Do You Have The Same Problem With 6th String?

[cruisinon2]

I believe Line 6 is skimping hard on the solution, and that it's out there and not as arbitrary as we think.

It's obviously related to the piezos and hardware that lead up to the DSP. Hell, maybe it's also the bridge, but other than that, I highly doubt it's anything else.

Well at this point it doesn't much matter if it's caused by the hole in the ozone, termites, or HPV. The bean counters have run up the white flag and proudly declared defeat. The only thing that would have made it funnier would have been if the announcement had come on Bastille Day.

 

Game over, thanks for playing....

[clay-man]

Well at this point it doesn't much matter if it's caused by the hole in the ozone, termites, or HPV. The bean counters have run up the white flag and proudly declared defeat. The only thing that would have made it funnier would have been if the announcement had come on Bastille Day.

 

Game over, thanks for playing....

 

Yeah, I'm honestly quiet disappointed.

I know that it's a "business thing" to not focus on something that is deemed not a big problem, but to me, it is a big problem, because it completely breaks the purpose of a 1k piece of equipment, but that's not the problem.

 

The problem is, unlike every single thing in the universe where you can send it in for repair, this has NO repair. That basically sounds like Line 6 saying "Yeah, no, lollipop you, you bought it, it's your problem even though we've caused the problem by selling a product with potential issues" and that is a huge insult to the buyer.

 

It's like if I bought a car, and then a part was messed up, and there's no way to order that part anywhere, and the company says "yeah we're not going to get the part for you".

[xavierb]

Then maybe it's time for us to move forward from Variax.

 

Even with the plink, the Variax sounds much better to me than a GK/GP-10 or the Vox star stream (I tried both).

[cruisinon2]

Even with the plink, the Variax sounds much better to me than a GK/GP-10 or the Vox star stream (I tried both).

Then count your blessings, cause yours isn't plinking much. The worst examples are rather grotesque and unusable. Sounds clips are scattered throughout this Biblical length thread...

[clay-man]

Even with the plink, the Variax sounds much better to me than a GK/GP-10 or the Vox star stream (I tried both).

 

Well, if you're listening to the other strings than the string with the plink, I can totally agree. Like I said, the Variax uses piezos, which I think is a huge advantage in terms of having a better frequency range to sculpt into certain sounding guitars.

 

It's all advantages and disadvantages pretty much.

[Rocco_Crocco]

Guys I started another thread about this, but I have completely eliminated the plink by changing to neutral body style in Workbench HD. I am loving my 59 again.

 

If you still have the plink,  try it. The worse that can happen is it doesn't work like it did for me.

[clay-man]

Guys I started another thread about this, but I have completely eliminated the plink by changing to neutral body style in Workbench HD. I am loving my 59 again.

 

If you still have the plink,  try it. The worse that can happen is it doesn't work like it did for me.

 

The problem with that is that it's evasive to finding a true fix, just like people who suggest turning the tone knob down from 10 to 8.

 

It's a better solution than the latter, but the body models help make the authenticity of each guitar model.

 

I might try it with the strat and les paul setting, but who knows.

[Rocco_Crocco]

The problem with that is that it's evasive to finding a true fix, just like people who suggest turning the tone knob down from 10 to 8.

 

It's a better solution than the latter, but the body models help make the authenticity of each guitar model.

 

I might try it with the strat and les paul setting, but who knows.

Yes if authenticity is what you're after, it not an great fix. For me, playing with a band, much of the nuance of tone vanishes, especially at higher gain. I mostly need a humbucker sound (Lester or Custom with 89 PU settings) that I can change the tuning, so for me it works.

[clay-man]

Yes if authenticity is what you're after, it not an great fix. For me, playing with a band, much of the nuance of tone vanishes, especially at higher gain. I mostly need a humbucker sound (Lester or Custom with 89 PU settings) that I can change the tuning, so for me it works.

 

Well, what people want, is for the guitar to work like any other Variax that works 100% fine. No editing or work around, but just a flat normal variax.

I'm not saying the idea is bad, because neutral does get rid of the E string problem significantly, but doing that might sacrifice nailing the sound the model is supposed to achieve, though, I think we can all agree that a plinky E string is not "achieving that sound" either.

[xavierb]

Well, if you're listening to the other strings than the string with the plink, I can totally agree. Like I said, the Variax uses piezos, which I think is a huge advantage in terms of having a better frequency range to sculpt into certain sounding guitars.

 

It's all advantages and disadvantages pretty much.

