Is the Line 6 Variax any good?

In this video i test our a Line 6 variax 300. I go through most of the electric guitar models as well as the acoustic guitar models. These are audio samples that are recorded straight into my audio interface just as you would play this guitar live.

I am only going out of my stomp in Mono only. I wanted to make this as close to a live situation as I could.

Audio interface used: Behringer UMC404HD

Camera Used: Nexigo 4k webcam

[vintageandmoderneffects]

I have a 700 electric. Amazing axes, can use it for anything. Don't know what I'd do without Oh yeah, buy another one!

[GraemeSPa]

I bought a 600 in 2007 and used it with a POD XT floor unit plugged straight into the PA - I gigged with it for years. When I bought it I realized that one day the fancy electronics would die and I would be left with a plank with strings on it, but that day hasn't come yet. Over the years I had it crap out once in high humidity outdoors, one piezo died (LRBaggs sent me a few freebies), the output jack needs cleaning every so often, but after 18 years, it still works and does what I want it to do. It plays and feels like a Stratocaster and although it doesn't attract as many glances as my Les Paul Custom, it can sound like a Custom - and a Strat, and a Tele, and a 12 string Rickie, and a Martin Acoustic, and can drop tune to open G for Stones numbers. Line 6 had it cracked with this idea.

[peterworam]

I have that exact guitar but the guy I bought it from put a 600 neck on it, which is a lot nicer than the stock neck with that weird headstock. The stock neck is not bad by any measure though. I also have a Variax 700 in cherry red with the trem, which was my work horse for a while, and a bit of money pit; I had to replace the main board 2x due to malfunction, and also put planet waves locking tuners (AWESOME UPGRADE FOR THE TREM) and graphtec ghost saddles in it (definitely louder, questionable whether or not it was worth the investment . I have a current gen Variax Standard (basic model strat body) the I "upgraded" to not too long after it came out. As the OP stated, they are great if you are in a cover band. Don't expect them to sound as good as the original models, or play similarly. That said, you can get some good sounds out of them with software editor. Biggest difference between the current gen and the old models is the latency and acoustic sounds, also the convenience of having tuning options on a separate knob. I don't really need any of them anymore now that I don't have a gigging situation, but I have a hard time selling them. If I was ambitious enough to put mags in the 700, I would probably sell the standard and 300.

[tracyblair]

I've been using a 300 as my primary recording guitar for years. While it's great with stock settings the real power is building custom presets with Workbench.

[lost_valley]

These are great guitars in my opinion, It's unfortunate they were discontinued, I suppose that's because they are not for beginners or people that just need one guitar tone so they never grew in popularity. I have a jtv 59, it doesn't nail every guitar it tries to emulate but it sounds good enough in a mix for the average listener. I'd say it's the perfect guitar for budget Producers.

[lynnglidewell]

There's a Rickenbacker 360 E12 string you didn't even play. What a waste. The most sought feature of that Guitar. I thought you could have used a more recognizable classic tune rather then what you selected. It makes it difficult to tell how I like any of it. Play something your grandfather would know to. It would make a difference.

[scify]

is that your own riff? the first on 2nd sounds a bit 'wild thing'

[derekstone]

i started with the 300 and ended up buying a jtv 59. i have had a few issues with both but it turns out that just a breakdown and clean with contact cleaner has done the trick before, had to switch a piezo on my g string on the jtv but overall this is the perfect guitar, especially for recording as a one man band. play your rhythm track, get your rhythm seciton filled out with the drop a whole step feature and turn it into a bass and all is good. its the perfect recording tool. along with riffworks by sonoma wire works, the two of the products i menition here are many years old now bvut if youve never tried either...any variax and riffworks by sonom wire works, from the bottom of my soul i advise you em out, no bs they are just fun and the coolest way to record ive ever seen in my life and thats no bs!

