Charlie_Watt

When using alternate tunings, ANY crosstalk between pickups will cause problems. Crosstalk doesn't cause any problems when in standard tuning.

For VDI you need a pod but the battery works fine and I would trust it far more than that external power supply and funky TRS cable.

My advice - use either the battery or the VDI interface.

Swapping the connection between E and A is a perfectly good way to figure out where the problem lies! Line 6 techs should know this. It's basic troubleshooting. MiroslavKloud's data says the problem is in the electronics.

Yes - nobody can connect without you starting the pairing process on the ampifi.

If you want good acoustic sounds you need a full range system like a PA or an acoustic amp. A guitar amp just won't cut it.

And you don't have to worry about busting the connector again. :-)

I'm sure he did not read the post carefully then.

It is not supposed to. It should work on VDI with the battery removed!

Mine sounds great with headphones. I did try a pair of Sony noise canceling headphones and they got a strange buzz that went away when I turned off the noise canceling. I think there is some significant high frequency noise (above the audio range) on the headphone output that was screwing up the noise canceling stuff. I have a nice pair of phones that are passive and they sound very good. I use Studio Direct.

There will always be some crosstalk since the vibrations will travel as you suggest. It has to be small for alternate tunings to not be negatively affected. Crosstalk won't be a big deal with standard tunings since all of the signals are left at their natural frequencies. It is easy to measure the crosstalk by fooling with the string volumes. If you turn off the E string and pluck it, anything that comes through is coming through one of the other piezos. If you use capo tunings, then again crosstalk should not create any bad sounds since all of the strings are shifted the same relative amount.

If it changed after a string change, then something has changed about the contact with the piezo. Try moving that string around to make sure it has nothing between it and the piezo. It's also possible that that piezo lost it's ground through the bridge / string since there is no real ground wire. (Bad design!!!!!)

If this test was done as reported, that indicates the problem is in the electronics.

I am more surprised that there isn't a market for an acoustic version. I have the Variax Acoustic and the acoustic models are better than my JTV. It plays much more like an acoustic with the heavier acoustic strings on it too. I like the JTV way more as my regular guitar so I don't really play my acoustic much.

I just looked at the pix here and compared to my Variax 500 and I would say that mine are too close also! Almost touching. I don't really use alternate tunings on my 500 so maybe I would not notice the cross talk as much. I agree that they should not be touching! I also don't want to mess with mine so they will stay as is for now.

The 600 does NOT have pickups!

Always work on a copy of your patch rather than the only original. Then if you screw it up in any way, you just go back to the original and start over.

Make sure you have turned down the string volume on all strings to compensate for the much higher output of the Ghost Piezos. I tried my Variax 500 first without doing this and it was way overdriven and it did not sound right at all. I went to about 50% to get a reasonable output that is probably about where the old piezos were.

I did not have to do this on my 500 but sanding is certainly an option. It should not hurt anything as long as you only take off a small amount on the two sides equally. The Piezo is right in the center.

I still do not see why you need it. It's powered over the VDI. You can turn down the volume pot on the JTV to put in sleep mode. You can always use the pedal as a volume control. I would not recommend messing with the VDI to do this.

My kill switch is the volume pedal!

It's obvious that there are some serious QC issues if some of these defects leave the factory. The minor cosmetic ones would probably not bother me but the others are just plain unacceptable!

99% of the power in the Variax goes to run the DSP and it runs whenever you use any modeling. The 1/4 inch is just an analog output of the digital data being sent over the VDI. There is NOTHING in the manual from Line6 saying only use one or the other! I call BS on this one.

I would like to see something from Line6 because I think it is BS. The 1/4 out is active when you use the VDI. IT should not draw more power in that mode.

Most likely that is your problem. Pull off the model knob and put a small piece of paper inside so that it fits higher on the shaft. This is a common problem when it won't turn on. You should be able to control it through the VDI from the Pod though.