davidb7170

I do the same with my Yorkville PA speaker, use the global eq to take mids at 3 kHz down 8 dB with a Q of 1.7 to take the harshness out, also found if I took 310 Hz down 3 dB, it reduces the boxiness out of the Vox amp models. PA speakers are not FRFR,they are built to emphasize vocals, which are heavy in the midrange. The "magic" frequencies will be different from one to another. I set my global eq only on the quarter inch outs I use for my stage setup, not on the XLR to FOH sound. I use the high cut on the speaker models as needed to cut the high frequency fizz of distortions. Dave

You didn't mention if it was the same patch or if it was any patch when you start up. If always with the same patch, maybe a problem with the patch initializing the guitar? Just a thought to try a different patch? Dave

Check fullcompass.com. http://www.fullcompass.com/prod/268787-Line-6-30-27-0444 Dave

Ahh -- there found it on the specs listed at Line 6: JTV-59: 1-11/16" Graph Tech Black TUSQ XL self-lubricating nut JTV-69(S) & Variax Standard: 1-5/8" Graph Tech Black TUSQ XL self-lubricating nut JTV-89F: Locking Floyd Rose® nut and string tree I have not had a particular problem with the 69S neck (and I have big hands), but I know a lot have switched 'em out. Each to their own. Dave

Just a quick note, but if I recall correctly, all the JTV's are built with Graphteck nuts. Has this changed? I remember the tag that came with it... Dave

Be aware that most home owner's insurance does not cover musical equipment if used professionally (e.g. getting paid at a gig), even as a weekender in a cover band, mine does not cover - even though the most likely place for loss would be at my home - say in a house fire, or some such.... Insurance is a racket... A separate policy for professionally used music equipment is quite a bit more expensive than a home owner's rider for the same stuff... Dave

Had this on mine last year. Had my really good guitar tech set up my 69S, and I mentioned I'd had some problems with my tail strap lock button getting loose. I got it home & he had replaced the screw with a heftier wood screw, but it was up against the mother board, so I removed it and replaced it with a machine screw, washer, and locknut in that compartment.... I don't really blame him, as his normal fix would have been fine in a normal guitar, except for the circuit compartment being so close to the tail of the 69S. The locknut & machine screw has been nice and tight ever since. I always look my equipment over when I've had work done to look for unintended consequences (the engineer in me). That could have been disastrous... The 69S is fine. Dave

I was using 9's on my strat for quite a few years, but would periodically break one during a gig. Got my Variax 300 in 2005 (came with 10's), and went with my usual 9's on it, and broke them a lot more often than with my strat. I moved to 10's one time by mistake -- grabbed the wrong size at the music store. I had bought a number of sets, so figured I'd just use 'em up, but noticed my breakage went way down to practically nothing, so I kept using them. My hands got used to them pretty quickly actually, so I've kept using them since then. I don't really use my tremolo on my strat or 69S, I do hand vibrato's. It's all in what you get used to. I put some heavier strings on my Tele Deluxe as a teenager back in the 70's and broke the nut on it. Just got around to having that fixed a few years ago. I've steered away from heavy strings ever since. Dave

The "W-Year-Week" (W1506xxxx) thing versus "W-Year-Month" format should be easily testable.... If the supposed 3rd & 4th numbers are found greater than 12, up to 52, then "week" might be the parameter. I took a look at the ones at Sweetwater that had pictures and listed serial numbers, and in that (granted) relatively small sample, none had the second 2 digits greater than 12 or less than 01, so I would believe that 1 of 2 possibilities exist -- 1) It is the "week format", and they don't manufacture any past the 12th week of the year, so that would be, what, March of any year, or 2) The second set of digits is the month.... The assertion that W1202xxx was Jan 2012, is a bit odd, (Month-1), unless we see one with a W1200xxxxx serial - don't think we'll see that.... My JTV-59 has a serial W1012xxxxx, I ordered in Oct 2010, didn't receive until May 2011. It's serial has 5 digits after the "month" or "Week", which is a bit odd, as any later JTV's have 4 digits after the date code. They didn't announce the JTV's even as a concept until I got an email in the late spring or into the summer of 2010, so I'm doubting mine had a serial number from March 2010. My JTV-69S has a serial W1208xxxx, they just announced the 69S - 3-single coil version in late September 2012, and I ordered and got mine in October, so the assumed August (08) manufacture date seems more likely than week four in February.... Yeah, like jandrio said above, I'd like to see if we get any serial numbers with a number greater than 12 in the 3rd & fourth position of their serial number digits.... Just a thought... Dave

