Cheaper way to get a Line 6 Variax Cabled Power Kit

[stevesilk1951 1]

OK Guys,

 

Looked around in the UK and the cheapest Line 6 Variax Cabled Power Kit  I could find was £99.

 

However Digital Village (DV247.com) do the A/B switch for £22.70,

Official Line 6 Power adapter 9v 2000mA on ebay.co.uk around £18,

TRS Cable £12.00,

XLR Cable £14.50.(optional if you want to go acoustic in PA)

 

Total: £67.20

 

Admit you have several packages to wait for but 1/3 off seems good to me.

 

Hope this helps others wanting to save battery use.

 

Regards

 

Steve

[buzzalad 1]

Hi mate,

 

I know you posted a while ago but the Line 6 power kit's still don't appear to be available.  Which of those bits do I need if I just want to power my Variax?  I am selling my DT25 and PodHD500X but keeping the Variax.  Might I have all the cables I need? I don't want to rely on the battery because I always forget to charge it up.

 

thanks

 

AndyB

[stevekc 185]

The Line-6 XPS Variax A/B Switch with Power supply and TRS cable is available in USA here

 

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/VariaxPwrKit

 

[westryder 0]

 

On 1/14/2015 at 11:05 PM, stevesilk1951 said:

OK Guys,

 

Looked around in the UK and the cheapest Line 6 Variax Cabled Power Kit  I could find was £99.

 

However Digital Village (DV247.com) do the A/B switch for £22.70,

Official Line 6 Power adapter 9v 2000mA on ebay.co.uk around £18,

TRS Cable £12.00,

XLR Cable £14.50.(optional if you want to go acoustic in PA)

 

Total: £67.20

 

Admit you have several packages to wait for but 1/3 off seems good to me.

 

Hope this helps others wanting to save battery use.

 

Regards

 

Steve

 

Hi Steve! Could you give a direct link for Digital Village A/B switch at their website please? Can't find it at dv247.com.

 

Cheers!

[cbrillow 33]

You do realize that you've responded to a posting that was made over 5 years ago, don't you?

 

Wouldn't count on your being able to come up with the requested info, but I wish you luck!

[westryder 0]

15 hours ago, cbrillow said:

You do realize that you've responded to a posting that was made over 5 years ago, don't you?

 

Wouldn't count on your being able to come up with the requested info, but I wish you luck!

 

Yes sir, I do. Asked for it, because Line 6 XPS line is not available in my country at offline stores, online stores, a second-hand products. I can't even order it brand-new from another country due to Line6/yamaha corp policy.

[cbrillow 33]

Try this link -- I searched at dv247.com  and found it on page 4 of the Line 6 listings.

[westryder 0]

13 hours ago, cbrillow said:

Try this link -- I searched at dv247.com  and found it on page 4 of the Line 6 listings.

Thank you a lot for your help and attention, but as I said I can't order it due to Line 6 policy. Line 6 forbids them to sell and ship L6 products to another countries where Line 6 have an official distributors. You can see it on attached screenshot. The same result I got before at Thomann.de .

There is an official Line 6 distributor in my country (Russia), but they just do not sell XPS line. Don't know why, maybe there are too few Variax owners in my country and there is no point to sell this products.

Anyway If won't find the way to order it or do something diy I will just continue to use it with batteries as before.

 

Once again, thank you a lot!

[cbrillow 33]

Given that you asked for an active link on dv247.com, it wasn't altogether clear to me what the issue was. Now that you've explained it a bit better, I understand your problem.

 

One question: have you contacted Line 6 directly? This is a user forum, primarily, and your message may not be seen by the company, itself. There's only one Line 6 rep who checks in here with any frequency, and his  presence is limited due to the Covid-19 situation. Maybe try opening a ticket on the support portion of the site?

 

A DIY shouldn't be too tough, if you just needed to supply the Variax with operating power using a TRS cable and taking the signal into a guitar amp. The ability to switch between the 1/4" output and an XLR connector would be more complicated.

