I bought mine used from a rep back in 2001-2002 or so. I used it on a recording in 2004 for the sitar sound, and was happy with the recorded results.

I am a long time professional live player. I have been dragging a Gretsch hollow body, Danelectro Baritone, Gretsch g-tuned, and Tele to gigs and decided I would see about just bringing my Variax last night to the gig.

What I noticed as I used it was

1. an overall thinness of tone, regardless of the model I used.

2. Weird rumbling on the low strings in the baritone setting that I created. (all strings down a fourth)

3. Strange subsonics when I used the tele two pickup setting

4. very peaky resonances on the 12 string ric and banjo models- some notes just jumped out piercingly.

I either do own or have owned many of the guitar models. Yes, I just updated the software with the monkey.  So can someone tell me what's up?  Has somebody created a set of patches that have the same sound onstage as what they are modeling? I am 58, have been playing live since I was 13, and don't think I am imagining this.

BTW, I bought an Axis 212 in the 90's and a Flextone about 10 years ago, and ended up getting rid of them for the same reasons- a hard to describe thinness in all the sounds.

Thanks,

Chuck