Variax - what do you honestly think?

Variax - good, bad or ugly?

  • It rocks!

    Votes: 33 22.9%

  • It sucks!

    Votes: 23 16.0%

  • Haven't tried one.

    Votes: 72 50.0%

  • Do you want fries with that?

    Votes: 22 15.3%
  • Total voters
    144
P

Phildo

I heart guitars!
Just wondering what you fine folk think of Line 6’s Variax now that we’re fairly far down the line from all the hype.

Had a boys’ weekend away with my son a few weeks ago, and picked up a Variax 500 for £399. Thought it’d be an interesting and possibly useful toy – and it’s not as if I haven’t got any decent guitars anyway (Gretsch, Fenders, Rickys etc).

So…got it home, fired it up and, well, I was impressed. Wouldn’t say it records massively convincingly but, as a backup guitar for live work (I tend to use 3 different guitars live – different tunings and sounds), it’s absolutely the dog’s nuts – no matter which instrument goes down, I can get a pretty close facsimile of the sound I need – and when I get the workbench software I’ll have the alternate tunings sorted at the flick of a switch. I’m not a tone monster, so the fact it’s not 100% doesn’t worry me overmuch.

The acoustic models are weird, though – they sound as good as any piezo-equipped acoustic, but the lack of body resonance when you’re playing is really odd…still, at least I know that if my Takamine went down then I’d be able to cover myself relatively convincingly, which my Boss acoustic simulator (previous backup plan) would completely fail to do!

So…I’m impressed. What do you lot reckon?
 
Basically I agree with everything you said Phildo. Had my Variax for over a year and it's been my workhorse in the studio. Convincing enough for me and it's so nice to be hum and noise-free...

Never heard about latency-problems with Variax, and I don't notice any (and I DO notice it when I play softsynths on keys < 10ms). Palm muting is a bit trickier than on my other electrics though...
 
I really like mine. I've been using as my main live guitar for about a year and a half. I'm in a situation where we're playing songs from very different genres back to back. I couple my Variax with a POD and I get pretty good results for what I'm doing. Now would a Clapton Strat through a Deluxe sound better? Of course, but I'd have a hard time emulating that Gretsch Silverjet/Vox combo on the next song.

The acoustics get me by. I use the 12 string more than anything just do to the chorus effect. It sounds fine in a live setting. For recording it works great for stacking rhythm guitars where you need a variety of sounds to fatten it up. YMMV
 
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Had a 500 for a few months now. Use both live and recording. Love it.

My initial experience in a music store was disappointing. However once I got it set for my gear, it works really well.

Some models for for me better than others, but as someone else said, if only a handful of different ones work well, it's still ahead of the guitar switch game live.

The other big plus is no noise. This affects both live and recording use in a really positive way.

Ed
 
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How do they feel? Does it feel like your playing a guitar or does it feel like your triggering a synth WITH a guitar?
 
Be Loveless said:
How do they feel? Does it feel like your playing a guitar or does it feel like your triggering a synth WITH a guitar?
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It's an electric guitar with a piezo pickup for each string. It's not a synth and dosen't behave like one. Slow neck, light body. Not the prettiest guitar, but an insanely useful studio tool.
 
Be Loveless said:
How do they feel? Does it feel like your playing a guitar or does it feel like your triggering a synth WITH a guitar?
Click to expand...

Feels and plays like a regular electric. I gave up a PRS for this one. They are kind of ugly, but I play for sound not looks.

My 500 also has a separare synth pickup (which I added). Like all digital MIDI pickups, it does track differently, but the pure Variax 500 part acts just like any other electric, except for many more sounds/tones and zero noise.

Ed
 
I have been playing one for a few months now, and overall I like it. It has been my friend playing live, and great for getting late jamming with the XT live.

With that said, it feels diffrent reacts diffrent and takes some getting used to. No time delay like the roland though, I think that is what alot of people think they are getting, but it is totally diffrent.

I still prefer the feel of the old school guitar, but when I can change tunnings with the flick of a switch, play acoustic that fools everyone in the audience, along with decent model guitar sounds, I learned to deal with the small Variax diffrences and embrace it for all the good it is.

I think digital guitar is the future, but it has some distance to go. I would bet that soon other manufatures like Fender ect... will be coming out with a version of the digital guitar. It just is so versitile that I find it is the only thing I pick up.

Oh ya did I mention that it ugly. You could put all the stickers in the world on it, and strap it to a bikini clad super model and it would still be an ugly guitar.
 
