cruisinon2

Which is very likely to be what happens if you try to do things this way. Don't take this the wrong way, but you're setting yourself up for some major disappointment. Those sound bars are designed for a completely different purpose...and they generally don't sound all that great, even when used as designed. They can't remotely be considered FRFR speakers...even if you managed to get it sounding decent, the odds of the tone being anything close to what you'll get when you run the same patche(s) through a PA...even a crappy one...is essentially zero. You're best bet given the circumstances, and with minimal expense, is to dial in your patches with a decent pair of studio headphones that will give you a frequency response close to a typical PA's. In other words, as flat a response as possible. You'll never wring that out of a sound bar no matter what you do...it's a losing battle. You can get a pair of AKG240S headphones for about $70-$80. They have a pretty flat response, and have been a studio mainstay for years. I use them all the time, and find that my tones are very close to what I get through my L2T. Trying to use a sound bar for creating tones is like trying to cut all the grass in Central Park with toenail clippers...it's an impossible task. It's got "gig disaster" written all over it.

Yes, crosstalk will always exist to some degree. It's virtually impossible to physically isolate each piezo element completely. Lots of things vibrate, those vibrations radiate all over the place, and the saddles all butt up against each other. But take the Drop D tuning for example...if the low E saddle picks up vibrations from the A string, that pitch gets detuned two semi-tones...so you'll be hearing the natural pitch through the A string piezo, and the detuned pitch from the adjacent saddle...the result is mud. In standard tuning, or an alt tuning where each string it being detuned by the same interval, it's less of an issue because even if the low E piezo "hears" the A string when you're palm-muting, both saddles will be producing the same pitch, so who cares? There's no dissonance. So yes, crosstalk really becomes a problem with CERTAIN alt tunings, and certain playing techniques...if you can avoid resting your hand on that low E when palm-muting, the problem largely disappears. Easier said than done however, unless you're a contortionist.

If I were independently wealthy, $4K for the US model would still be ridiculous.

It's a good buy, provided that you get one that works. The modeling is quite good for the most part. I love the fact that I can get convincing acoustic tones with a solid body electric...I can't play actual acoustics to save my life. It's worth the price of admission just to get single coil tones without the 60 cycle hum. When you're using the modeling, theses guitars are utterly silent. It's priceless for recording.

Exactly my point....there's nothing "custom" about the Fender Custom Shop either. And I'm a Strat guy, I have 4 of them. I would have no problem with them saying: "You're going to pay through the nose for this one because we made it pretty". I get that...figured woods are not as common, thus they're expensive. Fine. But a Strat is a Strat...there are millions of them. "Select pickups", "custom colors", it's all just advertising crapola. I've replaced pickups in countless guitars...it didn't magically transform then into "custom instruments". Custom should mean unique...as in, there isn't another one that's identical. Those are hard to come by. And you'll pay for them too, but at least you know where your money went.

Trust me when I tell you that if you use that on stage, eventually something is gonna get destroyed...cable, jack or both. It it never leaves the house, and you're always motionless in a chair when you play, you might get away with it for a while...but it's not gonna survive gigging.

Yes, batteries suck. Always have, always will. But if the POD is to "big", what exactly are you playing through now? The POD's footprint is about as small as most multi-fx floor units get.

Lol. Advertising has rendered the word "custom" essentially meaningless. There's absolutely nothing "custom" about most guitars that are labeled as such...doesn't matter who's making it. Factory produced anything is not "custom". "Made to order" is not "custom". When the specs don't change from one unit to the next, they're not "custom". The promise of a quarter-sawn neck and 3 extra colors to choose from doesn't make it "custom". That $4K price tag is insane.

Crosstalk has nothing to do with the mag pickups...it's a mechanical problem, the unavoidable result of the fact that piezos are in direct contact with lots of things that vibrate. Until some tech wizard discovers a workaround, it's always gonna be a problem. And as I said, the alt tunings are not all unusable. Some of it is influenced by the way you play, and the tone you're using. High gain makes it worse. Palm muting makes it worse. Also, it really only affects those tunings where some strings are being pitch-shifted, but not others, or tunings where different strings are being shifted by different intervals. Virtual capo tunings where the algorithm is doing the same thing to all the strings should function better than Drop D, "open" tunings, DADGAD, etc. I was primarily interested in Drop D, Drop Db, and 1/2 step down...so the drop tunings were a disappointment for me. But 1/2 step down works quite well, and I use it often.

