davidb7170

The tuners are locking on the 69, but typical Floyd Rose equipped guitars use a locking nut as well. The 69 has a trem setup like a strat. You usually can't dive-bomb with a strat type of trem and have the guitar stay in tune, like a FR trem. I'm not a trem user myself. I have a 59 (not trem) and a 69S -- that I don't use the trem on, so I tightened the springs so the bridge basically rests on the guitar surface. I do the same with my strat. It improves my sustain. The other guitar player in my band has FR's on all of his guitars, and uses them to good effect -- I just never went that direction in my playing style. I see how much of a hassle changing strings and tuning is for him, and I shudder.... They're such a delicate balancing act. I tried to help him out on getting the intonation adjusted once, but even that's different on the FR's -- uses hex wrenches under the front of the bridge pieces -- loosen strings, adjust, tighten - repeat (over & over)... Once I saw what was involved, I didn't touch it. FR's are not for me. I think the locking tuners do improve tuning stability on the 69's of those who do use their tremolo's. I like the locking tuners even though I don't use the trem -- it makes string changing a bit easier & faster, too. Not enough for me to replace my 59's tuners, though. Some in the forums here have changed their 59's to locking tuners and like them quite a bit. Dave

I did not have the bright light issue with my XTL that I recall. First came across it with my X3L. I use the pedal exclusively for riding volume. On bright days at say an outdoor festival, I could not make it fade completely to zero -- then when evening set in, it would be fine. I finally realized it was light related and they were using an opto sensor for the pedal. I went to shading the X3L when it was in direct sunlight -- one time had to make a temporary shade out of a piece of scrap cardboard. L6 used a foam collar to block the light on the portion under the pedal, but after a while, it would not come back to its original shape. I used gaffer's tape on the pedal top surface to block the holes in the tread of the pedal to keep light out when my foot wasn't on it. When my XTL croaked, I too a look inside, and they apparently did not use an opto sensor, but some kind of magnetic proximity affair in that one. That's how come I was surprised when the issue cropped up on my X3L. I have not noticed a problem with my HD500. I've used it about a year now, since last summer indoors and outside at festivals, and have not had the issue. It might crop up -- I hope not... I haven't heard of any problems with it in the forums until now.... I did notice they went back to the solid pedal design like the XTL instead of the X3L pedal with the holes this time around, which I was glad of... We play our first outside festival of the year in a couple of weeks... Dave

I've also not had any problems with my HD500, X3L, or XTL tuners -- always had good luck with them on either my variax's via the VDI or regular guitars in the guitar inputs.... I get the good results either using the HD500 internal tuner or an external tuner. Weird... I even use the internal tuner to set the intonation on my guitars, and it's spot on. Dave

$1499 is the street price of this model -- has been for a couple years. Their "20% off list" is a come-on - you see it at all the retailers.... When they have the 15% off sale go for it - if they balk - you walk.... Dave

Actually, the battery & electronics go into a low power state (not off) when you roll the volume off on the JTV, and the model knob flashes every few seconds. This is like closing the lid on your pc -- puts it into sleep mode. In that mode, the pc is in a low power state. If you leave it long enough in that state, the pc battery will eventually discharge. To disconnect the battery on the JTV, simply unplug your 1/4" plug from its jack -- it's like active pickups like EMG that get turned on by plugging it in. Even with the volume down, there is drain on those batteries, too... Try it. If your battery still drains, then you might have a battery or internal connection problem with the JTV. My 2 cents. Dave

I used to do this all the time with my X3L and my HD500 -- have my JTV59 plugged in the VDI, and my spare regular electric LP plugged in the 1/4" guitar jack. I set both inputs to be on (VAX & Guitar inputs on), but just rolled the volume down on the guitar not in use. You have to do this as the guitar you're not playing will still vibrate sympathetically to the amplified one you're playing.... It happened to me, where I got a feedback from the guitar on the stand. It blossomed into a howl before I checked its volume knob... Oops... I used my spare regular electric with the same patches as my JTV for the occasional broken string. I never had any issues with one affecting the other tonally or volume wise. The LP and the 59 were quite similar in tone and volume, so I used the same set of patches for both. Sympathetic feedback was real bad with my acoustic/electric Ovation (plugged in Aux) -- so I made sure the Aux was active only on the patches I set for the Ovation. All other patches, I turned off the Aux input... It was handy to just pick up the guitar and roll up the volume on it and play. Now I use 2 JTV's (a 69S and a 59), so don't have anything plugged in the Guitar or Aux inputs. The acoustic models made it unnecessary to take the Ovation. The downside to that is unplugging and plugging in (at the guitar) when I change between the 69S & the 59. I also have a different set list for each the 69S & the 59, as their mag pup's have different sounds and levels. BUT I have the same sounds from both the JTV's models and special tunings, etc. Dave

I gotta say I disagree. I have a red 300, a Tobacco SB JTV59, and a Shoreline Gold JTV69S, my favorites are the JTV's hands down, both from aesthetic and from instrument quality standpoints. I do go for the Fender & Gibby looks, and these JTV's are closer to my norm than the 300 was. The 59's shape is kind of an LP with a higher upper bout like a Tele... The headstock of any of the 300, 59, or 69 never proved to be difficult for me to be comfortable with, and I have a Strat, a Tele, and an LP as well. Sometime if/when I get the time, I'll probably either work on the 300 to improve its sustain, or try a tele transplant with it. I don't hate the 300/500/700 body shape, but am just more pleased with the 59/69 JTV body styles. The build quality of my 59/69 JTV's is head & shoulders above my 300, but realize I was going for the bottom (least expensive) model of the 1st gen Variax'es just to see what the modeling guitar concept was all about. Also, the 700 or whatever the top model of the 1st gen Vax's were also in the $1500 range, as I recall. I would hope (and am pretty sure) that the build quality of those models was substantially above my 300... I use the mag pickups probably 80 - 90% of the time, and the models for certain songs where the tuning capabilities and special instruments (acoustics, banjo, etc.) are key. I think everyone has their own comfort zone and reasons why this is or isn't the route to go. Whatever "it" is, you have to find the "it" that floats your boat... It's all in the eye (and ear) of the beholder. There's a lot of guitars out there that make me shudder, while someone else would go "THAT'S THE ONE!" My 2 cents. Dave