tomb68

This is relevant to me as well. I double on a few gigs. Was looking at QSC powered cabs but possibly a L2M would suffice. No one ever talks about L2M's for low/med volume bass in something like a jazz combo.

I play upright, just wandered across this thread. K&K stuff is the bomb. I'm also an NS user though I use CR model which is active. I think with the wave 4 you might just want to add some mags and a blend pre(optional, but nice) and add a small room verb to emulate the sound of the upright body. Some thing with short decay and not too much boom in it(use an eq after to tweak). You probably won't need a buffer preamp with Helix(or pod hd) since they are 1 mega-Ohm. http://krivopickups.com/my-art/krivo-pickup-for-upright-bass/ http://www.gollihurmusic.com/product/1377-SCHALLER_MAGNETIC_UPRIGHT_BASS_PICKUP.html I have often wondered what these would sound like.

That is good to hear.

The bass support in the 500/500X is weak. The compressors are definitely tweaked for guitarists. I have gotten usable bass tones out of the 500X but often I use the tube comp to one of the EQ's and just a touch of room reverb(if any). The ampeg is a one trick pony and errs heavily on the side of vintage tone. I can make it sound nice, but a Tech21 Bass Driver or just a high quality direct box into a soundcard(for recording) gets the job done faster and better. If you want a more Trace Elliot, Markbass, SWR, Eden, Hartke or EBS(i.e. clean and punchy) type of bass tone look elsewhere.

Either Line6 has abandoned bassists, or bassists have abandoned Line6. Kind of chicken-n-egg but either way I'm disappointed. There are so many other great bass amps besides Ampeg. Some bassists don't even like the "Ampeg tone". A compressor with real controls would be nice too. Sadly, I suspect they are not forthcoming.

Eh, I prefer a standard Tele width nut...the 69 did look narrow, but the 89 felt wide to me but it's not really wider than my 2008 SG standard just flatter. Lots of great responses here, and honestly it's pointing me at not getting another variax which kinda sucks because I like the features, but my claw hammering right hand is what it is.

So, I had an 89 (this thread refers only to Korean models) and liked it, but a few things really bothered me to the point of selling it. The first was lots of clicking and popping while finger picking. I rarely use a pick and play aggressively at times. I don't have particularly light right hand most of the time. (and I'm not really ok with changing how I play) The second thing was the 89 neck profile never felt comfortable to me. That's just preference thing and I understand there are 59's and 69's that could solve that easily. When ever I read this board and people are having problems they seem to occur most often with 89's and 59's. Pre 89F I would attribute this to the wrap around bridge/peizo configuration. I don't know enough about the 89F or the type of player that would prefer it to make a judgement but I still see less complaints about the 69. Is it just me imagining it or are 69 owners generally experiencing less artifacts and more satisfying performances from their instruments? It does have a different bridge so maybe that accounts for some of it. This is just speculation but I'm curious because I'm considering getting a 69 as I enjoyed a lot of what variax had to offer. Thoughts?

Sorry I missed this. I ended up selling the jtv-89. I sent it back to line6 but they couldn't reproduce the problem which leads me to further believe that the piezo bridges just don't work well with some peoples technique. I was really disappointed by the whole affair. I also bought a pod hd500x so I could go straight to it with the vdi cable but that didn't stop the pops and clicks when playing finger style. When I play guitar it is typically without a pick and I drag and rake and generally use a lot of dynamics. I'm not a great guitarist but my style is my voice and altering it too much takes all the enjoyment out of it anyway. I really wish that wasn't the case but I figured it was better just to go back to my other guitars. Hopefully the technology will continue to advance and maybe I'll try again in the future.

I think you really have to commit to the JTV being your main axe and not one of your axes. After a frustrating period of trying diiferent strings and setting on the piezo sensitivity as well as playing very lightly, I gave up and sold my JTV. It was really cool in many ways but not quite ready for prime time in my collection. My very soft to very hard playing are intrisic to me, and since I'm playing my stuff, and not someone else's it was too much of a limitation. If I were a pro studio player I would likely feel the opposite though.

I see this as a mostly positive thing. Of all the companies that could have bought them Yamaha is the most benign and they have a good track record in the music industry. I mean, it could have been Gibson(if you want a horror story).

In spite of my previous statement, I will be first in line purchase a Yamaha BB1024V if it becomes a reality. :D

Yes. It has many possible bass amps/pres and one Ampeg model as well. :P

I voted no. Not to kill the idea but, in order to appeal to a wide audience it would likely be a "fender" based design. I keep a jazz around for gigs where they want to "see" a Fender bass. Otherwise I don't care for Fender/Musicman/G&L and all their bastard children so it would likely not appeal to me. I prefer non-fender neck shapes. I particularly like mid 2000s Warwicks with the baseball bat necks and they feel kindred to my uprights. I find thin necks very fatiguing.

What input on the Spider Jam are you using to connect your POD? I'm not terribly familiar with that amp, but an input that bypasses the preamp/eq etc. would be optimal. • Mini stereo MP3/CD input for playing along with your music • XLR mic input with a dedicated volume knob perfect for vocals • 1/4" aux input perfect for a second instrument including keyboard or bass You may want to start with the AUX and go from there, if you aren't already.

+2 This is a good approach and has worked well for me.