clay-man Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 So this is the second time this has happened with this guitar, first time about 1.5-2 months ago. I switched to Spank on the knob, and then it started freaking out, changing between models instantly. I believe I turned it back to Lester and it stopped, or at least wasn't as bad. Sometimes I would turn the knob and it wouldn't even register a change. First time this happened, it was on Custom 2, position was 2, and it switched/flickered to Reso>Sitar. First time, twisting the knob seemed to fix the problem. Second time, not so much. I was plugged in via VDI, so I wanted to see if it was the POD sending messages to change, so I switched to 1/4. The problem stopped, and I tried switching back to VDI to see if it would happen again, but it did not. So I'm not sure if it's the knob, or if somehow the VDI is getting false signals to change for some reason. I have a service center I can call. I still have the warranty. Should I send it to them or should I do a support ticket first? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverhead Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 I would do the support ticket first. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted June 1, 2015 Author Share Posted June 1, 2015 I would do the support ticket first. Where do I send a ticket? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arislaf Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Where do I send a ticket? http://line6.com/support/tickets/add.html 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted June 2, 2015 Author Share Posted June 2, 2015 http://line6.com/support/tickets/add.html Thank you. Can I send it to my local service center when I do the support ticket? Luckily I got 3 options. I'd rather spend small amount of gas money then waste it on shipping costs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverhead Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Through the support ticket mechanism Line 6 will advise you on this. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_Watt Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 The problem you describe may be hard to duplicate. You are likely to get NPF. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted June 2, 2015 Author Share Posted June 2, 2015 The problem you describe may be hard to duplicate. You are likely to get NPF. It is hard to duplicate, in fact, virtually impossible, because it's purely random. Can't I tell them to try to swap out the model knob encoder? There's obviously a problem, and it's really, really alarming, and can affect my playing. This happened once months ago, and happened again today, so there's no way I recreate the problem, but I'd like it to just be dealt with. I got my warranty still, and I'd like to get that covered. I waited for weeks after the first time it happened. It was like a ticking time bomb. I was even scared to even use Custom 2 for a while, but now that's out of the question, because it's happening all over the model selector, it's just random which model gets affected. This is just really frustrating because it's still pretty new. One of the reasons I finally got a JTV was to not deal with the problems my 600 gave me. Either way, I really appreciate the responses, guys. I hope I can find a solution. I'd prefer to let them fix it, so if anything else big comes up, I can send it to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidb7170 Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Best to let the Line 6 shop fix it - 1) It's still in warranty 2) it's definitely a JTV innards problem 3) you said you were within driving distance of a service center. I do think you'll need to go through the support ticket route to get L6's authorization as warranty work. I went through this with my 59 switch issue in 2011 -- got their attention with a support ticket, then they sent an RMA (Return Material(?) Authorization) to send it back to California, at that point they thought they had the initial switch issue fixed, so wanted to look it over. That one turned out to be a problem with the soldering of the 3 - way switch that they had re-designed and replaced en-masse, which really delayed the fist bunch of guitars from being delivered. Then in their rush to get them out the doors, they had a certain number of units with bad soldering jobs on the replacement switches. Mine was the first of those they uncovered.... I'll bet the service center won't mess with a bunch of diagnostics, and will just replace the model rotary encoder, then if that doesn't do it, work their way back towards the processor. The hard part will be the intermittent nature of your problems with it. My gut instinct is there's some loose material in the rotary pot that changes the resistance (shorts or possibly reduces proper contact increasing the resistance) that the processor reads to choose the correct model bank. My 69S has been solid as a rock (knock wood) since day 1, in 2012 - 3 years. I had an issue with my 59 later in 2011 -- the plating on the bridge was corroding off, and causing my low E piezo to lose its ground connection in humid conditions, and drop that signal out. On that one, Rich R. sent me a new bridge and I installed it myself. They had redesigned the bridge and the Korean plant changed to a different supplier of that part. It's been solid since then, 4 years, (again, knock wood). Hang in there. Dave 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted June 2, 2015 Author Share Posted June 2, 2015 Best to let the Line 6 shop fix it - 1) It's still in warranty 2) it's definitely a JTV innards problem 3) you said you were within driving distance of a service center. I do think you'll need to go through the support ticket route to get L6's authorization as warranty work. I went through this with my 59 switch issue in 2011 -- got their attention with a support ticket, then they sent an RMA (Return Material(?) Authorization) to send it back to California, at that point they thought they had the initial switch issue fixed, so wanted to look it over. That one turned out to be a problem with the soldering of the 3 - way switch that they had re-designed and replaced en-masse, which really delayed the fist bunch of guitars from being delivered. Then in their rush to get them out the doors, they had a certain number of units with bad soldering jobs on the replacement switches. Mine was the first of those they uncovered.... I'll bet the service center won't mess with a bunch of diagnostics, and will just replace the model rotary encoder, then if that doesn't do it, work their way back towards the processor. The hard part will be the intermittent nature of your problems with it. My gut instinct is there's some loose material in the rotary pot that changes the resistance (shorts or possibly reduces proper contact increasing the resistance) that the processor reads to choose the correct model bank. My 69S has been solid as a rock (knock wood) since day 1, in 2012 - 3 years. I had an issue with my 59 later in 2011 -- the plating on the bridge was corroding off, and causing my low E piezo to lose its ground connection in humid conditions, and drop that signal out. On that one, Rich R. sent me a new bridge and I installed it myself. They had redesigned the bridge and the Korean plant changed to a different supplier of that part. It's been solid since then, 4 years, (again, knock wood). Hang in there. Dave Thank you so much. Will I go through the support ticket to get the RA? Can I use that to get warranty work done on my Variax through my service center? