kenmac1

I picked up a replacement Helix on Monday since the other one kept crashing., dumping patches, basically screwing up... (These things love me) I have tried several times with this one to update the firmware, but it fails each time. The package opens (mac) download into my macbook completes, but then when it switches to screen two, "Verifying", nothing happens. The little bar which should move across showing progress / completion does nothing, and it just sits there like a dead mullet. So I have now downloaded the package three times off the site, and attempted multiple times with each package, same problem continues. Has anyone else had this? How do I get past this? I have my band due here literally any minute to rehearse, in fact bassist is pulling in now, and no Helix. Until the upgrade installs, the helix controller thing inside my computer will not interface with it, so I can't reinstall my presets from the last unit. PS I f---g hate these things. I have had three so far, and each one has been a pain in the butt for one reason or another.

Cheers Phil, Theoretically I guess that makes sense, but I have no idea where to even begin with that dual input idea, which to me seems like the most logical of the two options offered. One day they will make these pedals with three rows of buttons instead of the two, and I won't need to minimize on my patch sounds, as i will have enough to get every sound I want without compromising.

Can someone please explain step by step, in the most basic manner possible how to change the input sound on two of the snapshots within an eight snapshot set from the JTV models to using the Magnetic Pickups inside of the JTV? I need to know exactly which buttons to press or turn (or both) how many times they need to be pressed... What will be displayed, in what colour (white, grey...) on the screen to show me that it is where it needs to be. Every single step of the way, since I am sick to death of this thing freezing up, or locking up my macbook pro, or otherwise doing it's own thing rather than what i need it do achieve. On six of the eight patches within the snapshot set, I am using JTV sounds, Acoustic 4 and 5, Reso 2 (Sitar) Tele, Strat and Les Paul... However for the two solo patches (Lead 1 and Harmony Lead) i want to use the magnetic pickups, so I can switch using the blade switch between neck, middle, and bridge, humbucker or single modes... I know it can be done, but have no clue how to achieve this. The input is set to multi, so that should allow the Helix and JTV to jump from emulated sounds to pickups. Cheers Groovers and Gurus.

It started working. Not sure how or why, it just suddenly did what I wanted it to do, after freezing up a few times and being turned off, on, (almost thrown at the wall by that stage). So I got the patches I wanted sorted. May still fine tune them later when my ears have had a few hours to recover from the marshmallow fuzziness I now have, but at this stage I have it set with six and 12 string acoustic, clean electric, crunch rhythm, overdriven / phased electric, Sitar, Lead and Lead/harmony sounds in the one set, and all the guitars seem to be switching from between models instantly, flawlessly. Cheers groovers.

I managed to work out how to change individual patch names last night before you replied, because I saw another post where several guys had the same problem and somebody told them how to do it on a computer screen, so I did it that way. But thanks. As for the brackets, as I select each instrument (Acoustic 1, Acoustic 2, Lester...) they definitely have brackets around them, and that seems to be how it sets as default. I just rang the store I got it from, but nobody there really knows anything about this gear, since they are old school players, guitar, stomp boxes, valve amp... So they are now calling the Australian rep for the company to see if he can work out why this is not working. I have been selecting the sounds by having the JTV plugged, in, and when I want patch 1 for example to be a Strat, I dial that in on the JTV, and it automatically corresponds on the screen of both the Macbook and the Helix, and the brackets seem to be automatic. However when I save it and move to the next bank, that has also adopted the same input.

I can't see any way to attach a screenshot of my computer to the forum, that way you guys can see exactly what I am seeing, and might be easier to identify where this thing is screwing me up. Is there a way to attach photos?

It is definitely set to per preset, and still refusing to play the game. I'm sure the Helix gear hates me. I even connected it to my macbook, so I could get a better look at the setting on the big screen. When I look down the input screen on the Mac interface, I have it set as Multi, then selected Variax, acoustic 1 (for example) under variax settings is says per preset, not global, but as soon as I jump to the next screen after saving that patch as I want it, and select 12 string, the first patch also reverts to 12 string. Another thing it is not letting me do is name each individual patch within the snapshot set as per what they are meant to be set as, ie Acoustic, 12 String, Tele Clean... This is really doing my freaking head in. What else could be causing this, or may need to be altered please?