 

The roland system can use piezos as well, for instance the Godin guitars hex pickups are piezos, not mags - and you have to configure that in the settings of the host system (GP-10, etc...). I've never tried a piezo-based guitar against COSM, it might sounds better to me. The only thing Roland does better than Variax is down tunes, there's a lot less latency.

[clay-man]

The roland system can use piezos as well, for instance the Godin guitars hex pickups are piezos, not mags - and you have to configure that in the settings of the host system (GP-10, etc...). I've never tried a piezo-based guitar against COSM, it might sounds better to me. The only thing Roland does better than Variax is down tunes, there's a lot less latency.

 

You will always have latency with pitch shifting. Like I said in another topic, pitch shifting needs a window of time to gather enough data to pitch shift correctly and give out a nice sound.

 

Asking a pitch shifter to pitch shift in REAL real time is like asking your autocorrect to know the word you're trying to type by just typing 1 letter. It needs a few letters to correctly determine what to spit out at you.

 

As for the Roland, I wonder if it will sound nicer with piezos. Who knows.

 

Does the pitch shifting sound nice in comparison to the Variax? I've always argued that the Variax has nice sounding pitch shifting because it does some formant preserving on the tonality of the signal so it doesn't sound muffled and muddy when you downtune.

[onkelfeix]

Since no official seems to be interested fixing the issues we have, I'm now thinking about:

a) Get rid of my 89F 
b) Start my own build project ( strandberg-like guitar , fanned fret 7string with some more ergonomic playing styles while sitting )  

c) Alternatively I could just start my project without selling the 89F , but I'll certainly won't use the piezos other than for acoustic 6/12string emulation and maybe with low gain settings where the plink is not that pronounced

 

Shame on you, Line6 ;(

[xavierb]

Just an update: On my JTV-89F I fixed the plink problem by removing the E saddle from the saddle, jiggling the blue cable where it connects to the saddle, then reassembling the E saddle with the Floyd, and finally re-stringing.

 

I thought it's worth mentioning, in case it helps someone else. Took me about 5 minutes - there's a clear difference, before vs after, now the E string sounds like all the other strings including with the Spank model which was previously the worse.

 

So for my case it was a physical problem of some sort.

[clay-man]

Just an update: On my JTV-89F I fixed the plink problem by removing the E saddle from the saddle, jiggling the blue cable where it connects to the saddle, then reassembling the E saddle with the Floyd, and finally re-stringing.

 

I thought it's worth mentioning, in case it helps someone else. Took me about 5 minutes - there's a clear difference, before vs after, now the E string sounds like all the other strings including with the Spank model which was previously the worse.

 

So for my case it was a physical problem of some sort.

 

Could it be, that it's some resonant hardware vibrating sympathetically with the strings that made the noise?

I tried many things before with adjusting the saddle and piezo on my guitar, but nothing really works.

[xavierb]

In my case it seems that it may have been related to the cable connection (on the saddle side) to the piezo. Try that if you haven't already, it worked for me and may work for you, good luck :)

[brue58ski]

been playing and tech-ing guitars

(and other instruments) since I was 14 (I'm almost 60), and hired as tech and crew for

the rock band Iron Butterfly when I was 19. Been at it ever since. So I've been in this

a long time,...been doing this a long time. We all have here.

 

 

Sorry, this is way off topic but I saw this and just had to tell this story.

 

I had an FBV shortboard for my POD XT bean. Got a Vetta and was thinking about getting an FBV longboard. My friend was looking for a shortboard for his XT bean and was having a hard time. He was finding lots of longboards. I told him if he found a longboard, we could do some kind of trade. He found one. He went to the guy's house and after seeing the beaded doorways, lava lamps and black light posters (you get the idea) my friend inquired about the guys occupation. Turns out he had fairly recently gotten done doing a world tour with, can you guess, Iron Butterfly as their guitar player. The FBV longboard he was selling was the one he had used for the tour. So the FBV longboard that I use for my Vetta has been around the world with Iron Butterfly.

[cruisinon2]

Lol...looks like this thread is digital herpes. It's gonna be with us forever, despite the official proclamation of "Too bad", from on high...;)

[sidsimo]

Have any of you opened a support ticket to deal directly with Line 6 on this?

