Members Professor Tom Posted November 2, 2013 Members Share Posted November 2, 2013 Not my kind of guitar I must admit. I'm more of a Les Paul Junior, no pedals and a tweed amp kind of guy but I have to admit that in the context of a 16 track home studio (which my friend has) it is a very useful tool with all the sounds the Variax is capable of producing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarcapo Posted November 2, 2013 Members Share Posted November 2, 2013 Professor Tom wrote: Not my kind of guitar I must admit. I'm more of a Les Paul Junior, no pedals and a tweed amp kind of guy but I have to admit that in the context of a 16 track home studio (which my friend has) it is a very useful tool with all the sounds the Variax is capable of producing. Some manufacturers will never understand that putting a pedal inside a guitar never sells. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kayd_mon Posted November 2, 2013 Members Share Posted November 2, 2013 The newer Tyler Variax guitars - the JTV-59 I think - are intriguing to me. I would like to try one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlackHatHunter Posted November 2, 2013 Members Share Posted November 2, 2013 I owned the first Variax that came out, and at the time, I remember thinking that it really didn't deliver on the promises it made. So I tried the Tyler one, hoping that things had changed for the better, and no. Sure there are different tones, but they are mostly subpar compared to what "real" guitars deliver. I built a partscaster Tele that blows away all the so-called Tele tones on the variax, for example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kayd_mon Posted November 2, 2013 Members Share Posted November 2, 2013 That's also like the old synths. They were supposed to synthesize real instruments, but people used them to make different, interesting sounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GilmourD Posted November 3, 2013 Members Share Posted November 3, 2013 guitarcapo wrote: Professor Tom wrote: Not my kind of guitar I must admit. I'm more of a Les Paul Junior, no pedals and a tweed amp kind of guy but I have to admit that in the context of a 16 track home studio (which my friend has) it is a very useful tool with all the sounds the Variax is capable of producing. Some manufacturers will never understand that putting a pedal inside a guitar never sells.A Variax doesn't have effects, as in pedals. It emulates other guitars. I have a Variax 500 that I got for acoustic tones and playing things with weird tunings on the fly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kayd_mon Posted November 5, 2013 Members Share Posted November 5, 2013 I have a Hamer Duotone, and with its little piezo system and an acoustic pedal (such as a Zoom A2), it sounds plenty acoustic in a live setting. I'm sure the Variax would be about the same. I've not really used one, but I've seen local bands use them. Sound good to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members d_dave_c Posted November 5, 2013 Members Share Posted November 5, 2013 Variax + Duncan P-rails w/ triple shot rings. I can sound like anything: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlackHatHunter Posted November 5, 2013 Members Share Posted November 5, 2013 d_dave_c, that's all shades of badass right there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GilmourD Posted November 6, 2013 Members Share Posted November 6, 2013 kayd_mon wrote: I have a Hamer Duotone, and with its little piezo system and an acoustic pedal (such as a Zoom A2), it sounds plenty acoustic in a live setting. I'm sure the Variax would be about the same. I've not really used one, but I've seen local bands use them. Sound good to me. The cool thing with the acoustic models is that what's actually modeled is the microphone in front of a particular acoustic. The tone knob on the acoustic models actually moves the microphone position rather than rolling off treble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kayd_mon Posted November 6, 2013 Members Share Posted November 6, 2013 That sounds like what the pedal does. Very cool if it's built in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GilmourD Posted November 6, 2013 Members Share Posted November 6, 2013 BlackHatHunter wrote: that *is* a prety cool feature! kayd_mon wrote: That sounds like what the pedal does. Very cool if it's built in! That's what it says it does in the manual and it certainly sounds like it. You hear a change in the harmonic response, not just a roll off of the treble. What's cool, too, with the editor for the Variax (Workbench) is that you can create custom guitars with pickups in different positions (you can move them from the standard bridge, middle, and neck) and angle them. You can also select the values of the volume and tone pots and the capacitor value for the tone. One custom guitar I've got uses a Strat as a template with a humbucker in the bridge, but I've nudged it closer to the bridge a bit, and I've got it in drop D. I've also got a fairly realistic sounding bass going on with a Tele neck pickup angled in the middle and everything dropped down an octave. I just have to be careful not to really dig into the strings or the tracking gets a little odd with it dropped down so low. It works convincingly if you're in a pinch, but it still feels different than playing an actual bass for obvious reasons. It's a million times better than an octave pedal, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kayd_mon Posted November 6, 2013 Members Share Posted November 6, 2013 This thread makes me want a Variax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bucksstudent Posted November 6, 2013 Members Share Posted November 6, 2013 I see cheaper ones on ebay. I wish I even had that money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kayd_mon Posted November 7, 2013 Members Share Posted November 7, 2013 Enter the Tyler Variax! Well, reportedly. I haven't played one in person yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlackHatHunter Posted November 7, 2013 Members Share Posted November 7, 2013 I have and I am no fan. The attraction for me would be to have one built to my specs. Because why not, you know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kayd_mon Posted November 7, 2013 Members Share Posted November 7, 2013 Definitely. A Variax module inside a 335 style would be very cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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