Thark

I’ve been impressed by the Line 6 Powercab Plus ... so much so that I bought a second one for stereo. After having tried amps and FRFR speakers this option presented itself and I’m glad I explored it. 

Not all truss rods are righty-tighty, lefty-loosey, just most. I ran across a video of a bass with the reverse of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZhrI4l8WAQ . BTW, Dave's guitar maintenance and repair vids on YouTube are very interesting and informative and usually a hoot to watch.

Better yet, don’t watch TV. Like Frank Zappa said, it oozes slime.

Edit: I believe that he also said “Shut up ‘n play yer guitar”.  :)

Here's a tip for efficiently previewing IR's if you have a Variax guitar. First set up a simple set of blocks including an IR block. It won't really matter which IR you choose, just put one in. Now, with the IR block highlighted, right click on the IR select bar and choose Variax tone. You can now switch between IR's using your tone control ... much easier than HX edit or bending over and changing on the Helix. You can audition the full bank of IR's in a very short time using this trick. You could, of course, choose a foot pedal rather than the Variax tone control but I find that I get more control over switching with the tone control. Also, if you're not using a Variax then the foot pedal would be your best option.

Edit: Forgot to say that if you put a looper at the beginning of your block chain and record a few seconds of guitar and set it to loop you don't even have to play to audition your IR's.

I don’t think it will matter which you use for left and right. Swapping them back and forth will just move things from left to right and vice versa. 

This is likely a dumb question but how does it connect to the Helix? Usb?

How ‘bout a Line 6 Powercab Plus? They sound great and can be tilted back if needed.

4 hours ago, GingerLefty said:

 

It's always a problem for me when I am in my home studio recording. It can only get worse now.

Do what I did. Get yourself a mini-refrigerator for the studio and stock it up!

Hi Danny. Yes, there is a guide on YouTube ... several in fact. The one that I used (very successfully, I might add) is:

Give it a try. It's really cool!

My impression of the capabilities of the Helix Floor just went up a notch or two last night at band rehearsal. I had just learned how to alter block parameters with the footswitches a couple of hours before. As we were playing I decided that the chorus effect wasn't quite right so I put the Helix into switch programming mode (if that's what it's called) and tweaked the chorus 'till it was to my taste. This all while we were playing! What a sweet feature!

Not enough drive on your amp model? Kick it into switch programming mode and notch it up until it's to your taste. Only takes seconds and you don't have to stop playing.

3 hours ago, EooN said:

@ rd2rk Thanks, but I had a lightbulb moment and managed to fixed the damned thing myself :) 

So what was wrong you may ask? I said "no"  when Repaer and Cubase asked if they could access my microphone when I run them for the very first time. Even though I didn't use a microphone as a sound input, it seems to have blocked all inputs altogether. 

 

I allowed both Reaper and Cubase to access the mic in the privacy settings et voila!

I had the same problem back when Mac OS was last updated to Mojave. What a dumb thing for the Apple software people to to! Makes me wonder what kind of silly things like this will pop up in future updates.

Agree with Gin and Jersyboy. There is no reason to worry about having no strings on the neck, at least for a short period of time. For a longer time you might want to straighten the neck with a truss rod ajustment and then re-set the relief after the new strings are on. A couple of reasons for removing all strings: oiling the fretboard to prevent cracking from excessive dryness (it’s *really* dry where I live, especially in the winter), leveling and crowning frets.

I do all of my own guitar maintenance and most repairs and upgrades. I have so many instruments that it would cost a pile to have someone else do it ... and it’s kind of fun. Also, you know for sure that the work has been done the way you want it.

5 hours ago, cbrillow said:

Decent tip, thanks.

 

I usually just change strings one at a time, though, which lets me keep the neck fairly consistently tensioned. Don't know if this is generally recommended or not, it's just the way I've done it for years...

Yes, this is the way that I normally do it as well. However, this time I was putting a set of locking Grovers onto the guitar and had all the strings off.

