GiRa

Mmm maybe there are some different revisions of the charger, because I read that on the manual and mine definitely does that. I am replying just to help someone else who has the same charger I have, not to nitpick :)

Actually the charger starts blinking when the battery is charged, but not completely. Like 98% vs 100%. When the battery is completely charged the led will stop blinking. Charging to 100% a Li ion battery is not always a good idea, to keep them alive the best thing is to use them and charge them whenever you want. Discharging them completely and keeping them charged and not in use is the best way to kill them.

My advice wasn't specific for a LP, but to get your custom guitar sound right. I have to say that I also did the same thing suggested by @Rewolf48 and it made a lot of difference!

I got to the same result. Usually I prefer to play harder to get a more aggressive tone. With the Variax, having a hotter model and running a little bit more gain on the amp will prevent me from doing that. Picking with a softer touch gets the banjo sound away. Another big improvement is creating custom models without looking at what they are supposed to be. Just try bodies and pickups until you find what works for you.

By reinstalling the firmware with Line6 Monkey.

That function does not work anymore. According to a recent forum post, they will update the manual. Anyhow, I think you can do that via Workbench HD. Worst case scenario, you can backup all your banks, do a factory reset and then reinstall your models but not your tunings.

I never have the spring plate on my guitars. That helps too.

Scary that there were string balls in there!

Since you are playing with headphones: could it be that the headphone cable sometimes touches the body of the guitar and sometimes not? That will make a big difference on the perceived sound. More than two different digital cables I think.

You can just drag and drop the file on the bank you want.

You can lower the pickup as low as it's flush with the pickguard without any issue. IMHO a good setup by a good tech is always worth the money. For example: proper nut height and intonation will make the alternate tuning and 12 strings acoustic sound waaaay better. FYI on a Variax having the pickups too close to the strings will create some issues with the modeling.

Hi, In Workbench HD, in the lower part of the screen there is a "preset volume" for each preset (the position of the 5 way switch, plus the variax model know decide which preset you load). What I do is taking a default preset, put the preset volume at 0dB, put all the string volumes at 100% and start playing one string while switching between the magnetic pickups (which I already setup previously) and the variax model. For example: I start playing the open B string and while switching I notice if the model is louder or quieter than the magnetics. Is it louder? Then I lower the preset volume, save, and start comparing again. Is it quieter? Then I increase the preset volume. When the volume of the B string with the model and the magnetic PU matches, I take a note of the preset volume, put it to 0dB again and start the process with the next string. After you finish this process for all the six strings, you will have six different values (one for each string). Given the fact that the global string level cannot be more than 0dB, you have to take the loudest value you have, 4.0 for the high e in the original example, and lower all the string until the maximum value is -0.5 or -1dB. In the original example, I had to lower the volume of all the strings (found via the preset procedure described above) by 5dB to get my initial global string volumes. And then continue with the other step :) After this routine, you should have the string levels pretty much balanced, no matter the pickup combination or the body type. IMHO it's perfectly OK to have presets that are louder or quieter than the magnetic pickups. In case of a Standard with single coils, I do expect and HB guitar to be louder.

Except from clipping the Focusrite input, there should be no noise at all.

IMHO you should test with a fully charged battery and a standard guitar cable. The guitar should be dead silent. I have a 6-7 months old Variax Standard and the battery gives the advertised run time, ~10-15 hours IIRC.

The neck on the Standard is thinner than a Steinberger, but way bigger than an Ibanez or ESP. It's between a Caparison and a Steinberger IMHO. Very comfortable, yes. Not very thin if you ask me.

My other electrics are ALL FR equipped: some originals, Schaller and Ibanez lo pro edge. To be honest I find the bridge on the Standard way smoother and easy to manage. The rage, on the other hand, is of course way smaller on the Standard compared to a FR equipped guitar.

What I did on my Standard is this: - Setup the instrument: new strings, action, intonation, neck relief, pickup height and all that goodness. Check that your string volume is balanced as you expect from any electric guitar. - Load a model with the "same pickups". In my case the Spank. Start with the bridge pickup. - Set all your global string levels to 0dB. - In Workbench HD match the volume of the preset with the magnetic pickups ONE STRING AT A TIME, take notes about the preset volume (for example +3.2dB vs -1.2dB) for each string. Uploading the preset to Variax and often turning the modeling on/off will help during the matching. At the end you will get a list of dB offset for each string, EADGBe. - "Normalize" the highest (in volume) offset to -0.5dB or -1dB. This way you will have some headroom for the next, finer, adjustments. Apply the result values to your global string levels. For example, if at the previous step you got -6, -5.2, -3.3, 0, 1.2, 4.0 you should input -11, -10.2, -8.3, -5, -3.8, -1 as your global string volumes. - Now that your global levels are set, match the volume of the preset model to the volume of your weakest string. The high e in the example above. - After that, start to fine-tune the global string levels. You can do that by volume-matching one string at a time and by playing some phrases that involve some strings. Playing real phrases really brings out oddities in the relative volume. Playing the same phrase on the magnetic and the modeling helps getting a reference. - Once everything matches, it is up to you to choose if you want to raise the volume of all the strings by the same amount to get to the maximum possible volume. For example, from -6 -7 -5 -2 -1.5 -1 to -5 -6 -4 -1 -0.5 0. In my case, volume matching made all the acoustic guitar sound way more better. I have a general sound issue (a lot of mids) with the electrics, but that's for another post :)

The Shuriken uses 0.10 and it's tuned to DropD or standard tuning. Baritone scale, but not a baritone guitar. I am pretty confident that the alternate tuning technology would have a hard time tracking something tuned to B standard.

Turn up your amp louder to cover the acoustic sound with the sound coming from the speaker. In the recording we are listening to both the strings from the guitar and the sound from the amplifier at the same volume... and they are half step apart!

Balancing the string volume makes all the difference in the world. I think it should be in the manual as a first step. I understand why they don't do that, it would sensibly raise the guitar price. About the firmware: you cannot downgrade under 2.20 AFAIK.

Hi, Does the tuning matter? I have some pickup combinations I would like to recreate from a custom guitar, an Ibanez, a Caparison and a ESP guitar. Some of them are in standard tuning, one in drop C and one in D standard.

Simply don't use any stereo effect in the multifx for the acoustic guitar patch. You will have the same signal sent to both speakers or, in other words, mono.

You should use it until it reach more or less 50 - 60% of capacity and then store it. Lithium batteries like to be half charged if they are not going to be used for a long time. If you use your batteries in turn, just charge it full and then put wherever you want, you are going to use it in a week probably :)

I'd just use the guitar with a battery for a while. Rechargeable batteries like to be used and when you don't use them, they like to be at about 50% of the charge. Try to leave it charge overnight and then use it with a normal guitar cable for a while and see how it behaves.

I have a Variax standard, my other guitars are high end Ibanez, ESP, Caparison and custom stuff. The Variax output can be way higher than my other guitars. For example: a neutral body plus a les paul bridge pickup is y default way louder than my other guitars. In your situation, I think that the global string volume, the preset string volume, the pickup volume in the preset, the preset volume, the actual piezos output volume or a combination of the previous is not where it should.