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cruisinon2

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Everything posted by cruisinon2

  1. And all this time he's wondering why nobody gives a $hit... lol
  2. Maybe I'm crazy, but I'd bet money that the Helix was first rolled out in 2015... ~8 years back, tops. I'm not even sure the HD500 existed 15 years ago, never mind Helix. Am I nuts?
  3. You'll find a pearl in a pig's ear before you'd get a response from anyone who actually knows the truth... but given that there hasn't been a firmware update of any significance for what is rapidly approaching a decade, it's not hard to guess. While they may not have been officially "discontinued", they're certainly not a priority. They were a niche product to begin with, that simply never caught on with the vast majority of the guitar playing world... ask any 10 guitarists, and 8 of them won't even know that they exist. The fact that you can't find them anywhere should be your first clue.... if they're still making them at all, it's obviously the occasional small batch. It is what it is...
  4. THIS... If wasted time took up physical space, then Customtone would be the world's biggest landfill. It's a nice idea that is entirely unworkable in the real world, as the list of variables that contribute to one's tone is of Biblical length, and when the only common denominator is a bunch of 1's and 0's of Helix code, tonal continuity from one person to the next is essentially impossible. You'll grow old and die before you find anything in there that you don't have to tweak extensively to your liking...might as well just do it yourself from the jump, and save yourself the aggravation.
  5. 1) No... the Standard is just a Yamaha Pacifica with Variax guts. The 69 is actually a pretty decent Strat knock-off. I quite like the sound of the single coils, when the modeling isn't necessary. 2) Yup... if the electronics crap out on you, there's little to nothing that you'll be able to do on your end. Beyond that, it's a solid body electric guitar...the mag pickups should work forever. 3) You're the only one who knows exactly what you want. My advice is don't settle... life only happens once. Assuming that you can afford it, get what you actually want/need, not what would merely "suffice".
  6. Use whatever twirls your beenie... if you want to be a tube amp and stomp box purist, and go back to dragging 200 lbs of gear to a gig...then have at it. There will always be those who can't get past the lack of the "amp in the room" component. So be it... And yes, obsessively tweaking your sound(s) is an easy rabbit hole to fall into... but it's also easy to climb back out. Just stop doing it. Dial in the sounds you actuality need for whatever it is that you do, then hit "save" and walk away. If you wouldn't sit and fiddle with an analog rig for 37 hours straight trying to get everything "just right", then there's no need to do it with a modeler...ANY modeler. All the knobs are pretty much the same... the only difference is whether or not everything is crammed into the same box. Yes there's a learning curve at the beginning...but you only have to suffer through that once. Any time wasted after that is on you.
  7. To each their own, I suppose...and as grateful as I am for the tech that we all currently enjoy, the last thing I need is another tweaking rabbit hole. Once it starts to feel more like a science experiment than making music, I'd rather have gum surgery. Maybe it's me...
  8. Wow... unfortunately you'll never be able to prove it one way or the other, but it does give one pause. I object to Alexa and the like on other grounds, anyway...I refuse to have a internet connected listening device in my home. The powers that be will have to work a little harder to spy on me, should they so choose....I sure as $hit won't do it for them.
  9. This request will languish in here forever, mostly unseen... took me nearly a month to notice it. Post it in the Catalyst forum if you actually want any eyeballs to chance upon it.
  10. And that's just what the devices are doing to themselves, lol...can't wait till somebody establishes a provable link between all this close-range, 24/7 EM exposure and some exotic cancer, or other weird ailment(s). We were built to be wearing a loincloth, and chasing wildebeest across the Serengeti...there's no way any of this crap is good for us, but I digress. On the bright side all the Telecoms will eventually go the way of Big Tobacco, once the lawsuits begin...hope I last long enough to see it, lol.
  11. Planned obsolescence is nothing new. That being said, in order for this to be a viable conspiracy, the manufacturer would have had to either: A )Have some way of remotely sabotaging existing units in the wild, or B) Built a Mission Impossible-style self-destruct circuit into your device, working on a timer and conveniently bursting into flames just prior to releasing the new product. I don't think either scenario is terribly likely...which leaves us with coincidence. When you hear hoof beats, think "horse"...zebras are in short supply around here.
  12. Raise your hand if you have no idea what this request actually is, or what it might be used for...
  13. ...and ceiling fans, dimmer switches, that neon Bud Light sign that is inevitably hanging on the wall in the corner where the band sets up, dirty socks, and lima beans. Single coils are noisy, and damn near ANYTHING in close proximity will make them noisier. Humbuckers were invented for a reason...;)
  14. Is the sustain issue present when using the mag pickups as well as the modeling? Do notes ring out normally if you're not plugged into anything? If not, then you have a set-up issue, likely requiring adjusting the action, and/or neck relief.
  15. If you have a Helix, then there's no need to use the battery in the Variax anyway... the Helix will power it. The VDI connection also allows you to switch models and tunings remotely, instead of having to fiddle with the controls on the guitar. I've never used the battery, don't even know where the thing is at this point, lol
  16. cruisinon2

    Changing amps

    When you change the amp you're playing through, the final product will never sound the same... it's just the nature of the beast. Sounds much be tweaked at, or as close as possible to the set of circumstances that you intend to use them. Multiple set lists for use in different environments/ scenarios is the only way to maintain your sanity unless you want to be constantly tweaking back and forth every time you're listening through something else.
  17. "When it first came out" was almost 8 years ago... there have been numerous updates/ improvements since the original firmware. So much so, it's almost like a different device. That being said, whether or not you'll like this iteration any better than what you had back then, is anybody's guess... and there's exactly one way to find out.
  18. Thanks to a handful of geniuses who can't be trusted to charge batteries without burning the house down, what you have is a neutered product... you'll never get the advertised battery life with the old transmitters as the firmware now caps it at 80% charge capacity. Thank a lawyer. Then go shopping...
  19. Start by posting this in the Helix forum... the Lounge is where questions go to die. Most won't even be seen, nevermind answered.
  20. Disputes about the quality of Helix's tuner notwithstanding...I cannot fathom why there continues to be confusion about what to do if you don't like the onboard tuner. It's not supernatural: Buy something else. From $12 clip-ons, to rack- mounted tuners, to stand alone pedals... you can't swing a dead cat without hitting something that you can use to tune an electric guitar. Pick one and soldier on....
  21. This... and they really should stop calling themselves a trio if there's 4 of 'em. The math is weird, lol...
  22. 1) Nobody "official" ever frequents this forum... especially not here in the lounge. Feature requests go in IdeaScale. 2) Ask them for anything you want, but in all the years I've been hanging around here, I've never seen anybody request an integrated drum machine in any L6 product...I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.
  23. Oh, what's the matter, not content with "eventually" as the official ETA? Hurry up and wait! LOL. Welcome to 2022: when all else fails, blame COVID. Like the virus itself, the excuse will be with us forever, lmao... We now return you to your regularly scheduled "new normal"...(insert vomit emoji here).
  24. "Official" proclamations notwithstanding, there is absolutely nothing mysterious about setting up a Variax... been doing it myself for a dozen years, and I've never made a dime servicing guitars... just been dying out myself forever. Fancy electronics aside, it's still a guitar...not the Webb Space Telescope... and in terms of setup adjustments, it's no different than any other solid body electric guitar on earth. It's also worth noting that the Variax guitars are far from being the only fiddles out there with piezo pickups...any luthier worth his salt will have seen them before, and will be able to set it up just fine.
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