Thanks guys. This makes some sense. Still wish it were as easy as setting a distortion pedal.... but hey this is the computer age. I did find a later manual last night, and it has a whole added section on snapshots that is not in version 1.0 that I had been using. Hence I was seeing all these guys doing snapshot stuff, and my manual that had been printed off had no reference to them at all, so I was totally shot.

I have no idea what any of that means Meister. I may have been using the HD for a few years, but i am still a simple pedal user at heart, and as much as people say the HELIX is meant to be easier to use than the HD, I beg to differ. This thing is screwing with my head, three months down the track. In fact I usually just give up and go back to using amps and stomp boxes with old fashioned strats, teles and other guitars in my harem for gigs, rather than tear what few remaining strands of hair I still desperately cling to from their defective follicles. I guess question one, can each individual bank within the Snapshot set be assigned a different input sound from the JTV, ie acoustic, 12 string, Les Paul, Tele... or does a group of snapshots in the same bank need ot be assigned the same input sound across the board? If so where is the information on that process please? The manual I printed off does not even seem to go into snapshots looking at the index, so I scoured a few dozen videos on youtube to just to learn how to activate snapshots. These guys seem to know what they are doing, but the camera work and descriptions leave a lot to be desired for the technically challenged among us (That would be me and my ilk) I'm now gonna go and see if i can see this global change thingamy, although I have no idea where to even look.

G'day groovers, I am using the Helix and a couple of JTV guitars direct to a Desk / PA. What I am hoping to achieve is a way to get between sounds without the dreaded silent gap, ie using snapshots, but what I need is something i am not sure can be done using this gear. The shop seemed to believe these things can be done, but I think either I have the HELIX beat, or it has be beat. Either way it is not playing the game. I want to be able to jump between a clean "Acoustic" (JTV) sound, "12 Sting Acoustic" (JTV), a Combination / split of Acoustic and magnetic pickups with the pickup running through a crunch drive amp sim, A nice usable clean electric sound maybe with a little chorus and reverb, Crunch rhythm sound with light reverb, Crunch rhythm with Flanging, A standard smooth fairly high gain, volume boosted lead sound with the same delay as used on the acoustic patches, and lastly the same sound with a split harmony a fifth above. Whether these are achieved by using stereo patches or not I do not care, as long as I can switch from acoustic, to 12 string, to Les Paul or Tele, or Strat... with the various fx and / or amps I have set within the snapshot banks. So that will use the eight snapshots in one bank. Now my problem is that I can't seem to switch between JTV sounds with the footswitch inside of snapshot. If I set one snapshot to be an acoustic sound, so I switch out most of the fx and the amp sims, and just use a little eq, and delay with the JTV set to acoustic one, all well and good, but when I set up the next snapshot to be identical but with a 12 string, it changes the input sound of every patch, same goes for if I set up a Les Paul tone or similar, all my acoustic, 12 string, and everything else revert to that electric guitar inside the JTV. / HELIX rig. Is there a way to create all these sorts of sounds in the single batch of snapshots. My music requires me to switch back and forth from acoustic to electric, or combinations in some cases several times per song, as well as jumping to higher gain, chorused, flanged and other fx like wah all night long, and the silent gap between changeovers is frustrating. In fact the whole reason I went to the Helix was because I expected the Snapshot feature to be able to do these changeovers without losing sound each time I press a button, otherwise I would never have switched from the HD500X. Could have saved myself $2700 AU by staying where i was. To try and be more specific. When I switch between six and 12 string acoustic, the rest of the patch is identical, so the same eq with the same settings, same gentle delay and compression is used in both "Acoustic" based patches. When I want the split sound so an acoustic tone on one side and a magnetic pickup on the other with amp sims... That seems ok, but as soon as I set the next patch to have a 12 string instead of a six string acoustic, every patch adopts that JTV setting, so if I then set up the next patch wanting the JTV to now be a Les Paul, or a Tele.... with an amp sim, so I switch out the eq, and compression I was using in the acoustic sound, and switch the amp, distortion flanging... back in, but every variax sound becomes that Les Paul or tele... across all eight snapshots, so I lose the acoustic sounds.

