Charlie_Watt

Not worth the Fret Wear.

One thing I found that always helps is to download the FW before installing it.

I get at least 4 hours with my NiMh rechargables. No problems at all for me. I have two sets.

Most new guitars need a setup. I had to raise the Low E and A slightly on my JTV69S. Easy to do. There are some great books out there that teach guitar setup. The one I recommend is "How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great" by Dan Erlewine. He goes into great detail from start to finish. You're never too old to learn if you are still vertical. :-)

Are you sure it's not metric?

Most packet technology would have way too much delay to play real time guitar music. Remember that things like music players can have as much delay as they want. Variax wireless would require a special designed unit to work with VDI and there is not a large enough market to justify the engineering expense. If you want to kludge together something that works, it certainly can be done but it just isn't going to be practical. If you need wireless, use the 1/4 inch cable.

The other MAJOR reason for using Piezos is that they pick up each string's vibrations individually. Can't do that with a Mag pickup. The modeling requires that they process each string separately and then combine the result. Piezo is the right pickup for this.

Good Luck!

The 500x works with Workbench HD though.

It's probably the same knob part they use on the JTV 69. Lots of them have fallen off.

SuperGlue. IT's only cosmetic so anything that keeps it on will work. Just don't go overboard with the glue.

I have not had any issues with my 69 as of yet. I would try to make the Graphtechs work if I did.

I had some flaky behavior on my 500 due to bad grounding. I finally replaced with Graphtech piezos and it is way better than stock now. (and it's 10 years old)

Strat necks work fine on a JTV69. You just have to move the screw holes. No big deal. It's only wood screws into wood.

Look at the pins in the VDI connector on the Variax. Quite often, they are damaged. Easy to do by trying to plug a 1/4 inch cable into the wrong place by feel. Your VDI interface is not making connection if your guitar is powered up and the light is still red. IT should immediately go green when the connection is made.

The JTV is not designed to play with Acoustic strings. If you play it hard, you will get fret rattle that sounds awful. There are plenty of examples online of good players playing a JVT with acoustic models that sound very good. You have to adapt your playing style. If you don't want to do that then get an Acoustic and play that.

All I can say is that with my JTV69, the HD acoustic models sound very good through my powered PA speaker using my Pod HD500x with an acoustic patch that doesn't model a guitar amp.

Sounds like the knob is damaged rather than just not working. Worst case you can replace it. Not that big a deal if you can steal it.

You need the USB interface! The VDI cable is Ethernet electrically but the interface is NOT Ethernet.

Sanyo NiMH are the best out there by far. I have used them for 10 years.

I recommend the HD500X unless you can find a steal on the 500. It is the latest product and it is an upgrade over the 500. (more DSP and nicer footswitches)

You can change the pickups to hotter ones.

The Helix isn't anywhere the HD500x price point. I don't expect it to affect the price much if at all.

Other option is to buy a Pod that supports Variax VDI like the HD500x. At least that way you get something that is useful for more than just connecting the Variax to Monkey or WB.

Factor that into the price. If you have to buy it it's $100.