Line6 Variax Standard Review

She's a model, and she's looking good....

Rating:

A swiss-army knife for the gigging musician, without the boutique price-tag. 

Introduction:

I bought a Variax Standard in 2015 in the Yamaha Centre in London soon after it came out - My JTV-59 was having problems and I had come to rely on being able to switch tunings and guitar types mid-gig. I thought it made sense, as I had the JTV-59, to get something in a strat shape, to go with it. I tried the JTV-69 and actually found that I preferred the playability of the Variax Standard and went with it.

I did have a few moments pause though - why wouldn't I want to buy a guitar designed by the famed James Tyler rather than what is essentially a mass-market Yamaha Pacifica with the Variax technology inside? Well in the several years I have spent with the JTV-59 I came to the conclusion that the best thing about this guitar is the models and the ability to change tunings on the fly. The worst things about it were the things that James Tyler brought to the table:

(1) The truss rod uses a metric hex key, while the bridge height is adjusted by imperial. This totally eccentric decision on Tyler's part led to a few weekends of messing around hardware stores trying to find whichever one it was I didn't have. This seems to be simply playing to some idea that making a crazy design decision like this somehow makes the guitar more 'boutique', like a craft beer that tastes of feet.

(2) The intonation for the strings is adjusted by hex keys that are on the INSIDE of the bridge - making it impossible to adjust the intonation while the strings are on the guitar! Yes - you have to take the string off, tweak, then put it back on, tune up, check it, then take it off again to tweak some more! Why on earth, other than sheer perversity, would any guitar have such a terrible design?

Anyway, those two major annoyances with the JTV-59 made me more than happy to go for the Variax Standard.

The Guitar

So what do you get? Well, you get the same exact modelled sounds as in the JTV series, but in a perfectly respectable Pacifica-esque guitar that stays in tune (though I'm not a dive bomber on the trem), with ordinary strat-type adjustment screws that will be familiar to everybody. In analogue mode, it has 3 single-coil Stratocaster pickups and a 5-way switch, just like any Strat clone you've ever played. It's not a guitar that will satisfy the type of online cork sniffers who make youtube videos of themselves strumming G on badly-tuned 8000 dollar guitars to see if ash sounds 'spankier' than maple, but it's solid. I've played hundreds of gigs with it - and it always sounded good and stayed in tune.

In any case, part of the point of the Variax idea is that you don't need some boutique guitar made of hardwood that has been personally bathed in Hendrix's pee - the guitar just needs to be a blank platform for the modelling that goes on afterwards. So speaking of that - how is the modelling? Well, it's as good as the JTV in the sense that any digital thing sounds exactly like any other. But as with any other guitar, much of how good it sounds is about the setup.

Guitar Controls:

The Variax uses a 5-way switch just like a Stratocaster. When using the analogue pickups it functions just like any Strat, including the 'quacky' in-between positions. In digital mode, the 5-way switch switches between the virtual pickups of each modelled guitar type. The guitar types cover all the normal bases from Telecaster to Strat, to Jazzboxes and Acoustics, all with names that make it easy to guess what they are. You choose which type of guitar you're playing with a stepped rotary switch that lights up when you press it in to boot up the digital side of the guitar. Once in digital mode, the 5-way switch chooses between the various virtual pickups in the same way. For most of the electric guitars, position 1, 3 and 5 correspond to the Bridge, Bridge + Neck and Neck positions of one modelled guitar, and then postions 2 and 4 are the Bridge and Neck of another guitar in the same family:

Beside the model selector switch, there is another stepped rotary switch that selects the tuning for the guitar, covering most of the usual altered tunings such as Open G, DADGAD, etc. You can program your own tunings and save them in any slots of your choosing.

Workbench Software

The guitar comes with a USB interface to allow you to connect the guitar to our computer so that you can customise its sounds with Line 6's Workbench software. In Workbench, you can make your own Frankenguitars using any combination of pickups, body shapes, tone and volume pots and tunings you can imagine - e.g. a Jazzbox with Stratocaster pickups on it, or a Les Paul with out-of-phase pickups like Peter Green. You can save these into any of the 5 pickup positions of the Custom 1 and 2 models - meaning you have 10 spots for your weirdo guitars, which is more than enough for anyone.

