robbieb61

Yes sir. The day they came out with that update I grabbed it and tried it out. It's definitely the best sounding humbucker fat sound of all the models. Having said that...it lacks the detail and harmonics of the actual mags when you switch back and forth on the guitar. In other words...if you are playing the lead to "Magic Man" by Heart...you wouldn't hesitate to turn off the modeling and use the mag pickups.

Thanks for the input guys. 😊

I spent a lot of time in Workbench and maxed out all those volumes. Maybe I just have a lemon. I've had it for over 3 years now and modified so many things to make it sound better.. for example the locknut that comes on the guitar is a flimsy piece of trash metal. I replaced that with a floyd titanium nut. And I bought the floyd "silent springs" to get rid of the trem spring ringing, etc I WANT it to sound good on the models.

For me it's real easy to hear the difference between the models and the real pickups on the guitar. If I'm using a model...it doesn't hit the amp hard enough to create the sustain and harmonics I need for my style of playing (classic rock with a thick/fat lead). I have to boost the volume to "max" on everything in Workbench to get it to even sound decent. So if I'm using a fairly high gain amp...and I already have the gain on "8" and everything dialed in to sound perfect to me for a great lead sound: plenty of sustain & harmonics without too much "hiss", noise, or unwanted feedback... And then I use one of the models and all of that is gone. What do I do? Crank the gain to "10" and hope it's enough? And then of course that throws that entire "sweet spot" of the amp out the window. No matter how I work it...I end up with an inferior guitar tone. :( And if I try using the "Spank" model? Forget it. It's output (even with everything maxed out in workbench) is so thin and low-volume that it doesn't "hit" the front of the amp enough to achieve any kind of decent tone. And yeah, I've owned (and own) strats. And yeah...I pretty much always switched the Fender single coils out for Duncans. The exception being a Strat I had that came with Lace Sensors which I kept in it and used it live for a couple of years. But I've never had a guitar that wasn't able to be plugged right into most any amp and AT LEAST have enough output to drive the amp. That's why I'm hopeful that Line 6 may give us some updated pickup model options since it has been years now. I'd love to see some Duncan, Dimarzio, Bare Knuckles, etc. pickup models included and have them with enough output gain that there isn't such a huge difference between the models and real pickups. I know that if I walked into a music store and tried out a guitar that sounded like the models do...I would NOT buy it. Why would anyone want to have a guitar that wasn't able to sound great right on the showroom floor? Every instrument I bought (except for my JTV89F) I played first at the music store. This was a leap of faith for me. And the guitar itself seems to be just fine. Maybe a notch or two below my Ibanez Prestige and 3 or 4 notches below my Floyd Rose Redmond series Model K for a Floyd equipped guitar. So that makes it a very good guitar. But the models? Nope.

You just described every relationship of my life. lol

From the "back" of the board (which is all I can see when removing the bottom plate of the Helix)...I didn't notice anything like that. Today, the wah is still working perfectly. Go figure.

Okay, pulled it into the house and it was still messed up. Opened it up, sprayed it out good with compressed air. Put it back together. Worked perfect. Played for about 20 minutes using the wah pedal occasionally. Then it started glitching again! WTF???!!! Went into the settings and inverted the pedal. Now in the up position it was showing 100% and in the down position 18%. Pumped the pedal a couple of times and the down position suddenly went all the way to 0. Put the pedal back from inverted to normal. Now it's working again from 0 to 100 Does ANYBODY have any idea what is going on with this thing? I THOUGHT it was just dust on the optical light of the pedal...but obviously I was incorrect.

My guitar rig is now a Helix going into a Bose L2 Before that it was my Bogner Ecstasy head into my Bogner 4x12 Greenback loaded cab. And of course Marshall, Mesa, Peavey, etc. throughout my career as I changed rigs. I can tell you very plainly that I can plug my JTV89f into any amp you have. Let you go into Workshop and "tweak" the models until you're blue in the face. (I already have all the strings set to max volume and the model "preset" set to +6 db max as well). And the result will be it will sound pretty good. And then switch to the JTV 89f mag pickups and you will instantly hear the guitar come to life with sustain and harmonics that were not there with the models. And heaven help you if you pick up my Strat Jeff Beck Custom Shop that is loaded with Duncan JB pickups. You would never want to touch the models in the JTV again. That's why I was wondering if Line 6 is ever going to move forward with guitar modeling. Yeah they released a couple of new Variax guitars. But no new models. I sort of wish they would just model some new pickups. And not "vintage" ones. What I mean is: I've owned my JTV 89F since 2014. In that entire time they've only done ONE update. And that was adding a "neutral" body and the model of the 89F pickups so that you can replicate the JTV89F with mags as a Model. I would LOVE to see them simply model some modern pickups. Duncans and Dimarzios and Bare Knuckle and some "boutique" pickups. Wouldn't it be great to be able to stick a Duncan JB in the Strat body or the "neutral" body? Maybe that would get the models to a better place for all the players like me who are using them in cover bands. For now...I just can't bring myself to use the models when the mag pickups on JTV89F blow them all away tonewise.

I hear ya. And I've gotten a decent sound on a couple of models. BUT.. knowing that I can simply switch to the mag pickups and the guitar will sound 100% better keeps me from ever using the models. It's like having an average looking girlfriend who is "okay" in bed AND a smoking hot girlfriend who is a freak in bed. Sure the average one is fine...but why choose her over the smoking hot one? Lol I'm just wondering if modeling technology for guitar will be able to progress the same way that amp modeling has. I want my guitar models to be very, very close in volume, punch,and warmth to the real thing. Otherwise the real thing wins out every time. I'm pretty sure none of us bought these instruments in search of the holy grail of AVERAGE tone.

