JTV-69S Review

[variDude]

New Line6 user here.  Wanted to share my thoughts on the JTV69S Variax (Made in Korea)

 

About me: I play every style of music from jazz to finger style to rock to pop to country to musical theater, so I have a diverse requirements--hence Variax.

My amp: Kemper

My cab: I use both the Yamaha DXR10 and the CPS Spacestation V3

Other guitars I have (or had/have a lot of experience with):  Laurent Brondel acoustic, American Deluxe Strat and Tele, Gibson LP Junior, L-5/7, SJ200, Collings CJ

 

Review is based on the retail price of the guitar and I've played it for about 10 hours.  Also, the review is written under the presumption that the JTV US is way out of everybody's price range.  Let's face it, it's over priced, just like some of the crazy Gibson Les Pauls out there. 

 

The Goods

Bottom line (that echos what a ton of people say):  The modeled sounds and tuning ability is really cool, useful, versatile, and there is nothing else like it, but the physical instrument itself is really rough around the edges which makes the whole thing bittersweet.  I'll probably keep it because there's no other way to have a bunch of guitars packed into one for the price of a nice American made Fender, but I don't have that "lovin' feeling," "twinkle in my eye" for it that I have/had had for other guitars.

 

Modeled sounds:  I love pretty much all of the modeled electric sounds.  It gets you REALLY close to the actual sound of these instruments, and that is so useful and such fantastic versatility to be had.  All the sounds are passable in a band situation for sure, and honestly they are really fun to play.  Acoustics are passable too and sound better than any piezo acoustic guitar out there, but I wouldn't want to play an acoustic show with them--they work in situations when you need to switch quickly or when you don't want to lug another guitar with you, which I never do.

 

Mag pickup sounds: They sound good. It sounds like a strat. I won't comment here because all strats sound a little bit different, from alder to ash to different windings.  Everybody has their own taste, but I'm honestly not too picky about strat sound.  If it has the quack, and it has the spank, it gets the job done for me and surely gets the job done in the event your modeled sound craps out.

 

Workbench: Money!!  Some of the modeled sounds didn't do it for me out of the box.  For example, the Strat and Tele models were WAY bright and ice picky for me.  I took the tele tone pots down to 50 kOhm. I kept the capacitance the same for all except i brought the neck pickup down to 11nF.  I took the dropped the resistance and capacitance for the strats.  Now the tone is thick and fat vs. ice-picky.  I also spent a lot of time on the jazz boxes, which I think are really good.  I opted for humbuckers on both the ES-175 and the Super 400 as my top choices, and moved the pickup position of the bucker on the Super 400 closer to the neck.  

 

Wishes

- Less redundancy with the pickups and maybe more variety/or more pronounced differences.  Workbench is cool software, but there are pickups like "Semi humbucker" and "Lester," and if you swap these on the same body (i.e. on a super 400), and put them in the same position, the only difference I can tell is volume.  Once I normalized volume, I was having a hard time discerning between them.  Same exact thing goes between the "Jazz 90" and the "Semi 90."   Instead, it would be nicer for me to either just have a smaller list to choose from, more discernible differences between pickups, or more pickups (for example, I would love to have a floating jazz pickup)

 

- An acoustic archtop for comping rhythm in big bands, musical theater, or jazz or country and western bands

 

- Nylon string, mandolin.  Everybody says that and I will too.

 

 Sarcasm alert: Thank god we have two resonator type guitars, two 12-string acoustics, two big-bodied acoustics (D28 and J200), two semi-hollows, three hum bucking solid bodies, a freaking sitar, and no nylon string or acoustic archtop.  I definitely rather have two 12-strings and a sitar before I have an acoustic archtop or classical guitar.  *ROLLS EYES SO FAR BACK*

 

- A way to blend the piezo in with the models.  This might be nice to help out the acoustic models to have more oomph, if needed.  Also, a way to modulate the pitch of the piezo blended in when alt-tunings are used would be cool too.

 

- A way to have just the piezo out for processing with other equipment

 

The Bads (Not in any particular order)

1. Palm muting, although it isn't as bad as people make it out to be.  When playing clean, it is really hard to get that boom-chuck sound that you can get on a Tele or on a Gretsch. This is where the models are just "passable" and not knock your socks off.  There's still room for improvement here.

 

 2. Need options for the JTV69 neck. I actually like the shape just fine, and I like the satin finish on it just fine, but holy crap, even if you're ok with those things (which if you read two seconds of the internet, most people aren't), the nut width is terrible if you have normal sized hands. I “get it” that 1 5/8” is the vintage nut width, but people are bigger now and tastes have changed.  In the very least, if you want to buy a Strat and spend >$1000 on a guitar, you have the option to get something that will be playable and comfortable for YOU. 

