cruisinon2

A Strat sounds like a Strat for a reason...even with a coil tap, anyone will have a hard time getting a convincing Strat sound out of something that isn't built like a Strat. Imho, half of that "bell-like" tone that we all love is the result of the pickups being mounted to the pick guard, as opposed to being direct mounted to the body. I have other guitars with both direct mounted single coils and coil-tapped humbuckers, and none of them can impersonate a Strat very well. However, that doesn't mean you need a million dollar Strat to get that tone... years ago in my music retail days the shop I worked in carried Fernandez guitars... they made a Strat clone that was a steal for the price...somewhere around $300 if memory serves. We all grabbed one. Point is, there are plenty of inexpensive MIM Strats out there that can be excellent guitars with a good set-up and a decent set of (preferably noiseless) pickups.

Lol..."semi-custom". I like it... that's up there with "a little bit pregnant", and "handi-capable".

Intriguing...I'm always skeptical buying an instrument without playing it first, but I've been wanting a Tele lately, and for the price, this might be a contender. Not sure about that neck though. Looking at the site, a neck with a traditional finish doesn't seem to be an option... or did I miss that somewhere?

Lol...by the time he gets his POD up and running, Helix will have been mothballed for 5 years, and it's successor will be nearing EOL. ;)

This thread is hysterical...guy keeps posting, but he's talking to himself, lol.

Huh?... was that not what I was rattling on about? That quote was referring to production line stuff masquerading as "custom". Believe me, I have no trouble telling the difference.

I have no problem dropping money on a quality instrument. But if I'm gonna do that, I want input...and it needs to be more than just writing a check and saying "I'll take a blue one". I've owned one of these for nearly 20 years: https://www.phiferguitars.com/models There's nothing on the instrument that he doesn't machine himself, except the tuners and the jack. Everything else is wood, even the knobs, bridge, and covers for the truss rod and electronics. Hell you choose your top from all the wood he's got on hand. When he's ready to shape the neck, you go to the shop...it's a baseball bat initially, but you tell him what you want (or bring a guitar with a neck you're comfortable on that he'll match) and you stand there watching while he does it. Material comes off incrementally until you're happy. THAT'S "hand worked"...so maybe I'm spoiled. "Custom" is usually nothing more than a marketing ploy...and rarely does the price tag justify what you're actually getting.

Only played one...Admittedly, it was a short test drive (did a gig a few months back, guy in one of the other bands that night had one) but I can't say I noticed anything different about the "contours" compared to my Korean JTV69, and frankly "hand worked" can mean just about anything you want it to mean. Regardless, while there was nothing "wrong" with it per se, I maintain that the asking price is ludicrous, especially for a bolt-on. It certainly wasn't a piece of crap, but I'm sorry, it's just not 4 thousand dollar guitar either.

We'll it took decades, but its nice that they've finally started offering a compound radius, sculpted heel, etc. It ain't 1954 anymore...

Forget the US versions...you could pay the navy less money for a mothballed aircraft carrier. Nearly $4K for a guitar with identical specs, save a few extra color options, the vague promise of better cuts of wood (quarter-sawn necks, etc), and the exact same guts as the guitars that are $1K or less.

Then why bother giving the option? You suppose the powers that be are concerned about driving chronic down-voters into therapy by depriving them of the ability to $hit on someone else's idea? ;)

I'll try and distill the "bewildering complexity" a bit... JTV69: Strat clone, 25.5" scale, Louisville Slugger profile Variax Standard: See JTV69. JTV59: LP clone, 24.75" scale, chunky LP profile. JTV89F: Ibanez clone, 25.5" scale, shredder-ific profile. Shuriken: A 27.0" scale, "Jetsons"-looking, battleship grey Djent-mobile... slap on some high-tension telephone wire and tune down to frequencies only whales can hear. Strictly for playing in weird time signatures. It's got non-circumventable 4/4 kill-switch...if you try to play "Smoke On The Water, it just shuts off. Colors? Meh...I'm colorblind, couldn't care less if they were all hot pink.😉

That too... With a decent set of pickups and enough processing fairy dust, a $150 DIY kit guitar can be made to sound just as good as the Strat that Fender (amusingly) sells to for $2K...now they likely won't FEEL the same to play, but that's a whole other discussion.

Barking up this tree is a waste of time. SRV bought his "#1" Strat in a pawn shop for a hundred bucks. There is exactly one way to tell if you will like the tone you get from a particular instrument...play it. Seeking out a Strat from a particular year because you saw one in a video that had a tone that you liked guarantees almost nothing, and could easily leave you out a bunch of money and very disappointed. There will always be variations from one guitar to the next...I don't care if you have two ostensibly "identical" guitars, same make, model, and color, with consecutive serial numbers...it doesn't guarantee that they will sound exactly the same. And assuming that the one you get your hands on will magically sound just like some video you saw, is even less likely. Try before you buy...

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Lmao. 😂 The XLR outs are mic level...that's your problem. The assumption is that those would be used to run to a mixer (rather than an amp), which would presumably have a mic/line switch on each channel, depending on the source. The 1/4" outs are line level, and quite a bit hotter (+4 dB, I think).

If you want anyone to see and/or respond to this, I'd put it in the appropriate forum: http://line6.com/support/forum/66-sonic-port-devices-mobile-in/

Nope.

I'll never understand why the the assumption is always made that a given product is vanishing altogether, merely because 1 retailer has decided not to carry it anymore. Ditto for the occasional price drop...sales to purge old inventory are nothing new. If stuff sits around too long, eventually the bean counters want to get rid of it.

Yes it does...Line Out/Line In on the back. It's listed on the spec chart on that link you provided.

The HD series is a rapidly aging product line that isn't seeing much in the way of updates anymore, and may or may not be around and/or supported much longer, no way to tell... what is certain is that it's no longer their "flagship" device, and the focus is clearly elsewhere. If you want to upgrade, I'd look at Helix.

Well you mention 2 very different units, so I'm not sure what you bought...the SRM150 is a basically a very small monitor with a 5 1/2" speaker and small onboard 2 channel mixer. The SRM450 is a large powered PA enclosure with a 12" speaker...they're not gonna be comparable in terms of performance. The little one might turn out to be just fine for bedroom practice, but probably not much else. And you can't expect the same kind of bass response from something that size vs. a 12" speaker. You will likely find that you have some issues trying to use patches dialed in with something that small when you pump it through a full PA.

Don't hold your breath....if they started handing out do's and dont's to everybody who asks, that would be giving tacit approval to the modification of their products, which they don't (and likely never will) support.

Only The Shadow knows....BWUHAHAHHAHAHAHA! ...nobody else cares. ;)

Amen.