johnnyayyy

The info you need is probably here: http://www.vettaville.nl/vvworkbenchtutorials.html You can probably figure it out pretty quickly even without the tutorials, it is fairly simple. Connect guitar. Start Workbench. You will see a list of models in the guitar, click the one you want to modify, change the tuning or whatever else you want to adjust, and save it to the guitar. You can always go back to the Factory version or make more adjustments if you change your mind later. You should give it a try and if you have any questions just post them here and people will help.

1. My first guess is your guitar may need a setup, any slightly buzzing strings will make the modeling do funny things. If you mean you are physically tuning your strings down a full step to D standard you may need to go to a slightly heavier string to compensate for the loss of tension, also this will change your intonation... I normally tune my JTV89 down to D, I am using the stock strings as supplied from the factory and haven't noticed anything weird yet but I don't really use the 12 strings (have always thought the Variax Rickenbacker models sounded weak, hopefully this will be fixed in the new 2.0 firmware) , I do recall from what I read in the old forums that the 12 strings in the Variax have always seemed to be more prone to making weird noises at the slightest bit of fret buzz, tho I may not be remembering this correctly. 2. Have you tried changing the tuning of the octave strings in Workbench? If you cannot hear the doubling on the high E and B you should be able to adjust the level and the amount of detuning to bring them out more. 3. In addition to the foam under the strings at the headstock you may wish to try adding the small Velcro strip or other material of your choice under the strings at the bridge as shown in this thread: http://line6.com/support/message/485558#485558

You may wish to consider the "4 cable method", this will give you selectable access to the amplifier's preamp and the HD modeling on a patch by patch basis. here's a vid from earlier today where the user explains how to set up the amp and Pod HD to work well together, settings will likely vary from amp to amp: http://line6.com/support/topic/1882-video-of-the-pod-hd-500-4-cable-method-5150-iii-50-watt/

Posting complaints is great - hey, wait, doesn't that mean that posting complaints about people repeating the same complaints over and over and over and over and over is okay too...? Once, twice, three times repeating the same opinion doesn't really bother me, though it is probably unnecessary and unproductive - contrary to what some seem to believe, one person posting the same complaint in this forum 50 times does not equal 50 people posting the same complaint one time each. That broken record .jpg is probably appropriate anytime someone posts the same complaint more than 2 or 3 times or spams the forums in any other way IMO. It would probably be much more productive to post to the Line 6 Suggestions or to http://line6.ideascale.com/ , though by posting this I sound like a broken record myself... Eh, I am not the boss of this forum... Whine On, You Crazy Diamonds!

:D :D :D That .jpg is the appropriate response for half the posts in these forums :D :D :D

Awwww... I still think you're pert! :)

I expect my HD500 will still sound great, there will be some new features I like and some I don't care about, and no matter what is different in the new firmware there is going to be lots of complaining from people who should probably try a different product if the HD doesn't suit their needs. I doubt the EQ labeling will be changed after all this time, don't care if it is or isn't, the EQs work just fine however the parameters are labeled. Doubt there will be global EQ, though I believe this would be a useful addition I have already added my own outboard EQ (it cost me less than $50) so I could not care less whether this is ever added. Reamping is already possible for those clever enough to patch a few cables. Would love to see Model Packs with dozens of new options but the HD has been out for so long without them I do not "expect" them to ever materialize. Have already been informed separate modes for 1/4" and XLR is not possible, I do not "expect" to see that feature on my HD500 ever. Hmmm, maybe there will be something really cool added that no one was expecting, like when they added the deep editing parameters.

:unsure: :D

And to post on topic, YEAH LINE 6, HURRY UP :) I am quite happy with my L6 guitars and Pod HD at the moment and use them daily but I always welcome any new developments

You DO realize JTV levels can be set in a Pod HD (or Pod XTLive or Pod X3Live or Vetta II) to any level you like, right? I have not had a chance to gig with my new JTV, but have done MANY shows with my Variaxes (Tele and Gretsch transplants) and have never had any problem matching levels (I use a Pod HD500 and before that a Vetta II). Simply step on a footswitch and the models change, levels preset to wherever I have programmed them... easy!

