Line 6 Variax

[GuitarHitman]

So what do people think of these then

 

 

I'm somewhat interested in them all of a sudden even though I generally hate modelling stuff

[Big Pimpin' T]

I'd love to have one to rip the guts out and put it into my LP. Add a switch to change between the magnetic pickups and the Variax system.

[csm]

The 'Vari' is better than the 'ax.'

[MoreGuitars]

I have (2) 300's, a 700 acoustic and a 4 string and 5 string bass. When I was doing mainly home recording, I used them a lot. The 700 acoustic is great. Many very usable sounds. The bass's I bought on blow out, and they are very close to the real deal. When I was composing, it was very beneficial to have a guitar at a flip of a switch. The creative flow was very good.

 

I play mostly live now and have tried to use them. I put Roland pickups on them (I play guitar synth live). If they could play 2 guitars at the same time (electric and acoustic) I would still be playing them. I am using a piezo equipped guitar instead.

 

I tried the Fender VG strat and although the guitar is better than the Variax, I thought the modeling was not as good. It does have the ability to blend which is a plus, but you must run it on batteries, which blows.

 

If they made the Fender GK ready, (which would also power it) it to me would be the guitar to get.

[GuitarHitman]

Interesting

 

I actually remember briefly trying one come to think of it a year or so ago It was running through a Line 6 multi effects pedal to headphones. Obviously didn't leave a lasting impression on me but I fiddled with the pedal more so and the results would differ through an amp and speaker I don't remember anything especially bad from the brief moment I tried it out though

[bdegrande]

Tremendously useful guitar. I have a Strat, Tele, Les Paul, Rickenbacker, etc. and play the Variax as much or more than any of them.

 

People miss the point on this guitar consistently.

 

Consider when the electric guitar was first introduced. I'm sure that the purists turned up their noses and claimed that it didn't sound like a "real" aka acoustic guitar. Well, it didn't - but it could make sounds that an acoustic couldn't dream of. The same is true of the Variax. It has MANY great sounds. If none of them sounded anything like the guitars they were supposed to model, I would still be happy with it. I happen to think that some of the models are awfully good, even more so through a full range amp or direct.

 

Anyway, some of the uses for it are:

 

With no magnetic pickups, it is dead quiet for recording, even on single coil settings. This is also useful in many live venues.

 

With Workbench, you can create guitars that don't exist in real life, adjust pickup positions, wire pickups in series, etc.

 

You can have an "acoustic" or dobro, banjo, 12string, sitar for a song or two in an otherwise electric set without carrying another instrument.

 

You have instant access to altered tunings.

 

You can use a "minus" capo for songs which are just outside your vocal range.

 

One of my favorites is downtuning the bottom two strings an octave for bass and guitar on the same instrument.

[GuitarHitman]

I take it the altered tunings can only be done using Workbench

 

I think I'm still somewhat interested I think it could be useful to me for recording even if the modelled sounds aren't as good as the real deal. Long as they're in the same ballpark

[Hyphy Panther]

Like someone mentioned earlier, I'd like to have its guts to put into one of my guitars, but I don't care for the ugly look of them. But they're probably incredibly useful for studio recording.

[jhall]

I have one. It's decent but I rarely reach for it. It isn't bad and is generally pretty cool but It just doesn't pull me to it. I'll keep it for ever as the novelty of it is cool but rarely play it.

I couldn't NOT recomend one but also wouldn't gush about it.

I WILL say though that it is pretty amazing whilst using your POD XT-Live

that you can have the guitar model change with the press of a foot switch.

[GuitarHitman]

I think I'm going to have to go give another a good test drive

 

 

I'm very curious and I can't say I've seen anything all that bad said about them But no worshiping reviews either

[germanicus2112]

I own 3 variax as well as a roland VG-99 system. I record with the Variaxs quite a bit, I never touch my strat or godin anymore to record.

 

The VG strat isnt really comparable at all, it does a fraction of what the Variax can do, and is much more limited in sounds as well as tunings and customization. The proper comparison is the Variax vs. a VG-99 system.

 

The variax 600 is a good solid guitar, dont let anyone tell you otherwise. The 300's are cheaper and of a lowerer quality build. This being said, I actually probably do 90% of my recording with my v300. Its easy to play, and it sounds incredible.

 

The level of editing is amazing with the variax, and for live performance nothing compares to a variax/x3 live combo because of the handshaking. Basically I can take one Variax to do the job of about 6 guitars to a gig.

 

I highly recommend getting one, even if its the cheapie 300 simply because there is NOTHING out there that can do what it does, unless you go out and buy a veratible fleet of guitars, including acoustics, jazzboxes, dobros, Lp's, strats, teles, electric sitar and more. The emulations are so close in most cases to the real deal, I highly doubt that anyone can tell between them and the real deal on tape. Its an amazing tool.

