Which Jtv And Why?

[radatats]

OK, so after being a Line 6 user for years now (Gear port, Spider 210, Flextone II, POD HD 500, DT-25 HD) I am seriously considering the jump to a JTV to complete the rig.  I like all 3 models but I kind of want the Floyd rig.  What I would like to hear from you users is your thoughts regards the different models.  Do they play the same? Necks the same? Models the same? Tone differences? Is it just aesthetics, which one I like the looks of most or are there real playability differences I should consider.  Musically I lean towards hard rock, metal, progressive...

 

Thanks for any help in deciding... :P

[TheRealZap]

all very different feel... alot the same for sound (models)

 

if you like the ibanez RG style necks... then get the 89F

more of a fender guy... 69

gibson... 59

 

roughly...  basically get the one that's going to be the most comfortable for you.

from the sounds of things... the 89F looks like a slam dunk for you.

[Charlie_Watt]

You should go to a guitar store that has JTV's and play them.  They are all different physically even though they have the same electronics.

[daedae]

Charlie_Watt is right.  I managed to get lucky and find a 59, a 69, and an 89 in stock at my local Guitar Center (well, over the course of a few months, not all at the same time) and found the 89 felt the best to me. The only software difference between the three is that the 59 only has a 3-way switch so you have to do a little extra monkeying to get to all five sounds per guitar knob location, but otherwise the difference between the guitars is going to be in their physical feel and the unmodeled sound.

[Charlie_Watt]

One big difference is neck and scale length.  This really affects feel and you should know what you want here.  The 69 has the same scale length as a Strat and the 59 is the same as a Les Paul.  (I don't know about the 89 scale length but you can look it up)  If you are not sure what you like you need to go play them.  You will get the total spectrum of answers here if you ask which is "Best".

[radatats]

I will definitely try them all first.  I understand the 89 has 5 extra high gain models?  Does it still have the alternate tunings too?

[TheRealZap]

the 89 has those 5 high gain models (models of its own mags for alt tunings) factory installed...

however the models are available to all the JTV's... just not factory installed.. but readily available.

and yes all the JTV's alt tune...

the 89's have different default alt tunings.. .more geared towards metal rather than open tunings...

but you can do any tuning you wish.

 

 

I will definitely try them all first.  I understand the 89 has 5 extra high gain models?  Does it still have the alternate tunings too?

[Leftzilla]

I would agree that the 89F is probably the best fit for you.  I live in VT and of course there isn't someplace I can go and find aJTV to try.  I have both a 59 and an 89F that I bought blind (Couldn't try them out prior) and was very happy with each.  The 89F is definitely my prog band guitar while the 59 works very well for my 80s cover band.

[snhirsch]

Greetings, fellow Burlingtonian.  I feel your pain.  Guitar Center in Williston stocks essentially nothing but low-common-denominator items and wants a credit-card imprint just to try out anything that needs to be shipped in.  I ended up driving to Boston to buy my JTV-69.  The GC folks there knew nothing about it or the HD500 that I was interested in, but at least they had the bloody thing hanging on the wall.

 

I'm going through the same issue now with the l2t speaker system.  Will probably end up taking Sweetwaters up on their generous trial terms for the unit.