I'll let you know better after we use it this weekend, but so far we're blown away. It sounds better than our 410 Taylors, D35, and 0016s through our Bose L1 systems. The 12 strings are out of this world, it covers the mando family from mandocello through mandolin, the banjo sounds better than anything we can do live with my real banjo. I haven't messed around yet to see if I can actually play banjo on it. You can mute out the 6th string, so maybe...

The dobro sounds are killer. It not only capos an octave above and below, but you can change it to just about any kind of open tuning you can think of.

If it works live, this will replace having to drag about half of our instruments on stage with us.

I have some MIDI equipped guitars too (two Godins, and a Brian Moore) and this guitar blows them away as far as accurate tracking. Any MIDI guitar I've tried still had some tracking problems, but since the Variax is not MIDI based there are no tracking problems. It is a great ax for someone that plays a lot of different types of music in the same set.

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Darvin Willhoite
Riva Ridge Recording

[This message was edited by Darvin Willhoite on 04 August 2005 at 03:54 PM.]

The acoustic and the bass guitars are both 700 series, and the Workbench software does not work with them. Line 6 is supposed to be coming out with versions of the Workbench software for them, but to my knowledge it is not available yet. Line 6's website does not describe these very well in my opinion, but it may help somewhat.

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Darvin Willhoite
Riva Ridge Recording

Webb, how does the acoustic model play as far as frettin?

Darvin, how does your 500 play, and can you get a good Tele sound from it?

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Mullen D10 /8x5 / session 500rd/ American Strat Highway 1 model
steelin for my Lord

[This message was edited by Terry Sneed on 05 August 2005 at 07:56 AM.]

I am also under the impression that they have a matching amp that autmatically changes setting with each Variax patch to maximise the qualities of that particular patch.

I have a 500 and am highly impressed with not just the versitily of the guitar, but the quality of the sounds.

However, I must say the none of the sounds in the guitar sound EXACTLY like the guitars they are emulating. They are close enough, and perhaps even better in some cases (The Tele and strat sounds don't have any 60 cycle hum), but when you compare them side by side with the real things, you can hear the difference.

I agree with Mike, the models don't sound exactly like the originals, but enough like them to fool 99% of the listeners.

I have one of the new Line 6 POD XT LIVE floorboards that has a direct connection for the Variax. This unit can be programmed to change the models in the Variax automatically when you change patches. I haven't had time to play with it much, but I think it will be a good companion for the Variax.

The Variax also has some neat Sitar, Resonator, and Banjo sounds that are fun to play with, as well as some pretty good acoustic and 12 string sounds.

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Darvin Willhoite
Riva Ridge Recording

[This message was edited by Darvin Willhoite on 05 August 2005 at 03:48 PM.]

I don't have a 1945 D35 or '38 D'Angelico or any of the other guitars to be able to judge whether or nt they sound like them. All I can say is that it sounds as good or better than any of our Martins or Taylors when they are plugged in.

I like the idea of havin an acoustic, a banjo, and all the other instruments in one guitar.

Terry

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Mullen D10 /8x5 / session 500rd/ American Strat Highway 1 model
steelin for my Lord

It's supposed to be able to run for a short time on batteries for a while without the power supply, but mine cut out when I tried it. Perhaps the batteries were low.

I even tried putting the Peizo on the neck under the first fret. It still made horrible noises every time I stepped on a pedal.

I only use it for recording, and I play it through a black box, into a Neve 1272 preamp, and then into Pro Tools. The only reason I got it is cause my studio is not sound-proofed, and I don't want to have to wait until midnight to record acoustic, when everything is dead quiet.

But to be truthful, my Yamaha acoustic does sound better. It has more warmth and depth, and ringing of the overtones. A real acoustic is more alive sounding.

I use the Variax for all my sessions, and in the context of a mix, it works great, but it does have that "Piezo sound," that to me, is not as nice as recording a real acoustic guitar with a good mic.

The settings are fun to play with. The preset I like best is the dreadnought model. That sounds the closest to the real thing, IMO, and I use it for most of my recordings.

In a studio environment with good mics, maybe a 414 and a good condenser, I am confident that our 410s, D35s, 00018 etc would sound better than the variax.

But, for live, with all the inherent room idiosyncrasies, crowd noise, etc., I think the Variax would win hands down. Maybe not in a room with excellent acoustics, unaccompanied by anything else. But, in all other situations, the Variax is a tough act to follow.

For one, it doesn't feedback period! YOu can finger-pick that guitar over crowd noise and it cut through like a bell with no feedback to deal with.

As my hearing declines, I need clarity and well-defined tone more than ever. I'm almost going insane trying to stay satisfied with piano samples, it's gotten that bad. I've tried every piano wannabe out there and they all come up wanting.

Every once in a while I get my Taylor 410 dialed in to where it is very inspiring and I can play the strings off of it, but from what I can see so far, the Variax is going to prove to be the most sound-reliable of any guitar we've tried. And to boot, you have all the open tunings and uncapoed transpostions you could ever want, and some great 12 strings, Dobros and other instruments thrown in for good measure. All for $1199! I think we'll be buying the 2nd one and a Varibass very soon.

Just having all the tuning options alone will enable us to cut back on the number of guitars we have on stage with us--not to mention save us a ton of string changes, reduce set-up, tear-down and tuning time.

I think they have a winner.

quote:

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Rich and Webb, what I'm hearing you say is that the Variax acoustic sounds as good or better than other acoustics with piezo transducers, but not quite as good as a real acoustic with a good mike. Is that about right?

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That's how I feel.

The piezo sound I refer to is hard to describe. It's a kind of 'brightness', which to me, is different and not as pleasing as say the 'mellowness' of a nice acoustic.

But that's just me. No one would ever know the difference, really. And it is very clear sounding. To lessen the piezo sound I run it through a Black Box first. That helps a bit. And I also use eq plugins to get it to sit well in the mix.