cruisinon2

I've had 'em all...Schaller, Sperzel, Gotoh...but the Planet Waves auto-trims are the most satisfying invention ever. Don't need wire cutters or the clipper thing on the end of the peg-winder, neither of which I can ever manage to find when I sit down to change the strings. But with these things, changing strings is totally painless. Thread the string through, twist and the end just falls off. Best thing ever. They're not the prettiest tuners I've ever seen, but certainly not hideous and the convenience is priceless.

I've seen this on the forums a bunch of times, and I'm in no position to dispute it, but I can't find any reference to headphone impedance in either the pilot's guide or the advanced guide. Anybody know where this info actually is?

Well that's a new one...add it to the list. Other strange firmware related weirdness has been cured with a reflash of the firmware...or two, or three, or four reflashes. Only the big warranty repair bench in the sky knows why...worth a try. Probably won't make anything worse, and you can always roll back again if there is still no joy...

Unlikely that anything is broken. I downloaded a whole bunch of stuff from customtone when I first got my 500X...never used one of them for more than 2 seconds. Same goes for the factory presets. There are WAY too many variables to expect any patch to sound the same with your rig as it did to the guy who created it. Might have sounded just like Pantera to that guy, but with your amp, guitar, and fingers it might sound like the Ramones. You will learn more, and waste a whole lot less time if you start from scratch. Customtone is a nice idea, but without a whole lot of real world practicality. You might get some ideas seeing how others go about building their patches, as far as fx placement, etc...but a drag and drop tone solution it's not. All that said, I love this thing...but there's a learning curve, sometimes a steep one. Took me several weeks of daily use to get to the point where I'm comfortable with it. There are MANY deep edit parameters to tweak that will have a huge impact on your sound...just fiddling with gain, bass, mids, and treble is only scratching the surface of what this thing can do. Try different models, even if its not one that you think you'd like, or wouldn't even consider buying if it were the real thing...you might find that to be your favorite...that's exactly what happened to me. I really dig the Soldano models, and I've never been in the same room with a real one. You'll get there, but you gotta give it a while.

IMHO, thats just nuts. All those Big Box chains got balls of steel. Just order it from Sweetwater. You'll have it in 3 days with a 2 year warranty...and no, I have no affiliation with them whatsoever...just a customer. You're better off buying $90 worth of shoe laces than assuming another ceiling is gonna collapse on your gear.

You don't say what other gear you're using. Were you recording direct, or through an amp? Point is the problem may not be your 300...million other things can contribute to a lousy sounding acoustic model.

Well, these guitars are not without thier quirks. Read through the forums and you'll find a variety of problems that some users encounter. Buggy firmware, model selector knobs that have trouble engaging sometimes, a few different issues surrounding the alternate tunings, "quacky" piezos, etc etc. Traditional guitars they ain't, and it will probably take some getting used to at first. Some of the issues I mentioned above seem to be related to playing style (especially if you have a heavy picking hand and really dig into the strings) and how much gain you like to use. Piezos are VERY sensitive as compared to mag pickups, which can result in some funky noises till you get used to them. Don't take any of this as discouraging though...you may not have any issues at all, and as a whole I think they are very good guitars, and I now tend to reach for my JTV more often than any of my other axes, but there is a learning curve. Its amazing technology, incredibly versatile in terms of the variety of tones you can get, but not totally without its issues.

Just out of curiosity...how much are they asking for the extended warranty? Volumes have been written on what a comical scam those things are. Half the time they expect you to part with 20-30% of the purchase price for something that in all likelihood, you'll never use. If you were purchasing a $10K rig, maybe...but for something thats only $500, its thievery. Just my humble opinion...