I'm gonna drag it in tomorrow and try everything I can think of. I'll report on what I find.

Well...at the gig today, it's back to glitching. I'm screwed

Won't work on the Helix. I set the input to "Variax" (it also has a multi-input option that includes Variax, but after that sounded thin I went to the Variax only input)...sound is still wimpy. You can pretty much just take my JTV89F and plug it straight into a mixer with no amp or amp models involved. And set it on any of the models and play it for a second. Then switch off the modeling and go to the mag pickups. BOOM. Huge difference in volume and fullness. The only thing that can be done is to set up the Helix with amp models having the gain jacked up and bottom end jacked. But that's all kinda "fake" and sounds that way too. Especially when you A/B the mag pickups. It's disheartening to say the least. And could be the reason that Variax guitars have never been the huge sellers that you would think they would be if they truly could do what the advertising campaigns for them say they can.

That's my problem...KNOWING that I can simply plug in a "real" guitar or switch to the mag pickups on my JTV and BOOM...it will sound so much better than the models. I don't like that it's that way. I probably spent a year in denial when I first got my JTV trying everything I could to get it to sound better and be able to use the models. But when you can simply switch to the mag pickups and hear the guitar literally come to life...it was just too much nagging in the back of my mind. I don't want to sound pretty good...I want to sound the very best that I can.

And if I'm in a hurry I'll just spit on a paper towel...Yeah, I'm not too picky. lol

Yep, never even occurred to me that it might hurt the finish.Used Windex on all pedals and midi controllers, etc. I've ever used since the 1970s.

I've had mine since Oct. 2015. I just spray some windex on a paper towel and wipe it clean. Everything still looks great on it. :)

I feel ya. My JTV89F is a good guitar. As long as I just use the mag pickups. The models are weak, thin, and I have to turn them up in Workbench to +6db to even get them to output enough to come CLOSE to the mag pickups. And even then...they just lack the character, tonality, and warmth of the mag pickups. I've pretty much given up on ever being able to use guitar modeling with Variax. And I've had mine for a little over 3 years now. The only choice I would have would be to make different presets for every guitar model in the JTV89F that I want to use...and then put some kind of boost in front of the chain. But again...it still doesn't have the round tone of the mag pickups. :( I'm hoping that they are re-thinking the modeling technology and that they are perhaps coming up with a new version that can work on the hardware in our current Variax guitars. Right now it's just not on the same level as the mag pickups in the JTV89f and not even close to the tone of my Jeff Beck Strat Custom Shop, or my Redmond Series Floyd Rose Model K, or my Ibanez Prestige, or my Les Paul, or any of the other guitars I own. And knowing that...makes using the models useless for me.

Absolutely the best way to do it. Just be careful not to turn it on directly afterwards. Let it "dry" for a few minutes. Sometimes those cans of air leave a bit of condensation for a few seconds. :)

Quick update: Pedal worked fine last night at the gig. So it was definitely just a piece of dust or fine hair blocking the optical on the expression pedal and causing it to glitch. So now you know what to do if it happens to you...open her up and dust it out.

The Spank model is the weakest of the bunch on my 89f And I have of course tested everything with a clean patch. Super weak and thin. Even the "Lester" is weak. Of course your "69" has single coil pickups...so it's definitely not gonna be as powerful as my 89f's humbuckers. But trust me...it's not even close between the warmth, tonality, punch, and feel of the mags vs. the models. I wanted it to be. And I still want it to be. But it's hard for me to use the models when I know that all I have to do is flip the switch to the mags and my guitar will suddenly bloom. :( I just wonder if they have a different technology on the horizon. I think the current guitar modeling technology has kind of hit a dead end (at least in terms of new models being added...zero over the past few years).

I wonder if there is some new platform of modeling that they are working on? And if so...will it work on my hardware and will it be a solution that can compete with the mag pickups in tone, feel, volume, and sustain?

I've had my JTV 89F for a little over 3 years now. Very excited to get it in the beginning. Beautiful guitar, fast playing, etc. Spent a ton of time in Workbench the first year playing with models. Trying to get some semblance of equality in volume, etc. But in the end...the mag pickups on the guitar just blow away all the models. Including the model of the mag pickups that come on the 89f! The mag pickups just always sound more "ballsy" and have more depth and character than any of the models. So for two years I just said "screw it" and used the mag pickups and the only model I used was the acoustic guitar models. So last night I sat down with it again and opened up Workbench. I erased all of my presets for the guitar and started fresh with factory settings. Man...the models sounded so weak. They could barely get any tone out of my Helix. Just sounded thin and terrible. So I boosted up the guitar model presets all the way to +6db. That gave me a little bit more volume and allowed the modeled guitars to hit the Helix hard enough to start sounding decent. But again...all I had to do was switch off the models and go back to the mags on the guitar and BOOM there was all my tone and sustain. So I guess my question is...I wonder if Line 6 has sort of stepped away from "guitar modeling" (nothing new except their Shuriken)? Is it possible that guitar models simply will never be able to perform as well as the real thing? I hate the thought of that because my original idea was that I was going to have multiple guitars onstage with multiple tunings all by just using my JTV 89f :(

None crawling on it. Lol. But I do have a couple of dogs. It was just a few fine hairs inside... I'm guessing that one of them got on the optical thingy and caused it to glitch

Well, I opened my helix up and there were tiny hairs or dander in there. So I blew it out and wiped it. Put it back together and the pedal seems to be working now. I'm hopeful that solved it and that it won't start doing it again at the gig

Thanks for that info zooey. I'm wondering...since it's an optical pedal, is it possible that some dust is in there and blocking the beam of light?