Birthday Present?

Ugly Bunny said:
AS @la szum said, the Variax is a great tool. I do not like the guitar, but being in a cover band where I need all the tunings, all the kinds of electric and acoustic guitars all at once without having to bring 3 or 4 guitars to the gig is a dream. I own the JTV-59 (the Les Paul). It's not a TERRIBLE guitar, but it's nothing to write home about. It's a perfectly solid guitar and everything you'd expect in the sub $1200 price range. It doesn't feel like a premium guitar, but it gets the job done.

I would never go for the Shuriken since it only have a bridge mag pup. I use my Variax with the electronics turned off regularly. I think the actual guitar sounds a little better than the LP model. Well, not really, but here's the deal: Palm mutes sound like trash on these guitars when you're using a model. There's a chirp/plink that you can't dial out since, in the end, you're using piezo pups when you've got the modeling engaged. It's still usable in a full-band context, but jamming alone or for recording, you're gonna notice it.

So yeah; the TLDR is that they're decent guitars IF YOU NEED it. It's my least favorite guitar and I miss using my favorite guitars for gigs, but it's just too damn versatile as a tool to give up loL!
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You sound EXACTLY like my friend. Or he sounds like you. It's quite literally a verbatim breakdown of
the Variax I have heard from him for a while now. It's like a convenient, no-strings attached sexual
relationship. It's just too damn easy to not take advantage of it when it is right there for you when
and if you need it. ;)

Just a week or so ago he was "I think I am going to ditch the Variax." Then he doesn't. :)

Oh, and he rides on the mag pups as much as he can. It's not much, though, given all the
Drop stuff we play and then he spends about 1/3rd of the time on an acoustic. Like I said,
too damn easy. :)
 
Jipps0525 said:
If you haven’t yet, try the chad huskey mega bundle. I use his presets and get barely any plink
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I have it. I wasn't too impressed - I can't say I can really hear a difference and the plink, to my ears, isn't changed even slightly. I've messed around with Workbench HD extensively and there's no settings in there that would minimize the plink. But, of course, this is just my experience and opinion. I've been gigging it for over a year now, I think, so it's not deal-breaking. I just prefer - if I'm playing stuff that requires chugging/palm-muting - to use the mag pups, especially if there's a chance the plink will be able to be heard. In a full-band context, it's pretty well minimized. but again, playing by yourself? It'll drive you nuts and you won't be able to unhear it... like that high-pitched sound in the dang Boss AC-3 that can't be dialed out no matter what lol!
 
Ugly Bunny said:
there's no settings in there that would minimize the plink.
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You might try some different picks. Like a very different shape, material, or thickness. It makes me wonder if the designers only developed the guitar with one kind of pick, different than what you use, and failed to test for others. A piezo is a lot to overcome though, so maybe even something as drastic as a pick change wouldn’t help, but it may be worth a try!
 
Ugly Bunny said:
AS @la szum said, the Variax is a great tool. I do not like the guitar, but being in a cover band where I need all the tunings, all the kinds of electric and acoustic guitars all at once without having to bring 3 or 4 guitars to the gig is a dream. I own the JTV-59 (the Les Paul). It's not a TERRIBLE guitar, but it's nothing to write home about. It's a perfectly solid guitar and everything you'd expect in the sub $1200 price range. It doesn't feel like a premium guitar, but it gets the job done.

I would never go for the Shuriken since it only have a bridge mag pup. I use my Variax with the electronics turned off regularly. I think the actual guitar sounds a little better than the LP model. Well, not really, but here's the deal: Palm mutes sound like trash on these guitars when you're using a model. There's a chirp/plink that you can't dial out since, in the end, you're using piezo pups when you've got the modeling engaged. It's still usable in a full-band context, but jamming alone or for recording, you're gonna notice it.

So yeah; the TLDR is that they're decent guitars IF YOU NEED it. It's my least favorite guitar and I miss using my favorite guitars for gigs, but it's just too damn versatile as a tool to give up loL!
Click to expand...
This has made me never want to get a variax again.

I play in a cover band, and no matter what guitar I'm playing for which song, which with amp model I use, which IR I use, etc. - nobody cares.
They hear the song in their head, and the scream like drunk maniacs....because they are drunk maniacs.

The alternate tunings - I understand that's not so simple. But I have found that overthinking the tone for cover gigs does not yield any better results.

Back to the OP - if you like the mag pickups in the Variax better than the models....then get a guitar with just mag pickups.
If you have a Les Paul, try a Strat.....if you have an Ibanez, try a Tom Anderson.
Get out and try something new, there are lots of killer guitars out there that are a dream to play.
 
