OK, we're cool now. 

My iPad is Wi-Fi.  No way I'm paying AT&T for lousy service.  I really AM cheap (MIDI Mobilizer is the only piece of gear mentioned that I paid retail for).  Wi-Fi works great most everywhere I go.

Yeah, I'm anxiously waiting for Rig Remote.  Announced almost a year ago and demo'd by Marcus Ryle himself, and then it disappeared . . .  I really hope it isn't vaporware.  When (if?) I get it I'll mount the iPad horizontally in my rack (I'll need a bigger rack) and everyone in the audience will know which guitar model I'm playing!  Best advertisement for the Variax ever!  Line 6, are you listening?  Now if I could just get my GR-33 to show a saxophone up there, and the X3 Pro to show the amp model . . .   Any software developers reading this?  You can run commercials in between songs. Someday all amps (and guitars) will come with a 10" color display.  I plan to have that before the end of this year.

BTW, I looked up "wireless 13-pin" because that, along with the rackvax, would accomplish what you want . . .  and found this quote:

"I don't know of anyone doing this, but it's certainly possible. I'm thinking two RMC fanout boxes, 7 transmitters, and a belt powerpack oughta do it. Take your 13 pin cable to the RMC fanout box, plug in a transmitter to each of the 6 string outs (and your pickup out for 7). Take the 7 receivers, fan them back into a 13 pin cable with the second fanout box. If your pickup system uses phantom power from the 13 pin cable, you'll have to rig up a battery pack too. I think you could do this for about $4,000." 

if you got by with 1 guitar since the dawn of time. . . why use a variax at all? I would think most variax players are a bit more adventurous or else they wouldn't buy a modeling guitar.

 

 

I didn't say I got by with "one guitar since the dawn of time..." I quite clearly stated "one guitar at a time"

MOST guitar players have no real need or desire for multiple SIMULTANEOUS guitar sounds. I understand that you do, and I wish you luck with that.

And what is so adventurous about wanting to have a bunch of the greatest CLASSIC, TRADITIONAL VINTAGE guitar tones of all time at your disposal? So far a willingness to put up with a weird looking guitar that doen't really feel great in your hands has been the only requirement for Variax ownership, no adventurousness necessary. Line6 put that 1/4" output there for a reason, don't you think? How many Variax owners would there be if they came with VDI only? The correct answer was "next to none". Sure, I would still have my Vax, and you probably would too. But the vast majority of Variax guitars would have gone unsold.

Line6 is not marketing Variax exclusively to Vetta and Pod owners, they are also marketing it to Marshall/Fender/Mesa etc. amp guys, and Fractal/Digi 11/ whatever brand modeling guys, and to anyone who wants a bunch of great guitar tones all in one package.

As for Variax players being "adventurous"... ummmm, you play in a cover band, right? I know you said you cover ZZ Top/La Grange... what other songs do you cover? Which one requires the "Strat position 2 + simultaneous 12 string" setting? I know from seeing his Youtube vids Mr. MerlinFL covers some Bon Jovi, some Alannah Myles, some Stevie Nicks... that's all cool and more power to you, I am not too good at learning other people's music myself so I admire that ability but... it doesn't seem particularly "adventurous" to me.  Variax has been around for around 8 years now, who are the cutting edge Variax players that are doing something really groundbreaking?

Or are Variaxes being mostly used by people in cover bands and in recording studio settings to emulate classic, traditional sounds?

EDIT: I HOPE AND EXPECT THIS TO CHANGE WITH THE RELEASE OF THE NEW SEXY JTVS AND LATER THE VARIAX II and some high profile players. I want Variax to be super popular and Line6 to be hugely successful at everything they do, more success means more innovation and more cool new Line6 stuff for me to use in the future.

Have you ever had to do a lot of switching guitar models during songs rather than between? How do you do that with your antique 1/4 inch cables?

As I mentioned previously, I personally use the VDI OUTPUT ONLY on the Variax and never the 1/4", so yes I can change any model with a footswitch at any time.  And as I mentioned previously, MOST Variax players just use the 1/4" output and will continue to do so in the future, as MOST Variax players do not currently and will not in the future own a Line6 product with VDI connectivity - assuming Line6 continues the current policy of leaving VDI off of most of their products - if Spider Valve had VDI I would have probably puchased one by now, as it is I am waiting for Vetta III.

MOST guitarists do not need to switch guitar models 5 times in a song, and MOST guitarists do not need more than the two custom banks featured on the Variax. For those like you and I who do want this kind of functionality the VDI cable along with an XTL X3 or Vetta and a footswitch already works flawlessly.

It is great that you don't like wireless because it eats batteries. . . but my variax eats em way quicker and has no indicator as to when they will die.

That is soooo weird... my Variax doesn't eat batteries at all - mine must some special model or something. I don't think it even has any batteries in it at the moment, if it did I wouldn't care whether they were dead or alive as with my Variax I use VDI OUTPUT SOLIAMENTE, NO BATTERIES REQUIRED

And even if I weren't using the VDI, my Variax came with this funny looking little box called an XPS, I would definitely use that thing before I would EVER trust a guitar to make it through a show on batteries.

Why have a VDI at all? Why have VDI on the last 2 PODS that were released?

 

What percentage of guitar players control their rig via midi? Why bother with midi then?

