maxnew40

Damn! After two years my JTV-59 has failed and will need repair. The bridge saddle transducer for the high E string has failed and doesn't produce any sound now (At least I was able to still play using the mag pickups in the guitar). I find it interesting that this is the same saddle that was broken on my first brand new JTV-59. Is the high E saddle a common failure point on these guitars? Before I go and find an authorized repair shop and have to be without my favorite guitar. Are there any troubleshooting steps I can perform to verify that the bridge saddle needs to be replaced? -Max

I really like the L2 and L3 speakers from Line 6. I currently have three L2 speakers, two for vocal monitors and one for my HD500 (soon to be upgraded to Helix). Our keyboard players uses an L3 for his keys and swears that there is nothing better sounding on the market. Our bass player is going to be switching to an L3 with my old HD500 for the SVT model. If you have not gotten chance to hear them perform, do it! -Max

You can't use the Variax VDI connection with a wireless unit only the 1/4 output from the guitar. The downside is that with the 1/4 output on the Variax you can't use the Helix to change guitar models or tuning or interact with the Variax guitar at all. -Max

Some of us already have a good system to use with a Helix that we have been using for the HD500 units with great success. My system is one L2 speaker on a tripod speaker stand behind me with the the XLR out to the mixer. I have done many gigs now with that system and I am now upgrading to the Helix. For all gigs I bring L2, speaker , speaker stand, HD500 (soon to be Helix) and a couple of guitars and some cables. This is the smallest lightest rig I have ever gigged with and it outperforms everything I have used since the late 70s also. -Max

I use an HD500 and an L2 speaker (my whole rig is Line 6). It sounds amazing for both electric and acoustic. -Max

As far as lightning goes. What I did was start with a couple of the Chauvet colorstrip units on tripods which was OK for smaller venues. What I have now is a small truss with two tripod crank stands that have 3 colorstrips, 4 PAR 56 LED, and a couple of effects type lights. I control them using DMX from a little USB box and a freestyler software. You can always start out small with the lights and keep adding to the system as the budget allows. -Max

Dang, if I had the spare cash I would probably pre-order also. As much as I try to make myself wait for a new product to go through the teething stages I often end up not being able to wait. -Max

I used the rubber band trick as suggested here and I have not once accidentally engaged the looper since. -Max

I tend to avoid new OS. The reason is that they have to make a business decision to release with thousands of known bugs some quite serious to meet the release date (I have worked there). Even before the release date the first service pack is usually under development. When they release SP1 for the OS you are finally getting the product that they really wanted to release but wasn't really ready at the scheduled release date. The free upgrade thing is a way for them to increase the installed base numbers when most people would hold off for SP1. -Max

Another example is televisions. I haven't had a TV die on me for many years. We end up replacing a TV because of technology changes (HD, Flat Screen, and so on) not because there was anything wrong with our old Cathode Ray Tube TV. -Max

I have also heard that Microsoft plans to disallow V3 drivers to install on Windows 10 after the first service pack. This means that many of our current device drivers will no longer work and new V4 drivers for Windows 10 will need to be produced if you want to use those devices on Windows 10. -Max

I know I will end up buying one of these eventually. At least my old HD500 is doing a fine job at gigs, so I can wait for the Helix to be out for about a year to get all bugs worked out (and time to same up some money). -Max

stumblinman, the power switch is easily seen in many of pictures and videos. -Max

Another plus on using the pole speaker stand is that it pretty much gets rids of any coupling effect with the floor. You will really appreciate this if you end up playing on a raised hollow stage that will cause all kinds of weird resonant frequency issues if the speaker is set on right the stage. -Max

Maybe if you could explain what you are attempting to do with your HD500 someone can help better. How are you running the HD500? What problems are you having getting the tones you are looking for? IR for AIR is used to simulate the mic in a room the way I understand it. It might sound OK in some situations but I don't find it useful to send modeled power amp, speaker, mic and room into a guitar power amp and cab. Are you trying to achieve a certain tone or trying to reverse engineer the HD500? -Max

Please elaborate what don't you agree with? Are you saying that you don't think the information that Line 6 put in the manual is correct, or that forum members are misreading what it means? I think you are failing to get your assumptions validated here and instead of reconsidering your assumptions of how the software works you just ignore any input that doesn't fit what you think might be going on. I think you may be experiencing confirmation bias http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias -Max

What I have seen so far with Windows 10 previews is that is seems to run everything faster than Windows 8 and it seems less bloated. I am still not sure why any IT manager would want all those damn social media aps and games on a business machine but I guess they can be configured away. What I have also seen is products that I test not working so well with Windows 10 when the same things work fine in Windows 8. Either Win 10 still needs a lot of work or some software companies are going to have to have new Windows 10 drivers and software versions. -Max

Fact, your post implies that you are claiming Line 6 cheated you, does it not (and your reason is that they won't give you proprietary information right?) And it comes down to you wanting proprietary information that if you had and disseminated you could be sued for. Do you request source code from Microsoft so you can figure out exactly what is different between Windows 7 and Windows 8? Do you think they would give it all to you? The problem you have run into is not being dissed by fanboys, it all comes down to a lollipop attitude and not being able to articulate a question. Can you take any amp in the POD and add EQ and make it sound like and react like the others? Not in my experience, it makes me wonder if you have even used the device. Since you posted here and claim not to be just a troll try an experiment. Load up the Blackface double with all defaults and then using only EQ and cab deps make it sound like a Marshall crunch tone. If there is just a base model and EQ applied for each flavor you should be able to get the same sound as one of the marshal models quickly without using a distortion pedal. -Max

Grandig, I love my dream rig system too. I have two JTV variax guitars, HD500, and L2m speaker. Switching from acoustic 12 string to a distorted rock sound is real cool! -Max

For me the HD500 with the JTV and L2 speaker are the perfect solution for my needs. I play in 60s and 70s cover band and this rig gets me everywhere I need to go and doesn't weigh a ton. -Max

Go and buy a speaker stand and put the L2 on the stand. That way it will always be at the same point in relation to your head. Read the speaker manual and understand that the speaker changes how it outputs sound depending on how it places (ie, floor monitor, upright on the floor, and on a pole). -Max

I have to agree with the rest I don't see the blackface double and the JC120 sounding the same at all. Tin ears? -Max

Unplug the Variax from the POD. Power up the POD. Connect the Variax to the POD. These steps fix a similar issue I and several others are having with the new firmware. Many of us are having a similar issue but Line 6 thinks it isn't a firmware issue. -Max

For me the L6 Link digital connection on the L2 speaker is something that the others just can't offer. Also some of the speaker modes the L2 offers are not available on those other speakers. If any of the features are important to you it won't be good comparison. -Max