cruisinon2

Workbench is just an interface... there's nothing in it. The brains are in the guitar, and there hasn't been a JTV firmware update worth talking about in years. At this point, the JTV's are ~10 years old... ancient by tech standards, so don't hold your breath for any more updates. Eventually the next generation of Variax, whatever it turns out to be, will appear. When is anybody's guess, but it's pretty safe to say they're not developing the current products anymore.

The answer is simple: Because you're not hearing a humbucker, but rather a simulation thereof.... and simulations are, well they're simulations. Ever try O'Douls? It awful...because it's masquerading as beer. ;) Ok, perhaps that's an overly harsh analogy, but there's a kernel of truth to it. Modeling isn't perfect. You're listening to the digital approximation of a humbucker. A bunch of processed 1's and 0's, piggybacked on the raw sound of a piezo pickup. There are no actual humbuckers (or any type of mag pickup for that matter) anywhere in this equation. Some are satisfied with the results, some not so much. It ain't for everybody... and that's ok, too. Overall, I think the models are pretty good... but the current tech does have limitations, and there's still a ways to go before it catches up with what they've accomplished with amp modeling, imho. Context also matters considerably...In a live mix, the models are more than adequate. But if you're gonna sit and play solo, A/B-ing the models against your favorite Strat /Tele/LP/ etc, you can't expect them to be perfect reproductions of their real-world counterparts. Reasonable approximations in my opinion...but the real thing is the real thing. One has absolutely nothing to do with the other. The mags and models operate independently. When one is on, the others are off. With the models engaged, the mag pickup signal is nowhere in sight and neither contributes to, nor detracts from your tone. It wouldn't matter if you ripped the mag pickups out of the guitar...the models are what they are. The only exception to this is if you had created a custom model in Workbench that blends the mag pickups with the modeled sounds... but you actually have to do that deliberately, then upload it to the guitar... it doesn't just happen.

That's exactly what I meant when I suggested above that everybody stick with the household names....smaller companies vanish all the time.

Lmao...

If you're looking for one self-contained unit that is both Powercab and Helix combined, the answer is no.

It's not L6's fault... The Illuminati made them do it.

Well now I'm conflicted....;)

Any minute now. Or not. I've consulted The Oracle...he was stumped, too.

I've got another word for it... perhaps two. ;)

I've never used the battery... been on VDI since day one. Doesn't make sense either way though... even if I were using the battery, cranked volume is cranked volume, and that certainly wouldn't meet any reasonable definition of "asleep". After a few minutes of inactivity with volume rolled completely off, next time I touch the guitar it's live, and you hear string noise through the amp just by picking it up, without touching the volume knob. Whatever the cause it ain't normal, and it's something that just showed up one day...it didn't behave that way out of the box. Who knows... these things are a little too complicated for their own good sometimes. I've got instruments that are decades old that I'll always trust over fancy electronics. "The more complicated the plumbing, the easier it is to clog the drain." - Capt. Montgomery Scott ;)

I suppose a latency issue might alter one's perception of pick attack, etc... but with a decent interface and a PC with sufficient horsepower, it shouldn't be much of a problem. Latency never bothered me with Native.

I've used both pretty extensively. All other things being equal, if I were blindfolded, I seriously doubt I could tell the difference between Native and the hardware. And given that the modeling is all the same, I don't see how there could be any difference. Your guitar, pick, and technique are what they are, and you're feeding it through the same algorithms either way... the only difference is where those algorithms are housed.

My apologies, and I'm sorry you took offense... but in my defense, you mentioned nothing about multiple guitars already set up in the required tunings. You gave the impression that you were repeatedly swapping between different tunings on the same instrument, and having difficulty doing do due to the limitations of the tuner...so that was all I had to go on. I couldn't imagine trying to function like that on stage, so I'm sorry if my gut reaction caused offense. As far as the Variax not being an option, while a set 13's are certainly not the norm, I don't see why you couldn't set one up appropriately to provide the feel you're looking for. Aside from the fancy electronics, the rest of it is just like any other guitar.

I understand your plight... and I wouldn't call it "lazy", but it is beyond impractical to be re-tuning from one song to the next on stage. It kills the pace and vibe of the show, and is a great way to lose the attention of your audience...thanks to smartphones, the average person has the attention span of a house fly ;). Plus, it looks a bit unprofessional, imho. A Variax would be a great solution for you... you can force any tuning you want with the flick of a switch. No time wasting, no tuner issues.

