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I've been trying to round out the guitar collection to cover all the bases, humbucker, p90s, tele sounds, all of that. I was toying with the idea of getting a JTV59 to just model everything and be done with it but I've also really wanted an LP-like shape with Fishman Fluence vintage pickups in it. Has anyone tried to change out the magnetic pickups in a JTV59? What do the electronics look like? All proprietary PCB, or could I rip out the pickups, wire in the Fluences and still use the piezo/Variax side of it?

Hi all Since upgrading to Helix I've come across an issue with one of my guitars. I have four guitars, three of them have active circuits with mags and piezo, and one of them is a standard passive circuit. One of the active guitars has hot pickups, so when I plug in into Helix, the input indicator flashes red and the sound is distorted like it's breaking up, even on clean tones (or with no amp). It seems the Helix just can't handle the signal coming from the guitar. Things to note: This didn't happen when I owned the Firehawk FX, only since using Helix. It happens on all patches, factory or user It's mainly when the strings are strummed hard, but you can hear it affecting the tone quite dramatically. It does not affect the piezo, which I run through the FX Return input. It's only when the mags are selected going through the guitar input. I have tried the Guitar Pad option on and off, it doesn't seem to change anything. The only solution I have found is to roll back the volume pot a little, but this is not an ideal solution TBH. None of the other three guitars are affected. Are there any other ways to reduce the input signal through the Helix? Thanks!

Hello Helix Community, Has anyone experienced a huge change in preset sounds after changing pickups in their guitars? I just had a Seymour Duncan JB installed in the bridge and a 59 in the neck of my PRS SE Custom 24. These replaced the originally 85/15s pickups which I thought were ok, but never satisfied with the sounds. I play lots of different styles from Steely Dan to Tool to Opeth to Porcupine Tree, so versatility is important for me. The clean sounds from these pups are amazing, didn’t know this guitar could sound so beautiful. But, any tones with gain or distortion sound absolutely terrible in every position. I usually only use the bridge for high gain and it sounds flat, harsh with no punch. Every preset with gain sounds the same no matter the amp model or different signal chain. Thanks so much for your help. Best regards, Derek

Hello, I'm having trouble getting the sound I was hoping for on the Helix, and I need some help. I'm sure it's my lack of experience with gear and effects that's the problem, not the Helix. I watched all the Jason Sadites videos and regularly read through this forum, and I do seem to be SLOWLY getting closer, but I also wonder if there is not something more fundamental wrong with my setup or settings - like guitar, monitor speakers, amp choice, etc. Here's how I'd describe the sound I'm going for: Warm, smooth, thick, rich clean tone, with some reverb/spaciousness, and a little overdrive to give it a soaring quality. I tend to prefer smoothness and warmth to pinpoint clarity and accuracy, and I definitely don't like twangy sounds. - My guitar. I have an American Elite Strat. It's great, but the single coils are probably at odds with my tonal goals. I use the neck pickup exclusively, but want it to be even more "neck-pickup-like" if that makes sense. The bridge pickups sound unusably harsh and twangy to my ears through the Helix. - I have monitor speakers connected to the Helix as my "amp". Yamaha HS7's - they are nice monitors, but possibly not as guitar "amp" and this may be part of the problem. - Over headphones, I get closer to the sound I'm looking for. Things sound spacious and rich in comparison to the monitor speaker setup. - I get a harsh digital sounding tone anytime I use a delay block. This is not as important as the main tone issue, but it is pretty pronounced, and maybe this gives a clue to what's going on. Weirdly, ping pong delay is the only one I've found that doesn't have this problem as bad. - The sound was way too harsh and digital sounding until I turned on the global EQ and dialed down the high cut to a low level, around 5kHz - Using ribbon mic's on the cabinets helps immensely as well. I've not otherwise messed with trying different cabs or cab settings... - I've experimented with different amp models, and some work better than others, but the base fenders work the best: US Double vib/nrm. - Before Helix, I used a Yamaha THR10C, and found the chorus effect to give that smooth rich sound. (it doesn't actually sound like a chorus, and I only mention this in case anyone has experience with this) Appreciate the help!! Attached is a tone example (excuse my intermediate-lollipop playing) and also a settings file in case that's useful. Thanks, JoelMAIN Headphones.hlx Test Sound Clip Main Headphones.m4a

