New Variax

Voxman

When I first saw it I hated it.  But whilst it would never be my personal cup of tea, it's kind of grown on me and I can actually appreciate its design & where Line 6 is coming from, with its marketing pitched more at metal/progressive players.  If it was offered in other colours, I dunno - maybe.  It certainly looks a little different.  But I certainly wouldn't pay nearly £1,200 for it! 

It reminds me a bit of a more angular Steinberger with a headstock:

Bridgehouse

Voxman said:

When I first saw it I hated it.  But whilst it would never be my personal cup of tea, it's kind of grown on me and I can actually appreciate its design & where Line 6 is coming from, with its marketing pitched more at metal/progressive players.  If it was offered in other colours, I dunno - maybe.  It certainly looks a little different.  

It reminds me a bit of a more angular Steinberger with a headstock:

Other colours?

You do realise the emo crowd are already going "meh, not black enough.."

fretmeister

Whether I would pay £1200 for it will come down to how it plays and sounds.

I generally don't care what an instrument looks like.

usedtobe

I quite like the look of it, even though it's not really 'me'. It's well out of my price range, too. 

DartmoorHedgehog

I'm not generally a fan of pointy guitars but I think that looks quite good, apart from the headstock being the wrong way up.

Haven't watched the videos or anything yet so I apologise if this is obvious, but are the electronics new as well or is it just the old stuff in a new guitar shape?  I like the idea of a variax for playing around with but I don't think I'd use it enough to justify having one.

Voxman

fretmeister said:

I generally don't care what an instrument looks like.

Philistine!   

Fortheloveofguitar

impmann said:

Fortheloveofguitar said:

This will bomb and we'll be knocked out at £500-600 a throw come Black Friday 

Will go the same way as the JTV-89 and 89F 

Also expect to find B-stock repair models going cheap as line 6 guitars are glitchy as hell 

ive owned 4 variax models and the Jtv-69 and 2 Jtv-89 models all had software issues within the first 6 months 

Software issues? What issues with the software?

With the onboard software such as:

Tunings not saving

selecting a les Paul/fender etc and getting a banjo or sitar etc instead

Variax mode not engaging so your stuck in standard guitar mode

Battery glitch issues that were software/hardware related 

The list goes on. These JTV models went down on me several times whilst on stage 







 

DiscoStu

But does it djent?

Bridgehouse

Fortheloveofguitar said:

selecting a les Paul/fender etc and getting a banjo or sitar etc instead

This isn't a software issue..

impmann

Fortheloveofguitar said:

impmann said:

Fortheloveofguitar said:

This will bomb and we'll be knocked out at £500-600 a throw come Black Friday 

Will go the same way as the JTV-89 and 89F 

Also expect to find B-stock repair models going cheap as line 6 guitars are glitchy as hell 

ive owned 4 variax models and the Jtv-69 and 2 Jtv-89 models all had software issues within the first 6 months 

Software issues? What issues with the software?

With the onboard software such as:

Tunings not saving

selecting a les Paul/fender etc and getting a banjo or sitar etc instead

Variax mode not engaging so your stuck in standard guitar mode

Battery glitch issues that were software/hardware related 

The list goes on. These JTV models went down on me several times whilst on stage 







 

TBH, they actually sound like hardware failures... I used to run the Line6 UK repair shop so I got to analyse stuff like this for quality improvements. Its cold comfort, but by the time I left/L6 UK closed, the return rate had dropped *massively* due to quality improvements. I'd like to think that they've carried the work on as there are some top people at L6 US...

Those sound like:

On the fly tunings not saving - actuator switch not working or giving excessive 'bounce' command to the DSP confusing it and so defaulting to "do nothing"

Workbench tunings not saving - bad contacts in the VDI socket/bad cable. Its a multiplex connection, so Workbench needs to receive a checksum back from the guitar and back again before it formalises the save process. Any break in connectivity corrupts the checksum and the default is "do nothing"... sadly it wasn't clever enough to tell you that it hadn't completed.