Like I said before, VDI wireless will happen when there is a big enough market to support it. Currently that market seems to be 2 guys. Are you two guys willing to pay $10,000 each for a VDI wireless? Because if you are I will gladly build you each one. Or go ahead and build your own. Or just keep harping about it here, I don't care... it is actually kind of humorous. See there, you are funnier than you thought you were!

I agree with you in part on the midi issue, if not for occasional necessary firmware updates, Line6 Edit, and my using my Vetta as a Workbench interface WHY BOTHER WITH MIDI?

I certainly never use midi for patch changes or real time control, my Vetta has a dedicated cat 5 connection for the pedalboard that handles all of that.

Is your point that you also need a midi wireless system? Don't know why someone would need a midi wireless when a cable works just fine... but I am pretty sure that midi wireless already exists

I bet there are more guitar players using wireless than having 6 AA batteries in their guitar or having a proprietary power supply and stereo cable as a requirement.

So you are saying you think wireless systems outsell Variax guitars?  I don't doubt that at all. Anecdotal evidence that would lead me to believe this to be true: I have actually seen guitarists live in person and on television using wireless systems, but I have NEVER seen anyone other than myself playing a Variax (I think in part this is because I only go out to see original acts and not cover bands, I don't go to church and the only recording sessions I ever make it to are my own). And I personally know some people who use wireless but I don't know anyone else who owns a Variax. Wireless is cheap and easy to come by these days, and it is true some guitar players want wireless... maybe 1% of all guitarists worldwide by my guess, but that is still a bunch of people and I will agree with you it's probably more than the total number of people who have shown any interest in Variax thus far.

I would also bet there are more Variax players using batteries and regular cords on their 1/4" outputs than Variax players using VDI cables and XPS combined. And all those people can use a regular wireless. And only a small percentage will choose to. Because only a small percentage of any group of guitarists want or think they need wireless.

People make fun of me for a lot of things . . .using a wireless. . . . uhm no. . . .except for today;-)

 

 

I can, like you talk about the negatives of wireless but once you have used a wireless that doesn't screw with your tone, no funny noises, no drop outs, no tangled mess, no yanking amps to the ground. . . . it is hard to go back.

 

Having to go back so as not to lose one of the coolest things about using vax with pod. . . . .sucks.

For the record, I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST ANYONE WANTING OR USING A WIRELESS. I just do not think it is necessary in the least.

I do think that it looks pretty silly when I see a guitar player standing 5 feet from their amp onstage with a big goofy wireless receiver on top of their amp, and yes I have to chuckle when I see someone doing this, but whatever makes you feel like a rock star is fine in my book. Constantly dealing with batteries is pretty lame IMO so I would never want anything in my own personal live rig that depended on a battery, Variax included. Wireless = not for me, not for maybe 99% (still just a guess) of the world's guitar players, you like it = great, maybe if you are a squeaky enough wheel here you will get the Line6 grease you so desperately desire even if it means Line6 loses thousands of dollars on the deal... and if you do eventually get what you want then good on you man, good on you...

Have you ever walked up to step on a pedal for a solo and step on your cable and yank it out of the guitar so instead of solo you get silence? I have.

Have yoe ever learned your lesson so you looped the cable around your strap. . . only to then yank the cable out of the amp? I have.

I have totally done all of that! See, we have some things in common

I learned to also loop my cable around my amp handle or stand, to not position my amp more than 20 feet from my pedalboard so my cord will reach easily (seriously, how big are the stages you are playing on? 20 feet is a pretty long distance), to not carry my Vetta II combo by the handle so the handle doesn't fall off and send the amp crashing down a flight of stairs again, to always unplug my guitar when it is not strapped on so no one will trip on the cord and bring it crashing down and break the neck off (didn't happen to me but to a friend with an expensive custom electric violin, i was fortunately able to learn that lesson from seeing his mistake)

I can walk out front and check how it sounds out there as opposed to 5 feet infront of my amp.

Yep, I can totally do this with a cord too. Seriously, 5 feet? I would never try to play a gig with a cord that was only 5 feet long... if all guitar cords were only 5 feet long I would just break down and buy a wireless already, at least to use during soundchecks

How many guys. . .besides variaxlover and I need a midi interface for our iphones to do sysex backups of midi devices?

Need? Maybe almost zero. Want? Maybe tons, I really couldn't say... Do I need one? Hadn't thought about it... I have a little quicky 60 date tour coming up starting in a few weeks, I am already planning to take a laptop and my Midisport Uno interface so I can reflash or reload my settings in case my Vetta or Variax decide to take a dump on the road... if I had an iPhone and no laptop I suppose the phone midi interface would be an attractive alternative. Do I NEED all this stuff? Don't know. Haven't had a problem with my rig yet, guess it could happen so I am preparing for the worst but as far as "needs" go... even if I lost all data and had no backup options I could always easily use any old backup guitar or amp - seriously, I don't think even the mighty Billy F. Gibbons himself absolutely NEEDS five different amp/guitar combinations to make it through La Grange live, so I think I could make it through my own silly little songs with just one decent guitar and one clean/one crunch tone in a pinch.

Speaking of iPhone guitar stuff, that Amplitube iRig thingy looks interesting - might be incentive  to buy an iphone to use as a backup amp...