So, I recently got an Ibanez ARZ200FM in Grey Burst. Beautiful guitar and lovely to play but when my fingers accidentally touched either pickup, it would buzz. Hmmm... So I opened her up and sure enough, the pickups were wired in backwards. Since I was planning on replacing the neck pickup anyway - Love the way Ibanez guitars play but hate their neck pickups. Too muddy and no character. The bridge pickup was fine. Nothing special but I could work with it so I decided to live with it for a while before replacing it. It sounded like a typical bridge humbucker. So when the SD Antiquity Neck arrived I did that installation and corrected the wiring on the bridge pickup. Here's where the total surprise came in. The bridge now sounded bright, jangly, it lost some of its low end but not too much. It was now a very lively yet not ice picky bridge pickup. Sounds almost like a really FAT tele pickup. What I don't understand is how a mere change in its wiring polarity could so dramatically change the tone of this pickup. I changed and experimented with lots of pickups before and had reversed wires intentionally lots of times and have never had a tonal change such as this ever. How is this happenning? Anyone have any ideas?

I have a guitar with active pickups (Charvel 475 with Jackson JE1200 pre-amp). The guitar jack (TRS) is wired to the guitar pre-amp like this: Tip: pre-amp output Ring: battery negative terminal Sleeve: pre-amp ground When a normal TS guitar cord is plugged into the guitar, the plug sleeve contacts the ring and sleeve of the jack and completes the circuit. Will my guitar work with the Relay G10 without an adapter? If not, will swapping the ring and sleeve connections on the guitar jack fix the problem?

I'm thinking of swapping out my JTV-59's standard pup's with Bareknuckle mules but have a concern over the resistance. I read on another forum post that the resistance should be between 6-8 - the Bareknuckle website quotes the following for the Mules. Position: Bridge, DC Resistance: 8.4 kΩ, Magnet: Alnico 4 Position: Neck, DC Resistance: 7.3 kΩ, Magnet: Alnico 4 I'm confident enough with the wiring, have the diagrams, know how to solder etc. BUt am i going to hit troubles with the rest of the JTV's electronics if i go ahead? Or will it be ok? Also, anyone got any experience of Bareknuckles in a JTV? Or good news storied about swapping out pups on their JTV? Thanks.

Would it be possible to add a new modern pickup model or two, to the Variax software/firmware, to bring it in line with Shuriken's modern good looks? I'm sure JTV owners probably wouldn't mind this either. I know a lot of folks like EMGs, Bare Knuckle, Fishman, DiMarzio, etc. I'm sure people have lots of opinions on which they'd wish for most. Would love to know how people feel about this one.

I have an issue with excessive hum and the jtv59. I'm running guitar via VDI cable into a HD500. I'm using the magnetic pickups and the modelling at the same time and using a panner to switch between them. For example: Acoustic jmodels and panning into a heavy magnetic-based tone. I'm running XLR right out to a EV monitor on stage and XLR left out to board. I'm getting a horrible hum now. It has happened before but seems to have gotten worse. I switched inputs in the presets in the pod to just the variax (right before the gig in a panic) and the buzz is gone. Trying to brainstorm causes and solutions. The hum sounds like a typical ground loop. I've tried the ground lift on the pod and it seems to have no effect. This venue has bad power (as does a lot of places we play). Getting a few furman SS-6B filtering power strips that may help. I could just run to the board and the send guitar back to wedge. Thought about getting the pyle PHE400. http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/555-16055?scode=DD1443&trk_msg=5JJO54U26DJ4B18OSAJ6TRMJ1K&trk_contact=765CTN3VQE3OND4R5FLA07VMJO&utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=555-16055&utm_campaign=DD1443 Thought that is maybe a grounding issue in the JTV. If this was a normal guitar, I would gut it and foil and ground the pickup cavity. I'm a little hesitant to dig into it but will likely crack it open soon and take a look. I saw the pickup diagram that is flowing around. Afterthought: I don't know if switching to the magnetics would bring hum back. That would be a great test. Any help would be most appreciated.

