The 2 biggest things when it comes to dead strings is the brightness (rust and string degradation cause this to suffer) and garbage in the windings (This will make the overtones of the strings go down. Not everyone likes the overtones to be so strong, hence flatwound strings, but I prefer it. It makes it sound fuller to me.) There is no wrong strings to get, but the sound quality of the Variax is based on how well these 2 attributes of your strings are, and it seems like the Variax is pretty unusable when strings are dead. That's personally why I get strictly Elixirs, but that's just because my hands rust strings within 3-4 days. Once the strings are dead, the models start becoming more and more useless and indistinguishable, as well as muddy. If you change strings often, and don't have acid sweat hands, and don't care too much about the string overtones, then there's no reason to try other strings besides finding your preference.

I assume the memory of the 500 and 500x are the same. The DSP and some other visual/physical outter hardware has been improved (better LCD screen, better switches).