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If you have a dream rig, and you want to play around with some alternate modelled guitar and amp sounds outside of your Variax/Helix rig... first off: 'WHY?'. You may be looking for more inspiration, or maybe you just want to goof around and see what is out there in 2025 for modeling guitars and amps. A little background; I have a dream rig with Helix Rack plus floor control and a Variax guitar. I tend to play with an extreme low latency stereo stage monitor into my cans which really just means I am listening and playing at night through my Helix Rack headphone out, mostly to not have my family yell at me late at night to 'keep it down, maestro!' (they don't call me that.. but never mind) . Since that is USB in to my DAW machine, I also receive audio back from my PC. If I want to play with something that does modeling on my PC such as Bias FX 2 or Guitar Rig, rather than simply selecting a factory clean patch, and setting the PC to only listen on port 7 (RTM, it's the USB clean Direct Out which you may need to enable first). But with that setup it will still feed in the clean(or dirty) guitar from the Helix to your headphones as well. This can be a creative way of layering more sounds, or it can be a nightmare. If you find that it is the latter for you, switching your floor TAP to tuning mode (holding down TAP button) turns off all input in your headphones from the Helix processor OTHER THAN your Helix DI input to your PC, and subsequent DAW/PC input clean into your headphones (with HELIX ASIO low latency). This way, if you are listening on your Helix Headphone out, you only hear the cleanest return processed audio from your daw, without an overlay of extra sound from your helix and without needing to do much tweaking in a Helix patch to kill audio or anything funky like that. And, while doing this, you still have options to select your Variax guitars into whatever it is you are messing around with. Since the Variax uses a Piezo pickup but you can't go 'clean' unmodelled out (can you?) so for something like Bias FX 2 where you can create the model to match your guitar, I just left Variax on rather than MAGS, and selected Les Paul Bridge and Les Paul Neck to set it up the first time for modeling. Your results may vary(ax). Using the Variax for this other than MAGS means also that you will have zero buzz from your equipment. Also on the JTV-89F in my case, the mags are hot and I don't want to tweak them to work with the PC models. Easier to just use the lovely Variax out with a decent LP or Strat out and build the model to that. Right? I think so. But I may have more tech at arms-reach when messing in my studio than some of you. In that case, mags will likely be fine. You decide. TLDR = When using headphones to listen to guitar/amp models from your PC into your helix, use port 7 DI to feed the DAW audio and switch helix to tuner mode to kill all effects from Helix directly. It is amaze-ballz. But I have to say, I want to help the community here so I posted this quazi-hack. However, after doing all of this and having fun with it, I still think that everything but Helix sounds like @$$. But you be the judge. You do you. I do suggest demo software versions of anything you can before buying and testing it in this way first. And this method is how you might test it with your dream rig for easy results with clean audio and very little hassle.

I searched but could not find this issue anywhere. I have a patch I use where I mess with my feedback on my analog delay to cause it to loop into feedback and then slowly fade to longer and longer delay and it just sounds like an explosion on a real pedal. When try this via midi dial or an expression pedal for Realtime control of the feedback parameter of an analog delay, it is very stuttered and not smooth at all. Is it because the Helix rack just can't keep up with the updates to position? I suppose I have a very fast computer I can run the Helix Native and see if I can replicate that issue. But it 'feels' like maybe my patch has too many parameters and it's bogging down the proc. I think there are ways to get around it with alternate patches based on this one but with fewer effects in the chain. I'm curious if anyone here has run into this issue before with helix floor or Helix rack. The wah works great on expression. But I'm guessing that some parameters of certain effects just are too 'expensive' for real-time manipulation.

And this is what seems to be the 2025 version of what Roland/Boss think of as a Variax. The VG-800. If it sounded even remotely close to what a Variax with Helix sounded like, I'd be thankful. But it sounds horrible (to my ears) and just does not scratch the surface of what the Variax already is. I think it's that maybe Roland did not get the proper licensing to build on the custom tones. With the proper IR tied to a piezo pickup it would seem that the cat is out of the bag and now it's just up to one of the big names to run with this in a way that won't break the bank.

