jerseyboy

Yes, different pick material and thickness. Also notable with acoustic models where and how hard you strum/pluck (between neck & bridge) will bring out even more tonal variations. Primarily use 10-46 Elixir nano but brand is much less important than gauge. For years I've experimented using 10-46 flat wounds on one of my Variax. They seem to tame banjo plunk and other artifacts more prominent at higher gain levels. The acoustics take on a cool sorta "deadened" tone IMO. Less piano like compared to wrapped strings but useful for some aged acoustic sounds.

Hey chris7sam welcome to Variax madness. You posted a lot of good stuff to unpack. Unfortunately in such an old and sorta unrelated thread it might not receive the attention it deserves. Keep one thing in mind “Variax Standard” is the newest “Strat” looking guitars. I think by Yamaha. They’re not JTV’s (Strat and LP style) although modeling circuitry is practically identical AFAIK. Old 500 is 1st generation family this forum category covers. Yes, Mac old Workbench (Not HD) thing is annoying but I somehow still get by on Mac Yosemite setting up the old 500 for gigs. It’s not pretty but it can work. Or, some folks find keeping $100 old Windows laptop around can help tremendously when working with many aging digital platforms and interfaces. But I would suggest a new thread for your questions. It might take a while for replies but some of us can probably help with your needs/wants.

Dunno Yamaha “story” and Pacifica ramifications. Is it correct to assume 59’s no longer being produced? 59 hits a sweet spot for many players and professional musical productions using 59 multiples around the world. Modeling handles Fender boink nicely and stock hum buckers sound great. Throw in the only real fixed bridge option and 59’s occupy a unique niche in Variax hierarchy. Also old 500’s perked up significantly compared to bottom prices 5 years ago. 700 Acoustics beginning to experience a similar surge in used prices, IMO…. Get ‘em while you can!

Didn’t know Seymour background about 59 pups until reading here but I’ve always held JTV59 pups in high regard. Very good sounding IMO. Mr D wound some incredible Tele pups for me decades ago. Really nailed what we were going for at the time. I upgraded 2 Korean JTV59's with Hipshot locking tuners. Great bang for buck.

Sorry I dunno 89's and perhaps it's not possible but have you tried lowering the pickup height to decrease signal output? Owned a Strat with Texas Specials - so much hotter than my other axes but dropping pickup height definitely helped diminish the difference.

Same here, best wishes to Line6 folks and ALL embedded nearby these tragic events. Upping our donations to American Red Cross and urge everyone who can to support legit non-profits dedicated to assistance for people devastated by these hard times. OP, you've looked carefully inside your gig bag for this knob top? Mine popped off taking it outta the bag. So lucky I found it and saved $35 + sh. Good luck...

I'm not an exact match to your inquiry but I’ve gone through many locking (Sperzel, Grover, Schaller) tuners over the years and the most recent ones to impress and upgrade my JTV59 3+3 arrangement - Hipshot w/ UMP (universal mounting kit). No drill (no nubs) installation while being very smooth and stable locking tuners. https://hipshotproducts.com/collections/guitar-tuning-machines/products/guitar-tuner-upgrade-kits

Can verify mag pup audio is somewhat out of phase between 1/4" phono and VDI-Helix. Didn't compare model output waveforms as 'was "snooping" something else. Little point in doing this with potential DC circuit damage. I get the use of a tuner but just get a good clamp on....

This happened to me recently while pulling JTV59 from gig bag the “tuning” control knob cap popped off. Luckily didn’t lose it and I reattached with carefully placed cryo glue. It appeared there wasn’t much glue on it in the 1st place. But a while back, as some folks have done, added a small chunk of rubber inside/under the knob cap to better plunge the shaft of the Model A-B (white-blue) switch. Obviously, that mod/fix can force/push this plastic cap into oblivion. Anybody who’s done that mod to their 59 should keep an eye on this area. Don’t lose the cap! I dunno where to find the exact part. Open a ticket I guess? Gotta be around someplace but Line6….

I’d avoid any battery pack in circuit when using XPS-TRS power. Not certain about potential for damage but it’s simpler to troubleshoot XPS-TRS issues if the guitar isn’t switching back & forth between XPS & battery power. Sometimes my 500 acts up on XPS-TRS power. Expose logic board and noticed warm components - press around the area with non-conductive item and things always begin working normally for an extended period of time. Dunno what's up with that but it's rare I use it on XPS-TRS anymore.... No doubt gen 1 and XPS-TRS can be funky powered system while genuine circuit info is very often scarce to non-existent.

Yeah, I get toggle/blade switch sentiment and it is a “conundrum” and complication for designers to accommodate the traditional LP 3 way toggle. Switching differences also complicates a situation for some of us who document settings for show players using either JTV59/69 models. 59 obviously 1, 2, 3 toggle switch positions. For 69/standard blade switch models we choose to convert those to 1, 3, 5, respectively. And due to early JTV59 intermittent push-push switching also programing model locations to avoid using “B” bank or blade switch positions 2, 4, altogether when offering specific model locations in music notes/charts. I dunno what “improvement” might actually be found though? Depending on the ability to maintain the push-push switches used in JTV59 it is what it is, I suppose? Don’t think I’d want a blade switch on a LP body... But if Line6 ever offered 3-pickup thin-line Tele/ASAT Variax I’d be an extremely happy user. PCB miniaturization always welcome . Less footprint in guitar body the better. More flexible battery power would also be on my wish list. Option of either Lipoly or AA’s. Definitely yes to Nylon acoustic and Mando would be useful for me as well.

Amazing performance and sounds!

