Nos402

I just acquired a Variax Limited Amethyst as my new backup Variax (my main is a JTV-69) and I find as with all strat style screw in trem arms that I can't stand how wobbly and loose it is. I know on Strats they recommend using the little springs that go in the whole, but on this guitar the trem hole goes all the way through so the spring would just fall out I imagine. I've also read tons of folks using plumber's tape but I tried that and found that as soon as I unscrewed the bar again, it was all gone, and I have to unscrew the bar to put it in my gig bag and really don't want to apply tape every time I play. I had heard good things about the Callaham replacement blocks, but of course this one has the little circuit board on thee trem block so that seems out as well. Any other ideas? I'm at a loss here! Luckily I don't use the trem much, but when I want to, man I HATE those screw in arms.

So I took a chance on a third party Variax battery that was cheaper and also has a slightly higher capacity. I knew it was possibly a gamble, but It SEEMS to work fine. One quirk is that while normally charged batteries get the slow blinking light (like my other original Variax battery), this one gets the fast blinking "faulty battery" light. Is it possible that it's just because it's not an official Line 6 battery? I've only used it once so far, but when inserted it shows 4 dots and seems to have a normal duration I think (though I've never tried going more than one gig on a single charge yet).

I think this mails it pretty good for me. I went ahead and ordered a QSC K10.2 but yeah, I'm not super picky about the on stage sound as I will usually be running direct, and will feed it direct to the PA. Never the less I do like to have good gear so after a ton of researching and discussing the QSC is what I settled on as it seems pretty universally loved.

After much consideration, research, reading, and discussion with people who know far better than me, I've opted to get a QSC K10.2. I ordered one but now we wait for them to actually come back in stock!

The only reason I wrote it off was that at one point I asked support if it was okay to use the Spider for Bass and they said they wouldn't recommend it above bedroom levels.

So I play a Variax into a Helix. In some bands I play bass and sometimes Keys as well. Usually I run my Helix direct and use in-ears. Occasionally I play with bands who don't want to have anything in their monitors that they don't absolutely need so they prefer some stage amps. Because of this I've considered some FRFR options. However since this isn't something I do often I don't really want to buy some of the more expensive options which are supposedly better. I've been considering the Alto TS312 which a buddy of mine swears by but in the videos I've watched it seems super bass heavy to me (some seem to have had better luck with the TS310 but I wonder if that would that be adequate for bass). My though is that if I get a FRFR I can use for guitar, bass, or keys when necessary. Ah, but I also have a Spider V 120 as a backup rig and in my tests, running my Helix into that with no amp/cab selected on the Spider seems to do a pretty good job for guitar. I don't think they were built to handle bass though. So since I already have a guitar "amp" option for my Helix, I *could* instead just get a small bass combo. Several friends recommend something in the Fender Rumble series, and one friend says used Carvin MB15s are great bang for the buck as they are discontinued. Opinions? 1. get a FRFR for bass, guitar and keys. 2. Use the Spider for guitar and get a small bass combo for bass. Thanks!

There's not a lot of details in there as to exactly WHAT the differences are. That's the first place I looked. I wish I could remember which iteration specifically talked about a Goldtop. I'm guessing it was a previous firmware version, or maybe one of my previous Variaxes (original, and then later 700).

I guess I meant from a more objective/technical perspective. Like "Oh well the Special used a different wood from the standard" or such. Just trying to figure out the differences not from a subjective sonic viewpoint but an objective technical perspective. Like Is Lester 2 basically the SAME guitar as Lester 1 but with different pickups or is it a different guitar? I know at one point in Variax software there was a goldtop but I don't see that mentioned in the manual any more.

So Lester 2 and 4 positions are a Les Paul Standard with P-90s while Special 1,3,5 is a Les Paul Special with P-90s, correct? IS there really any appreciable difference between these models?

I might just go ahead and order some D'Addario auto trim tuners as well as long as I'm "upgrading." At least then I know the specs.

I've just spec'd out an AWESOME Warmoth replacement neck but my Googling has not yet been able to tell me the correct "Tuner Hole Size" for my JTV-69. Does anyone here have the answer handy? Thanks!

