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Variax Acoustic 700 popping using XPS-A/B box


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I continue to absolutely love this guitar. The longer I play it live, the more I am getting out of it. Amazing. 

However, a couple of weeks ago it began popping intermittently. The popping was accompanied by a static sound. I bypassed the A/B and went with battery power which worked out fine as a temporary solution.

 

For $100 I can get a new XPS-AB box with a new TRS cable, but before I go that route I thought I'd check to see if this is something any of you experienced. I'd hate to get another one and find out it was only the cable, then again I wouldn't want to buy a cable and find out that it was an issue with the jack and how it draws power. 

 

Thoughts on the logical way to proceed?

 

 

 

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Cleaning is the best way to start. Clean all the inputs and outputs of the XPS and the Variax. 

Check to see if you can reproduce the popping and static by wiggling all the connections... it might help you zero in on where the problem is. 

 

I suspect a worn jack somewhere... the XPS powers the Variax from the RING of the TRS connection, and the RING is usually the first one to wear out and make a poor connection. 

 

It could be more serious... such as a failing XPS, but start with the easy solutions first. 

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3 hours ago, psarkissian said:

There is a component on the board that can be damaged when running XPS with the batteries still inside.

It's not a self repair sort of thing. Would have to be done by a Line 6 authorized service center.

 

That's sort of scary. The manual says that the batteries get bypassed when running the XPS. Is that common knowledge that it can damage the guitar afterall? Did I miss the memo? If it is what's wrong, how much is it going to cost to repair? 

 

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46 minutes ago, psarkissian said:

700 Electric, it can be a problem, but not always. This can be checked out by a Line 6 authorized

service center. If they have any questions, they can contact me for further info.

 

46 minutes ago, psarkissian said:

So it's not been a problem with the 700 Acoustic Variax? Just trying to be sure I understand. In the past the battery pack saved me as we were just about ready to start and I pulled the TRS cable out to bypass the XPS, went direct into my board with a standard cable. For church you have to start on time...

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just a quick update. It appears that I've eliminated the problem of the popping and clicking sound. Turns out that when the new sound guy was resetting the board up to his liking the phantom power got turned on for that channel... so, just like the manual says, it made popping sounds. I didn't put two and two together. Glad I didn't buy a new XPS.  Thankfully I followed Codamedia's advice and started with the simple stuff first. :)

 

 

 

 

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