 

I have a couple of older Variaxes -- a 500 and a 600. I mostly used the 500 with a Pod XT Live and the VDI cable for power. But I built an adapter to use an inexpensive 5V cellphone power bank in place of the 6AA cells that it normally takes. It lasts longer and is easier to change, just by disconnecting the USB connection from one and plugging in another that's already charged. If you have easy access to electronic parts where you are -- Amazon.com? - I could share my solution with you for evaluation.

 

Note that this doesn't work with James Tyler devices. You're pretty much stuck with the official Line 6 battery or the XPS or compatible foot controller there..

[westryder 0]

On 5/17/2020 at 8:30 PM, cbrillow said:

Given that you asked for an active link on dv247.com, it wasn't altogether clear to me what the issue was. Now that you've explained it a bit better, I understand your problem.

 

One question: have you contacted Line 6 directly? This is a user forum, primarily, and your message may not be seen by the company, itself. There's only one Line 6 rep who checks in here with any frequency, and his  presence is limited due to the Covid-19 situation. Maybe try opening a ticket on the support portion of the site?

 

A DIY shouldn't be too tough, if you just needed to supply the Variax with operating power using a TRS cable and taking the signal into a guitar amp. The ability to switch between the 1/4" output and an XLR connector would be more complicated.

 

I have a couple of older Variaxes -- a 500 and a 600. I mostly used the 500 with a Pod XT Live and the VDS cable for power. But I built an adapter to use an inexpensive 5V cellphone power bank in place of the 6AA cells that it normally takes. It lasts longer and is easier to change, just by disconnecting the USB connection from one and plugging in another that's already charged. If you have easy access to electronic parts where you are -- Amazon.com? - I could share my solution with you for evaluation.

 

Note that this doesn't work with James Tyler devices. You're pretty much stuck with the official Line 6 battery or the XPS or compatible foot controller there..

No, I did not contact Line 6, I will open a ticket, thanks.

 

I was thinking about making a box or pedal to power the Variax via TRS cable, but I don’t have a circuit and I did not see the inside of the pedal, so I’m afraid to damage the guitar. Perhaps inside the XPS pedals the power supply is not just connected to the ring and sleeve and the tip is connected directly from input to output. There also can be other components. I don’t even know where to connect + and - : to the ring or sleeve. If you have a photo of a pedal inside or a circuit, it would be very helpful.

 

I'm using the Variax 300 and if you share your solution with a power bank I'll be very grateful. Yes, I have an accsess to electronic parts, no problem there. But I thought Variax powers with a 9V DC? 6AA batteries 1.5V each have a 9V output. Anywhere you know better than me if your solution works.

[cbrillow 33]

I’ll help you out as best I can, but need a day or two. Sprained my ankle today and can’t get down in the basement to gather the necessary information to send along. Think you’ll find it helpful!

[westryder 0]

6 hours ago, cbrillow said:

I’ll help you out as best I can, but need a day or two. Sprained my ankle today and can’t get down in the basement to gather the necessary information to send along. Think you’ll find it helpful!

 

Do not worry about time! I will wait as long as necessary. Thank you for your attention to my problem, I hope you'll get better soon!

[cbrillow 33]

Getting around a little better today, so I'm sending a picture of my Variax 600 solution for using a 5V power bank.  Note that I don't really use my 600 very much, and didn't create a permanent installation --  I just ran the cable with the USB connector through the dimple in the top of the cutout for the battery box.

 

This thing cost me $10.99 from Amazon.com DC-DC switching power converter  Works great, is on-board adjustable without needing a meter, and is simple to hook up, thanks to having screw terminal blocks for the input and output. (the blue boxes on the left & right sides of the picture)

 

I have a power bank that clips onto my strap. Also note that I used a 9V battery clip so that the board plugs in just as if it were the battery pack, and that I have the output set at 8.8Vdc, which works great. 

 

 

 

[psarkissian 363]

Just hope the current draw is correct. Not a supported mod. Luck! 

 

[cbrillow 33]

No hoping involved. Things like this are confirmed before experimenting.  Available current is several times that required by the Variax.