Yes, they are D'Addario 10's that come stock on the JTV's. Strings are really personal preferences. Very few right's or wrong's, just opinions and feel. If you go with lighter or heavier, you'll need to adjust your action and neck relief, or have some who knows how to, do it. The other thing you will need to adjust if you change gauges, or even change brands in the same gauge will be your intonation. I'd say try your favorite brand, and if it pleases you, you're good to go. I use GHS Boomer 10's on all my electric guitars, so they all feel and play about the same. Once I adjusted the intonation, I can just change the strings and then I check the intonation and adjust if need be (usually minor). It can vary from one run of strings to the next (like any manufactured product), but usually, I don't need to adjust the intonation for a new set of the same. I buy 'em in 10 packs, if I can get a deal, if not, I buy a handful of sets when I'm getting low and I happen to be at Guitar Center. Dave

The concept of a path to carry presets from one platform of a company's device to the next generation is not that impossible, and does not require actual use of the prior presets in whatever new architecture is made. What the presets actually are is setting and routing specs for each different preset. Looking at backup preset files, they don't contain anything but put this amp here, set the volume = xx, drive = yy, etc. I've been moving data forward for years from one PC OS platform and program to the next with CSV - comma separated value files, and the like. Even if the 2 programs have nothing in common internally, they are expecting setting values for certain parameters. The new doesn't need to be backwards compatible with the next, other than having data imported in an expected order and format. I've moved from the XTL to the X3L, and it was able to import the settings directly, they did not sound the same necessarily, but it was a quick starting point. Then I was surprised that moving to the HD500, it had no import path, so had to start over. I got over it, not a huge deal, just a PITA, and learning curve do-over. Then got an HD500X as a backup concept, luckily the 500 & 500X spoke the same preset language, other than file extension. Got my Helix late last year, didn't really expect it to import the HD presets, but it would have been nice for a starting point. Although, once I got into it with the Helix, I have ended up with fewer presets to accomplish the same number of sounds I was using before, by setting up multiple sounds in one patch, like acoustic model JTV switching to JTV magnetic PU's on a second path, or clean Fender amp switched with a Marshall OD on a switch to toggle settings/paths, yada yada. I've gotten to be able to use 3 separate amps, could probably do 4, by using amp-only then the same cab for all of them. Soldano was one of them Clean/Crunch/Overdrive channels. I would think going forward, they wouldn't necessarily scrap the current Helix platform model and architecture, but add to it, say with more DSP or processors, but the "simple-2 paths" (yeah right) would become a 3-path or 4-path expansion in the next Helix version, and the import of this generation of Helix presets would use the 2-paths, and leave the other paths empty, but able to be added at that time... Dave

Can't help you with all of the above, but here would be a way to do the mono button, number 3. Set a gain block (choosing the mono version, not the stereo version) as the last effect before your output. Set it to 0 dB (no boost, no cut), and assign a footswitch to it. That way, when you bypass it with the footswitch, it will allow the stereo signal through, when you activate it with the footswitch, it'll be mono. No special revision to the firmware to accomplish this one. Dave