Oh no, this is TERRIBLE news... guess I need to destroy all the recordings I have made with mine :(

We GET it. You like your Eleven Rack (tho I don't know where you find the time to enjoy it what with your 24 hour a day job posting in this forum with ads for it). Couple of things... 1. I don't have time to go through all your posts to check, but... have you EVER posted here and not turned it into an ad for Eleven Rack? 2. Have you ever considered spending your time raving about your Eleven Rack here: http://www.avid.com/US/communities ? 3. Did it ever occur to you that maybe the reason a new Eleven Rack loses more than 50% of its value the instant you purchase it and that Avid has to bundle ProTools with them just to get rid of them is that almost nobody wants one?

We are in agreement. I bought my first Variax because I needed the acoustic and banjo sounds, but it ended up completely changing my mind on electric guitars: For 20 years my main guitars were Teles and Gretsches, all my heroes played them, all those great recorded sounds were exactly what I wanted to sound like. But when I started going through all the modeled guitars in my Variax and comparing them I found the Spank/Stratocaster bridge position worked much better for my tone and playing on many many things than either my Teles or my Gretsches ever had. I had never cared about Strats, thought they were boring and common and no guitarist I liked was ever a Strat guy - I had tried a bunch of them over the years and they always sounded bad (due I am sure to me trying to play things on them that would be better suited to other guitars), I bought and sold lots of them as a lucrative part time job, but I never considered using a Stratocaster live or for recording until I experimented with the Spank 1 setting on the Variax, trying it through every amp sim in my HD500. Now I LOVE the Stratocaster sound! Thanks Line 6! :D The Strat bridge pickup is my go-to rhythm tone for the recordings I am working on at the moment, and the Variax has made me obsessed with buying more Strats - I currently own 4, all purchased within the last few weeks in search of "the one" that sounds as good as the simulation in my JTV and is as playable as the JTV. I am getting close, the first one I bought was a Mexi that played great but had horrible sounding ceramic pickups, I ordered some Fender Custom Shop pickups to replace them and while I was waiting for them to show up in the mail I found 3 other Strats on Craigslist, 2 much nicer Mexi lefty's strung righty (thought the reverse angle bridge pickup might be useful for certain things) and a really nice older USA version that I am loving at the moment. i will be selling all but one of the Strats, gonna try the custom pickups in all of them and keep the one that I like best (probably the US one, it is a pretty nice guitar). I still am not physically attracted to Strats and still think they are boring and common but at the moment they are really doing the trick for me tone-wise. I think at some point I will get myself a custom made thinline Strat, double bound body, similar to the Pawn Shop 72 model but with single coils - that thing is neither boring nor common... *drool* maybe I will just get one of those and swap out the pickups... and add a Bigsby... and, and, and...

That will work for people who want one, maybe two good sounds - I think the LPX and JTV (the subject of this forum) are designed to appeal to people who want access to all the sounds. I want a great metal tone and a great blues tone and a great rockabilly tone and a great jazz tone and a great country tone and and and. etc. etc... I don't know of one guitar/amp combo that will sound good for all the different kinds of music I play, I would need 20 guitars and 20 amps on hand when I am recording. That is where the JTV/HD really work nicely for me at the moment and where I see potential/certain advantages in the Gibson tech stuff.

Interesting... yes, position 2 on my JTV89 mags is bridge coilsplit. I have not tried combining the models and the mags, have been too busy to really dig into any of the added features but will definitely give this a try next week - sounds like it might be a good solution Thanks!

Thanks for the info! I bought a second hand set of Fat 50s on Ebay based on your recommendation and some reviews I read, they showed up today. I will be installing them tomorrow, hopefully that will get me close enough.