Also, the strings are so close to the edge of the fretboard!!! HOLY CRAP do these strings slip off the fretboard easily.

 

3. I don't think it looks that great, and people hear what they see.  The finish job quality is ok.  It's shiny.  But honestly is very blasé as is the body style and pick guard.  I knew this before buying it, obviously, and god bless James Tyler's reputation, but from the body style, paint, and a pick guard that looks like a scrap piece of plastic slapped onto the body with no harmony with the body style and no elegance, the design just doesn't do it for me. I might look into getting custom guard done that makes more sense.  I think there are some Squier guitars have nicer looking paint and body styles than the JTVs.  $1000+ for a crappy looking guitar isn't cool.  Upping the ante to the JTV US’s are not an option because they are way too expensive.

 

4. The acoustic response of the unplugged instrument. This thing sounds and feels like picking strings strung on a pillow. No response.  This isn't that important because when you're plugged in, it doesn't make that much of a difference.  There are, however, times that I want to play, but I'm not at my rehearsal space and I don't want to make a bunch of noise, or I don't want to wear headphones.  My Strat has a tremendous acoustic sound and the thing resonates like an acoustic instrument and I can feel it.  It's fun to play because of that.  

 

5. The switches and controls:  

** The alt-tuning selector wheel already scrolls past it’s “model” detent position, which I would think would be where the switch would stop and no go further.  I think it is already breaking/broken.  Also, the detent and scrolling response is feels tactically weird because there is a lot of resistance to get out of a detent position, but it is easy to scroll past a detent because there is a lot of slop/play when you reach a detent.  Just not what you want to see when you spend this much money on a guitar and it's new.  This doesn't give me confidence that the guitar will have longevity.  

 

** The pickup selector switch moves too easily as well (detent positions are not pronounced enough). This is crappy.  I just feel like this is like a big F-U to the customer/real players.  It is way too easy to hit the selector and move it to a new position.  

 

The volume knob is also in a weird position that is going to take some getting used to because a it is farther forward (closer to the fretboard from the bridge) than a Strat is. This makes some picking awkward.  Yes, it’s farther away from the e-string, but since it’s farther forward, it gets in the way because it's position along the length of the string is right in the picking sweet spot.  The Strat's is farther back/ closer to the bridge and I don't play that close to the bridge except for one-off special effects. 

 

6. Open string buzzing/sizzling/warbling (HELP!!!).  I don’t know if the nut was cut wrong, or the break angle behind the nut is bad, but my high e-string sizzles/warbles at the nut. Raising string height at the saddle doesn’t help. I've read others having the same problem.  Obviously not utilizing string trees was a design choice made for a reason, but this sucks on a very not-cheap guitar.  

 

7. The ethernet jack on the guitar should be turned 180 degrees in order to position ethernet locking tab on the opposite side of the jack-cover’s hinge so you can more easily remove ethernet cables.  Small deal but this is annoying.  If you don't have the Variax supplied cat5 cable or you just have another cat5 lying around next to you, you cannot get it out of the jack if there is a rubber cover of the cat5 cable's locking tab unless you use needle nose pliers because the jack's hinge cover blocks your fingers access to the locking tab. 

 

8. I think may tremolo arm is already broken, so this design sucks. It’s not screw-in, it’s not pop-in. There’s a thin sleeve on it that either gets stuck on the arm itself or gets stuck in the slot and seems there is no way to screw it in. This needs redesign since I think mine was broken before I even got it.  

 

9. The guitar came with allen wrenches, but it didn’t come with all the needed wrenches.  This is another not important thing, but it's just annoying and goes along with the rest of the theme of the feeling.  It didn’t have a wrench for the set screw on the tremolo, nor a wrench for the saddle heights.

 

 

The Conclusion

The guitar is so versatile and the modeled sounds are so close that the flaws can be overlooked.  After writing all of that stuff above, here's how I feel: It seems like Line6 poured their blood, sweat, and tears (and $$$) into the modeling, and I feel like they gave up there, and as a customer, I don't feel proud.  From the looks and the fit/finish/feel of the guitar, I don't want to go out and brag.  Even though it does such cool things that no other guitar can do, I don't know, I still feel more proud and would brag more about my Fender American Deluxe Strat.  The Variax is like a group of rental units that you own in the cheap/bad part of town--they are a great investment, but you don't want to show it off to people or tell them about it, and it's probably going to be a bit of a pain in the lollipop at some point.  The difference is you don't take your rental property up on a stage and show it off.  I wish it was more like a middle class duplex in a decent neighborhood.  You'd pay just a little bit more, but still a good investment and you're happy to brag about it.

