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dspellman

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  1. dspellman

    Hd Pro X

    Same deal with the Bean version (though the bean version is much cheaper). I've mostly used the bean versions because I can toss them on the desk and use them at eye level, stuff them into one of the three old Atomic Reactor amps I have and use the whole mess as a very convenient combo amp, or run them as practice (headphone/recording monitor output) tools that fit in a gig bag pocket. With both the rack and bean versions, I like having the electronic guts in the backline with just a foot controller out front. There's no AC line/brick running to an HD500, no expensive guitar cables running across the stage. If I'm running wired, the receiver is also in the backline and the only thing running across the stage is what amounts to an ethernet cable. I can walk to the backline and see where I'm set (don't have to kneel down or bend over to squint at a tiny screen). At the moment, I've got beans (HD, XT and XT bass) and one XTLive (for the older Variax guitars). I've now got a JTV 89 and so I'm looking at the rack version for Variax connectivity and some recording connectivity. The good news is that the same Shortboard has been good for all three beans and will be fine for the rack mount version.
  2. I got lucky. I've had my JTV 89F about a week and change. It was backordered substantially, and I'm told that it was one of a new batch that arrived at the distribution center directly from Line6 (Guitar Center Lies, so maybe that was true, maybe not). In any event, mine arrived in the original boxes with what looked like the original tape (inside) and all the important bits were still as originally packaged with all hang tags in place. So maybe it was actually new! In any case, it arrived in tune with a great setup (low action, no buzzing frets), no dings, no squawks, clean/well-done woods, etc. I was actually very impressed with the whole thing, and it works perfectly and sounds great. In short, a keeper. I'm not a first-time Variax user; I have a 500 and an Acoustic 700. I have a feeling that because the JTV 89F is a brand new model, it may not have had time to get a number of them out there manhandled by GC customers and then tossed back into the blender. At this point, I don't anticipate problems, and I would guess that the guitar will be good to go for professional use.
  3. I'd have to agree with you that the guitars I've played at the local GCs (I'm in Los Angeles) haven't been particularly wonderful. What's interesting is that I actually played Korean prototypes at Line 6 in Calabasas very close to the time they were originally introduced, and I thought they were done very well. As recently as two months ago, when I ordered my JTV89F, I played a 59 and a 69 hanging on the wall at the Pasadena GC and was definitely not impressed. No one really seemed to have an 89 (and certainly not an 89F) for me to try. In fact, I assumed that I was going to have to get the guitar PLEK'd and set up to my specs (so I budgeted the extra bucks for that), and I could only guess at the neck profile. In my case the 89F was backordered and delayed a bit, but I figured at least I was assured that I wasn't going to get a pre-dinged version off a wall at a Guitar Denter. What arrived was really a pleasant surprise. For starters, it was in tune! The action was low and believe me, I went over it for buzzing frets. Someone did a great job on this one particular guitar. The neck profile is thinnish and wide-ish, and the 16" radius (and jumbo frets) were perfect. I was surprised at how compact the guitar is for having a 25.5" scale and 24 frets. There's good news and bad news (well, not really bad) there. It's shorter than my LPs (which have a 24.75" scale and 22 frets). The bridge is much closer to the bottom of the guitar by 3-4" by comparison, and the forward strap button connects to the upper horn at about the 12th fret (where an LP's strap connects at about the 16th fret. Thing is, that moves my fretting hand fairly far to the right and nearly cross-body, to play the upper frets when the guitar is hanging from a strap. That forces my wrist into some awkward bends to do any kind of chording or arpeggios in that neighborhood. This is one time when I recognize the benefits of fan fret guitars. It's going to take some getting used to, but the rest of the guitar is SO good, I'm going to have no problems putting in the time to accommodate that. Very comfortable to play sitting down. I didn't expect to be thrilled with the mag pickups on this guitar, seeing as how Line 6 has gone out of its way to declare it a "shredder" guitar, but they're actually very nice. I actually prefer the 4-knob control layout to that on the 59 -- the volume knob on the 89 is up near the bridge/bridge pickup where I like it, as opposed to the 59's layout, which moves the volume knob back where my model knob lives. All in all, I think this is a bit of a sleeper -- it may actually be the best overall design of the bunch. BTW, does anyone know what the stock strings are on this guitar? I'm guessing 10's (they're D'Addarios), but haven't yet read the manual (and Line 6 doesn't include silly things like dimensions or string gauge among the specifications on the website). I'm used to 9's on Floyd-equipped guitars (even on the shorter-scale LPs), but this guitar plays so well with the existing strings I'll probably just leave them as is.
  4. The piezos in the LPX add an acoustic-like emulation to the guitar the same as similar piezos have done to other guitars, nothing more. The effects package is very much like that on the $119 Alesis X Guitar, except not as comprehensive. Take a look at that guitar's specs and then tell me the Gibson betters them. Nothing very new there; onboard FX have been done since the late '60's. With the Firebird X, Gibson promised an "App Store" like the Apple version, for the "thousands of developers" who were just dying to take advantage of the DSP in the guitar. They've since dropped the idea for lack of interest. The available Gibson "emulations" are done with a bit of EQ and the use of serial/parallel/singlecoil and phase changing. This is lifted from the early '70's L6S designed by Bill Lawrence. "New technology?" "Ground breaking?" Hardly. Alternate tunings are highly limited and barely usable on the TronicalTune/MinETume. The LPX is a tarted-up Studio with about half the technology of a $99 Korg Pandora Mini.Look it up and tell me it's not so. The LPX is a non-starter by a company that wouldn't know technology if its robot-controlled teeth bit it in the butt. Gibson has no clue how to support that technology (HOW long did it take to get the last Dork Star purchaser the complete kit he was promised?) and no means to develop anything new. It would stick a battery powered can opener on a guitar if it thought it might make a buck, but it has to wait for an electric-powered can opener salesman to walk through the door before it would generate the idea. The LPX is a hack -- an amateurish rehash of a bad idea that had the industry laughing at them the last time they presented it in a different guitar.
  5. Thanks! Looks like it's 16", which I'm calling a bonus. I'm good with the rest of the guitar, though I could wish for an ebony fretboard (my personal favorite). I, like you, expect that the 89F will be a very versatile guitar. I railed at Rich Renken to produce one of the guitars with a Floyd back when they were just being introduced. He coughed *third shelf* and I turned around and saw a Graphtech Floyd sitting there with his collection of toy cars. it took a helluva long time for it to actually find its way onto a guitar, finally, but I've been content to work with my old 500 and my Acoustic 700 in the meantime. The "metal" appellation is obvious, given that it's the only one of the three guitars with five extra "high gain" models and the only one of the three guitars that substituted several more Drop tunings in the place of DADGAD, Blues G, Open A, etc. And of course it's available only in Really Seriously Black and "Blood" Red and no other colors. I half expected a skull or two. I'm happy to see the "reversed" headstock from the 89 flipped back up (again, a personal preference), and I like the jumbo frets (the 59, my second choice, has medium jumbos). All that said, the guitar isn't radically pointy and should be just as at home at a wedding as at a spandex, aquanet-hair and gunslinging fest. All in all, I'm a crappy hamper.
  6. Do you happen to know what the actual radius of the fretboard is? I've seen 14" and 16" bandied about, but nothing official. And how about the actual size of the frets? How hot are the 89F pickups (compared to, say, those on the 59? I realize that the entire guitar seems to be *intended* for metal guitar players, but honestly I'm probably not going to be concentrating on high gain or drop tunings with this guitar. It is, after all the only one with a Floyd.
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