:lol: If they weren't so ridiculously hideous I would probably pick up a used $2000 Firebird X on Ebay just to give it a good workout (hmmm, I could just buy one and play with it for a while and resell it later I suppose), maybe in a few years when they drop below $1000 I will pick one up and do a transplant. Oooh, Firebird X guts transplanted into my JTV, that would be pretty crazy, huh? Honestly, if they had just put the electronics into a regular reverse Firebird or Les Paul Standard or Custom I think I would be seriously G.A.S.sing for one right about now and would probably be willing to pay whatever they cost new (I assume a Les Paul Custom with the X electronics would be around twice the street price of the no-frills LPX) , guaranteed huge financial losses upon resale be damned.

I hate feeling like I am defending/promoting a product that is (mostly) unappealing to me, but... Gibson is way ahead of you (the complete rig is shown in the vid here ): "What if you want a more traditional way to control the effects? Gibson has you covered. The Les Paul X includes a Bluetooth footswitch and expression pedal, which lets you wirelessly change effects presets and manipulate parameters in realtime. You get the feel and convenience of playing with your pedalboard, plus the benefit of the low-noise audio engine driving your effects. Of course, the Les Paul X will sound great through your existing effects too."

Hmmmm... I think some people like spending hours and hours tweaking gear trying to find a satisfying tone, and others prefer to just plug in, get a great sound, and play. From what I have seen in these forums I would estimate for every person who enjoys tweaking their Pod HD endlessly in pursuit of perfect tone there are maybe 100 people who just want to download Lincoln Brewster's/John Petrucci's/EVH etc. tones and play their guitar. Downloadable premade tones are a huge selling point for modeling devices for many people, whether to use as is or as a starting point for a more personalized tone. The problem is the person who downloads the tone is usually not playing the some guitar with the same pickups/selector position and the same playback/monitor/amp as the person who created the tone, which ends up with the downloader havinbg a final tone that sounds nothing like what the original uploader was hearing. IMO what Gibson got right with the Firebird X/LPX is they have eliminated all of the variables - they have a preset called "Rockabilly", you plug the guitar into the recorder and play a rockabilly riff and it sounds like Scotty Moore's guitar/effects/amp from the 50s. This could likely be pieced together with a Variax and a Pod HD just as effectively with many hours of work by someone who knows what they are doing and is familiar with Scotty Moore's choice of guitar/effects/amp model and settings, BUT... so far I have not heard a "Rockabilly" tone from a Variax/Pod HD that comes close to sounding as good as the clip on the Gibson site. The "Jazz" and "Blues" clips also sound better to me than any Jazz or Blues tones I have heard from a Variax/Pod combo - don't care if it is analog solid state distortion or how they are getting the sound, the point for me is IT SOUNDS REALLY GOOD. The LPX "Metal" clip sounds horrid to my ears, so maybe the LPX approach will not work for everything. Or maybe given time someone will create better sounding metal tones for the LPX - Gibson has a download site similar to Customtone where people can share their own tones and tweaks, I am sure that (like L6 Customtone) there will be tons of terrible sounding uploads and some really great ones, BUT whatever happens with their download site IMO a majority of the presets on the LPX already sound great and useable in real-world music making situations right out of the box which is more than I can say for my Pod HD500/Variax combo - I have created functional rockabiily/jazz/blues/metal tones through a combination of downloading and hours and hours of tweaking and experimenting but I would have much preferred to plug in and get lots and lots of great tones right off the bat... that is how it works for me with "real" guitars amps and effects, and that would seem to be the way it works with the Gibson LPX (tho admittedly I have never seen or played a Gibson LPX in real life and am basing this assessment solely on my impressions of the clips on their website).

I posted a link to this in the Tyler Variax section, it might be helpful to someone here as well - haven't seen it posted here before, sorry if it is a repost. Line 6 should hire someone like this guy - he has presets available on Customtone under the name Jake Cloudchair that are set up to get the same tones from this vid with Variax/HD combo - would love to see more vids with accompanying downloadable tones like this, some surf, some metal etc. pre set up for use with specific Variax models or at least showing the kind of guitar and pickup selection used for the vid:

