cbrillow

With the TT and a foot controller, you would only need bluetooth in the event that you wanted to stream music from the remote app to the TT -- like a backing track to play along with. (There are other ways to accomplish this, as well...) Another thing to keep in mind is that there is a fairly significant delay when changing between presets from the remote app. With the foot controller, there's virtually no delay, but you'll find that the patch change triggers when you let OFF the footswitch, not when you first press it down. So you don't want to hold the button down for any length of time.

Good luck, mate! Hope you get your Amplifi fixed-up and love it when you finally get to play with it!

You're essentially correct in that the preset banks are only represented as numbers on the FX-100. The presets do have names, though -- which are visible when you're using the Amplifi Remote app on your iOS or Android device. Still, being limited to seeing, for example ''09" on an LED display isn't all that helpful in remembering which presets you have and and which one you want to use next... An alternative to the FBV 3 is the FBV Short Board MKII, which should also work with the TT. Like the FBV 3, it has alphanumeric display that shows the name of the currently-selected preset. I have one that I use with an Amplifi 30 and a 150, both of which are very limiting in a performance setting without a flexible foot controller for selecting sound presets. A significant advantage of using a foot controller instead of the FX-100 is that the foot controller has additional switches that allow you to turn on and off individual effects --- reverb, modulation, compression, etc -- within each preset as you're using it. The FX-100 simply has 4 switches to select one of 4 presets in a given bank of 4. The FBV Short Board MKII is no longer in production, so you would have to locate a used one if it were your choice. The good news is, this could save you some money. I found mine at a local pawn shop for $100 USD, and it was in excellent condition and works flawlessly. In case you missed it, the FBV switch displays have multi-color LEDs, but they only illuminate as red when used with the Amplifi series. This may or may not be a function of the Amplifi firmware, and may or may not change in the future. (Line 6 hasn't given any indication that I've seen...)

Thanks for the information and suggestions! I've saved your post to a pdf, just in case it 'disappears' from this thread. At this point, any such investigation is kinda low on my priorities list, but I'll keep you apprised of any future developments from my end.

Intriguing subject, especially in light of a thread I read some time ago wherein a user suggests that a trashed or faulty SD card may lie at the heart of a lot of seemingly-bricked Amplifi devices that won't reset, won't boot or won't update. It may just be anecdotal evidence, but it's worth some investigation, in my opinion. Some questions come to mind: If the SD card doesn't have an identifiable file system, how does one read and write to it, in order to 'study' or duplicate the contents. Is there model-specific information in the SD card image, or is the same data set used for all the Amplifi devices. I own a 30, a 150 and an FX-100. I would be willing to do some poking around if someone can identify the method by which I can read and transfer the contents for backup purposes. It would also be helpful to compare the data with the Amplifi TT and 75, neither of which I can get my hands on...

Anything's "possible", but this would be a daunting task, to say the least. It's not something I'd try. Separating the piezo pickups and the modeling electronics into separate enclosures is imaginable. But the model selections are made with a combination of the 5-way switch, the rotary model selection switch and there are volume & tone pots, as well. How you would incorporate those controls into an existing pedalboard is not quite within my grasp. I'm thinking you'd come up with a difficult-to-control beast, if it worked at all. I think a better solution is to pair a Variax with one of the Line 6 floor processors that can change Variax models with each preset.

The Variax acoustic models sound better -- in my opinion -- through an acoustic amp or another type of amplifier with a more flat range & flat response than a conventional guitar amplifier. Some players use a keyboard amp, which also has a broader response than a guitar amp. Others like to play straight into a mixer and PA or HiFi stereo amplifier.

Well, I have an iPad, but haven't used it for playing backing tracks. I have done this with my Android phone, though. I'm assuming you're referring to using the Amplifi Remote app to stream your tracks via Bluetooth... The key seems to be that your tracks have to be in your music library on the same device that is running the app. One connected, it's not too difficult to navigate to where they are and play them in the app. It's a great way to practice and sounds really good!

I've used a 30 in a couple of live situations: 1) At an open mic, sitting atop a stool with a mic pointed at it, playing a backing track via BT along with my guitar lead. No vocals, just an instrumental. Worked out very well... 2) At a rehearsal of a classic rock band, with another guitar, keyboard, bass, drums & 2 vocalists. Had to turn it all the way up, just to hear myself. Obviously, not ideal, despite this little beast being quite loud on its own. I don't think this would work well, even mic'd and going through the PA, especially if you had to depend on hearing your instrument without the benefit of a monitor. I used to play in a trio with another (acoustic) guitarist and a bass, and we'd play coffee house-type settings. This would have been a perfect little amp for that, especially since I concocted a way to power it from a battery.

