lectricfrets

Just to put some specs together for others who are interested, here is what I found out. By the way, the JTV-59 neck thickness specs came from psarkissian of Line 6. He gave thicknesses from the design specs, plus actual measurements on his own 59 in this post (much appreciated). https://line6.com/support/topic/56987-neck-thickness-of-jtv-59/ JTV-59 Neck Specs: (mm) Nut E-E 1st Fret 12th Fret 43.0 36.5 21.88 (spec) 24.46 (spec) 21.11 (actual) 23.08 (actual) ... and here is what I measured on my JTV-69 OEM neck for comparison: Nut E-E 1st Fret 12th Fret 41.1 35.01* 21.0 25.3 * Specracer986 measured 36.5mm E-E on his JTV-69 (above)

Thank you all for replying. Specracer986, you definitely got wider spacing on your nut. I am using heavier 11-49 strings for better acoustic simulations, but that wouldn't account for the difference. I hope you are not having trouble with the strings falling off the edge of the neck. Fairleas, thank you for measuring your 59. This may be the only place on the web with that information. Cruisinon2, thanks for the good advice. I agree. Buying a 59 is just one avenue I am investigating. I would gain a beautiful guitar for my collection, Variax's appear to hold their value, and I gravitate toward Gibson style guitars over Fender anyway. I am also looking into Warmoth and MusiKraft necks, or maybe just a $15 TUSK nut and a set of files. We'll see. I love the JTV-69 except for the feel of the neck. I use it every week in the church band with an HD-500, and the variety of sounds at the touch of a footswitch is outstanding. I actually shaved away at a vintage Ibanez Wizard neck heel (shame on me) and used it on the 69 for years. It was great for picking cleanly through open chords at the nut, and playing riffs. But the frets have worn out, and I'm afraid my hands are wearing out a bit too. The extreme thinness of the Wizard neck seems to be tough anymore on those songs where you have to clamp bar chords all the way through. So I reluctantly put the original JTV neck back on for now. The JTV's have been around for almost 10 years now. Isn't it time for the next generation of Variax?

Would a JTV-59 owner please post the E-E string spacing at the nut. I spent the day searching the net for this spec. The spacing on my JTV-69 is a bit tight for me (1.39"/35.3mm). Wondering if a JTV-59 would be better. I know the nut width is 1-11/16" on the 59, and only 1-5/8" on my 69. But I don't know if the extra 1/16" width yields more E-E string spacing on the 59. Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the reply. Yes, there are more cost effective ways to warm it up for sure. The global EQ on the HD500 for starters. Part of my motivation is just to get a thinner neck again and stainless steel frets. The Ibanez Wizard neck was so thin, and the stock JTV neck so chunky that it's an unwelcome change. The extra mass of the chunky JTV neck might enhance high frequencies too. On the other hand, as soon as I pull the trigger on a Warmoth Standard Thin neck, Yamaha/Line 6 may announce a new second generation Ultra-JTV and I'll wish I had the cash back. Who knows.

Specracer986, Can you elaborate on the tone difference between your maple neck and your mahogany one? I put a nice, thin, wide vintage Ibanez Wizard neck on my JTV-69 (had to file some heel away and re-drill). It looked and worked great and I used it for years. But fret wear (and maybe my aging hands) made it hard to play so I put the (hardly used) original neck back on. At the same time, I chenged strings from Jazz, wound-G, 12's (I do a lot of acoustic modeling at church) to a set of 11's. It sets up and plays easier, but all my HD-500 settings sound brighter. I'm not sure if it is the neck or the strings. I'm tempted to spring for a Warmoth standard thin neck and wonder if mahogany would warm it up. By the way, your mahogany headstock looks real nice with the sunburst JTV.

I'm no expert, but I believe you are correct. Use Studio Direct mode if you have a full-fidelity powered monitor. Only the 1/4" outputs mix left and right for you when you only have one cable plugged in. For mono XLR, I purchased a 3' "Y" cable with two female XLR's going to a single male XLR. I found a 2-pack on e-bay for $22.50. To be exact, the product had this description: 2 PACK PRO 3' FT. XLR MALE TO DUAL XLR FEMALE Y-CABLE SPLITTER MIC CORD Y301 1M I plug the two Y-cable female XLR's into the HD500 Left and Right, and the other end (Male XLR) into an XLR mic cable to the church PA. It works well. Simple and worry-free.

Thanks for the replies. It sounds like 2.0 might be worth it, but be ready to do a lot of tweaking and balancing.