Variax mode not engaging - the knob being pushed too far down the pot shaft meaning that when you push the 'switch' the knob hits the body before the switch actuates.

Model selector issues - bad switches and/or cracked solder joints on the three/four surface mounts on the breakout board. Very easy fix but irritating!

Either way - not great that you've had these and its unusual to have so many faults on one/two guitars. Did you send the guitar back/is it still under warranty? I'm nothing to do with Line6 these days but I'm sure the guys at the service centre in Milton Keynes would help you out.

Fortheloveofguitar

Bridgehouse said:

Fortheloveofguitar said:

selecting a les Paul/fender etc and getting a banjo or sitar etc instead

This isn't a software issue..

Software/hardware it doesn't matter. Bottom line is they're unreliable 

Bridgehouse

Fortheloveofguitar said:

Bridgehouse said:

Fortheloveofguitar said:

selecting a les Paul/fender etc and getting a banjo or sitar etc instead

This isn't a software issue..

Software/hardware it doesn't matter. Bottom line is they're unreliable 

That was an attempt at humour that failed miserably

Fortheloveofguitar

impmann said:

Fortheloveofguitar said:

impmann said:

Fortheloveofguitar said:

This will bomb and we'll be knocked out at £500-600 a throw come Black Friday 

Will go the same way as the JTV-89 and 89F 

Also expect to find B-stock repair models going cheap as line 6 guitars are glitchy as hell 

ive owned 4 variax models and the Jtv-69 and 2 Jtv-89 models all had software issues within the first 6 months 

Software issues? What issues with the software?

With the onboard software such as:

Tunings not saving

selecting a les Paul/fender etc and getting a banjo or sitar etc instead

Variax mode not engaging so your stuck in standard guitar mode

Battery glitch issues that were software/hardware related 

The list goes on. These JTV models went down on me several times whilst on stage 







 

TBH, they actually sound like hardware failures... I used to run the Line6 UK repair shop so I got to analyse stuff like this for quality improvements. Its cold comfort, but by the time I left/L6 UK closed, the return rate had dropped *massively* due to quality improvements. I'd like to think that they've carried the work on as there are some top people at L6 US...

Those sound like:

On the fly tunings not saving - actuator switch not working or giving excessive 'bounce' command to the DSP confusing it and so defaulting to "do nothing"

Workbench tunings not saving - bad contacts in the VDI socket/bad cable. Its a multiplex connection, so Workbench needs to receive a checksum back from the guitar and back again before it formalises the save process. Any break in connectivity corrupts the checksum and the default is "do nothing"... sadly it wasn't clever enough to tell you that it hadn't completed.

Variax mode not engaging - the knob being pushed too far down the pot shaft meaning that when you push the 'switch' the knob hits the body before the switch actuates.

Model selector issues - bad switches and/or cracked solder joints on the three/four surface mounts on the breakout board. Very easy fix but irritating!

Either way - not great that you've had these and its unusual to have so many faults on one/two guitars. Did you send the guitar back/is it still under warranty? I'm nothing to do with Line6 these days but I'm sure the guys at the service centre in Milton Keynes would help you out.

The best one I owned was the old 500 but even that threw a fit every now and then 

With all the JTV faults I spoke directly to line 6 support 

They said they won't even bother repairing these issues and to go back to the store for a direct replacement which was what I did 

The new 69 also went wrong after another year so that was then dead money 

I then purchased 2 89's further down the line. One in black and one cherry. These both had major issues within 6 months. I did manage to get my money back from thomann after I forwarded all the correspondence from line 6. 

To add that my father in law also purchased a 69 from Andersons when they reduced the prices. This also suffered some of the same issues within 2 weeks 

Fortheloveofguitar

Don't think I've got it in for Line 6 as that's not the case 

I've owned lots of their gear over the years and never had a problem but the variax line holds little weight reliability wise 

impmann

Fortheloveofguitar said:

impmann said:

Fortheloveofguitar said:

impmann said:

Fortheloveofguitar said:

This will bomb and we'll be knocked out at £500-600 a throw come Black Friday 

Will go the same way as the JTV-89 and 89F 

Also expect to find B-stock repair models going cheap as line 6 guitars are glitchy as hell 

ive owned 4 variax models and the Jtv-69 and 2 Jtv-89 models all had software issues within the first 6 months 

Software issues? What issues with the software?