 

The VG99 system is a good alternative, in some ways better, in some ways not as good. The 99 system allows you to use whatever guitar you want, has alot more dsp horsepower (which means you can actually have two completely independent guitars going at once, each with their own alternate tuning settings, effects and amp modelling). The acoustic emulations in the 99 is not as good as in the variax. The 99 system is more expensive also, but your getting tons of effects and amp modelling, plus HRM synthesis and Midi conversion as well.

[cg_25]

The guy I play with has the black 700. I never tried it myself, but It would be better if it had magnetic pickups aswell.

 

You really need to buy the software to make the most of it...

 

edit: oh and unless you want to change batteris between every song you'll have to get a balanced stereo cable and use the special variax box that allows you to run the guitar without batteries. (the extra wire is a pain)

[germanicus2112]

 

I have (2) 300's, a 700 acoustic and a 4 string and 5 string bass. When I was doing mainly home recording, I used them a lot. The 700 acoustic is great. Many very usable sounds. The bass's I bought on blow out, and they are very close to the real deal. When I was composing, it was very beneficial to have a guitar at a flip of a switch. The creative flow was very good. I play mostly live now and have tried to use them. I put Roland pickups on them (I play guitar synth live). If they could play 2 guitars at the same time (electric and acoustic) I would still be playing them. I am using a piezo equipped guitar instead.

 

 

You should really check out the vg99 if you havent. Its incredibly deep and well thought out. You can do two guitars simultaneously. I actually have gk's on my variax's so I can get the best of both worlds.

[germanicus2112]

 

The guy I play with has the black 700. I never tried it myself, but It would be better if it had magnetic pickups aswell. You really need to buy the software to make the most of it...

 

 

The software is actually free to download, but you do need a variax interface.

 

The vetta amps, pod xt live, and pod x3 live all have the variax interface, and if you dont have one of these, you can get a usb interface.

[inkblot]

I heard the Edge get some pretty excellent sounds out of them, and he's quite the gearhead. Never used one myself but for performing songs that involve alot of different tones it would be invaluable.

[MichaelSaulnier]

Here's a clip from the jam in this week's sticky jam thread...

 

I used a Variax 500, Tele bridge model.

 

OMG.mp3

 

I thought the sound recreated much of the Tele vibe.

 

M

[GuitarHitman]

Thanks people

 

I was wondering about the battery matter.

 

I may have to take a trip to try one out tomorrow and cost things up

[BeanoBoy]

 

I have (2) 300's, a 700 acoustic and a 4 string and 5 string bass. When I was doing mainly home recording, I used them a lot. The 700 acoustic is great. Many very usable sounds. The bass's I bought on blow out, and they are very close to the real deal. When I was composing, it was very beneficial to have a guitar at a flip of a switch. The creative flow was very good. I play mostly live now and have tried to use them. I put Roland pickups on them (I play guitar synth live). If they could play 2 guitars at the same time (electric and acoustic) I would still be playing them. I am using a piezo equipped guitar instead. I tried the Fender VG strat and although the guitar is better than the Variax, I thought the modeling was not as good. It does have the ability to blend which is a plus, but you must run it on batteries, which blows. If they made the Fender GK ready, (which would also power it) it to me would be the guitar to get.

 

 

I use mine for recording. I like the acoustic sounds the best. I would like to get the Variax acoustic guitar as there are many more modeling options. If you don't own a Les Paul , Strat, or a Tele the Variax is decent. If you do, you'll never use those models. I don't own an Epiphone Casino or Rickenbacker so in a mix the modeled tones sounds OK but I suspect not as good as the real deal. Good tool for composing and recording demos.

[Mid Life Crisis]

I had a 500 in sunburst, but sold it earlier this year. I found the various models available fun to muck around with, but in the end I didn't really enjoy it as a playing guitar. Also, I bought it in the first place for the Rick 360-12 model but I found didn't like it much, and it didn't have the in-between pickup option for a 360-12 which was the sound I was after.

[MoreGuitars]

 

I actually have gk's on my variax's so I can get the best of both worlds.

 

So do I:thu:

[MoreGuitars]

The guitar's tone in the variax I probably have got the most mileage is the Rickenbacker's. I own just about every classic guitar, except Rickenbacker's. I love their unique sound, I just have not found one I liked to play, or I could justify it financially for what I would get out of it.

 

Another great thing about the Variax is the the interface with the Vetta and POD XT Live. As already stated, programing tunings with workbench, saving configs and the ability to call them on the fly is incredible.

 

In a perfect world, I would install the variax electronics into a guitar with magnetic pickups and a Roland GK to drive my synth's.

 

Presently, I am using a guitar with magnetics pickups which route to a Marshall, My Roland Guitar Synth which goes to my Keyboard Amp and the piezo bridge pickup which goes to my acoustic amp. I blend the Synth and acoustic guitar with volume pedals. It would be so much better if I could use the variax for acoustic sounds.

 

There is a guy who put all this in one guitar, and it looked great. I wish I had the patience for this. I would probably put it in one of my Roland Ready Strats.