 

Questions?  Thoughts?  Shoot a reply or a DM! :)

[arislaf]

Changed the neck asap, but kept the locking tuners for the new neck. Changed pickups asap, since the tyler were lifeless. Changed the pickguard colour, to red turtle, and the knobs to the original strato. Guitar looks and play great.

 

The tremolo has to be inserted and twisted clockwise. But generaly, the tremolo is bad.

 

P.s. try my realistic bundle

https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=24065.0

 

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[Kilrahi]

Yeah, I'm kind of a blue collar guitarist myself.  I've taken far uglier girls out on a date, and proudly too, than the Variax, so I'd have no problem with her. I own a 59, but honestly, I think she's pretty attractive. 

 

Those Fender American Deluxe Strats seem like really arrogant snobs to me.  At least, every time I made an offer on one they hard passed. 

[variDude]

31 minutes ago, Kilrahi said:

Yeah, I'm kind of a blue collar guitarist myself.  I've taken far uglier girls out on a date, and proudly too, than the Variax, so I'd have no problem with her. I own a 59, but honestly, I think she's pretty attractive. 

 

Those Fender American Deluxe Strats seem like really arrogant snobs to me.  At least, every time I made an offer on one they hard passed. 

haha funny!  I love all types of women, but the shouldn't have rotting teeth and a bum knee in their youth but still mandate you take her fine dining on the first date (like warbling at a nut, a messed up tremolo arm, strings falling off the neck, and crummy switches for the low low price that is charged for the JTVs)!  

 

P.S. I like how the 59 looks too, but I don't like short scale, or the three way pickup selector.

[arislaf]

On 5/21/2019 at 6:35 PM, Kilrahi said:

  I've taken far uglier girls out on a date, and proudly too,

You should be proud.

As a wiseman said,

 

<<The uglier woman in the world

is always better than your hand>>

 

Not proud about it, but for me no woman at all at the moment :P

[brue58ski]

A man wiser than me once told me, "the older I get, the less ugly women I see". I'm old enough to confirm that is true. The same applies to me and guitars.

[jerseyboy]

One of few benefits regarding aged eyesight….  

 

Btw, ‘enjoyed the review.  I’m JTV59 player and found build quality and neck acceptable.  Fretwork so much better than the Gen 1 500’s I also own and drive.  It certainly benefited from upgraded locking tuners and added LP pick guard (scratch plate) to help with my habit of sometimes planting fingers.  

 

Some folks may ask why add lockers with fixed bridge?  The 59 Tyler bridge is kinda difficult to keep the ball end of the string in place while doing all the business at the tuner.  With lockers I simply set string in place, pull it mildly taught, lock down, tune up - no fuss.  

 

As often repeated many times mag pickups very nice with 59 model.  Yeah, bummer about scale length but as time goes on bends and stuff become more predictable.  

 

‘Guess that’s another thing which doesn’t bother me as much as father time rolls along, hahaha….

[cbrillow]

On 5/21/2019 at 12:10 PM, variDude said:

I like how the 59 looks too, but I don't like short scale, or the three way pickup selector.

 

I'm 2/3 of the way with you. Looks just fine to me, and I really hate the awkward model selection with the 3-way toggle switch. When you're used to the 5-way, it's really hard to get used to the newer scheme...

 

As for the scale length, guess I'm too much an amateur to be affected by it... 

[BLISSMUSIC]

I am dissapointed by this guitar.

 

The ebony neck is painful to play and the frets hurt my fingers, like a cheap crap guitar.

 

The earlier models like the 700 were so much better finished and set up.

 

The overall design and construction of the guitar looks like a cheap student model worth just 100$.

 

Looks like it was made like Peavey Raptor junk guitar. see pic

 

But the poor playabilty and feel of the neck is the big issue together with lousy tuning stability.

 

This guitar could be so good but the poor quality build lets it all down.

 

I will need to replace neck with one with a real good feel, this guitar is badly made and built to cheap specs with a bad neck set up.

A budget guitar with a pro price. RIP-OFF !

 

After paying so much for this guitar, I feel cheated.

 

Line 6 has always been ready to gouge money from customers, since Yamaha nothing has changed.

 

 

[phil_m]

2 hours ago, BLISSMUSIC said:

I am dissapointed by this guitar.

