silverhead

You've been really persistent with troubleshooting and acquiring detailed information about this. Kudos to you and thanks for sharing the information. However, I feel I need to correct some misinformation here. I am running Windows 10 with a JTV Variax. I usually use my Helix Rack as the USB interface for my JTV. I have just tested my setup using the old USB interface as pictured above. Here are my findings: - I can run Line 6 Monkey v1.77 successfully. It recognizes that I have a JTV connected. It shows driver v1.0.7.2 installed. It also shows Device USB firmware v1.03 installed on the guitar. It shows JTV firmware v2.10 installed with the latest v2.23 available. It seems it will support my updating to v2.23 though I choose not to do so since all later updates beyond v2.10 apply to Variax Standard and Shuriken. Hence your statement above that "The older USB connector cannot update your JTV to 2.0 and beyond." seems to be incorrect. Note that the Variax USB interface does not provide power to the guitar. You need to have a charged battery installed and also a 1/4' cable inserted into the guitar. This cable is the battery's on/off switch. - I can run Workbench HD successfully, connected to my JTV running v2.10. Data transfer between the guitar and Workbench HD is working as expected. Your statement above that "The old USB connector will only hook up to the original Workbench, not Workbench HD." seems to be incorrect. Apparently there are 2 usb pieces required: a USB driver on the computer (v1.0.7.2) and usb firmware on the guitar (v1.03). Monkey shows that I have the Variax usb driver v1.03 installed but it seems it is embedded in the guitar firmware and is not a general computer usb driver. I don't think I will be able to extract it from the firmware but I I will attempt to find it somewhere on my computer. If I can isolate it I will post it here for you.

Set the Helix Native Hardware Compatibility mode to HX Stomp.

If the source of your mixed reviews is this forum bear in mind that is a user support forum. People who encounter problems or are dissatisfied for whatever reason come here for support. The users who are satisfied and have no issues usually don’t come here to report that. Hence this forum does not provide an objective reliable gauge of user satisfaction.

I believe the answer is no for all devices but it would help to know the device you are using. Perhaps there are other approaches. At least maybe someone could tell you how they handle that on their/your device.

No.

I think there’s a lot of subjectivity in what sounds superior/inferior. I know that many people here in the past have reported that they think the ‘upgrade’ in the acoustic modeling that occurred sometime in the mid-life of the JVT series was not, in fact, an upgrade. They prefer the acoustic modeling of the earlier Variax models that you cite. So I’m guessing that if the modeling sounds just inferior to you and not awful then you are one of those people. Nothing wrong anywhere, just personal preference. If you want to install the pre-upgrade firmware in your Variax Standard you might be able to find the right stuff in the Downloads area, but I’m not sure.

I think part of the problem is terminology. There isn’t one type of ‘backup’. There are several, and they involve different file types. All are options when working with HX Edit. Here’s my off-the-cuff description. NOTE: the following is written in the context of HX Stomp, which does not have setlists. Well, actually it has only one so does not use Setlist terminology. 1) Drag/Drop: you can drag one or more presets from the list to anywhere in your computer folders, and similarly in reverse. A preset filetype is *.hlx. 2) Export/Import: an alternative to drag/drop. 3) Create/Restore backup: this creates a file of type *.bkp (I think) which contains everything on your device, including presets, global settings, IRs, and other things. Again, nothing is individually accessible. You can select which components you want to send to your device during the Restore operation. This is what the firmware update procedure forces you to create prior to the update. Again, you can specify a target folder location. 4) Extract Files from Backup: this allows you to create folders on your computer that contain individual components of the backup file. Review your experience with these options in mind to explain your observations, and to move forward.

Here's a comment in the v3.80 HX Edit release notes: My Helix/HX is at version X.XX. Can I go straight to 3.80? Yes, but note that if you're starting from 2.80 or lower, the update may appear to happen three times and will take notably longer than 30 minutes. This is normal. Have you attempted performing the update by following the procedures listed in these Release Notes? If not, begin there.