I can't believe this site edits out language. In some instances certain vocabulary is appropriate to demonstrate how f--g useless the company or product are proving to be. So for those reading the post above, I did not use the word lollipop, I'm sure you can work out from the surrounding words what would have been used in those instances. FFS, get with the times Line 6, censorship of language on a music site is beyond ridiculous! Hell even Rolling Stone and similar magazines let these words through the editorial process without deeming them in any way problematic, as many musicians will use such language without giving it a second thought, you pack of F--g LOLLIPOPS! Could you imagine reading a Guns n Roses, Motley Crew or similar interview where the artist is constantly quoted as using the word Lollipop to express frustration or whatever the case may be? Toughen up Princesses.

Last night the entire unit decided to screw up, all the lights were either on or off, and there was no way to get past this. I was unable to change patches, kick in fx or make any changes, so I had no choice but to do a dreaded hard reset. It has made it all tickety boo again, (for now) but I am not lollipoping impressed to put it bluntly, there had to be a way to not lose all the presets, but nobody at Line 6 bothered to respond to me. I put in a ticket on this a couple days ago after my first forum post was deleted, and have not had a reply there, not that i am surprised. I am now in the process of installing the last backups I was able to make, onto both of my HDs. You'd think the company would be more keen to sort out problems when they know the client is using over $8k worth of their gear at gigs, (three JTVs, one original Variax and two HD500X units in my arsenal) and can be either fantastic advertising for them or a complete lollipop when people ask for opinions about the equipment and after sales service... I guess not. I sincerely hope their new unit is a lollipopload more reliable than these units have proven to be. I have taken the day off to waste trying to get the bloody thing back to even balances and all that lollipop, because as I said I had not been able to back it up for a couple of weeks, and in the last couple of weeks alone i had rewritten or created several of the patches entirely, to suit some of our newer songs we are recording and now performing live. I have a gig tonight, and can't afford to have my sounds out of whack, going from soft to loud or whatever the case may be whenever I switch between patches. On the positive side, I might find time to take my dog to the beach later today if I get this sorted on time. A little suggestion for those out there who are having difficulties getting sounds balanced between patches, seeing as different sounds can appear much louder or softer at home than they actually are in a band environment... I plug both outputs into individual valve amps (at the return jack of the fx loop) with the amps set to completely bypass the eq and preamp stage (My amps Roland Bolt models, allow me to select the positioning of the fx loop via a three way switch). Then I just get my db meter out, and switch back and forth between the amps on each sound to get each as closely balanced according to the meter as I can, allowing about a three db boost for my solo patches. On some patches you may not want each sound at an identical volume, for example I have several patches where I have an acoustic sound on one side and an electric on the other simultaneously, and I like the acoustic a little louder in the mix to add body and clarity to those patches. So what I do there is after I have set all the other patches perfectly in balance, I move away a couple of feet from the amp, sit the meter on a stool, and get the overall volume of the adjusted patches, which will already be pretty well the same as each other, give or take a db or so. Then I adjust the split tone to how I want them to be split, and bring the overall volume of that split patch up to match the overall volume of the other patches. On stage this will mean for me at least that the acoustic side of such patches will be louder than the electric side, but the overall volume according to the meter is unchanged, so there is no noticeable difference in volume when I jump to those types of patches.... As any guitarist knows, even though a distorted sound may appear loud at home, when you take it to a gig, the distortion actually gets swallowed up in the mix due to the compression process, and i find that the clean tones I thought were about the same, tend to come through loud and clear while the overdriven tones disappear in some instances totally. So this is my way of getting past that little problem, and it only took me 30 years of gigging to work out how to do this. With individual stomp boxes it is a lot easier, but with patches I find this to be the best way.

