Variax Guitars.....Dream come true?

krissovo · #1 June 13th, 2006

While looking at a Line 6 amps on their website I found that they sell guitars as well but not as we know it.

For about $500 I can buy a guitar that at the flick of a switch or a turn of the knob I have a range of guitars that I can only dream about including Stat, Les Paul and telecaster to name a few. Also with some software you can create your own custom guitar by choosing and placing pick ups, body types, the list goes on and on.

http://www.line6.com/variax/overview.html

There are no visible pickups and it uses electronics to produce the sound and from a few reveiws I looked at the sound is ment to be very close to the real thing. Again for $500 I can in esence have a collection worth $20,000.

Is this too good to be true? Should I concider the electric Variax 600?

They also do a range of acoustic guitars that come close to Martin and taylors

737blues · #2 June 13th, 2006

There was a guitar show here in Melbourne a couple of months ago and Line6 had a stand with half a dozen variax's plugged into the Line6 stomp box and a pair of studio headsets. I got my mitts on one and had a ball, they had to fight me to get it back. I thought It's a very nicely made guitar and the on-board sounds are a lot of fun but once the novelty of playing with all those sounds wears off, it's going to seem pretty expensive IMHO. Remember it only electronically emulates the sound of all those guitars.

cshude · #3 June 13th, 2006

Guess it all depends on how and what you play. I looked at one when I visited Sweetwater music and from what they told me, it is amazing how close they got to replicating those classic guitars. I'm thinking about getting one myself down the road here.

krissovo · #4 June 13th, 2006

I have a varied music taste and what I like to play is even more varied so that is my motivator. I like playing rock and in that category what I am playing now is White Stripes, Nirvana, bloodhound gang, beetles and the Who. I could go on but there is a mix of guitars there already in that list also I am starting to experiment to find what I like but I am too shy to spend say a day in a music shop trying loads of guitars when my ability is still beginner. I would also like to start on Blues and get really into that as well.

There is also a couple of good acoustic settings on that guitar to boot

737blues · #5 June 13th, 2006

The acoustic and in particular the 12 string, were by far and away it's best features IMHO. Almost worth the dollars just for that.

P.S. Krissovo, don't be shy. Particularly if you're serious about spending that kind of money on a guitar. Take your headphones, borrow theirs, get someone to demo it. If the shop complains about that, go elsewhere.

allthumbs · #6 June 13th, 2006

500 bucks is not really that much in terms of an electric guitar. If I had the bucks, I would buy one. The nice thing about them is that the company is always doing upgrades which can be downloaded. Rockerbob has one. They are getting so popular that third party businesses aer starting to spring up. There is a site that offers different style guitar bodies routed out to fit the variax electronics.

737blues · #7 June 13th, 2006

Unfortunately they are considerably more than that here AT, even allowing for the exchange rate. Give it a while for the street price to come down and I might buy one too. Sometimes happens here that when something is new and hot, but not very available yet, the dealers really inflate the price. The 700 I tried to 'steal' at the show had a price tag of almost three thousand dollars on it, Suggested retail-AUD. (So, about US$2200)

Rockerbob · #8 June 13th, 2006

I have a Variax 700 electric. I couldn't take the cheaper feel of the 500, and the 600 wasn't out when I bought mine. Anyway, I love it. It sounds great and does indeed give more versatility than any other guitar. I have done the bulk of my electric guitar recordings with it for the past couple years. I have a few sample posted on my website:

Rockerbob's Variax Demo

krissovo · #9 June 13th, 2006

Very impressive thanks for sharing, in fact one of the sounds I have been trying to nail down is the Lester. They all sound great......well not sure about the sitar though!

The acoustic versions sound great too especially the 12 string.

The 700 looks much nicer than the 300 or 600 so I might have to plan for one, in fact looking at the site the is a stunning red one with black veins running down.

737blues · #10 June 13th, 2006

Yeah, it was a 700 I got my mitts on and like I said, I had a ball with the guitar. It was very nicely built and played well. I've just got to wait for the price to get real here in Oz.

Rockerbob · #11 June 13th, 2006

I have used the sitar in at least a couple recordings and it worked out great for what I wanted.

SkyNet · #12 August 17th, 2006

http://www/microsoft.com

Sorry. I was just posting a message saying I still couldn't post links, but tried it again and it worked....

Sky

737blues · #13 August 18th, 2006

Yep, it certainly works Skynet .... not quite sure why you want to link us all to MS (

) though, especially now that you're self aware.

allthumbs · #14 August 18th, 2006

The 300 is certainly less well put together than the 700, but I wouldn't say no if I found a good deal on them. The online upgrades are a great feature. I have heard from friends who have them that the foot switch is worth the extra bucks. These are so popular that 3rd party sites are offering different body shapes for the electronics package.

SkyNet · #15 August 18th, 2006

I guess I truly am evil

Who knew

lol