Charlie_Watt

Very nice documentation! I have never figured out why LR Baggs did not install a ground wire on their piezos. It is a big mistake not to ground them properly. I guess I would not recommend this to anyone who is not experienced in soldering because this is not an easy job for a beginner.

If it were me I would order a new diode from Digikey and solder it in.

I use the editor all the time with my HD500x and I am satisfied with it. Not great but functional.

It blows the diode if you touch the battery on backwards. This happened a lot to early Variax users. The clips only clip on one way but they touch the wrong way too and if you are not looking, it's easy to try to connect it the wrong way. I am very careful with my 500 when changing the battery pack. By the way, I always run the VDI with the pack installed and I have never had a problem with it.

The thing that I know of that blows that component is touching the battery to the connector backwards. Easy to do when replacing the battery. You will have to have that component replaced. (or do it yourself)

Maybe it's me but having a large screen makes all the difference in making programming simple. Plus you can leave the unit on the floor where it belongs and not break your back trying to turn knobs and not strain your eyes trying to see the screen.

I don't care how simple it is. When it's on the floor, it's not accessible to me to program. I want a PC editor before I buy one.

I would send it to Line6 for repair.

My opinion might be wrong but from what I read and see (I don't own a Standard but I do own a JTV60S) I think the Standard is a cost reduced JTV. I don't like the looks of it and I see no improvements in the design. But I did preface my statement with IMO which means I could be wrong!

It is not reasonable to expect a new model Variax (not a JTV at all) to run old JTV FW. Even though the models may be the same, there may very well be some subtle hardware changes that require that the FW be slightly different. IMO the Standard is a step down from the JTV anyway.

Let's see - you are going to sell your new Standard because it won't run over 5 year old FW? Makes sense to me. (NOT)

The older Variax will work with the HD500x just fine but you can't run the old Workbench with the HD500x. You will have to use the dongle to work with Workbench. The other features work and you can select which type Variax you have when you set them up on the HD500x.

Using active pickups could be tricky on a JTV 69. Passives are no problem.

You may have a dirty connection between the transducer and the bridge. There is no ground wire so it relies on a connection directly between the transducer for each string and the bridge. You can remove strings and try to clean it. Replacement transducers are available but must be soldered in.

I leave mine in all the time. It is not powered up unless you have the 1/4 inch jack inserted. I check the LED lights every so often and when it gets down to 2 I charge it. I don't use the battery much because I use the VDI cable anyway but I store the battery in the guitar.

Tube amps all have some Crossover Distortion - somewhat a function of how hot the Bias is set. There are other forms of distortion that are in some models because the real amp has it.

If you get sound from the mag pickups when the battery is removed, it sounds like you have a failed main board output.

Do you notice much difference in the model tones? When I put these on my Variax 500, it seemed that the tones were not quite as bright. (at the time a good thing) I did have to lower the string volumes like you did to prevent distortion.

Nice Job! Your trimming to prevent the saddle touching in the rear is critical! Saddles also can't touch each other or there will be way more crosstalk. Crosstalk kills alternate tunings.

OMO this product isn't finished until there is a nice PC based editor. I am not going to spend time on the floor even if the editing using the display is easy to understand. We have a nice editor for HD500x and this is supposed to be a step up. I am waiting until there is an editor before I consider upgrading from my HD500x.

Should work fine. The VDI is same as with the other Variax's.

look for Variax Acoustic in Custom tone

I would go with no amp model and just effects. There are some good ones on customtone.

None of mine do either but I don't palm mute.

Full Compas sells them.