The Models:

T-Model: Telecaster

Positions 1,3 and 5 on this model give you the 3 positions of a standard Telecaster. It takes you from the twang of a Tele bridge pickup to the round mellow tone of a Tele neck pickup quite well. Positions 2 and 4 of this model do the bridge and neck of a Tele with Wide Range Humbuckers.

Spank: Stratocaster

Here is the Variax's biggest let down - There is something in the modelling of the strat since the 1.9 update that is just wrong - tinny and pathetic and lacking in any balls. It is not just bad, it is actually broken. It seems that the problem is in the modelled body rather than the modelled pickups. The best solution I have found is to replace the Strat body model in Workbench with the Masonite Plank (Danelectro) and keep the pickups the same.

Alternatively, if your just playing in standard tuning, turn off the modelling and just use the magnetic pickups of the guitar.

Lester: Les Paul

Models a 59 Les Paul with PAFs and does so very well. This is my go-to electric guitar sound on both of my Variaxes.

Special: Les Paul Special

Models a Les Paul Special with p90s in positions 1,3,5. Does a Gibson Firebird neck and bridge in the other 2 -Firebird neck is nice for Bluesy 'Woman Tone'.

Rbilly: Gretsch

Models a Gretsch 6120 in the 1,3, and 5 - and sounds very nice - I use it for playing Scotty Moore licks with slapback delay and it does the job nicely. Positions 2 and 4 do a Gretsch Duo Jet and get the percussive feel quite nicely.

Chime: Rickenbacker

Models a Rickenbacker 370 in positions 1,3,5 and is great for that early 60s vibe. Positions 2 and 4 do the neck and bridge of a 12 string Ricky for those Byrds/early Beatles moments. For any of the 12 string models, the Variax is essentially mixing in a slightly pitch-shifted version of each string to fake a 12 string sound. This can sound a little unnatural at times - so I tend to reduce the mix of the pitch-shifted strings in Workbench by a little to make things sound a little more natural.

Semi: Gibson Semi

Gives you a Gibson ES-335 in positions 1,3, and 5 and does so well - good for jazz noodling or rocking out. Also, gives you an Epiphone Casino in positions 2 and 4. I don't use these models much as I'm usually rocking with the Les Paul and Swingin' with the next model in the list, the...

Jazzbox: Gibson Jazz Guitars

Give an ES-175 in the 1,3,5 position and a Gibson Super 400 with P90s in the 2 and 4. I found that out of the box these models were set up to be very dark (which I realise is kind of the point with Jazz guitars) but I found in a live gig a little more treble was necessary so as not to disappear in the mix altogether. I changed the pots toa higher values in Workbench to allow more highs to bleed through. Once this was done, the Jazzbox gives a lovely round jazz tone.

Acoustic: Acoustics

Here's where things get interesting and the potential of modelling really shines. Let's face it, most of your audience won't notice the difference between an ES-175 or a Les Paul model, but the will notice when they hear a nice full acoustic tone coming out of an electric guitar.Once again the acoustic models are nice but can need a little setting up to work perfectly.

Position 1 is a Martin D28 and should serve well as your go-to acoustic tone. It's fine, though there is a slightly metallic twang to this model, that almost sounds as if it's being played through a guitar amp. I'm not sure why. Position 3 gives you a Martin 0-18 Parlour guitar and is a very pleasing middy sound that cuts through a mix nicely. Position 5 gives you a Gibson J200 which I find is very heavy on the low-mids. It needs some radical cutting in the 250 Hz range to be usable on stage without clogging the mix up with mud but sounds good once that's done. Position 2 gives you a Martin 12-string and Position 4 a Guild 12-string. Both sound better with a low-mid cut and the mix of the pitch-shifted strings turned down a little.

My Favourite Variax Acoustic

So having mentioned that the Martin is too metallic and the J200 too boomy for my tastes, I have found that the best acoustic sound to be gotten out of the Variax involves a little tweaking in Workbench: I take the body of the Martin 12-string and turn the mix of the pitch-shifted strings down to zero and save it in one of my custom slots. This gives me a nice balanced acoustic model, with nice top-end sparkle and exactly the right amount of low-end thump to provide a rhythmic foundation for a live gig. Again I always cut out 150-250 Hz quite radically to clear up the mud.