Two others have said much the same thing I am thinking, faulty switch, not latching properly. I had issues a year or so back where the HD500X kept changing by itself, and it was faulty switches, in fact about half of them were defective, straight out of the factory.

Over the last couple of months I have had an intermittent fault, whereby the HD is not detected when plugged into the Macbook interface. A week or two back it decided to give up completely, as in now it is rarely ever detected when plugged in. Other faults in recent times include having my sounds cut out briefly during shows, not sure if that is related, but it is annoying, also can momentarily lose sounds when changing through patches, which obviously is not a good thing, but I just change on beats, to cover for that loss. Anyhow, I have tried different USB cables, and also my older macbooks, to ensure the fault is not in those items. I am running OS X 10.10 Yosimite, in my main macbook pro, which worked fine until recently, also tried via my older white MacBooks with 10.6.8. unsuccessfully. It went from occasionally not interfacing, to me having to plug in and out a few times for it to detect (at the foot controller end) to now if I am very lucky it might see it from time to time, but I have not been that lucky in the last week or so. I have not been able to back it up for some time, (for obvious reasons), so I am hesitant about doing a hard reset, as I am no guru at programming this thing, and it has taken me a year to get it to the stage where it is, so I dread having to start over.

The cause was a heap of faulty switches. They were replaced after a lot of dramas, since the unit was unavailable in Australia at the time I bought it, so I grabbed one from the US. Neither company wanted anything to do with the repairs, but eventually the US stepped in and sorted the fault. Now that same unit has decided not to allow itself to be seen by the USB interface in the HD suite on my macbook over the last couple of weeks. It did it a couple times randomly back around July / August, along with cutting out on stage and other nice little surprises (Sarcasm is my specialty) but in the last week or so it has completely given up the ghost as far as interfacing, convenient how it happens just out of warranty, not that the warranty is much good having purchased it from the US anyhow. When these things work well they are amazing, but they have so many glitches and gremlins that it is like Line 6 are owned by Microsoft and the software must meet Microsoft's incredibly low standards or reliability and not a level higher in order to be released. I have already tried a different USB cable, and that did nothing, so the fault must be in the unit itself. Having to physically edit all the patches inside the unit itself is a slow tedious painful process as you guys would know.

I am using a HD500X for live work. For some reason I am having to constantly reset the volumes on some of the patches, as they seem to change by themselves from what is preset mid way through gigs or rehearsals, for no apparent reason. My lead sounds are set about 3db louder (using a db meter) than the standard rhythm sounds, and saved as such. Yet for some reason I can be playing along with the band and everything is perfect, and I'll hit a patch, and out of nowhere it seems to just jump through the roof volume wise as if I have physically changed the bloody volume on whatever patch is screwing around on the thing again. It has happened several times, in fact most sessions I find this will happen at least once. It is not specific to one patch, so it is not like I am only having the problem on one particular lead or rhythm patch, it seems to be random, and bloody annoying. What is the likely cause, and how do i get past this issue please? Also I'll piggy back this issue. I managed to lose a power supply for my HD at a gig recently. I own two 500X models, so I have a spare, however it means I do not have one for each unit, so if I need to send one in for repairs (again!) it will mean that my backup will not have a power supply. I have at least 5 other Line 6 power supplies here, for my JTV guitars, recharging the batteries... but I think they are the wrong voltage / current for the HD, or will they work? As far as I am aware the chargers for the JTV batteries are DC output, where the Pod needs AC output, however when I looked on eBay for a spare, the ads seem to say the same supply will power the variax as well as the floor pods and pedals, so I just want to clarify rather than risk cooking a foot controller. The local store has no clue, as I have already asked them.

Quick update, I fitted a set of Tronical tuners to one of my 69ers. I think those things are freaking amazing. Crap loads faster than retuning by hand, and accuracy is at least as good. I will definitely get another set for my other 69 model, because they make live performance stage tuning so much easier, no loss of crowd interaction, since all you do is hit the button and strum a couple of times.

