cruisinon2

No one anywhere on earth, at any time, has been or every shall be in a hurry to give you money. Consider it a blessing if the check arrives before the sun goes nova.

If I was gonna drop almost $4K on a guitar, then I'd grab a used JTV with functional electronics, gut it, and have them built into my new genuninely custom axe. When you approach a luthier who builds honest-to-god "custom" instruments, it's a blank canvas. Choice of woods, neck profile and radius, hardware, finish, frets...everything is up to you. I went down this road about 15 years ago and spent serious $$ on what is most likely the finest guitar I'll ever own, as far as craftsmanship is concerned. Pics here: http://phiferdesigns.com/options.htm The US built JTVs (along with almost everything else that is sold as "custom", no matter who the manufacturer is) do not really meet this definition, imho. You'll have a few more finishes to choose from, and from the advertising blurbs promises of various "tone woods", and much attention to detail. But the specs are what they are, which is exactly the same as the Korean made JTVs for 1/4 of the price (if not less). Whether or not they are "worth it" is subjective, of course...but and I haven't been able to find anything that indicates that you can alter any specs, features, or hardware on these guitars. That being the case, the price tag seems outragiously high...just my 2 cents.

I don't care what they release...as long as it comes with a well-trained beer monkey.

Eric Johnson, especially on Venus Isle...his lead tone absolutely sings. Once saw it described somewhere as "a 1000 lb violin". Nothing wrong with the clean sounds either.

I tip my hat to you, sir... Personally, I'd rather give up music... ;) lol

Thats what I thought too...I waited for better part of a year for the cause to be identified and a fix implemented. Unfortunately, defective units are still out there. Only had mine for about 3 weeks and the rattle is obvious...I've used quieter hedge trimmers. I have opted to have this one repaired rather than have to wonder whether or not I would receive another dud. Not going thru this more than once....

Except of course for the above confession... :D

And then we'll all sing a round of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips"...ugh. Lets get a wash-tub bass model while we're at it...

Unfortunately, I think you'd find those results disappointing too. There are simply too many variables involved for that to work. The guitar, string gauge, playing style, etc etc...download a few patches from Customtone and you'll see what I mean. Just because the guy who dialed it in got it to sound just like Satriani on his rig, doesn't mean that it won't sound like the Ramones when I try the same patch with my stuff...especially when you're talking about tube amps. One day it will sound the like the most majestic thing you've ever heard, and you plug it in the next day in some bar with questionable power outlets, and it sounds like baked a$$. I was looking for shortcuts at the outset too, and quickly gave up on that path. It just doesn't work. Build from the ground up, and it will get quicker as you go...in the long run you'll save yourself a lot of time and aggravation.

You really can't expect your tones to be identical from one output mode to another. While tones designed for headphones and studio monitors might need less adjusting for use with an FRFR speaker like the L2T (as compared to running the same patches thru a DT series or something similar), you will still need to spend considerable time playing around with it until it behaves the way u want it to. None of these options are plug and play, instant gratification kinda things.

I think the best thing for everyone to do is to continue guessing blindly as to what may or may not appear at NAMM. That way we can get a head start on all the sad-sack, whiny indignance that will surely follow if/when every last item on everybody's L6 wish-list isn't instantly fulfilled.

That's right. Somebody knows, but they ain't talkin'. Seems to me that they would save themselves a whole lot of grief...not mention all the money that gets spent on return shipping and repair of affected units, if they would just tell us what batch of serial #'s are affected. Its on the JTVs, so why is it a secret with other stuff?

I bought a Chevy once...and nobody at GM had the decency to invite me to even one shareholder's meeting.

Yeah! I want my free everything for life!!!! Gimme Gimme Gimme!!!!! And I want a pony (preferably white), and a free trip to the Caribbean with my next modeler purchase. My unrealistic expectations are the world's problem....now somebody fix it while I sit here on the couch!!!!! I would like an update no later than 3:17 PM EST.... And why isn't my coffee still hot? When will someone address THAT? Is it me?!?!?!?!

It was scrapped along with their plans to genetically engineer a drummer who could count past 4 and didn't speed up when they got to the chorus...utter failure. Test subjects all died of severe dehydration...drooled to death. :P

That's strange...and would be wildly unacceptable to me. What's the point of hitting "save"? It's just gonna undo it for you anyway. Either one of the units is malfunctioning, or there's a setting buried somewhere that we don't know about which triggers that behavior.

