johnnyayyy

So I just got my JTV89 and have been playing a couple of Variax transplants for the past few years, I absolutely LOVE the Spank position 1 sound. This week I bought a Mexican Strat to do some palm muting things I couldn't quite pull off convincingly on the JTV/VAX, and of course the Mexi Strat sounds like a shrill ice pick covered in poo in position 1 when compared to the expensive vintage Strat modeled in the Variaxes on the same HD500 patches. I realize there is no way I am going to get a cheapo Mexican Strat to sound exactly like a $50,000 vintage guitar, but I want to do whatever I can to the Mexican Strat to make it sound warm and sweet in position 1 and as close to the JTV as possible - any Strat geniuses here who can tell me the best pickup/pot/cap/rewiring combination that will get me at least into the ballpark? My goal is to be able to record parts on my JTV and use the Mexican Strat to punch in the palm muting bits that sound funny on the Variax without it sounding like I used 2 different guitars to record the part. I don't mind spending money on a new pickup and new pots but I don't want to spend $2000 buying 20 different boutique pickups if I can get a steer in the right direction from someone who has already solved this problem. I have created some new tones that sound good with the Mexi Strat but the ones I have created for the JTV are EXACTLY the tones I want (already wasted a bunch of time trying to modify them to compensate for the shrillness of the Mex Strat, not feasible) and I would prefer to not compromise the tone of an entire recording just to nail a few palm muted sections.

I had a Vetta II and now I have an HD500 with a powered PA speaker, the HD sounds roughly 10 bajllion times better to me than the Vetta ever did. The one thing you will be lacking from the Vetta is the Piezacoustic option, but for acoustic guitars there are other options in the HD. For the Twin Reverb and the ENGL and Mesa distorted tones the HD versions blow away the Vetta IMHO.

You need to do a reflash with 1.9 firmware. Try downloading it and choosing the "install from file" option in Monkey http://line6.com/software/ Make sure you have the latest version of L6 Monkey and that everything else you are running (Hd500 for example) is fully updated in Monkey before you do the JTV reflash. I had the same missing models problem as you, retried the update to no avail, noticed my HD500 drivers were out of date, updated my drivers, DLed the JTV firmware, reflashed the JTV "from file" and the missing models reappeared. I also seem to recall someone solving this problem in the old forums by rolling back their firmware to an earlier version then redoing the update... After the guitar is reflashed you can save the default tone bundle in workbench, then build whatever new tones you like from there.

When I called Musiciansfriend to get my price adjustment they said $699 was below their cost, a manager had to approve the price match. Looking at other posts and judging by what I know to have been true in the past I would bet the dealer cost on the JTV89 is around $850, and I would bet it costs L6 around half of that per guitar all in (R&D, manufacture, advertising, shipping from SE Asia etc.) If L6 decided to end production of the non trem 89 and blow out the remaining stock they most likely made a deal to reduce the dealer price to L6 cost or thereabouts for Sweetwater on the remaining stock. So Sweetwater still makes a profit, L6 moves the remaining stock at cost - you are right, L6 is probably are not losing any money on the deal, more likely breaking even on the remaining stock and freeing up resources for something more profitable. Surely no one would have expected them to sell these guitars at cost fromn the beginning? That would not be a great business plan... True, someday my brand new JTV will die, but til then I will have a really cool tool to use. Hmmm, come to think of it, my old Variax transplants are still working fine, one was made from an original Variax (pre-500 designation) that was made in I believe 2003 and the other was built from a V300 that as I recall was from 2006, so they have already lasted me a pretty long time and if they fail I can easily pick up a used Variax for parts for the foreseeable future - I would bet that in 5-10 years used JTVs to use as parts donors for repair will be fairly cheap as well. Sweetwater gives a free 2 year warranty on the Variax, also a longer warranty can be purchased for an additional charge. I had problems with the saddles on my Variax 300, changed to a Graphtech Ghost bridge when I did the transplant and have not had a problem since. The model knob problem you had is something pretty rare I think, but that part can easily be replaced here :http://www.fullcompass.com/brand/LN6/Replacement-Service-Parts.html. I think the model knob cannot take a lot of abuse, and sweat and corrosion is what usually kills the piezos.

My bet is now that the 89FR is available nobody is buying the fixed bridge 89. This is the same kind of discount Sweetwater did with the Variax 700 when they were discontinued, I think they made a special deal with L6 to buy up the remaining stock and blow them out at the super low price. I really really REALLY want the 89FR but at this price the regular 89 was too good a deal to pass up. Was planning to wait for the 2.0 firmware and get the 89FR if there were any big changes like additional models or something (my old Variax transplants still work fine so other than the improved acoustic sounds there has not yet been a huge incentive for me to get the JTV), might add a Floyd to the 89 laterif I end up loving the guitar, might sell it and buy the 89FR at some point. Today I am pretty excited, getting a new guitar, woo hoo!

Last night I was thinking I should order one from Sweetwater at this price, this morning I noticed Musiciansfriend has a 150% price difference guarantee so I ordered at Musiciansfriend.com and called to get the price match - they matched the Sweetwater price plus send me a $300 MF gift card (50% of the price difference). I will probably resell the JTV later as I really want the one with the FR trem, for now it will be useful for recording - I have a couple of older Variax transplants, can't wait to get those reworked JTV acoustics! Hmmm, just realized... for the $699 price I am paying for the JTV I could do a nice inexpensive JTV transplant...