[psarkissian 363]

Thumbs up on that one.  :)

[westryder 0]

cbrillow, wow, thanks for sharing your solution! I'm glad that it works: now I can use your solution with my guitar. Special thanks for the photo: I can't order this converter from amazon, but I found the same at another online store, where I can order it.

 

I see it's not permanent installation, so do you think it's possible to place a small powerbank in cutout with that converter? I mean, the main question is what is the height of that converter. Seems to me it's around 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) or a little higher, so basically it's possible while depth of the cutout without a damper at the bottom is 1.18 inch (3.1 cm). Of course if the width and lenght (+ usb plug) of a powerbank fits and it's height less than (1.18 minus 0.5 inch) = 0.68 inch (1.7 cm).

 

Many thanks to you! You really helped me.

[westryder 0]

psarkissian, nice to meet a Line 6 official support in that topic. Since you are here, can you say what is the min and max input voltage for Variax 300 to run it with batteries?

[psarkissian 363]

The battery compartment runs off +9V battery, or a battery pack that holds six AA 1.5V batteries.

 

Actually, Support is across the hall from me, I'm a repair tech. I come onto the Forum and Facebook

Line 6 gear pages to try to keep everyone from doing things to their product that would make it end

up on my repair bench needlessly. Mostly with guitars and tube amps, as people want to mod those

in ways that would blow the gear and make them end up on my bench. Wear and tear is one thing,

preventable stuff, that's something else.

 

Example,... the mod above, will probably work okay. But it's a third party modification, not supported

by Line 6. So, if it were to end on my bench for a failure in that circuit, though I would know how to deal

with it, I would not be allowed to do anything with it. It's not our device or product, it's the other company's 

thing and they would have to deal with it. So mods are a touchy thing.

 

Done my share of Variax mods, custom work and transplants. But those were favours for the execs here and

the Line 6 artist endorsers that the work was for. That and 50+ years of experience is why I know where all

the pitfalls are and what one can get away with, with this gear.

 

In the meantime, Rock-N-Roll!!!

[cbrillow 33]

7 hours ago, westryder said:

I see it's not permanent installation, so do you think it's possible to place a small powerbank in cutout with that converter? I mean, the main question is what is the height of that converter. Seems to me it's around 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) or a little higher, so basically it's possible while depth of the cutout without a damper at the bottom is 1.18 inch (3.1 cm). Of course if the width and lenght (+ usb plug) of a powerbank fits and it's height less than (1.18 minus 0.5 inch) = 0.68 inch (1.7 cm).

 

You're correct. It's essentially 1/2" in height. It's doubtful that you'd be able to find an actual power bank that would fit in that cavity, but a a battery or cell might. For example, I have a pair of these that I bought for a bluetooth speaker that suffered a battery failure. It's a 3.7V 1500mAh Li-ion battery, and they are thin enough -- .22" - that TWO of them would fit in there along with the converter board. But you have to be very careful with these things, and I'm not about to recommend a series or parallel connection to come up with an ideal voltage or current. A single 3.7V unit like this should work, as the minimum input to the converter is 3Vdc. I'm not so sure of the current, though. It it did work, it may not last as long as you'd like. Although the converter is rated at a much higher current output, if its input supply is limited, it might not work too well or long...  You might look around for a single piece solution that has a higher current output and fits in the remaining space. 

 

My 600 is basically unused, as I don't like the tuning instability due to the tremolo. So I never bothered to make a more permanent solution to mounting the power bank externally. It's a smallish stick, and sits unobtrusively out of the way.

 

I could also draw you up a diagram if you want to pursue the other solution, essentially a DIY miniXPS. I'm not familiar with the miniXPS, which apparently was sold with the Variax 300, but I have at least one of the full-sized XPS units from one of my Variaxes. You are correct that that supply for the guitar is sent on the ring of the TRS plug. Coming up with a safe solution for that would be borderline trivial. Sounds like you might have the ability to cook that up, yourself, but I'm happy to help.

 

For my purposes, though -- I prefer using the converter board, because then I can plug in my Relay G10 wireless to the guitar output jack instead if connecting to the XPS with a TRS cable.