 

The ebony neck is painful to play and the frets hurt my fingers, like a cheap crap guitar.

 

The earlier models like the 700 were so much better finished and set up.

 

The overall design and construction of the guitar looks like a cheap student model worth just 100$.

 

Looks like it was made like Peavey Raptor junk guitar. see pic

 

But the poor playabilty and feel of the neck is the big issue together with lousy tuning stability.

 

This guitar could be so good but the poor quality build lets it all down.

 

I will need to replace neck with one with a real good feel, this guitar is badly made and built to cheap specs with a bad neck set up.

A budget guitar with a pro price. RIP-OFF !

 

After paying so much for this guitar, I feel cheated.

 

Line 6 has always been ready to gouge money from customers, since Yamaha nothing has changed.

 

 

So tell us how you really feel… I have to say I’ve never played a guitar where the frets actually hurt my fingers. Are you talking about the ends of the frets? I really like the neck on my 69US model,  which is the same shape and profile as the Korean models. It sounds like your guitar is probably in need of a setup, and it might not have been stored in the best conditions before it was sold to you.

[BLISSMUSIC]

i have done all I can do to set up the neck.  I adjusted trussrod and got it playing level and very low.

i even took neck off and reinstalled it and allowed it to resettle.

 

I adjusted the two point term system to free floating system, setup like Jeff Beck uses.

 

I have still got non stable tuning issues, I suspect those cheap locking tuners.

Why at this guitar price don’t they have locking Ghoto or Sperzel tuners?

 

Regarding playability and finger pain, this is just a combination of ebony and hard metal frets.

 

I bought it online so had no chance to feel how it played before purchase.

 

I would never have bought it in a shop for sure, because it plays rotten.

 

Other issues like the poor weak characterless sound of the pickups are just down to the selection of cheap parts at manufacture.

 

In comparison to any cheap Stratocaster on sale this models pickups places it in the sub 150$ category guitar price range.

 

I have purchased an over hyped piece of junk.

 

I ask why have so many players like Jennifer Batten changed the pickups and neck.

 

it is because they are not useable.

 

What is Line6 going to do about this product sold to me to rectify the problems?

 

David.

[phil_m]

13 minutes ago, BLISSMUSIC said:

i have done all I can do to set up the neck.  I adjusted trussrod and got it playing level and very low.

i even took neck off and reinstalled it and allowed it to resettle.

 

I adjusted the two point term system to free floating system, setup like Jeff Beck uses.

 

I have still got non stable tuning issues, I suspect those cheap locking tuners.

Why at this guitar price don’t they have locking Ghoto or Sperzel tuners?

 

Regarding playability and finger pain, this is just a combination of ebony and hard metal frets.

 

I bought it online so had no chance to feel how it played before purchase.

 

I would never have bought it in a shop for sure, because it plays rotten.

 

Other issues like the poor weak characterless sound of the pickups are just down to the selection of cheap parts at manufacture.

 

In comparison to any cheap Stratocaster on sale this models pickups places it in the sub 150$ category guitar price range.

 

I have purchased an over hyped piece of junk.

 

I ask why have so many players like Jennifer Batten changed the pickups and neck.

 

it is because they are not useable.

 

What is Line6 going to do about this product sold to me to rectify the problems?

 

David.

I honestly have never really seen all that many complaints from the hardware with the JTV line. For the most part, the hardware from the Korean version is identical to the US versions. I think the pickups on my 69 sound great. The US does come with HipShot locking tuners compared to the Korean version, but again, I can’t say I’ve read complaints about the tuners over the years.

 

If you’re as unhappy with it as you say you are, it just sounds like it’s not the guitar for you. I can’t imagine Line 6 is going to be able to change all the things you mention, some which are basic to the guitar make and build, for you to be happy. Not every guitar is going to appeal to every player. Are you not able to return the guitar?

[psarkissian]

The US ones are made here in the Los Angeles area and are more hand worked, paint coated and finished. They feel good

and play good. Know the guy, he does excellent work.

 

" I ask why have so many players like Jennifer Batten changed the pickups and neck. " --- Don't know why. I've serviced her Variax.

The Framus neck she had put on it is pretty good. It must appeal to the feel she was going for. The Seymour Duncan pick-ups

are within the DC resistance (DCR) spec range for 3rd party pick-ups to match with the rest of the circuitry. So it works. It came

in for some periodical servicing, the 50,000 mile check up, as it were.

 

I guess the short answer to the question is that she did it because that's the way she liked. Kudos to her guitar tech for not messing up.