eenymason

So the unofficial explanation goes like this.... A line was arbitrarily drawn in the sand of confusion back in the day, by the janitor who worked at Line 6 for a couple of days. One day he was there, the next, nobody even remembered him being there. Management at Line 6 had no idea why the line suddenly appeared in the sand of confusion, but they knew it's sudden, and mysterious appearance was of some significance. Thus they held a meeting, and the subsequent management decision made, regarding this line in the sand, was that certain devices were on one side, and other devices were on the other.... So, officially, the latter variaxes, (JTV, Standard, Shuriken), WILL ONLY PLAY with Helix, and Pod HD500X, specifically with regard to connecting to Workbench HD. The legacy variaxes WILL ONLY PLAY with Pod HD 500, Pod X3, Pod XT, specifically with regard to connecting to Workbench. Have a nice day in the sandpit!

You don't mention whether or not you have a Pod HD500 to connect it to. If you have this, or intend to buy one, it allows a couple of important things to happen, and are worth noting... Firstly, you can connect to Workbench through the Pod HD500, facilitating a backup of the "user" patches, and or movement to other (more suitable?) positions on the guitar. Secondly, and maybe more importantly, you can simply leave the "user" patches wherever they are, and still have access to all the factory patches, as well as all the "user" patches which have been loaded in place of the factory patches. Confusing? In setting up patches in the Pod, you can choose to "force" selection of ANY variax patch (factory OR user), within that Pod patch i.e. the Special patches are actually still in the Variax, but you can't select them on the guitar itself, as they've been overwritten, they are only available by setting up a patch on the Pod to force the Variax to select a factory patch, which has been overwritten on the variax. I hope that makes sense....

Don't have any expectations, lest you be disappointed. No-one here's gonna know, and even if they did.... there's a strict "remain schtum" mindset/policy/protocol. It would appear no-one here's opinion on the mindset/policy/protocol, will change said mindset/policy/protocol.

you saying it's as much if not more to do with the frets "grabbing" the strings in a bend, as the gauge of strings? I do a lot of bending - I'm a hafta look at that!!!

I enquired at Kinman regarding the oft-still used "resistance as output measurement," and I could feel the smirk behind the very informative explanation denouncing it. It's evidently got less to do with "output", than people would have us believe. Kinman doesn't even use resistance measurements in the public domain, as it's a furphy, particularly when you're talking about pickups that are not made in the "conventional" way. Well maybe Kinmans are still "conventional", compared to piezos into a PCB, and digital modelling, but their construction is certainly far enough away from a simple wire wrapped around a magnet, that meaurements such as these are useless... Further to these, it's worth noting that Kinmans use magnets with far less "pull", and would be well worth investigating in JTVs, and Standards IMHO. Here's a relevant extract from the reply email from Kinman: "So I am very surprised that any manufacturer who know these things would issue advice that talks about suitability of resistance for their product, it's complete non-sense. I think what they are probably driving at is the actual output in millivolts, which indicates the amplitude or strength of the signal in RMS terms. A more general indication of output in mv is a simple loudness comparison. I suspect they are trying to tell you that their electronics don't like high output pickups (excessive number of milivolts, nothing or very little to do with Ohms. So applying that to Kinman's I'd say to play it safe steer away from the Big-Nine-O, Woodstock and Hendrix sets and the SRV set and the individual pickups that comprise those sets." For the record, I'm sharing this info to illuminate, not to ruffle anyone's feathers... ;)

Yea well it does appear psarkissian does lean a wee little bit towards the safety net. :) I guess it's for good reason, but I have issue with some information dissemination hereabouts.... Anyway, yes I went the whole hog, and installed the Kinmas harness. I actually don't experiment much with the additional tonal range - I should check it out more, not that I find the bridge to be shrill at all - biting yes, but it's meant to bite! Sadly, I rarely trot the old bird out since I retired her from gig-work. She's well worn now, and I don't want to have to refret her again if I can help it, so I only take her to the odd blues jam now.

Take it back and demand a correct board be installed...

I second this recommendation - I have Kinman Woodstock plus in my 71 Strat. Though interestingly, I emailed Kinman to ask about psarkissian's suggestion to stay within the 6-7Kohm range, and was told the resistance and output are different things - this may be a furphy created by someone way back when, equating K-ohms "with output".... It seems people still run with it. To cut a long story short, the suggestion was to stay away from the hotter Kinmans - there's info on their site about grading their Strat style pups from lower output to higher.

I still use workbench on both PC and Mac. The only situation I'm aware of is that Pod HD500X doesn't link to Workbench, but does link to Workbench HD... Are you using the Workbench interface, or Pod to connect?

I have both PC (old - still on Vista) and MacBook Pro running 10.11.5, and no problem using legacy Workbench. You should go through the process of installing Monkey once you have the variax and interface. My only concern is the XT live - not fully sure it can interface to Workbench. You might want to check that angle, though the variax should come with the USB interface... Maybe source the XT manual, if no-one can answer that question. Also maybe pose the question on the XT forum page! Edit: Actually I think it was the XT Pro that wouldn't link to workbench for some reason, not the Live model....

