cbrillow

Ouch. Bad enough to have trouble with the Amplifi 150. Were you also rewarded with reduced battery life for 'updating' your Relay G10? My sympathies...

I think that's a pretty good assessment. For anyone wanting to play 'live' with the Amplifi, a floorboard is far more versatile and less frustrating! You'll have easy access to 100 stored presets, and the ability to turn effects on and off, as well. Nice to hear from someone who's enjoying his Amplifi 150!

Yep, that's the way it works!

I have the FBV Shortboard MKII, and have used it with Amplifi 30 and 150. Changes banks, switches presets/channels, and allows you to turn on & off Stomp, Modulation, Reverb & Delay. Also has volume/Wah pedal. Not really sure what you were asking, but that's what mine does...

There's a new player on the block, out with a practice amp very much like the Amplifi 30 -- with additional features -- and at the opposite end of the life cycle. In other words, just now beginning released, currently actively supported and updated. Won a pretty big award at the recent NAMM show. In all fairness, it also lacks one of the amplifi series glaring weaknesses: no Line output, and currently doesn't support a footswitch. Won't mention the MFR, but a search for "winter NAMM 2020 best new amp" will get you there.

Sorry to hear that. Afraid I can't make any more suggestions, as I've never tried connecting with the USB interface. I also have a 500, and used to use Workbench by connecting through a Pod XT Live. I'm willing to experiment, though. I was reading up on these things earlier, and first learned that there are apparently two versions of this thing. You say that you have the 'newer' version, if I understand correctly. That's the smallish black box with USB-A and Cat 5 cables sticking out of it? I have the older one, which was shipped with my JTV-59. It's translucent plastic, and requires separate cables to connect the box to the guitar (via Cat 5). and the box to the computer (via USB). From what I saw, though, it sounds that you're getting the correct information from the interface, indicating that both connections are functioning properly. It also sounds like you've done an appropriate amount of homework on drivers, JAVA and Line 6 Monkey. If you can stick around for a while, I'll see what happens if I try to connect my 600 through my (older) interface and see if I can make it work. It won't be today or tomorrow, but sometime before long... One more question -- maybe two: Laptop or desktop? If desktop, are you using a rear-mounted USB port?

You're correct. It's essentially 1/2" in height. It's doubtful that you'd be able to find an actual power bank that would fit in that cavity, but a a battery or cell might. For example, I have a pair of these that I bought for a bluetooth speaker that suffered a battery failure. It's a 3.7V 1500mAh Li-ion battery, and they are thin enough -- .22" - that TWO of them would fit in there along with the converter board. But you have to be very careful with these things, and I'm not about to recommend a series or parallel connection to come up with an ideal voltage or current. A single 3.7V unit like this should work, as the minimum input to the converter is 3Vdc. I'm not so sure of the current, though. It it did work, it may not last as long as you'd like. Although the converter is rated at a much higher current output, if its input supply is limited, it might not work too well or long... You might look around for a single piece solution that has a higher current output and fits in the remaining space. My 600 is basically unused, as I don't like the tuning instability due to the tremolo. So I never bothered to make a more permanent solution to mounting the power bank externally. It's a smallish stick, and sits unobtrusively out of the way. I could also draw you up a diagram if you want to pursue the other solution, essentially a DIY miniXPS. I'm not familiar with the miniXPS, which apparently was sold with the Variax 300, but I have at least one of the full-sized XPS units from one of my Variaxes. You are correct that that supply for the guitar is sent on the ring of the TRS plug. Coming up with a safe solution for that would be borderline trivial. Sounds like you might have the ability to cook that up, yourself, but I'm happy to help. For my purposes, though -- I prefer using the converter board, because then I can plug in my Relay G10 wireless to the guitar output jack instead if connecting to the XPS with a TRS cable.

No hoping involved. Things like this are confirmed before experimenting. Available current is several times that required by the Variax.

You're making my case by again commenting on something in an inappropriate context that doesn't help ANYBODY. I'm guessing that the 'User Manual', page 4-6, that you're loosely referencing is the same Variax Pilot's Guide that I directly quoted from. You continue to try to make this all about using a TS/mono plug with the XPS footswitch, which was not suggested or implied in my original interchange with the OP. I wholeheartedly agree that connecting a TS plug into the XPS will short out the V+ that's there to provide operating power to the Variax, that it won't work, and could/probably would cause damage. And I'd never recommend doing so. We are talking about two methods of connection, the details of which are not intended to be mix-and-matched. Don't be so obsessed with the XPS/TRS issue. Here is what I would unhesitatingly recommend to someone as options for powering a Variax 500 or 600, and these are fully supported by your user manual and my Pilot's Guide. Use the battery pack with 6AA alkaline batteries. Use a 2-conductor/mono/TS cable to the input of the amplifier. Use the XPS footswitch with a 3-conductor/stereo/TRS cable to connect the two. The essential issue that brought the OP here was that his computer wasn't recognizing by the Variax USB workbench interface. Another user and I were curious as to how he was powering the Variax, as that's not a function of the interface. Hence the question about whether he was using onboard battery power or XPS offshore power. If you want to be helpful, give him some kind of an indication, such as: It will work if you're powering your Variax with the 9Vdc battery pack. (and TS cable) It will work if you're powering your Variax via XPS footswitch (and TRS cable) It will work for either of the above configurations

