brue58ski

Any chance you can describe how to float a ring? Never mind. I looked it up. Thanks for the info though.

I don't mind that it's the way it is because I find it to be very flexible in it's current configuration. BUT....PLEASE Line 6, don't make us have to just figure it out!!!! Please give us some instruction, if ya know what I mean. And I know you do.

Here's the catch/trick with assigning the toe switch to anything. The expression pedal is two controllers in one, Exp 1 and Exp 2. When you "click" the toe switch, it toggles between them. Here's an example of the catch/trick. Let's say you have a Volume Pedal assigned to Exp 2 and the POD has Exp 2 selected. So right now the Volume Pedal works. You have decided to add a Wah and assign it to Exp 1. So you add the Wah and it is assigned to Exp 1 (FYI, the POD always automatically assigns the Volume Pedal to Exp 2 and the Wah to Exp 1 when your first select them). So now you click the toe switch to go to Exp 1 which controls the Wah and the Wah works. You then click the toe switch to go back to EXP 2 and the Volume Pedal BUT when you switch back to the Volume Pedal, Volume Pedal works but the Wah is still engaged at the toe down position. Why? If you look at your screen you can see that the Wah is still on, it's just not being controlled by anything anymore. It's locked at the toe position because that's where you had to move it to to switch to Exp2 to control the Volume Pedal No switch has been assigned to turn the Wah off. So,realizing your mistake, you go in and assign the Wah to the toe switch which will then turn it on and off as well as toggling between Exp1/Wah and Exp2/Volume Pedal. Great, now you press the toe switch to go back to the Exp1/Wah and WHAT?? It's not working!! Why? Look at your screen again. Even though you are now on Exp 1 and controlling the Wah with it, the Wah was turned off when you clicked the toe switch. This is because since it was on when you had the Exp2/Volume Pedal selected, when you clicked the toe switch you not only switched to the Exp1/Wah but you turned the Wah off at the same time. You are controlling an effect that isn't on. This is because it toggles to the opposite state it was in when you assigned the footswitch. Since the Wah was on when you selected the toe switch and you were on the Exp2/Volume Pedal, when you clicked the toe switch, even though you are now controlling the Exp1/Wah, you turned the Wah off by clicking the toe switch to select the Exp1/Wah. How do I correct this? Glad you asked. You have to pay attention to the state things are in when you select the toe switch. As in the case above, if you are on the Exp2/Volume Pedal when you select the toe switch to turn the Wah off and the Wah is also turned on, when you engage the toe switch to go to the Exp1/Wah, you also turn the Wah off since it was on when you clicked on the toe swithch to go from the Exp2/Volume Pedal to the Exp/Wah. I think this might illustrate this better. Here's how you started off in the above example Effect Controlled By Controller Current Status Assigned to Toe Switch Effect's Current State (On/Off) Volume Pedal Exp 2 Selected/Controlling No On Now, here's where you are when you put the Wah in Effect Controlled By Controller Current Status Assigned to Toe Switch Effect's Current State (On/Off) Wah Exp 1 Not Selected/Not Controlling No On Volume Pedal Exp 2 Selected/Controlling No On Now, click the toe switch and here is where you are Effect Controlled By Controller Current Status Assigned to Toe Switch Effect's Current State (On/Off) Wah Exp 1 Selected/Controlling No On Volume Pedal Exp 2 Not Selected/Not Controlling No On Wah works. But switch back and you're here again Effect Controlled By Controller Current Status Assigned to Toe Switch Effect's Current State (On/Off) Wah Exp 1 Not Selected/Not Controlling No On Volume Pedal Exp 2 Selected/Controlling No On Wah on but not controlled. Now if you assign the toe switch at this point you have this. Effect Controlled By Controller Current Status Assigned to Toe Switch Effect's Current State (On/Off) Wah Exp 1 Not Selected/Not Controlling Yes On Volume Pedal Exp 2 Selected/Controlling No On And here's your status after clicking the toe switch. Effect Controlled By Controller Current Status Assigned to Toe Switch Effect's Current State (On/Off) Wah Exp 1 Selected/Controlling Yes Off Volume Pedal Exp 2 Not Selected/Not Controlling No On So yes Exp 1 is controlling the Wah but it can't do anything since the Wah effect has been turned off. And if you switch back to Exp 2 again, the Wah is switched on but stays in the toe position since we have now switched to Exp 2 controlling the Volume Pedal. Notice also the Volume Pedal never turns off. It isn't assigned to the toe switch however It doesn't make any difference since when you move the pedal to click the toe switch the Volume Pedal is full on which is the same as it being off. Essentially you have to pay attention to which Exp is currently selected when you assign the Wah to the toe swtich. If Exp1/Wah is on, then you have to make sure the Wah is on when you select the toe switch. If Exp2/Volume Pedal is on, then you have to make sure that the Wah is off when you select the toe switch. Ultimatelly winding up with these two possible states when you click the toe switch. Effect Controlled By Controller Current Status Assigned to Toe Switch Effect's Current State (On/Off) Wah Exp 1 Selected/Controlling Yes On Volume Pedal Exp 2 Not Selected/Not Controlling No On Effect Controlled By Controller Current Status Assigned to Toe Switch Effect's Current State (On/Off) Wah Exp 1 Not Selected/Not Controlling Yes Off Volume Pedal Exp 2 Selected/Controlling No On Well I hope this helps someone. It is way longer than I thought it would be but I like to be thorough. Even so, I'm not so sure how well I did explaining it. If we were in the same room, I could show you this a lot faster than it took to write it out.

