Tetsujin

I've been the owner of the TonePort UX2 since its release [I actually have two, just in case one ever fails] As Gear Box was not supported on anything newer than Mojave, that's what I'm still on, with my maxed-out cheesegrater Mac Pro 5,1 [& a similarly-equipped MBP]. Because I've been stuck for so long in this time capsule, i haven't investigated new moves in the driver/software world, until today I spotted the new Line 6 Central, and then the fact that we have drivers even for newer Apple silicon Macs. I don't see anything that would enable Gear Box, though. I presume Central is the new Monkey, acting as a license handler, but does it have additional functionality? I haven't seen any pictures of the interface yet & can't find a manual [because yes, I can rtfm if I can find one ;). Is this correct, and is there anything that will actually enable the UX2 guitar/mic amps, plus give access to editing - because, of course, they don't enable until you launch Gear Box ordinarily. I have an M1 iMac on Ventura I could test this out on - but it's set up a long way from my studio & would be a fair bit of hassle only to find I don't have this essential bit of functionality.

I GOT IT… I think. Well, to put at least a temporary close on this... 6 years later, I'd found someone with the necessary chops to have a look at this. In preparation for shipping it off I cleaned it down & thought I'd give it one last shot. Put a battery in, mono jack - it worked. I spent the rest of the day trying to track down just what power supply issue this hinted at - something on the switching between battery & mains... I cleaned it all to within an inch of its life, half a can of contact cleaner later. IT WORKS AGAIN. Been playing it all day, no fails so far. Let's see how it goes.

I don't know whether this is common knowledge yet, or even if Line6 are aware, but I thought I'd give this issue a heads-up. Googling for it you get a lot of 'new permissions' results which are not the same as this issue. After some indeterminate period, after having used audio all day/week [I only reboot for beta OS updates] I find I have no sound through the UX-2. Not only that, but no video will play either - YourTube spins forever, VLC hangs & must be force-quit. System 'beeps' through the onboard speaker are still OK. So far, the only fix has been to reboot - until today when I discovered a very simple workaround. Open Audio MIDI Setup & in the Audio page change the TonePort UX2 to another sampling frequency.. wait 2 seconds. You have sound. You can change it back if necessary after that & it will continue working... well, until next time. Set it to Keep in Dock for easy access. Note: I've specified 'after sleep' in the title, though this isn't strictly true as this machine is set to never sleep - but it is after a period being unattended, potentially after the screens go black, but before the secure login is presented. [I have screen off at 20 mins & Require Password at 1 hour.]

My eventual solution was swapping out the main logic board, from the bag of bits I bought on eBay. I've had no issues since. I now have a spare everything - except another logic board, of course - the bag of bits was a complete set of electronics from a Variax 500.

Reports are saying 10.11.1 fixes Line6 interface issues. Am about to test. I had to roll back to Yosemite last time.

GM is out - still no sign of drivers - not even a beta...

More sago to add the saga - I've found an entire 500 electronics structure in a failed DIY project for sale on eBay - will see if swapping components in the guitar itself improves things... … otherwise I guess it's time to go for a new JTV - with all the added effort of setting it all up just how I like it, rather than the existing 500 which I got right 10 years ago. I have to admit I didn't really like the 500 to play when I first got it - I grew up on Strats of various qualities/ages - but I did manage to set it just right with not too much work.

So - 6 months almost to the day on this miserable saga... My new XPS box eventually arrives... .. & is not the fix either. Identical symptom to before, light goes red/green/red… sound comes & goes in time with the light.

So far you would appear to be correct - new PSU, no difference. XPS, of course, is a special order item & may take a month :(

I managed to find an XPS too - here's hoping...

TRS looks fine. Tested end to end, no short, no open circuit. I cleaned all contacts again, right the way through - now I'm back to something closer to my initial symptom... I get a green light on Power when the guitar's plugged in - but it's fading in & out [quickly through red to off & back] at about once a second, sound comes & goes with it, more off than on, just a pulse. I've sprung for a new PSU. If it turns out to be the XPS, that's going to be less easy to get hold of a spare...

AC? Ahhh… that changes things, I guess. I wasn't really aware of what the XPS box was doing. Meter on the unloaded PSU shows 11.7V AC - but plugging it to the XPS box lights the ¼" green, but the red Power light only stays lit for a few seconds then dims. Push-pulling the power plug generates blips on the red light but nothing more Trying to get the meter on the TRS jack gives a brief DC voltage, probably not long enough for an accurate measurement, then drops back to zero. As I don't know how to actually measure the voltage from the PSU when under load, I'm now unsure whether that would point the finger at PSU or XPS as being at fault. Is there any way I can eliminate one or the other as being possible source, with limited resources- i.e., a multi-meter & little prowess with it - short of finding a spare of each?

Ach - serves me right for thinking that testing with a PP9V was going to be an accurate 'second opinion'. If I put a meter on the PSU itself, it shows the voltage quickly drops to zero, over a few seconds. Do you know how resilient the guitar input is to over-voltage? I have a stack of 12v 4000mA PSUs I use for work. I'm loathe to buy a new specific PSU for the Variax if I can get away with one of those for free. Also - is the Variax PSU definitely centre pin + [looks to be on the meter, but it's gone so fast I'd rather be sure] If it wouldn't stand it long-term but would be OK for a 5 min test, that would at least be sufficient to then get my hand in my pocket for a new PSU, after checking the guitar isn't as dead as rumour would have me believe :unsure:

This came on quite suddenly, initially I thought it was software-based, then PSU or footswitch. After using the just fine guitar for about half an hour, the volume started to fade in and out, like a very slow tremolo. Doing the usual relaunch of software, jiggling plugs in sockets etc it came back, but only for a while. I then noticed the power light on the footswitch was fading in & out with the same frequency; so that got my attention for the next hour or so, trying to figure out whether the PSU or switch was dying. Long story short… after a while it got so the power light would show up green for just a few seconds after plugging in, & for those few seconds I'd get sound, then it would fade out again. I tried it on battery power - same thing, short period of sound, then quickly fades to silence.. rinse & repeat each time I unplug & replug. So… it's the guitar itself, I'm guessing. Does this sound like a capacitor is dying, or is it more serious? Is it repairable, or do I need to start buying up what old bits of 500s I can from eBay & start stockpiling spares?

Java 6 for Mac - direct download - http://download.info.apple.com/Mac_OS_X/031-03190.20140529.Pp3r4/JavaForOSX2014- 001.dmg

Got it working on Yosemite by following mundofer's post - except I had to install 'Legacy Java 6', it wouldn't run on Java 8. Direct link - http://download.info.apple.com/Mac_OS_X/031-03190.20140529.Pp3r4/JavaForOSX2014- 001.dmg [i wasn't getting far trying to download it from the Lion update page]

GearBox working fine here with Yosemite - Cubase 8, UX2, GearBox 3.72 & drivers 7.24 … my only issue is my Variax just died :0(