Yeah mate, I put the fault down to being in the HD not the guitar itself. I always tune with the neck pickup by default, it is a habit I got into at a young age, as that pickup hears more of the string vibration than the other middle or bridge pickups can simply because the string vibrates more widely the closer to the centre of it's overall length it is struck. Hence if the pickup is closer to the middle of the string it has more vibration to identify. Basic physics, which even a kindergarten kids should be able to understand. The same goes for when I set up intonation/ harmonics, I use the neck pickup for that exact same reason. The signal is obviously getting through loud and clear, because if it is not in mute mode, it comes cranking through the amp / PA system, but the HD Tuner has no clue what is going on. Just a frustrating gremlin inside the otherwise pretty impressive little gadget. The Clip tuner seems very good, quite stable and does not seem to bounce around at all like many of the tuners on the market. Did not try the Tronicals the other night, as I got too busy pre rehearsal to get around to fitting them. So I guess that is a task for today. Above it should have said "may suffer" instead of may not suffer... My bad. but I am sure anyone who read the line worked that out.

I bought the Polytune clip last week, and to be honest I am not sure it is gonna be any better than using the auto tuners anyhow. It is still reliant upon hearing / feeling the string vibrations through the neck, the same way the Tronicals are, and if it is a loud room, with other vibrations resonating through the neck, then chances are that the Clip may not suffer the same sympathetic vibration issues as the Tronicals. About to fit my Tronicals now, so I will give them a session with the band tonight, however it is only a rehearsal, so it is not like they will be competing with the background noise of a bar with punters or loud music to contend with. I'll also take the Poly clip with me and put it on my other JTVs, although I expect that both will work perfectly well under a rehearsal / jam room scenario. Live at a venue... that might be a different matter entirely.

G'day Steve, Mine is not slow, it often does not see the notes at all. I can hit a string over and over without it even registering on the metre, or maybe it will register then simply cut out and lose the note for me, which is the last thing any of us need in a live situation. I have a clip-on tuner or two around the place, but have also broken a couple over the years, so I think fitting the self tuning keys are less likely to suffer that fate. I guess since I am clearly not alone with this problem as you have mentioned, it is something Line 6 would be looking into rectifying (hopefully sooner rather than later). I'm sure we would not be the only two guys using this gear who find that the tuner on the HD is irresponsive. It would most likely be a matter of simply looking at what the cause is and creating a download patch to fix it. If they can see where the problem is, then they can see what the cause of the problem is, and it would follow on that they can then look at the best solution to that problem. it might be as simple as creating a pre-amp patch that runs pre the tuner to boost the signal so that it hears the notes more clearly? Just a thought, as I am far from tech, but to me it is a matter of the tuner simply not hearing the notes, so my guess would be to boost the input signal to that tuner a little bit and give it more sound to respond to. As working musicians, we should not be put into a position of needing to carry a second separate tuner to gigs, when this HD system is supposed to have a good functioning tuner built in, specifically designed to interact with the Variax guitars. They are so close to creating the Holy Grail of guitar gear here, but still so far away, and it is silly little things like this, which make the unit so frustrating to those of us who rely on them night after night. Having a guitar that can emulate a heap of instruments is awesome. It makes my life a tonne easier than the old school gigs where I used to literally lug a six and 12 string acoustic to each gig, as well as a Mandolin and at least one Electric. Then there were the various stomp boxes or the multi fx unit on the floor, which did not interact at all with the guitar, so I was jumping back and forth mid song between electric guitars and the acoustic instruments (held on a stand at playing height). As I said this really is close to the Holy Grail, but it has some annoying little traits that should be so easy to rectify, and seem to get overlooked time and again. I'd still be keen to buy your tuners if they are in working order mate. If I hate them, then so be it. If that is the case, then I guess a clip on tuner is the next unfortunate step in the process of overcoming this problem.

