roger_salvesen

Just tried it briefly this morning. I'd say it pretty great and it compares very well against my Diamond Marquis (Rangemaster based booster). Of course there are differences but they are subtle for most peoples purpose. Im still investigating the EQ and what Line 6 considers flat Null for what a Rangemaster is actually cutting and boosting. I also tried it with my Burns Brian may model so the comparrison was from a "May tone" perspective. The Line 6 Rangemaster is capable of more gain of course but with tweaking truly takes the Muddy AC Normal channel (Fawn) Into a creamy chimney distortion. The EQ while not standard helps you sculpt it for different pickups that might result in too much chime or too little low punch. I will have to spend more time. In general this may be the best software emulation I have found so far. Of course YRMV! Roger

Hi Leemh, Regarding the pitch shift issue I am suggesting it is an artifact based on the very nature of how all pitch shifting works. So in short there is nothing wrong with your JTV and a replacement board will likely behave the same. As in your video my JTV behaves this way as well with certain tunings especially when higher strings are tuned low. I can also achieve the same artifact if using a pitch shifter plug in on a single string e.g.: in my daw (Logic). So should you get a replacement? If they are doing this no charge I suppose there is no harm other than your time. If you are doing delicate recording that requires the best quality I would simply tune the actual strings to the open tuning of your choice for the best results. However if you are playing live in the context of a band or your recording simple demo's the effect will not be too noticeable. What Line6 have achieved in low latency is amazing coding for sure and perhaps the tradeoff is the pitch shifting algorithm? Considering the JTV series has 4X the processing power of the Older series it may be there is more improvements to come? Who knows... Roger

This sadly is a common artifact with any pitch shifted effect. As the Variax employs 6 separate pitch effects (one for each string) the DSP power needed can be costly. So they have to weigh the pro's cons of quality of pitch shift to quality of the other aspects of the model. I have often experienced the same effect with pitch shifting in My DAW or with pedals such as the Digitech Whammy Wah. If the firmware allows it Line 6 could potentially offer optimized shifting algorithms for each scenario (shining hi strings up/low strings down) however this remains to be seen. While what is there is no slouch it is not Eventide quality either. Honestly if you are playing live is it likely not to be even noticed in the context of a band. However if recording one can always use a real open tuning. This is obvious but with such luxuries we become used to the convenience of this tech! So I would not view this as a faulty guitar but rather a compromise of the particular DSP chip and memory. Cheers Roger

The loss of the "Variax" power may actually be due to the jack plate assembly board. The jack seems to have a relay that switches on the power when the lead is plugged in. Mine also was intermittent and if the lead was wiggled or touched the Variax internals would shut of and go back to the magnetics. As above Full compass sell this part and the installation is fairly straightforward for a tech. On a JTV59 the cable from the Jack plate board travels through the body to the CPU chamber on the upper or low E side of the body. All 3 chambers will need to be opened and the battery chassis removed. Replacing this part for me solved the issue completely. The cause seems to be due to a kink in the ribbon cable coming from the jack plate board. The kink is due to overcrowding in the jack plate cavity. It should be said that while i was disappointed this critical part was so crowded the overall not to mention plastic. This overall delight of the schematic and guitar internals is quite clean and well thought out. I hope this is of some help, I had to do quite a bit of digging around for the info. Personally I feel Line 6 should take a more active role in parts replacement for pro musicians. Roger