davidb7170

Good Lord, return it. That child ain't right. Seriously something wrong with it. Both my JTV 59 & 69 are fine. Work like champs. The modeling is the same, and I've never heard what is on your sound clip. Dave

That's the one I have my 59 in. And no, not enough room to put the guitar in with the strap on. Great case, though. Love mine. Dave

It takes some force to switch the switch. Don't JUMP on it, but put some weight on it. It will switch. The volume (Exp 2) will be at 100%, as you will be bypassing that block. I'm not fond of it like that, and don't use it that way. I do have an external pedal that I can use for Exp 2, but unless you uncouple the control from bypassing the volume pedal block, it will still bypass the volume pedal block for the external pedal. Not hard to uncouple. Dave

Mine didn't come with strap locks, but I put Schaller's on all my guitars, and can interchange my straps from guitar to guitar. The screw heads on the stock strap buttons are too large for the Schaller buttons, so you do have to the Schaller screws. On my 69S, the tail button kept coming loose. Tried a longer screw, but it entered the mother board cavity. I ended up using a machine bolt, washer, and locking nut on that one. Found a small enough set at a local hardware store. Solid as a rock, now. Didn't have any issues with installation on my 59. Dave

I have both the 59 and 69S, and both came in the grey gig bag with the double pouch. My 59 is from late 2010, and my 69S is from 2012. I use a Gator rectangular universal ABS hard-shell for my 69S case, and an SKB ABS LP-style hard-shell case for my 59, though. I use my L6 gig bags to store other guitars. Dunno if they changed gig bags, hadn't heard anything about that. I do know the Standard comes with no gig bag, and was kind of surprised by that, though when I bought my Variax 300 in 2005, I did not get a bag with that (bought it in a small town music store), and that's when I got the Gator case. My 300 is now in one of my L6 gig bags. Mine are in good shape, but they've not been out of my house. They're nice gig bags, but I'm not a gig bag fan in general.... Dave

Yeah, not too hard. I wimped out and did not solder the new leads directly to the 5 way switch though. I didn't want to mess with those solder points, and without disassembling the switch from the faceplate, it would be awkward soldering. I snipped the leads of the old PU's and spliced the new leads to the old, doing one PU at a time to keep everything straight. I slid heat shrink tubing up the leads beforehand and shrank them down after soldering the splices. The Paul Gilbert set had different models for bridge/middle/neck, so again I made sure to be careful with both getting the right PU in the right slot and keeping the polarities right for each. All 3 of mine were single coils and mounted on the faceplate (69S), but looking at your avatar, looks like yours is a straight 69 with the HB bridge PU, so you'll only have 2 to do at most. Also looks like you already changed you bridge HB to a covered HB, so apparently you've been inside your 69 already. There's a wiring diagram in the knowledge base section under Guitars/JTV, etc -- tried to paste a link here, but I've not been able to on this site for quite a while (I think IE 11 is the issue for me). anyway the diagrams helped me keep my head on straight. DiMarzio is good about documenting their stuff, and tells you which lead is hot and which is ground. Like I said, my DiMarzio's on my 69S are more noise-free than my HB's on my 59, my Tele Deluxe, my Gretsch Country Gent, and my Epi LP.... Good luck! Dave

I replaced all 3 single coils in my 69S with the DiMarzio Paul Gilbert set of noiseless single coils and love them. This set includes some of the "Area" models, forget which ones specifically... They are more noise free than my humbucker guitars. I did the replacement about 3 years ago. Dave

Unfortunately, that would require a battery inside the Helix to keep the clock working when the Helix is off. All the preset information is probably stored on eeprom memory that needs no power to retain its data from one use to the next. So if they could come up with some digital clock on the screen, you'd have to set it each time you turn on your Helix, can't wait to hear the complaints about that in the forums.... A watch, phone, iPad, or some standalone solution seems better to me. NASA spent years and probably millions of $$ to create an ink pen that works in zero G. A pencil works fine.... Just saying... Dave

Definitely open a trouble ticket with Line 6. Works with your HD500X, but not your Helix. My 2 JTV's work with both. Sounds like the Helix is defective. Dave

It's all in how you want the use them. Each to their own. Dave

I use the pitch shift in presets for certain songs - then title the preset the song name. I had used the shift dials on the JTV's then forget it was set that way for the next song, kind of embarrassing.... When I hit the song, I hit the shifted preset, then on to the next song with a different preset, and don't have to worry. I have songs I have presets for D (down a full step), Drop D, Drop Db for both the banjo and distortion guitar in the same song. Used to have a couple in Eb, but don't do those songs anymore in our sets... All in how your work flow works for you, individually. Before the JTV's, I had to set up special Variax pitch shifted presets on my 300's Custom positions, then have the preset on the XTLive, or X3Live choose those Variax presets. With the JTV's and the HD500(X), life got a lot easier, and now the Helix is doing the same. Dave

Aw, leave the guy be. He didn't find what he wanted, so he moved on. No harm, no foul. Doesn't seem like a troll to me, but if he is, it'll fade away... I'm happy with my Helix, but it's not everybody's cup of meat. Dave

