cruisinon2

On 5/17/2023 at 12:26 PM, rd2rk said:

 

I think that the primary purpose of Customtone is to educate new users to the necessity of learning to create one's own custom presets from scratch. At best, Customtone presets are useful to show what NOT to do.

Amen to that, lol...

On 5/7/2023 at 8:24 PM, Euripide said:

I'm a proud owner of a JTV-69 guitar: it's been my main guitar since 2012. 

I kind of notice that, apart from the Shuriken, all the other models seems out of stock.

I was wondering if it is an indication that new models will be happening in a not so far futur or if the entire line of guitar will be discontinued.

The later would be a shame...

 

I can't seems to find anything about this on the web, and aside from this forum, I don't know where to post my question so someone from Line 6 could answer it.

 

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...

On 5/17/2023 at 10:03 AM, silverhead said:

Further thoughts for you....

 

Firstly, Customtone is an unmoderated site. Any one can post any preset with any name and description. That doesn't mean it will sound like whatever mental image that may conjure up in your mind. In fact, most Customtone presets do not initially sound as you might imagine at first listen. That's because your equipment in your environment is almost certainly different from the person's who posted the preset. Factors like the specific guitar, string guage, playing style, and most importantly the monitoring equipment (guitar amp, PA speakers, studio monitors, headphones) will be different. The sum of these have a huge impact on what you hear. In most cases a Customtone preset provides, at best, a good starting point for tweaking.

 

Secondly, you want to try matching settings in a preset designed for a non-Helix device in a Helix device. Again, that will at best provide a starting point. In this case the reason is that Helix family devices use different modeling technology than previous devices. The very same 'based on' amp model with exactly the same parameter settings in the older device will sound different (sometimes vastly different) on the Helix device. The same is true for all FX models. Don't expect good results initially.

 

My advice? Forget about trying to transfer settings from older Customtone presets to Helix. Spend that time (and there will be lots of it) learning how to build your own Helix presets.

 

 

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. 

On 5/4/2023 at 9:35 AM, BaylorPRSer said:

There's a used red JV-69 on sale near me.  I live in Vietnam, so these things are a bit hard to come by.  

 

There's also a standard at the local music shop: http://www.doremishop.vn/chi-tiet-san-pham/line-6-variax-standard-sunburst-1695.html

 

1) leaning towards the JV-69 as it is newer.  i'm more of a humbucker guy, but as far as i understand, that doesn't matter as i can just model the humbucker with a model guitar.  any reason you'd nudge me toward the standard?

 

2) worried with both guitars about needing a repair.  is it fair to say that the action, intonation, and all that sort of stuff is fixable, while if anything else goes wrong I'd be boned?

3) The one I truly want is the Shuriken.  Would love to have one of both scale lengths; however, there's none on sale here nor any that I can find that ship here.  Would the shuriken be worth the wait?  say, i took a trip to the USA come November/December, then brought back a Shuriken, would you advise just biting the bullet and waiting?

 

Is there a big difference between the quality of tones from the older to newer variaxes?

 

 

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".

On 5/12/2023 at 3:07 PM, carlmoreton said:

I’ve been thinking about this recently and what I am going to say is constructive.  I’ve always enjoyed gear, used to use a POD XT Pro years ago for a function band, but since then I’ve been pretty much a nice pedalboard into a Landau Deville.

 

I bought a Helix just before lockdown as I wanted to video myself with a band playing live in a friend’s studio and my amp would be too loud, and I hadn’t even really heard of Capture X etc.

 

So, here I am now in 2023 looking at playing with a couple of bands and rehearsing.  I’ve been putting some effort into the Helix.  I have a studio and am very able to engineer, produce and mix my own music (I tend to use Scuffam S-Gear, and I’ve also started using my amps with a Capture x) so I understand how to try and get the Helix sounding good.  High / low pass etc.

 

BUT, in a live / rehearsal experience I am starting to lose faith with the Helix.  Yep it’s a great unit, but I’m not feeling the same ‘something’ that my amp gives me.  It’s almost like the Helix is in the ‘mix’ but it’s not ‘in the room’.  I almost feel like there just ‘something’ between the sound and my ears. 

 

Plus, I read a comment in this post where some guy said he’s getting great sounds and loving the Helix (and good on him for that, anyone who’s happy is a great thing) and he said “I’m only 1/64^th into discovering what it can do…”

 

Playing the guitar shouldn’t be about spending months learning how to use your gear, it’s about playing and being creative.  Like most modern things now, seems people, myself included, get caught up spending 90% of your time fiddling with gear / settings / online b*lllollipop, and 10% actually playing.  Surely it should be 90% playing and 10% tweaking of our sound. 

 

I’m probably sounding a bit miserable here as gigs are disappearing, venues are shutting, no one pays for music anymore, music has almost become just a hobby for many now, but I’m just starting to feel like I am not prepared to spend ANY more time fannying around getting sounds sorted, when the feel I am getting from the device is not inspiring me to really want to play.  I am talking about in a room / stage with others, not in my house at lower volume.

 

Maybe I need to sell the Helix. 

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.

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...

On 4/13/2023 at 9:50 AM, PierM said:

 

Let me tell you that, real story; since last year I had a full alexa domotic setup in my house. An echo dot for each room, hubs, smart lights, smart cctvs, air quality sensors per room, and every possible smart crap. After couple of weeks of this is mess online, my cat gradually started going nuts, running away from invisible things...pulling his own fur, stinky pee everywhere. Vet said was suffering of some allergy...so I started changing his diet, and everything...but nothing changed. Pretty young cat, never had a problem before...so after couple of months I started doing some reverse engineering in my head, and I realized the cat started this behaviour just when I setup the smart house. Next day I pulled all the wifi lollipop off, and kept only the router for my daily internet. After a week every single symptom was basically gone. Vet said was a coincidence, I call this BS. I'm 100% sure it was the EM exposure, so all that Alexa crap will stay off and buried in a closet.