Odd Behavior -- with amp + cabs and cabs that load up with the 421 Dynamic Mic model. These are: 2x12 Double C12N 2x12 Mail C12Q 2x12 Silver Bell 4x12 WhoWatt 4x12 Green Back 20 It shows the 421 Dynamic Mic as the one that loads with these, but when switched away auditioning mic models, then come back to the 421 Dynamic it sounds very different - more treble like the other Dynamic models in that first group. If you save the preset and reload it, it sounds like it did when first loaded - identical to the 121 Ribbon MIc model. I don't particularly like the 421 Dynamic sound, and usually switch to something else, but if you would like to use it with those models, it will always load up showing the 421, but sounding like the 121 Ribbon. As a test I loaded a cab not in the above list that 421 Dynamic is not normally loaded with, then changed it to the 421 Dynamic and saved. When I reloaded the patch, the normal sound of the 421 Dynamic was there, not the 121 Ribbon, so it appears to only affect the cabs in the above list or the amp+cabs that use those in the list above. I don't know if this is a new bug, or if anyone else has found this. I've been chunking through all the models and cabs to find my favorites and see the differences between the amps, cabs and mics, so I set up a "Test Bench" set list for experimenting with the sounds. Side note - as I was going through the list of cabs finding the ones that load with the 421, my Helix glitched on me -- everything FX, Amps, ALL blocks on the top path disappeared. I was in my "Test Bench" set list, so I loaded my normal gigging set list and everything on those top path's were gone as well. when I re-booted the Helix, the patches rebuilt, with the count-up, and came back with the top paths back in place. That's the first glitch like that in these most recent set of firmware(s) that I've had. Has anyone else noted this behavior? Dave.

Odd Behavior -- with amp + cabs and cabs that load up with the 421 Dynamic Mic model. These are: 2x12 Double C12N 2x12 Mail C12Q 2x12 Silver Bell 4x12 WhoWatt 4x12 Green Back 20 It shows the 421 Dynamic Mic as the one that loads with these, but when switched away auditioning mic models, then come back to the 421 Dynamic it sounds very different - more treble like the other Dynamic models in that first group. If you save the preset and reload it, it sounds like it did when first loaded - identical to the 121 Ribbon MIc model. I don't particularly like the 421 Dynamic sound, and usually switch to something else, but if you would like to use it with those models, it will always load up showing the 421, but sounding like the 121 Ribbon. As a test I loaded a cab not in the above list that 421 Dynamic is not normally loaded with, then changed it to the 421 Dynamic and saved. When I reloaded the patch, the normal sound of the 421 Dynamic was there, not the 121 Ribbon, so it appears to only affect the cabs in the above list or the amp+cabs that use those in the list above. I don't know if this is a new bug, or if anyone else has found this. I've been chunking through all the models and cabs to find my favorites and see the differences between the amps, cabs and mics, so I set up a "Test Bench" set list for experimenting with the sounds. Side note - as I was going through the list of cabs finding the ones that load with the 421, my Helix glitched on me -- everything FX, Amps, ALL blocks on the top path disappeared. I was in my "Test Bench" set list, so I loaded my normal gigging set list and everything on those top path's were gone as well. when I re-booted the Helix, the patches rebuilt, with the count-up, and came back with the top paths back in place. That's the first glitch like that in these most recent set of firmware(s) that I've had. Has anyone else noted this behavior? Dave.

Just an idea, don't know if it's the deal. I set my volume pedal in the global settings to be globally remembered (don't recall the actual term), not per patch. What I did not like about the per patch setting was the preset would save the last volume you had it at when saving the preset and load it with the patch, so if you saved it low then edited it would jump once it recognized the actual pedal position. If you saved in a higher volume state it would start out that way, then lose volume suddenly when editing. I like to ride volume at gigs, so don't want my volume jumping up or down when I change presets. The setting was added in one of the early firmware revisions, and once it was available, I made sure I set it that way. Don't know if this is your issue, but it's worth a look. Dave

I've had my copy of GP for over a week -- good review! It was an Editors' Pick. Good read. Oddly, they made it sound like the unit was unveiled at the Winter NAMM, I believe the initial debut was last summer's NAMM. That's when we all started jonesin' for it.... Maybe it just got a bigger demo at the winter show? I thought the big reveals at the winter show from L6 were the new wireless and the Firehawk 1500. Dave PS - My library of Guitar Player Magazine goes back to 1976, when I was in still in college....