Fair enough - my bad...

Yes the Pod XT would do it, and if you're just using acoustic sounds, would be fine - though the amp models in the HD are certainly superior to those in the XT.

It appears you haven't read too much about it... Sure it may not be for you, or even me for that matter, but it is, with longer scale length, altogether a different beast. The price is actually 50% more than Korean JTVs, and 600 more than the Standard, so hardly 3-4 times the price. I reckon stuff like this makes Line 6 rethink their future with the Variax, and that can only be a good thing, cos you know it's gonna make them strive to improve it even more....

Under Mixer page in HD Edit, use the dropdown tab to select which Variax to control per patch... In fact I just looked for Standard under the drop down menu and it's not there, so unless Pod recognises JTV, Standard, and Shuriken as all being "Tyler", how could you get the Pod to control which guitar patch on the Variax? This makes me think there must be an update of firmware for HD series Pods coming, unless the Pod recognises the Shuriken as just another Tyler? Scratches chin.....

If you bought it from a shop, expecting it to be "set up" already, maybe contact the shop, if you're not happy with it. Alternatively..... I'm guessing you have a Strat style guitar already in your possession, which is set up as you like it? The basics of setting up your guitar to how it feels best for you is something I believe everyone should be able to do. I'd suggest check out closely your favourite Strat, and using the supplied allen keys, adjust action etc to best suit your needs. Detune the strings as you adjust them, otherwise you will likely cause problems, like stripping the thread, or allen key slot. Note - there has been discussion here about setting the action too low on Variax Standard, and JTV, and this causing an undesirable "warble" when using the modelled sounds. Apparently this is caused by the "pull" of the magnetic pickups on the strings. There will be plenty of information on youtube, and it wouldn't hurt to learn before you get into it, but it's not rocket science to make simple adjustments!

I would have thought new versions of technology (e.g. USB3), are designed to be backwardly compatible. I believe it won't work with a hub, but surely should work direct... Maybe search Mac FAQ?

Sounds like Mac isn't letting Monkey start up - usually anything to with installing/updating you would do through Monkey. Maybe Google Mac restricting applications from starting up, and take it from there... I have HD500 Edit on both PC and Mac.

For sure - same electrics, interchangable with 600, and cheaper 2nd hand as it has no tremolo. I have one of each, transplanted into Strat copies. Win/win!!!

My understanding is that Stevic physically tunes to drop D all the time. Are you able to expand on your success and/or lack thereof, regarding physically tuning lower than standard? cheers, Ian.

Are you micing a cab? How could the click be a problem if you're recording over USB?

OK - to clarify, since you have given scant information for us to troubleshoot, (must be a youngin').... I ASSUME you are practising by playing along to some music, with it also going through the speakers - am I right? If you've removed the soundcard from the computer, then you won't be able to separate the music signal from your guitar signal, as the pod is processing both of the signals. You'll need to get the music from another source (ipod or the like), played through the speakers, and use headphones from the pod, if you wanna keep em separated.... Also I don't see how you could be getting much volume by simply sending the unbalanced output to the speakers - are they powered speakers?

The nature of how piezos work means there will always be some cross-talk - it may or may not be an issue for you. Some here have discussed this, particularly in reference to alt-tunings. If some strings get pitch-shifted, and others don't (e.g. open G), then this could be a problem. Surrounding piezos can pick up a string's vibrations, causing that string to sound through the system you're using, in either altered tuning, or standard, depending on the "de-tuned status" of that neighbouring piezo's signal, causing unwanted "ghost-notes". If pitch shifting across all strings is the same (e.g. a full step down), then it won't be a problem. I hope my explanation's clear enough for you! I don't know about a "fix" per se - you can try and minimise it by lowering output volume from the piezos in workbench, but then you'll need to tweak your patches (if you're using a Pod, or Helix), to regain some of that lost output.

It's the luck of the draw, as far as having intermittent problems such as these. I have 3 vaxplants now, with only one of them (so far), continuing to perform without any hiccups, or intermittent faults. Having said that, I wouldn't expect the newer models to last any longer than the legacy models - in fact more than likely they won't last as long, as planned obsolescence get worse, not better as time goes by.... The older I get, the more tired I become of this sad fact of life. Of course there is a safety net of warranty with a new purchase, and possibly a "limited" warranty with a "refurbished" newie. If you know of issues with the new models, you can at least buy parts in advance (e.g. model selector knobs), at Fullcompass for not much in the way of coin, in anticipation of the inevitable.

Or just connect to computer, install monkey, and let it do the work for you...

I use a Sherlock Signal Station Stereo 50/50 valve power amp into a couple of Line 6 DT25/50 12' speaker cabs - it's supposedly based on the Fryette Power Station, with lots of clean headroom, (I rarely drive it above 2-3). I previously used an early 80s Marshall JCM800 cab with 2 GT-12-65s. A very fine speaker when putting a standard guitar amp head through them, but a bit dark for full modelling which I use. Basically there are loads of options, but if you're using full modelling, and wants lots of different tones, either use FRFR, or a transparent power amp (people here use either Valve or Solid State), and neutral sounding speakers.