Charlie_Watt

One difference between the piezo and mags is what part of the string vibration they pick up. The mags see the string where it goes over the pickup only. The piezos sense the very end of the string. There are differences in the vibrations picked up in these two spots just as there are differences between the mag pickup in the bridge vs neck position.

The EMG's I have installed require a 9V battery so you would have to deal with that and a way to switch it. I think they would work other than that. I have EMG's in my Strat - went with them to reduce pickup noise.

Sounds like it doesn't like the long DC cable. Not uncommon with processor equipped stuff. It's the inductance not resistance. You could try adding a large cap at the connector.

The ones made for a standard Strat should work. I put them on my 500 a year ago and they are a big improvement. Not a trivial installation though.

Flat wounds feel nice but they are not bright enough IMO.

That makes no sense! Glad it's working though. It should work or not work and time should not be a factor.

Sounds like there is something wrong with the battery box itself in the JTV since neither battery is working.

Amplifi is for playing in your bedroom. (Ok maybe a small club) It's not going to replace a DT25 or any of the LT speakers.

I am going to try another approach to breaking the ground loop. I ordered a USB Isolator that should isolate my HD500x from my laptop. There are several of those out there that use an Analog Devices chip designed for this purpose. I will let you guys know how it works when I get it.

Most pedals are designed to go into the front of your amp so they are not line level. They are Instrument Level.

:)Happy April 1!

Pushing the recording level does nothing good for your sound. You can increase playback level to get the volume you want. Digital recordings must NOT clip.

IMO the XLR is a much better connection because it's balanced. Use the XLR if your amp / PA / etc supports it. If you only have one XLR input adjust your mixer settings to put both channels out one XLR since it's stereo out. My powered speaker has two XLR inputs so I just run two cables from the L and R on the pod. I had noise problems when my laptop was connected to the pod with USB and the laptop power supply was plugged in. They completely vanished when I used the XLR outputs instead of the 1/4 inch.

They are passive out the 1/4 inch jack with the battery removed or modeling shut off. They are going through some processing and A/D when they go out the VDI cable. (They have to be since that cable is digital.)

Why don't you call them and ask. Sweetwater is the most likely one to do it for you. I have had great luck with them. If you don't ask you will probably get it with downrev firmware installed and you will have to upgrade yourself (with the supplied USB cable)

Clipping. Your amp is designed for Instrument level inputs if you are plugging into the guitar input. Line level is much higher. It should not hurt your amp but it may sound like crap.

That is a TRUE statement. You need the new 9V DC power supply.

Does it do that when you play with a pick? I have noticed some of this when I play with my fingers and I suspect Static discharge but I am really not sure. Seems fine when I play with a pick or when I play very carefully with my fingers.

I had the same problem with my Dell Laptop when plugged into my Amp but when I used the XLR cable balanced outs into my Powered PA speaker it's dead quiet even with my Laptop charger plugged in. This is a good thing because the battery in my Laptop is just about at the end of it's life and it won't run on the battery all that long. I tend to run my HD500x connected to my Laptop all the time so I can use the Edit program rather than fool with the controls on the pod.

Not sure if they have anything that will work on the 700 Acoustic at Graphtech. I was thinking regular 700. My Variax that I upgraded is a 500.

Problem with clipping is that it can be anywhere in the chain - and not necessarily at the output. That is why it is really a feature that should be there in a device as complex as this. It's very easy to cause clipping if you are working with lots of gain.

Sounds like a Piezo ground problem. I had that until I changed them out for Graphtech. I would every so often get a loud buzz like a bad ground. I would slap the bridge and it would go away for a while. Never happens with Graphtech.

My educated guess is that it's just a lack of resources to assign to the task. Since it doesn't generate revenue like a new product does it is not going to get top priority.

That should be an easy mod to do. You could even add a switch on the back that selects speaker on or off when a plug is inserted into the headphone jack.

I have always used batteries with my old Variax 500. I keep two sets of NiMh batteries. I now have an HD500x so I use the VDI with that.