Charlie_Watt

Wait a minute. It was different when you could plug in a chip. The HD500X is much different than the HD500. They would have to take back the whole unit. Not likely. The 500 was out quite a while before the 500X came out so I do not see where you think they should just give you an upgrade. Sell your 500 and buy a 500X if you want the upgraded features!

You have to go to the toe position and push hard to toggle it.

I suspect that the output impedance is low enough to not be a significant issue.

I will see how it sounds... It may be good enough for playing in my small room and if it isn't I can revisit my options.

I will be careful.

I am going to try an experiment with my home Stereo to see how that sounds. I have to get some 1/4 to RCA adapters to try it. If it sounds anywhere near as good as my headphones that may do the trick for my home playing at least in the short term. I am still torn between Monitors and a Powered PA speaker for a purchase.

I believe that you may have to set up the link on the HD500. In Edit there is a whole setup section. (I have not tried it - do not have anything with Link to try it on)

To add to that - there is no way to charge a JTV battery in the guitar. It must be removed and put in a charger. If you use an XPS or the VDI cable you do not need the battery.

I bought my JTV69S from Sweetwater. IT came in perfect condition and I could have returned it if I was not satisfied. That is what I recommend unless you can buy one from a retail store that you can try before you buy. My neck is perfect and the strings are perfectly centered on it. No problems with them falling off. Fretwork is as good as any other guitar I own including my American Strat and my Les Paul. Finish is flawless and everything works as it should. I expect that is the norm rather than the exception. I agree that it's not a good idea to buy a used older Variax unless you can get a killer deal and the option to return it if you are not happy with it. If you have to have Line6 work on it it will be very expensive. With a new JTV you have a decent warrantee and the option to return it. No matter what brand of guitar you buy not all of them are equal.

That switch changes the output level only. It's a big change though. Line out is more volume than Amp.

I think I am leaning toward getting a set of monitors for my application. I can get two for the price of one good PA speaker and have stereo. I will give it some more thought before I decide what to do. Meanwhile I am still experimenting with the Pod using my headphones for full range sound and my amp as well. I don't really like playing with headphones on for very long though.

Not surprising. How many 10 inch speakers do you know of that can take 800W RMS?? (OK the tweeter takes some of the power too) I do not need huge volume for my application. I want very good acoustic sound - which I cannot get from my small tube amp with single 12 inch speaker. My music room is not that big. Any powered PA speaker will have plenty of power for my needs. So would a set of studio monitors but I am worried about the narrow field with these. I want to be able to play 6 feet or so away from the speaker(s). I am still undecided and I plan to take my time on this decision since I can make music with what I have in the mean time. Thanks for the advice so far!

The modeling does not use the Mag pickups at all.

I am with Phil on this. The 2.0 models are fine on my 69S. The B and High E are on the low side for some models but not that much and the models sound ok after a little tweaking.

Try an online electronics house like Mouser or Newark.

My 500 relied on grounding the piezos through the strings to the fixed bridge. Sucked. I like to use Elixir coated strings and they did not make good contact all the time.

I agree that the Ghost piezo's are a big improvement on an old Variax but the installation is not easy. I installed them on my 500 and it was difficult to get everything soldered to the bridge flex circuit. I had to make room for all of the ground wires since the original piezo's did not have a ground wire. I was having ground noise and cutout problems with the old piezos. They relied on grounding to the strings which was a very bad design. The Ghost piezo's are very quiet and consistent. The output is much higher so I had to turn down the string volumes to avoid clipping. It was worth the effort but I have 40 years of soldering experience and most Variax owners do not. I would not recommend doing this unless you trust your soldering skills.

I had not considered a Keyboard Amp. What does this have to offer over a powered PA Speaker?

Rlblues, What monitors did you go with? I may be leaning that way too because stereo would be nice to have. I am not considering the Line6 stuff as of now. More than I need and more $$ than I want to spend.

OK I now have 2/3 of the Dream Rig. JTV69S and HD500X. I play at home both acoustic sounds and classic rock stuff. I am trying to decide what to get for a full range output device that will sound good with Acoustic guitars and Electrics. I do not play out now so I do not need to fill a hall just a room. I think I want a powered PA speaker but I have no experience with any. My amp collection is all tube amps that I have built over the years and none are full range. The only amp I have with me now is a Tweed Deluxe which sounds great for some stuff but not with acoustic guitar. Any recommendations for a decent powered full range speaker? I also am considering studio monitors but I am afraid that they are too directional for my needs. The rig sounds great through my good quality headphones but I don't want to play wearing headphones all the time. Let's hear some ideas!

Just Drag and drop them from your windows folder into the slot you want in the Edit program.

Read the HD500X Pilot's guide. It shows the connections. You plug your guitar into the 500X and the 500X Output into the guitar input of the amp.

Since Workbench talks fine to the JTV with the USB dongle it should be able to talk through the Pod USB so the hardware connections are there. I am surprised that we are still waiting for this because it should not be that big an issue. The old workbench worked through pods so they know how to do it. It may be a project priority issue but that is just speculation on my part.

Should not be a Hardware problem. Pod can talk to the PC just fine. It's a driver problem linking the pod to the new Workbench. (From what I have read here)

Neck and Bridge on my JTV69S are perfect as good as my American Strat. It plays great and I would hardly call it a "Major Fail". That is BS.