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Hi all Longtime lurker, first time poster. I've had a Variax 600 for years and have finally got around to getting a USB interface for it (one of the newer ones) and cable in order to use Workbench. Now I've read many posts about this (big thank you for that!) so made sure I downloaded the standard Workbench designed for an older Windows (I run Windows 10), get the 32bit Java, Line 6 Monkey etc but it doesn't recognise the guitar when plugged in with the CAT cable. I've got 2 green lights on the interface, it seems like all the drivers are up to date but I go into Workbench and I just get the message 'no device detected' even though it can detect the USB interface? Any ideas? anything I'm doing wrong? Thanks Nick

Hi All, I kindly need help from your experience with the old Variax 600. I purchase brand new one here in UAE but unfortunately the one I had has issue. I use this in our church and my problem is its suddenly turning off and cuts off volume and then turn on again. I've done a reset but still the problem exist. Is this a hardware problem? I tried also to use other cable and also the Di adaptop which powers-on the variax but still encounter the same problem. At first it is working properly and then all of a sudden it just cuts off the volume and no more sound coming out and then turns on again. Really appreciate if you can help me with this problem and kindly please tell me what to do. Thank you. Cheers.

Hi to fellow Variax users in Australia. I am wondering if anyone is interested in taking "excess to my needs" stuff off my hands? All fully functional. Usual wear and tear as to be expected from 2nd hand parts.... I have a 300 and a 600 neck, body, and leftover electronics after transplanting into Strat copies. I have complete bridge/piezo assemblies, as well as a couple of spare, new piezos. The fretboard on the 600 (maple) is more worn, as it was my "workhorse" for a few years, but still plays ok - a fret dress will see more life out of it, but fret replacement is looming. The 300 (rosewood) fretboard has much more life left in it. Also I sanded back the neck on both of them to make them more comfortable in my hands, i.e. "non-sticky". Other bits n bobs include the tremolo springs and claw (600), and vol/tone knobs, pickup selector knobs. All other parts were used in the transplants obviously, including the "bank selector" knobs. I posted an ad on a Facebook page for Guitar/Amp Buy/Sell in Sydney, but no interest was piqued, so I though I'd put it up here. If you're interested, please private message me and ask questions/make an offer on any or all items. Pictures available to those interested.... I live an hour or so north of Sydney, on the central coast, and pick up is preferred, though local delivery/meet up is possible within reason. Thanks for looking!

I have a Variax 600 I bought a while back. Had numerous problems with the coffin shielding thing, but for the money, not a bad little guitar. A while ago, I lost the model knob and had to get one off eBay. It got here and fit fine, but it just continues to spin and doesn't have that stop when you get to the end of the listed model locations. The new knob had the little foot to stop it, so that isn't an issue. I have yet to tear it apart to see what's up. Does anyone have some close ups of that area to see what I'm missing. I am assuming a stop somewhere under the knob, on the board or a mounting bracket is misaligned or missing. Thanx!

Hello, In this post I am asking anyone who had the random spontaneous model changes problem with their Variax guitar, and found the solution to your problem, and that solution was NOT "sent it to an authorised Line 6 repair facility", to post me the solution that worked for you. I've already read all the posts about flashing the firmware and trying different cables. I'm looking for success stories on this problem. I want to know if anyone actually fixed this problem permanently.. by doing some tech work on the guitar... and how you did it. Thanks for your help.

hi I have a Variax 500 and it worked well with XPS-AB until now: XLR thru PA - 1/4" trhu a Marshall Amp. Recently, if I switch XLR to PA, it works well and the 1/4" signal is mute; but when I switch to 1/4" the sound thru the amp is good, but at the same time in the XLR signal (that goes thru the PA) there is a noise and not mute. Help! Frank

I know this has been answered before, but I can't find it. What size is the set screw used to hold the whammy bar in place? On a similar topic... I bought a PRS Custom 24 with tremolo last year. I don't know if it's a standard feature, but where the whammy bar pushes into place, it appears the previous owner had taken some heat shrink tubing and placed it in the hole. Now when you push the whammy in, it stays in place. Has anyone done this? What size did you use?

Hi everyone, Short story: I've got a "not working" Variax 600 from a friend to try to fix it. The problem is that the guitar is not able to save any patch. Long story: My friend got the guitar 2nd hand from a local store. It played fine for a few months and started malfunction (low volume in some strings, no sound sometimes and so on..) He took the guitar to a repair center pointed by Line6 and after 7 months they returned him the guitar saying it was Ok. It played for a few weeks and stop making sound again. One month ago he gave me the guitar to try to fix it and when I opened it I found the battery cables squeezed between the metal cage and the guitar body and one of them was broken. After changing the broken cable the guitar started to work again. Then, when I tried to change patches and save them the guitar stopped making sound and was hung until I re-powered it again. What I tried so far: - Edit and Save patches, I tried 2 methods: - Variax USB Interface The guitar will connect, sync, and I can edit any patch and hear the sound changing (connected via P10 to Amp) When sending the modifications back to the guitar (to save it), workbench hangs and the guitar no longer plays any sound in the amp. - Using the method described in the user guide, where you select the patch to be copied, hold the model knob down, rotate it to the target and releases it. Both ways, the guitar stops playing any sound in the amp, and I need to turn it off and on again to get the sound back. - Check with the oscilloscope if the Write Enable pin on the flash memory was being driven by the processor, and it was only driven when the guitar was not hung. - I also checked with the oscilloscope other pins (data, clock, power and piezos) and everything seems to be working. - Yesterday, I carefully removed the flash memory IC and soldered a new one. I was hoping that the flash memory had only data (no code) and so I would be able to write that data back through the MIDI channel (the same that is used by WB to change patches). With this new blank flash memory, the WB does not find the guitar through Variax USB interface. Questions: - Does anyone from Line6 can help me recover this guitar? - Does anyone have a raw dump from the flash memory? if so I can write it to a new one and solder it! (I still have the original flash, but who knows if I will be able to read "good" data from it) - I also want to try to force an update through the MIDI channel. To do so I need someone with a working guitar to get a log from the WB. Anyone can help me getting the log file? If you need any more details, please ask! Sorry for the long post. Thanks, Mikhail