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_Watt Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 If it's like the earlier Variax, the model selector is just a pot! The output of the pot feeds into an A/D channel and it picks the models based on the voltage. It's not an encoder if it's the same design as earlier. It was tricky to get the thing back calibrated if you replaced the pot or moved the detent because for it to work it relied on the voltages being in precise steps that could then be decoded by the A/D as a model selection. I have not looked at my JTV to see if they did it the same way though so I am just throwing this out as an Assumption. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted June 2, 2015 Author Share Posted June 2, 2015 If it's like the earlier Variax, the model selector is just a pot! The output of the pot feeds into an A/D channel and it picks the models based on the voltage. It's not an encoder if it's the same design as earlier. It was tricky to get the thing back calibrated if you replaced the pot or moved the detent because for it to work it relied on the voltages being in precise steps that could then be decoded by the A/D as a model selection. I have not looked at my JTV to see if they did it the same way though so I am just throwing this out as an Assumption. So you're saying if they replace the encoder I have to make sure they calibrate it? Luckily the place I'm thinking about is an electronics repair shop, so I'd think they'd know what they're doing. It does seem like it could be crap in the encoder pot triggering false voltages. I would hope so, because I would think, disregarding the calibration, it would be very easy to replace. The good thing is that I can still play the guitar in the meanwhile, just have to deal with having a panic attack when my guitar is flipping out on me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_Watt Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 I don't think it's an Encoder. I think it's a pot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted June 3, 2015 Author Share Posted June 3, 2015 I don't think it's an Encoder. I think it's a pot. A pot with indents? Either way, it needs to be fixed. The second time seemed to be worse than the first time, but honestly, crap stuck in the pot will be pretty spontaneous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted June 4, 2015 Author Share Posted June 4, 2015 So I left my guitar on Custom 2 for a minute, and came back to my guitar and it was acting like it was on the reso bank. I rotated the knob and there was no flickering, but going from jazzbox to acoustic would not change the model, and everything beyond that was offset by 1 bank, so basically acoustic was jazzbox, reso was acoustic, and custom 2 was reso, and custom 2 was missing. I switched the model knob off and on and it fixed the problem. This would lead me to believe either it's more than the model knob, or PERHAPS, the crap in the model knob threw the calibration off and turning it on and off fixed the calibration. This is incredibly frustrating, still waiting for a reply on the support ticket. Will I get the reply on my support ticket profile, or will it be an email? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arislaf Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 So I left my guitar on Custom 2 for a minute, and came back to my guitar and it was acting like it was on the reso bank. I rotated the knob and there was no flickering, but going from jazzbox to acoustic would not change the model, and everything beyond that was offset by 1 bank, so basically acoustic was jazzbox, reso was acoustic, and custom 2 was reso, and custom 2 was missing. I switched the model knob off and on and it fixed the problem. This would lead me to believe either it's more than the model knob, or PERHAPS, the crap in the model knob threw the calibration off and turning it on and off fixed the calibration. This is incredibly frustrating, still waiting for a reply on the support ticket. Will I get the reply on my support ticket profile, or will it be an email? Will be both. An email to inform you that your support ticket is answered. And then you can go direct from the mail to the support ticket. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_Watt Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 You need to get that fixed. You need to get an RMA or whatever you need to send or take it to Line6 repair. It may be a loose connection or it might be more serious. I am still pretty sure that the model control is a pot with a mechanical detent to put the pot in set positions 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 You need to get that fixed. You need to get an RMA or whatever you need to send or take it to Line6 repair. It may be a loose connection or it might be more serious. I am still pretty sure that the model control is a pot with a mechanical detent to put the pot in set positions I've gotten a reply by someone. Hopefully they'll give me the RMA and I can drive my guitar over to the center. I'd really like for that and the VDI door to be fixed, but I'll see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 Ok, they told me to take it to a service center, but I didn't get an RMA. Do I need it for warranty? I left a reply asking about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_Watt Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 I doubt it. That is usually for sending it to a shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 I doubt it. That is usually for sending it to a shop. They said to send it to a service center. Sending it to a shop via mail seems like a waste of money, and kind of makes the concept of service centers pointless, wouldn't it? Looks like I'll be making a trip. Wonder how long it'll take to get the guitar back if they need to order parts from Line 6? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted June 16, 2015 Author Share Posted June 16, 2015 Sending in my guitar to my local service center tomorrow. Hopefully they can replace the model pot or something. They said if it goes beyond them, they'll send it to Line 6, but hopefully it won't take too long and I don't have to pay for shipping. I also hope they can accept my return receipt I got when I exchanged my first 69 for another since the first two seemed to have problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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