Not sure what you mean by “…thick as a bass guitar” I sometimes press around the piezo with a thick guitar pick while plucking that string and monitoring familiar model. If tone changes drastically between good/bad, it will likely require servicing.

Acoustic models being “microphone” captured require nothing more or less than what you might do with a vocal/instrument microphone signal. They're not like industry standard acoustic/electric guitar signals. Takamine, Taylor, Baggs, Fishman, etc... Variax acoustic is also quite a different sound from the electric models. Some of us use XPS pedals to break out the acoustic sounds directly XLR to PA when going through traditional backline amps. To achieve decent acoustic tone when using any amp modeler with Variax turn OFF Amp/Cab and pedal simulations. Look for simple clean preamp and a little reverb to process Variax acoustic models. If you can get your electrics sounding good through a monitor amp you should be able to tweak a good preset for Variax acoustic models. Another thing which helps is to avoid hitting/playing the strings too hard. These are usually light gauge electric setups with plain 3rd (G) - pluck/strum gently and you shall be rewarded with more convincing acoustic tones.

It appears you've ruled out the battery pack itself. Likely open connection someplace between the battery terminal connection point and DC input to the logic board. Official response will most likely be to open a ticket and seek authorized repair. Certainly not a "bad" option although time consuming. Could be something further down into the PCB however, an experienced solder jockey can probably trace/track things well enough to do no further harm while exploring where the fault might be found and perhaps correct it without any need to seek outside assistance.

I'm a fan of 500 models too. JTV59 magnetics make it my goto Axe but if I had the 500 models in a magnetic 3 pickup Tele body the JTV would collect some dust.

Yeah, it would’ve made much better sense IMO to widen JTV operating voltage and a mounting system/sled to allow the “option” of either AA or 18650 lithium rechargeable packs. Particularly since there's no "charging" taking place inside the guitar. RC model industry did it with computerized radios as lithium packs became more prevalent and better understood.

Ensemble/band mix context coupled with tonal/texture flexibility Variax provides very useful and convincing guitar parts. 4qty Variax worth every Dime and then some…

IMO Variax “must have” - spare or 2nd battery pack. Manual “Battery Management” using 2 packs you can avoid hammering the 2S 18650 battery pack under low SOC (state of charge) conditions and never run out of untethered power when you most need it. Rarely below 1/2 charge is the “easiest” duty level for these battery packs. They’ll each last much longer in the end than a battery pack drained repeatedly down to ODDV (over discharge detection voltage) over and over. Another thing with this chemistry is to never leave packs sitting unused @ full charge. If you’re not going to use the pack/guitar for more than a few days but it’s been fully charged - play it or leave sit plugged in volume up for 30-60 minutes. This will burn off enough SOC to help reduce chemical degradation which occurs during unused periods of time. Storage… Additional benefit of using 2 or more battery packs - much easier to troubleshoot power issues. AC input voltage should exhibit little influence to charge rate and termination voltage of these packs. The DC charge controller governs rate of current and maximum voltage detection baked into the charger system. IIRC my Line6 charger delivers about 0.5A charge rate. Tapers off towards the end (not sure if any balancing may be going on?) Seem to be 2-2.5Ah cells so 3-4 hrs would correlate to my charge rate observation.

59's can be tricky, good tip with capo. I take it bit further. Stock Korea build tuners nothing to write home about - Hipshot, Sperzel, Grover, Schaller all make nice affordable locking tuner - kill 2 birds with one stone. Hipshot uses solid no drill mounting system.

Lack of any Nylon modeling for electrics. They've always kept this Carrot away from us. Mando/Uke too. I suppose it's a way of protecting acoustic guitar product line...

Not sure how much sense it actually makes but for true "lap" style playing with a heavy bar I find it's a worthwhile trick. Of course, I'm flush with several Variax guitars. Maintaining an old 500 in "lap" setup happens to be very useful for me. Dobro/Resonator brings formidable fun factor too. Playing slide parts on a hanging electric with finger slide of course just bump up gauges and/or perfect your touch. Very nice and convenient to get those tuning "intervals" not normally found without a bunch of voodoo, hoodoo.

Love to see James sing/play Mexico. Learning guitar JT was always a fascination with his “unusual” chord fingerings. His open D and A form different from what most books and folks teach. If you wanted to “perfectly mimic” JT’s guitar playing you kinda need to adopt his fingerings. Good lesson about “more than one way of doing things” when it comes to guitar playing. Gotta love Variax acoustics. Definitely brings a mic sound sans feedback to live gigs.

Kinda along these lines of discussion, Taylor T5-T3 models could make for some interesting Variax mutations? It’s kinda shame Taylor and Line 6 never partnered while Taylor was exploring solid body electrics? Both Southern CA companies pushing newer tech rooted in classic fit, feel, tone and support. Seems like a perfect match for US Variax manufacturing. Oh well, far beyond my pay grade…

This gets brought up every once in a while and Line6 mostly remains mum. Seems a missed opportunity because Variax has 6qty quality piezo bridge pickups. Wouldn’t even need preamp modeling, just give us summed piezo output and I’ll send it to the stuff I use with my acoustic piezo bridge pickups. For a while, electric players were installing Baggs and other piezo bridge pickups in standard electric guitars to harness that “industry standard” live acoustic pickup tone using electric guitar. I enjoy Variax acoustic models and find that a light touch/attack definitely helps improve my tones. Some of that might be related to the lighter gauge strings and plain 3rd which is normally not used on acoustic guitars? Amplification live for acoustic modeling should be Full Range. I've learned to treat the input channel strip practically same as using a nice mic on the guitar. Cool thing is to get that mic sound at high sound pressures - no feedback.