tomtheguitarguy Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 Is it just me, or do the acoustic models seem "aggressive" in Version 2.1? It seems like you need to have a real light touch - not something I remember experiencing previously... Thanks in advance for your input.... Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_Watt Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 Yes - you need a real light touch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomtheguitarguy Posted June 16, 2014 Author Share Posted June 16, 2014 Don't know many acoustic players that play "light" - especially rhythm players... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 Kind of the piezo's fault on how the attack sounds from how hard you play. It works with electric models, but with acoustic models, it sounds weird. That's why people like the graphtech ghosts because they're supposed to compress any hard playing to not sound weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_Watt Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 Even though the JTV has acoustic models it's not an Acoustic Guitar and it can't really be played like one. It plays like an electric especially if you have the standard 10's on it. I think the acoustic models sound great but you have to mod your playing style somewhat. You can't play to aggressively. The action is too low for that if it's set up properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomtheguitarguy Posted June 16, 2014 Author Share Posted June 16, 2014 Having played Piezo equipped (solid body) electrics before - I think that one of the "models" that should be offered is a "non-model" - just the sound of the piezo pickup with no modeling. If a Fishman equipped strat or a piezo equipped PRS can sound decent and be played "hard", then our JTV should sound equally as good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil_m Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 If a Fishman equipped strat or a piezo equipped PRS can sound decent and be played "hard", then our JTV should sound equally as good. I've actually never played a Fishman equipped electric that sounded good. I use to have the Nashville Power Tele, and the sound from the piezos was useless. Even with a lot of post processing, I couldn't get anything that sounded like a decent acoustic from it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomtheguitarguy Posted June 16, 2014 Author Share Posted June 16, 2014 I've actually never played a Fishman equipped electric that sounded good. I use to have the Nashville Power Tele, and the sound from the piezos was useless. Even with a lot of post processing, I couldn't get anything that sounded like a decent acoustic from it. I was never a fan of the piezo Nashville Tele either. But Townsend sure gets a great "Pinball Wizard" acoustic sound out of his Fishman Powerbridge Strat... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomtheguitarguy Posted June 16, 2014 Author Share Posted June 16, 2014 At about 2:45, John Rzeznik isn't playing very lightly . . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frZizRNmS90 And here's the PRS equipped piezo: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil_m Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 At about 2:45, John Rzeznik isn't playing very lightly . . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frZizRNmS90 And here's the PRS equipped piezo: The main difference I hear in those videos is that in the PRS tone, even though it's pretty good, it still has the underlying piezo quack. If you compared it to miced acoustic, it really would not sound all that similar. It sounds like an acoustic with an under-saddle pickup. The Variax acoustics are modeling a miced acoustic, so I think that's a big reason why some people have issues with them. They sound very different than a tradition acoustic guitar with a pickup, for the most part. And, really, playing live, sometime having a little bit of piezo quack does help in cutting through. It's kind of what we've gotten used to hearing from the PA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomtheguitarguy Posted June 16, 2014 Author Share Posted June 16, 2014 The main difference I hear in those videos is that in the PRS tone, even though it's pretty good, it still has the underlying piezo quack. If you compared it to miced acoustic, it really would not sound all that similar. It sounds like an acoustic with an under-saddle pickup. The Variax acoustics are modeling a miced acoustic, so I think that's a big reason why some people have issues with them. They sound very different than a tradition acoustic guitar with a pickup, for the most part. And, really, playing live, sometime having a little bit of piezo quack does help in cutting through. It's kind of what we've gotten used to hearing from the PA. I could live with "it sounds like an acoustic with an under-saddle pickup" - which is why I suggested (a couple posts ago), that maybe one of the "models" could be a "non-modeled" acoustic. I just don't remember having to play so lightly before 2.1 - I play both fingerstyle (Chet Atkins/Jerry Reed) as well as some acoustic rhythm comping. Being able to switch from Electric to Acoustic mid song or starting the song with a nice acoustic intro and then switching to electric is a nice feature of the JTV-69. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leftzilla Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 One thing I found was that I had to lower the global string volume to about 80% to stop clipping on the acoustic models. I have both the 59 and 89F and I cannot pickup any discernible difference between the L and R and the Graphtech saddles that couldn't be attributed to the different guitar bodies themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomtheguitarguy Posted June 16, 2014 Author Share Posted June 16, 2014 One thing I found was that I had to lower the global string volume to about 80% to stop clipping on the acoustic models. I have both the 59 and 89F and I cannot pickup any discernible difference between the L and R and the Graphtech saddles that couldn't be attributed to the different guitar bodies themselves. After some tweaking, I've got the acoustic strings down to about 85% and it is sounding much better. Plugged straight into my Bose L1 Compact or my L2t Stagesource, it's much nicer to play and strum and hear... Thanks to all for the input. It's a journey... but worth the ride... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fr0sty Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 One thing I found was that I had to lower the global string volume to about 80% to stop clipping on the acoustic models. I have both the 59 and 89F and I cannot pickup any discernible difference between the L and R and the Graphtech saddles that couldn't be attributed to the different guitar bodies themselves. Couldn't you also just roll the volume down on your jtv and accomplish the same thing, with very little effort? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leftzilla Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 I was seeing some clipping across all of the models especially on the open G. So lowering the overall string volume was the most elegant solution. I do a lot of combinations of the Mags and Variax emulations. This did effect the balance between the two but I was able to handle it since I was sending the variax emulation to one side and a particular amp and the mags to the other side and a particular amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 Can anyone with an old Variax with Ghosts tell us how much of a difference does the piezos make in the quack factor for acoustic guitars? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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