Bob2point0

3 minutes ago, gerhartley said:

Haha! Glad you had that reaction. I think it looks awesome too. Have you tried the Acoustisonic yet?  I would be all over that if it was a thousand dollars cheaper! I still love that I can get a 12 string mixed in with some great sounding acoustic models on my Variax acoustic. Again. I’m just missing a single electric model. 

I've not played the Acoustisonic yet, but the video demos I've seen are really impressive. It is a little pricey for me, but new ideas usually are when they first come out. I've added it to my reverb.com watch list so if one comes up used, or an open box/scratch-and-dent comes up with an online store (that's how I got my awesome Blueshawk for 60% off) I may snatch it up.

I have found that I'm not as pleased with either of the 12 string models on my VAX700 as I am with the Dread setting on a chorus pedal. I may need to spend more time EQing it or put it through the Workbench software. I'm with you though, a patch to add an electric model would be ideal, and probably take the Acoustisonic off of the wish list for me. 

I saw the picture before I read the post, and thought that was a real thing! I thought, "I gotta have one of those!" Take note Line6. 

With the new Fender Acoustisonic capable of organic sounding acoustic tones AND authentic electric capability, I might be switching guitars someday...

Welcome to the forum.

I'm glad you brought this up. I am with you, I like the acoustic look and the larger variety of acoustic voices on the AC700, but would LOVE to be able to switch to an electric sound. I've tried distortion pedals and overdrives to see if I couldn't get something acceptable, to no avail. 

I've thought about installing an electric guitar pickup (sound hole) and running a separate jack for it. I'm still weighing whether or not it just makes more sense to have a Strat on stage. Finding a hack to do it with no alterations would be ideal though.

Just a quick update. It appears that I've eliminated the problem of the popping and clicking sound. Turns out that when the new sound guy was resetting the board up to his liking the phantom power got turned on for that channel... so, just like the manual says, it made popping sounds. I didn't put two and two together. Glad I didn't buy a new XPS.  Thankfully I followed Codamedia's advice and started with the simple stuff first. :)

Okay, I feel better. It looks like there are three service centers near me in Nashville, so if it should be a problem I could go there. You might PM me a recommendation just in case I need them in a hurry. By the way, thanks for your quick responses to our questions.

46 minutes ago, psarkissian said:

700 Electric, it can be a problem, but not always. This can be checked out by a Line 6 authorized

service center. If they have any questions, they can contact me for further info.

46 minutes ago, psarkissian said:

So it's not been a problem with the 700 Acoustic Variax? Just trying to be sure I understand. In the past the battery pack saved me as we were just about ready to start and I pulled the TRS cable out to bypass the XPS, went direct into my board with a standard cable. For church you have to start on time...

3 hours ago, psarkissian said:

There is a component on the board that can be damaged when running XPS with the batteries still inside.

It's not a self repair sort of thing. Would have to be done by a Line 6 authorized service center.

 

That's sort of scary. The manual says that the batteries get bypassed when running the XPS. Is that common knowledge that it can damage the guitar afterall? Did I miss the memo? If it is what's wrong, how much is it going to cost to repair? 

Hi psarkissian and codamedia! Thanks for the replies.

I wasn't aware of the batteries interfering with the XPS. Did this turn out to be an issue later? 

I'm great with whatever will fix it.

I continue to absolutely love this guitar. The longer I play it live, the more I am getting out of it. Amazing. 

However, a couple of weeks ago it began popping intermittently. The popping was accompanied by a static sound. I bypassed the A/B and went with battery power which worked out fine as a temporary solution.

For $100 I can get a new XPS-AB box with a new TRS cable, but before I go that route I thought I'd check to see if this is something any of you experienced. I'd hate to get another one and find out it was only the cable, then again I wouldn't want to buy a cable and find out that it was an issue with the jack and how it draws power. 

Thoughts on the logical way to proceed?

Hey Soundog! I hope you are well. Thanks again for your tip of dropping the bass notes by an octave. That sits great in the mix and completely does the job of giving us that bottom end until we get someone else to cover it. Any other great ideas for enhancing live performances?

While a real fix doesn't seem like it would be that hard to come up with, I went with plan "B" and got ahold of an old laptop running Windows 7 that nobody wanted. I got it for free from work actually. Our IT guy was on the verge of throwing it out, never thinking anyone would want a 3 gig computer running old software. So I was blessed to ask at just the right time. Even if that hadn't happened though, these old laptops go for around $50 on ebay. Of course, running it on my new Mac would be ideal as eventually, these old systems will be as hard to find as a computer running on floppies and MS-DOS. 

I loaded the regular version of Workbench on it, and I've already changed the Shamisan into a Gibson Super Jumbo with the bass strings an octave down. (As we don't have a bass player in our worship team yet). This is going to be fun! (Great idea Soundog. Those bass notes really add a lot to certain songs.)