I was recording today and realized something very cool about what Gibson has done there, they have put together the total sound: THIS pickup plus THIS distortion plus THIS delay = Rockabilly Tone, THIS pickup plus THIS distortion plus THIS delay = 70s Glam Rock Tone, Blues Tone, Jazz Tone, etc. Line 6 could learn something from this... having some useable great sounding presets would help them sell guitars and amp modelers and help avoid people giving up in frustration and returning products when they couldn't get a decent tone out of their new gear - I have read about this happening to people over and over in these forums. Here is a vid that I found useful, Line 6 should hire someone like this guy - he has presets available on Customtone under the name Jake Cloudchair that are set up to get the same tones from this vid with Variax/HD combo - would love to see more vids with accompanying downloadable tones like this, some surf, some metal etc. pre set up for use with specific Variax models:

I'll take that bet: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=lpx+gibson&_sadis=200&_ipg=50&_adv=1&_sop=15&LH_SALE_CURRENCY=0&LH_Sold=1&_osacat=0&_from=R40&LH_Complete=1&_dmd=1&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313&_nkw=firebird+x+gibson&_sacat=0 Original list was $5570, street price was $3999, currently selling used for a high of $2295 to a low of $1776, a loss of $1704 to $2243 upon resale (42.7% to 56%) There is your "bellwether of real value" Pay up buddy :lol: IMHO a Gibson hi tech guitar is a terrible investment at this point in history, maybe this will change in the future but going back to the Moog RD guitars up through the Robots and the Xs I really doubt it. Man, regular old Gibson Firebirds keep popping up in my search results... the reverse version sure is sexy looking, makes me think i ought to get myself one... http://www.ebay.com/itm/2006-GIBSON-FIREBIRD-VII-7-REISSUE-MAESTRO-3-PICKUPS-CANDY-APPLE-RED-/251279741481?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item3a81709229

