cruisinon2

1) Its hard to find these guitars in stores, at least where I am (buried in suburban sprawl, with a mall every 8 feet and 2 major music retailers minutes away...even so, nobody stocks them around here). So I had no choice but to buy online. I get your apprehension tho, its the only guitar I have ever bought that I hadn't played first. 2) Mine is a Sweetwater scratch n' dent. Whatever flaws they have are cosmetic, and generally very minor. Unless you play with little white gloves on and never take it out of the house, you're probably gonna scratch and/or dent it worse yourself at some point. 3) Earlier guitars seemed to have more issues than later ones. Also, the bridge was redesigned at some point to fix some cable-routing issues from the piezos. Not sure when this was changed...mine is a 2012 (I forget the month...not near the guitar right now), and has the new bridge. In my experience, Sweetwater is great to deal with. 30 day no questions asked return policy, plus they give you an extra year of warranty on top of the factory one on most things they sell. I've contacted them about a couple of issues before, and gotten a return email (from an actual human, not an auto-reply) within a few minutes, and never more than a couple of hours later.

I agree...I haven't touched the model volumes either. Don't see the need. I expect the LP to be louder than the Strat. The JTV's mag humbucker is louder than my real Strat...that's how the ball bounces, right?

Lotsa things can rattle inside a speaker cabinet. Without taking a look, it's hard to guess at a fix. Had similar issue with an old Marshall cab years ago. Turned out to be a wooden support post that rests dead center against the back of the cab. Little piece of cloth between the end of the post and the back of the cab tightened things up enough that it stopped vibrating. Might be something that simple. Gotta find what's buzzing first. "In life, you really only need two things to fix stuff...WD40 to make them go, and duct tape to make them stop" saw that on a bumper-sticker once...lol :P

Oh... if you're using the 500x, then there's another solution. Just level out your volumes in there. I tend to have different patches, with different amp/cab combos set up for different guitar models. Sounds like a lot, but I mostly use the strats, LPs, and the occasional tele model...so once you get everything dialed in it probably wouldn't be an overwhelming number of patches on the 500x...there's plenty of space anyway. You might find that easier than tweaking every guitar model in the Variax...food for thought. Unless you're doing a lot of switching between models, or mags/models mid-song, that should work too.

You jumped over 2 firmware versions, and many of the models changed from 1.7 to 2.0 (if not all of them...not 100% sure). The HD models are supposedly more accurate emulations of their real-world counterparts, which might account for some of the volume differences. Many don't like the strat models as much in 2.0, particularly the volume relative to the LPs. I've seen that complaint...among others...on here more than once. Not sure why the volumes are so drastically different from your mags though...that seems a little odd. Then again, there are more than a few things that can get a little odd with these guitars. Reflashing is worth a try...and perhaps doing it a few times. That has reportedly fixed a handful of different issues for some, including me. Nobody knows why it works, but it seems to...2.0 firmware appears a bit unstable.

Maybe his mags are too close then...who knows? Doesn't seem like there are two identicle JTV's anywhere on earth. Everybody seems to have very specific issues, almost never exactly that same from one axe to the next.

Many guys didn't like 2.0 for a whole bunch of reasons, realtive volumes from model to model being one of them. There is no magic fix except leveling them out in workbench, one by one. By default the individual string volumes for each model are set to 100%, but that's not what you need to look at...at the bottom of the screen you can raise or lower the volume of each individual model by "X" db, until everything sounds right, then flash everything to the guitar. Either that, or roll back to 1.9...lotsa guys have.

Something's not right...it's year first, then month. YYMM. So unless that's a typo, 1121 doesn't make sense. If it's 1112, that would make sense, and it would indicate that it was built in Dec 2011.

1) Hard to say without knowing exactly why it's loose. 2) You can save a specific tuning to individual guitar models using the cutom banks on the model selector knob, and setting the tuning selector to "Model" 3) It's done with the Workbench software, which you'll need to download. There are two custom banks to use without overwriting the factory presets 4) Entirely subjective. Like any other guitar neck in the universe, you either like it or you don't. Most of the griping is about the nut width, which at 1 5/8 " is just about as narrow as it gets (that's what the spec sheet says, anyway. I measured mine, and it's slightly narrower than that). Even Fender hasn't made their necks that skinny since the 50's. The resulting string spacing on the lower frets is really close, and this can be a problem if you've got big hands (or fat fingers :P ). Some have also had issues with the E strings sliding off the ends of the frets, which I suspect is the result of the aforementioned narrow nut. In order to keep the string spacing at all playable on the lower frets, they seem to have pushed the two outside strings a little too close to the edge...at least on the earlier JTVs. Seems to have been remedied on later ones. I've had no problem with slippage on mine. 5) Don't get frustrated....guitar can be quirky. The piezos are much more sensitive than mag pickups....which can lead to all sorts of issues until you get used to it. Or, you may have no problems with them at all. Some are perfectly happy with their axes right out of the box...for others there's a bit of a learning curve.

