wheelnut

I adjusted my bridge to be floating and it works great. But mine is set up Bigsby-style, with only a semitone available upwards. I don't know how stable tuning would be if you routinely bend higher than that. The Standard bridge is nowhere near as advanced as a FR.

Black Tusq XL PT-6225-00 http://line6.com/support/topic/18174-wider-nut-upgrade-on-variax-standard-with-beforeafter-pics/ Slightly wider string spacing than the factory nut, which I like.

Thanks, interesting tip - I'm off to try that right now.

Unless you bought a limited edition Variax with bagpipe simulation - that needs to go back to the shop ASAP!

Download "Line 6 Monkey" for OS X first, then grab the Workbench HD installer inside the monkey. Confused me too... Not sure about the license transfer question. I would hope that as long as you have the USB box, you would be able to download & run the Workbench.

Yes, the stock arm clears all the knobs.

You must have dainty hands - the Variax Standard has a narrow (vintage spec) 41.3mm neck. A standard modern Strat is wider at 42.9mm. A guitar tech can easily clean up the sharp fret ends for you.

Great video. I agree, the older models sound like piezo outputs from onboard preamps, the new models sound like miked acoustics. And yes, the ambience in the new models is overpowering, like an acoustic recorded in a bathroom. But. You forgot to demo the best sounding acoustic model on the new firmware - the hidden Martin D-28 on position 2. Just switch off 'Parallel Pitch' for the D12-28 (on position 2) in the workbench and you gain an extra 6 string Martin model. This hidden model is less boxy sounding than the D-28/O-18 on positions 1 & 3, and is nicely balanced for both strumming & fingerpicking. I feel it sits better in a mix than the other models with a little bass cut. (To be honest, if it were not for this hidden gem I would have flipped my Variax Standard by now, as I can't roll back the Standard to the old firmware)

I'm in the UK, but I imagine the box contents in the US are the same: Guitar + trem arm Battery + battery charger + power supply USB interface + RJ45 cable (for programming with Workbench HD) Handbook and various other bits of paper that I didn't read It doesn't include a case or a footswitch. The cabled power kit with footswitch is sold separately.

In common with others, I found the neck on my Variax Standard a little narrow for my tastes. I play mostly fingerstyle, and it was impossible to precisely sound individual notes with the very tight string spacing. I measured the neck at 41.2mm (1 5/8") precisely, but E-E spacing on the factory nut was a very narrow 33.8mm. A quick search through Graph Tech's website found the Black Tusq XL PT-6225-00, a precut 41.2mm nut with a healthy E-E spacing of 34.9mm. Even though 1.1mm improvement sounds tiny, it makes a huge difference under the fingers. Heres a comparison of the nut widths: The factory nut popped off easily with a light tap with a plastic hammer. The new nut is a great fit, and only needed sanding on the base to bring the height down. I fixed the new nut with a single drop of CA glue, so that it can easily be removed in the future. The replacement looks better than the narrower factory nut, which didn't hide the truss rod cover: Here's the finished upgrade - you can see the frets are JUST wide enough to accomodate the new spacing: The guitar is now far more comfortable to play, and despite the wider spacing the strings don't slip off the neck (which was the biggest danger of this upgrade). For anyone reading and considering the upgrade, I recommend you measure your neck width and E-E spacing first. It could be that the factory simply cut the nut on my guitar too narrow. Also examine your fret ends - if the ends are finished with a shallow angle, you might suffer string slippage on the top & bottom E. However, this is a cheap & reversible upgrade - if you try it and it doesn't work out, just pop the factory nut back on.

The only power is in the TRS connection from the A/B box to the Variax. The A/B box output (which you would connect to your passive mixer) is just a regular mono 1/4" connection, with no power. You'll be absolutely fine. Just to confirm the correct routing: Variax Standard > TRS cable > A/B box 1/4" input > A/B box 1/4" output > passive mixer > Axe FX Nice rig by the way :)

I've only had my Variax Standard for a few days, so I'm no expert yet. But yes, I definitely noticed an annoying volume drop on the high B/E strings on the Strat & Tele models. As cruison2 said, the workbench "Global Strings Level" page lets you compensate for differences in the piezo outputs. But this is a global setting for all presets on your guitar. I found that only the Tele & Strat models needed significant level balancing - the other models were fine. So while the piezo output might vary on each guitar, I think that T-Model and Spank are applying their own levels to the higher strings. Who knows, perhaps that's exactly how the original modelled guitars sounded. I'm still experimenting, but currently the Spank levels are set to 35-45-55-65-90-100 with a 3dB boost in preset volume. On my guitar, this sounds consistent with the onboard magnetic pups.

I picked up my Variax Standard only a few days ago, so I'm no expert. But I did have the same issue, and was able to drastically improve the Strat model (to my ears) with some simple workbench edits: Reduced string volumes to match output of mag pups, ending up with: 35% / 45% / 55% / 65% / 90% / 100% Increased the 'Preset Volume' to 3.0 dB, to compensate for the lower string volumes. Reduced the Tone Control Knob Position to 8.5 (saved with the preset) The end result is much closer to the sound of the mag pups, with less nasal midrange and better overall tonal balance. Positions 2/4 on the switch still don't sound as glassy as the mags, but it's definitely much more usable. Going to try the same with the Tele model next. I've got no complaints about the acoustic models so far, they sound really fantastic through a Boss GT-001 into nearfield monitors.

I can understand the older Workbench 1.75 might not support El Capitan (and if you own an older Variax, you probably need the older non-HD workbench) However, I can say that Workbench HD 2.12.0 works perfectly fine with my Variax Standard on a MacBook Air running El Capitan 10.11.2.

Line 6 Monkey 1.7 and Workbench HD 2.12.0 are both running well on my 2014 MacBook Air with El Capitan 10.11.2. I didn't get any warnings on installation.

Late reply (just got my Variax Standard today) but thought I'd respond in case anyone needs this info. Nut width is 40.9mm E-E string spacing at nut is 33.8mm E-E string spacing at bridge is 52.0mm Scale length is 25.5"