JoeValente Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 All, For years, I have struggled with an issue with both of my Variaxes: They seem to have a restricted frequency range, and in particular, they have a definite cut-off at around 90Hz. This becomes a problem when switching betweem the VAX and a traditional instrument, in that the traditional guitar suddenly seems bigger, boomier, and generally louder. Has anyone else noticed this? I can't go from VAX to Les Paul live without somne sort of EQ change, and it's a reall PITA. Is there a soluton? I'm asking here rather than log a ticket, but I will do that if I have to. Any help? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_Watt Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Never heard anyone complain about the low end on a Variax. Mine sound fine to me on a low E which is the lowest note I play. Low E is 82 Hz and it sounds solid on my amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_Watt Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 I have noticed that too on my Variax 500. It was not that way originally but it became that way after one of the updates. It always sounded better with the tone rolled away from max treble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 my Variax 700 sounds fine also.. anyway I don't know if you noticed a slight weird but useful thing about all the old Variax guitars (I don't know if the JTV behave still the same): if you roll back just a bit the tone control you get a louder and fatter sound without losing the high end.. Yes. I've modded my tone knob to not roll up past near 8.5 on the knob so I can roll back up to the fullest sound possible when using the knob as quick as I can live. Works pretty great. I believe this issue doesn't exist anymore in the HD update since it uses a completely different modeling system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 yours is an interesting solution for very quick setting to exactly the point you want.. personally I use this feature (issue?!?) more as a mid/body/volume booster, almost like a bonus invisible pedal to push the following things a little more at the occurrence I can easily remove the mod or lift the tone knob above the obstruction that keeps the tone knob from passing 8.5-ish. I personally want my guitar to sound as full and lively as it needs to be when the tone is fully rolled up, so I did that. Would be easier if the knobs had numerical marks on them, but since they didn't, I modded mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 yours is a good and practical idea if you know that you need always that type of sound setting.. just 1 quick turn of the knob and you're ready to go!.. maybe I'm wrong, but I believe that the models are 100% like the originals when the tone is full open, and that the exception here is when you roll back the control, which can turn to be useful like a booster, or even to be the ideal standard setting as it is for you.. it's just a matter of a personal choice.. personally sometimes I like to take advantage of this feature to get a mid booster like I did in my recently posted here Metheny type sound demo, other times I prefer instead to start with a standard weaker sound and boost it in other ways.. I have thought about that, that the tone on 100% is what is more accurate, but I don't know. I like the full sound. I can easily remove the mod. I wouldn't suggest doing it yourself unless you know what you're doing. I put dabs of super glue on the knob to create a bump on the knob, then I glued a small cut of plastic on the pickguard under the tone knob so that it obstructs the super glue bump from rolling past 8.5. I rolled the knob to about 8.4-8.6 and slid the knob back on to where the bump and the plastic are meeting up just right. Now it won't go past 8.5, but like I said, I can 1) pull the knob up off the pot a bit to bypass the obstruction. 2) remove it with some tools and cleaning products. ...if I ever want to return it back to normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_Watt Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 All the way seems to be wide open on my JTV69S. It's not on my 500. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeValente Posted January 18, 2014 Author Share Posted January 18, 2014 I'll try rolling the tone knob back a bit. That said, neither my 300 nor my 500 have nearly as much low-end girth as my Les Paul. Maybe I'll try a string change too. @hurghanico, there's an HD update? For the 300/500? I'll have to check that out as well Thanks all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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