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jtv69s alt tuning issue


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Hello, first post to this forum.  Bought the jtv new about 1.5 yr ago.  Started having problems with alt tuning about a year ago and now its so bad I can't use the guitar the way I want to.  In alt tuning I'm getting the dreaded  overtones, chiming, warble, what ever you want to call it.  Guitar models are fine. I've read a bunch on this and it seems to come back to a setup issue or interaction with the magnetic pickups.  The guitar is set up properly, use 10's, and the intonation is great.  I'm wondering if its the pitch shifting algo's used by line6 (I've reloaded a number of times with workbench with on improvement) or the mag pickups??   For the latter, has anyone ever completely removed all the mag pickups to eliminate any mag/string interaction and just run the guitar in modeling mode?  Did this help??  If it does I can easily live this since I'm only interested in the models/alt tuning.  Thanks in advance for you help.

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On 9/26/2019 at 7:17 PM, flyingsg1 said:

Hello, first post to this forum.  Bought the jtv new about 1.5 yr ago.  Started having problems with alt tuning about a year ago and now its so bad I can't use the guitar the way I want to.  In alt tuning I'm getting the dreaded  overtones, chiming, warble, what ever you want to call it.  Guitar models are fine. I've read a bunch on this and it seems to come back to a setup issue or interaction with the magnetic pickups.  The guitar is set up properly, use 10's, and the intonation is great.  I'm wondering if its the pitch shifting algo's used by line6 (I've reloaded a number of times with workbench with on improvement) or the mag pickups??   For the latter, has anyone ever completely removed all the mag pickups to eliminate any mag/string interaction and just run the guitar in modeling mode?  Did this help??  If it does I can easily live this since I'm only interested in the models/alt tuning.  Thanks in advance for you help.

 

What are you playing through, and at what volume? 9 out of 10 times issues with alternate tunings are directly attributable to hearing the unaltered pitch(es) acoustically along with the altered tuning. And before you say "couldn't be", I assure you that it's very easy for this to happen at low to moderate volumes. Unless you're using headphones, your ears are closer to the guitar itself than whatever speakers you're monitoring with, and solid body guitars ring out louder than you'd think. This acoustic sound of the guitar is easily ignored under normal circumstances, but when the pitch coming out of the speakers is no longer the same as what's ringing directly from the guitar, dissonance can be a significant problem if you're hearing both simultaneously.... I've experienced it first hand numerous times. Even using open-back headphones that let in lots of ambient sound can be a problem if you're not turned up loud enough. Put simply, you need to drown out the guitar itself.

 

To confirm whether or not this is actually what's happening, record a brief passage direct into your DAW using an alt tuning, and listen to the playback. If you only hear the warbling/ overtones/ ghost notes/ etc while playing, but the playback sounds normal, then you've got your answer.

 

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 A good set of headphones clearly tells the story, no warble.  You were spot on.  Thanks!! I now feel like a complete idiot since I was about ready to burn the guitar.  To answer your question I use the variax at home with a small Class 5 Marshall tube amp usually at low volume to add background tracts to the bands recordings.  The warble thing started while I was practicing some parts and I never tried to record with it after that nor take to to rehearsals.  My mistake.

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3 hours ago, flyingsg1 said:

 A good set of headphones clearly tells the story, no warble.  You were spot on.  Thanks!! I now feel like a complete idiot since I was about ready to burn the guitar.  To answer your question I use the variax at home with a small Class 5 Marshall tube amp usually at low volume to add background tracts to the bands recordings.  The warble thing started while I was practicing some parts and I never tried to record with it after that nor take to to rehearsals.  My mistake.

 

Glad you got out sorted out...the alt tunings are good under certain circumstances, but they definitely ain't perfect. Tunings that alter each string by the same interval work well enough, but those that change one string but not others (Drop D, open tunings, etc) can have issues with piezo cross-talk, especially with lots of gain and palm-muting. In a live band setting some can work quite well though, and it's certainly more convenient than stopping the show to grab another axe, but ultimately they're a compromise. I use 1/2 step down and a couple of "virtual capo" tunings in our set. You'll never hear the guitar acoustically with an entire band blaring away, though... so no worries there. Rock on!

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