I've done this many times -- get the 2 amps sounding like you like them, switching back and forth, then save the patch. After that switch between the two and use the channel volume on each to even them out, then save. The different amps have some differences between their volumes as they initially load when you choose them. The Channel Volume (Ch Vol) parameter does nothing to the tone, only the loudness. Sometimes when using 2 different channel models of the same amp, like the A30 Fawn (normal & bright channels) that use the same speaker models, I use the amp (not amp and cab) models, then use a cabinet model of their normal cab, so I save a little DSP to add more FX to the preset without eating all the memory up with 2 full amp & cab models.... Dave

I have the 59 & 69S. I've tried the tape on the string ends and have not noticed a difference before or after, but didn't have a particular problem with it either, so I must be one of the "lucky ones". Dave

The 89F Floyd trem is Very different from your strat-like trem on the 69 & 69S. I'm in the 69S camp, and my band's other guitarist has a Floyd on his guitars and loves them. I'm not a trem user in general, and it's too much mucking around from me. The other big difference besides the neck profile noted above is the 89F has 2 split coil HB pickups, where the 69 has an HB and 2 single coils. My 69S has all 3 single coils. My 59 has two traditional HB's. I use my mag pickups probably 80-90% of time, so good sounding pickups are key to me. The models are the same, but physically, they are very different. Dave

I think a good test of this would be to get input from a Yamaha Pacifica owner on whether a strat neck would be usable as a swap on a Pacifica. I'm kinda doubtful on that... Seeing as how that guitar was the design basis for the Standard, that replacement necks for that line might be more likely to fit. Don't really see it as a hot ticket on warmouth or other vendors, though. Probably don't see a lot of special necks for the PRS bolt on necks, and I doubt a strat neck would fit on that either... Dave

I've not had any issues with my 69S's neck. I did replace the SC PU's with noiseless DiMarzio's, and this year did the pearloid face plate. Will try to attach a pic... My 59 is not modded, and love it as well.... Dave

Looks like Standards are mixed in there in this pic, too. Saw this on Facebook, as well, and he mentioned the 89F as well. It seems a good sign to me... Love my 59 TSB & 69S SLG. Dave

I bought my 69S, as soon as they were available. Got it from Sweetwater in October 2012. Dave

I've seen them cutting back on the available colors though. Glad I got my shoreline gold 69S when I did. Very pretty. They still make the 59 in tobacco and cherry sunburst plus black. My tobacco burst 59 was the first I got. They no longer make the P90 gold top. Dave

I ordered my backpack I think the first day SW had it for preorder, I think at the end of November. I got it just after the first of the year. Love the thing. Yeah, noticed the side internal zipper can catch the external zipper, but has been getting less so as time goes on. Partially because I have gotten into the habit of pulling the external zipper a bit away from the body of the bag when I get in that area, but also I think because the bag is relaxing a touch as time goes by, and the fit of the Helix inside does not feel as tight as it was initially. Fitting more like a glove as time goes by. I always set it vertically when putting the Helix in -- goes in nicely, then I lay it down to put my cables etc. in the compartment that I fully unzip. I do like the Velcro straps they included for the cables, and also use 2 to secure my needle nose pliers and wire cutters for string changes together and Velcro in place at the bottom of that compartment. Very handy. I put extra stuff that I don't use as much, like odd key harmonicas, spare cords, etc., in the zippered pouch on top of that big compartment. The little zippered pouch at the top of the bag is where I put my normal harmonica, music light, and mic stand pick holder. Still haven't quite figured out the "ammo belt" loops, yet. What's anybody using those for? Just curious on the concept of those. Kind of look like pen holders? Dave