Hey, Looking for a little guidance with this one.. So I'm in the process of getting a super-strat made for me (Warmoth body, Charvel neck, German Floyd, Bare Knuckle etc etc), however, it will be a single pickup guitar, which will obviously just be the bridge pickup, which is a Bare Knuckle Juggernaut. Is there a way I can alter a few settings on my Helix so that I can make my bridge pickup sound more like my neck pickup, or a blended sound of both bridge and neck pickup?? I presume it'll be in the amp block.. bumping up the bass/mids and possibly reducing the treble..? Any other hints or tips on how to achieve this? NOTE, I understand that it probably can't really be done, but if I can get close to it, I'll be happy... if this is possible.. Also, FWIW, I use my Helix floor with a valve power amp and FRFR.. Thanks

Hi. Just in case anyone like to have models of JTV-59' magnetic-pickups, here is my first try. This gives you the possibility to switch to custom-tunings with the sound of your mags. Of course the tone-results may differ from guitar to guitar, but with my '59 I am 95 % there. 2017-01-01 JTV59-ModeledMags.zip content of the ZIP-file are three presets, no bank or bundle HAPPY NEW YEAR :)

I have my HD500 set to input 1 Variax, input 2 same and yet when I turn off the modeling in my JTV I can still hear the mags. Is this normal? Shouldn't the mags only be heard if I select Variax Mags in the POD? How does it work for anyone else with a JTV/HD500? Does it matter if the battery is installed or not? I just feel like there is a faint ghost note coming through and I think it is the mags bleeding through. PS - all firmware is up to date and I am connected only using the VDI cable.

I am running a JTV-59 through a Yamaha THR 10C into an iMac via USB or just jamming with headphones plugged into the THR. The magnetic pickups sound great with the amp sims built into the THR. In fact, I'd say the tube amp sims in the THR are some of the best hardware or software (external device or computer plugins) I have come across so far. Granted, I don't have an Ax FX or Kemper Profiler. But when I switch over to the Variax models with the same amp sims (both THR and Guitar Rig), it just doesn't sound that great. The mags sound much better. Then I finally got around to turning the THR to the "FLAT" setting where no amp sim is applied to the signal. I only had a light hall reverb on. When I started going through the models I was blown away! Especially by the SEMI, JAZZBOX, and ROCKABILLY models. To me they sound so much better without an amp sim coloring their sound, even when the amp sim is set to low-gain, clean tones. The sound is more expressive and sounds less "gimmicky". I am starting to have more respect for what Line 6 has accomplished here. I am not disappointed at all because I really like to play with very clean tones, and no distortion. I know this probably has a lot to do with the preference of my ears. I'm just very puzzled why there would be such a difference between mags and Variax models when using amp sims. Do we get better results using simulated instrument and real amp, or amp sim and real mags, but things start to break down with simulated guitar AND simulated amp?

So while I had my 500 apart to fix some solder points, I modded it to have regular pickups as well. I routed out space for an HSS configuration, customized a strat pickguard and installed a balance/blend pot to go between the two. Took me a while but it works great.

I am new to the Variax, but experienced with the HD500, through which I send my guitar signal to the sound board. I like using my JTV-59 with the P90s, and the most practical immediate use of the guitar's modeling technology is to call up the acoustic/banjo/resonator models for specific songs or sections of a song. I assume that to alternate between the magnetic pickups and the other modeled instruments, I should connect BOTH the analog 1/4 cable, AND the Variax Digital cable. Is that correct? Then I need to select the appropriate 'Input' (Guitar or Variax) within the HD500 patch. Thank you for any responses!

