dkerwood

Hey, guys, I use my JTV-59 Variax infrequently (basically only on Sundays when I need a banjo or I'd need more than two other guitars), so I make a habit to always check the battery the night before I use it. Two weeks ago, the battery indicator was at two lights, so I popped the battery into the charger before I went to bed. In the morning, the lights on the charger indicated that it was finished charging, so I popped it in the Variax and hit the battery level button. A brief, instantaneous flash of all 4 LEDs, nothing else. I hit the button again and get each LED lighting up and turning off sequentially - 1, 2, 3, 4. I hit it a third time, and the LEDs flashed in this order: 2, 1, 1, 2. The flashes were longer this time, as if this were a specific error message. A fourth press starts the cycle again, but with a slightly longer initial light up of all 4 lights. I used it that week with no problems whatsoever (I had a backup guitar, though). I checked it last week (ended up using my Strat because I threw my back out and didn't want to deal with the weight of the Variax), same thing. I checked it again today as there's a tune with banjo on the setlist this morning. Same thing. I reinstalled the battery just in case it wasn't seated correctly - same thing. What's going on here? I can't find any mention of those LED indicators communicating anything other than the power level of the battery.

OP here. Buying before selling my old stuff is definitely not an option, as I need to sell in order to afford the Helix. Don't think I could even sell my wife on a payment plan, not on a $1500 piece of gear. For those who use pedals in the loop, how do you transport the Helix? I'm concerned that I'll still have to haul around a large pedalboard. It would certainly be more flexible than my current setup, but still large. For reference, my current board is slightly larger than PT-PRO specs. I had to get a custom case built for it because the board builder made the deck the size of the PT-PRO (as I requested) but then there was a little more width and depth beyond that. Wouldn't fit in PT-PRO cases. I have about $500 tied up in board and case.

I'm a gigging musician, looking to simplify my rig without losing functionality (and maybe gaining more). Right now, I have thirteen pedals on a huge board with an unwieldy custom case. I use all of the pedals, including 9 different settings on an M9 (with two expression pedals). Between church, my rock band, and several other freelance projects that come up, I'm finding this setup really tough to deal with. So I'm thinking of going Helix, but haven't been able to figure out the following: 1) How are the fuzzes on the Helix? I went through a dozen fuzz pedals before settling on the Twosome and Mini Foot. I especially love the Twosome's low gain fuzz - a very non-tube analog sounding breakup. Can the Helix hang in with these pedals, or would I have to keep one or both? 2) Can I tie three effect blocks to one footswitch? On my M9, I run 3 effects together as a preset, and would love to have that as a standalone effect. 3) Similarly, can I use a single footswitch to toggle between blocks? I'm thinking of using the 4-cable method and toggling between my amp's preamp and a completely different Helix preamp. 4) Does anyone use the effect loops for pedals? I have an EHX Freeze that I know I'd have to keep and plug into the Helix. I'm concerned that if I have a Helix, a Freeze, the power supply for the Freeze, and an extra expression pedal, I might have to mount all of that to a board... and then am I really better off than I am right now? 5) How does the onboard expression pedal feel? Does it work well for wah? I don't currently use a volume pedal - I prefer to use the guitar knob for that - but I use wah constantly as a manual filter. I'm hoping the wah models are pretty good. 6) The external expression pedal cannot use the "toe switch," if I understand correctly. Does Mission make one without the toe switch? 7) The Helix can be used in 10-stomp mode, correct? So we get 10 switches controlling blocks and controller data? 8) Speaking of which, has anyone tried the idea of sending MIDI data from a single footswitch through the MIDI out, back into the MIDI in, and triggering a snapshot? In essence, putting a single snapshot into 10-stomp mode? 9) Regarding snapshots, can they be used to adjust specific parameters but ignore others? For example, can I have a snapshot adjust the mix on Particle Verb from 100% down to 50%, regardless of whether an overdrive is on or off? In essence, can I use snapshots like a "preset" expression pedal (that's how I do it on my M9)? Or would I have to make several nearly identical snapshots with every variation I might need (OD on with 100% wet, OD off with 100% wet, OD on with 50% wet, etc)? 10) Will it fry the Helix if it's accidentally plugged into phantom power? Or should I always plan to use a DI box to keep it safe?

Well, I have bad news for you. Your Helix is obviously defective. Luckily, I run a shelter for defective Helix processors and will gladly care for it. I will also be glad to send you a Fender Mustang with a genuine emulated output for your use. I believe you'll find it far superior to the Helix. Just let be know where to send it, and we'll get you sounding good again! ;-)

Digging through the manual trying to figure out how the OP's problem might be solved. I stumbled across the"volume/pan" block. Let's say the guitar were plugged into the left input and violin into the right. Could you drop in a pan block panned full left and hear only guitar from the main left output (assuming all effects are stereo)? Then couldn't you: A) create a snapshot where that pan is full right to allow the violin signal to pass through output L. B) assign the pan control to a controller and pan as needed. C) drop in a second pan, full right, and set one switch to toggle between the two. Given that the OP doesn't need to play both at the same time, couldn't he set up a separate scene in which the pan allows the violin "channel" to pass through then send to the effects send (so he didn't need to bother keeping the effects on discreet stereo)?

Is it not possible to specify inputs and outputs? I hoped to run my acoustic through the board (either via Variax or my legit acoustic, but always using the same input) and IR and send it to a DI. Are all outputs global? Even if the main outputs are not selectable, couldn't I set up a scene that sends to the loop output at the end? I played with the hxfx at GC yesterday and couldn't immediately figure out how to set that up.

I just got a used JTV-59. Plugged it into a digital mixer and had this exact problem - notes would cut off as if there were a noise gate engaged. Downloaded Workbench to try to fix it, couldn't find a noise gate feature. Stumbled across this thread and realized... the noise gate was on my mixer - I was plugged into a drum channel. <facepalm>