The nylon setting on my steel string Vax Acoustic 700 is pretty convincing and one of my favorite "voices" on the guitar, so you know that the modeling work has been done. I use it for worship at church, starting out the service with the big 12 string sound, moving into fingerpicked dread toward the middle and going tender with the nylon at the end. It's awesome. So L6, why not give it to the rest of the line?

You are so right about the cables. I've got a bin of them that I'm waiting to get soldered. Between the bands I've played in and my kids going through them, they really add up.

My guitar is running fine now. It has yet to repeat those symptoms several hours of playing with the fresh set of batteries and the fixed connector. 

Still, with a small but important gig coming up on Wednesday and not completely trusting the Vax on batteries, I decided to plug in my trusty 25 year old Martin D-15 equipped with the LR Baggs Lyric pickup. After playing the Vax pretty much exclusively for a month, I was blown away by how rich, full and great sounding the Martin was. The difference between the "dread" on the dial, and using the real thing, was like night and day. I still love the Vax, and think its an amazing tool for bigger rooms, especially in the mix with a band and on the PA, but in smaller situations, you can't beat the Martin/Baggs combination.

That's what I love about guitars though. There are so many options depending on what you want to do, with the Vax the most versatile among them. It's easier lugging around guitars that pianos. :)

Update...

I replaced the batteries, and checked the connection and discovered that the positive side going into the battery pack was super loose. I gave it a little squeeze and it's been running for an hour with no problems. I'll probably put another end on it that snaps into place rather than resting on the post. Hopefully, that's all it was. I've got little amps throughout the house and my office so wherever I am I can plug in and play, so the batteries are good for that but you are right, that's going to be expensive in the long run.  Another power supply makes sense and will keep me from flipping out when the guitar starts starving for power. :)      I'll do like you and keep another guitar on standby, but I do think I'll get another one of these as a backup. Right now there's one on ebay for under $400...    Thanks again for your help.   

How did this work out? I'd love to see pictures. It's also nice to see that L6 takes care of these Legacy guitars.

Thanks again Soundog. Good thoughts/advice as usual. I left it powered up on the powered DI all night and it was still alive this morning (I needed to make sure it would work for church today). The service went fine too, even though I had my Ovation on standby, just in case. 

I got a little spoiled with the battery option as I'd play it in my office direct to an amp whenever I had time and not have to lug around the pedalboard where the DI is mounted. So I think I might do the fresh Alkaline suggestion to see what happens. It probably wouldn't hurt to look around in there too if that doesn't help.

I am thinking I should get a spare working one. 

Do you have a backup VacAC700?

So tonight while playing on battery power, my Variax just cut out. I would unplug it and plug it back in and get something for a few minutes, but it would cut out again eventually, lasting for shorter periods each time until it wouldn't go at all. The LED stays on even when it cuts out, never blinking, and when the sound cuts out the control is unresponsive... so if I push down it doesn't turn red.

Even though it wasn't indicating a low battery, I put in a fresh 9v, but it did the same thing only quicker.

However, it doesn't do it when I get power from the DI, at least not yet.

I also did a reset to defaults (just so I can say I tried everything) and that didn't help either.

I did a search of the forums and didn't see anything. 

The only thing goofy I did worth mentioning is this is the first night I played through the Digitech Trio + drum machine looper. I used a regular 1/4 cable for this and because of poor vision, I did have it plugged in for a few seconds in the FX return, but nothing was running so no signal was coming up through the cable. 

I love this guitar and this is heartbreaking. I hate not being able to trust it now.  Aside from weekly at church I have a gig next week. Thoughts?

Thanks Soundog. After hearing all you can do with your VaxAC700, I had to get the connector. I especially want to drop-octave the two low strings. I can get Workbench to do it, (and had some fun playing with it) I just can't save it without getting that error message.

I appreciate how willing you are to work with people like me to get the most out of their instruments. 

I have read through everything I can find here on this issue but still have a problem. 

I have a Mac running High Sierra 10.13.6

I have successfully installed Workbench 1.75

I have downloaded the legacy Java software (although my system still shows I am running the newer version).

Workbench sees my guitar and I can even play around with pitch settings

BUT when I try to type in a name for the patch or new folder I get this error message, typed exactly as it appears, even with that warning at the end.

Unhandled exception in art dispatch thread

Type: java.lang.RuntimeEsception

Message: Non-java exception raised, not handled! (Original problem:Depreciated in 10_12… DO NOT EVER USE CGSEventRcord directly. Bad things, man——bad things.)

I'm usually pretty sharp with computers but I don't want to damage my guitar. Can anyone give me some guidance?

