[DaveRed]

I'm thinking of getting a Variax 300 and a Spider lll 15 watt amp. Has anyone got any of these or had experience of them?

[allthumbs]

We have 3 or 4 members who have them. Rockerbob has one.

[ken.clark]

I've got a Variax 300 guitar + Variax workbench. It may sound odd, but I bought it because I got fed up with retuning my acoustic.

Now I just keep it in standard tuning, and use the modelling features to pretend its in a different tuning. Tricone resonator in open G, easy; Dobro in open D, just flick a switch; D28 in DADGAD, childs play.

I mean yes it emulates Les Paul, Tele, Strat, 355, Firebird, Coral sitar and I use 'em sometimes, but I mostly use it an acoustic (thru an amp of course, well a modelling amp, modelling is the way to go. Yes its an emulation but 90% is good enough for me

Regards

Ken

[Stratrat]

The Variax looks like a cool guitar. Never tried one but the versatility seems like it would be fun to play with.

I'm not a big fan of the Line6 Spyder amps. I ordered one when I got back into playing and it arrived DOA - had to ship it back. I've since played a couple (and had to listen to them ev-er-y time I go into Guitar Center!), and the digital modeling sounds too harsh and over-the-top to me. IMO, the Roland Cube series or Vox AD series have a more natural sound. However, if you're into that gutted, mid-scooped thrash metal sound, that seems to be the market the Spyder amps are aimed at.

Just my .02, YMMV, etc.

[DaveRed]

Since posting that a couple of months ago I got a Variax 300, and the Spider amp and they are a great combination. As ken.clark says the guitars modeled will never be 100% but they're pretty damn close. With the workbench you can add, take away, re-arrange pickups, change bodies and tunings which can be fed into the guitar and they stay there until you decide to change them. Overall I'm very impressed. I'd recommend the Variax wholeheartedly. It gives you the chance to play the sounds of 25 vintage guitars that otherwise most of us would never have the chance to do.

[Rockerbob]

I have a Variax 700 and a Vetta II. I like it a lot.