baggas

Worked for me. Got it for $69 today.

Yeh I think I got lucky with mine. Having a quick look now, the only black ones I can find are the SSS with the maple fingerboard, which I still prefer to the blue ones. Depends how intent you are on having a HSS model.

Do you mean this sort? It's a black HSS JTV-69. I was all set to buy the blue one but that sale fell through and I chanced across this in a music store in my city earlier this year. But they had had it for a couple of years I think. Can't easily find it online, so I'm not sure if Line6 no longer produce that colour. Shame because I love this colour more than the other, current 69's.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the upcoming Helix Native offer something like this? All you need is some kind of basic audio interface or guitar to USB cable and with Native on your laptop you have the portable, minimalist unit you seek.

That's a great idea. I was thinking I would have to devote a whole custom bank on my JTV-69 to allow the pickup switch to work in the normal fashion - one slot for each pickup combination. Defeating it in Variax control like that should allow me to only use one slot. Next I need to decide if I use a "neutral body" in workbench - will that most transparently allow the tone of my guitar to come through? Or should I use the Strat body? Hopefully I'll get time to play around with all these things tonight.

Thankyou David I followed this advice. Using the gain blocks as you suggested to adjust the path volumes. Works well when I'm using electric guitar (mags) for the top path and Variax acoustic sounds for the bottom path. This is all I need for now. Next challenge will be to somehow be able to switch between the magnetics and other variax modelled electric guitars within the same path so as to be able to use the same amp, cab, effects etc. I've only just started playing around with it, but my idea is to create custom models within Workbench that essentially just use the magnetic pickups (ie - Magnetic blend at full), and then select these in the Variax input block in Helix.

Thanks everyone. Ultimately I ended up putting a gain block at the start of each path. On snapshots I turn the gain block for the inactive path completely down and have the active path gain block at 0.0dB and vice versa when I switch paths in other snapshots. This seems to work well.

I'm working on doing this with my Custom Bank, in workbench - creating a model with a neutral body, and fully maximising the Magnetic blend. Then creating one in each of the five switch positions with the correct pickup combination selected.

What I want to do is to create a patch where I can use my Variax magnetic pickups for some snapshots, and then switch to other models (eg acoustic, banjo) for other snapshots, without having to touch my model selector on the Variax. I've worked out how to switch between variax models, but not how to use the mags for other snaphots. Is this possible?

Thanks yes those would all work. At the moment I'm just bypassing all the blocks in Path 1 when I want the use Path 2, and vice versa. It would be nice to have a less cumbersome way to simple A/B switch between the two paths.

Seems like a basic question but i can't quite work it out. Using Helix Editor I have setup a preset with 2 separate paths 1 and 2, which I want to switch between in different snaphots. How do I assign which path is active and which is inactive per snapshot?

A month ago when this update was announced I glossed over this feature with a "meh" Since then I've got a JTV and now eagerly awaiting the HD integration. Will be so nice to be able to just connect the JTV to the Helix with a VDI cable then USB out of my Helix to my Mac and use Workbench and Helix editor at the same time.

So as of this morning I am now the proud owner of a JTV-69! Got some of my buddies coming round tonight for beers, movies, and jamming - and I am sure they will want to see it in action. The problem is I am busy all day out of the house so don't have time to sit down with the Helix and create a patch to show it off to it's fullest potential. So can anyone point me in the direction of a preset to download which will give me instant sweet Variax tones, including at least one very nice acoustic snapshot? I will be most greatful! :-)

Thanks. Picked up the JTV-69 HSS today and was really happy with the magnetic pups. The neck plays fine, thicker than I expected. The only thing I really dislike about this guitar is the headstock so I may still consider a neck swap at some stage. But for now I'll be busy seeing how nicely it plays with the Helix!

I understand making regulations affecting the supply of endangered woods for the manufacture of guitars - but when a store in England can't sell me an already manufactured guitar, that's ludicrous! Especially when they could sell the same guitar to someone in France or Spain without any problem at all. They should be targeting the trade of the raw wood, not preventing innocent musicians from buying an already made instrument which will just go to someone else anyway. Heading up into the city today to try out the black HSS 69. This may turn out to be a blessing in disguise as I think it looks cooler than the blue one. Still don't love the pick-guard shape on the JTV-69 and the black on black look makes it less obvious.

I'm working hard at buying myself a Variax but here in Australia it is proving more challenging than I thought. I was initially planning on waiting for a Shuriken but decided that a JTV-69 was a more practical and cheaper choice that may be more suited to my needs - and hopefully could be available a lot sooner! The cheapest place I can find them for sale is the UK, thanks to the poorly performing British pound, but after ordering a nice new HSS Blue JTV-69 I was told that some crazy new regulation means they can no longer ship guitars containing rosewood outside of the EU! So my options now come down to : (1) - new black SSS JTV-69S with maple neck from the UK - still the cheapest choice (2) - new (? I think) black HSS JTV-69 with rosewood fretboard from a music store in my home city - reasonable price but a few hundred more From what I can tell the black HSS model has been discontinued. Is that correct?? Is there any reason why this model would be inferior to the current Lake Placid blue JTV-69 or the JTV-69S? Are the Variax electronics any different in the older HSS guitars compared to the current blue one? If the local black HSS guitar is indeed new I'm definitely tempted to just go and buy it tomorrow, but I want to be certain I am making the best choice. Can anyone provide any feedback or experience regarding the black HSS JTV-69? Thanks.

Same here. A Variax is definitely in my near future, but there's no way I'll be sacrificing any of my other guitars. Always add, never subtract ^_^

I like the icon, but I can definitely see your point. Longer names would be useful.

Cheers. I already knew how to do it from the Helix itself, but useful info for those who don't. Hopefully they will add this option to the editor in a future version. Perhaps it could be included as a another drop down option when you click the camera button?

A mild frustration. I've worked out how to change colours and labels for blocks using the editor, just not colours for the snapshots.

Anyone know how to do this? I can rename snapshots in the app, but can't work out how to change the colour, aside from on the Helix itself.

Will these Boutique Amps be included if I purchase the Ultimate Helix patch bundle?

Probably a silly question, but can the G50 transmitter be used with the G70 receiver? I'm just awaiting the arrival of a new G70 system as an upgrade from my old G50, and the thought occurred to me that I might still be able to make use of my old transmitter. Probably not, but would be cool if it did work.

When I bought the Helix it was to replace my humungous pedal board and amps - great sounds in an easily portable format. One week in, I bought myself a powered monitor to use on stage. Now, a couple of months in, I'm planning to put together a pedal board around the Helix. Contrary to my original aims. Crazy! What I would like is a simple flat board in a hard case where the top just lifts off. I've seen a few in here but struggling to find a particular brand/size. I'm, thinking it needs to be about 35 inches wide x 18 high, so I can fit in the following : - Helix - Mission expression pedal - Strymon Big Sky - Eventide H9 - Line 6 Relay G70 - Strymon Zuma power supply Can anyone give any suggestions about particular brands of case or pedal board that would suit? I'd be especially interested to hear from Australians because shipping these kind of items from the US is not always cost-effective. Cheers.

Anyone looking for a good deal on a Helix may I suggest trying Andertons in the UK. I believe that the pound has dropped recently since Brexit making purchases from the UK more worthwhile. I've got a new guitar on the way from there right now. Super fast shipping too! Currently the price of the Helix shipped to Australia (or Singapore) from Andertons is 1032 GBP (= AUD1801 or USD 1375). That's an amazing deal which I wish I had found before I bought mine here. Even adding some import tax onto that it will still work out as a pretty good bargain.