ice9mike

Psarkissian, Thank you for your suggestions. I will try them out. I did not have time to play much with it last night. I have already swapped out the pickups to lower output dimarzios (Tone zone and PAF pro). I will try to lower them from the strings more. I already had an experience with JJ tubes in my DT25 where they failed prematurely. They were normal EL84 tubes but for some reason they blew early. The Line 6 service center put in Sovtek tubes (basically re-branded EH tubes). They seem to be working well. I'll keep everyone updated. I am heading to the G4 experience in August and this is the guitar I would like to take so it's a priority to get it playing great.

My 89F arrived today. After being gone for 7 weeks it returned to me sounding exactly the same as before. Same plinky sound on the same Spank bridge, Lester bridge settings. I'm not really sure where to go with it at this point. It's a great guitar except for this issue. Any suggestions from my fellow Variax players or Line 6 techs? :(

Just got a notice that Line 6 is shipping my guitar back to me. Should arrive sometime next week. Crossed fingers that all is well with the modeling. :)

It's present on all models and pickup settings, but most noticeable on those that I listed. One example. The Spank bridge is the worst, but the Spank neck is much less noticeable, although it is still there.

Picking style and what is used definitely makes a difference but I have observed that the plinky sound I am hearing is not normal. My reasons are as follows: 1. The plinky sound does NOT happen at all on my JTV-59 2. The plinky sound IS present when playing straight into my DT-25 3. The plinky sound IS present on several different models (Lester, Semi, Chime) 4. No amount of EQ compensation or volume reduction through Workbench will remove the plinky sound. I know what a vintage Strat bridge pickup sound is supposed to be. I love it. It's woody and round and clear. The plinky sound is metallic, abrasive, and hollow.

Thanks for the clarification. I had no idea the nut could contribute to the processed audio.

Greetings. I called the Line 6 service center last week to get a status update. They are waiting for parts to fix something in the floyd rose bridge that was broken which was a little surprising to me. It seemed to work just fine. They think it might be contributing to the noise, artifacts, and plinky plinky sound. I have my doubts that this is the problem, but I am happy they are thoroughly going through everything.

I've used Audio Technical M50's and Beyer DT880 pros. Both work great with no pops or loud surprising sounds. Just start with a low volume and increase to where it is comfortable.

I think the JTV guitars are ideal for Rocksmith. You can call up whatever model you need with whatever tuning is required. Rocksmith interprets the signal just fine. In addition you can create custom tones in Rocksmith that are pretty good. They aren't on the same level as Pod Farm or HD500 tones, but they are quite usable. Lets not forget the sound is coming from a TV or stereo system.

They are just planet waves auto-trims. Drop in replacement. Nothing fancy. I had them laying around in my parts box. They are much nicer than the Chinese stock tuners. The other mod was just replacing the pickups. I did it without soldering using some small Eurostyle terminals. None of these mods affected the horrible sounding 6th string. It was there from the beginning. Oh yeah, I also had to get it professionally setup and fret leveled because the 7th fret was sticking up high enough to cause ringing on the E, B, and G strings. It plays wonderfully now. My point is I have a lot invested in this guitar in time, money, and effort. I am happy with it except for that 6th string. psarkissian, thanks for looking at my orange (whatever kind it may be).

It's not just the 89F. 59's have had this issue too. I would imagine that there are many more that have the issue but go unnoticed. I continue to believe that the issue is with the software or internal electronics. My 89F has been received by Line 6. I hope to have it back in a couple of weeks and will let you guys know if it is fixed.

Palm muting is used on every note. I switch to the 5th string, then the 4th, then back to the 6th all using palm muting. I did that to highlight the difference for the other strings. It will be sent out as soon as I get the shipping instructions from Line 6 service.

Line 6 customer support has agreed to repair the guitar after they heard that last plinky, plinky recording. I am waiting for shipping instructions, and then back it goes for repair. I'll keep you guys informed on what they repair.