Along the lines of the Variax and our cult following; I was a late-adopter but now have a JTV-89F, A Helix Rack with floor control, and 2 Powercab Plus 1x12s. This gear is incredible! I did have a neck issue which I was able to replace through full compass.com for pretty cheap and a replacement switch assembly. My guitar is like new now, but I do have the same thoughts about longevity. If I had a spare motherboard lying around with non leaking caps I think I would store it away. I have yet to be able to find one as that is not something sold by itself that I can find other than a place I found in Spain, but they are not shipping to U.S.. Maybe Yamaha will loosen up on that over the next few years. If anyone knows of anywhere else to get a motherboard for a JTV-89F without a full guitar wrapped around it, I'm interested!

I am coming back to this post to say everything is still working great as of August 17, 2024 for the switch. I am working with FullCompass.com for a Neck replacement as my truss rod adjustment nut is badly stripped out. The action is great right now, and I'm not in a humid climate where I live but I will eventually need to tweak the action from time to time. So ok, my switch is working in Variax but looking at my Magnetic pickups I have a question. For anyone interested, check your free downloadable manuals, but here is what is in there in ascii format: (Neck 1) (Neck 1) (Neck 2) (Neck 2) (Neck 2) | | | | | (Bridge 1) (Bridge 1) (Bridge 1) | | (Bridge 2) | (Bridge 2) | | | | | (Pos 5) (Pos 4) (Pos 3) (Pos 2) (Pos 1) (JTV-89/F pickup selector for magnetics) What is strange is that I am having a hard time hearing the difference between Pos 1 and Pos 2 or Pos 5 and Pos 4. That should be an audible difference between humbucker and single coil. Is that normal audible behavior for all you JTV-89(F) owners? What do you think PSarkissian? I appreciate your helpfulness and depth of knowledge, PSarkissian.

This is still a problem on my Helix Rack. Ratchet delay just gets lower and lower until it all stops at about 8 repeats. 3.71 August 2024

Got it. And it worked! It's better sound using the speakers from the AES link of course. But I can feed the other audio into it and set the mix a bit better for different music I may be playing to while messing around with my sounds. So my 2 PowerCab Plus 112 are in stereo and working as studio monitors as well as direct cabinets from the Helix. I can't stop playing!

This is an older post I am responding to but now I have my Helix Rack, Floor Control, Variax JTV-89F, and as of Sunday I have 2 PowerCab Plus 112s! They really do sound amazing! I'm using AES link cable Helix = > PC1 (Left) > Link Out > PC2 (Right). Sounds great. I need time to dial in and test all my options. But with my setup I do have a mixer too. Can I feed left right audio into each of these PowerCabs as a Main out L\R from my mixer? And it will mix with my Helix audio coming in over the Link? Having the mixer feed mains into the 2 Powercabs gives me more control to mix my non-guitar audio with my modelled Helix sounds coming out over the Link. I think in that scenario I would just be using the main out sliders on my mixer to control the mix as there is no other way to mix it once it is in the PowerCab, unless I am missing something. Ideally I would use modelling for the Helix Link and not for the Input. But If I need to go flat to make that really work, I could do all the modeling and cab setup IR in the Helix directly of course.

"To Varax" LOL

Well, this did work for a while. But I later had to break into the switch and actually clean it out and play with the wipers to modify their traversal path on the pads. Not for the feint of heart, but it worked great for me, and does not jump around models any more. Using a zip-tie to keep it together now, for future easy cleaning. This is not a standard 5-way blade switch.