For some younger players, the ugly factor is probably a real issue. As boomtap said, you really can't dress them up much. This probably does affect sales for the 300/500/600 series.

If you want to see good looking Variax guitars, look here:

http://www.guitaristjeffmiller.com/mods.htm

This guy can not only play up a storm, but builds some great looking Variax guitars. Check out the two PRS style instruments Jeff made.

Ed
 
Another factor, though not huge is that you can't easily fix the electronics yourself, and although I'm certain the one I played in a store was defective as it cut in and out at a wierd rate as if it had a messed up trem effect on it, it still would be nice to be able to fix your guitar yourself.
 
Though it took awhile to warm up to, I would really miss my Variax acoustic. Getting a Bose PAS made all the difference in live work. I've been tracking with it this last week and there are some sounds I just can't get anywhere else from my other instruments. Plus for quick work ups of songs you can lay down a half dozen instruments including bass in fraction of the time it would take to set up and play the 'real' thing. Also the compression and mic placement controls are a recording godsend.
 
The new issue of Recording has a very positive review of the Variax Acoustic. (And a somewhat less enthusiastic review of the Bass version.) Their main gripe about both the acoustic and the bass is the balance of the instruments. Both are, apparently, rather bottom heavy. I'll admit that I'd sure like to have one around. And I'd probably go for the acoustic model.
 
Bassman Brad said:
The new issue of Recording has a very positive review of the Variax Acoustic. (And a somewhat less enthusiastic review of the Bass version.) Their main gripe about both the acoustic and the bass is the balance of the instruments. Both are, apparently, rather bottom heavy. I'll admit that I'd sure like to have one around. And I'd probably go for the acoustic model.
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It depends. The electrics as I understand it have a few acoustics on them whereas the acoustic Variax doesn't have any electrics.......something I'd really like. Also, the software isn't out yet for the acoustic.

Note: on the acoustic the parlor guitar alternate tuning is an octave down, giving you a bass register.......it's amazing how well that records.
 
ibanezrocks said:
Another factor, though not huge is that you can't easily fix the electronics yourself
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That's true, however I doubt that even 1 out of 100 guitar players know anything about working on their electronics. I have played with dozens of folks over the decades, and not one knew the first thing about this area.

The folks on these boards are somewhat different, but not typical of a normal buyer. Even then, most would not attempt to repair their high end electronic devices.

Ed
 
The repair issue is something I've thought about alot (I don't own a Variaxe, but I've played then and have given serious thought to buying one - in particular now that the prices have dropped so much).

I don't know lots about the electronics in my guitars, but I can do some basic repairs when needed, and have a great technician avaiable if needed. I plan to gain a better understanding of the elctronics in a the Variaxe (starting with the tech I use for other repirs) to determine how complicated they are to work on.

Even if I would not work on it, I would want to be sure I had access to someone who could work on it. The electical on a "noraml axe, is "relatively" basic - but I'm guessing these things can be rather more complex.

That being said, I've been very impressed when I've played a Variaxe (the ability to quickly go to alternative tunings is worth the price alone).
 
Ed Dixon said:
For some younger players, the ugly factor is probably a real issue. As boomtap said, you really can't dress them up much. This probably does affect sales for the 300/500/600 series.

If you want to see good looking Variax guitars, look here:

http://www.guitaristjeffmiller.com/mods.htm

This guy can not only play up a storm, but builds some great looking Variax guitars. Check out the two PRS style instruments Jeff made.

Ed
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Those are cool! Personally, I like the Tele in natural finish.

Note: And for those do-it-yourselfers out there, I saw on the Line 6 website that Warmoth is now offering replacement bodies for the Variax. So you can now get a Variax and have the electronics installed on the body style of your choice.
 
philboyd studge said:
It depends. The electrics as I understand it have a few acoustics on them whereas the acoustic Variax doesn't have any electrics.......something I'd really like. Also, the software isn't out yet for the acoustic.
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Yeah, that is something to consider. Something else to think about is that the electric version can be had for much, much less money. The electric is now available in four different price ranges - the 300 series, the 500 series, the 600 series, and the 700 series. The bass and acoustic guitar models are only available (at least for now) in the 700 series. That would be a serious consideration for me. My guitar chops are limited enough that it would be very hard for me to justify spending more that a grand on any type of guitar, whereas I wouldn’t have any trouble spending that much on a bass.

By the way, one thing that I was NOT able to find on the Line 6 website is a listing of all of the guitar models that are available on the electric version. I have a list of the models on the acoustic version on the Recording mag review that I mentioned earlier. Does anybody have a list of the guitar models that they could share with us, here?
 
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