pearlfukinjam

On 3/13/2018 at 7:30 PM, amsdenj said:

Use Workbench HD and lower the string volume. Generally the piezo pickups are pretty variable so its not unusual to have to balance the strings.

I have done that and they are balanced.  I can lower the low E further to reduce the plink, but then on cleaner sounds, it will be off

On 3/8/2018 at 5:47 AM, fremen said:

Thanks guys ! :)

 

Not Helix related, but related to my Pink Floyd cover band, where the second guitar player uses my Helix : a "Great gig in the sky" cover by our new backing vocalist. I wanted to share that musical moment with you. It's a first take, and we didn't want to fix the very few vocal blurps

 

 

That's your backing vocalist?  :)

What is your lead vocalist like? 

Am I the only person who things the 6th string has a problem regardless of whether or not you have a plinking sound? It just sounds inconsistent to all the other strings. It has way more honk than any of the other strings do, and I literally played 4 Variaxes. I don't know why they don't compensate for this in the modeling. It's super annoying to deal with.

 

The problem is if you ever do any type of boost that gives more bite to the other 5 strings, the 6th strings becomes way too grating. I don't know how many of you just play low gain rock, but if you play with higher treble sounds or high gain, it becomes an issue. 

I have the same issue.  It ususally occurs on the strat setting, bridge pickup and tone all the way up.  The more distortion, the worse it gets.  Actually any of the previous variables adds to the issue

Thx for this. I find it helpful too to quickly look it up in a single spot, instead of searching online for the info.

No it does not save the factory presets. It provides a revised set of factory presets. Some of the old ones are replaced with new ones. Others are updated. Most of the factory presets are unchanged but the update saves nothing. It replaces all factory presets, mostly with the same presets but still - it replaces them; it does not save them.

 

You may notice that immediately after the firmware upgrade all the previous setlists, both factory and user setlists, still remain in the Helix device. But the update procedures are not complete. The mandatory Global Reset is what replaces all setlists. You could choose not to do this but you will encounter problems.

Is there ever a list posted of which presets get updated?  I can identify some, sure, but remembering 100s is a bit much ;)

How much of the 'Strat' sound do you lose when removing the Strat body for the neutral one?

What was your acoustic preset like?

Richie Castellano's are really good with the Variax.  I've been getting great sounds with them.

http://line6.com/support/topic/26009-richie-castellano-variaxe-acoustic-presets/

The most prominent the plink sounds off is when using it with distortion with a decent amount of treble.

 

 

That's what I've found too.

I ripped all the modeling stuff out of my JTV59.  It's a really nice guitar and deserves better than to be plagued by all the problems with Low E string plink for the modeling.

When I removed the Piezo bridge, I noticed that the piezo saddles looked almost exactly like a crown for a tooth.  I had a bad crown and decided to use the piezo saddle that I removed from my JTV59 in place of my worn out and cracked crown.  The new crown is working GREAT!!!  I am able to chew steak and it's even strong enough to open a beer bottle with.  One problem though... every time I try to sing, I have this annoying plink sound coming out of my mouth.  What do I do now?

Try one of these fret wraps, should fit well over your teeth:

Also the camouflage means no one will notice.

Previously I bought a 89f.  It had the plink issue on multiple strings.  It was most prominent with higher distortion and seemed more likely to occur around the 12th fret.  I tried a few of the techniques listed in the doc here.  It wasn't able to reduce or eliminate it much, so I sent it back.

Fast-forward 3 months, I bought a 89 last week.  When I first started playing, it had the plink again and it was stronger and more noticeable. I found the bridge mag pickup was very high and sometimes interred with the strings.  I lowered it down and it was gone. Tried all the models and couldn't replicate it. 

After about a week of playing, it does appear on the low-E string, only with the Strat model and high distortion.  It's not the biggest deal to be, but something I'd like to solve.  

I got a fretwrap and Elixir polyweb strings coming, so I'll test and see if it helps.  

Thx for posting this!  

Have you only had the problem on the 6th string?  

You have the 89f if I remember correctly?

There isn't one...at least nothing universal that can be magically applied to any and all afflicted instruments. L6 formally announced in that epic length thread over on the Variax forum, that they were no longer devoting resources to the "plink" issue.

 

 

Oh Ok, what kind of hoping I had missed it and would be interested in applying the solution ;)

Gonna second this. If you look in the Variax forums, you will see an extremely long thread about problems with the sound of the 6th string on the Variax. Psarkissian can attest to that (I believe they are the one fixing my JTV89 now, actually). I suspect that these refurbs are models that have been sent back by various users/companies because of this problem and that the problem has been fixed now. So buying the refurbs may be more likely to result in a "good" guitar.

Nope.  I bought one refurbished and had the problem.  Tried a bunch of different fixes.  Sent it back.  

What fix are you talking about?

I started a ticket with Support and they wanted me to send it in.  Prob be gone a month.

