katiekerry

I only did it for the low E left the rest alone. The file was pretty small I am not sure the size of it, unlike rocco I actually deepened the groove also. That may be why he has had only a 90% drop. I did file the bridge also just because there were wear marks from the string across it. Though for that I took allot more out about a 1/8 of an inch or so..if you do that you will see brass under the plating so don't freak out. yours may not need the bridge filed just the casing.. I kinda wonder if the bridge mounts are correct they look right but then again I have never had a bridge designed the way the JTV59 is.. Any guitar I have had the string height was never an issue ( in correlation to the physical bridge).. Good luck though I hope it fixes it.. I have not heard any ping or plunk sounds yet. I think its been about a week..

I actually after time making adjustment and modifications it is now my favorite guitar. I Don't think its perfect but its my favorite. I don't think you can have a perfect guitar for your self. If something about it bothers you. You can't just change things and expect it to sound or play the same afterwords. I have modded guitars for years before I got the jtv59, I tried to have certain neck materials or profiles, a specific body or electronics. Or a mash up of different guitar attributes I liked, only to get undesirable results in the end. I am happy with my 59 though not at first but I adapted.

after looking at my bridge, I set it back up stock with the wrap around bridge ( instead of using a tail piece). And there is no difference in string action clearance over the bridge.. I kinda wonder if some of the guitars had poorly drilled bridge mount screw holes.. The strings vibrate so close to the saddle adjustment bar.. ( on mine I actually have wear marks where the string was hitting it..

I honestly don't think that will ever happen they are tone snobs for a reason ( lack of ability to change with technology). I have never met a gear snob that used any sort of modeling technology. They want more of the point to point wiring, old out of date components. ( don't get me wrong allot of that one trick pony stuff sounds amazing). Yeah I hear you even when they do demos to compare their own products they will run the current equipment they are promoting through about 10 grand worth of mixing equipment. And tweak the hell out of the unit to make it sound as good as possible. But the old model they use stock presets and run direct or use camera mic to capture the sound.. which do you think will sound better..

One thing I noticed if you look at the picture, even where the strings cross the bridge saddle adjustment bracing there is some wear from the string coming in contact with it. I went through and filed that down a little also. I am not sure if it is because I use the tail stop or not, if the wrap around bridge pulls on the back of it to lower the front for more clearance.. I tried pulling up on the back of it but it doesn't move. Though i had issues with the ping noise before I ever got the tail stop..

Yeah I agree with you on that a grand difference is tough to swallow.. yeah the interface seems amazing but the rest is just seemingly minor improvements over the 500 series. ( take in mind that's from what you can tell through online videos and such).. It could change once I actually play one..

I attached a photo with a red circle around the area I filed. I didn't take out allot, just enough so the ping or plunk would go away..

I widened and deepened the groove on the side facing the Pickups. I do not think the other side matters. I think the reason some people are having issues and some are not are possible two fold. String stiffness when you start off with fresh strings they are allot stiffer and do not vibrate back and forth as wide as a set that have been on past the break in period. Often I hear that people changing strings every few weeks, So they may not have issues with the ping or plunk artifact. Also string gauge ( having thicker strings are more likely to vibrate against the casing). Or perhaps even different string brands may vibrate less than others. I can't tell exactly from pictures but it looks as though the JTV69 bridge has a similar design ( Having the groove in the casing on the side facing the pickups) so it could be the issue with the 69 series also. I am not sure if people are having issues with the 89F. hope this helps I have posted pictures of the bridge in earlier post but I will try to make a new one with a diagram or something that explains what I did..

I had to go back to the drawing board the glue thing only lasted a few days and the ping came back. So Took another look to see what was actually going on. (trying to figure out where it was actually coming from was a tedious process). I am pretty certain now why adding the velcro helped remedy it and then eventually the ping came back so when I added the glue it temporarily fixed it also. The strings eventually wore through it back to original spot. I looked at how the string laid across the bridge saddle (IE pickup). The string actually goes between multiple grooves at a given time.. There is the groove in the wrap around bridge- then a groove in the casing that holds the piezo on both sides and of course the Piezo element itself.. I felt the grooves in the actual casing were not wide enough (especially the side towards the pickups where the string vibrates the most). So I used a small file and widened it.. So far no more ping. Had a entire hour long practice with out any buzzing or pings.. I think the strings were hitting the Edges of that opening in the casing causing a harmonic ping.. Hopefully this is it the final cure for this annoying defect.. It has been a long struggle to get this fixed..

I had to go back to the drawing board the glue thing only lasted a few days and the ping came back. So Took another look to see what was actually going on. (trying to figure out where it was actually coming from was a tedious process). I am pretty certain now why adding the velcro helped remedy it and then eventually the ping came back so when I added the glue it temporarily fixed it also. The strings eventually wore through it back to original spot. I looked at how the string laid across the bridge saddle (IE pickup). The string actually goes between multiple grooves at a given time.. There is the groove in the wrap around bridge- then a groove in the casing that holds the piezo on both sides and of course the Piezo element itself.. I felt the grooves in the actual casing were not wide enough (especially the side towards the pickups where the string vibrates the most). So I used a small file and widened it.. So far no more ping. Had a entire hour long practice with out any buzzing or pings.. I think the strings were hitting the Edges of that opening in the casing causing a harmonic ping.. Hopefully this is it the final cure for this annoying defect.. It has been a long struggle to get this fixed..

Not so I have seen that people have already got 300 off and don't forget the price drops to the Variax line a few years ago. They drop prices at least once a year or more.. They recently dropped prices for the expansion packs..

I actually saw about a month or so ago someone had a deal where they were selling it for 2 or 3 hundred off of orders over a certain amount.. I saw someone was able to get sweetwater to price match it. It was in one of chats in the forums.. They had 36 month interest free but I think the price will drop in a year or so.. similiar to the JTV..