[simonverkerk]

Like your sound and t-shirt. Hope Dealer

[ianedmonds]

I bought the exact same guitar bout 3 weeks ago and since getting I've played little else. It feels OK. Not like a high end guitar but it's totally respectable.
I really miss the trem. Other than that it's a revelation. The tones available are amazing, I A/Bed with a strat I've put a lot work into and it sounds better.
The weird stuff is also cool. 12 strings and alternate tunings and the Sitar is awesome.
This guitar is a bargain for what I paid for it. About £200 which wouldn't even buy you a plain old guitar of this quality IMHO.
Powering it is a bit problematic. I folded and bought a second hand Line 6 XPS A/B.
I'm now into the guitar for about £300. Still feels like a bargain. Can't wait to record with it.
I'd love to add a trem but the piezo pickups means that would be very hard.
Maybe another solution out there.
Epic bargain great sounding Uber flexable guitar.
Luv and Peace.

[guitarmeggedonit]

Picked up a red one; closeout in 2008 for $270! Never have regretted it.

[BoughtByTheBlood]

THIS IS JUST SPOOKY!!! 👻👻👻

My Boss just "loaned" (YEAH! He's never gonna see this thing again! 😋) me his old 500 model Variax a couple days ago.

I'm absolutely brand new on guitar, only been playing a couple weeks, but the neck on the 500 is as sweet as cherry pie & I'm really digging the versatility of all the different sounds it has.

I have no reference point to compare the different models to, except for my Dad's old Tele, which it copies well enough I can tell it's copying a Tele. I won't say it sounds "just like" my Tele - which is fine, I've been wanting new pups FOREVER - but I was really impressed that it sounded so good. I'd be perfectly comfortable leaving my Tele at home & just using the Variax when I play out next time.

I think the Variax sounds a little "tinny, " which could be caused by the yucky 4-year-old strings it still has on it, but overall I'm really enjoying it & it livens up my practice sessions, so I'm really happy with it.

My biggest beef with my personal guitar is the pup selector knob pulled completely out of the guitar the first time I ever played it. The selector knob still works fine, but it pisses me off that it only took such a tiny nudge to break the most important pot on the whole guitar. What the heck! Hopefully I'll be able to get it repaired for cheap. Maybe I'm just spoiled. I could use my Dad's Tele to chop wood & it'd be just fine.

The other thing that I never understood is why Line 6 didn't start making the Variax with actual pups until so much later down the line. Having real pups just makes so much common sense. But, like I said, Line 6 fixed that problem a long time ago, so this is a moot point now.

Get one if you get the chance.

[guyfeldman]

The resonator model is also great...surprised he didn't think so.

[Fromagreatheight]

I got a Variax JTV 69s and a Variax 600. The 600 currently needs new piezos but I got them in the mail now. Gonna fix it up and put new strings and see if there's anything I like about the older models than the new models when using it for sounds.

The new Variaxes with the HD modeling have more high end in the modeling, but some of the models sound a little different than before. I think the old modeling is still useable if you want to just mess with sounds. Just depends on what you're looking for.

[rocketrose]

I use a JTV 59 and love darn thing. It has the ability for alt tunings on the fly and custom tunings that I use all the time. To be able to go from standard to Keith open G and Nashville with a switch is just awesome. I suppose I could play When the Levee Breaks without this instrument but it just wouldn't sound like the record.
The best part is only having to bring one guitar not three or four to a gig.
I probably use the acoustic 12 string the most but I'll sneak some sitar and banjo in there when it fits.
I bought mine from Guitar Center for $750 a couple of years ago and wouldn't trade it for any other guitar. Well, maybe the Belew Parker Fly

[Twominutedevotions]