I have 4 JTV 59's and one JTV 69 with similar issues. Don't bother with Line 6 support if it's out of warranty. I've wasted money sending one guitar to them twice, the guitar had a very low output in comparison to the other JTVs. Line 6 claimed it was working great when it clearly was not. The sound was weak and unusable without some kind of signal boost. More recently , I'm scanning the forums and it seems like there are are a lot of issues surrounding the bridge assembly. 

don't get me wrong either, I love the concept and I still use the JTVs that do not have problems. but the dealing with their support staff just frustrates the hell out of me. They either stonewall the user or give "non answers" ....I 've done some more research on this matter. As it stands today, I wouldn't touch a L6 product with a 10 foot pole. If you're a professional working musician, you cannot afford to have these failures and they WILL FAIL, trust me. I have been a devotee of L6 products for a very long time. Not anymore. Best thing they ever made was the original Kidney bean POD. 

 

However, the problem of intermittent loss of string volume can be resolved, at least temporarily by cleaning the crud (tech term) out of the piezo saddles. I start with DE-OXIT...a light spray directly on the saddle, a soft toothbrush, gently removing sweat and oxidization which will occur to varying degrees. I follow up by using good old WD40, to displace moisture and grime and help keep the ground connection stable. It should be cleaned every time you change strings. Hope that helps..... a BIG middle finger to L6 support for wasting so much of my time. Same to their "engineers" for such a bad design. when the last one fails for good, I'm done with L6. It appears as though James Tyler himself doesn't want his name on their instruments anymore as well.....huh, imagine that. 

 

To the users question , yeah I have a support ticket open, but don't worry. they are practically useless for information. They just want you to send it into the LA repair center. Been there already, twice. It's a bad deal.

[cruisinon2]

The thread that just keeps on plinking....uh, I'm mean giving. ;)

 

Is not a "defect", it's a "feature". 😅

[brue58ski]

Just an update: On my JTV-89F I fixed the plink problem by removing the E saddle from the saddle, jiggling the blue cable where it connects to the saddle, then reassembling the E saddle with the Floyd, and finally re-stringing.

 

I thought it's worth mentioning, in case it helps someone else. Took me about 5 minutes - there's a clear difference, before vs after, now the E string sounds like all the other strings including with the Spank model which was previously the worse.

 

So for my case it was a physical problem of some sort.

 

Do you have a picture of that you could post?

[MiroslavKloud]

Line 6 and Hewlett-Packard. The two companies in California and so different behavior towards customers.

... The most recent firmware update included a dynamic security feature that prevented some untested third-party cartridges that use cloned security chips from working, even if they had previously functioned.

We should have done a better job of communicating about the authentication procedure to customers, and we apologize. Although only a small number of customers have been affected, one customer who has a poor experience is one too many...
...As a remedy for the small number of affected customers, we will issue an optional firmware update that will remove the dynamic security feature. We expect the update to be ready within two weeks and will post additional information here as it becomes available...  http://www8.hp.com/us/en/hp-news/blog/Small-Business-Printing/best-possible-printing-experience.html

 

 

Line 6 - OUR STORY

Inspiring innovation.
We're musicians. We’re technologists. So, we’re fanatics about engineering innovative, amazing-sounding gear that's ready to go right out of the box. And we're pros who have a track record of designing category-defining products that shatter technical barriers─so you can focus on your music.
We introduced the world’s first digital modeling amp. We're the ones behind the groundbreaking POD® multi-effect, that revolutionized the industry with an easy way to record guitar with great tone. Our Variax® guitars can do more than any other instrument in history (PLINK?), and we’ve led the wireless analog-to-digital transition for musicians everywhere with our Relay® products....

[clay-man]

I have 4 JTV 59's and one JTV 69 with similar issues. Don't bother with Line 6 support if it's out of warranty. I've wasted money sending one guitar to them twice, the guitar had a very low output in comparison to the other JTVs. Line 6 claimed it was working great when it clearly was not. The sound was weak and unusable without some kind of signal boost. More recently , I'm scanning the forums and it seems like there are are a lot of issues surrounding the bridge assembly. 

don't get me wrong either, I love the concept and I still use the JTVs that do not have problems. but the dealing with their support staff just frustrates the hell out of me. They either stonewall the user or give "non answers" ....I 've done some more research on this matter. As it stands today, I wouldn't touch a L6 product with a 10 foot pole. If you're a professional working musician, you cannot afford to have these failures and they WILL FAIL, trust me. I have been a devotee of L6 products for a very long time. Not anymore. Best thing they ever made was the original Kidney bean POD. 

 

However, the problem of intermittent loss of string volume can be resolved, at least temporarily by cleaning the crud (tech term) out of the piezo saddles. I start with DE-OXIT...a light spray directly on the saddle, a soft toothbrush, gently removing sweat and oxidization which will occur to varying degrees. I follow up by using good old WD40, to displace moisture and grime and help keep the ground connection stable. It should be cleaned every time you change strings. Hope that helps..... a BIG middle finger to L6 support for wasting so much of my time. Same to their "engineers" for such a bad design. when the last one fails for good, I'm done with L6. It appears as though James Tyler himself doesn't want his name on their instruments anymore as well.....huh, imagine that. 

