mdmayfield

Yes, exactly - that's a great analogy.

I believe the 50 or 60 Hz hum actually interacts to some degree with the tone of the guitar, especially when the amp is breaking up or into distortion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combination_tone That would explain why they would have bothered to model the hum.

I recognize the description of that issue. Apparently, a small number of Variax 300s had some kind of grounding problem with the metal "cage" that surrounds the electronics - for some reason, they would die after about 5 minutes, and come back if disconnected and reconnected to the power source. For a brief time several years ago, there were a lot of forum posts about it on the old forum. I'm not seeing the thread(s) now, though. If I recall, the solution was to apply electrician's tape or duct tape to the metal shield inside the guitar which enclosed the Variax guts. I never had that problem though, so I don't remember specifics (such as whether the inside, outside, or both surfaces needed to be insulated). Does anyone else remember that? Matt

Not as obvious as you might think! :-) Sample rate affects time (does impact latency). Bit rate affects dynamic range (doesn't impact latency).

Interesting that this happens to some people and not others. (I'm on HD500 and not X, so the point is moot for me...) If you haven't already tried it, I'd suggest reinstalling the Line 6 Audio/MIDI drivers and restarting the computer. If that still doesn't work, then if possible, try a different computer and see if that makes any difference.

I recommend taking one off at a time. If you take them all off, then the springs can pull the tremolo bridge out of position, forcing you to take the plastic back plate off to loosen the claw, reattach the springs, put the bridge back in place, then re-tighten the claw after the new strings are on. Not much fun. What? I didn't learn that by experience....

OK, that makes sense. Thanks! I meant that I've never put Graph Tech piezos on a Variax 500 or 700 (which use the circuit board in your pictures), but have done it with a 300 (which has a different circuit board).

If I might ask (never put Graph Techs on a 500/700 - only a 300), how are those ground wires going to connect electrically? It looks like they'll be floating.

Also, just in case you haven't seen it already:

Unfortunately, it's not possible to use three pickups simultaneously on the Variax, regardless of guitar body. (Notice what happens if you try to turn on the 3rd pickup.) You can place pickups anywhere you like, though. It might be worth trying two pickups in non-standard positions, or very far apart and quite different output pickups but in series and out of phase, or other out-of-left-field ideas. You never know what bizarre combination that's impossible in the physical world might get you the sound you need.

You probably experienced a kernel panic: https://support.apple.com/en-us/TS3742 (for 10.8 and earlier) https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT200553 (for 10.9 and later) I've had this happen once or twice when re-plugging in an HD500, and it looks like the HD500X uses the same driver software. It's one of those things where it doesn't often happen, but if about a million subtle "under the hood" factors happen to line up just right, a kernel panic happens and your computer temporarily loses its mind and has to restart. USB drivers are more likely to cause kernel panics than regular application software because they interface between hardware and the entire OS, as opposed to just one app. I don't think I could pin this down as a definite bug, since I don't have consistent steps to reproduce the issue, but because this occasionally happens, I guess you could say there's a weakness somewhere in Line 6's USB driver that is intermittently triggered by unplugging/plugging a device that uses that driver. Usually when it's happened to me, it's after I've plugged/unplugged the Pod numerous times, the computer has been on and not restarted for a long time, and the computer has been in and out of sleep mode several times since starting up.

I think the only correct answers to that question are: - It depends; and - It's more complicated than that. When I want to really understand the difference between things like this, I try as much as possible to eliminate variables. Otherwise it's like comparing a sour apple to a sweet orange and concluding that the orange must be sweet because it's a citrus fruit, and therefore all citrus fruits are sweet and all apples are sour... If you don't separate out the different aspects, then there's a danger of jumping to premature conclusions - which makes for a big surprise when someone hands you a Golden Delicious and a wedge of lemon. There are a lot more factors besides just real vs. modeled when comparing any two guitars (real or modeled) and how they respond through an amp: - Dark vs. bright instrument sound (real or modeled) - Output volume per pickup (real or modeled - makes a BIG difference to how the amp responds) - Resonances in the guitar body (real or modeled) Let's say Line 6 let you borrow for the weekend all 25 (or however many) of the real, physical instruments which they measured to create the Variax models. To the extent to which they were accurate in their models, you'd have extremely similar results when swapping out guitars and leaving the amp settings unchanged as when switching Variax models. Each guitar would also show off its personality much clearer without an amp; that's not a model vs. physical thing.

If you can, will you please post a sound sample? No two people seem to agree on the exact meaning of the term "fizz." Otherwise, we're just assuming what you mean, and the solution to the issue one person describes as "fizz" may be quite different from the solution to the issue someone else describes as "fizz."