B stock, or "scratch 'n' dent" models generally have some minor cosmetic issue somewhere. Half the time its hard to tell what it even is...I have a 69 scratch n dent from Sweetwater, and I couldn't find anything aside from some very superficial swirls in the laquer on the back of the guitar. Normal wear and tear is guaranteed to do worse on a long enough timeline. Sometimes b stock means a demo guitar that was played in a store or showroom too. Some similar minor wear could be expected. I have no complaints...Sweetwater is great to deal with. Same factory warranty, plus an extra year that they tack on themselves. 30 day no questions asked return policy. Can't go wrong. Other vendors may not be as forgiving on a b stock item. Sometimes they're sold "as is" and you're stuck with it if you don't like it. Gotta read the fine print...

EQ is often more about cutting what you have too much of, rather than trying to mask it with more of something else. Cutting the low end is likely to give you better results than boosting the highs.

It does sound like a problem with how the nut is slotted. If you don't want to send it back again, any decent luthier should be able to take care of it, and it shouldn't be a million dollar fix. Not sure if it would need a whole new nut or not, but either way it won't be that expensive. You don't say which JTV you have, but if its the 69, then you have replacement neck options too. Mighty Mite, Warmoth...basically anything that will fit a Strat neck pocket should fit nicely on the 69. Obviously that route will cost you more than just dealing with the nut, but it might work for ya. Good luck.

Everybody running 2.0

Raise your hand if you're surprised....anyone?

I sympathize with ya...and I agree. The firmware shouldn't be affected by realtive humidity, sunspots, seismic activity, which way the NASDAQ is headed, or whatever the other arbitrary circumstances are that makes it get all pi$$y. But you may find that just reflashing will clear it up...I've had a couple of unexplainable issues that occured after seemingly successful updates that went away with another firmware flash...or two.

I agree...too many people with multiple rattling units for it to be a random problem. It's a shame because I really wanted one...but this has spooked me a bit. Too much money to gamble on what could easily become a major hassel.

I'm not buying one unless I get a pony with it....a white one named Louis.

On the surface it would seem that it's not...but as you also pointed out, if there's some sort of exclusivity deal with Apple going on behind the scenes, then whether or not alienating Android users is a "good business decision", is a moot point. If your supposition is correct, then they have no choice.

You hafta log in to download anything from customtone. It would be nice if they actually told you that somewhere, but pretty much everybody has to figure it out the hard way.

Yeah...I didn't feel like being the first one to wade into this pool, but it doesn't make any sense to me either.

Anything is possible...but I've chased down too many "occasional" funny noises, or other weird behavior in everything from amps and guitars to motorcycles. Unless you just happen to get lucky, you usually just have to use it, play it, or ride it till it craps out completely...then the problem is generally easy to solve: "Oh look, this part here snapped in half/caught fire/etc."

Unfortunately, that's not really a safe assumption. What you've got here is a good old fashioned Intermitent Problem. Equally unfortunate is the fact that intermitent problems rarely get fixed until they become constant problems...as it is generally impossible to reproduce an intermitent issue when you bring it to your local Mr. Wizard for inspection. Wish I could help ya...good luck.

You need a leash for the guitar player? But how do you keep the drummer from wandering off into traffic? They're easily confused... :P

I dunno bout that...of all those other devices I had with power switches, not one ever failed. I would wager that repeatedly plugging and unplugging the power adapter from the back of the unit would result in loosening of solder joints at that jack long before a simple rocker switch would crap out...that's why I have the huge wall wart running into a power strip. I don't trust doing it the other way. It's just weird that there's no switch...not a deal breaker, but odd nonetheless.

In 25+ years of gear buying, it's the only pre-amp/multi-fx unit that I've had [and I've had many], that didn't have a power switch.

Obviously one's perspective can get skewed looking at the forums...but there are several people above who have the issue with more than one speaker, and one guy has 6 units, all with this same problem. Seriously...what are the odds of that happening? I would have thought it would be nearly impossible. Any one item could conceivably have issues, and I wouldn't write off an entire product line because of one problem. You always have to give any company the oportunity to make it right and fix the problem...That being said, If I purchased 6 of anything, and they all turned out to be defective...especially when they all exhibit the same exact defect, I would return them post-haste and move on...IMHO, one rattle is an anomaly, 6 is a design flaw.