After reading a topic, "Putting 11's On Jtv 69" about going to heavier strings (10's to 11's), people thought that it improved the acoustic models but made the overall volume louder due to the increased downward tension on the piezo's. Many feel that release 2.0 firmware improves the acoustic models, and most of the electric models, but has decreased outputs. What if you do both. Bump output up with 11's, and take it back with 2.0 while getting improved models. Just an idea. I would try it in a heartbeat, but unfortunately I went to 11's already at 1.9 for improved acoustic sounds. I play in a church band and I save a different preset for each song with the HD500, so I don't want to load 2.0 and throw everything off at this point. And no, I don't want to switch to 2.0 and 12's (ouch). 11's were not bad to get used to after 10's. Someday I'll play with string volumes in Workbench.

You will have better luck getting your battery question answered if you start a separate thread. The JTV generation of Variax has a much better battery system than the old Variax 300, 500, 700 versions. That said, I don't use the battery at all. I feel like my Line 6 HD-500 is the other half of a fine instrument. It powers the guitar and lets you call up the guitar model, tone, volume, and tuning along with your effects presets with the touch of a footswitch. I never use the guitar without the processor. I don't think the PODxt Live controls the JTV Variax models, but it is a decent effects processor with a free USB based editor, that would at least power the guitar so you wouldn't have to worry about batteries, and you can find them used for about $150 now.

I switched to 11's, made the physical adjustments, and thought it made the acoustic models sound more natural, but they do lack dynamics (sound compressed). I never gave increased piezo output a thought. Kudos to Rewolf48 for bringing that up. Firmware release 2.0 is reported to have lower output and more dynamics than 1.9. Maybe it is a good match for 11's. I haven't installed 2.0 because I save a preset for every song we do (lots of them), and I did not want to throw off their sustain and distortion characteristics. Maybe it's time to give 2.0 a try.

I record practice off of the mixer, take it home and play it back through the same amp that I am playing my guitar through, and then tweak my HD's virtual Mixer, Amp Channel Volume, and/or Volume Pedal preset to eqaulize the perceived volumes between patches. Works well for me...not so much for my wife. I use a small Roland amp on a mic stand in front of my face so I don't have to do this at concert levels. B) :wub:

I browse the Variax JTV and HD forums pretty often but rarely say much. But I don't see anybody using the HD 500 quite like I do so I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents. I have a JTV 69 (with a transplanted 1986 Ibanez Wizard neck on it) mated to the HD500 and I couldn't be happier with it. I preset everything for a service using the edit program. I plug directly into the church mixer and we have Aviom units for personal monitoring. This is only practical is you interface to a PC, and use POD HD500 Edit at home to set the HD up for a service ahead of time. Since our services are preplanned, and have 5 to 9 songs (depending on if it is a Communion service), I use Set List Bank One for the song selections of the week. The 1st song goes in 01A. I can have up to four sounds for song #1 (e.g. 01A-interesting intro sound, 01B-acoustic model, 01C-distorted power chords, 01D-pretty and clean tremolo for an easy ending). Song #2 goes in 02A, 02B, 02C. and maybe 02D. Song #3 in 03A, B, C, D etc. I can pre-program up to 16 songs that way. If the band is starting the 7th song, I just have to make sure I have the HD on 07A to get started right. I named Set List Bank Two, "Scratch Pad", and use it to throw presets into for experimentation, or to copy the Bank One service selections into as a back-up. The remaining six banks are named, "Acoustic", "Clean", "GP Crunchy" (GP=General Purpose), "Overdrv to HiGain", "Riffs/FX/Bass", and "Processed/Other". I can put up to 64 (16X4) presets in each bank. I spent several enjoyable evenings on-line down-loading and auditioning presets, and keeping the ones I liked and thought were useful or just fun. I equalized them for initial volume, and made sure the foot pedal was configured as a volume pedal (I'm addicted to having one). Then I put the presets in the appropriate bank (Acoustic, Clean, Crunchy, etc) to create a local library. Now, when I am looking for a certain sound for a certain song, I can go to the appropriate bank and usually find something close. I copy that one to Bank One for the service, fine-tune it, and give it the name of the song. e.g. Slot 01A might become, "Our God Saves 1", 01B would be "Our God Saves 2", etc. Then I also save these re-named presets to the PC so the next time they are used for a service, I just pull them back, load them into the appropriate spots in Bank One, and I am ready to go. This has worked great for me. I have hundreds of organized, pre-screened presets to pick from when arranging songs. I have all of our old songs on the PC, ready to pull up by name, and load into Set List One for a service. With the JTV/HD500 rig, I can go from a 12-string acoustic to a screaming Les Paul with the push of a footswitch. Or drop the high-E string a half-step for songs like "My Reward" with another push of a button. What a fun blessing! I hope this helps someone.