Hi fellow variax freaks,
I have a conundrum, and wonder if anyone may be in a position to help out in return for some unwanted piezos from Variax 300 and 600 - see piezo details below. ***
I enquired at a local (Australian) Line 6 distributor regarding buying a jackplate assembly for a newly purchased second hand vaxplant, which has the original variax 300 jackplate assembly, (which requires surgical precision to get the little rubber boot provided to cover the RJ45 connection), and I figure since I already have two other vaxplants, I may as well buy two, so I have a spare.
I already bought two, (around three years ago), for less than $30AUD each, though as it turned out, (legacy version no longer available), they were the bass versions, which are interchangable with the 300-700 series (with a little chisel handiwork).
See link.. http://www.fullcompass.com/prod/218353-Line-6-50-04-0181-4
Yesterday, the local supplier quoted me $100 each, and they would be for the JTV69 model version - apparently also interchangable....(?)
So, I'm a little old fashioned, in so much as I'm not really that interested in lining people's pockets in arbitrary ways, such as this kind of price hike would suggest is occurring, and it would appear I can't order from Full Compass, cos I don't reside in the requisite 50-odd states....
So, it brings me to this random, weirdo request for someone who may may fancy some 2nd hand L R Baggs piezos (14 in total - (new RRP circa $13US each - http://www.fullcompass.com/prod/114557-Line-6-11-11-0001 ), worth around a hunjee in anyone's terms, in exchange for acquiring a couple of the jackplate assemblies, and sending them to me in Australia. I'm happy to despatch first, via registered post, and send you an email showing tracking information.
In fact, I have other hardware, eg unused variax 300/600 bits I could throw into the equation also, just to inspire some mutually satisfying trans-global weirdness.
***I upgraded to Ghosts while doing transplants, and have unwanted (but still fully functioning when removed), L R Baggs piezos - a total of 14, including 2 brand new, unused, that I bought as spares. I initially thought that two piezos were failing in a second hand 300 that I bought, and upon installing the new graphtechs, while I did a transplant, the problem disappeared for a short while, but soon returned. The first E and B piezos take some time (15 minutes) to wake up, after the variax is plugged in. They then become fully operational, and because the same problem still exists, it must be a problem with the PCB, not the piezos. I get around it, by plugging it in, while I continue my setup at a gig, and as such is a non-issue.
Yours, in weirdness, Ian.