A backup Variax is always good. It does have piezos.

I recall that it is an official edict that it is bad to have both the VDI and 1/4" going at the same time. Well check this Line 6 Youtube demo out. Just something to ponder. Perhaps there is no power going to the VDI.

Yeah, I knew they used samples. I actually have that issue of EQ magazine. But the guitar parts from Spirit of Radio and Tom Sawyer are still played in the way I described. I do use this kind of thing a lot. It's just a different way of looking at what you are playing. Not really trying to dissect the "Rush Method" of guitar playing. And as much as I want to think I came up with it on my own, which in some ways I did, I know it was influenced a lot by Alex's rhythm playing.

Yes the cabs/mics are always directly after the amp.

One little trick I use that I essentially stole from Alex Lifeson is to treat the strings like two different orchestra sections. The first six strings are the violins and the bottom six the cellos. Each with their own "part". Spirit of Radio and Tom Sawyer by Rush are two songs that have examples of that kind of thinking in them. I don't know if that's actually how he looks at it but it made sense to me. I even often wondered if Alex didn't actually record the top three strings and the bottom three strings on separate tracks, EQing them differently so they both sparkle & shine and create their own space better. One conspiracy theory I came up with when I got frustrated trying to dial in his sound. Never heard anything to confirm that and it's very likely wrong. But it made me feel better about my failure at getting his tone.

Another possibility (which happened to me) is a little dust or dirt can get into the VDI on the POD or Variax. A shot of compressed air and/or some contact cleaner could work. In my case it just took the shot of air into my POD's VDI input.

So let's see if I've got all of this...a black pointy thinged guitar with lightning bolts on it with active pickups using Duracell batteries (that smell) and a black pick. Got it. From now on just call me.......Fingers McLightning!!!

Let me preface this by saying I don't know if the POD will output anything without detecting some kind of input but if it will, try creating a patch in which you would hear alot of hiss (high gain amp cranked with a distortion box cranked) and has no noise gate. If you hear the hiss, it would indicate the issue is with the guitar input itself malfunctioning.

I just thought of something. Once when I had issues with my POD and Variax, it turned out some dirt/dust had gotten in the VDI input. I just blew some compressed air into it (the POD HD's VDI input) and everything worked. Try that or some contact cleaner.

Since the VDI works with a battery, it sounds like its not getting power to your guitar. Connecting it to another POD HD would test that.