Hi all. I have two JTV59's which I love playing and which are both loaded up with Arislaf's "Realistic Bundle" (https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=24065.0). They pretty much do it all for me but there is one minor irritation ... changing strings. It's pretty tough to slot the strings in the bridge and then wind them on the tuning machine without having the string fall out of the bridge. There's a simple solution to this though. A piece of tape holds the strings in nicely until they can be wound up to pitch.

Still ... it would be fun to give it a go.

Too bad we’re so far apart. If not we could get together and hook up our PC+ cabs. :)

Bonjour, Steve. This idea is just something that occurred to me one day. I wasn’t really concerned about running in stereo or even whether one uses midi cables or the L6 digital cable in the next firmware update. It seems to me that if the digital signal is available on the output of the PC+ it should be possible to pass it on to the next PC+ in the chain. If this is the case then it should be possible to connect more than two PC+ cabs together. Also, if the digital signal can pass from cab to cab, then (after the next upgrade) the “change speaker model”  should reach each cab.

This is just a fanciful thought on my part. I do own two PC+ cabs and they are certainly more than enough for my needs. It would be cool however to try hooking up three or more cabs. :)

Here’s a (possiby silly) question that popped in to mind as I woke up today. What would happen if you were to daisychain *more* than two powercabs together?  For example, could, say, six powercabs be stacked (ala Marshall stacks) and linked together via L6 link cables.? Admittedly, it would be an expensive set of stacked speakers but setting that aside for the moment, would it work?

18 minutes ago, silverhead said:

This will work to a large extent but there will be at least a minor difference in the sound of the wireless/battery/1/4" output from the Variax vs. the VDI output. Consequently, during the soundcheck with 1/4" you won't be hearing exactly what the audience will hear during the show using VDI. Also, depending on how you set up your presets for VDI input you might have to edit them during soundcheck to include the Guitar input.

Ahh ... forgot that. Another instance of my being lazy, LOL! For the past while I’ve only used the VDI input. Can’t remember when I last used the 1/4” input. 

On 2/3/2019 at 9:23 PM, Indianrock2020 said:

That's a good idea, I'll try it.    I'm probably also going to get the Relay G10s wireless, but not sure I'll use it with the JTV since I'd have to go back to using the guitar battery etc.

Why not use the wireless (and the battery) for soundcheck and then switch to vdi for the show? You were originally going to switch cables anyway. Or the looper, as Kilrahi suggests. :)

On 1/15/2019 at 1:13 PM, BillyQuan said:

 

Hey thanks, I will definitely look around from now on.  I have learned to do a basic set up, but doing intonations on FR still seems like a big pain.

If you’re interested, there are a whole whack of howto videos on Youtube. I especially recommend “Dave’s World of Fun Stuff”. He does a new video about every two or three days and has been at it for at least ten years. Needless to say there are *lots* of them. (Warning: Dave has a tendency to rant sometimes, which I think makes it more interesting. Look for his opinion on Rickenbacker basses).

I got interested in guitar maintenance (and some repairs) as my collection grew. I could never afford to have a setup done on each instrument and now that I’ve retired it’s kind of grown into a hobby. I’ve even done a couple of tweaks on other guitar player’s instruments.

6 minutes ago, phil_m said:

 

The complete L6 Link functionality for the Powercab Plus that will allow control along with the audio communication is coming in the 2.8 firmware upgrade.

When this happens my rig will be perfect for me!

Cheers.

I did it. The main thing that I’d like to see added is midi-over-digital-connection which would get rid of the need for a cable. Not interested in 2x12 speaker as that would increase the weight, which I don’t need at my age. Also, I find my powercab plenty loud for my purposes ... it’ll keep up with our drummer and other guitar player (who can easily get out of hand!). I guess what I’m saying is that I’m mostly satisfied with my speaker, so much so that I bought a second one to run in stereo when possible.

Here's a heretical idea. Don't play the 6th string ... ala Keith Richards. You could even get rid of it altogether. :)

LOL. I’m so lazy! I almost never change anything on the main unit. You have to bend over and all.

Thanks, Kilrahi. 

It's easy using HXEdit ... just do a copy and paste. Mark the preset you want to copy and right click to select "copy" and then mark the preset position you want to copy it to and, again, right click and select "paste". Done.