Yeah I admit that UI is pretty sweet just not a Grand worth sweet..

I get that exactly I have the HD series down to what I wanna do, It sounds good to me and to allot people I don't wanna relearn and redo patches..

Amen to that

the 15% is just my personal reference. I came to that from listening to what videos they have out there. Since I have upgraded from every pod since they started (Pod 1.0 -Pod HD500 and the in between). The hype I felt with each new release From watching videos listening to sound samples and trying them out in the shops. Then after I purchase them realizing side by side with the previous models there is usually only about a 15% quality difference. And so far I feel the same way.. When the HD500 came out they were blasting the XT series say how they were not dynamic (the same with the previous versions) making side by side videos where they run the new model through 10 grand worth of mixing equipment and the old one they would literally use the camera mic.. Or allot of times out of the box the units sound like crap but once you tweak them for a while they sound way better ( so they would just use stock settings).. And I am aware of the other upgrades 90% of them I would not use, There is tons of functions on the HD series I don't use.. But your opinions are valid, each of us have our own experiences that makes our opinions differ. The sad and funny thing of it is my favorite amp model they ever had was the original tremoverb from POD 1.5.... It just sounded amazing to me did tons of recordings with that amp model.

Thank you very much that will come in handy.. and I have been thinking backwards results that should help allot sculpting my sound..

Well since this is about EQ tips the new global EQ has Q control from what I have read online and understand it as what ever frequency you have it set at you are boosting or cutting out the Q controls how big or round the wave form is.. Low settings IE .05 is more precise of a cut in that frequency where as a setting of 8.0 has a more fuller or rounder wave form. Some say its like a resonance control for the frequency you are trying to modify.. is this the case or am I misinformed.. thanks for the help

I was kinda curious how many out there is willing to shell out a extra Grand for this. From what i have heard from the Video demos ( the sound samples only are maybe 15% better than the HD series at best). In my opinion especially for what I use it for If I needed all the extra studio functions it would be different hence has less value for me.. The Control options are allot better and the processing power more robust but for me it doesn't seem worth the hassle or the cost. Allot of the added features I would not use and I would have to rebuild all my patches from scratch again like when I upgraded from the Xt series and the old Bean POD before that.. I am just not sold on this unit as a worthy upgrade for me at this time... just wondering other peoples thoughts or am I the only one thinking this way.. By the way if you don't agree with me that's fine this is a forum not a faq page.. Just no need for attacking peoples opinions... I don't openly attack other peoples Ideas unless in retaliation or provoked..

yeah I will try and keep a eye out for it.. thanks for the info

yeah the saddle is the pick up.. I just used a tooth pick and put glue around the outskirts of the saddle (i.e. pickup) so that it would not rattle no more.. I think from excessive playing over time it may loosen or get sloppy.. cause it is just the 6th string banging out power chords I guess.. It doesn't make the ping noise no more but I also played with the global eq a bit to take off some of the high end frequencies and boost the mids and low end (mainly to make the modeling match the magnetic pickups). I play through FRFR headphones and I believe in my heart you need to taper some if the top end and low end to get it to sound good. Like its not cracking up going past its nominal range.. I often wondered though what those saddles are made of and if over time grooves get wore into it from the strings vibrating and possible that may contribute some times to that ping sound. But when I first got my guitar I discovered the ping noise and I remedied it with the vibration dampening.. But this new ping sound was allot harsher and sounded almost rattle like it was horrid.. But the glue seems to have fixed it with out messing with the sustain good luck though to people suffering from it..

yeah I already have string dampening but that was not helping. but the glue seems to be working with out killing the sustain.. the tape wasn't terribly killing the sustain I just noticed it when testing all the strings.. I have played guitars with worst sustain.. It could just be from extensive playing has loosened up the piezo so that it rattles or buzzes...

Actually scratch the Idea with the piece of electrical tape it kills the sustain, does solve the issue but then creates another one. I opted to use simple elmers glue around the out skirts of the piezo pickup and that has solved the issue for me. With out killing the sustain so far. Though I think the tape made it sound more like the default magnetic pickups.. (though you can help that utilizing the global eq) perhaps the piezo is rattling around making that awful noise..

Actually scratch the Idea with the piece of electrical tape it kills the sustain, does solve the issue but then creates another one. I opted to use simple elmers glue around the out skirts of the piezo pickup and that has solved the issue for me. With out killing the sustain so far. Though I think the tape made it sound more like the default magnetic pickups

I have been reading on other post of issues with a terrible sound on the sixth string. very prominent when doing palm muting with high gains or doing pedal notes.. I recently started playing a old song I learned years ago called (Still of the nIght by white snake). The patch I was using had allot of treble and loads of gain a bad combination for the already treble driven variax. The short of it I could not play it with model mode I had to use the magnetics. The sound was horrible on the sixth string, even though I had it dampened. So I started tinkering ( I play drums also and I used Gen16 cymbals for my EKit.) Well they are notorious for sounding god awful at times I cured that by simple adding a layer of electrical tape between the pickup sensor and the cymbal, Low and behold they sounded fantastic. So I tried it with the pickups on the variax and with luck I had the same results. I applied a small piece of Electrical tape on the piezo, now I can't tell the difference between the palm muting in model mode and the magnetics.. Don't get me wrong the velcro certainly helped tame the beast and the tailstop helped allot with the funky wrap around bridge vibration sounds. But the tape seemed to cure the sixth string issue allot of people are having.. there is a link to the other chat down below hope this helps people if not hope some one finds something better... It worked for me I also attached a pic of it http://line6.com/support/topic/6764-do-you-have-the-same-problem-with-6th-string/