amsdenj

I've had similar problems with other speakers. You might want to crimp the connectors a bit so they are tighter.

You have to assign each string you want to retune to the snapshot controller. And you have to make sure the alt tuning is set to custom not don't force. The Variax model is an independent parameter and can be set with or without changing the tuning. Of course the Variax switch has to be engaged on the guitar for this to work.

I don't know if its the case with these particular amps, but some high gain amps choose to limit the range of the amp's tone controls. This is because having a lot of bass and treble along with a lot of distortion can lead to mud and fizz. Limiting the range of the tone controls can help avoid this issue while also getting more gain out of a limited number of gain stages. Tone controls have to cut in order to provide boost.

Sounds like they're not being saved. Check the manual for how to save the tunings. I do it with Helix so don't remember on the guitar.

Yes, I have similar problems with Helix and various Variax guitars. I believe the issue is with the seating of the VDI cable. I suspect if its not solid, there are Ethernet errors that seem to impact the tunings more than the models. That seems strange, but if I make sure the VDI cable is well seated, it seems to clear up the problems.

This continues to imply to me its a physical problem with how the piezo is seated in the bridge piece. It is possible that the shipping to/from Line6 resulted in environmental shifts that allowed the pickup to seat a bit better or different. That might account for the missing plink. I have a Variax Standard that had plink, but it worked itself out and doesn't anymore. Seemed to happen after a number of ver hot and humid outside gigs last summer and a lot of hours on the guitar. I have a new JTV-69S that never had any problems. That has become my may gigging guitar. I love how it plays and sounds.

I would have agreed a year two ago that Laptops and live gigs have risks. But our band is using an X32-Core with an old MacBook Pro to run our PA. Not one problem in a year. That's my backup for Helix - I can plug directly into a High-Z input of an SD16 and immediately use a channel in the X32-Core that is patched into Logic Pro X running in the Laptop with S-Gear. It sounds so good I'm tempted to use it all the time. S-Gear is magic. But it took some time, study and skills to set all that up to make it reliable. Its a lot easier with Helix to pretty much plug and play. The biggest improvement over past setups is the X32-Core and the SD16's. These are gig hardened devices. The computer just connects to the X32-Core with USB, That's reliable enough. There's no USB cables on the floor to trip on. That's the biggest issue with laptop setups - lack of gig hardened devices, connectors and cables.

I'm not sure the hybrid approach of audio interface with DSP and mobile device is the way to go. That would essentially repeat the history of computer audio interfaces in the past. The Yamaha DS2416 was an audio interface with DSP for effects. In its day it was useful because it offloaded expensive effects processing from slow computers so that DAWs could handle more tracks. But that's the past. A multi-core laptop today has more than enough power to process all these tracks and plugins. There's no need to offload the processing into hardware anymore. For example, my band rehearses using a Focuswrite 8 channel interface into a MacBook Pro running Logic Pro X - the whole band. Two electric guitars, both using a combination of Logic's pedalboard and S-Gear, bass using Kassa bass amp, three MIDI keyboards (Hammond organ/Leslie, Piano, Sampler, etc.) and Logic's Drummer driven by Roland MIDI drums (not using audio from the Roland drum controller, just MIDI), and 5 vocals. All the tracks have compression, EQ and other plugins as needed. There's no latency and we can record at the press of a button. Now an iPad isn't a MacBook Pro, but that's a pretty capable processor too, and only getting faster. The flexibility of software choice, price and update capability is compelling over the rigidity of a hardware or hybrid based solution. If you aren't that excited about Bias-FX, give Yonac TonePort a try. I'm finding I like it a bit better than Bias-FX in some ways. For example, the Bias-FX UniVibe is unusable. But the one in TonePort rivals Helix in its quality. As we know, this is a hard effect to get right, and indicates an underlying development capability of those who do get it right. TonePort also has multi-channel amps which provide a lot of flexibility for building patches.

Operational stability and more streamlined update would be top on my list of improvements. With more streamlined update, we could perhaps have more frequent and smaller release updates. This would include better (name-based, not indexed based) IR management. I've had Helix hang on me twice during a live performance over the last year. That's not too bad, and likely similar to issues with other gigging options. But better stability would be welcome.

