Variax - a bit meh?

Sporky

Nah. Still that awful expensive and flimsy 13-pin cable. And really hard to work with your feet...

Keefy

I had a Variax a few years ago. None of the modelled electric guitars sounded as good as a cheap version of the real thing. Also I used one of the Jazz Box models on a big-band gig and couldn't get rid of the bright piezo top end. The one electric model I really liked was the bridge-and-middle setting on the 3-pickup Les Paul - unfortunately the loveliness of that sound disappeared when I updated the firmware to allow me to use the PC editor!

Where it did do well was as a fuss-free way of recording acoustic guitar and banjo - it sounded way better than a mid-range piezo-equipped acoustic (except for the 12-string model, which was shite).

Funkfingers

Sporky said:

really hard to work with your feet.

Other extremities are available.

Jez6345789

Funny how our experiences differ I used mine endlessly for recording and despite it was a cheapy I had it set up, sanded and reshaped the neck a good bit and it played well enough. Ultimately if you compare them to the real thing they do not sound that good but in the context of a mix they sounded just fine to me I have also seen people play them live and again in a band in a pub setting they were fine. YMMV

axisus

Ok, so I've been playing around with it on and off all day, and I think that my initial post was a tad harsh. If you play around with your amp (or in my case axefx), and use sounds more sympathetic to the guitar in question it is a lot more fun. I was rather enjoying it by the end of the day. Transplant back on I'd say!

stickyfiddle

richardhomer said:

Sporky said:

richardhomer said:

As I’ve said in other Variax threads - surely the trick is to have the electronics in a floor board, with good displays and an intuitive user interface - with piezo saddles that can be retro-fitted to popular guitar designs.

So a Roland VG-88..

Yes

Gibson actually gave the guitar-end of that solution a good shot before all the Firebird X nonsense, but they never quite worked out what to do at the processing end to enable the user to do anything interesting with it.

http://www.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Les-Paul/Gibson-USA/HD-6X-Pro-Digital-Guitar/Features.aspx

Sporky

That's probably the best looking LP in history.

impmann

Interesting to read customer experiences.

The Roland thing was imho shite. The VG’s tracking was atrocious and the pickup is terrible for picking up any nuance of your playing, meaning that you end up with a cartoon sound. Bends were never convincing and vibrato just sounded odd. I agree on the convent thing to a point - ruined by too many menus and options. And that shitty cable... fail.

Someone made comment that ‘half’ the cost of a Variax was the electronics - and the rest. We used to get loads of complaints about the cost of replacement circuit boards - and that the cost of the electronics if bought as parts to repair a guitar (especially the lower end ones) would be greater than the retail price of a new guitar... to which the answer would be “yes, how are you enjoying your free guitar?” In seriousness, the v300s had ridiculously cheap guitar ‘chassis’ but with some work, they could be made to play very well. Tuning issues were ALWAYS down to the nut made from solidified cream cheese. The frets were a bit soft too...

The later JTVs were a quantum leap in terms of build quality as they were built side by side with PRS SEs by the same folks using same wood, paint and processes. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the neck shapes - I’m not a Tyler fan (sorry James but those Strat type necks just feel odd to me) and they were a bit marmite in the market place. I also found the 59 to be a bit heavy in general - but tbh, there is a LOT of mahogany in it.

For me, my fave was always the 700 Custom. Built by Fujigen, they were excellent quality but let down by the tech that was available. The necks were lovely and were super-stable. I’ve built a custom guitar for someone who had the guts of a JTV59 and wanted the 700 chassis. It took a lot of routing (not by me - I did the electronics) but imho, it was the best Variax I ever played. It was helped by having Seymours and a Ghost pickup system mounted in a Strat trem unit (six screw).

