Line 6 Variax

Post by **Lunkhead** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 7:44 pm

Does anybody have any personal first-hand experience with a Line 6 Variax guitar? I just saw they have one that's $500, which makes me more curious about the product line than the >$1000 models that I'd seen previously. The demos on their site sound pretty good.

Adam! · Post by **Adam!** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 10:15 pm

Hmm... never heard of the Variax before.

*Google*

OH MY GOD!

EDIT: Clarity.

Post by **Lunkhead** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 1:55 pm

Hm, does that mean:

1) I should just use Google to find out about it? If so, I did that already, and I was further looking for some first-hand experience from SongFighters to add to what I learned from a Google search, if possible.

or

2) You just googled it and thought "OH MY GOD this is awesome!" If so, yeah, it does seem like it could potentially be pretty amazing. That's why I wanted to try to find out more.

ken · Post by **ken** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 5:38 pm

I've played one at guitar center before. It wasn't amazing, and let me tell you, it isn't just the sound of a Les Paul into a Marshall stack that you want, it's the feel.

Ken

obscurity · Post by **obscurity** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 5:38 am

Well, I just bought myself a variax, and a PODxt live to go with it. Sounds fucking awesome to my ears, and feels way better to play than any other guitar I've owned (but, to be fair, I've never owned a good guitar).

Expect some R'ingTFO from me sometime in the future.

Hoblit · Post by **Hoblit** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 6:36 am

Holy wow...obs bought an actual guitar.

whoah.

Kamakura · Post by **Kamakura** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 12:21 pm

Buy a modeling amp rather than a modeling guitar. Then you can use it with whatever guitar you feel happiest with, rather than having an 'all the eggs in a basket' thing.

I've got a zoom fire 30, which is good, cheap, and sounds great with both accoustics and electrics.

Märk · Post by **Märk** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 12:26 pm

obscurity wrote:Well, I just bought myself a variax, and a PODxt live to go with it. Sounds fucking awesome to my ears, and feels way better to play than any other guitar I've owned (but, to be fair, I've never owned a good guitar).

Expect some R'ingTFO from me sometime in the future.

Cool! Which model did you go with?

Leaf · Post by **Leaf** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 12:26 pm

ken wrote:I've played one at guitar center before. It wasn't amazing, and let me tell you, it isn't just the sound of a Les Paul into a Marshall stack that you want, it's the feel.

Ken

Abso-fuckin-loutly.

A buddy of mine just got a marshall half stack. I have a rocktron digital modelling amp (the taboo 100...they dont' make just the head anymore) and it's going into some jenson speakers in a beringher cab...hey ...I got a family to feed.

Point is, my tone WAS kickin his ass...until he got this amp. It's not just the sound..its the feeling in the room when the cab starts vibrating... it's fuckin unreal.

So, yeah, seconded. I need a new amp now... fuck.

Sober · Post by **Sober** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 1:42 pm

Ok, I just listened to every demo track on the website.

It sounds pretty good to me, although I'm not overly impressed with the acoustic sounds. The thing I wonder about is if the guitar will give you the same problem that the amps do: sound great by themselves, but put them on a stage or in a big mix and they get lost. Line 6 is notorious for people loving it in the store and at home, but hearing it on stage or in a mix and returning the amp.

At any rate, cool obs. Now let's hear it.

obscurity · Post by **obscurity** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 3:14 pm

Hoblit wrote:Holy wow...obs bought an actual guitar.

whoah.

What, you think I have something against actual guitars?

obscurity · Post by **obscurity** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 3:17 pm

Kamakura wrote:Buy a modeling amp rather than a modeling guitar. Then you can use it with whatever guitar you feel happiest with, rather than having an 'all the eggs in a basket' thing.

Wouldn't that also be putting all my eggs in the same basket, but with the additional constraint that the eggs must all come from the same hen?

obscurity · Post by **obscurity** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 3:25 pm

Sven wrote: Cool! Which model did you go with?

I got the Variax 300. I'm not a good enough guitarist for the difference between it and the 500 to matter much, and when I realised that if I got the 300 I could also afford to get the podxt live, I was convinced (the podxt live can connect digitally to the variax over cat5 cable, which means that not only can you store the variax's settings with the pod's settings and change them all at the push of a pedal, but also the signal chain is entirely digital from the moment the variax's A/D converters process the signal right through to when it hits the hard-drive).

obscurity · Post by **obscurity** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 3:27 pm

The Sober Irishman wrote: At any rate, cool obs. Now let's hear it.

Oh trust me, you will. But not for a while - I need to practice my guitar playing some first. I'm rustier than iron oxide.

Hoblit · Post by **Hoblit** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 9:21 am

obscurity wrote:
Hoblit wrote:Holy wow...obs bought an actual guitar.

whoah.
What, you think I have something against actual guitars?

Not that so much as that we've heard/seen you promote/defend the guitar programs so much over the last couple'a years. So it's a WOWZER to see that you invested in an actual guitar. (However digitally enhanced it is)

Good for you and I too look forward to hearing it. I know that Line6 products rock and make my tele-squire sound like a real punk rawk guitar!

obscurity · Post by **obscurity** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 11:57 am

Hoblit wrote:
obscurity wrote:
Hoblit wrote:Holy wow...obs bought an actual guitar.

whoah.
What, you think I have something against actual guitars?
Not that so much as that we've heard/seen you promote/defend the guitar programs so much over the last couple'a years. So it's a WOWZER to see that you invested in an actual guitar. (However digitally enhanced it is)

Well, this IS the 3rd guitar I've bought, so it's hardly breaking any new ground. And I've still got the love for a good guitar vst and expect to use them heavily in the future. This just gives me more options for the things I can't do with a vst (such as feedback etc.).

Sober · Post by **Sober** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 5:34 pm

"Cool guitar. Why'd you buy it?"

"So I can get feedback."

Awesome. I love you, obs.

the idiot king · Post by **the idiot king** » Fri May 26, 2006 7:10 am

i agree with the feel thing. i got to play both the guitar and bass at the aes convention this past october, and i wasn't terribly impressed. i mean, you could use the whole "it sounds fine in the mix" argument, but if you're doing a guitar based song, i think the results will be lacking something.