cruisinon2

None of this is a surprise....well, except for the neck. I loathed the stock neck on the 69, and it was gone less than a month after I got the guitar. But the rest of your experience all makes perfect sense. The Standard is a Pacifica stuffed with Variax guts. And a Pacifica is....well, its a Pacifica. Nuff said.

As you've observed, the arrow switches move up or down to the next bank of 4 patches...the A,B,C and D switches are what you use to change from one patch to another. At any given time, you only have access to one bank of 4 patches. If you need more than 4 to be accessible for a given tune, it requires more tap dancing. You'll have to changes banks first with the up/down arrows, then select the patch you want with the A thru D switches.

Running a modeler into a tube amp, either at the front end or into an FX return, is far from a new concept. I did it for years before going FRFR. That's exactly what the original "dream rig" was...the POD + a DT series amp. You like what you like...the only thing that kind of rig doesn't allow for, is convincing acoustic tones with a Variax...that requires FRFR. But if that's not your thing, then who cares? Use whatever sounds good to you.

One of the questions hinted at the possibility of some sort of touch-pad controls on the guitar itself, as opposed to knobs. Personally I can't think of anything more aesthetically nauseating. Just because it has a computer guts doesn't mean it should look like one on the outside. So if anyone's listening, please spare us touch-pad controls. Maybe it's just me, but I like my guitars to look like guitars

GM used to think side-saddle gas tanks were a swell idea until a whole bunch of people burned to death in what were otherwise minor fender-benders. "Optimal" on paper is meaningless if the practical application thereof doesn't work. The dongle doesn't work very well. The POD connection does.

If it's coming from "Line 5", what you got was a phishing scam, lol. ;)

Well that's updates...which in my experience is a 50/50 proposition with the dongle. It doesn't work reliably. Period. And what of Workbench usage? You really think everyone's gonna play "musical cables" back and forth every time they want to make a minor adjustment? Giving us functionality, and then declaring that we shouldn't use it is...ugh. Words fail me.

Yes, I know what each cable is for...but when one was working reliably and the other wasn't, I was out of options if I wanted to use the guitar at all. As for not using the POD as an interface...why bother designing the capability if we're not supposed to make use of it? So a rig that spends 100% of its time (while at home) connected to a computer and monitored through a DAW and studio monitors, now has to be disconnected every time I want to use Workbench? Then disconnect/reconnect repeatedly, swapping VDI cables each time so I can hear the changes I've made? You gotta be kidding. It's less work to just pick up the damn LP or Tele.... Besides...firmware updates with that stupid thing are a coin toss. I've had it fail half-way through, and/or lose connection altogether numerous times, but never once when connected through the POD. It's an infinite improvement.

Nice. Wish I had the patience to do stuff like that...

That's a good idea. Definitely worth a look...I'll check it out tonight. I really thought it was the cable...used the sh*tty Workbench cable daily for a couple of weeks with zero issues while I procrastinated on ordering a new one. Periodically would re-try what I assumed was the problem VDI cable, and invariably it would happen again, so I was pretty convinced that it was just that one cable, but apparently not.

Not extensively, as I rely a lot on dual-amp patches that toggle an acoustic model and the Variax mags, but I had the battery in the other night, and briefly plugged in with the 1/4" and there was sound. Played through one tune, then went back to the VDI, and violá...worked fine for the next 2 hours, and hasn't done it again since. It's very intermittent, which is part of the problem. Could be minutes, hours, or days between episodes, so troubleshooting is easier said than done. I've played it every day since without issue, and I suspect that it would have worked with the battery and 1/4" as well.

Yup...it's regrettable, but reliability and durability are issues. I like my 69, it allows me to do things live that are otherwise logistical nightmares...but at just 3+ years old, it's beginning to crap out. Intermittently, I get dead silence using the VDI. There's no rhyme or reason to it, just happens. Thought it was the cable itself initially, as it's never happened with the flimsy Workbench-only cable, and it begun happening more often with my "real" VDI. But it did it again at rehearsal Monday night with a brand new VDI from Bestronics...so there goes that theory. So far, after unplugging the cable a couple of times, it has come back to life and functioned normally, usually for quite a while before the next incident, but it's just a matter of time before it decides to take a dump right before I launch into a solo....so I've been reluctant to gig with it. Which of course negates the aforementioned benefits of having the thing in the first place. And as we all know, intermittent problems are nearly impossible to fix, as it's not yet happening consistently enough to be reproducible by whomever I send it to for repair. My local "authorized service center" leaves everything to be desired...couldn't manage to fix the rattling fan on my L2T properly, work which had to be re-done back at the mother ship. But I'm not paying for shipping to and from L6 just to hear "I dunno, played fine for me", which at this point is very likely to be the result. I'll just have to wait until it dies completely. So here I sit with a thousand dollar guitar that works most of the time, but at any given moment might go silent. Good times...