I have a 500, a 600 and a JTV-59. The 500 replaced my Strat Plus Deluxe as my go-to guitar for a long time. (bought it when the Variax was initially released and never looked back...) I'm not an extremely critical -- nor proficient! -- guitarist, and never had any complaints about the quality of the instrument. It was fine for my needs and felt pretty good in my hands. Then, about 5 years ago, I bought the JTV-59, touted as being a superior instrument, with updated electronics. Despite the upgrades, I didn't warm to it for the longest time, and continued to use the 500. When the HD models came out for the JTV-59, I updated the firmware to evaluate them. That was a significant letdown! There were some improvements, arguably most prevalent on the acoustic models, but I felt that some of the electrics -- particularly the Stratocaster models -- lost a lot! The past year, an opportunity arose that prompted me to begin to us the '59 as my main guitar, as a fill-in guitarist in a classic rock band. I'd imagined it being a great fit, owing to its versatility, but actually wound up using the mag pickups exclusively. For me, the modeling is most useful for acoustics, specialty instruments and alternate tunings. Other than that, I like the security afforded by the mag pickups. And I continue to prefer, on the whole, the pre-HD models found on the older Variax instruments. Wish it were not so -- I love technology!

In case it's not clear from the brief post immediately preceding this one, this can easily be accomplished, but it's done by using your Amplifi device as a USB audio interface with your computer, so that what Transcribe is playing, is sent to the Amplifi. You will not be streaming audio via bluetooth in this instance -- it will be coming from your computer! Make sure you've downloaded and installed the USB drivers from Line6 and get out that USB cable! Connect it to your Amplifi and your computer, and have at it! You *may* have to do some PC audio mixer configuration adjustments, but the Amplifi automatically 'took over' on my system, making it a very simple process.

What platform are you using -- iOS or Android? I don't use the remote app often, and, when I do, I almost always use the Android version on my phone, rather than the iOS version on my iPad. The last time -- about a month ago -- that I started the app on my iPad, I noticed that all of my tones were also missing. Rather than trying to figure out what happened, I just grabbed my phone and verified that my tones weren't missing from there, as well. Wondering if it has something to do with the fact that I can't run the most recent version of the iPad app because it's a 3rd generation device that is limited to iOS 9.3.5. I believe the current iOS is at 11, which my device will never be able to run. Maybe Line 6 made a change that has knocked portions of the older version out-of-the-water...

Same here. Makes you learn to get on and get off the switches quickly! you can't just step on one and linger, expecting the tone to change...

Sounds like you're at least satisfied with the level of support you got from contacting the mothership. That's good. Here in U.S., the policy on defective new, out-of-the-box merchandise is almost universal in that you should be able to return it to the place of purchase for your choice of exchange or refund. I wouldn't be satisfied to wait for the retailer to be in-touch with Line 6/Yamaha. They should give you another one, period, and then they can determine what to do with the one you returned. You shouldn't have to wait for a brand-new product to be 'repaired'! I've been through the frustration you experienced with their not paying attention to what you'd written, and basically telling you to do things you'd already tried. It's frustrating to take your time to thoroughly document a problem and the steps you took to try to resolve it, only to have tech support send you back to square-one with, 'Are you sure it's connected to a power source?', or something equally inane. When I finally talked on the phone with a Line 6 support tech, I was able to quickly establish that I was competent and knowledgeable enough that we could approach the problem as peers, rather than going the baby-step route. I bought a used Amplifi 150, which initially seemed to work fine. But I found that the firmware was outdated, and tried to load the latest. That's when I went down the same rabbit hole that others who have tried, and failed, found themselves in. Line 6 was very generous in repairing my out-of-warranty unit at no charge, but it cost me over $100 US to ship it across the country for repair. That pretty much negated the good price at which I had obtained the amp in the first place... When it was returned to me, there was no indication as to what had been done to fix it. I had to ask. And was told 'There was nothing wrong with it. We just reset it and updated the firmware.' Which precisely what I had attempted to do, following specific instructions from a technician on the telephone. Tried it with 3 different computers, all up-to-date with drivers and OS, all in known excellent working condition and no hardware problems. (And all running Windows 10, which seems to pop up frequently in posts from others who have undergone this problem...) There is another post here on the forum where a user reported being able to restore a non-functioning Amplifi device by copying the contents of the SD card from a 2nd device, or maybe just swapping the two cards -- I don't remember the details. But the suggestion seems to be that the firmware just *might be* stored on the SD card, maybe even along with all the presets. I wish we could get a definitive explanation of this, but you know it will never happen... At the present time, I have a 30, a 150 and an FX-100. It would be nice to know if the contents of the SD cards are unique and specific to those devices, or if they can be interchanged. Could come in handy, should one of them lose its mind in the future. Good luck -- hope you're eventually delighted with your new amp!