Getting around a little better today, so I'm sending a picture of my Variax 600 solution for using a 5V power bank. Note that I don't really use my 600 very much, and didn't create a permanent installation -- I just ran the cable with the USB connector through the dimple in the top of the cutout for the battery box. This thing cost me $10.99 from Amazon.com DC-DC switching power converter Works great, is on-board adjustable without needing a meter, and is simple to hook up, thanks to having screw terminal blocks for the input and output. (the blue boxes on the left & right sides of the picture) I have a power bank that clips onto my strap. Also note that I used a 9V battery clip so that the board plugs in just as if it were the battery pack, and that I have the output set at 8.8Vdc, which works great.

I only suggested that as an alternate means of supplying power to the Variax. Who knows why, but sometimes things work when you don't expect them to -- why not exhaust all the possibilities? If you frequent the Amplfi pages, you'll see that Line 6 advises all kinds of voodoo for updating the firmware. Like 'If the update fails, try a different USB port, or a different computer.' They had me try 4 different computers, with USB ports on the front panel, the back panel, etc. Maybe I wasn't holding my mouth right... Nothing worked. I had to pay over $100 to send it to them to fix for 'free'.

No disrespect intended, but this simplistic response doesn't really address the central issue, nor is it responsive to the OP's last question. There are multiple scenarios mentioned in the thread, and this doesn't offer a hint into which scenario is affected, and the vague 'issues down the road' comment could use some explanation beyond 'Trust me, I'm the service guy - I know.' The Pilot's Guide is quite clear about the Variax power options that are available. For example: "The simplest way to use the Variax is to connect it directly to your amplifier (or stompboxes) with a standard mono guitar cable. (i.e. TS) <snip> The battery will only be used when a mono cable is connected – the standard cable you'd use for a guitar. For longest battery life, always unplug your Variax when not in use." And... "Powering your Variax with the XPS Footswitch is easy. Use the included TRS cable (meaning "tip- ring-sleeve" or also simply known as a "stereo" cable) to connect the Variax to the INPUT jack of the XPS Footswitch. Connect the PX-2 power supply to the XPS Footswitch POWER jack, and use a standard mono guitar cable to connect the XPS Footswitch's 1/4" OUTPUT to your amp or effects." So how is a comment --"Has to be that way, TS can cause issues down the road" -- helpful? If you want to help the OP, give him some specific information that's responsive to his issue. You might say something like: 'If you're connecting to the Workbench USB interface, make sure that your Variax is connected to an XPS foot switch using a stereo/TRS cable.' As written, your comment is vague and, on it's own, suggests more questions than it answers. Are you suggesting that it's not possible or advisable to connect to the Workbench interface while powering the Variax with the 9-volt battery pack of 6AA cells? Then SAY SO! Maybe you meant to say 'Don't use a TS/mono cable to plug the Variax into an XPS footswitch!' But we don't know. All we know is 'TS can cause issues down the road'. I think I can speak for many members in that we're grateful for your occasional appearances in the forum. Your position makes your voice very powerful and authoritative, but sometimes the responses leave a lot to be desired.

To be honest, I don’t know. I have 3 Variax guitars - a first generation 500, a 600 and JTV59, but have virtually zero experience using with the XPS. I have almost always run with batteries or connected to a Pod XT Live via the VDI cable. My gut says it should work just fine doing it your way, but this is Line 6 we’re talking about. I’ve seen some odd recommendations about connecting things in these pages... If you have some batteries that you could slip into the battery holder, you might want to try it, just to exhaust all the possibilities. (Making sure to use a mono/TS cable, rather than the stereo/TRS cable with this combination...) Hope you get it going!

IMO, if you’re not planning to gig with a band, the 150 is overkill. For home use or even a small place like a coffee shop, the 30 would do the job, and it sounds really good. And pair it with the FBV as the previous poster mentioned for great flexibility in selecting presets on the fly. I picked up a used FBV Shortboard MK II, and it works great!