Perhaps...but I think that demographic is more interested in the crazy drop tunings that only whales can hear, rather than models of a Strat or a Tele...never mind a dobro or banjo. If they really want to cater to the "djent", high-gain + palm muting crowd, then the alt tunings have to get better. There are still issues there...

I don't get it either. I can wear a Jersey with #42 on it, but it won't make me Jackie Robinson...

They're otherwise occupied this afternoon...

On most patches I make sure I'm not doubling the inputs, but occasionally it can be used to good effect. With my Strat for instance, which does not have especially hot pickups, setting input 2 to "same" can be the difference between a crystal clean tone, and an SRV-ish "not quite clean, not quite dirty" tone that works nicely. Never really noticed it making the patch any noisier than those without the hotter signal hitting the amp model.

Personally, I've hardly ever touched the looper, so i can't help much... What I can tell you is, this is a 3 year old thread about a completely unrelated topic....I'd suggest starting a new thread if you want any sort of useful responses.

I haven't listened to the clip, as I'm on my phone and don't have headphones handy at the moment, but I can tell you from my own experience that Variax is not immune to this either. Any of the "drop" tunings (Drop D, C, whatever) are likely to give you problems with high gain and palm muting. The problem stems from the mechanics of palm muting. For example, chugging away anywhere on the A string while using an altered "drop D" tuning turns to mud because your picking hand is also resting on the low E string whilst palm-muting. This creates a "bridge" if you will, and the low E piezo saddle ends up picking up some of the vibrations from the A string, which are then tuned down digitally a whole step, while the A string itself is unaltered. Thus you end up hearing two pitches a whole step apart...with lots of gain this is a mess. I find the drop tunings essentially useless for high gain applications. With clean to semi-clean tones they can work quite well. It was a bit of a disappointment for me initially, but it is what it is. You'll find that this really only manifests itself with alt tunings that de-tune some strings but not others, or tunings that are altering different strings by different intervals. Tunings that are doing the same thing to every string are unaffected, as even if there is cross-talk between piezo saddles, it doesn't matter because the same tuning algorithm is being applied to everything. I use half-step down tuning all the time with high gain times and palm muting...no issues, no funny noises.

I just paid ~$32 for a 15' cable, plus shipping...cheapest is $8 or $9 for USPS 2-day priority. Ordered it last Wednesday, was delivered Saturday. About as quick as it gets. Much more robust cable than the one L6 offers, which only lasted about 3 years before it crapped out completely. I've got regular 1/4" cables that are 20 years old and still work....

To the OP: This is exactly what you're hearing. Almost nobody believes it at first, but trust me...this is what you experienced. We're all very used to ignoring the acoustic sound of the instrument, as we're focused on what's coming out of the amp...but it is ever-present, and those strings are ringing just inches from your head. You hear them directly with every note you play, whether you know it or not. But when the pitch leaving the amp is suddenly not the same note actually being produced be the strings, cacophony ensues...especially decidedly non-harmonious, close intervals like a half-step. Play loud enough, and the problem will disappear. So yes, you are hearing two notes....but only one is coming through the amp.

In other words, there really is no answer...and no objective standard that can be applied. Doesn't matter what number the bass knob is pointing at. It's either too boomy, or it isn't...you're cutting through the mix or you're not. And as always, Customtone is the worst possible yardstick by which to judge your patches. Doesn't matter what works with someone else's rig/playing situation. The odds of the same thing working for you is essentially zero.

Fair enough....miracles happen sometimes, lol. And yes, I had a similar experience with that very same mixer back in the day, which turned me of to anything Behringer since. But if they've improved, good for them!

Let's just say that they have a somewhat lackluster reputation when it comes to reliability, durability, customer service, etc. Maybe it's deserved, maybe it isn't...but when a company is consistently criticized, there's usually a reason. Poke around on the interwebs...it won't t take you long to find complaints. Go with the Altos...lots of guys here are thrilled with them.

Don't buy anything that says "Behringer" on it....;)

[quote name="mguit" post="202600" timestamp="1489758735" In other words, the more song-specific presets and subsequent snapshots I create, all based on one of four basic amp+cab+overdrive combinations use for different gain stages, is there a way to edit one of those four sounds all at once or have them linked so that I don't have to dozens of locations just to make the same edits over and over again? I've had this issue with every multi effect product I've ever owned. From a Fender Cyber-twin, vox tone lab, Line 6 HD500, and Kemper Profiler; has Helix addressed this issue? I can't be the only person on this planet that works this way. I've yet to meet the device that functions this way, so I think you're out of luck, no matter what gear you're buying. But honestly, have every change you make propagate to every other patch in a given "category" almost defeats the purpose of having individual presets in the first place. Personally, I'd find that maddening. If I've saved a patch, it's because I want it to stay that way...having it subsequently altered because I decided to make changes to another patch would infuriate me.