Max, it is an original band, and it is a sad situation in Perth, but the Original scene is puss. Happy to be one of those old guys who loves his valve tones, at least the sound is real, earthy and it breathes life into the band's overall aural assault. I could go back to playing covers and be playing full houses night after night, as I did for many years, but it is not satisfying. I'd rather play my own tunes to a room with a small audience, who appreciate what we are writing, than be a human juke box, playing other people's hits. Been there done that. Like most musicians, I have played festivals, and big open air venues with thousands of people there. But it was in cover bands, and as exciting as that was to think "Wow as far as I can see there are faces watching us..." It still left me feeling somewhat unfulfilled. As for being paid, it is a door deal, so if we get a good night, we might make a few hundred on the door, but more often than not, we barely cover expenses. I do not care, I earn a bloody decent income on my day gig, (more than most so called rock stars these days) so I do not play for the money, I play for the joy of getting up there and showing the punters what we are writing / producing. Playing my own songs to 20-30 really appreciative punters is far better than playing someone else's hits for 500 people, who are just drunk and annoying. I suppose if I were single and looking to get laid by a different chick or two every night, that covers would appeal to me more, but I have a Goddess, I don't need to impress the short skirts at the front of the dance floor any more. I've done the blind tests, tried all manner of amps, and directly into the PA, and it is not just me who keeps pulling my sound back to the Roland Valve output stages. My Bassist and Drummer both say it every time I pull out the twins (as I call my Bolt amps) again, how much more alive and less sterile the sound is. I have gone months playing through various different amp configurations at gigs and rehearsals with this HD500X and Variax combinations. I was happy (not ecstatic) with the sounds I was getting with the various solid state and valve rigs, but as soon as I switch back to the Twins, even though I can't put into words what it is that is otherwise missing, the sound is complete again, or very close to it. It is still not the bees knees. I mean as an example, a week or so back I decided to crank my Engl Fireball, and the crunch tone of the clean channel fully cranked gain (but at a room volume) made both myself and my guitarist friend who was here smile from ear to ear from the very first chord, far more than I have done with the HD rig yet. The Fireball (Angel) patch in the HD is not as close as it could be trust me. There is something to be said about the sound of a good high quality valve stack. It is not that I am refusing to embrace the digital sounds, or at least try to embrace them. I know what I want to hear. When I crank out a tune on my Convertible amp, with a set of classic and high gain modules in the second channel, every musician in the room looks up and pays attention. The thing just barks like an angry pittbull with a cat cornered. Or when I belt out a punchy rhythm sound with my 100w Bolt in the overdrive channel (full gain) although it is not a high gain amp tone at all, in fact quite mild, the sound of that valve output stage just bursts through the Lorantz speaker (My personal favourites) like all hell is about to break loose. I get some great sounds out of the HD500X rig, I really to, but I've yet to dial in a sound that just makes me want to play all night long. Using the Twins at the arse end of the set up definitely brings it one step closer to the sonic nirvana I am looking for. While it may not be exactly the sound I want, the fact that I can get so many vastly different sounds at the touch of a footswitch, makes it a worthwhile way to go about getting useable stage sounds. And it still sounds better than most of the guitarists I share the stage with, mostly because I do not use such highly compressed distorted sounds, so my tone still cuts through. I agree regarding using the Bogner Spider amps with the gear. We had a second guitarist in Southern Cross with me a few years ago, who used one of those, and it simply did not cut it. On it's own it sounded superb, but as soon as the band fired up (back when I was using my Engl Screamer as my main amp) he just sounded thin and empty. So much compression that he got buried. My combo would be on maybe 2-3, he'd be at 5-6 and still barely had the headroom to come over the top for a solo when he hit boost. In my collection of valve amps I still have a Fender Champ, a Seymour Duncan 100w Convertible (combo), An Engl Fireball (60w stack) and in recent months I have sold both a 5150 and a 6205+ (I think it was called, never got into the sound at all), Engl Screamer 50w combo, Randall 50w valve combo, Both a 50w Ashton valve stack and combo version, (which really are identical to the Randall TD50 anyhow) and still have a few solid state amps sitting around. There are probably a few other valve amps laying around that I am overlooking. My house has more gear than most local hock shops. The biggest problem with suggesting to look at these different stage source.... or whatever Line 6 product may be on offer, is that living in Western Australia, the stores here get the dregs. If I want to specifically try one of those weird or wonderful devices, I am expected to pay a deposit to the store to order it in, because they know that if I do not buy it, they will get stuck with it for a bloody long time, and probably end up selling it at cost just to get rid of it. I am one of the very few local guitarists using this sort of gear, especially to the level I am using it on stage. Most of the kids are high gain solid state crap with a hundred stomp boxes, and the guys my age are all Valve gear with vintage stomp boxes. I am the only guy I know of with any Variax guitars, and I have one original and three current models. I'm the only guy I know of using the HD500X rigs live. I rang the only two major Line 6 stockists to see about trying out a pair of DTs, and neither even had one for me to try out. I want to run it as a stereo rig, so obviously I'd need to get a pair, and hear for myself if the improvement is worthy of what will be around a $5k outlay for two amps, or if there is any notable improvement at all. I don't think I will ever beat the rock sound of a good Valve stack with the tubes really cooking, or my 100w Bolt with my old faithful Yamaha Studio Lord in front of it. But I am a realist, and I know that unless I drag a heap of guitars to each gig to cover the bases of acoustic, 12 string..... that the only real way i am gonna come close to getting the sounds I want live is to use the current set up with maybe a little tweaking. I'd rather be 90% of the way there and have a wide variety of sounds, than have one ball breaking tone, for rock, and be having to switch back and forth between instruments all night long. As for a back to back test. Years ago, I had a Fender Custom Shop Tele, and found a Fenix Tele in a guitar shop second hand for a few hundred bucks. Did not even plug it in, just fell in love with how it felt and how it looked. Took her home expecting full well to have to change out the electronics, but it sounded better than the Fender as well. I got a few muso mates to listen, but not facing me so they did not know which guitar was which, and everyone agreed the Fenix was the better sounding guitar. They were shocked that they chose the Fenix over the Custom Shop, but the point I am making is that I could not care less whether it is a certain piece of equipment or not. If the sound is better, that is all that matters.