I think he knows that...seems he doesn't want to stare at "Eb" or "D#" on the display

Not for me...just tried it. Does it do it on multiple patches, or just one? I've had the occasional patch suddenly get FUBAR out of the blue... it happens. If it's just one, I wouldn't sweat it... if it's happening everywhere, seems to me it's more likely to be a funky volume pot, or some other issue with the guitar, rather than Helix. For years now, if I roll the volume completely off, and just let the guitar sit for a few minutes, eventually the volume returns to 100% without touching anything. If I leave the knob the tiniest bit above zero, volume stays put. Never enough of a problem to justify a trip to an "authorized service center" (my only option is the local GC...nuff said). I learned to live with it. Point is, Variaxes are notorious for developing weird issues out of nowhere... it's largely why mine never became my go-to instrument. Guts are too complicated, too many things to short- circuit at a less than opportune moment. Aside from the occasional scratchy pot or toggle switch, "dumb" guitar guts are practically bulletproof, by comparison...but I digress. Anyway, I doubt it's a Helix problem.

It's only overkill if the size is inappropriate for the space it'll occupy... only you know the answer to that. Otherwise, stick with a brand you've heard of... Yamaha, Sony, JBL, etc... who knows if "M-Audio" will still exist next week.

JBL LSR305's or 308's depending on how much room you've got. Helix is a fully functional audio interface... no real need for anything else.

Glad you got out sorted out...the alt tunings are good under certain circumstances, but they definitely ain't perfect. Tunings that alter each string by the same interval work well enough, but those that change one string but not others (Drop D, open tunings, etc) can have issues with piezo cross-talk, especially with lots of gain and palm-muting. In a live band setting some can work quite well though, and it's certainly more convenient than stopping the show to grab another axe, but ultimately they're a compromise. I use 1/2 step down and a couple of "virtual capo" tunings in our set. You'll never hear the guitar acoustically with an entire band blaring away, though... so no worries there. Rock on!

I suspect most of them are sitting in closets and junk drawers of those who couldn't be bothered trying to find them when they finally unloaded the Variax that had been sitting around collecting dust. Frankly, as my USB dongle never worked reliably, I don't know where it is at this point. I always relied on the POD/Helix to connect to Workbench. Plus, there hasn't been an update in years anyway....thing is laying around here somewhere though, lol

As others have already suggested, daisy chaining an IR into a stock cab sim (or vice versa) is pretty much useless. The result is likely to sound like everything is under water. You could try running them in parallel, and panning them hard L and R... but even that is likely to be more trouble than it's worth. Stick with one or the other, whichever one you like best and find easiest to work with.

Well as you already know, used anything is hit or miss... used Variaxes are often missing the ridiculous USB dongle needed to connect to a computer to do firmware updates, but if you have the 500X, that's not a issue as you can connect through the POD instead. I don't think any hardware has changed significantly over the years... just firmware.

What are you playing through, and at what volume? 9 out of 10 times issues with alternate tunings are directly attributable to hearing the unaltered pitch(es) acoustically along with the altered tuning. And before you say "couldn't be", I assure you that it's very easy for this to happen at low to moderate volumes. Unless you're using headphones, your ears are closer to the guitar itself than whatever speakers you're monitoring with, and solid body guitars ring out louder than you'd think. This acoustic sound of the guitar is easily ignored under normal circumstances, but when the pitch coming out of the speakers is no longer the same as what's ringing directly from the guitar, dissonance can be a significant problem if you're hearing both simultaneously.... I've experienced it first hand numerous times. Even using open-back headphones that let in lots of ambient sound can be a problem if you're not turned up loud enough. Put simply, you need to drown out the guitar itself. To confirm whether or not this is actually what's happening, record a brief passage direct into your DAW using an alt tuning, and listen to the playback. If you only hear the warbling/ overtones/ ghost notes/ etc while playing, but the playback sounds normal, then you've got your answer.

Ahh...interesting. Learn something new every day, lol. Good luck with the project!

Perhaps this is stupid question... but what's with the domino strips all over everything?