cruisinon2

Relying on Line 6 to store them for you is not likely to end well. Been tons of complaints about the website lately, specifically many patches disappearing from custom tones. Save them in HD edit and store them on your computer, at least that way you'll know where they are.

It will depend largely on whether or not you're a Les Paul guy or a Strat guy...different scale lengths, neck profile ect. If you can put your hands on them both, then do that first...easier said than done though. I've never seen one hanging on the wall in a store.

75 solid state watts will only take you so far...might be time to upgrade to something bigger.

Unfortunately, you will have to experiment with the different options and find what sounds best to you. Someone else's settings may or may not sound good to you. There are no right or wrong choices. Try both preamp and full amp models...play around with everything and see what you like. There's no escaping that phase...and get used to the idea of having different banks of patches...one set for headphones, one for bedroom volume through an amp, and one at rehearsal/gig volume...no getting around that either.

I don't think anyone is arguing that short circuits are a good thing, and I'm sure its possible to produce them by shoving metal stuff inside the guts of a Variax. However, I maintain that unless one is truly spastic, an incredible slob, or deliberately trying to ruin the guitar, using a little steel wool on the neck with no exposed electrical components poses near zero risk to the guitar. If not, then perhaps mine will fry one day...but I seriously doubt it.

Sorry to hear that, but I'm not surprised. Their diagnosis made no sense in the first place.

I suppose it could...if wou wedged an entire pad of the stuff in next to your switches and pots, but I don't think the little shavings pose much of a risk. I've been using ultra fine steel wool to get crud off of fretboards and to smooth the backs of necks for years, and never gave it a second thought....unless you have the pickguard or backplates off at the same time, it's nearly impossible to screw anything up. And even then you're using it on the neck.

Well, you're right, you are starting from scratch each time...the HD500, 500x are quite different anything else I've used. Definitely not plug-and-play. I tend to think of the clean and dirty tones as completely different universes. I almost never use the same amp model(s) for both...but your mileage may vary.

yeah, that works well. been doing that for years. I don't think the OP likes the satin feel though...

Can't say for sure, but they may not have changed anything. That satin finish doesn't last long. Oils and perspiration from your hands will literally polish it for you over time. Every guitar I've had with a satin finish neck [as opposed to a heavy, polished laquer] has been like that. Had mine little more than 2 months, and even in that short time, just from daily use the neck now looks and feels much different than it did out of the box...more of the "glossy" feel that you describe. Difference can easily be seen comparing the neck to the back of the headstock, which isn't getting handled at all. Don't even have to touch it...it's easily visible. So if the used one you bought was played a lot, it doesn't surprise me that it feels different from a newer guitar.

I've noticed that with the JTV, too. Odd, but never happens without being connected to Workbench, so I can deal with it while tweaking things...as long as its quiet through the amp.

All I meant was that "high gain" tends to mean different things to different players, depending on your style/taste. As far as what "Metal" is...according to an 11 part documentary series [i'm sure that wasn't an accident...lol] from a few years back, there is a dizzying array of sub-genres...enough to make you laugh sometimes. Don't remember the exact title, but that series categorized everything up the yin-yang, with a flow chart of sub-genres that can make your head spin...many I'd never heard of before. But anyway, I really just curious about how much gain you can really get out of the 11R...if it's high gain capabilities and with Stones-y/ Zep kinda tones, then it wouldn't be for me. Love Zeppelin, just don't play that kinda stuff much.

And the Sonic Port...odd that iOS would be embraced for some products and not others. I know a bunch of guys who all keep an iPad on a music stand on stage for lyrics, set lists, etc. Wouldn't be that hard to build an app for HD edit.

Ahh...that explains it, thanks! One more question. I'm assuming that the new one will include only the hardware, and not the board mounted to the sustain block that all the piezos are soldered to, correct?

Sorry to hear that you're still having issues... I'm curious about the bridge you ordered. That part number doesn't turn up in the search at the full compass site. I scrolled through every Line 6 part they claim to have, and didn't see an entire bridge. Maybe you got the last one...lol. Could you point me to it? Thanks...

Either because there are just too friggin' many to catalog, and it's not worth the man-hours paying somebody to do it (I wouldn't want that job...), or there are frighteningly few, which would be lousy PR for their latest "re-invention". Either way, you're not terribly likely to get your list...

Not really sure what you're driving at...I've never had two different patches with all the tone controls set in exactly the same spot. Especially switching from one amp model to another, one size definitely does not fit all. If the problem is that your acoustics patches (which ideally won't be using any of the 500's amp models anyway) sound good running direct to a PA, but not the electrics with amp models, then the answer likely lies with whether or not you're using full amp models or pre-amps only, and also what output settings you are using...studio/direct, combo/front, stack/front, stack/power amp, etc. Each will color the tone differently, and some experimenting is usually required to get it to work with the rest of your gear.