As great as the VaxAC700 really is in the right setting, and the Taylor T5, it's probably only a matter of time until someone tries again to push the boundaries in this arena. Maybe Line6 is working on a worthy successor... if so, I'll be there when they debut with my pick in my hand ready to take it on a test drive. 

I played the VaxAC700 live today, and going through my pedal board (tuner, xotic SL Compressor, EH C9, MXR Reverb, LRBaggs DI to the house PA) I enjoyed every minute of it. Properly set up, the VaxAC700 is a powerful tool and I had no problem at all with the tone. Yeah, it doesn't sound my Martin Dreadnaught, but I can't turn my Martin into a 12 String either, so there are differences both ways. I seamlessly transitioned through instrument settings as I made my way through the church service running some pads underneath the music with very satisfying results. When the C&W was a little boomy, I adjusted the mic slider up a little while I was playing without it being a big deal. When I went to Blues 12, I set it back on the fly. 

@Soundog--I get what you are saying about the market reaction to the guitar way back when. I also think in addition to that, if they would have done a better job explaining how to use the guitar in their manual, it might have helped some. This guitar is only going to sound as good as your rig and it is going to take some time to dial in your tone. An acoustic guitar gives you its tone on the first strum, but the Variax makes you work for it a little. They should have also managed customer expectations with their ad campaign too... "All of this and more" should have probably been "a version of all of this and more (results may vary)."

Realizing that now, I am with you on this as the strengths outweigh the shortcomings. In fact, I'm wondering about keeping an eye open for another one that is in good shape so that I'll have a spare on hand if this ever goes down. 

In other news, I got my USB connector yesterday, and even though I'm slammed on a work project, I did hook it up to make sure everything ran properly. I did get some kind of Java error but was able to verify the connection between Workbench and the 700 enough to know it all works. I am going to be putting in some long hours until next Sunday but I'm looking forward to doing some of the things you are doing with the Workbench then.

Thanks for all of that info. You are so right about how the tech is getting so good and so affordable. The Trio+ Band Creator, for example, is amazing in how it "learns" as you play, and it writes a drum and bass part that sounds organic. You can change the style, tempo, intensity, even the complexity of the parts it plays, going from keeping time and playing root notes, to doing pretty sophisticated rhythm and bass runs. There are parts about it that are a little unrefined but I can only imagine what I'd have done with that kind of gear back in the day. I have a blast playing with it.

I'm way behind you in this journey, so I may ask some advice now and then. There doesn't seem to be a lot of activity on this part of the forum, so I'm especially glad to get in touch with someone who is on your level.  

Thanks again for all of your help.

In other news, my USB is on the way.

I'm digging the stuff you have online. The covers are great, and the story behind Night Train makes the whole thing even cooler.  The Variax is a tool that you really know how to use very effectively.   The James Taylor clips with the Variax are discouraging as he never really dials the guitar in. Without giving up your secrets, I'd love to know what you are playing through to get that great sound. I'm pretty happy with mine as it is running through my pedal board into a PA, but it would be great to know how you have achieved your sound.

While nothing I've played yet beats the tone of my Martin/LR Baggs combination, I picked up the Variax  to do what what you are doing with it in a church setting. I lead the music at a small church and have gradually been working pedals, ambient pads, shimmers and even the Trio+ Band creator into the services. I've been doing it for 12 years, and the first 10 was with a church with a full band, but now it's just me at this new church, so I'm always on the lookout for whatever I can do to make it as good as it can be. As a solo player I thought the Variax would help me color the songs differently, and keep things more interesting. Your video opened up some possibilities for me to do even more, and convinced me to get the USB interphase to put the octave drop base into some songs. Thanks! 

In other news, a broken Variax 300 just turned up on eBay, so I might get a chance to use it for my Stephen King guitar idea. :) 

12 hours ago, soundog said:

...heres an older video of me playing mine. It starts with a setting that has a double-string "12 string" tuning on the E and A strings, with the double set an octave lower. Near the end of the song I play a slide lead on the Variax, changing the tuning to (I think) Am. There's some looping of the Variax also, with sax.

OMGosh! You're awesome. I was blown away with the whole performance. I'll have to check out your other videos. Man that was inspiring. The tone you got out of the Variax, and the difference it made having the drop octave on the bass string,  and switching to slide, bravo. Super cool song, too. I'm on my third listen. :) bravo

Hopefully the title of this thread will catch the eye of someone who has one. With the right pickup and EQ, it might turn into something fun to play. Even going back to the day when I bought one new, I've love the feel and look of this guitar.

I saw a post from someone else who dropped in a pickup so he could switch from the modeling to an electric sound. Even though I'd never dream of doing that with the one I have now, I should track him down and see how that worked out. Maybe see if he can post a video of it in action.

Speaking of video, is there any of you working yours? It would be cool to hear and see what you've been able to do with your Variax.