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Transparent communication is not one of their strengths i guess. My favorite store had some but now it is unavailable again. Didn't want to buy it online and planed to go there over christmas to try it out (200km away). Hopefully they'll get some in stock until then.

Yeah but with VDI the mags sound something different :-)

right :-)

The JTV doesn't become a less good guitar just because they move on. They may not put out software regularly but the guitar on it's on is what it is. The same applies for the HD500, it doesnt become worse just because Helix is out ;-)

This is a good idea radatats - thanks. I use my JTV mostly with magnetic pickups with no modeling and just normal guitar cable (and no battery). So I guess this won't work then.

Thanks Dave, Yeah, I guess the Variax is not the right guitar for changing things. I got mine used it the model knob was loose and not always working. Fixed it myself by re-soldering - never had any problem with it since then. I think I have to get used to the way the volume knob works on my JTV-69

I do assign more effects to one switch all the time but didn't care about lights. I have to analyze that. If it's like pianoguyy said, you can't do much about it. I'm not with my POD right now but I'd try to change the way you assing the effects to the switch. First empty the switch to no functionality. Then switch the Compressor off Switch the distortion on Assign both effects to the disired switch If you like to have the clean tone when changing the patch just click on press the switch before saving, so that the distortion is off and the comp on. I'm not sure if this works but I think I remember doing so in the past. Have to try this when I have time.

I have switched to 11s :-) Acoustic sound is so much better

Hi, has anyone done the treble bleed mod on your Variax guitar. I use the Variax with the real pickups all the time and one thing that I don't like is how the volume reacts when rolling down. I have done the treble bleed on my Strat and I guess I'm used to it so much that I can't live without it. So I'm considering doing it on the Variax too. Any experiences? Thanks

I think they just replaced the JTV Variax with a Yamaha model. I really don't care about because I think the James Tyler is the better guitar than the Yamaha is. I have the JTV 69 and use it with normal pickups almost all the time. I'm not much impressed with the modelling anyway (at least with the actual firmware). I use the modelling only for practicing acoustic gutiar, or fro sitar effects, etc.. But the JTV 69 is a good guitar on it's own and I like the neck and sound of the stock pickups. Also I think the electronics in the Yamaha Variax is pretty much the same, so if there will be any software update, we will be able to install it too - hopefully.

I searched the forum but dind'nt find an answer, so here is my question: Is it possible to save your own configurations of the amps and cabs in helix, so that when you call them up they have your own configuration and not those from the factory presets? I have the HD500 and as workaround I saved my most used amp or amp / cab configurations as presets so that I load them up when creating a new preset with that particular amp / cap configuration. But it would really helpful that this could be saved in the device itself and call up every time I need them. Especially if I test presets from custome tone and want to keep the effects but change the amps, it could be loaded with your pre-definded values. It would save a lot of time. Thanks!

Helix should ship with it at this price point :-)

@duncann, @mdmayfield Ok Thanks, I'll wait for the final version then and see what happens :-)

Unfortunatley the software doesn't work if no helix is connected. That's a bit strange for me. Why isn't it possible to have a look at the software without having the helix connected? The software is a very important feature for me for many reasons and all those mentioned above. So it is also a createria for decision to buy or not to buy. I have downloaded the sofware and installed it and I can even start it but then the windows says - no helix connected. I know it from other software that you can open it and play around with it without any device connected - hell even the (crappy) software from my Fender Mustang can handle that. Even the HD500 Editor runs in offline mode. So is there any logical reason to not allow running the software without helix?

OK - thanks silverhead

Oh thanks - I think I change my mind. I just posted on chad's video post that I don't like the sound. These examples do sound much better. Why do you use the external soundcard to record? Does it sound better or was it just easier for you? I'm mostly interested in the direct recording via USB. Thanks

Thanks for the video. May I asked how the sound was recorded? Is it the sound of the webcam? I really appreciate the effort but I'm really dissapointed from the sound. Thank you!

This is actually one of the very few things that makes me thing about buying helix. I miss the reamping feature so much that I had with the X3.

There was a driver update in the meantime, so I guess they addressed the issue. I still have the driver crashed when using my variax guitar though - very strange. No chrash with the non-variax guitar.

I agree with pianoguyy. If you are in need for a special amp model it might be worth buying it. I personally have not really need for it. I've bought the whole bundle when there was the reduced price offer but I returned them all because there where only 3 amps that I liked from different packs. For me it wasn't worth buying all for just 3 amps that I would use. But I'm using only 3-4 amps of the stock ones too :-)

It's cool you could try it out in person drew_fx! I'm looking forward to try it out, when it is available (even if I don't plan to buy it in the near future). It is the only way to form an opinion.

I'm pretty much in the same situation. I used my HD500 almost only for playing with headphones the last two years. It does a pretty good job for this I would say.

Where do you find the statement that I can make it sound like in the video? ;) I said it sounds decent and you can get a good sound out of it. There are lots of patches on custom tone that sound good (of course with a few tweaks to fit your gear and ears).

I don't think that the univibe in the HD500 is that bad. If you're able to dial it right it sounds pretty good. It may not be that reactive but it sounds decent. The guitarguitar video is the first one that convinced me soundwise. There are some pretty good example and the video shows that the helix sound good. I still find that there is not that much difference to the HD500 though. It may take longer to get a good sound out of it but it definatley can sound great.

I was thinking exactly the same. It seems that the Univibe is the only thing they are really satisfied with right now ;-)