EXACTLY! I was convinced it had to be a Helix XLR issue until I realized it ONLY happened on my audio interface, but it's totally baffling as to WHY it would always be the Helix's right XLR regardless of which input on the interface it's hooked up to. I cannot for the life of me figure out the logic there.

So here's a weird problem I can't figure out. When I have both XLR outputs of my Helix hooked up to my Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6 interface, the right XLR from the Helix is significantly louder and also has a hiss. If I turn the Helix off the hiss gets worse and is even there if I unplug the unit. If I plug the Helix XLRs into my in-ears transmitter, all seems fine so it seems like it's just the audio interface. But the weird part to me is that it's always the Helix's right XLR that does this whether it's plugged into input 1 or input 2 of the interface, so it's not something wrong with one of the inputs. I've swapped cables as well. I've turned phantom power off on the interface. This one is truly baffling me.

I know this is an old thread but I'm trying to have one installed on my JTV-69 and I got the exact one linked above (the Fender two-piece retrofit) and my luthier says it won't work. The bottom piece is curved and my slot is flat so the bottom piece already sits below the fretboard instead of flush. Hopefully the one-piece shelf style might work?

Well damn. My luthier says that nut won't work because it's curved and the slot is flat and it's already flush so he can't file the bottom down. I wonder if I need a different model of Earvana. He seems to think I need one of the one-piece models.

Wait, what? All the JTV-69 specs I've ever seen all say 12" radius.

I'm guessing the Fender Retrofit 1 5/8" 12 radius?

Does anyone know which Earvana nut I would use on a JTV-69?

What if you are running two parallel paths in the Helix? I'm guessing the impedance would be set by the first block on path 1?

And thanks for the extremely detailed lesson, Qwerty. It feels so weird to be 37 years into a guitar career and somehow not knowing this stuff. I've never been a vintage gearhead, or even really that much of a pedal freak so I just never had to deal with any super drastic effects like that.

BTW, I edited my original post once I realized why I had only *just* encountered this problem.

Wow, this is all new to me as I've primarily giggled with my Variaxes or used a wireless so I've never run into this until tonight. Just now I put an Arbitrator in front of an Essex 30, and to me the bypassed sound is just unusable. I don't remember ever encountering this before but likely because maybe it's just possible I never used a regular pickup guitar cabled into the guitar input and wanted a patch where I could kick fuzz on/off. I literally thought this was a bug and was about to file a bug report when I did a search and found this thread. Maybe in 37 years of playing, I just never ran a real tone-sucking impedance pedal. This is crazy! I feel like my world just got turned upside down and like "How the hell have I been a professional guitar player for 33 years and never had to deal with this?" My guess because I used wirelesses a lot, and likely pedals that just didn't have as drastic an effect as a Fuzz Face, I'd guess. And then I switched to Line 6 stuff from their first product (the AxSys 212) and Variaxes as soon as they came out. For now I set up a whole separate second path now which seems unnecessarily complicated for just wanting to toggle a fuzz on/off with no gain/tone loss, or setting Input Z manually and I'm guessing compromising the fuzz tone.

Here's a pic of the Tremol-No laying on top of my JTV trem.The black allen screws are directly over the claw screw holes. You can see the JTV claw screws are closer together. The Tremol-No is the standard claw screw spacing I've had on every other guitar I've ever owned. That's the stock claw that came with my JTV-69 when I got it brand new as soon as they were released.

Yes the screws on the claw that the springs attach to. They are Spaced narrower than standard. I discovered that when I went to install my Tremol-No when I first got my JTV-69.

My other post has me thinking that I really want to install a Tremol-No in my JTV-69 but as mentioned in the other post, the JTV trem spring screws are closer together so I would have to fill them and re-drill for the Tremol-No. I've done this for a strap button before using toothpicks and woodglue but I have a few concerns here: 1. I don't know how I would get a drill in there deep enough at the right angle to drill new holes. 2. How would I make sure to position the holes exactly right? Just try and make sure the new screws looked equidistant to the old filled in holes? I feel like this shouldn't be that hard and I really want to do it but also want to make sure I don't mess it up or that it's not far more complex than I think.