 

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.

On 3/25/2023 at 11:30 AM, BlackToothGin said:

Can someone make a Pantera dimebag heavy distortion custom tone for the catalyst 100 I get close but I'm not good at dialing in 

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.

On 4/13/2023 at 7:00 AM, PierM said:

2.4 Ghz is a doomed frequency. Every single piece of wireless crap is using it, and even with 11/13 channels this isnt enough to get a solid link without something overlapping your bandwidth and injecting jitter and noise. The huge amount of SSIDs, smart devices, routers, extenders, smartphones, hubs, wifi bulbs, doorbells, cctvs, etc... are everywhere and filling every inch of air. 

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.

On 4/12/2023 at 10:03 AM, theElevators said:

So now question: does it sound like a coincidence that literally less than a month that a new and improved wireless system is announced, the old one stops being reliable? 

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.

Raise your hand if you have no idea what this request actually is, or what it might be used for...

On 4/3/2023 at 3:47 PM, psarkissian said:

Keep away from florescent lights.

 

...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...;)

On 2/9/2023 at 4:48 PM, Swansuite said:

Have enjoyed my Variax as a nice complement to my recording efforts. A few months ago (the guitar is under a year old), it suddenly stopped sustaining notes. It also sometimes doesn't make a sound if I play too lightly. It will essentially hold a note for a couple of seconds then cold stop. I have no idea what's going on. I've tried changing batteries, tried all presets, etc., nothing seems to be allowing me a sustained note. On some settings the sound will last slightly longer than others, but that's basically it. Never had this problem the first few months that I owned this thing. Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks!

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.

On 2/21/2023 at 7:57 AM, jculling said:

Hi all,

I recently got a jtv59 which I believe to be about 10 yo.

Brilliant I thought, just update the firmware and I'm off and running.

problem is I can't find a way of doing it 

L6 monkey is dis-continued and won't install on my computer

WBHD tells me I need to update guitar

previous WB won't install because computer is too new

L6 updater won't see guitar

downloaded firmware directly and it tells me no app available to open it

search App Store it says this app not available in my region.

I have the latest Mac    

 

Add this to the li-ion battery fiasco and I've had it with line6 stuff.

I have a helix which I like but this other stuff is infuriating.

Reading the forums , we are being told to only use line6 batteries..

Well, if I could get one I would gladly pay the price,I'm sure I'm not alone.

 

 

 

 

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

On 2/14/2023 at 8:33 AM, jova said:

Hi , I’m having a bit of a nightmare with the Helix LT when going to the studio to rehearse with the band.

 

I’m playing through a Marshall all valve amp with the treble, bass and mids every thing at twelve when I’m dialling in sounds at my house ( fairly big sound proof garage actually) and I can get tones I’m fairly happy with, then when I plug it into a transistor amp at the studio it sounds absolutely terrible! Even with the studio amp with the bass, treble, mids at twelve the bass is to rather boomy or in some tones the treble is awful, the volume can be different also and the tone is just not there,, any ideas if there is something I can do rather than have book myself into the studio and sit and dial new presets for studio use.

cheers

 

john 

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.

On 2/19/2023 at 9:34 AM, musicimpossible said:

I purchased the Helix when it first came out. I was excited about the functionality with the Helix. Unfortunately I wasn’t impressed enough with the realism and I ended up selling it. It was just missing something on the Guitar sides. I thought some of the bass tones were good.
Are any of you with the original version (prior to the update) impressed enough with the cab, mic placement, amp, and effects updates to keep your unit? I have a feeling that the mic placement update will be the key to have unlocked what I thought was potential in the original unit. 

"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.

On 1/15/2023 at 1:54 PM, Pacemaker1000 said:

Anyone know if Line 6 are still replacing these free of charge?

Im on my third on my third free replacement that’s gone faulty

or bite the bullet and buy new version?

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...

On 2/1/2023 at 3:20 PM, jpaulduplantis said:

I thought I posted this request already but not sure if it went through. I am looking for help setting up my Helix pedal with my Harbinger PA / Subwoofer. I have been doing the research and experimenting but would like to pay someone to help get the most out of the setup for me. Looking to optimize the overall quality of sound and plugin options. 

 

Are there resources in this forum to help with this? Or direct me to somewhere else to help?

Start by posting this in the Helix forum... the Lounge is where questions go to die. Most won't even be seen, nevermind answered.

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....

On 12/6/2022 at 10:01 PM, soundog said:

Wait, what? A power trio with a fourth "non-playing singer"? Unless the singer is an incredible front person with a killer voice and also writes great songs....get a singer that can play rhythm guitar. Sorry to be so harsh, but pretend I'm your manager and want to see you succeed.

This... and they really should stop calling themselves a trio if there's 4 of 'em. The math is weird, lol...

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.

On 10/30/2022 at 12:08 PM, PierM said:

 

Man, give me a break lol!

 

My original battery is dead.

Original l6 batteries are non existent in the local market.

Original VDI adapter, non existent as well.

 

What exactly should I do to use my Variax?... :)

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).

On 10/15/2022 at 3:50 PM, guix said:

Does anyone know any Luthiers that can service a JTV in London?

Its only brigde intonation and action set up but I rather someone that knows how to handle the piezos.

Cheers

"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.

A company man till the end, lol...

I always go for the path of least resistance... in this case, that would be a $12 clip on tuner, roll off the guitar's volume, and chat up the audience to your heart's content... problem solved.