jerseyboy

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.

Sounds like interesting piece. Hard to beat Golden Gate F3303 extension nut for a temporary situation. It sits on top of the current nut. For my 500 slide setup I simply made a tall bone nut and in addition to raising the bridge piezos as far as looked reasonable, I removed all compensation and simply angled the bridge pieces as if it were solid bridge centered on 25.5” scale length. Basically a long scale lap steel slide guitar. But the tunings and pickup models - too much fun. Kinda shame Line6 didn’t try a lap steel version of Variax? With only 6 strings, alternate “tunings” can make a formidable slide guitar. I’ve gone so far as to load up tunings and jump major/minor at the flick of a switch. Helluva good cheat….

I use both Standard 500 & JTV59. Standard has particular strengths and weaknesses just like the JTV59. 59 uses good sounding magnetic pickups so in practice modeling takes more of a back seat to "normal" electric guitar output. JTV Strat model can be tweaked much better than the standard, IMO. But the JTV Special Bridge lost something compared to the standard, go figure? But for certain tunings, textures and acoustic sounds the JTV is certainly convincing and just a better built guitar than either of my 500's. Oh, I've never met a chunky neck yet that couldn't be made less chunky, LOL... Yeah drastic, but sub-$1000 guitars, who cares? If it's not an heirloom, I make it to my liking. I never enjoy thick gloss finish on guitar necks anyway.... Definitely add better quality tuners either flavor you go! Locking tuners JTV59 can make string changes much simpler. I have friends/coworkers who play 69's and we joke how the Strat modeling sounds better than the stock magnetic single coils. Not so when comparing 59 Alnico Magnetic humbuckers to the JTV Lester models.

I keep a 500 with raised nut and bridge height setup to help figure out lap steel tunings. I play in lap position using a fat bar. The Paul/Special bridge delivers a pretty fat tone and the Tele isn't bad for poor man's "Fender Steel Six". Now, this is okay for live gigs and even a scratch demo track but when it comes to something very important and exposed, I generally tune a genuine magnetic pickup lap steel to whatever tuning found using the 500 and Workbench. But the Variax is truly a marvel for playing with tuning combinations. I've been pondering transplanting electronics into a lap steel guitar body. Tuning combos practically unlimited since you can change any string over 2 octave range. Of course bump up string gauge to whatever tension you're looking for. You do not need to use a standard E-E guitar tuning either. I often start with D, E, G, resonator/Dobro tunings. Merely keep track of what strings are tuned to what when digging around tuning editor. Main caveat about physical setup is to always treat the bridge pieces/pickups/piezos gently whenever adjusting height and/or intonation. Even normal string change it doesn't hurt to slap a piece of masking tape over the bridge to better secure it to the body as the string tension is released. You do not want to wiggle those small wires which run into each bridge pole pickup.

I've used VDI between JTV59 - XT Live. It changed presets and passed signal but that's it. Of all the things Helix is clearly better at, volume pedal sweep curve with XT line products still wins hands down. Well, the XT tuner is arguably better too.

Wise to be gentle and wary of the I/O connections on these things. It's rugged but still plastic - I've adopted classical guitar seating whenever I play Variax sitting. Which is 98% of my work/playing.