Have you tried a different HD500? It sounds like the HD500's VDI input plug is bad to me. Run to Guitar Center (or where ever) and try plugging it into a different unit.

A way around that is to use the looper. Set it to PRE position so you are looping a dry recording of your guitar and then let it loop.

I find that I am able to play much faster when the guitar has lightning bolts painted on it!!!

I never knew that!!! Thanks.

Make sure it doesn't have the dreaded clang issue!! If it does, return it until you get one that doesn't. See this thread. http://line6.com/support/topic/22848-variax-plink-clang-document-whittling-down-two-threads/

And don't forget to put your noise gate at the very beginning of the path. Then do what Palico posted.

Here are two places I like. They are for actual songs. http://www.guitarbackingtrack.com/ http://www.jammit.com/

If that's how they are going to start handling it, at least it's a step in the right direction. I still haven't given up on Line 6!

Here's number two

Oooops Document was too big. I'll have to split it up.

Do you have a picture of that you could post?

I started to create a document attempting to distill all the posts that had to do with possible causes and solutions of the plink/clang issue, from two threads. The “Do You Have The Same Problem With 6th String?†and the “Make Your Variax Sound 100% Better†I thought people that don’t want to plow through these threads might like this so I’m attaching it here. It ain't perfect but here it is. I decided late into it to put the post number in bold type before the posts but I couldn't find all of the posts I had already put in there. So some don't have number. The posts with only a number are from the Do You Have The Same Problem With 6th String thread. If it's from the Make Your Variax Sound 100% Better thread I put that title before the thread number. I do have some thoughts on the issue. So it seems like a lot of the problem has to do with physical issues. BUT not one in particular. It seems in order to work well the JTV’s require as pure a string vibration as it can get because the piezos are VERY sensitive and can pick up many extraneous sounds that the guitar can create. And the guitar can create many different extraneous sounds/artifacts. And each guitar can create them in MANY different ways. String vibration behind the bridge, trem spring vibration, the string vibrating against the channel in the bridge before the piezo, etc., etc. Even the string vibrating against a fret in a poorly setup guitar. This is why there is no universal solution. Each guitar creates different artifacts different ways. The piezos themselves seem to have widely varying degrees of sensitivity. So it appears that just because your guitar creates artifacts, it doesn’t mean you will have the issue. Your particular piezo may not be as sensitive to artifacts as others. And let’s not discount the software possibilities. Why, when the E and A string piezo connections get swapped, does the clang not get swapped? If the E string has the clang, when the connections are swapped, the A string suddenly has the clang. It has been stated that each string is processed differently. So can they reprogram the E string so it eliminates the clang like the A string does? But if that’s true, why doesn’t every JTV have the clang. Is it because it only produces the clang because the E string has a more powerful signal (it has the most mass) so if you have a highly sensitive piezo it can’t handle the clang but a less sensitive piezo can? But if that’s true………..On and on and on. There is a solution posted that involves changing all of the body styles to neutral. But doesn’t that defeat half of the reason we ponied up over $1000 for this thing? Kiss all my hollow bodies good bye. And this solution still doesn’t work for everyone. And now they aren’t putting any more resources toward it. I’m sorry, “deprioritizing†it “due to a variety of reasonsâ€. This is VERY disconcerting. All I can say is, if they bail on the JTV, especially if it’s for a new guitar modeler, I’ll not participate. They bailed on the Vetta amp with several issues that were never addressed but acknowledged (with a statement they were working on it. Sound familiar?) so this wouldn’t be the first time Line 6 left customers hanging. And let’s not forget the Variax bass. When it first came out, they advertised Workbench compatibility was coming. It’s even mentioned in the manual (which I have). Guess what. Bass wasn’t popular soooooooo…no Workbench. In many many ways Line 6 has been VERY good to me which is why I’ve stuck with them. This is the worst though. I can still use my Vetta and Variax bass to 95% of their advertised capabilites. But this pretty much bricks the Variax for those that do have the issue . They would need to have some kind of FAIR compensation for those that have the issue for me to stick with them and I don’t even have the clang issue (knock on wood).