Charlie_Watt

There is absolutely no excuse for this many display faults. They either have a supplier problem or a design problem.

The reason that the usb dongle doesn't power the variax is that it would violate the USB spec because the Variax draws more than 500 mA.

My 500 was 8 years old when I did the mods. Warranty long gone and the piezos without proper grounding were acting flaky sometimes.

The ones I used on my 500 were for a Strat. Sorry no pix and the guitar is 800 miles away.

There is no such thing as "Perfect Tuning" on a guitar. The Earvana nut is still a compromise that some like and some don't. I have an Earvana on my Variax 500 and it works fine. I don't have one on my JTV69S and I don't intend to put one on. IMO the Earvana nut helps most with notes very close to the nut where you get some detuning due to string deflection. That can be minimized by having the nut adjusted well or by using a zero fret. The nut on my JTV is adjusted well.

Many of us have done this with the earlier Variax's. The Ghost piezos work great. They do change the sound some - and they have more output so you have to turn down the string volumes in Workbench to keep fro overdriving the DSP. I am not sure if they have any saddles that work with the 69 though. They are different than the standard Strat like saddles on the earlier Variax's.

The reason the trem pops loose is that it can go too far back when the springs pull the bottom forward. You have to block it to prevent the springs from pulling it forward in the back or as you say put something under the back of the bridge. The problem with the back is that then there is leverage trying to lift the bridge away from the body which can pull out the pin inserts if they are not tight enough.

As CipherHost said the guitar is not powered by the USB interface so you have to have the battery installed and the 1/4 inch jack inserted AND the volume knob turned up. You don't have to do all this stuff when using the HD500x as the interface.

I recommend using the battery instead of the XPS box. It's too easy to have a ground loop and noise. If you have noise with the battery, then you have a problem with your Variax.

If you block it in the back behind the trem block there is no upward force. If you block on the top behind the plate, there is an upward force. Block it in the back and you won't have a problem.

The block should go in the back behind the trem not under the plate.

You don't have to remove the springs if you block the trem with a thin piece of wood. Something like a piece of a paint stirrer usually works great.

You should contact Sweetwater and find out what they have you do. I have never used their warranty.

One thing to be careful of when you remove the strings is that the Trem assembly will pop out and can damage the body. Block it so it can't pop out before releasing the string tension.

Sure 9.5's would work fine. You may have to tweak the action and intonation a bit whenever you change string gauge.

You can buy several real fancy necks for the price difference between a US and Korean JTV and pay a Luthier to do the job for you! That is the route I would recommend.

Since the electronics are the same, I would spend my $$ on upgrading the Korean version rather than buying the US for the crazy price it goes for. Buy the best custom neck and pay someone to set it up perfectly and you will have a better instrument for way less $$.

Helix doesn't use much if at all from the USB power. The isolator will have to work with high speed USB to work. I tried one with my HD500x a while ago and it did not work because it only ran USB1 speed. (I did not realize this until after purchasing it)

Yes - replacing that jack is a piece of cake for anyone who knows how to work with simple electronics. Not rocket science.

If you see bent pins, try to fix them. If they are too damaged, replace the whole jack assembly.

That second cable you listed is the one I use all the time and it is solid! You can look carefully into the connector socket and see if the pins are damaged. That is the likely cause for a bad connection here.

I am sure that there is a reason for the delays! Either a production problem or a parts shortage. They would be shipping them if they could.

You have to plug in a 1/4 inch plug into the 1/4 inch jack to power it with the USB adapter. (and turn up the volume control) But if you have an HD500x that is a much better way to go. The USP adapter does not power the guitar. It has to be powered by the battery which is turned on by plugging in a 1/4 inch plug.

I would not use the phones output for this. Use the standard outputs at line level.

The Alt tunings are all relative to the actual tuning. If you tune down a half step and then ask for an alt tuning, it will be relative to the down a half step tuning. It should work as long as you don't detune too far or detune to something other than standard tuning.