amsdenj

I do this, but also use a JBL EON610 as a monitor in front of me. I have my monitor mix set to my vocal, my guitar and whatever else I need to hear, mostly a bit of keys, the other vocals, and our second guitar player. We're attempting to eliminate all stage amps to reduce our footprint, reduce the amount of equipment we have to carry, setup and tear down, and have better control of volume in small club situations. So far this is working very well. I wear ear plugs (-10dB) and find the monitor in front is different than the amp behind me, but you get use to it quickly enough. For larger or outdoor gigs, I still use a FRFR behind me, and take my guitar out of the monitor mix.

There wouldn't be much need to use the 1/4" and VDI outputs at the same time in something like Helix or HD500X as the VDI cable can carry the analog and digital tones. The 1/4" would be redundant in this case. Note that using Workbench HD you can also blend the magnetic and modeling tones. Use this to add a little sparkle to the model tones. the 1/4" variax output can be just the magnetic pickups if there's no battery in the guitar. This is a great feature because it means if the battery goes dead, the guitar still works like a regular electric guitar. When the battery is in and charged, you can press the modeling button and use the models from the 1/4" output. The digital to analog converters are in the guitar in this case. This is a very flexible design and could work quite well. Unfortunately my Variax Standard will not power up the models through the 1/4" jack. Have to send it back.

The tuner has a knob that controls what provides input to the tuner. You'll see it when you engage the tuner. Make sure it's set to the input you want to provide to the tuner.

Helix works great for this purpose. See https://jimamsden.wordpress.com/2016/01/04/using-helix-as-an-effects-pedal-board/

Do you have a link to that custom model, or can you summarize the changes? I've heard some people have ad success lowering the string volumes in the models. Maybe they were turned up to hype the models - things that sound louder are often perceived as sounding better. I can't get my Varaix Standard to connect to Workbench HD or Monkey, so I can't try these things yet.

I think the issue is that the small changes in the Variax Standard would require some minor updates to the 1.x firmware for it to work properly on that guitar. I suspect Line 6 is not interested in investing in these updates. That's fine. But I hope this is not an indication that there will be little investment in new Variax firmware going forward. That is, I hope I didn't just buy an obsolete instrument that is only one year old. The Variax shows the huge potential in what its possible in modeling instruments. I don't think the 2.x HD models are quite right yet, they seem entirely too dark, sound a little over processed, have too much resonance (that banjo sound on all the models) and don't sound as good to my ear as the earlier 1.x models at least in some cases. I think we have evidence that 1) Line 6 knows what they are doing with Variax modeling, 2) the hardware/software system architecture is capable of producing good, realistic sounds, and 3) there's still room for firmware choice and/or improvement. Let's hope Line 6 is committed to Variax and we'll see some choices and updates soon.

Auto sets the input impedance to whatever it is for the effect in the first block right after the input. This is to model the impact that effect has on the tone of the guitar and its cable. Setting a lower input impedance could reduce the high end of your guitar, but so can turning down the tone control just a little. This is actually convenient and quite common practice. Try setting up your clean tone with the neck pickup and the guitar volume and tone all the way up. Then when you switch to the bridge pickup you can roll back the tone just a little to warm up that pickup. If you setup your clean tone for the bridge pickup, then you don't have any way to get the sparkle back on the neck pickup.

You might find this post useful: Using a Looper for Solo Gigs.

My new Variax Standard has a lot of play in the tremolo bar. I know Fender Strats deal with this using tremolo arm tension springs. These are available at guitar center: Tremolo Arm Tension Springs. Does the Variax Standard use similar tension springs? Mine doesn't have one, but I understand its common for them to go missing. My guitar was a floor model from Guitar Center and didn't have one. Anyone know if these work with the Variax Standard? Otherwise its teflon tape.

Well all this aside, it seems there are some customer issues with the 2.x models, and some people prefer the earlier versions. Line 6, listen to your customers. You have a wonderful product that has the flexibility of software/firmware updates. I really hope you are working on redoing those 2.x models because frankly I don't think they are that much of an improvement over what you had before. Given what we heard in the earlier versions, there appears to be at least the opportunity for additional improvements. I suggest a very simple solution - provide the old 1.9 models in a 2.x firmware update so that all the tunings, switches and controls work properly, but the users can choose which models to use. That can't be that hard. Do it, and this issue goes away and you have happier customers. I personally would change the Tele, Strat and acoustic models - and that's a pretty significant set of pretty common models.

