LP Vs Variax A/B test

Is clip A or B the Gibson LP ?

  • Total voters
    18
  • Poll closed .
D

Dr_simon

New member
OK this is either a Variax set to "Lester" "Neck" or a 1960 Re-issue Gibson LP supporting 490R and 498T pickups.

The guitar was run into a TSL100 head (crunch) with stock tubes and recorded with a Shure KSM44 (set to cardoid) at the edge of the speaker about 6" from the cloth of a 1960A 4x12 stock cab. The amp settings were identical for both.

The mic was fed into a vt737sp (also stock tubes) set with flat EQ and no compression. This went into a MOTU 828mk II and recorded in Logic at 44.1 / 24bit

Sorry I couldn't crank the amp a little more but I was already getting grief from the misses !
For MP3s click
here
 
Last edited:
I dont know about anyone else but every online sample ive heard of a variax sounded SO digital its a joke. COMPLETELY UNORGANIC.

maybe theyll improve on the technology but for now its just a toy. for the record im not a fan of modeling amps either.

BTW i voted A. variax and B. LP
 
I used identical amp / pre-amp settings for both, the vol on both guitars was up at 10 so any difference in gain was the axe no the gain staging into the MOTU.

oh BTY I don't work for line 6 or anything (tee Hee) !!
 
Dr_simon said:
so any difference in gain was the axe
Click to expand...

That was my point. Maybe one of the instruments in these demos was designed to not overload a certain digital processor made by the same company? ;)
 
Last edited:
true, but I might have turned it down using workbench ..or not.


It is an astute observation and.....Im saying nothing ! I have tried to be as unbiased (no tube pun) and objective as I could even when setting the EQ on the Marshall !
 
To my ears;

The A sample is a variax. Was it really set to Les Paul setting? Sounded like a vaiax set to strat. Sounded like it has a whammy with loose springs, or intonation\tuning is out because the chords warbled in and out of tune. :(

B sounds more like a Les Paul. Solid and punchier with no warbling when you hit a chord. Better tone and sustain. You even sounded more confident on this guitar. Lead lines were tastier and more flowing. :)
 
I can't get those to work properly !! The original tuning always shines (?) through underneath the pitch shifted note (like a mix of wet and dry)

I wrote to Line6 tech support and they said...

"sorry"

Pooo !
 
I'm going with B being the LP. It gets a little muddier in the lower range, which I doubt is something that would come out of a digital unit. The strings also sound a bit "steelier".
 
I'm going against the grain, voting A for Paul. It may be the MP3's, but I get some artifacts around the edges of the B clip. Of course, I have been listening to a Lp through a TSL for 2 hours tonight, so I may be biased towards the tone that sounds more like what I was just hearing.
 
I vote A as the Les Paul and B as the Variax, the example B sounds like a 25 1/2" scale length opposed to a Les Pauls 24 3/4" length.
 
hmmm....

I voted B as the Variax... B seemed to have some "piezo"-ness to it. Of courese it could be an improperly set up guitar, or picking the strings could have snuck into the recording, but it just has that high end clackyness that a Les Paul shouldn't have...
 
i don't know enough about guitars to be able to say which is which. but i know i want B to be the Les Paul, just because it sounds so much better than A!!

so yeah, B is the LP.

Andy
 
Pretty impressive results, so far. Whether the Variax is getting 6 or 9 votes out of the 15, that says a lot for results that would fall 50/50 just by chance guessing.

J.
 
Rickson Gracie said:
I dont know about anyone else but every online sample ive heard of a variax sounded SO digital its a joke. COMPLETELY UNORGANIC.

maybe theyll improve on the technology but for now its just a toy. for the record im not a fan of modeling amps either. LP
Click to expand...

I am quite sure that is a preformed opinion, while most "Experts" say there is a difference most also say that it's not huge. It would be sooooo funny if you got it wrong.

The Line 6 forum currently has a strat a/b is that you also ?

I don't know the first thing about guitar sounds so I can't vote but I have to think that once you run either guitar through a complex set of amps, pedals, recording software and the like that any major differences will be evened out a lot. Comparing the "dry" sound might be more useful.

As a home musician, non believer in the idea that most people really know what they are talking about (some do but many are just followers) I am 100% happy with my $500 Variax giving me access to many different guitar sounds.

BTW: I have used workbench for many alt-tunings and providing things are turned up enough or I'm using headphones I do not experience the "mix" that you are talking about.
 
yep ! That would be me on the Line6 forum. Same user name and everything.

Line6 acknowledge there is a problem with the pitch shifting and that is good enough for me. They are working on it and as far as Im concerned that means Im not imagining it. I can record it also. Maybe it is specific to the 700 HT ?

I also think that even in the context of a mix it is often very easy to pick out the nuances of different makes of guitar. Think of the first guitar solo in Mike Oldfield's "Moonlight Shadow". The strat and the Gibson (I think it is an SG but I might be wrong) are clearly audible and markedly different.

I also think that in the context of a mix converted into an mp3, telling the difference between an original and a Variax would be even harder than it is now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top