The varix 300 was the base model. It was designed to be a low-cost alternative. Variax 500 was actually the first model. The first generation was just called variax and would become the 500. I’ve owned two of the first generation, which were both fantastic, and being a Strat guy, when the 600 came out I had to have one at any cost. The build quality on the 600 and the 700 and even the 500 were all great. Easily MIJ quality on the 500, and the variax 600 easily competes with an American deluxe Stratocaster. it was only needing a set up. I have had to replace the saddles due to Piezo issues, I’ve had the guitar for nearly 20 years and it still is my go to for almost everything. I really want to obtain several of the guts of the first run of variax and build 2-3 custom ones out of kits. One being a Floyd rose with piezo saddles, and the other two being a 335 style and finally a tele thinline style. One day I will take on those projects. The other cool thing that I’ve seen is people building the electronics into a rack unit or pedal and using that instead of the guitar itself. It was an idea that was 20 years at least ahead of its time. but if you can get past the desire to flex with stunning high, priced instruments, 90% of people wouldn’t be able to tell whether you were using this or the real thing on a recording. especially if you paired it with modern modeling and impulse responses

[BeesWaxMinder]

I've had about seven of these including the bass version

For what it's worth here's my history, briefly and my opinions...

I was doing sound for a band where a father and son were the only two guitarists. Dad had a wonderful vintage Les Paul custom three pick up going into a 1960s vox AC 30 and the sound was to die for!
His son was playing a Variax through a line 6 (I believe VETTA?) Amp

Straight away the son had way more versatility but his TONE just could not compete with the "real thing"
After the soundcheck and before the audience arrived, out of curiosity, purely, I asked them to switch sides and take their guitars with them:

The vintage Les Paul through the line 6 amp's AC30 emulation lost a lot, I have to say but wasn't half as bad as the real thing…

The Variax through the vintage Vox really opened up and had a much much better sound and suddenly I began to appreciate that maybe Variax was a worthy instrument, after all!

When listening in isolation on its own practically every sound Variax produces seems perfectly fine however when compared with even a basic, say Squire or Epiphone, etc, then suddenly there was a loss of richness and somewhat of a disappointment -especially when one considers the price difference, however I find that in a live gig or a averagely busy mix suddenly such distinctions disappear...

I'm the type of person who gets very in-depth with tone and enjoys YouTube videos like this, for instance but you must remember that 90% of anyone listening to a 'REAL GUITAR' wouldn't know whether it was a Telecaster; a Stratocaster or Les Paul! Heck, they probably wouldn't know the difference between a hollow body and a solid body from sound alone


Where the original Variax failed IMHO was that it was launched in an era obsessed with retro and relics and it's sounds spread across two extremes with nothing in the middle. By that I mean the sounds are either very Conservative and likely already available to most people looking at the Variax (no one would buy this as their first electric guitar for instance) OR they were just bizarre and wacky instruments that weren't really related to Guitar at all and too Avant Garde for most tastes

There was an anonymous gap inbetween where they could've copied small-run; unusual; home-made &/or Japanese pre-lawsuit era axes that people might not have easy access to and the few that did were annoyed at the playability of such instruments


As a footnote many people try to transplant these guitars (I've had fun doing the same myself!) Because they hate the playability of them when in fact they're just as good as most intermediate guitars and also people hate the look of them which I just don't understand because I think they look fantastic!

If Fender, frinstance, had come out with them including a magnetic pick up or two people would be hailing them as a future classic!

[jonesvox]

Great demo…..please omit your background license free music. It’s almost unbearable

[marcelvereycken]

Have the variax standard. Many different and clear sounds, good playability and nice wellmade guitar. Only negative point is the battery. When guitar cable is plugged in the battery drains very quicklĺy. Have searched for a long time to find the external power supply but line 6 has stopped the production. Definitely I found a second hand one on "Reverb".

[robertclarkguitar]

Really cool. A friend mentioned maybe sending me one of these. I was looking into them. I play mediocre yet as I'm an old drummer that took up guitar late. Hahah. I like ambient stuff and gilmourish. I make up little tunes. I think this is a solution for me as it offers unique variety. Thanks