I have both the 59 & 69S - love them both, but each has its own personality. I've been a Fender guy since the early 1970's. My first was the Tele Deluxe in '73, then in the 80's, I got a late 70's Strat and used that for gigging. If you have a guitar you love NEVER give it up for another, you'll regret it. I sold a '66 Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gentleman when I bought the Strat because I felt guilty getting another guitar. You get over it.... I got that Country Gent back about 2 years ago, after over 25 years from the band mate I sold it to -- it was a "bucket list" thing for me, and I'm glad I could get it back.... Anyway back to topic. I bought the 59 first in 2011 after ordering it in late 2010. I didn't care for the "super strat" HSS pickup arrangement of the 69, but when they came out with the 69S - SSS PU arrangement, I bought my shoreline gold 69S in late 2012. They are BOTH really good guitars, and both sound really good, but I gotta say that I gravitate more to my 69S for a nights' gig. It's just more in my comfort zone of sound, again, being a Fender guy for so long. My tobacco sunburst 59 is very pretty, though. I carry 2 so I can choose either and have the same models in case of a broken string, etc. I know there's a lot of folks that changed their 69's necks, but I never had a problem with mine, so never felt the need to do it. About finding them in a guitar shop, I've only seen the JTV's in my local Guitar Center a few times, and usually only one at a time, so not a high likelihood of being able to compare one to another. Last fall, I was in the Minneapolis area (much larger metro area than where I live), and stopped by a GC up there. They had 1 JTV-69 and a couple of Variax Standards - think that was the most I'd seen in one place at the same time. I'm not a fan of the Standard, just doesn't look "right" to my Strat sensibilities, so take that for what it's worth (just my opinion, so not much ;)) Each to their own. I also use the magnetic pickups for 80 - 90% of my playing, and use the models for specific sounds. like acoustics and tune shifted songs, Drop-D and Drop-Db, etc. The 59 pickups are fine, though some people change those to their favorite HB. The 69S PU's sound fine, but I was used to noise-free, and was re-introduced to the noise level I had with my Strat. After about 3 months, I changed the 69S PU's to some DiMarzio noiseless single coils (the Paul Gilbert set), and they are now even quieter than my 59's HB's - love them... I have 9 electric guitars now, including my 2 JTV's and a Variax 300 I bought in 2005 that set me along this current path of JTV's and various incarnations of POD floor units, and now the Helix for the VDI connection to power and switch the Variaxes, so it's a slippery slope... Enjoy the slide... Dave

I use the global eq to even out the response of my FRFR PA speaker which I found not to be flat response, but has a vocal peak around 3 kHz. I cut about 8 dB there and it sounds much better. Dave

I saw this also. When I saved an existing preset to a new position, modified it, then saved it with a new name, the last 3 characters from the previous name in that slot were visible, and I deleted them. The name saved and displayed properly. When I edited again and saved, those 3 characters were back. This is new behavior since fw 1.06.5. Heads up. Edit - I did the suggested reset when I did the fw update when it came out, and was not hooked up to the pc with USB when doing my editing last night. The preset I was replacing was named "New Preset Dummy" - preset was what I did when the "New Presets" were being placed in wrong places after a reset/reload from backups. I would place an amp only in the preset and I named them "New Preset Dummy" as place holders. When I worked on the new one, the last 3 characters "mmy" showed up when saving each time. Dave

Check to see if the reverb or echo has the word "duck" in the FX name -- if so, the effect doesn't kick in until after you quit playing a note.... It's called "ducking". Just a thought. Dave

It seems very manageable to me. I have an intro with a banjo in drop Db variax patch right next to a LP drop Db variax heavy distortion and the go right from one into the other -- it switches the variax model & tuning settings and from an acoustic setting with eq's and compression plus reverb and echoes for the banjo right into the distortion and FX right on the beat when I switch from one to the other, boom. no major gap... That's a lot of stuff going on inside the box, been doing it for years from my X3L to my HD500, then 500X, to the Helix. I haven't found the switching gaps seem to get worse from one to the other. Maybe I'm just used to it and plan or time my switches between patches without consciously thinking about it. If you want analog, go analog, but good luck doing what can be done with these units.... Dave

This is my situation, almost exactly, except I put my speaker on a pole stand to my side. Other guitarist and bass player with amps on the other side of the stage. I used to put my speaker on the floor in front of me (wedge), but being 6'6", would need to crank it to hear very well. At shoulder height, I can get volume levels lower, keeping overall stage volume lower. I use a Quilter Tone Block 200 and a Yorkville Neo-equipped PA/monitor speaker. Dave

True, they are kind of slow to ship, but I haven't found other sources for L6 parts with the things they offer. It is kind of hit & miss on some things, but I have picked up useful parts there. Dave

Thanks duncann for the reset listing and jshimkoski for adding it to your help site. I know I had to dig through TPG and the L6 Helix forum a few times to find it. It'll be much easier to find in your online Help when I forget it again... Cool. Dave

That's good information to have on hand on such a website! Dave

It would also be great if you listed all the various reset options such as FS 9 & 10 for resetting all patches,global, and IR settings, etc. Dave

My Helix back pack also seemed tight to zip up initially, but in the 1st month and a half I've gigged with it 4 or 5 times, it has broken in,and does not take as much struggle to zip up. I really like this bag. Dave

I swapped mine with the DiMarzio Paul Gilbert set about 3 months into having my 69S, mainly due to being spoiled by the lack of noise for a long time..... Dave

Starting in 2004, I have had the progression of the L6 Pod's XTLive, X3Live, HD500, HD500X, and now the Helix. I gig mainly to enjoy,but also to fund my equipment habit... The Helix takes much less time and effort to get very good and useful presets up and going. After having said that, it will come down to what your wants and needs are. If you have presets that you're good with, you can get a 500X, and simply put your backed up sets from your 500 into the new unit and you're done, back up and running. If you're interested in the new territory of the Helix, then that is the route. I have 2 JTV's and so far need to keep my 500(X) around for editing those, until they make add that to the Helix, which at this stage is still a work in progress... If you're not a patient type, I'd get the thing you're comfortable with and wait on the Helix... Just my 2 cents worth... Dave