FRFR is definitely the way to go...and there's a lot of options now. There are numerous threads around here that have it all spelled out. Personally, I like the Stagesource speakers. I've got an L2T. Live I use it as a floor monitor, and run straight to FOH. However, there's no getting around the volume thing that you mentioned. Nothing, whether it's FRFR or not, is gonna sound the same at stage volume vs. comfy living room volume, and it's nothing to do with the speaker(s)...it's just the way we perceive the volume of different frequency ranges at a given amplitude. Can't fight biology. I've got patches that I use at home, and others for gigs.

Here's my 2 cents: Overall, I like my 69. No busted switches, but flashing the firmware can be an iffy process. Works better connecting through the POD than using the goofy USB dongle that comes with it. My neck had no "defects" per se, but I hated it. Very narrow nut width, and too fat a profile for my taste. Remedied it with a Strat replacement from Warmoth. But that's just me ...I also don't understand those ridiculous gladiator sandals that women are now wearing, but they all seem to have a pair, so what do I know? Ymmv... My only real gripe otherwise is with some of the alt tunings. Piezo crosstalk is a problem with certain tunings and playing techniques, such as Drop D and lots of palm muting. I find that the low E saddle "hears" the A string as well, and detunes it, so you get whatever note you play on the A string, plus a tone one step below...not exactly a pleasing harmony. If I'm very careful about avoiding the low E string with my picking hand, you can get around this, but that's easier said than done while palm muting. I see this as more a limitation of the technology than a defect with this particular guitar. On the other hand, tunings that are changing all the strings by by the same interval work quite well. Crosstalk doesn't matter then, as even if one saddle picks up vibrations from an adjacent string, the pitch shifting is the same across the board, so there's no dissonance. I use 1/2 step down tuning regularly, and it works quite well.

Depends on whether or not you plan on using global EQ. L6 Link does not support it's use, so in that case you're stuck with either the 1/4" or XLR. You'll get global EQ, but lose the ability to control the L2's speaker mode from the POD. Just boils down to what's more important to you. Either way it should sound great.

Amen to that. Never mess with any gear before a performance...especially stuff this complicated. If you're not 99.97% sure how something is gonna work, chaos reigns. The least little hiccup can become a train wreck faster than you can say "Stonehenge"...;)

User whatever you're comfortable with. Gauge matters far more than brand. The acoustic models seem to respond better with heavier strings.

Apples and oranges... Variax models different guitars...Strats, Les Pauls, Teles, etc. Amplifi models various amplifiers. There's no redundancy here. Each is doing something different. Amplifi can't model a Telecaster, and the Variax can't pretend to be a Marshall. Use any amp you like...depends entirely on what kind of sound you're looking for. Whether or not you end up liking the instrument and it's modeling capabilities has little to do with your choice of amp.

Lol...and there's that. ;)

You could try cleaning the saddles as has already been suggested, but I suspect that isn't gonna help much. If there's no sound from the A string at all, I don't think adjusting string volumes in Workbench will help you much either...because it would mean that you had somehow turned the A string volume to zero at some point, which is hard to do accidentally. I doubt that's what happened. Each piezo saddle is wired to a board in the bowels of the guitar somewhere...I know where it is on my 69, but I haven't seen an 89's inards, so I can't point you right to it. Though it can't be that hard to find. Could be a loose solder connection there, or the piezo itself may have died. Those are the two most likely scenarios. Either way, if you're not comfortable with a soldering iron, it's gonna have to be serviced.

Not for nothing, but I've been doing all of that with the POD for years. If that were enough to get people clamoring for a Variax, it would have happened already. It's always gonna be a niche product. A modeling guitar is a much tougher sell than an amp modeler...and I like my JTV. But, they're not for everybody.

Customtone is the last place to look for anything...

Nothing worse than a "squirrely" amp model...personally, I'm hoping mine will start to sound a bit less lavender after the update.

Blend away if you so choose. That's why they put the option in Workbench. But if you try and use an alt tuning, it will be a horrendous mess. Can't pitch-shift anything coming from the mags.

Can't do that if you intend to use the alt tunings.

Just start poking around...the parameters may have different names, but the process is no different than tweaking an amp model. Try different combos of guitars, pickups, string volumes, etc etc, and see what you like. Nothing is carved in stone. Don't like the results? Put it back the way it was.

If the guitar isn't in tune, the alt tunings won't be either. They're fancy algorithms, but they ain't magic.

Personally, I don't think the model matters one way or the other...not in my experience, anyway. But the tuning itself certainly does. Big pitch shifts are always be more susceptible to artifacts than small ones. Piezo cross-talk can be a problem too, depending on the circumstances. The alt tunings will forever be a compromise.