DickFoster

No it has nothing to do with software, it's entirely a hardware issue so it doesn't matter who responds. I am a retired EE and did this stuff for many years and have also designed several products that made use of character graphic displays so am well aware of what they are and what they require. The back-light color for the trans-missive displays is determined by a bunch of LEDs that are either green or orange which is what determines the color. As nothing is impossible, sure you can change things but as a practical matter I don't think you'll find it worth the effort and cost involved for a simple cosmetic issue. That is unless you happen to stumble across some display assemblies that someone has squirreled away somewhere that are what you want and they are willing to sell them to you cheap enough. If you do find them, be sure to hang on to your old ones. As I said, they are made of unobtanium too. I and many others feel your pain as far as the lack of support thing. Your best bet for support these days is the Vetta facebook group which is users helping other users. Here's the link for that. https://www.facebook.com/groups/647483512018911/

I think you're stuck with what you have. For one character graphic displays like these are custom made for the manufacturer, in this case Line6, probably in China by the hundreds. Second, Line6 no longer supports the amp and likely doesn't have the display you want or would not bother selling you one if they did have one lying around. Third, there's the issue of being technically competent enough or properly equipped to swap it out in the first place. Are you a tech, since you're asking this question, I suspect not? If you were and were really really good, you could do it yourself by changing back light for the color and then re-biasing the display for the reversal. Of course if you trash the display you have in the process, it's over because they are made from unobtanium.

You can't change the display color. That was done when the amp was built and is either orange or green from what I've seen. However you can change the display contrast via the system setup button. The first selection in system setup is display contrast for the left and right displays, you can also change the contrast for when the amp is fully warmed up under the temp selections for the left and right display items where it says temp for each display. This is in the owners manual i.e. Vetta pilots handbook. See knobs, buttons and flashing lights page 3.5 functions item 22. See System Setup page 1 of 4 Display Adjust on 4.39 for details. This is for the Vetta II Pilots Handbook but essentially the same stuff is in the original Vetta I manual. The display contrast info is on page 4.34 in the Vetta I book. There is a lot of good info in the Pilot's Manual. It's worthwhile for any Vetta owner to spend some time with it as the Vetta has lots and lots of features and flexibility.

The FX send and receive jacks are stereo TRS (Tip, Ring ,Sleeve) types such as those used for stereo headphones. The Tip is the Left Channel while the Ring is the Right channel on each. The Direct outputs also have 1/4" jacks for sending unbalanced direct wet signals to a board or something if you don't have XLR balanced type cables. While those jacks are also TRS types they take mono 1/4" plugs like the aux speaker jacks.

I suggest you try the Vetta group on Facebook. Lots of folks to help you out. At lot of them have been doing upgrades lately and so far they've all had good success. I think you'll find everything you need there. Here's a link. https://www.facebook.com/groups/647483512018911/

Yeah I saw the bit about people having trouble with upgrading the firmware. However most people do it with no trouble, for one I did. There are other users out there who are willing to help people get though it but they have to have access to the files. Right now they are having to get the stuff from other users like myself so Line6 not having it available on their site really isn't stopping anything. Say what you will but I well know that server space costs next to nothing, especially when you consider how much bad PR Line6 is gleaning from not having the stuff up there. Trust me, it's a bad decision over the long haul. Just ask any politician, perception is everything. I would much rather see Line6 do well.

I fully realize that the Vetta has been off the market for a long while. However, that is still no excuse for Line6 not to have file support on their web site so that owners could keep their beloved amps ticking along as long as they could. It's your own fault for building such a great, well made amp in the Vetta and hot having anything of equal quality in your current product line. It would cost Line6 nothing to have all the last software and maintenance documentation on your web site. It does however cost you not to have it by generating ill will toward your brand in the market place. I'm not saying you should continue to offer repair service, that much I do understand as a few of the parts, the Coldfire processor and Sharc DSPs principally are obsolete and unavailable. I'm just saying that you should do your utmost to help folks keep their amps alive on their own and having a few files available for download on your site simply isn't a whole lot. In my view the hard line you've drawn if anything is likely costing you new equipment sales. If nothing else, it just seems to be a mean and a poor attitude toward your customers. While that's unfortunate, it's also completely unnecessary as you have everything at your disposal to immediately remedy it. Remember the market will continue to live but companies always manage to destroy themselves. They aren't killed by the competition, the marketplace or economics, those or just excuses, they always kill themselves. Usually the mechanisms of self destruction are arrogance, greed and selfishness, sometimes accompanied by a measure of sloth. Ask yourself, what is the real cost to Line6 of putting the files up on the website? I think we all already know the answer. What none of us can accurately gauge is what it's costing Line6 not to.

Check out the Facebook group http://facebook.com/groups/647483512018911/ I think you'll find everything you need there.

You should be able to do it from the top side. Just heat the tabs of the holder one at a time and lift them out. After the old battery is out you can use a solder sucker or braid to remove excess solder from the holes. Just be careful and don't overheat the PC board or you're likely to delaminate the copper foil. Use a lower wattage iron and be sure to use electronic grade rosin core solder, not acid core that is intended for plumbing. You can use a little rubbing alcohol to clean up excess flux when you're done.

You have to desolder the holder that retains the battery then solder it back in with the new battery in place. An option would be to replace the battery setup with something a bit easier to change. Say an AA battery holder holding two AA batteries and wired to the hold battery socket with wires. Whatever you do be sure that the batteries are mechanically secure as any interruption, say while move the amp would trash your saved patches that are saved the memory that the battery powers. Maybe taping the batteries into the holder would be a good move. Whatever you do be sure that the voltage, 3V, and polarity are observed if you do any sort of modification. Be sure to use good quality long life batteries and don't skimp. That is unless you like loosing all of your patches. AA cells should last a lot longer if they are of good quality that won't leak and die on you. Even AAA cells should last longer than the coin cell.