 

To the users question , yeah I have a support ticket open, but don't worry. they are practically useless for information. They just want you to send it into the LA repair center. Been there already, twice. It's a bad deal.

 

I strongly don't recommend using WD40. WD40 is used to make something move more smoothly, not to clean a connection. I am speaking from personal experience because I was desperate at the time.

 

WD40 leaves residue which will make the problem way worse.

 

Use electric contact cleaner for any connection issues. This works all the time for me. Maybe I sound like I'm trying to sell a pitch here, but I'm not lollipoping joking, it's something you absolutely must have if you deal with any type of electronics or electrical connections.

[sidsimo]

Yeah, I understand where you're coming from, a lot of techs talk down WD40...but IMO it is one of the best products out there period. In the 40+ years I've been using it, it's done a lot more good than harm. 

It's saved my lollipop countless times. YMMV.

 

I use it for everything from cleaning strings to scratchy pots to crappy JTV bridges, personally I had better results on one particular bridge than from using De-Oxit and other electronic cleaning products I've had lying around.

 

The Dead A string came back to life after a tiny shot of WD, and I've been using the JTV regularly since. I avg. 3 gigs per week.

 

Whereas, L6 tech support has let me down too many times with non-answers and just general lack of knowledge. the condescending tone doesn't help either. I wouldn't count on them for the telling me the correct time.

 

With respect to failing piezos and the grounding issues on JTV's, and other bridges issues.

I'm calling out for anyone to sound off with legit, workable solutions. I'm far from a Mr. Know it all, but I know what has worked for me.

[MiroslavKloud]

Here you can vote:

http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/companies-with-the-worst-customer-service?&var=3

[cruisinon2]

That'll do it....

[clay-man]

Yeah, I understand where you're coming from, a lot of techs talk down WD40...but IMO it is one of the best products out there period. In the 40+ years I've been using it, it's done a lot more good than harm. 

It's saved my lollipop countless times. YMMV.

 

I use it for everything from cleaning strings to scratchy pots to crappy JTV bridges, personally I had better results on one particular bridge than from using De-Oxit and other electronic cleaning products I've had lying around.

 

The Dead A string came back to life after a tiny shot of WD, and I've been using the JTV regularly since. I avg. 3 gigs per week.

 

Whereas, L6 tech support has let me down too many times with non-answers and just general lack of knowledge. the condescending tone doesn't help either. I wouldn't count on them for the telling me the correct time.

 

With respect to failing piezos and the grounding issues on JTV's, and other bridges issues.

I'm calling out for anyone to sound off with legit, workable solutions. I'm far from a Mr. Know it all, but I know what has worked for me.

 

That's the problem. I literally tried to use it to clean a scratchy pot and it made it so much worse to the point that I had to replace the pot completely. 

I don't know how you have good luck with electrical use, but honestly, WD-40 has an oil/grease that is not going to help with electrical conductivity.

 

WD-40 is made to make things more smooth, not to clean things, especially electronic connections, which is exactly what Electronic Contact cleaner is for.

 

I used to try to use isopropyl to clean game cartridges for old consoles and it would get dirty again pretty fast. When I first got Contact cleaner, it made the connection flawless, and there would be zero connection errors until like months later when grime builds up again naturally.

 

I applied the same with some of my guitar and other equipment, including a VOX amplug that had scratchy pots that would go away completely, and even fixed the pickup switch not working right on me on my old Variax.

 

 

I'm happy that WD-40 worked for you, but physics dictate it's not a good thing for electrical conduction related scenarios, because, again, residue.

While you know how to use it yourself, I strongly don't think you should suggest people to use it on their electronic equipment. You might end up getting someone furiously pissed at you if they borked something of theirs from doing that.

[brue58ski]

+1 on NOT using WD40 for electric contacts. In fact WD-40 makes a contact cleaner. Why would they do that if regular WD40 works that way. I am shocked that it works for him.

[cruisinon2]

Once upon a time, they used to fill blimps with hydrogen. That worked too....until it didn't. Oh the humanity.

 

I'll keep my contact cleaner, thanks.

[onkelfeix]

Update:

I did it.  I finally sold my variax 89F.  I feel a bit sorry for selling it, but I'll be better off without it.

