RobertAllan Posted February 24, 2018 Share Posted February 24, 2018 Hey. SO i baught a Variax Standard summer 2016 and so far ive been quite happy with it (i only use it for homestudio work), yesterday the guitar just sort of died while i was recording something (lost sound and signal), i had charged the battery the day before which made it weird, but anyways i just plugged it in the charger hoping that would fix it. Well, its now been blinking for 17 hours straight and when i put it in the guitar the back lights up then dies imidiately..As the batteries are kind of expensive (too me atleast) i want to make sure before i end up buying a new one.. SO i seem to remember that the variax is still playable without the battery but that to access the different models you have to have battery, but when i plug in the guitar (with or without the battery) the guitar makes NO sound at all, and acording to my daw its like its not even plugged in..Is my guitar ruined?? OR is it "just" my battery?? Please help a Norwegian out :) Edit: Also tried pressing the round flush black button next to the lights, it lights up all four for about 2 seconds then they all go black.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbr13697 Posted February 24, 2018 Share Posted February 24, 2018 I recently bought a Variax Standard and the charger was faulty from new. The light kept flashing repeatedly, or just stayed on without the battery being in the cradle. The retailer exchanged it. The Variax will work without a battery, but only if you are using the VDI cable interface. If you are using a jack cable, it must have a battery in to function in Variax mode. However, it should work in magnetic mode through a jack cable (i.e. as a normal electric guitar) regardless of whether there is a battery. The fact that you get 4 lights on the battery check implies that the battery is OK. I would certainly check your cables first. If you are connecting to a DAW you must be using the VDI and interface in some form. If this is connecting, the Variax should be powered via the VDI. The signal chain is the first place to start. You can substitute the VDI cable with any computer ethernet cable. Try a different USB cable, port on your computer, or different computer. If you are using an interface of some sort, substitute in the Variax VDI USB Interface that came with the guitar. Also check the guitar plugged into an ordinary amp via a jack cable, with the battery in. If it works in Variax mode, there can't be anything wrong with the guitar or battery. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertAllan Posted February 24, 2018 Author Share Posted February 24, 2018 I recently bought a Variax Standard and the charger was faulty from new. The light kept flashing repeatedly, or just stayed on without the battery being in the cradle. The retailer exchanged it. The Variax will work without a battery, but only if you are using the VDI cable interface. If you are using a jack cable, it must have a battery in to function in Variax mode. However, it should work in magnetic mode through a jack cable (i.e. as a normal electric guitar) regardless of whether there is a battery. The fact that you get 4 lights on the battery check implies that the battery is OK. I would certainly check your cables first. If you are connecting to a DAW you must be using the VDI and interface in some form. If this is connecting, the Variax should be powered via the VDI. The signal chain is the first place to start. You can substitute the VDI cable with any computer ethernet cable. Try a different USB cable, port on your computer, or different computer. If you are using an interface of some sort, substitute in the Variax VDI USB Interface that came with the guitar. Also check the guitar plugged into an ordinary amp via a jack cable, with the battery in. If it works in Variax mode, there can't be anything wrong with the guitar or battery. turned out i had just tuned the volume down on the guitar so it works fine without the battery in. BUT are you saying that the battery is fine based the fact that it lights up? im thinking guarantee-wise its a 2 year old guitar and charger so prolly wont get any help there, but what can i try if you think the battery is fine? I have other electric guitars so obviously the draw towards variax was to have access to all the models in one guitar... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertAllan Posted February 25, 2018 Author Share Posted February 25, 2018 Or anyone else for that matter..The fact that my battery lights up is that saying its okay and its the charger thats the problem? Or is my battery shot? Or what? Any ideas?? what can i try?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbr13697 Posted February 25, 2018 Share Posted February 25, 2018 The lights are a battery check. They will light up momentarily when you insert the battery, or when you press the small button next to the lights. 4 lights means a full charge - less means partially depleted. If you got 4 lights the battery is OK and fully charged. You can test this by plugging in to an ordinary guitar amp using a 1/4" jack cable (with the battery in and VDI disconnected) - all the Variax models should work. The unexpected light display from your charger could just be because you tried to charge a battery that was already fully charged. My experience indicates that the chargers can be a bit glitchy. I would just leave it until your battery needs charging again. You can then try recharging it. It may be fine, in which case you don't have a problem at all. If it doesn't recharge after a few attempts, you could consider getting a new charger, but you are not there yet. Given that your original problem only arose because you had the volume turned down, it may well be that there is nothing wrong with anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertAllan Posted February 25, 2018 Author Share Posted February 25, 2018 The lights are a battery check. They will light up momentarily when you insert the battery, or when you press the small button next to the lights. 