I was mucking around with mixing the Magnetic pickups on my JTV69 the other day. It's a kinda interesting capability. Pretty cool. One thing I noticed is that the magnetic pickup being blended is entirely dependent on what position your pickup selector is set to. For example in workbench I set position 1 to be 100% Magnetic Bridge and I tried to make position 2 to be a blend of Mag Bridge and Lester Bridge but of course position 2 is engaging both Middle and Bridge Magnetic pickups. Ultimately I'm saying it'd be great to be able to assign any magnetic pickup to any pickup position when the modelling is engaged. However I do doubt that this would be possible considering the pickups are hardwired. Just a thought anyway.

I've been scratching my head for some time now trying to work out how the pickup switching works in my JTV-89, mainly because, although I like the pickups, I wanted to have more options on the magnetic side. I wanted something like what I would want on a HSH strat. That is: two 4conductor humbuckers with duncan triple shots and a single coil sized humbucker in the middle. The switch, as it is, doesn't give any option to add another pickup, because all four (well, five) conductors are soldered on a small PCB that's attached to the selector and it's impossible to see inside the selector to find some way to add anything or change any of the pickup/coil settings, so... I went and opened it. Well, I didn't exactly open the one inside my guitar, but a spare I got from the spanish distributor. The switch was failing and I didn't want to send the JTV to tech service because they are sluggish, so I asked them for a replacement switch and they sent it, on the condition that the guitar would be serviced at the store where I bought it. In fact, they did send the wrong switch the first time, so I ended up with two, one that seems to belong to a JTV-69 and the one I needed. I've been a customer for a long time, so the people at the store agreed to let me change it myself, which I never did, because once I bought a hardcase for the guitar, the switch stopped failing so often (It almost never fails now and I've worked out a way to quickly get it back to normal). So I opened the selector and found out how it works. It works in the same way a superswitch would, only this one is preset. There are fixed contacts and mobile ones. The fixed ones are printed in a way that does the coil splitting in positions 2 and 4 and does, well... you know... what a JTV-89 does with its mags :-) The switch is some kind of 2P5T, where on one pole you select the magnetic pickup setting and on the other you select modeling pickup setting. On the modeling side, the contacts are arranged in a standard fashion. Bad news first: The modeling side of the switch has three resistors (18,65k, 75,1k and 37,2k are the exact values, though they most likely correspond to standard values of 18k, 75k and 36k) and I'm guessing the variax brain detects which position the selector is on based on the resistance measured between the two contacts that go out the PCB. Good news: The values of those resistors are standard and they are possible to replicate, so you can use a standard two pole five throw blade selector and add another pickup (or whatever you want to do with your five) Better news: The lower PCB can be desoldered from the selector and soldered to a different one, so you don't have to mess around with resistor values and provide some new small board to solder them onto. PICTURES: YES!! I know I should include pictures in this very post, and at this very moment, but my camera is out of battery and my phone isn't good enough, so you'll have to wait, but the pics will come. I won't actually modify the guitar until the triple shots and the duckbucker are here, then I will have a friend route the guitar for me and then I will do the electronics so, for now, the only pics I'll post are the ones of the selectors. In a month or two (when I can buy the stuff) I'll start doing the mods

If I saved up around £2000, and wanted to spend it all on a really high-end guitar with top of the range pickups etc, would I be wasting money if I then only used it with Pod Farm? I'm pretty happy with it now, but its hard to tell whether the limiting factor in the sounds I can get is my ~£400 RG370DXZ, with its stock Infinity pickups, or the software. Would I be better off spending less on a guitar and getting something from the Pod HD line?

This may be answered elsewhere but does anyone have any experience with switching out the magnetic pickups on their JTV? Or, is the design so integrated that going with after-market pickups totally impractical?'