Palico Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Just ordered me a JTV-89F in black from Sweetwater. I'm a long time Variax 500 user so I'm familar with the toolset. But based on your experience what do I need to check for when it arrives? This one is a demo so I know it will have some scratches etc.... Also seem a lot of people Checking for "plinkly" noise on the low E? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinon2 Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Well for a demo, blood stains and weird smells would be the first things I'd look for...who knows where it's been, and how many of The Great Unwashed have had their mitts on it? ;) On the 89's, I've seen more complaints about the "plinky" low E string than anything else Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarrellM5 Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 It should be pretty good since you bought it from Sweetwater. I've bought 2 from them and they arrived with perfect setups and we're almost in tune right out of the box. I always check: - signs of damage...paint, cracks (especially where the neck joins the body, bent hardware - loose knobs, tuners, pickups, etc... - sharp fret edges or uneven frets - Missing accessories or documentation - Test the electronics and the mag pickups in every setting - String buzz while playing every note on each string - Saddle groove spacing and depth of the cuts - Neck bow - String height - Intonation 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 E string plinkage. Make sure the E string sounds consistent with the other strings and doesn't have a harsher plinky sounding attack when palm muting or playing normally. Make sure the modelling actually works as well of course. Pretty much all of Darrel's points. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_Watt Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 I bought a Demo JTV from Sweetwater and there was not mark or smudge on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdmayfield Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 The low E string "plink" sound is much, much improved on the JTV compared to the original Variax. I have a JTV-69. I think I still hear a tiny bit of plink, but even on the magnetic pickups and on my non-Variax guitars, there's a touch of the sound in there too - since it's there unplugged/acoustically on any guitar, if you listen for it. It's something to do with "inharmonicity" and string thickness vs. length; piano tuners deal with this kind of thing a lot. Magnetic pickups minimize that sound and piezos pick it up clearly, but in the JTV, they've filtered out most of it from the models. It's a big enough difference where on the original Variax, it bugged me (though I kept using it in spite of the plink); while on the JTV, it's just a tiny hint of something that I barely notice and doesn't bother me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 The low E string "plink" sound is much, much improved on the JTV compared to the original Variax. I have a JTV-69. I think I still hear a tiny bit of plink, but even on the magnetic pickups and on my non-Variax guitars, there's a touch of the sound in there too - since it's there unplugged/acoustically on any guitar, if you listen for it. It's something to do with "inharmonicity" and string thickness vs. length; piano tuners deal with this kind of thing a lot. Magnetic pickups minimize that sound and piezos pick it up clearly, but in the JTV, they've filtered out most of it from the models. It's a big enough difference where on the original Variax, it bugged me (though I kept using it in spite of the plink); while on the JTV, it's just a tiny hint of something that I barely notice and doesn't bother me. I don't think it's just that, as many of us have had a Variax without the plink issue. I'm sure that the E string is more prone to getting this problem because of it's gauge, but obviously if this was normal, Line 6 would of worked around this in the first place in the modeling engine. If you have plinking in your Variax, you HAVE a problem. My first Variax had 0 plinking, NONE. It sounded like heaven. Obviously they need to hunt down what causes this and stop it from being such a common problem. I'm 99% sure it has to do with the piezo sensitivity, and they need to make their piezos more consistent. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palico Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 It arrived just a couple hours ago. What a beast these things are. Love the neck profile. Everything checked out and except for the fact the box was resealed you would have never knew this was a demo. No plink to speak of. I know why people compalin about the tunings thought. With Distortion it's fine but some of those setting where it a more than a tone to semi-tone of the real tuning without distortion the ghost notes are real obvious. Nothing really differnet than old variaxs in that aspect. The Mags are really nice though, and some of the models seems better too. Haven't had the time to check the flash level and download update/workbench for it yet. That will be later tonight. And dang yea Sweetwater, I took the guitar outta the box and played it and it was actually very close to in tune. I'm gonna get it my guy to do a setup when my Backstop for it comes later this week. But the setup Sweetwater had on it isn't bad a all. No buzz but I think the neck might need a small adjustment to better string height. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_Watt Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Have fun with it! Very nice looking guitar. My Sweetwater experience was the same when I got my JTV69S. I don't know if they adjusted the setup but they did flash it with the latest FW as I requested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarrellM5 Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Since you got it from Sweetwater it's almost certain that it will have the latest firmware. Nice looking axe, enjoy!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palico Posted March 19, 2015 Author Share Posted March 19, 2015 Yep it was all up to date. And I'm falling in love with this thing more everyday. The string spacing (quite wide compared to my 500 and other guitars) and neck were just made for my hands. Oddly enough I find I'm favoring the Mag way more than I thought I would. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 No awkward sounds with the modeling? You should check, I believe, custom 2 bank with the magnetics. The high gain models on the 89 are literally modeled after the pickups on the guitar, so referencing between that and the magnetics would be good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palico Posted March 22, 2015 Author Share Posted March 22, 2015 No awkward sounds with the modeling? You should check, I believe, custom 2 bank with the magnetics. The high gain models on the 89 are literally modeled after the pickups on the guitar, so referencing between that and the magnetics would be good. Okay finally got around to this. According to what I could find I could not find any high gain models other than the mags, althought I could very well be wrong on that I will try again soon. However; I did a comparison as best I could. The model sounds thinner than the mags and less output. Now I haven't played with work bench much to attempt adjust for that. But I installed new strings this morning and installed a Backbox after testing Friday and setup the tuning for Eb (what my band always plays in). I was just playing around this afternoon when I noticed the "D" string is a bit plinky, but only in on the Semi and only when paired with certian amps. For me that isn't a big deal, I will avoid those. Maybe it's the string of the setup since tuning half flat on Floyd changes quite a lot of stuff. I got the bridge right and I plan on taking to my luither friend for setup after next weekend (I have show I would like to use this guitar on). Maybe the Variax side is sensitive to some strings? Also I know the Variax don't like to be out of standard tuning, my old 500 would bark at that sometimes too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarrellM5 Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 The Lester bridge position is pretty high gain compared to the other models IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikefarnham Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Tighten the grub screw on the tremolo arm. Mine fell out. Mike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palico Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 I might have figured out what I heard this morning on mine. After rehersing with the guitar, I noted it the G string was a bit loud on the LP patch. Then I also noted key positions on the E string, didn't sound good. Those position I was getting a bit of fret rattle. Not enough to hear via the mags, but I think that is what is coming over the other strings, espcially since I was sure it didn't have it when I first got the guitar. But I changed the string and tuning, the setup is quite different now. I'll have to get out to my luither to reset the neck, etc.. for the 1/2 flat tuning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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