Hmmmmm... Does this mean you are also connected to an XPS footswitch, via a 1/4” TRS cable? That’s one of the options. The other option for powering the Variax with a 1/4” cable requires using batteries and a standard TS (2 conductor) guitar cable

I’ll help you out as best I can, but need a day or two. Sprained my ankle today and can’t get down in the basement to gather the necessary information to send along. Think you’ll find it helpful!

Given that you asked for an active link on dv247.com, it wasn't altogether clear to me what the issue was. Now that you've explained it a bit better, I understand your problem. One question: have you contacted Line 6 directly? This is a user forum, primarily, and your message may not be seen by the company, itself. There's only one Line 6 rep who checks in here with any frequency, and his presence is limited due to the Covid-19 situation. Maybe try opening a ticket on the support portion of the site? A DIY shouldn't be too tough, if you just needed to supply the Variax with operating power using a TRS cable and taking the signal into a guitar amp. The ability to switch between the 1/4" output and an XLR connector would be more complicated. I have a couple of older Variaxes -- a 500 and a 600. I mostly used the 500 with a Pod XT Live and the VDI cable for power. But I built an adapter to use an inexpensive 5V cellphone power bank in place of the 6AA cells that it normally takes. It lasts longer and is easier to change, just by disconnecting the USB connection from one and plugging in another that's already charged. If you have easy access to electronic parts where you are -- Amazon.com? - I could share my solution with you for evaluation. Note that this doesn't work with James Tyler devices. You're pretty much stuck with the official Line 6 battery or the XPS or compatible foot controller there..

Try this link -- I searched at dv247.com and found it on page 4 of the Line 6 listings.

You do realize that you've responded to a posting that was made over 5 years ago, don't you? Wouldn't count on your being able to come up with the requested info, but I wish you luck!

This isn't the USB issue that's at the heart of the Line 6 warning. That refers to the G10T, which is the transmitter half of the G10 system. The transmitter can be purchased separately and used as a standalone with some Spider amplifiers. It can also be used with an optional USB charging cable, which is referred to in the warning. It's the transmitter that contains the battery which has been found to be susceptible to overheating. The issue addressed in this thread refers to what many consider to be a reliability design flaw in the power connector to the G10 receiver.

Agreed! This is similar to Apple degrading the performance of some older iPhones, supposedly as a means of protecting users from data loss. They got caught doing that and had to offer reasonably-priced battery replacements. My experience with Line 6 has been they are not very forthcoming with information about repairs that they make. After sending an Amplifi 150 across the country at an expense of over $100, it was repaired and sent back to me without explanation. I had to ask after-the-fact, and the information I received was very sketchy. Please keep us in the loop with Line 6's response to your inquiry. Your experience is making me hesitate to load the new firmware...

I have to say that I think it's pretty irresponsible that Line 6 issued this recommendation in such an obscure location, which very few of us had an opportunity to see, when our gear registrations provide contact information that would permit them to get the information into our hands almost immediately. They're sure quick to notify us when there's something new to buy... Suppose I hadn't checked into the forum today and seen this, and had a house-fire caused by an overheating G10 battery. Line 6's cavalier attitude towards direct notification would certainly come under scrutiny should it become known that they refused to immediately contact current owners of the product. We should come first! Put out the notices to the community and the trade magazine AFTER you notify customers at potential peril.

Commenting on the original question here, not the mag pickups swap question... I have a Korean JTV-59 and it's similar in weight, neck size & shape, etc., to my Les Paul Deluxe. No surprises there, because it's built pretty much to emulate a Gibson solidbody. It's pretty well-constructed and plays easily enough, right out of the box. I've never taken it in for a pro setup after receiving it from Sweetwater years ago. When I got it, I was accustomed to playing either a Strat Plus Deluxe, or my original Variax, which became known as the Variax 500. I didn't 'take' to the '59 right away, and didn't play it much for the first several years of ownership. I'm mostly a bedroom player, but I took over temporarily for a sick guitar player a couple of years ago, and found out that my Strat needed fretwork, and the Variax 500 had developed an reliability problem, so I started acclimating myself to the JTV. By this time, it had sat unused for a long time, and the battery wasn't good at holding a charge, so I played all of my gigs using the stock mag pickups. And I was satisfied with them. (not a pro, or real picky -- they were fine for my purposes) I'd love to have an American JTV, but there's no way it can be THAT MUCH better than the one that I have. Not for that big difference in $. And I don't care if the audience knew whether it was from Korea or made in the U.S. Did it sound good? Did they like what they heard? Did I have fun playing for them? Those are the important things, not where its made or how much it costs.

Wow -- I hadn't gone back that far. But what it did was make a composite of two posts -- Phil M's and mine -- and threw the link in there at a random area. Sheesh!

Interesting, but kind of odd, considering that everything else in that post was responsive to the thread's topic!