Congratulations on your purchase -- hope you have good luck and a lot of fun with it!

I would suggest calling for phone support. If you search to forum, you'll see that these things can be VERY temperamental when it comes to connecting to Windows PCs via USB, especially those running Windows 10. I am also an extremely competent and experienced computer geek/hacker, yet I had all kinds of difficulty updating the firmware on an Amplifi 150. Get a tech support guy on the phone and have him walk you through the process. If you can get it across to him that you're technically competent, he'll be very willing to work with you. You may find that none of his suggestions work, but you can at least be assured that you're doing everything correctly. You have the advantage of your unit being brand-new, which gives you the option of running away from it with a refund, exchanging for another, or having them cover you under warranty. Good luck -- have fun!

Hmmmmm... I wonder if the Android version is similar to the iOS versions in that the latest may not be available to users who are not running the latest operating system. My phone -- a Google Nexus 6, is running Android 7.1.1. Is yours older, the same, or newer than mine? When you read the app description in Play Store, does it show that it's Version 2.60.1? Have you tried -- I almost hate to suggest this -- an uninstall/reinstall?

Thanks for your comment. Just hope I'm right and that it helps others in some way...

Another thing to check is the guitar level in the mix. Press down on the volume knob, which will change the ring of LEDs surrounding it from red to white. When white, you are adjusting the guitar level in the mix that's sent to the output stage. Turn the knob clockwise so that you have a strongest possible signal, then push the knob again to return to the red LEDs and adjust as necessary.

I have the FBV Shortboard MKII, and feel that it's the better fit, given the extra expense of the FBV 3 and the fact that the colored LED indicators don't work with the Amplifi series. It may be difficult to find a new MKII, however. If you're not averse to buying one used, you can sometimes find them on Reverb.com and ebay. I bought mine for $100 from a pawnshop listing I found on craigslist. A buddy found one for $139 on ebay a couple of weeks ago. Both are in like-new condition and work very well.

It's in the Google Play Store, released by Line 6 on Feb 2, 2018.

The XT Live power supply is 9V AC, not DC. If this device supplies 9V DC, it will not work.

Good to see there's still somebody out there trying to resolve this. I haven't yet had time to really dig in on this, but should have some upcoming soon. My solution may be to go with an older machine -- I still have some carcasses left that run XP, and maybe even have the older version of the JRE installed. (or can get it...) I'd like to find an alternative that would run on Windows 10, though. If I stumble across anything helpful, I'll update this thread and alert you via a private message.

@younmoon Read your post with interest. To date, I haven't suffered from BT connection problems, but plenty of other users have complained of it here in the forums. I'll try to store your advice away, should something come along and upset my applecart. You could be on to something there! Thanks for sharing...

Bummer. I'm fortunate that my 3 Amplifi devices seem to work reasonable well with my iPad, my Android phone, and my buddy's Android phone & tablet. (I'm letting him use my FX-100...) I find this to be a constant irritant, both with software and some websites. You get instructions to do something or try out a feature, and it doesn't work right or the link doesn't contain the information it's supposed to have. It seems as if they don't have anybody to test their work. Makes me crazy! I agree about navigation being problematic. Especially when streaming audio via bluetooth while playing along. If you need to adjust the volume settings, you have to go back several screens. Arrrgh! I've been using Transcribe! for years to slow down and create practice loops, so I continue to use it for those purposes and don't miss that functionality in the remote app. And I don't use tone-matching, Have to agree that this isn't well-conceived or executed, and this is core functionality. Ouch. You use more of the app features than I do. Easy to see why you're frustrated with this... This is HUGE! I'm afraid of updates of any kind -- app, operating system or Amplifi firmware... And it's not a chronic fear -- I've been using computer AT HOME since the mid 70s, and have participated in many beta programs over the years. Am a Windows Insider currently. But Line 6 scares the bejeebers our of me with this shaky Amplifi stuff.