With the onboard software such as:

Tunings not saving

selecting a les Paul/fender etc and getting a banjo or sitar etc instead

Variax mode not engaging so your stuck in standard guitar mode

Battery glitch issues that were software/hardware related 

The list goes on. These JTV models went down on me several times whilst on stage 







 

TBH, they actually sound like hardware failures... I used to run the Line6 UK repair shop so I got to analyse stuff like this for quality improvements. Its cold comfort, but by the time I left/L6 UK closed, the return rate had dropped *massively* due to quality improvements. I'd like to think that they've carried the work on as there are some top people at L6 US...

Those sound like:

On the fly tunings not saving - actuator switch not working or giving excessive 'bounce' command to the DSP confusing it and so defaulting to "do nothing"

Workbench tunings not saving - bad contacts in the VDI socket/bad cable. Its a multiplex connection, so Workbench needs to receive a checksum back from the guitar and back again before it formalises the save process. Any break in connectivity corrupts the checksum and the default is "do nothing"... sadly it wasn't clever enough to tell you that it hadn't completed.

Variax mode not engaging - the knob being pushed too far down the pot shaft meaning that when you push the 'switch' the knob hits the body before the switch actuates.

Model selector issues - bad switches and/or cracked solder joints on the three/four surface mounts on the breakout board. Very easy fix but irritating!

Either way - not great that you've had these and its unusual to have so many faults on one/two guitars. Did you send the guitar back/is it still under warranty? I'm nothing to do with Line6 these days but I'm sure the guys at the service centre in Milton Keynes would help you out.

The best one I owned was the old 500 but even that threw a fit every now and then 

With all the JTV faults I spoke directly to line 6 support 

They said they won't even bother repairing these issues and to go back to the store for a direct replacement which was what I did 

The new 69 also went wrong after another year so that was then dead money 

I then purchased 2 89's further down the line. One in black and one cherry. These both had major issues within 6 months. I did manage to get my money back from thomann after I forwarded all the correspondence from line 6. 

To add that my father in law also purchased a 69 from Andersons when they reduced the prices. This also suffered some of the same issues within 2 weeks 

Line6 support said that? That must be fairly recent (ie since April 2015), as I would have had the operative on a disciplinary for saying that as that is totally contrary to what the company line was.

Some of the reduced price guitars were B-stock and customer returns that were sold off cheap - some stores chose not to make that clear in their advertising, I can't remember if Andertons did or didn't. Some of those were ancient and frankly nasty guitars... I wanted to send them back to the contract manufacturer for credit but I was voted down and they were sold off for less than the cost price. Frankly, I thought it hurt the brand... but I didn't make the financial decisions.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience, though. I'm not saying you are alone but the majority of experiences weren't that bad. Like I say, I'm nothing to do with them any more but I still kinda care...

usedtobe

Fortheloveofguitar said:

impmann said:

Fortheloveofguitar said:

 These JTV models went down on me several times whilst on stage 

 

Awesome!

Sporky

richardhomer said:

Sporky said:

It's a metal Musiclander!

Didn't know whether to lol or wiz that - spot on - I thought it reminded me of something (awful).

Well, I like the Musiclander shape, but not the headstock or the hardware, so this is quite appealing to me.

Fortheloveofguitar said:

This will bomb and we'll be knocked out at £500-600 a throw come Black Friday

At £5-600 I'd have one and just throw another guitar in the bin to keep to the 1-in-at-least-1-out rule.

Bridgehouse

Sporky said:

richardhomer said:

Sporky said:

It's a metal Musiclander!