My advice would be to turn off the touch sensitivity for the show. 

I'd say get one, but only buy it from a place with a good return policy.  I did from Musician's Friend, had the plink and tried a few of the suggestions. Was able to reduce but not eliminate it so I returned it. 

So it appears that the issue is occurring again with the 11th switch.  Since I upgraded it doesn't appear to be software but hardware.

Any suggestions to "clean" the button so to speak that that it doesn't always think a finger is on it?

I turned off touch sensitivity until I need it.

It seemed to always occur on the 11th footswitch (bottom row, 2nd from right).  The touch sensitivity wouldn't work, though the button did.  

Actually I was on 2.10.  I upgraded to 2.11 and it appears to have been corrected. Touch sensitivity is back .  Hasn't happened once on multiple patches in about 1/2 hr.  

Thx all!

Then it would seem that your guitar suffers from a much less virulent form of the disease. The really horrible ones are like nails on a chalkboard...

Indeed.  I wish there was a solution for this. I returned my 89f because of it. :(  Iove the idea of the multi-guitar and tunings, just couldn't deal with that sound.

I see what you're saying, but it will happen right after going to a new preset and I haven't touched anything.  I can cancel out of the "reassign" and within 30 secs it does it again.

Ever since upgrading to 2.11, this randomly starts flashing on some presets without my input.  I can clear the msg and then it will randomly happen again.  It causes problems if I"m in the middle of editing a preset, it will all of a sudden take over and stop whatever I was doing for this command.

Or sometimes it will just randomly jump to another pedal I had selected to another one, without input.

Has this happened to anyone else?

How do I make it stop?

I cannot believe Miroslav is still arguing so many pages into this thread. I just picked up a JTV89 that also has the 6th string problem and I am determined to fix it. As a former pro guitar tech myself, I am confident that I will be able to. Having only had one day with the guitar so far, here are my two cents:

 

-It is not a firmware problem. Saying it could be fixed with a firmware update is not only unrealistic, but that isn't even a true fix. That is compensating for a mechanical problem and not truly fixing it. Since the problem is undeniably mechanical in nature, the exact compensation needed may vary from instrument to instrument, so one firmware "fix" to rule them all is likely impossible. Maybe my guitar needs a notch filter at 2.1 kHz but yours needs a notch at 2.3 kHz. One should always fix the root cause, not mask it with filters.

-The noise is almost certainly due to some kind of sympathetic vibration (which may in term be causing a rattle). Potential sources - strings behind the nut (in fact, I know that contributes, but it is not the only cause), string behind the saddle, and potentially an improper fit of the string to the saddle. Strings behind the nut and behind the saddle are... annoying, but easy to fix (even expensive guitars have this, I had a lot of irritating noises like that on my Music Man Luke III) - I have used adhesive window insulation before (comes in a roll) that worked great, but will likely need something smaller for the bridge portion. The saddle fit is also easily remedied, just need a file as previously suggested.

 

I agree that it's annoying that Line 6 is not better about fixing the issue in house, but there are only so many things that could be causing it. To answer the question of "Why doesn't the A string do it?" if it hasn't already been answered - well, the A string is less thick, it probably sits in the saddle like it's supposed to. Additionally, it has less mass and does not vibrate as much. There may be a lot of fancy electronics in this guitar, but it is still just a guitar and guitars are not complicated things.

Please share if you find a fix.  I got a 89f and just returned it because of the plinking.  It was very noticeable on the low E string, but also heard it on the upper frets (12+) of the higher strings too.  I put some felt just behind the nut to dampen the strings, which helped but only in certain ways (hard to describe).  It was still noticeable, esp with higher distortion, but also without it.  It also depended on how I played

I love the idea of the guitar and would like to get one, if it would be without the issues :)

Is it worse on the 89 compared to the 59 and 69?  

:lol:  :lol:  :lol:

At first glance I thought it was an alternate tuning!!

You're the 2nd person to think that in the thread, I must not have been super clear about that :)  That's quite a wild alt tuning!

Indeed, I"ve noticed it's helped.  Also added cut up blanket just past the nut around the strings.  It's helped the plinking quite a bit.  Still not quite there yet...  ;)

Have you ever tuned a Floyd Rose or other floating tremolo?

Try tuning your low E, then high E, A, then B, D then G, it should cut down the amount of "passes".

 

My JTV89F stays in tune for a long time, and I'm definitely less than gently with it (especially when I forget it's not an actual acoustic!!). 

Thanks for the tip.  I had been tuning them in this order, which is similar: lowE-e-b-a-g-d 

I used the 89 pickups in Workbench and it does sound quite a bit better.  Not quite as good as my Les Paul, but it's pretty good and close. Thanks for the tip!

Also I noticed that I get some plinky sounds when there is more gain and I have the tone knob turned up, esp on the higher frets of the mid/higher strings.  But also the Low E. 

Any tips?

Thx!