There is a circuit in the amp that delays and ramps up power to the power amp when the amp is powered up so the turn on thump shouldn't be that noticeable. Perhaps there is a fault of some sort in the turn on circuit but without hearing it myself I wouldn't know. If it works fine then it maybe it's OK.

Well there a a couple of clues that should help the tech. One is that since one channel is OK that means that the irreplaceable part concerned, the DSP is likely OK too. I think you mentioned a thump when you turned the amp on, that's a bit of a concern since there is a circuit that delays and ramps up power to the power amp intended to reduce this. That symptom would point you to a failed FET. If the tech does find a bad FET, it's a good idea to replace both or all power FETs in the affected channel and to also look closely at the power related components around the bad FET and replace as necessary. The FETs are IRFP250N from International Rectifier. The datasheet for these is online in many places and the parts are in current production. When replacing old components, like polarized caps, more is better. Large polarized caps tend to fail with age and a bad FET can also burn out resistors in the power supply to them. Good thing it didn't blow out a speaker too as the speakers were custom made for the Vetta.

Sorry but the power supplies are common to both channels so if the PS fails both channels would likely be out. The output split between the headphone/direct outs and the power amp is from DSP 2, U36. There the data splits from separate pins on the DSP U36. The serial data out from pin 11 goes to U21 a digital to analog converter (DAC) for the headphone and direct out circuits. The serial data output from DSP U36 pin 12 goes to U20 an identical DAC as chip U21 and is used to drive the power amps. My guess would be a blown FET in the defective channel or perhaps one of the opamps between the DAC and the output power FETs. As I said any competent tech along with the service manual and common test equipment should be able to sort the amp out for you. It's a heavy beast to be shipping around but that's your call. Look online or in the local phone directory for shops that repair stereo gear and such and they can likely help you. Ask specifically if they can troubleshoot and isolate faults down to the component level and they are not board swappers as most so called service centers are. A board swapper won't be of much use as replacement PCBs are not likely to be found.

Signed up for the closed group but still waiting approval or whatever. BTW the link is in error. Should have been https://www.facebook.com/groups/647483512018911/

If the amp isn't saving patches then the battery is likely bad. If it does then the battery is likely OK.

While I agree that Line6 should do more to support the Vetta and it's users, adding USB to an amp that never had it would be over the top so I can not agree with that. That would be more along the lines of reengineering and development, not support. Especially difficult when you consider that the Coldfire processor which was the main processor chip used in the Vetta is now obsolete as are both DSP chips. The rest of the popcorn parts are still out there and avaliable, fortunately for us, those are the parts that typically fail.

Remember that all the FBV settings are saved by patch. In other words if you switch to a different patch you start all over again but if you go back to the patch you saved the settings in, they will be there. You might think it's a big PITA but it really adds to the overall flexibility available. Even the on or off state and the functionality of each of the expression pedals are saved in each patch separately. Say you have a pedal doing wah wah in one patch but something else in the next patch, say delay time or volume or something else. In some ways its complicated but it's a very flexible amp which is actually one of its main strengths.

I'd say your best bet is to experiment. It would also depend a lot on your instrument, pickup/pickups, strings etc. etc. etc. and then there is personal taste so what works for one will not work for everyone.

For now you'd be better off leaving things as they are until you get used to the amp. Keep the computer with XP as some have reported problems with later operating systems. Don't see why you'd have any trouble with an acoutic guitar with a pickup as long as it puts out sufficent signal for the amp input. Maybe try turning the volume down when you turn it off to help with the thump when powering up. The most important thing is to sit down and give the manual a read though.

I've heard of people having problems with Win7 so I'd imagine Win8 may pose some difficulty too. Especially since Line6 isn't doing anything to keep the amp current or software. Worst case you could find an old laptop running XP,for cheap or even free and dedicate it to your amp. XP is known to work with the Line6 stuff and Vetta,

Waste of money. Don't muck about with this. get the cable recommended by Line6 and everyone else, the M Audio Uno. http://www.m-audio.com/products/view/uno It's just not worth the aggrivation or worse the risk of bricking your amp for a couple of bucks saved on silly MIDI interface cable. BTW some have complained of problems with later OS, Win7 etc. too.

I suggest sitting down and giving the Pilot's Manual a a good read though. It's well written and even entertaining. It helps to have the amp right there in front of you so you can diddle as you read. It's a very flexible amp so the complexity is naturally a part of all that flexibility. After a while you'll get the hang of it. As for web sites about the best out there is http://www.vettaville.nl/ . Although a lot of the links are broken now as they went to pics on the old Geocities website which is now gone, there is still a lot of useful info, and even some patches there concerning your Vetta. Welcome to the Vetta community. I still think as do some others that it was one of the best amps ever made and is still head and shoulders above anything that Line6 produces today.

It wouldn't exactly be rocket science for Line6 to reissue the Vetta as a Vetta III or whatever. All they'd have to do is use later models DSPs and the main processor from the same sources, then port the code over. Easily done. All the other stuff they could likely still source with the same or better parts using essentially the same pinouts etc. I think basically Line6 needs some change in management and marketing to really get anywhere. They're doing more to hold themselves back more than anything else. Their goals as reflected in their current products seem to be aimed squarely at mediocrity.