Generally speaking, if you want a 6dB boost, you would actually need to turn up each mixer path 6 dB instead of 3. The reason is: - When you add a signal at x dB to another copy of itself, it becomes the same sound at x+6 dB. - If you increase each side by 3 (so that x increases by 3), the result is (x+3)+6, only a 3dB total boost. - If you want the final result to be 6 dB louder, in these terms, what you want is (x+6)+6... - ...So to get that, you have to increase each side by 6 dB. It sounds weird and counter-intuitive, but due to the logarithmic/exponential nature of decibels, it really does work out that way - you can see it in the meters on a DAW: On the other hand, the HD's routing system is so complex, there may be some other factor involved which means things are even more complicated, so Your Mileage May Vary....

Hi Terry, I doubt that the Line 6 folks will comment specifically on this in their official capacity, but from what I've read so far: - The Variax Standard is a new model to be added to the Variax lineup. - From what they've said, it's not meant to replace the JTVs so there's no imminent plan to discontinue the JTV. - Line 6 people very rarely make statements ahead of time, about products further down the road. - While it's possible they might do a LP style Standard, I wouldn't hold my breath. - It will probably depend on sales figures to determine whether and when anything is discontinued, or whether and when any new models are introduced. (They didn't say this, but it's common sense.) We don't really have much solid information about their plans, and of course they don't want to say too much in case those plans change - plus we've all seen how internet mobs sometimes bring out the virtual torches and pitchforks over the smallest things. Thanks, Matt

Are you playing the Variax through an electric guitar amp, by chance? That description would be appropriate for any acoustic guitar plugged into an electric guitar amp, as opposed to an acoustic amp or PA speaker.

Perhaps arislaf's suggestion above will work for your needs. Otherwise, no, this is not possible. Feedback happens when the sound from the amplifier resonates with the physical strings on the guitar, so for true feedback to happen, the sound coming from the amp must be loud enough to physically vibrate the guitar strings. The only other thing that might come close is something like a Fernandez Sustainer, but this would involve modifications to your guitar.

These are new terms, "modeler" and "profiler" in the sense of "one piece of musical gear that sounds like another." Since they're new terms, their meanings are still evolving. The general audio and mathematical concepts are the same in both. It seems to me that the main difference between a modeler and a profiler is: - with a modeler, the manufacturer does all the tests and takes the necessary measurements of the original gear - with a profiler, the users can do those tests and measurements themselves (using functions in the profiler) Advantages of a modeler: - Don't have to learn how to take a profile or worry about getting the best quality measurements - Don't have to rent/borrow/buy/steal the best gear to make a profile of it - With good quality modelers, the models are created by experienced professionals Advantages of a profiler: - Can choose which equipment to profile - Can share profiles between users (in addition to patch settings) - Probably other things I haven't thought of

If what you're asking is "How can I make my darker-sounding guitar brighter?" then use an EQ at the very start of the chain (to simulate that the guitar itself was putting out a brighter sound). You'd want something that will boost 1-2kHz and higher, like billlorentzen said above. I'd suggest a broad filter like the Studio EQ with its HI frequency set to 1500 or maybe 3000 Hz. Also, beware jumping to conclusions about *why* a given instrument sounds different from others. If you're comparing two different guitars, there are a ton of variables changing at once when you compare them, so it's not possible to be sure exactly which variable is responsible for what change.

Could it be that the volume of your amplification is low enough that you're hearing the bright sound of the physical strings acoustically, combined with the POD's tone through speaker/headphones? If so, then the looper would be the (less bright) amplified sound by itself. This possibility is not as likely as the others that folks have posted above (such as Pre/Post setting), though.

It seems to me that they modeled a Strat with these: http://www.freeguitarvideos.com/blog/uploaded_images/staggered-polepieces-758184.jpg and went a little overboard.

The low E string "plink" sound is much, much improved on the JTV compared to the original Variax. I have a JTV-69. I think I still hear a tiny bit of plink, but even on the magnetic pickups and on my non-Variax guitars, there's a touch of the sound in there too - since it's there unplugged/acoustically on any guitar, if you listen for it. It's something to do with "inharmonicity" and string thickness vs. length; piano tuners deal with this kind of thing a lot. Magnetic pickups minimize that sound and piezos pick it up clearly, but in the JTV, they've filtered out most of it from the models. It's a big enough difference where on the original Variax, it bugged me (though I kept using it in spite of the plink); while on the JTV, it's just a tiny hint of something that I barely notice and doesn't bother me.

It's possible to add a single coil there, but the Variax is only capable of having two pickups "on" at a time. So if you're looking to set up a custom guitar with Neck HB Neck HB + mid SC Mid SC Mid SC + bridge HB Bridge HB on the 5-way switch, that's totally doable, but Neck + Mid + Bridge in one sound is not possible.

Not editing for the purpose of saving... that would be foolish. This is behavior I noticed because any FS will trigger the "patch edited" flag. Then if you power off and on, the patch (in reality the edit buffer) will be in the same state of FX enabled/bypassed.

Thanks for the replies! I figured it out - the HD500 is currently controlled via MIDI Program Change messages from a computer DAW + USB MIDI interface for use with live backing tracks. This time while shutting down the computer, I watched the HD500 screen, and noticed that for some reason, the USB MIDI interface is sending a program change to 1A when the computer powers down.