Poor choice of words on my behalf regarding Gibson pioneering the system. What I should have said was something along the lines of, the Robotic tuners they have used on various models, as to this time as far as i am aware, they are really the only major manufacturer who has embraced the idea, and used them as a selling point. One of my old students had an early Robot Les Paul, and the few times I did play around with it, I liked what it could do, but did think of it as a little gimmicky. I could see a use for it, but was always content to simply hit the Polytune and get on with it. I no longer carry external gear (tuners, pedals...) and rely solely on my HD500x for all those things, I am having issues with the HD500X often failing to hear the notes played, and therefore making tuning impossible, without having to plug either a separate tuner in, or manually tune by ear, I have ordered a set of Tronicals, and hope they might help to get past the problems I am having live. To me, if I can rely on them to at least bring me back to standard tuning fast enough that I only need to jabber to the audience for a few seconds, then I will be a happy little wannabe pretend rockstar.

If your tronicals are still in working order, and you want to sell them, I might be interested. The video reviews I have seen online look pretty good, but nobody has done a review that covers whether or not they respond well under loud gig conditions. Someone here stated that they are not too good under those circumstances. Still, if I could get both 69s tuned before the set, when it is still relatively quiet, I'd be a happy camper, or even take the guitars outside to tune up, or backstage where it is quieter. Then if the tuning in a noisy environment became a problem, I'd just switch to the other 69 or the 89F to finish the set. I bought a set online a few days ago, (Waiting on delivery, as no Australian distributor is onto these things yet) but I have two JTV69 models and an 89F, so the other 69 cold definitely use a set. I do not ever use alternate or open tunings, so to me all I'd need it to do is, get the thing back to standard tuning, preferably while I chatted to the audience for a few seconds as it worked it's magic. I have major issues with the HD500X often not hearing the notes struck / open strings, this makes tuning with that unit near on impossible. I have on many occasions had to resort to hitting root five type double stops at low volume with overdrive to use the beating increments to tune the instrument. Not sure if this is a flaw is the HD500x or a problem with the guitar itself, but all the chords.... do come through loud and clear when played through the amp, so I just fumble through as fast as I can, to get back into the game. Still to me if I were watching some jackass tune this way on stage I'd think it was pretty slack / unprofessional. As much as I love what the Line 6 gear can do, there are still some niggly pain the arse issues, that persist time and again, which simply have to be worked around.