Does it come with a spring to reduce play in the bar?

I found some ADSR control in the old Variax 300 by changing just the body styles. It seems the Variax Standard doesn't offer as many different guitar bodies, but I don't remember for sure.

I just got a Variax Standard to upgrade my old Variax 300. Unfortunately I have to send it back for repairs - it won't connect to Monkey, and doesn't reliably power the board when plugging in the 1/4" jack. It worked briefly once, but never again. I found the 2.x models less inspiring then the old non-HD ones in the 300. The Tele doesn't sound nearly as Tele, the Spank isn't as spanky, the Les Paul models sound a little dull. I was going to experiment with Workbench HD to see if there were some changes that would brighten the guitar up, but can't connect. Overall the Variax Standard is a reasonable instrument, not great, but playable enough. My old Strat has stainless steel frets installed well, and plays like a dream. I don't expect the Standard to be able to match that. The Standard's magnetic pickups seem pretty good, that was a pleasant surprise. There's a lot of play in the wammy bar, possibly because the spring is missing. And the instrument is more difficult to tune and keep tuned than my Strat. But I'll give it a go once the repairs are done and hope this can provide the flexible backup gigging guitar that I bought it for.

This is probably caused by inference between the strings and the magnetic pickups. This is a typical problem with Strat-style guitars with 3 pickups. You can try lowering the pickups a little. Try finding the point where the interference just starts. This will of course change the tone of the pickups. Its a compromise that is typical of this guitar configuration.

I have Line 6 Monkey and Workbench HD installed on Mac OS X 10.11.4 and they seem to be running. I have the Variax USB interface plugged in and there's a green light on the USB side. I have the VDI cable plugged into the guitar, and a 1/4" cable to turn on the battery, and have pressed the Guitar Model Switch and see the LED lit up (in red). But The Variax USB interface flashes read on the guitar side, and the guitar won't connect in Workbench HD or show up as selectable in Line 6 Monkey. Any ideas?

It's a mixed bag. Some effects appear to have been translated from the HD series to Helix (e.g., reverb effects), while others are new. I find the HD distortion effects to be of limited use, but the Helix distortion effects seem wonderful. What this means in practice is that Helix can actually replace a traditional analog pedalboard, while I never thought the HD effects could. They're ok, but just not that great. There are a lot of other HD effects that haven't yet been included in Helix. It's unknown if, when or how this might be done.

A realistic organ or other synth patch requires a MIDI controller and tone generator. I have a Fishman Triple Play MIDI pickup on my old Variax 300 and use this into MainStage with S-Gear, BIAS FX and the Logic/MainStage software instruments. Helix can be used as an audio/MIDI input device for this and provide additional effects. But you can't get real organ sounds without a computer or some kind of tone generator. I have an old Yamaha MU80 that could be used the Helix effects loop, but getting MIDI inputs into that is much harder that using the Fishman Triple Play and MainStage. There may be other MIDI tone generators that would be more convenient, including an iPad. I don't use MIDI that much live to bother with though, and when recording, I usually use a keyboard.

That's probably just a ground loop in your system.

Helix is easy to use and has a wide range of great tones. You should give it a try.