4 lights means a full charge - less means partially depleted. If you got 4 lights the battery is OK and fully charged. You can test this by plugging in to an ordinary guitar amp using a 1/4" jack cable (with the battery in and VDI disconnected) - all the Variax models should work. The unexpected light display from your charger could just be because you tried to charge a battery that was already fully charged. My experience indicates that the chargers can be a bit glitchy. I would just leave it until your battery needs charging again. You can then try recharging it. It may be fine, in which case you don't have a problem at all. If it doesn't recharge after a few attempts, you could consider getting a new charger, but you are not there yet. Given that your original problem only arose because you had the volume turned down, it may well be that there is nothing wrong with anything. My original problem was that the guitar died while i was recording, even though i thought i had just charged the battery i put it in the charger and it just kept blinking for 17 hours. If things is how you say it seems my guitar is dead then? Or atleast the part with the guitar models, because if my battery is fully charged i cant turn on the guitar. When i click the "flush" button everything lights up for a few seconds then nothing, and if i plug my guitar in, i can play it without the battery/models turned on, but nothing happens when i try to turn it on.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbr13697 Posted February 25, 2018 Share Posted February 25, 2018 I am getting pretty confused about what you are saying. In your post above you said "turned out i had just tuned the volume down on the guitar so it works fine without the battery in". You also said that you got 4 green lights when you inserted the battery, which implies that the battery is OK and fully charged. I have no idea what the "Flush button" is. Are you saying that everything works fine, including Variax modes, when connected via VDI? But that it stops working when you insert the battery? How do you normally connect the guitar? What is your signal chain? Have you checked and substituted each if the items in your signal chain, including cables? Have you tried plugging into an ordinary amp with a jack cable, and does it work in Variax mode under battery power? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertAllan Posted February 26, 2018 Author Share Posted February 26, 2018 SOrry for the comfusion. As far as the volume thing goes, that was back when after my guitar "died" and i thought the battery was ruined, i tried plugging the guitar in WITHOUT the battery and got no sound and got scared maybe the guitar itself was ruined and not just the battery, turned out that i had just turned down the volume-knob and the guitar worked fine without battery (me still convinced it was the battery and not having access to the models), SO i took the battery out again and put it back in the charger and for the next 17 hours just blinking, when i put it back in my guitar the lights light up for about 2 seconds but i cant turn the guitar models on. (the flush button is a round button on the side of the lights that is meant to serve as a way to see how much battery power you have left, so you can click it and depending on how many lights that light up, thats how much power you have left). Im starting to think maybe theres a problem with where i place the battery, like it loses connection with the battery or something? i dont know, but it seems i have a fully charged battery that my guitar recognizes but that for some reason dont work properly.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbr13697 Posted February 26, 2018 Share Posted February 26, 2018 OK - that clarifies things a bit. To avoid further confusion, the button you refer to is the "Battery Test button". A "flush" button is something you find on toilets! It is still not clear what works without the battery, and what works with it. Without the battery in, you must be connecting via the VDI - can you use both magnetic and Variax modelling modes? Do the lights on the Model knob light up when you press it down to activate the Variax models? When you replace the battery, what changes? With the battery in and connected via VDI - can you use both magnetic and Variax modelling modes? Do the lights on the Model knob light up when you press it down to activate the Variax models? With the battery in and connected via 1/4" jack straight into a normal guitar amp, do the magnetic and Variax models work? If we are to help, we do need to know your signal chain, and you do need to check and substitute every item in the signal chain to isolate what is wrong. Don't just assume that your cables, interface, USB port, computer, DAW app, etc., are all OK, and that it must be something wrong with the guitar. It could be anything but, at the moment, we don't even know what you actually use. As you have already discovered, it can be something as simple as a volume knob turned down! Check, test, substitute, and retest, every item in your signal chain. Let us know the result, and we can try to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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