psarkissian

Got the specs off of the 89F drawings. Slight correction, borrowed calipers from a lab-mate,... 24.4mm was at the end of the fret-board, just before the head-stock flare. 20.2mm at fret-1 (not including fret height) 20.15mm at fret-12 (not including fret height) ... measured from a spare 89F neck I have here, with a more recent serial#. A more recent spec.

And nicely sculpted to boot.

"You're not including the fret wire are you?"--- No. "I'm having a hard time believing there isn't a mistake with those measurements. That would be baseball bat size, not "fast and flat"---- Those are the specs. There may be some slight variation of tolerance from guitar to guitar as would be expected, as they are not perfect clones. And it's wood, so it breathes, along with the way its set-up is done. I have four JTV's, they each have a feel specific to its own. Glockster,... yeah, being the JTV/Standard guy here,... Jelena double checked a couple things with me earlier about that. specracer986,... I would think the width would play a role too. Not sure what Tyler's width-to-depth ratio design criteria was at the time.

24.4mm at fret-1 24.9mm at fret-12 ... don't know off-hand what that is in inches.

Every time I get an amp back with something other than specified tubes, its failure end up turning out be the reason for the failure. These are not all analog amps, these are hybrid analog/digital amps. You can get away with doing the kind of tube swaps like we used to back in the 1960's and 70's, with all analog tube systems. Use the specified set of EL84 (matched pairs) and 12AX7 Electro-Harmonix tubes, mediums. If The Tube Store tells you that EH is just a Sovtek with EH painted on it, and that you don't need the EH's. Mike Matthews of EH has told me on more than one occasion, that EH owns the Sovtek factory in Russia. The EH tubes go through extra scrutiny and testing, required for our products. The Tube Store knows tubes, they may not know our amps or what they require,... I do. Best to use the specified tubes, so that I won't have to see your amp on my bench.

http://line6.com/support/page/kb/_/guitars/james-tyler-variax-guitars/james-tyler-variax-general-faq-r31

That's why trimmer drivers are plastic. Flyback transformer on a telly, bias trimmer on any high volt line, a plastic trimmer driver is a good idea. Yes, left hand in back pocket,... keep volts away from heart. No dephibrelating the heart while conscious and upbright. Be safe.

The set-up needs to be checked by a guitar tech and dialed in. Too far forward and you'll lose tone during a "dive-bomb" from lack of string/piezo contact. Too far back can affect amplitude.

Yes,... go with the mediums. That's what we use, that we get from EH. Has to do with the proportion of vacuum vs gas,... Soft--- more gas (a gassy tube), less vacuum, saturates more easily, so it distorts more easily. Hard--- less gas, more vacuum, higher saturation point, harder to distort and so more headroom. Medium--- in between, has good headroom, but will distort if you push it.

"... while back because it had some discoloration on side of the tube, like slight burn mark"--- If it has a burn mark on the side, then it's "red plating",... remove the tube. There is a problem with the plate element and can damage other circuits. "... would putting those Groove Tubes in hurt the amp or just wear out quicker?"--- Love GT's, Aspen Pittman, who started Grooves Tubes is a friend and colleague. These are not all analog tube amps of the 1960's and 70's, you can't go swapping out for any tubes like we used to back in the day. These are optimized for EH's. Need to use the specified EH's. If it's "red plating" it needs to be serviced and checked for any other problems. And the specified matched set of tubes need to be put in and properly biased. Can't mix and match tubes like that, the amp will be damaged. Unmatched tubes result in distortions, which results in rapid wear-and-tear on the amp. Even more so since this is not an all analog tube amp of old. DT series amps that come back to me for repair and servicing with other than specified tubes in them,... ... come back to me because of use of the afore mentioned un-approved tubes (Mesa, GT, JJ, and the odd Ruby and Tung-Sol).

No,... don't ground lift at the amp's 3-pronge IEC cable. Dangerous! Amps in general, don't take kindly to ground lifts on their 3-pronge AC inputs. And it's dangerous for the guitar player if it's done wrong. You can get zapped badly adjusting the volume control,... even with today's safe-guards. Whatever the amp's audio is going into, the audio patch cable is acting like an antenna allowing all the noise in downstream. Need to ground break at that point.

:)

There's those crowning files from Stew-Mac, the 150 and 300 Grit diamond crowning channel. Though I haven't tried them on stainless steel frets yet. Rock on!

Yeah, what stevekc said. Gotoh, Shaller,... just try to make sure the screw holes line-up, it looks better.

Sound like a ground loop between devices. If replacing the amp didn't do it, then something else in the chain is causing a ground loop.

There's the link,... http://line6.com/find/service_center/ ... one of them should be able to do something. zedopaido, sounds like a program issue. If this occurred after an update, there may be a glitch in the program, re-Flash it again. If it didn't occur during an update, then make certain the screws are snug, that holds in the Alt Tune, 5-Way toggle, and the the Volume/Tone controls.

Very NASA/JPL of you. I'm a mains and two back-ups sort of person myself. :)

Yeah, C414 is an AKG mic.

Among the ways that the piezo itself can fail,... -The element separating from the casing, causing lack of acoustical coupling. -The element cleaving or cracking, resulting in lack of acousto-electric propagation. -The wire internally separating from the element, resulting in lack of electric conductance.

Nice thing about my work is the playing. :) Rock On!

The operative word is "sometimes". Cool,... it's alive!

Yes, log a support ticket. It will need to be serviced by a Line 6 authorized service center, as they will have access to service info, parts and me (the guitar guy).

Sounds like Gearbox or POD Farm is not up and running. UX8 is an interface, Gearbox is an app the signal is run thru. http://line6.com/software/index.html ... if you need to download.

If you just got the guitar, don't do anything that might void any warranty.

Helix,... is a product that is a direct result of, and exists because of Idea Scale. So yeah, it took a year to put a product together,... they hear you. Helix was the result.