I suppose that is possible...however, that means that it really is impossible to tell what you're gonna get, and somewhere one or more poor schmucks will get units with the old fans 2 years from now. We'll see what happens...

The odds of you plugging in and being instantly pleased by the tone are essentially zero. This is normal, and largely unavoidable...unless you happen to be extraordinarily lucky. The overwhelming majority of users will spend hours on end trying to get everything "just right". It not a fault of the equipment per se, but rather the fact that there are so many options to choose from. Just don't expect all the patches you already have to sound the same through the new rig...it's more or less impossible. Took me 2-3 weeks of daily poking around to get it to the point where I was happy with it, and comfortable enough to take it to a gig. A 48hr timeline from pulling it out of the box to putting it alongside you on stage is probably a bit unrealistic.

Well I finally completed the Dream Rig a couple of weeks ago with the adition of an L2T...was thrilled with it until a couple of hours ago. The very first time I got to stretch it's legs and play at stage volume the dreaded fan assembly rattle reared it's ugly head. Horrible noise. I waited almost a year to drop the $$ on one of these things because there were way too many complaints about this. The fix has been around for at least six months now, and I even inquired of the dealer as to how long their stock had been there before I purchased, and was told not more than a couple of weeks, so I figured I was safe. Apparently not... Back to the drawing board. Will see what Sweetwater tells me tomorrow, but the site says they are out of stock at the moment. Not sure I want another one anyway. Not insterested in swapping them out multiple times until I get one that works. Since units with the old fan are obviously still shipping, there doesn't seem to be any way to guarantee that the next one will have the new fan. Seriously considering going with the Atomic Reactor series instead. These defective units should not still be shipping from L6 at this point. Not a happy camper...

Only if you're tapping an otherwise open string....can't say I've had that come up very often. Almost always involves one or more other fretted notes. That being the case, I fail to see how dampening the strings in front of the nut would solve the problem anyway. Any vibrations being generated by finger-tapping happen further up the neck. Placing the damper well behind those points will accomplish nothing. It might keep open strings from ringing and make one's EVH tap-scapades easier to pull off (no pun intended...) and sound a little cleaner, but that's about all one could expect from this device. And what of all the unfortunate souls who experience ghost notes just strumming a chord, minus all the finger-tapping? What's causing it then? Ghost notes come up regularly on this forum, and I have never seen one complaint that relates it specifically to finger-tapping. FWIW, I have no answers to these questions, and I'm not trying to pick a fight...just can't see one very specific technique being the culprit. If there were a definitive answer, I think we'd all have it by now. Even if tapping is a contributing factor, I don't see how that string dampener would make the slightest bit of difference. Just my 2 cents...

Personally, I couldn't care less if it was pink with green polka dots...but I do understand why it doesn't appeal to some. Guitar players (as a species) are fascinated with appearance. We like things pretty things. And beyond that, having a "classic" look never hurt any manufacturer's bottom line. Gibson and Fender have built empires on this premise. But at the end of the day, the only ones who will know the difference are other players. To the audience, it's just another black box with speakers and a logo...or as my wife puts it every December: "What new toy with knobs and buttons do you want for Christmas this year?"

I have never been able to get a convincing acoustic sound thru a traditional guitar amp. Even plugging an actual acoustic/electric guitar into a clean channel will generally yield disappointing results (yes, I've tried...more than once over the years). So while I won't say it's impossible to get what you want with that rig, it won't be easy. Much knobulating required....

Honestly, I've been using the VDI since day 1. I went this route because I wanted the functionality that the VDI connection allows, so I didn't dwell on any differences there might be between the two. Forget what anybody tells you about the "right" way to build a patch. Start from scratch and allow your ears to tell you when it sounds good. You might prefer the EQ block before the amp model for some amps, and after it for others. Same thing for clean vs. dirty sounds. Individual settings are entirely subjective...depends on what kind of tones you're looking for, your playing style, string gauge, etc. etc. There is no right or wrong way to do it. If it sounds good, then it is good...end of story. But the long and arduous experimental phase has no quick work-around.

Yeah...I don't get it. None for me, thanks...lol

Placing the dampener behind the nut as you suggest, I get...but in the pic, they clearly want you to place the thing in front of the nut. Seems to me it would make playing any open strings impossible, or at least make it terribly muted...what good is that?