Very nice thread, thanks for starting this @DunedinDragon. Just a few quick points to add. A small FRFR, say one or two 10's with horns like many of us use will never sound or feel like a 4x12 cabinet. Its just physics. But that said, most of us can't use that 4x12 anyway because we're playing small clubs or churches were we're often space and stage volume limited. We can however use Helix to make the best of that situation and deliver quality to our listeners, not focus on ourselves. Another issue is that if you're protecting your ears, and you should be, you're using ear plugs or IEMs so you're not going to hear that amp in the room anyway. Neither is your audience except for a few well placed audience members who are also risking damage to their ears. We should be kind to our audience! So too much focus on amp in the room isn't really going to help you that much in the gig or recording session. But perhaps the most important thing is that "amp in the room" is often too focused on the tone of the specific instrument, sometimes at the expense of the band as a whole. When doing mixing, we're trying to carve out space for all the different tracks in a way that contributes to the overall song. We rarely solo a specific instrument to do compression, EQ, reverb, delay, etc. because its how the track fits into the context of the song and everything else that's going on that's important. For example, we often use high and low pass filters on guitars that make them sound thin and dark when soloed. But they sound great in the mix because they are no longer competing with other instruments that fill in those frequencies in a manner that better suites the song. This is one of the reasons that patches made at home by yourself don't translate well to a live band situation. Now if you're Matt Schofield, Robben Ford, Waren Haynes, Oz Noy, Eric Clapton, etc. and you're the focus of the band, then by all means focus on your tone and don't use a Helix. For most of us, this is just not what we should be optimizing.

Its the cables that don't work, swap for either of two Line6 VDI cables (25') and it works fine. Again, I never got an explaination of why those cables worked for Variax 300 and PODXT/Live, but not other Variax guitars and Line6 processors.

There are often recommended starting points for most guitars that will make them pretty playable for a broad range of styles and personal techniques. These aren't all that different from guitar to guitar if the tuning is standard and the scale and fretboard radius are similar. So for a JVT-69(S) for example, you could start with Fender's recommended factory settings for a Strat. What to do next is the hard part. It starts with the player and the songs (as does a lot of thing having to do with music). Players can be categorized into different dimensions on a scale. Some of the dimensions might be hard/soft picking style, pick used (hard/round vs soft/sharp), pick hand position neck/bridge, pick angle (forward/neutral/back/varying), rake vs. alternate picking style, etc. All these effect how the action should be setup. Generally heavier, rounder picks, with heavier pick attack will require higher action because there's more string vibration and therefore more potential for fret buzz. Next is the songs. If you're playing blues with a lot of bends, jazz with a lot of complex chords, fast scales and arpeggios, or high speed/precise metal, you might prefer different action. Generally faster, more complex chords and scales benefit from lower action while lots of expressive bending and hand vibrato for blues might need higher action and more string bite into your finger. So the questions might be 1) how to make adjustments to get neck relief and string height to a particular point and 2) how to adjust from there to fit the range of playing styles and preferences. If you have pretty large frets, then bending might not depend that much on string height. So maybe this approach will work. Setup the guitar to typical factory specs and make sure there are no issues with the truss rod not being able to control neck relief, and the neck angle is sufficiently correct that the bridge saddles and bridge height are within a reasonable range. This is especially important for the JVT-69 bridge which should be set flat, and the bridge height determines how much you can raise the strings with the tremolo bar. Then lower the strings until the fret buzz becomes pretty noticeable and unacceptable - you've got the strings a low as you can go. Now raise the strings up a little at a time, checking by playing, until the fret buzz becomes acceptable. Be sure to check string bends because fret buzz will get worse when you bend a string, especially on a neck with a low fretboard radius. This will give you the lowest action with acceptable fret buzz for you with your pick and playing style. Then play a while and adjust from there. If the guitar plays too hard, lower the action and try to lighten your picking style to control fret buzz. If the guitar feels too soft and you don't feel like you can really dig in without the strings fretting out, raise the action a little. There's also the play between neck relief vs string height. Neck relief provides a pocket in which the strings can vibrate without hitting the frets. The higher the string guage and the harder it is plucked, the greater that pocket needs to be. You can use a flat neck with higher string height, or more relief possibly with lower string height. These will feel different and the fret buzz might be different. It might take some experimentation to see what works best for you.

My short ones have Neutrick shell on both ends, and work fine for Variax 300. But they've never worked with Variax 700 Acoustic, Variax Standard or JVT-69S. And yes, I do still have four Variax instruments. My Variax 700 Acoustic wouldn't work with these cables on anything. As I recall, the Variax 300 would work using these cables with a PODXT/Live, but not an HD500X. So it seems something changed in the processors. I don't have the PODXT/Live or HD500X any more, but the cables don't work with Helix either. I've never gotten an adequate answer as to why.

I bought two very nice, shorter VDI cables from a non-Line6 vendor that worked great with my Variax 300 and Pod XT/Live. But these cables don't work at all with my Variax 700 acoustic, Variax Standard or JVT-69S into Helix. Wish the did because the Line6 cable is much too long. I had thought these were CAT5 cables, but they don't work.

One thing that clearly differientiates the IR providers is the actual speakers they modeled. I suspect that's the greatest source of difference between the IRs, all else being the same. I'm guessing if they all had the same cabinet with the same speakers (not the same model of speaker, but the exact same speaker), and used the same mic, the differences wouldn't be that noticeable. But that's exactly the variation we're looking for, that magic cabinet and speaker that for whatever reason is unique.