Everybody's a little Irish today...

Today only...lol And if you attempt to replace him with a balanced tension Leprechaun, you will void your warranty... :D

Good question...only one way to find out. Given the alt. tunings' tendency to be tempermental when the guitar is physically tuned to E, feeding the tuning algorithm Eb might cause the guitar to leap to it's death. Don't try it near any open windows... ;) And for God's sake man...don't touch the pickup covers! :P

first four number tell you the year and month of manufacture. YYMM...So 1202 is Feb 2012.

Careful now...lest you raise the hackles of the Latency Brigade, who will then tell you that if you can't hear it, your timing sucks, LOL.

Thousand dollar guitar....1/4 cent Chinese plastic knob. You do the math....sucks, but it is what it is.

This will be debated until the sun goes nova...purists will tell you that no modeling has ever [or will ever] come close to the real thing, others disagree. Lotsa good things being said about the Stagesource speakers though...considering one myself.

LOL...and just the other day we were all advised to not so much as change the pickup covers, for fear of mucking up the works. So much for that.

Yeah...it's the one semi-"official" diagnosis that makes any sense. The tuning algorithm is expecting standard tuning input...if you're feeding it notes that are slightly off, I can see this causing a problem. It definitely isn't perfect. For laughs, load up one of the 12 string models, and then rake harmonics across all the strings at the 5th or 7th frets...you'll hear all kinds of funky warbling, pitches going up and down all over the place. So there are definitely things that confuse the software...the more DSP, the weirder it gets.

Lots of theories as to what causes this on some guitars and not others. Intonation could be the culprit if it's wildly off. It's worth a look. Not likely to be a 1.9 vs 2.0 thing...however, reflashing whichever version of the firmware you're running has fixed weird issues for some. These guitars get funky sometimes.

copied from this thread: http://line6.com/support/topic/2121-variax-20-spank-bug/page-3?hl=%2Bstrat+%2Bposition+%2Bfix&do=findComment&comment=13729 Hello, Just want to reiterate that we are currently fixing a bug in Workbench HD v2.01.0 that can defeat the bridge pickup sound uploading models that use the bridge+middle pickup combination to the JTV. Users who have uploaded (even an unmodified) Spank-2 patch either individually or as part of a bank or bundle, will now have a patch which sounds identical to Spank 3 in that position. Users who have not uploaded Spank-2 to the guitar via workbench will have the correct bridge+middle model based on the 1959 Stratocaster in Spank 2. Users affected by the issue can use the following workaround to repair affected patches or create new Bridge+Middle patches: 1. Begin w/ the desired patch loaded in workbench making sure that the bridge and middle pickup slots are turned on. 2. Choose either the middle or bridge pickup and note the position, angle, level and model settings of either pickup. 3. Select the neck pickup slot (which should be OFF at this point) and enter the settings noted in the previous step. 4. The bridge/middle/neck labeling for the pickup slots may have changed dynamically at this point, note which pickup is OFF. 5. Turn OFF the pickup chosen in step 2. 6. Turn ON the pickup noted in step 4. 7. Upload this patch to the guitar. Best regards, Line6Hugo

That's apparently it brother...toe down wah, then rake your fingers maniacally across the strings as if it were a giant steel-stringed exfoliator. It's all right up there in the video: "How to be an Ivy League Noise Maker".

Can't argue with that. I think part of the problem is that all the promo materials...videos, etc. make it seem like tonal nirvana is achieved just by turning the thing on, when in fact its a great deal more complicated and time consuming. Not everybody is willing to put the time in...those who are will find the HD stuff incredibly versatile.

Even if you were playing along with a recording, its unlikely that the tempo remains dead on 75 bpm throughout. Even witht the best musicians in the world there will be some variation, unless the drummer is an android. Thats why drum machines often sound sterile...they're too perfect. Some of the better ones have a "humanize" function that will deliberately introduce slight tempo variations, or occasionally have hits land just ahead of, or behind the beat, so it sounds more organic. Point is, I don't think there's anything wrong with your gear.

1. Good idea. 2. I know thats what they told you, but it didn't make any sense then, and it still doesn't. If the mags were pulling the strings out of tune, then standard tuning wouldn't sound right either. And I still say that even if string pull is happening, it can't result in TWO DISTINCT PITCHES being heard...one slightly out of tune note, yes...but not two. 3. No argument there. 4. Made no difference for me, but your mileage may vary. 5. Glad its working, but what changed? When you first got it back you said the problem was still there...