Didn't know whether to lol or wiz that - spot on - I thought it reminded me of something (awful).

Well, I like the Musiclander shape, but not the headstock or the hardware, so this is quite appealing to me.

Fortheloveofguitar said:

This will bomb and we'll be knocked out at £500-600 a throw come Black Friday

At £5-600 I'd have one and just throw another guitar in the bin to keep to the 1-in-at-least-1-out rule.

Feel free to throw one in my bin instead..

sgosden

Stevic uses it really well, I'm not sure I can be that that inventive :P 

Fortheloveofguitar

impmann said:

Fortheloveofguitar said:

impmann said:

Fortheloveofguitar said:

impmann said:

Fortheloveofguitar said:

This will bomb and we'll be knocked out at £500-600 a throw come Black Friday 

Will go the same way as the JTV-89 and 89F 

Also expect to find B-stock repair models going cheap as line 6 guitars are glitchy as hell 

ive owned 4 variax models and the Jtv-69 and 2 Jtv-89 models all had software issues within the first 6 months 

Software issues? What issues with the software?

With the onboard software such as:

Tunings not saving

selecting a les Paul/fender etc and getting a banjo or sitar etc instead

Variax mode not engaging so your stuck in standard guitar mode

Battery glitch issues that were software/hardware related 

The list goes on. These JTV models went down on me several times whilst on stage 







 

TBH, they actually sound like hardware failures... I used to run the Line6 UK repair shop so I got to analyse stuff like this for quality improvements. Its cold comfort, but by the time I left/L6 UK closed, the return rate had dropped *massively* due to quality improvements. I'd like to think that they've carried the work on as there are some top people at L6 US...

Those sound like:

On the fly tunings not saving - actuator switch not working or giving excessive 'bounce' command to the DSP confusing it and so defaulting to "do nothing"

Workbench tunings not saving - bad contacts in the VDI socket/bad cable. Its a multiplex connection, so Workbench needs to receive a checksum back from the guitar and back again before it formalises the save process. Any break in connectivity corrupts the checksum and the default is "do nothing"... sadly it wasn't clever enough to tell you that it hadn't completed.

Variax mode not engaging - the knob being pushed too far down the pot shaft meaning that when you push the 'switch' the knob hits the body before the switch actuates.

Model selector issues - bad switches and/or cracked solder joints on the three/four surface mounts on the breakout board. Very easy fix but irritating!

Either way - not great that you've had these and its unusual to have so many faults on one/two guitars. Did you send the guitar back/is it still under warranty? I'm nothing to do with Line6 these days but I'm sure the guys at the service centre in Milton Keynes would help you out.

The best one I owned was the old 500 but even that threw a fit every now and then 

With all the JTV faults I spoke directly to line 6 support 

They said they won't even bother repairing these issues and to go back to the store for a direct replacement which was what I did 

The new 69 also went wrong after another year so that was then dead money 

I then purchased 2 89's further down the line. One in black and one cherry. These both had major issues within 6 months. I did manage to get my money back from thomann after I forwarded all the correspondence from line 6. 

To add that my father in law also purchased a 69 from Andersons when they reduced the prices. This also suffered some of the same issues within 2 weeks 

Line6 support said that? That must be fairly recent (ie since April 2015), as I would have had the operative on a disciplinary for saying that as that is totally contrary to what the company line was.

Some of the reduced price guitars were B-stock and customer returns that were sold off cheap - some stores chose not to make that clear in their advertising, I can't remember if Andertons did or didn't. Some of those were ancient and frankly nasty guitars... I wanted to send them back to the contract manufacturer for credit but I was voted down and they were sold off for less than the cost price. Frankly, I thought it hurt the brand... but I didn't make the financial decisions.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience, though. I'm not saying you are alone but the majority of experiences weren't that bad. Like I say, I'm nothing to do with them any more but I still kinda care...

Yes that's what I was told by two separate line 6 customer support reps. I assumed it wasn't financially worth repairing faulty circuit boards and easier to replace the whole thing.