clay-man

Nice. Definitely clanky and gross. Sounds like it's rattling against the bridge or piezo badly.

Exactly. Les Pauls are thicker than SGs. The bodies of a LPJ and SG are probably the closest. Like I said, I added even a bit more brightness by nudging the pickups towards the bridge. While an SG and LP are very similar, I do think an SG has just a slight bit brighter and janglier than an LP.

I have an SG model on my 600. This means it only works for 1.9 not HD. Basically what I did was put LP humbuckers on the red LP junior and backed the pickups to the bridge a bit. Sounds like a slightly brighter les paul. I can nail tones from songs that use SGs, and it sounds REALLY good for metal music as well. Palm mutes sound fantastic. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21663288/workbench/SGnew.zip Can get sounds like the lead/ guitar on the left: Very jangly yet humbucker-esque through an JCM 800 sound.

I believe global string volumes are pre-modeling stage, pickup and patch level volumes are post-modeling.

Nah man. synthesis/sampling is no fun, it'll limit what you can do with your guitar extremely. I found a bass patch for my Variax and it sounds pretty nice. Pretty convincing in a mix. The only problem is that the treble is muddy as hell. I strongly say a new Variax bass though. Would be killer.

Yeah, Nylon is way too different than steel strings. All the guitars the Variax models is either steel strings or steel-based strings so it is easy to replicate. Nylon vs Steel has way too many variables to take into account. It's like trying to make a car horn sound like a tornado siren. Either way, have fun with workbench! It really makes the Variax 1000 times better than it already is.

Do you mean the workbench interface? Workbench is free. Also, no it's not possible to get a nylon string sound. There is one on the Acoustic 700 but I think people said that it's not very convincing. It's a lot harder to model different string than different guitars, because most of the guitars being modeled uses steel electric strings so it's fine.

Variax has a subtle different sound on the palm muting. You'll want to mute up higher on the strings to get a desirable palm mute sound. What firmware are you using?

This. Are you saying they think the Variax is a synth guitar? Can I just tell everyone how much I want to punch people who say that? Do they not realized the signal is PROCESSED to sound like the pickups and all? It's like saying distortion on an amp is midi because you're hearing a different sound coming out of the amp than what you heard from the guitar. People are assuming that it's way too complicated to replicate pickups and body sounds so they think it's just a matter of synthesis. On topic: I absolutely agree that strings matter. I hate old strings on the Variax. They sound absolutely horrible. It's one of the reasons why I got Elixirs now. Strings go dead for me in a week. The Variax is even more sensitive to dead strings than a regular guitar. That's probably the only thing I can honestly say bad about a Variax, but like I said, Elixirs fixed the problem. Been a week and a half and they sound EXACTLY like they had when I first put them on. Personally I like the brightness and harmonic response the Variax has with new strings. The Les Paul model has a nice subtle low end twang that it's supposed to have imo. The single coil guitars sound really sparkly bright and nice, everything else has more life to it and the Acoustics actually sound like acoustics instead of a mix between an dead string acoustic and an electric guitar. The strings ABSOLUTELY matter. That's where the sound COMES from. The strings vibrating. If the string is lacking in tone, your guitar is lacking in tone. Those piezos are built to pick up the full frequency range of your strings so the Variax has the best to work with. You can't really model with a regular magnetic pickup. When you do, you lose a crap load of high end and other tonality.

I have a bass model on my Variax which alt tuned 1 octave down. Sounds decent but the treble isn't as rich as a real bass.

Woops, Fell for it for a second because I forgot it was just april fools yesterday and I'm tired. I spent a lot of time shaking my head wondering how Line 6 thinks changing your pick makes you an infinitely better guitar player.

I use my Variax exclusively. I'm an aspiring recording artist, but mainly just do jams in my room. I use it to record now. Haven't recorded anything with any other guitar since, it's just that good. It's all there. Then again, it's the only other electric guitar I have right now, the other being an SG, and honestly the SG patch I made sounds nicer than my actual SG. Pickups aren't bright and sound muddy on my SG compared to the Variax. Alternate tunings make playing things amazingly great. I play in so many different tunings it's not even funny, but with a Variax I don't have to dread about that stuff. It's the best sounding and best playing guitar I have right now. I use it with Guitar Rig 5 and it sounds fantastic. Got a Joyo JA-2 practice amp coming in the mail and I can't wait to hear how it sounds like with it.

Hey man, if you got a cable, I highly suggest messing with Workbench. Makes the Variax unbelievably even way more amazing than it already is. Alt tunings, custom guitars and patches. Just amazing fun.

Replaced my cleartones with Elixir Polywebs today. Sounds absolutely great. Been playing all day and absolutely 0% signs of rust or anything like that so far even on the plain strings. I can agree on how some people say it's a bit warmer than a new set of uncoated strings, but it's very very very subtle. While the cleartones sounded bright still, it sounded dead at the same time compared to when I first got it. The harmonic richness of new stings was gone from the Cleartones about 2-3 days after I got it. It was usable but definitely not new sounding. In the end, Cleartones has something going, but is incredibly disappointing especially for people who NEED coated strings if they have acidic sweaty hands and don't want to have a dead tone after 3 days to a week. Usable, but the coating comes off instantly and rusts fast.

I believe you can use wireless if you use a battery. (with the old Variax you'd need 6 AA batteries, so I suggest getting a pack of rechargeable AAs)

Oh no kidding? I'd kill for a new 5 way switch on my 600, it makes me upset sometimes.

Congrats! Welcome to the family.

If it's crap when he gets it he should be able to return it under false advertising on ebay if he shops carefully. JTV costs insanely compared to a Variax. If one craps out on you you could just buy another 300 for less.

I got mine used. It's great. The only problem I've had is a piezo going out, but I fixed that easily. If you have a POD with a Variax connection, totally just get a guitar and a VDI cable and you're all set.

Sadly after a day under a week of use, there is already signs of the plain strings rusting (yes they're coated too) Sounds great still, but if they're rusting then obviously they will die soon. Cleartones says I should wipe my strings and say that the acidity of my sweat can be eating through the coating. Kind of defeats the purpose. I suppose cleartones are more for people with milder acidity. I might switch to Elixirs after this.

Erm, if you're talking to me, I don't own a JTV, I was just wondering about if I had one. I have an old Variax 600. It's these type of questions though I want to ask before I have a JTV though. The only 69s I see with a maple neck is the black one which is exactly what color my 600 is, and that's a bit monotonous. I'd prefer a sunburst maple 69s, but eh, what can you do.

I agree 8 is pretty long. The Workbench HD pickup issue should have been fixed a long time ago.

Sorry but I just didn't agree with this post, or at least from what I'm interpreting from it. It sounds like you're calling amplifi and all their other products children toys. Really? I'm not too wowed by Amplify but it's not a children's toy. They're not abandoning the JTV, and obviously they can't work on stuff all at once like you want them to. They're selling products, not 1 product. Calm down please. :/

Define "sight unseen". I have reviewed extensively the Variax before deciding to buy one, but I have not actually played one myself prior. Does not actually messing with one count as sight unseen? I did a bit of sight unseen on my M-Audio Fast Track Pro and I can tell you I am mad at myself. The thing has a worse noise floor than my POD GX that broke... I highly suggest at least seeing videos as well as reviewing specs and details of stuff you're considering buying. Youtube is a great tool for checking what something does.

You should only use PAD if it's clipping the hardest you play. Generally you want the hardest you play to be just below clipping when it comes to an input signal.