Owned a Gibson Marauder, that wasn't too good... I have a Les Paul studio right now that I would not call great... I have owned maybe 10 US made Gibson guitars in the past (are there non-US Gibsons?), some were excellent instruments and some were not - quality seems to vary year to year and model to model. I am betting that new LPX will be well made - it better be for $5000. Your sig indicates you own a JTV-69 - is it the American or the Korean version? I have seen complaints about the quality of the Korean JTVs in these forums but have never seen or heard a negative word about the US version, if you are comparing JTVs to a $5000 Gibson LPX surely you would only use the US made JTV for reference, yes? I mean, no one would compare the build quality of a Korean made JTV-69 that one can currently purchase brand spanking new for under $1300 all in to a US made instrument costing roughly 4 times the price, right? My research tells me you need to do a little more research. I have checked the street prices of used JTVs constantly for the last year+, I have been waiting for them to come down. Currently I can purchase a new JTV 59 online from an authorized dealer for $1199.99, no tax, free shipping, $1199.99 final price. Used JTV59s are currently selling on Ebay for $860 -1050. If I buy a new JTV59 today for $1199.99 and sell it in one year for the current ebay low price of $860 I have lost $339.99, or around 28%. If it sells for the current ebay high going price of $1050 I have lost $149.99, around 12.5% according to my calculations (my math is a bit rusty, feel free to correct me if I forgot to carry a 2 or something). Source: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ipg=50&_sadis=200&LH_SALE_CURRENCY=0&_from=R40&_sacat=0&_samihi=&_samilow=&_fpos=&_udhi=&_oexkw=&_udlo=&_adv=1&LH_Sold=1&LH_Complete=1&_dmd=1&_okw=&_fsct=&_nkw=tyler+variax&_sop=15 My JTV story: Last month I purchased a brand new non-Floyd JTV89 from Musiciansfriend.com for $580+tax(you did say we were excluding tax for these comparisons, right?). Currently used non-Floyd JTV89s are selling on ebay for $653 to $899. If in one year I sell my non-Floyd JTV89 for the current ebay low price of $653 I will have made a profit of $73, or around 12.6% And if my JTV happens to sell for the higher current ebay used price of $899 I will have made a profit of $319, around 55% Source: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=tyler+variax&_ipg=50&_sadis=200&_adv=1&_sop=15&LH_SALE_CURRENCY=0&LH_Sold=1&_osacat=0&_from=R40&LH_Complete=1&_dmd=1&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.Xtyler+variax+jtv-89&_nkw=tyler+variax+jtv-89&_sacat=0 (rubbing my eyes is disbelief: can those numbers be accurate? I could potentially make a profit of 55% by reselling my new JTV89? ... wow...not gonna sell tho, I really do love the thing - and once the 2.0 firmware is realeased I have a feeling I will never want to sell) And to top it all off, when I purchased the JTV I received a gift card for $300 from Musiciansfriend.com. i will be using that gift card to purchase something I have found I can resell on ebay for slightly more than what I will be paying at musiciansfriend (not gonna say what it is, don't want someone else buying them all up and spoiling it for me hahaha). I realize that if i wait too long to resell my JTV I will likely lose some money on it, I saw what happened to the resale prices of the original Variaxes when the JTVs became available. Hmmm, I also seem to recall Variax 700s going for $699 new at Sweetwater a while back, and it looks like theyare STILL selling used for $442 to $665 (!) after all this time, so maybe if I keep my JTV for 10 years then sell it I won't lose any money after all :) Do a little more research and you will find even the lowly Variax 300 is still selling used for around the same amount of money they were going for at Guitar Center a few years ago brand new. Variax 700 used price source: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sadis=200&LH_SALE_CURRENCY=0&_from=R40&_sacat=0&_adv=1&_sop=15&LH_Sold=1&_dmd=1&LH_Complete=1&_nkw=variax+700&_pgn=2&_skc=50&rt=nc I have a feeling that anyone who buys a Gibson LPX is either going to keep it forever or face losing a HUGE amount of money if they ever try to resell it (eh, same with the US made JTVs. Source: http://www.ebay.com/sch/Electric-/33034/i.html?_sadis=200&_adv=1&_sop=15&LH_SALE_CURRENCY=0&LH_Sold=1&_from=R40&_dmd=1&LH_Complete=1&_nkw=gibson+robot Likely reason Gibson high tech guitars are generally flops: 1. Gibson guitars in general appeal to conservative/traditional minded guitarists 2. Gibson high tech guitars are generally poorly executed Okay, I am done generalizing ;) Also, you might want to check out the amount a new Gibson guitar depreciates the second you "drive it off the lot" - you will find a number a lot closer to that 40% claim you are making on the used JTVs- Gibson "new" prices: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/search.jsp?sB=r&Ntt=gibson+les+paul+traditional#N=700008&Ntt=gibson+les+paul+traditional&sB=r&Nao=0&recsPerPage=20&v=g&Ns=pHL&profileCountryCode=US&profileCurrencyCode=USD Gibson "one year old used" prices: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ipg=50&_sadis=200&_adv=1&LH_SALE_CURRENCY=0&LH_Sold=1&_sacat=0&_from=R40&_dmd=1&LH_Complete=1&_nkw=2012+les+paul+traditional%2C+-epiphone&_sop=15 All that said... HEY LOOK EVERYBODY! Sweetwater has the new LPX in stock! http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/LPXHYCHP-13?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=PPC&utm_campaign=none&device=c&network=g&matchtype=&gclid=CLu_z_2k2rgCFS3hQgoda1YAjQ Oooh, street price is only $2999! Hmmm... is the top arched? Looks flat. Maybe if it had binding it would look better... needs neck binding too... and some cool fret markers... also, that headstock looks pretty boring/homely (eh, about as homely as the one on my new JTV89) ... I DO love the look of the 3 pickups, very sexy... and the flame top looks pretty good. Wow, look at that crazy rear cavity cover... If I may paraphrase a comment Variax Transplant LEGEND MidiRose made regarding the Variax 700 a few years back, "The Gibson LPX is a $700 guitar masquerading as a $3000 guitar" - to me the LPX looks like the cheapest Gibson Les Paul Special would look with the addition of some cool looking pickups, a FotoFlame top (I realize the flame on the top is probably real), and some extra cluttery knobs thrown haphazardly around the body. The sounds on the Gibson site are pretty good. if they ever make a cheaper version (doubtful) I might be interested in picking one up, depends on how satisfying the JTV 2.0 update is. the comments on that page are hilarious/sad/as expected. I love the guy who just keeps repeating "I like it" and posting this crazy link to a Firebird X demo: Whew, that thing does not sound too good in the real world. Hilariously, the guitar has robotic tuning and the guy plays and it sounds SOOOOOO out of tune :D maybe he needs to try the Peavey AT-200, that might work a little better for him.... Wait... it that a gag/hoax/joke video...? Or maybe..OH... MY ... GOD... did a competing manufacturer create/post that vid to intentionally make Gibson look bad? Very naughty... WOW, I am watching the whole thing and cringing... it just gets funnier and funnier. Gibson should pay that guy to remove the vid from the internet... Hmmm, on the plus side, looking at the vid I see the Firebird X is not quite so amazingly hideous from far away with someone playing it as it is in Gibson publicity pics. Kinda looks like a cheapo Chinese Jaguar knockoff. Yeesh, I just took a look at the Chappers/Anderton vid here: Look at the waviness in the finish when he moves that thing around in the light... it should look like a mirror but it looks more like a wrinkly piece of plastic, like it was done by someone with my level of woodworking/finishing skill (I am a lollipope woodworker/painter). So much for Gibson build quality... sounds are better in the Chappers vid than the Copenhagen/Roger Lewis/Beardman vid.. couple of nice sounds, Chappers. I checked out the Guitarist Magazine vid here: some decent sounds there... haha, at the summary the reviewer says, "looks a little bit like a squashed bowling ball" and gives it a pass. As I recall this same guy raved over the JTV when it came out... Chappers said he was keeping the Korean JTV he demoed in the vid for his own, he didn't seem too impressed with the Firebird X and I have never seen him say he was keeping any of the other guitars he has demoed on Youtube, so:advantage Line 6. Answer: ME! i would love to take a guitar to a gig or to the studio and plug it in and have a great sound, no amp or pedals needed. If all those sounds on the Gibson site are coming straight from the guitar with nothing added I am quite impressed. So, Gibson LPX - not as hideous as the Firebird X, sounds pretty good in the clips on the Gibson site, $3000 does not seem as crazy as the $5000 I thought is was going to be... JTV competitor? For the US version, probably. For the current JTV Korean version, nah, not at that price. I doubt Gibson will make or sell many of these, they are calling it a "limited edition". I think the only competition the Korean JTVs have at the moment is Peavey AT-200 -I have checked it out and so far I am passing, it still needs some work IMO... Now if Gibson ever puts out a $1000 Epi version or puts this tech into a nicer guitar (I would love to have a LP Custom or Standard like this) things could get pretty interesting pretty quickly and I would say it could give L6 a real run for its money, I would love that! Competition breeds "betterness" :D BRING IT ON!