I posted another sound file here: https://soundcloud.com/ice9mike/jtv-89f-spank-bridge-1 I was short on time so I still recorded through my HD500 using the AC30 model with light distortion. Plinky, plinky, plinky on the 6th string. The 5th and 4th sound fine. I am on firmware 2.10. I hope one day I can be rid of plinky, plinky.

I just upgraded to firmware 2.1. It made everything easier to use, but the 6th string still sucks. I posted this recording to illustrate how bad the 6th string is on the Spank Bridge model. This was recorded through a HD500 using the AC30 model with very light distortion. It's awful. https://soundcloud.com/ice9mike/jtv-89f-spank-bridge-1 Enjoy.

My recordings were done straight through the HD500 into my computer, but I have experienced the same issue with just my AMPLIFI 150 and DT-25. In fact the issue is now noticeable on the 6th and 4th strings. It's so bad that the finger squeak noise is amplified more than the fundamental note of the string. I will post more sound files recorded straight through my AMPLIFI 150 later today.

Paskissian, I have run my JTV-89F into my DT-25 combo and my AMPLIFI 150 and the weird sound is still present on the 6th string using both setups (no HD500). There is another thread that contains several sound files of this issue. It is linked to the post above yours. The weird sound is most prevalent on certain models. The spank bridge presents this problem most clearly. ice9mike

It should be fine. I had the same happen to another guitar when installing Sperzels. They held no problem. A competent luthier can extract it for you. They do this all the time.

You can attach the files to your ticket at anytime. You can also attach them to this thread if you click on "More Reply Options." They will need to be less than 2 mb.

I got this response from customer support. Clearly they do not hear the problem. I requested they leave the ticket open. To me the Strat bridge model is the worst. I will send them more audio files to illustrate this issue more clearly. Hi, I listened to your sound sample and played it to a few techs and we don't hear anything wrong. Palm muting is difficult to do using peizo guitars as well. Your hand can get in the way of the them working correctly. Also the bridge models your using are louder models and when going through a high gain amp model, you will hear more string noise and a higher noise floor. Regards, Will - Line 6 Support

I don't think this my problem is caused by low action or ringing on frets. I have adjusted the action both high and low with no change in sound. In addition I can hear this noise just by running my fingers down the string. I have even produced a stunning amount of high frequency feedback by sliding my fingers down the 6th string. Something else is going on.

israz99, Thanks for testing the cable swap. I think there is a general problem with the software too with regard to the frequencies it manipulates. I wonder how different the Graphtech Ghost pickups are compared to the LR. Baggs system used on the other JTVs. My jtv-59 does not have this issue. I look forward to hearing your sound samples. ice9mike

I just got my JTF-89F back from being the shop where it had several frets re-leveled and setup. It plays great through the mag pickups. The modeled sounds on the other hand sound like crap on the 6th string. The Spank bridge through distortion is awful and unusable. Sounds like there is an echo and boost only the pick attack. The sound is as annoying as fingernails on a chalkboard. I created another support ticket to address this and pointed them to my recording and this thread. We need a critical mass to get support to seriously look at this issue. I encourage anyone with this issue to record their guitar, open a ticket, and demand a fix. Be persistent. I will make this my personal mission if I have to. Good luck everyone.

Here's a link to my recording of this horrible sound. It sounds very similar to the other recordings on this thread. You can also hear a lot of digital swirling/noise just before the playing starts. This is coming from the 89F modeling. I have no idea where that comes from either. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12774652/Sounds/JTV-89F_Digital%20Lester-JCM.wav My 89F is currently in the shop to have some frets re-leveled and setup (I don't know how it escaped with those high frets they were producing horrible ringing. That's another story). I will make more recordings of this horrible sound this weekend when I get it back.

I had an open support ticket several months ago. They recommended I send the guitar back to Sweetwater as it was brand new. I did that. Sweetwater could not find an issue with the guitar so it was sent on to Line 6 headquarters for more troubleshooting. Line 6 could not find an issue with the guitar either so they eventually sent it back to me. I think the main challenge is getting Line 6 to recognize and hear the issue that we are experiencing.