State of Epicicity said:
You might try some different picks. Like a very different shape, material, or thickness. It makes me wonder if the designers only developed the guitar with one kind of pick, different than what you use, and failed to test for others. A piezo is a lot to overcome though, so maybe even something as drastic as a pick change wouldn’t help, but it may be worth a try!
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Yeah, can't un-piezo a piezo. :)
 
I feel that if something gets in your head as a player or a performer then it matters. Might not
amount to a hill of beans with anyone else, but if something is off tonally, or their is a niggling
bit of latency, or your monitoring is off, then it can really rob you of being free to let your mind
go and just play.
 
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BBN said:
This has made me never want to get a variax again.

I play in a cover band, and no matter what guitar I'm playing for which song, which with amp model I use, which IR I use, etc. - nobody cares.
They hear the song in their head, and the scream like drunk maniacs....because they are drunk maniacs.

The alternate tunings - I understand that's not so simple. But I have found that overthinking the tone for cover gigs does not yield any better results.

Back to the OP - if you like the mag pickups in the Variax better than the models....then get a guitar with just mag pickups.
If you have a Les Paul, try a Strat.....if you have an Ibanez, try a Tom Anderson.
Get out and try something new, there are lots of killer guitars out there that are a dream to play.
Click to expand...
I just havent had that experience. Maybe the issue varies from guitar to guitar but mine is great. Like i said i def want another variax
 
Jipps0525 said:
I just havent had that experience. Maybe the issue varies from guitar to guitar but mine is great. Like i said i def want another variax
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Nah, my other guitarist had two Variaxes and they both had the same issue mine had. He couldn't hear it, though, so take that for what it's worth. Then again, some people can't hear latency in the Drop or Virtual Capo or otehr poly pitch shifting. We're all differently sensitive to different things.

la szum said:
I feel that if something gets in your head as a player or a performer then it matters. Might not
amount to a hill of beans with anyone else, but if something is off tonally, or their is a niggling
but of latency, or your monitoring is off, then it can really rob you of being free to let your mind
go and just play.
Click to expand...
Exactly.

BBN said:
This has made me never want to get a variax again.

I play in a cover band, and no matter what guitar I'm playing for which song, which with amp model I use, which IR I use, etc. - nobody cares.
They hear the song in their head, and the scream like drunk maniacs....because they are drunk maniacs.

The alternate tunings - I understand that's not so simple. But I have found that overthinking the tone for cover gigs does not yield any better results.

Back to the OP - if you like the mag pickups in the Variax better than the models....then get a guitar with just mag pickups.
If you have a Les Paul, try a Strat.....if you have an Ibanez, try a Tom Anderson.
Get out and try something new, there are lots of killer guitars out there that are a dream to play.
Click to expand...
Eh, I wouldn't eschew it entirely. It's a great tool if it's something you need, but if you just play at home or are willing to mold the song to fit your tuning in a cover band (versus the other way around), then there's no need for it. It's a great tool, not a great guitar; but truth be told, I haven't played one of the American-made ones and they may actually be superb instruments.

I just wish Line 6 would release the Variax tech to be installed in your favorite guitar, not constrained to their middling guitars.
 
Ugly Bunny said:
I just wish Line 6 would release the Variax tech to be installed in your favorite guitar, not constrained to their middling guitars.
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I have seen guys pull the guts out and install them in nicer guitars. Something I thought of doing,
but that piezo plink/ping and the latency when using altered tunings drove me nuts so I never
went anywhere with it.

As I recall, since the tech is the same, most of them were buying older 300s and 500s and using them
for the Variax and then dropping it some really nice axes.
 
Jipps0525 said:
Hey All,

I turn 30 in a few days which is obviously a big deal! Im very tempted to buy myself a new variax as backup to my other variax. I come here looking for some words of wisdom and some solid funny quotes to convince me
To purchase the guitar. Hope this isnt too corny! Cheers !!
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My philosophy (one of many), get the thing you don't have when you splurge. Backup items are too pedestrian.
 
Jipps0525 said:
Hey All,

I turn 30 in a few days which is obviously a big deal! Im very tempted to buy myself a new variax as backup to my other variax. I come here looking for some words of wisdom and some solid funny quotes to convince me
To purchase the guitar. Hope this isnt too corny! Cheers !!
Click to expand...
Happy B-day, and wishing the best to a young guitar slayer, Don't know variax, but there's no substitute for 6 solid strings and a FAS modeler. Ditch your Variax search and get a FM9 is my chime in...
 
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