Computers have already caught up to and perhaps surpassed what dedicated hardware controllers like Helix can do. For example, a MacBook Pro running MainStage or even using Logic Pro X as a digital mixer can pretty much run a whole band with S-Gear plugins for multiple guitar players, bass amp, all the effects you'd ever want, software instruments, etc. However, there's a few issues with this approach: The software is getting better, but still isn't that reliable, especially regarding sleep/wake with audio/MIDI devices The UI isn't that convenient for live use - although Logic Remote on an iPad helps The connections aren't gig hardened S-Gear is missing front of the amp effects, and the BIAS and Amplitube effects don't quite match S-Gear in tone quality to my ears anyway. We're hoping Mike Scuffham is working on this. You still have to have a MIDI controller Its a complicated thing to set up and maintain (but I kind of like that part) I had good luck integrating my HD500X into this hybrid guitar modeler/computer setup, mostly because of the additional footswitches I could get by using the Looper as a footswitch mode switch. But the front of the amp effects in the HD500X were't that great, so this wasn't an ideal solution either. Helix has much better front of the amp effects, and better audio and MIDI I/O. But as of yet, it doesn't send any MIDI messages in Looper mode - so that cuts the number of available footswitches in half compared to the HD500X. I'd like to see a continuation of this hybrid/integrated mode where the foot pedal on the floor focuses on a local, hi-resolution touch interface, with lots of I/O capability and wireless audio, MIDI, and display back to something like a Mac Mini computer. The display should be a general purpose interface to the computer, something that might leverage the continuing evolution of OS X and iOS to unify the interfaces and apps. The challenge will be getting this to be simple enough that it just turns on and runs reliably without the flexibility making it impossible for most people to use it. Then there's the expense... I have used a computer based setup at a few live gigs. When it works, its great. But Helix is much simpler, easier to setup, more reliable, and isn't nearly as distracting. Since Helix, I only use the computer setup for recording, never live anymore.

If 4CM isn't working for you, it might be your guitar amp or its settings. You could try using Helix as the whole front end connecting Helix output to your amp's effect returns. Then pick and preamp model in Helix that's closer to what you're looking for. You could also try two amps in parallel with one set cleaner to give the punch and another set to be distorted to get the sustain. Beware of too much sag for metal. That can take the punch out of your guitar.

When using 4CM, you would generally not use any amp model, preamp model, speaker model or speaker IR in Helix. Rather Helix is providing front of the amp effects, those that go before amp tone controls and distortion (compressor, wah, phasor, Uni-Vibe, distortion) into your guitar amp. Then you come out of the preamp output/send from your guitar amp back into Helix for after the amp effects which are often stereo (chorus, delays, reverb). Then back into the effects return of your guitar amp with provides the power amp and speakers. If you used an amp or preamp model in front of you guitar amp preamp, you'd have two amps in series. This can work and has been done in the past - sometimes called "Jump" settings. However, its putting two sets of tone controls one after the other, both providing a lot of treble boost to provide voicing for an electric guitar. That could be a bit much. If you're looking for a lot of distortion, you might have better luck gain staging a number of distortion blocks in Helix before going to your guitar amp input, and/or using channel switching in your amp if it has it and you like its preamp distortion tone.

Your PA input should have a gain control to set the input gain. This is not the fader, that comes after the gain control. It's likely too hot. To gain stage Helix into the PA, turn the Helix output volume up almost all the way. Then go back to the PA and adjust the input gain so that there's no clipping. Use the input meters on the PA to check, a good level is -6 to -3 dbFS. Now go back to Helix and turn its output down until the PA input meter reads closer to -18 to -12 dBFS. This is the typical range you should be shooting for. It gives plenty of headroom so if you have a louder patch or have to turn up your Helix a bit to get your level up over what the sound guy give you, you can do so without worrying about clipping. If you're using a digital PA, you want to really be sure to avoid clipping. Same goes for computer DAWs. Digital clipping is never a good thing. This simple approach to gain staging should get you close.

Absolutely agree. I updated the post to include this critical component.

The amount of bass you can get out of a speaker configuration depends on: 1. How much power you drive it with 2. How much total surface area you speakers cover 3. The free air resonance of the speakers 4. The displacement capability of the speaker 5. The resonance of the speakers in the cabinet 6. Whether the cabinet is ported or not Ultimately it's all about moving air at the frequencies you want to produce. Generally it's easier and more reliable to use more, smaller speakers. This distributes the load, keeps the speakers closer to their linear region, has better coupling between the voice coil/magnet and cone, and has less problems with distortion caused by odd displacements in big cones. The volume of are moved depends on the surface area and displacement capability of the speaker, and the power you put into the speaker. But speakers are somewhat magic because of all the physical variables. So it takes experimentation to get the cabinet that meets your needs. I use 2 10's in a rear ported enclosure (the size of a Tremolux cabinet). It sounds fantastic with a 5 string bass. But its not going to move a lot of air in a big room.