As for the sounds - Steve Howe has used Variax from day one live and in the studio. I’ve worked on all of his Variaxes and he is very particular about the code revisions on them. He also has a 24fret semi-acoustic custom built  Variax that I helped with - it was going to be a signature model but it got canned. As he has said to me, the sounds need the correct EQ to get the best from them. Plus they are closer to the *recorded* sounds of these guitars rather than the live sounds - especially the acoustics. Whether or not they sound better or the same as guitar ‘x’ is moot - perhaps, a better marketing idea would have been to have distanced them a little more from the vintage guitars, to avoid direct comparison. Because there are some very useful sounds in them that can work well in a mix.

’Meh’? Well, tbh, I don’t own one any more - as I have a load of ‘real’ guitars and don’t need the versatility. But having played literally 10,000s of them in my professional life I’d say they are better than that.

With an exception - the V300 acoustic range. Awful. End of.

Sporky

impmann said:

Interesting to read customer experiences.

The Roland thing was imho shite. The VG’s tracking was atrocious and the pickup is terrible for picking up any nuance of your playing, meaning that you end up with a cartoon sound. Bends were never convincing and vibrato just sounded odd. I agree on the convent thing to a point - ruined by too many menus and options. And that shitty cable... fail.

I think you're confusing the VG series with the GRs. I used a VG-88 for years with a couple of bags and for recording. It doesn't "track" at all - it processes each string independently. Vibrato and bends worked perfectly, and the alt tunings were far better than the Variax.

Either that or you had a broken one, but the above wasn't my experience and I used the VG a lot.

axisus

For me the biggest Variax problem is still the guitars. All the originals looked absolutely horrible, the Tylers are much better but to be honest not to my taste. I still think that they should just sell the Gubbins to anyone who wants it.

stickyfiddle

Sporky said:

That's probably the best looking LP in history.

I knew you'd say that as soon as I found the picture

usedtobe

Never played one, but always been somewhat fascinated with them. Heard one in a live band context a few years back, and thought it sounded pretty good, though..

normula1

I quite like my 500 as a guitar. I did try a load of them before buying it though. It's by no means a PRS, but by no means is it as bad as seems to be being made out here. As for sounds I find it helps if you visualise the model of guitar you are playing and therefore play accordingly. Maybe, it's just me, but I play a 335 style guitar differently to a Strat. I couldn't quantify the difference, but I know I do.

monquixote

axisus said:

For me the biggest Variax problem is still the guitars. All the originals looked absolutely horrible, the Tylers are much better but to be honest not to my taste. I still think that they should just sell the Gubbins to anyone who wants it.

You can get the bits in a Pacifica now.

mark123

i had a early one and all the models sounded the same to me also sounded like a blanket over my amp ,probs just me doing something wrong   

uncledick

John McFee in the Doobies uses a Variax set-up live.  It doesn't match up to Pat Simmons' Valley Arts / Boogie rig but not much would.  

ICBM

I don't have any problem believing that the sounds would work well in a recording or even a live mix through the PA. I just found them obviously inferior to even a very cheap version of the guitar being modelled - I A/B'd it with a Squier Affinity Strat and some sort of bolt-on Epiphone Les Paul - when playing it into an amp. Cartoonish and lacking responsiveness.

I agree with impmann and what Steve Howe said - the sounds are more like a recording of the guitar than playing the guitar itself - but why? Surely if you're playing a guitar, you want it to respond like a guitar. The idea that the sounds could be improved by editing them via a computer is also puzzling - if so, why didn't they come like that in the first place?

Sporky

ICBM said:

The idea that the sounds could be improved by editing them via a computer is also puzzling - if so, why didn't they come like that in the first place?

You could say the same about after market pickups...

ICBM

Sporky said:

You could say the same about after market pickups...

Not really, because they're more expensive. The puzzle is why, if the Variax can be programmed to give better sounds, did they not do that originally? It would have been cost neutral.

It's not just Line 6, to be fair - it's almost always a complaint with any programmable modeller or multi-FX.

Sporky

That's certainly true.

The VG-88 posts were hilariously bad.

The UD Stomp is the only such thing I can think of that had really excellent presets. I've had mine fur a decade and still can't work out how some of then work, even with every parameter exposed...