 

My "build your own guitar" project already started :)

[clay-man]

Contact cleaner is supposed to get rid of all the s*** that is built up that is causing the connection problem in the first place. It makes the metals contact more evenly and perfectly. WD40 has oils which will be there when it dries, which is good for LUBRICATION but not CONTACT.

 

Contact cleaner cleans it out, and dries without residue.

 

It's kind of a no brainer. I could preach it all day.

[MiroslavKloud]

I wonder how Line 6 would behave towards customer with this problem if he had JTV-US Custom.

[cruisinon2]

I wonder why this is still a discussion.

 

Gents...the carnival came to town, the guy who runs the tilt-a-whirl slept with your daughter, and the next morning they folded up the tents and moved on. They're not coming back. So if you can't look her in the eye anymore, ship her off to live with old spinster Aunt Martha...no amount of discussing the problem is gonna change anything at this point.

[CipherHost]

I wonder why this is still a discussion.

 

The goal is a least four digits in the number of posts.

 

But seriously, while my 89F does not have this problem, Line6 should not be allowed to just walk away from the problem.

 

They should have to pay child support just like the rest of us.

[cruisinon2]

Line6 should not be allowed to just walk away from the problem.

 

OK...but they already have. And as unfair as that is, short of a class-action lawsuit (which like all class-action lawsuits, MIGHT net you an $8 gift card to The Sizzler after the lawyers are done pillaging the settlement) nothing will ever come of it.

[rodrigozreis]

unfortunately I have the same problem, and did not get Line 6's return

[sidsimo]

Yes, well first off, I'm not putting as gun to anyone's head. WD40 is a very light oil that drys up quickly compared to cleaning solvents such as De-ox it. The old story is that WD indicates water displacement. Guess what? I also use it for remove extra DNA from my strings (remarkably similar to Finger Ease, but less expensive) before and after gigs.

I am aware that there may be better products. But is anyone willing to give me an explanation as to why it brought back as of today 2 dead A strings on 2 separate JTVS. You can argue with me all you want, but I won't argue with the results. 

[cruisinon2]

I really don't have a dog in this fight, and you can use whatever you like...if you like oily strings, so be it. But just for the sake of argument, any oil that dries up quickly is of little use as a lubricant, as it would soon fail in its primary mission...that's why nobody dumps water or rubbing alcohol on a squeaky door hinge. Five minutes later, you've got the same problem. Squirt puddles of WD40 and contact cleaner next to each other on a counter top, and see which one is still there a few minutes later...or a week. It won't be the contact cleaner.

[firstmiro]

I have a jtv-89F and a while ago i started a topic and the problem still existing...

 

When i play the guitar with it's magnetic pickups, everything is fine but when i activate the modeling, the 6th string starts to sound really weird.. This problem is very easy to notice on distortion tones and especially on palm mutings, it is hard to hear this problem on clean tones but i noticed that it is there for the clean tones too..

 

There are some guys have the same problem and some of them started a topic before, but noone can find anything about to fix this problem...

 

--Lowering string volume on the workbench didn't work

--Reinstalling the software didn't work

--Changing strings(i use .46-.009 gauge) didn't work

--There are no visible loose elements on the guitar

 

 

This is the previous topic: There is a guy wrote that he has the same problem too..

 

http://line6.com/support/topic/5990-jtv-89-f-model-sound-issue/

 

 

This is the sound example:

 

https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/Variax%20Problem.mp3?_subject_uid=284387637&w=AABV86FI_iVvWXrcsJ8N_3iN9L8LKmWXCCwSb4PIvZOvSA

 

 

 

I started to think that some of the variax users have the same problem but they try to find a way not to hear the noise...Please don't do that, let's try to find the cause of the problem..

 

Please write if you know how to fix this or even if you have the same problem too.

 

 

canerakcil, I had same problem with my varian long ago. I changed the saddle order, so the "faulty" one went to other string, and on that place I put a "good" one from other string. The effect stayed, just now was on the other string. After few weeks I replaced the bridge (was lucky to buy one really cheap). Problem was gone.

 

If there is a L6 service close to you - take your guitar there. If not - you may try to replace the saddles (from E to A and vice versa). Just that will require careful soldering I think. Taking guitar to the service will be best solution.

[pb-272]

I'm trying out a Variax on the weekend, I previously quite excited about the prospect of the Variax working in tandem with my Helix. I am now very skeptical indeed. Its hard to work out how widespread this problem is, however there can be no denying there is a problem. Seems astonishing that Line 6 wont replace the faulty guitars though...

[cruisinon2]

Its hard to work out how widespread this problem is, however there can be no denying there is a problem.

Nonsense. You can deny anything. Ask a politician...;)