I found my issue. It was the cable connection at the guitar. If the cable isn't seated just right, it appears there are MIDI errors and the alt tunings are lost. If I unplug the VDI cable at the guitar and plug it back in, the alt tunings from Helix seem to work.

The casing for some Neutrik cables is thicker than others. That might be your problem. Make sure the slot is lined up the the key on the Variax. Also some older VDI cables are cat5, JVT and Variax Standard need cat6. Both cables will work with the older Variax, but not the newer models. Best to get the cable from Line6.

I believe the looper will work across presets if it is the same looper block in each preset. The manual explains this.

I you're going to invest heavily in looping, I wouldn't use the Helix looper. Use a JamMan or something similar in the Helix effects loop so you have dedicated foot switches for controlling the looping separate from the footswitches you use to control your tones and patches. This avoids any mode switching that makes looping and playing at the same time much more difficult to coordinate. You'll also have much longer loops and the ability to store and recall loops.

My Strat Deluxe has dual pivots like the JVT, but the bridge is designed so it can be close to the body and angled like a typical Strat bridge. It doesn't pop off the pivots at all. However, I suspect the tremolo performance on that Deluxe could be improved by tilting the neck, raising and leveling the bridge. I might do that someday, but right now I'm mostly playing the JVT-69S and the Strat sits on the guitar stand as a backup. The Deluxe is certainly a much nicer guitar, but it become too limiting. I like those models and open tunings.

The tone control on the Variax acoustic models is the position of the mic along the neck - closer to or further from the sound hole. I have a Variax 300, Variax 700 Acoustic, Variax Standard and JVT-69S. There are differences in the models. The Variax 700 Acoustic is quite good - not something that you would want to use as acoustic solo or solo singer/songwriter, but OK for an acoustic band with a few other instruments. The fact that it has acoustic guitar strings and setup probably helps a lot. I use it exclusively in my acoustic band No Worries - along with Helix, which also has patches for mandolin and some electric guitar. The Variax 300 acoustic models to may ear are a bit more natural sounding than those in the Variax Standard or JVT HD acoustic models. That's likely a matter of taste and others might disagree. I find a bit of careful EQ can do wonders on the Standard/JVT models. If you sweep around with a parametric EQ, you'll likely find a bit of over emphasis in the 800Hz to 1KHz range. A gentle cut there with low Q can sweeten the tone a bit. Bottom line I would never record acoustic tones with any Variax, and I'd probably never do an acoustic solo gig with the Variax 700 Acoustic either, but I've seen videos of James Taylor doing it! But for club gigging, you can't beat a Variax, any Variax. To me that's that the tool is for, and I don't try to do everything with it. I have a Goodall acoustic that fills in the gap in other situations.

I've spent my career modeling things from paper machines, to power plants, to software engineering systems. We call this the Digital Twin - a digital representation of something in the real world that we can analyze, modify, or exploit in ways that are impractical or impossible to do with the real system. Getting an amp in the the room sound out of a model could in theory be done if we could model the speaker without using an impulse response. It wasn't that long ago that we didn't have very good software models of simple non-linear electronic components like tubes. We have those now, and maybe someday we can analyze and model the magnet, voice coil and cone of a speaker to reproduce what it actually does. That could be a ways out, speakers are very complex physical things. There's art in creating them. In the meantime we have impulse responses which are essentially "profiles" created impirically using a speaker, cabinet and mic. This will never sound like an amp in the room because of the mic and the FRFR playback system. These add their own color and can't be removed. However, amp in the room was something that evolved over may years. Who's to say that amp models and impulse responses won't eventually become so commonplace that they'll be on recordings we come to love and their tone will become the new standard? The point is tone for the song, not amp in the room. We need to shift the focus of this discussion from reproducing something we had to something new that's different, maybe sometimes better, and like all models, lets us do something that wasn't practical with guitar amps - like playing in small clubs.

I'm very happy with my non-US JVT-69S. Yes, it had some quality and setup issues. The nut still need to be replaced - its not cut properly and can't be fixed. But overall this is a very playable instrument. What I found is that polishing the frets and using some good neck oil along with a good setup made a huge difference in how the guitar feels and plays. Its a simple thing to do and well worth the time and effort. I suspect this level of detail is one thing that people really notice in different guitars.

Note I meant to post this on the Helix forum.

I know its a good idea to change strings one at a time on a guitar, especially one that has a tremolo bridge. It keeps a constant tension on the neck and simplifies tuning as the tremolo springs don't completely unload. However, there are times when you need to take off all the strings - often just to clean and oil the neck. When I do this on by JVT-69S, the bridge pops off the pivot post on the high string side, and actually pulls the pivot post and its threaded bushing right out of the guitar body on the low side! Has anyone found a way to keep the bridge in place while all the strings are removed?