Right. I did that too. My first guitar I built when I was about 14 had 2 humbuckers and 5 switches each (10 total) along with a Gibson selector. Since they had coil taps I could wire the two pickups in phase, out of phase, or individually in/out etc. Now I could use a few switches or a single super blade switch and some push/pull knobs to get the same thing and have a cleaner look. But we live and learn. I was able to get that Led Zep 'Dancing Days' sound so easily with that set up. On the Variax, because of the way the pickups feed directly to the blade, it would not be impossible to route the mags first through some switching, then to the pads on the blade switch assembly. With modern day chips one can build switching within a single CPLD or FPGA and keep it very small. So I can think about all of that but I really should just be keeping the callouses on my finger tips. So I think I'll squeeze mods and thoughts about mods into my spare time, after my work and my playing is done. And playing is so much fun with my Line6 gear! I am looking at 2(stereo) 1x12 PowerCab Pro units now. Because hey, I'm all-in on this Line 6 gear!

Udate regarding the 5 position switch in the JTV-89F: The issue was beyond needing some compression on the switch to remain steady. In the end, I had to rebuild the switch itself. Once I had it all apart I saw that someone had either sprayed something with residue into it or maybe it just got some kind of soda or something. It was sticky. So I cleaned it all off with IPA (not beer, and don't drink Isopropyl Alcohol LOL!) and re-dressed the wipers. I also modified alignment of the wiper for the Variax side because that is such a small tolerance and it was the Variax models that were slipping on position 2. Reset the tension very slightly and ensured all were in alignment and re-assembled switch housing after taking pictures of inside and out. Noting that the Alpha switch case and wipers are standard, but the circuit board for the switch pads is not and does have an extra pad for talking to the Variax side which is why there are 9 pins connected and not 8 or 7. Now, all back together after bench testing and perfect tension between the 5 positions and no matter how I move the switch laterally (i.e. left-right versus different positions of up/down, simulating a bump on the switch knob etc.), it does not flip the models in WorkbechHD, as it was doing before. So it's cleaned, very lightly silicon greased on the bearing and nylon pivot of the metal shielding, and I am super happy! I don't think this is something most guitarists are going to want to do to their Variax guitars though so while it worked for me, I have been working on guitars for 30 years, some of those earlier years were as a trained professional luthier and guitar tech and I can't recommend this to anyone unless you are out of warranty and like to break your expensive things and/or make them worse than when you started. (new scratches and dings count as a partial fail too :( ). I am certain that a certified Variax tech will do everything right the first time. I did everything wrong (i.e. I had no spare parts because they are not available for purchase as of July of 2024, and I used an imperfect guitar workbench). I was just lucky that I could lean on some distant-past experience and come out on top of the issue.

Ok check ticket 472371. The responses there are not instilling me with confidence because he said my request had a lot of 'letters and words and stuff'. I hope he is just very clever and just fishing for 'Karen/Kevin' responses LOL. THAT would actually impress me ha. I eat that up. But ... I don't think he was kidding. I work in support for medical IT as a tier 3 network and systems engineer so I may take service responses more seriously than I should. Anyway, the impression I had from you is that you may actually be doing the work, Psarkissian. You seem to know volumes and I have only barely scratched the service on your prolific forum responses. You would be 'the guy' I want working on my guitar, if I do send it. I asked for a budgetary estimate, not a quote. Just an 'idea' of where things could go, based on what I am asking.

I opened a ticket, listed my issues. Then in response Bbowen asked me if there were any issues with my guitar. I listed the truss rod, the switch, the knob.

Oh 2019 right. Wishful memory I suppose. So it's about 5 1/2 years old now. Yeah we did that in our shop in Lynwood, WA back in my repair days; pulling the fretboard. I never got to a point I needed to do that though and we had a great tech back then who took care of that kind of replacement and refinish. Double action truss rods are great, but they do have that one draw-back if they get stripped out to the point you can't adjust them. So necks for the JTV-89 are in stock still? I guess the thing is that I would be without the guitar for a while. Your shop is at least in the same state as me. I'm trying to estimate shipping my guitar back and forth with parts and labor to compare to just using my StewMac tool since it is so infrequently needed for adjustments since I stick to the same string gauges and don't travel with it. If it were a warranty repair I would do it without thinking further, but I don't have the original receipt and at 5 1/2 years old it would be OOW anyway. If I sent it I may get that switch assembly replaced too, though. Interesting.