I'm sure most guitarists are aware of the system Gibson guitars have pretty well pioneered, utilising motorised tuning keys, which will automatically tune a guitar in a couple of seconds. Does anyone know of a system like this that can be fitted to the JTV guitars at all? I assume you could get the Gibson set up fitted to a 59 model, but I have two 69s and an 89F, so I am not sure if a similar system is available to fit those. (Yes I realise it would be pointless fitting one to the 89F with the lockers in place, but I use the 69s far more than the 89 anyhow). My reason is that a lot of the time the HD500X does not recognise the string that is being struck to tune it, and it can be impossible to tune by ear in a noisy venue, so a system like this should be a fantastic addition to the JTVs, as it would ensure we are always spot on in tune, and therefore the alternate tunings (for those who use them) within the digital realm would also be accurate (assuming the intonation has been sorted.) Let me know what is out there guys. I assume someone like Ibanez will soon jump onto the idea, and since the headstock / tuner spacings of the JTVs looks to be much the same, they may retrofit.

Cruiser, if that were the case, why then do Line 6 market the DT series of valve powered amps to drive the HD Controllers through? IF there really was no discernible difference between running the HD through a solid state amp or a tube amp, then Line 6 must be selling these units under false pretences. I can understand that if you are using the ultra high gain modern amp sounds the nuances of the valves may not make much difference. The amount of Metal Heads using high gain solid state Randalls and similarly voiced amps demonstrates that very clearly, but if you are using classic old school, raw crunch sounds, the harmonic overtones of output tubes definitely come into play. So under those conditions, the difference between using a solid state amp, (Even an expensive high end model) vs a Clean valve powered amp is very apparent. It is not one of those things you say "Wow, what a freaking difference..." It is more the sort of thing that when you swap to a solid state system you know something is just missing, the sound is still useable, but not quite there. Output valves are what create the harmonic overtones Old School players all crave, not the input valves, (Input valves simply supply the gain, hence the reason so many folks use tube screamers .... to boost the gain of their vale amps, but still insist on valve output stages) so having a valve output stage is always going to help restore some of the natural warmth my generation grew up with. As for a bunch of drunks... I play in an all original Classic Melodic Rock band in sleepy little Perth Western Australia. We are lucky to pull a hundred people to a venue because the punters would rather listen to some moron with a laptop, who calls himself a DJ / Producer, than attend a real gig with real musicians playing real music. Half the time we are playing to less than 20 people, and I could count the number of times in this band where I have had to listen to the noisy drunks from on stage, on one hand with fingers to spare. My band is not Metal, so we do not attract so much of the Drunken Bogan crowd that maybe the heavier bands in town seem to draw, in fact ten people at one of those Metal shows would probably be louder and more out of control, than 50 at one of ours. I do not even turn my amps past three on stage, and the sounds / tones are crystal clear, on angled amp stands pointing at ear height... My drummer is not a hard hitter, he plays to suit the music not his ego, and our stage balance is perfect before it even goes to the desk. If you could not hear the difference under those conditions, then maybe it is you, who needs your ears checked to find out why you can't discern the difference between the sterile sound of a solid state rig vs the warmth of a valve rig, regardless of what gear is inline before the amplification stage? Your tastes may even lean towards favouring the solid state tone over the valve tone with the HD Rig, (I can't imagine that, but younger kids love the high gain solid state tones), but saying it is virtually impossible to tell the difference is like saying it is virtually impossible to tell the difference between a Hyundai wannabe sports car and a Ferrari. They do the same thing, or do they?