Reso: Resonator Guitars

Position 1 gives you a Dobro Model 32 - with that gritty old-school radio speaker sound that they have, nice for blues. Also, the one glaring addition to the acoustic section in the Variax was a model of a Maccafarri guitar for Django-lovers - this model serves me well when I'm playing a bit of Minor Swing.

Position 2 gives you a coral sitar for instant curry-shop vibe, and does so very well, though I can't say I've ever used it in a gig.

Position 3 is a model of a Danelectro Shorthorn for those Kashmir moments. Nice, but not hugely different to any of the other electric guitar models (might have been a nice slot to put a Maccafarri model in).

Position 4 is a Gibson Mastertone Banjo model. And while actual bluegrass boys would probably run you out of town with pitchforks for calling this a banjo, it gets the vibe well enough that it can be used to add some Deliverance to a mix. This also serves as a more extreme resonator sound.

Position 5 is a model of a National Resonator guitar - and contains the metallic spankiness in the top end that you'd want it for - this model usually has people squinting at me when I break out some blues on it. Though being a resonator, it doesn't have much low end to it - which is nice to have if you're the rhythmic foundation of a solo or duo gig. In this situation, I find this model can actually benefit from a boost in the bass frequencies at 30 - 60 Hz.

Some general reflections on the Variax Series:

I got into the Variax thing because I play a lot of gigs where I need both acoustic and electric sounds and alternative tunings - and need to be able to take one guitar to a gig as I travel on the bus. I have been using a Variax exclusively for the past few years, and am not sure what I would do without it now. The versatility really is useful for the gigs that I play - and I would feel almost handicapped without the ability to play in open G whenever the mood takes me, or switch from a resonator to a Tele.

Getting the best out of any Variax guitar:

Extremely low action can stop strings from ringing out enough and make a guitar sound thin. As with any good guitar, a pro setup is the best place to start before trying any of my tips. Maybe mention to your tech that the guitar will be playing Fauxcoustic sounds as well, so they can take it into account. As to strings, if you string it with 9's the electric models will sound fine, but acoustic guitar models will sound better with thicker strings. Now you probably don't want to put 12s on an electric guitar, as you'd break your fingers trying to bend a string. My compromise was to string it with Ernie Ball Skinny Top / Heavy Bottom strings - this enabled me to get the percussive 'chunk' in the bottom strings on the acoustic models, while still allowing me to bend on the top 3.

In the early days, I paired the Variax with an HD500 to create what Line6 called The Dream Rig - practically any guitar amp, cab and effect you could possibly think of. And while this was great for the electric sounds, I was never quite happy with the acoustic sound and got very frustrated trying to get the sound I needed on its tiny LCD screen. Onew day I picked up a Behringer 7-band eq pedal on eBay and plugged it into that - bumped up the 8K a little and cut out the 150, and there it was, the acoustic sound I'd been trying to get out of the HD500 for a year.


I upgraded that pedal to a comprehensive 10-band EQ with 10Db of cut and boost and consider this pedal the key to good acoustic sound on the Variax - I adjust it constantly as I play gigs, cutting mud and boosting sparkle as needed for the different models. Remember the Variax models of the acoustic are essentially what those guitars would sound like if you just stuck a mic in front of them. They need EQ to be used live, and the HD500 is not really designed to do that well. Which tends to mean it's not the greatest guitar for just rocking up to an open mic night and just plugging in. Jacked directly into a mixer with no EQ, the acoustic models will sound pretty dull and lifeless.

A minor aesthetic point - the Variax Standard is actually quite a pretty guitar once you get over comparing it to the correct Stratocaster shape. Mine is the sunburst version with the black pickguard. To make mine a little easier on the eye - I replaced the blindingly white pickup covers with some cream-coloured ones I got on Ebay, giving the guitar a nicer, more vintage look. With my old, now fixed-up JTV-59, some old matte look pickup covers make it look prettier than open coils in my eyes.

All things considered, the Variax Standard manages to keep everything that was great about the James Tyler Guitars, while ditching some of the sillier 'Boo-teek' features and should serve you well as a gigging musician for years with a little love and attention. Still though Line 6, couldn't you have come up with a more inspiring name?