Nice comparison vids, hadn't realized there was such a big difference between the sound of the old Variax and the JTV - JTV sounds much better and more "alive" to my ears (might be due to the slight volume difference?) when compared to Variax 500 and stacks up nicely to the "real" versions you compare it to, a couple of the models sound dead on and others different but just as good or better than the originals (diffent mostly due to you not having the exact year and model represented in the modeling I suspect). And Stevie Wonder and Bee Gees riffs, cool! Thanks for the post!

I was already planning to do that tone jumper mod and try lowering the bridge pickup to see if that helps but wanted to wait til I had a new pickup and pots ready to install so I don't have to take the guitar apart and dig out my soldering rig twice in case the tone control mod doesn't do the trick - does the tone control mod soften the tone of the bridge even when it is set at 10? I want to modify the Strat in such a way that it behaves the same as the JTV Spank 1 model does, which is "JTV tone knob set at 10 = perfection" for what I am doing. I also wonder if the Strat modeled for the Variax had the tone control jumper mod or if L6 added whatever effect the added tone control has into the Spank model...? That guitar was more than 30 years old when they modeled it, maybe someone had done some work under the pickguard to make it sound "magical"? I have have never been able to get a Strat sound I liked til I bought my first Variax, if all Strats sounded that sweet and warm I would have been playing one all along.