OK, I'll give it a shot... First, factory presets are embedded in the firmware. Performing a firmware update does NOT install the embedded factory presets in order to prevent potential data loss. The only way to be certain that you have the full, complete, and accurate set of factory setlists is to perform a factory reset with whatever firmware version is installed on your device. That's one reason that performing a factory reset is part of the recommended firmware update procedures. Line 6 does not make all prior versions of factory presets available for download. Some users, myself included, create personal backups of the factory presets every time a firmware update is performed. I am in the habit of posting these in this forum for potential use by others. The link I provided in my firtst post in this thread will let you download the factory presets for firmware v3.7 and (later in the same thread) v3.8. Also it is very important that you update HX Edit before you update the firmware. If you are running HX Edit v3.7 with firmware v3.8 the results are unpredictable. This could well be your problem. I don't know what backup files you are referring to that don't contain any blocks. The backup files created during a firmware update are not like that; they do contain all blocks. I suggest you begin the update procedures again, starting by downloading the HX Edit v3.8 installation package. Install it. Then run the Line 6 Updater program (part of the just-installed HX Edit package) to update/reinstall the v3.8 firmware. This procedure forces you to create a reliable system backup file. Then perform step 3a through 3c in my first post. Factory setlists are numbers 1, 2, and 8.

I don’t think heat is anything to be concerned about. I’d be more concerned about gravity if it gets nudged the wrong way.

I'm not seeing this either. If the above mentioned factory reset doesn't work open a support ticket.

You might find something useful on Customtone (see link at top of this page). First select the Legacy Products area, the POD Family of products. You’ll find what looks to be the original kidney POD there. You may find that you need to filter further. Enter ‘POD’ in the search field (you may need to double-tap the search field). I see 1,396 presets! Then search by artist or whatever. Warning: Any Customtone preset is likely to sound different in your environment than it sounded to the person who uploaded it. There are many reasons for this. At best you should consider a Customtone preset as a potential starting point for tweaking to suit your equipment. It’s a time consuming adventure!

Yes, they are scarce and hence valuable as a resale item on their own. They do come with the guitar when originally purchased. but it seems some people try to sell just the guitar, keeping the box for another sale. I would contact the seller and try to shame him into giving you the box that should have been included in the sale.

Have you tried using Line 6 Central instead of Monkey?

Line 6 does not provide advance information about any release plans. Anything you might hear here is pure speculation.

You’d be better off to abandon that approach and use the time to get familiar with the bass models in Helix. What you’re looking for doesn’t exist. Many have tried this approach in similar contexts and found it ineffective. There is a model category for selecting Bass amps. Start there and experiment.

Have you tried the Grid view of the models (see HX Edit manual pg 35 re: List/Grid view toggle). It’s a larger graphic view of the model; not an editing view. You still need to use the sliders.

What do you mean by 'boots up as normal'? There's no obvious difference during boot up but you will notice after the factory reset that the User folder of presets is empty (i.e. contains only New Preset). If it was empty before you reset then there will be no difference except that there may be different factory presets which you might not notice. There will also be a change in Global Settings which again you might not notice if you had never customized any of the globals.

Are you using an amp/cab of any sort, physical or virtual? Helix Native can exchange presets with the HX FX through HX Edit but doesn’t not connect to Helix Native. I doubt that Helix Native will run on your Galaxy tablet but I hope I’m wrong on that. In order to use Helix Native you will need a DAW (audio recording program). Do you have one? To use Helix Native for playing live you will also need an audio interface. Do you have one? HX FX is not one. Also for playing live it needs to work in real time but it involves latency. It’s not recommended. Helix Native is designed for the recording studio, not for live play. Tell us more about your physical setup and your hopes, intentions, and expectations.

Try updating to the latest software and firmware released today.

Thanks for the update.

The absence of the Prize drive was discussed during beta testing. It’s too DSP intensive.

After updating did you perform the recommended factory reset and then restore everything except the new factory setlists (especially the global settings) from the backup file?

After updating did you perform the recommended factory reset and then restore everything except the new factory setlists (especially the global settings) from the backup file?

I suspect that Customtone doesn’t recognize the filetype but I’m not sure. I would follow the suggestion to contact the webmaster.