I've never looked under there, but one would hope that you could just spray some contact cleaner in there without too much drama. You should never have to ship a guitar anywhere to deal with a scratchy pot...if it needs to be replaced, I suppose that may be more complicated with these guitars. I think I've only had one volume pot die completely over the years, so hopefully that's not necessary. Dirty/scratchy pots are a frequent problem, however, and if the only way to deal with it is to ship it to L6, they've set themselves up for a whole lot of headaches for a problem that should take 0.84 seconds to solve with an aeresol can.

All of that I'll buy...makes perfect sense they way you've explained it, and obviously you know more about this than I do, lol. Like I said, I'm no expert. But L6 has apparently told him that the issue is one of blended mag and piezo outputs, and that's what I don't understand. Is it not possible to completely isolate the mag's output from the piezo's? Unless you've gone into Workbench and deliberately created a model that blends them (which can give you some really cool tones blending the acoustics with the single coils, btw), why would the mag output be bleeding through if you haven't "told" the guitar to do it? If you can't totally choke off the mags when using the models, I would think that just about every Variax would be useless in alt tunings. What am I missing?

Lol...yeah, "no user serviceable parts inside". Never seen an Amplifi in person...is it a plastic enclosure, or some kind of composite material? I think when there's a bunch of plastic parts all shoved together, this kind of vibration issue is more likely to happen. Less problems with a big wooden box...at least that you can tinker with it, if need be.

If you can't get a single replacement, get a set of Sperzel machines. Great locking tuners, I have them on several guitars.

I've seen his other posts...he's hearing two distinct pitches, which in an alt tuning could certainly be caused by the mag pickups' signal being sent to the output along with the piezo's. But I can't see the magnet pulling on the strings causing the two signals to blend, which is what he said the "official" diagnosis is...unless I misunderstood his post. I'm no expert, but if blending the outputs is the problem, doesn't that almost hafta be an electrical issue somewhere between the pickups and the output? A magnet too close to the strings by itself (assuming no other malfunctions) might pull them out of tune slightly, but how can it result in him hearing the kind of dissonance that you get when notes a 1/2 step apart are arguing with each other?

Well, blended mags and piezos will certainly create a problem in alt tunings...you'll have competing signals producing different pitches, so that's not hard to believe at all. And since blending the signals is a feature, if something is wrong deep in the electronics somewhere, maybe this is the cause of your problem. However, their explanation as to why this is happening makes absolutely no sense. I fail to see how the string's proximity to the mag pickups could possibly cause their output to be blended with the piezos. Ditto for the string gauge...the mag pickups neither know nor care what guage string is being vibrated in their presence. No way that's causing the issue either. And why only with the alt tunings? The mag pickups are the same distance from the strings no matter what tuning you're in, so if that were the cause, you should have blending going on all the time...the models wouldn't sound right even in standard tuning, and I'm sure you would have noticed that, especially with the acoustics. As I said, if you blend the mags and use an alt tuning, you obviously will have problems...and that may very well be whats happening, but neither the distance to the pickups, nor the string guage caused it. I call BS on the "official" explanation...gotta be some internal electrical issue, bad board, etc.

Not weird at all...all solid objects have some dominant resonant frequency. Play that frequency loud enough, and you'll shake it apart. We've all seen the opera (ugh... ;) ) singers who can crack the wine glass with their voice. Same thing is going on here. Somewhere in the bowels of the amp, something's rattling, apparently at 100Hz. . . Google "Tacoma Narrows bridge" for the worlds most unfortunate example of this. But I digress...I've got a Marshall 25th Anniv. cab that had a nasty rattle once. Don't remember what note set it off, but the fix was easy. This thing has a 2"x2" wooden post, that I suppose is there to support the back panel. It's screwed into the front panel where the speakers are mounted, and just sits against the back panel when it's in place. I guess it just worked itself loose after many years of use. I cut a square of material from an old guitar cloth and just stuck it on the end of the post to tighten the fit a little, put the back panel back on, and it hasn't vibrated since.

I'm sorry, but I gotta ask...this presentation you saw...are we talking storage systems, as in big empty boxes that you stuff old crap in (because I've seen these referred to as "systems" before), or was it a computer data storage kinda thing?. 'Cause if there are people calling themselves "field engineers", who's job it is to tell you how to fill the giant tupperware containers that you store under the bed, I'm gonna laugh...a lot. :D