Community: Message List - Operation of Variax 500, 600, 700 Tone Control. Sounds thin full up.

Re: Operation of Variax 500, 600, 700 Tone Control. Sounds thin full up.

support@line6.com — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 06:13:36 GMT

Hi,

I have a Variax 500 as well and notice the same thing.

Here is my explanation:

from 5 to 10, the tone control of the Variax mimics a "variable cable capacitance".

It shifts down the virtual "resonant frequency" of your virtual pickups, making them beefier sounding, as if you were adding a length of cable (and the related capacitance) between a guitar with passive pickups and the input in which you plug it.

Explanations about resonant peaks of guitar pickups, if necessary (scroll down in order to see the graphs showing how capacitance changes the tone):

http://buildyourguitar.com/resources/lemme/

A cable is a kind of giant capacitor. Typically, each foot of cable adds 50picofarad to the circuit and lowers the resonant frequency of the pickup.

When the cable is long enough (around 6m / 1000 picofarad), the resonant peak of the pickup falls in the range enhanced by most guitar loudspeakers: the sound becomes creamier and apparently louder. IOW, the cable reacts as a passive mid enhancer...

Here is another link about it:

http://www.ovnilab.com/articles/cables.shtml

The tone pot of the Variax mimics this effect, while a regular tone pot with a "real" pickup does nothing else than flattening the resonant peak from 10 to approximatively 3/10. You can see it here:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/the-tone-garage/stop-ignoring-those-knobs/

FWIW: my answer is based on hundreds of actual tests with "real" magnetic pickups and on extensive experiments with my Variax (IOW: it's not a supposition; it's something sure IME).

HTH,

Re: Operation of Variax 500, 600, 700 Tone Control. Sounds thin full up.

support@line6.com — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 01:21:08 GMT

I was thinking that it could be looked at as kind of a tonal shaping feature as well. While it kind of isn't traditional and is unintentional, it can be nice if you want to cut the lows a little bit.

The ONLY downside I can think of honestly is if you want to roll back to full tone really quickly. Like I said, the only thing you can probably do is obstruct it to not pass 8, but it's probably annoying to do.

Re: Operation of Variax 500, 600, 700 Tone Control. Sounds thin full up.

support@line6.com — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 21:55:46 GMT

Happens with my (left hand) Variax 500 as well. I have always greeted it as a kind of a bonus, like a 'mid boost' with just a slight roll of the tone pot. It is easy to notice with the Les Paul model as well.

I have a feeling that this 'feature' came with one of the software updates, or at least I noticed it after one of the updates. If I had the energy, I could test it as I think I have the all the different firmaware versions on hard disk (most likely the can be found from L6 downloads too..

Re: Operation of Variax 500, 600, 700 Tone Control. Sounds thin full up.

support@line6.com — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 13:31:14 GMT

if you mean me, we aren't official line6... we are just knowledgable users. that's pretty much all that you'll find on the forums...

i do have a 600, i could test with, but haven't got alot of time at the moment.

Re: Operation of Variax 500, 600, 700 Tone Control. Sounds thin full up.

support@line6.com — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 03:10:55 GMT

Hello Line 6. Anybody home???

Re: Operation of Variax 500, 600, 700 Tone Control. Sounds thin full up.

support@line6.com — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 05:00:09 GMT

That request was to The RealZep

Re: Operation of Variax 500, 600, 700 Tone Control. Sounds thin full up.

support@line6.com — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 22:50:03 GMT

Huh? I did, I'm just agreeing that it sounds thinner above 8, like there's a bit of a bottom end roll off when you push it above 8, while 8 is full high end to full low end.

I just marked my tone knob to point at me when it's at 8 if I want to dial it in perfectly fast.

The only physical fix I can think about in theory is maybe dabbing some glue material on the knob and guitar to hit eachother when you're at 8 if you don't want to pass 8, but other than that you'll just have to deal with it, cause they're not going to update old variaxes anymore.

Re: Operation of Variax 500, 600, 700 Tone Control. Sounds thin full up.

support@line6.com — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 04:30:47 GMT

TheRealZep: Try it out and let us know what you find.

Re: Operation of Variax 500, 600, 700 Tone Control. Sounds thin full up.

support@line6.com — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 04:18:00 GMT

That's pretty crazy. I notice the bottom end thinning when going above 8 too. I just marked the knob to point at me when at 8 with a marker in case I want to roll back up quickly.

Re: Operation of Variax 500, 600, 700 Tone Control. Sounds thin full up.

support@line6.com — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 01:37:20 GMT

Looks like it was asked and left unanswered at least once before here by user Jclose:

Jul 26, 2009 1:08 PM

Calibrate tone knob

The tone knob on my variax 500 rolls back down at the full setting. The attached post discusses calibrating the selector knob and seems to include calibrating the tone knob as well. If this is the correct procedure to calibrate the tone knob? If so, must all knobs (volume, tone and selector) be calibrated or can I just do the tone knob? I'd prefer not to mess with the ones that are working fine.

http://http://line6.com/community/docs/DOC-3857#