What Is Better?jtv Or The Old Variax 700?

[cbeattyjr]

I've owned the 300, 500, 700 and JTV-59.

 

The JTV is better because of the onboard battery, at a minimum.  Also, the JTV is better because of the option to use the magnetic pickups.

[dietmd]

I have an Acoustic 700 I love (not sure why they stopped selling them it plays and sounds great!!) A Variax-600 I really haven't touched much since I got my first JTV-69 HSS. I had lots of problems with the JTV-69 HSS factory neck and made multiple attempts at fixing it. The nut was installed in the wrong place from the factory. Despite having a professional work on it and replace the factory nut with a Roller nut but we still could not get the feel Buzzing or intonation right. I ended up replacing the neck with a Mighty Mite Strat neck. I also installed Lace Alumitone Sensor pickups in it and it sounds fine with more of a Humbucker type sound to my ears. I bought a JTV-59 which other than a minor setup was fine right out of the box. Recently I added a Shoreline Gold JTV-69 SSS to the collection wanting a real Strat Sound which it offers along with all the single coil noise!! Not a quiet guitar and I plan on copper shielding the whole damn thing hopefully decreasing the noise.

Overall I obviously like these guitars. They need TLC out of the box to get them right but the JTVs are great at what they are meant to do.

[JTSC777]

I have a couple of 500s. Fun guitars to play and record with.My JTV however is a live gigging monster with an HD500 in front of or into the effect loop of my DSL401/JCM800 combo or Fender BDRI. Absolutely amazing instrument. And that big fat neck has a lot to do with the sounds it makes.

[powderfinger700]

I have and love my 700.

Aside from the 12 string sounds I find all of its sounds authentic and responsive. The bodys simplified cosmetics may not conjure up the visual magic of being a rock star, a phat jazz cat or a ten gallon tele twanger, but it gets the job more than just done. In fact, the only people who seem to notice what Im not playing are other guitar players who probably werent gonna like what I was playing anyway. It is my main guitar. Having said that I imagine that the next generation guitars are much better. When I playout I still have to bring out a 12 string electric and a Les Paul as back up but I tend to guit swap anyway. For the dollar difference I choose my 700.

[TTRESHH]

I own 700 Fujigen Black. Having much pretty feelings about looking. I think. quite so also has to look guitar, that can sounds like ~20 another guitars:))
And quality is also high, very comfortable to play on this neck, i think it's a better choice to "universal honest not painting" guitar .

Have no playable expirience on VAX Gen2, but very very interested in how far JTV goes from 700.
I'm read all this topic, and what I can in final says:

1) It means that 700 MIJ like an physical guitar better then JTV MIK.
2) But quite obviously, that DSP and electronic hardware goes far from 2003 year, when VAX Gen1 have been released. So, have powerful bases to think, that JTV have much better modeling, than 700. (lol, you can just compare iternal DSP size:))

And so, main question - did difference between older brains of 500/700 and newer JTV HD, have so AUDIBLE proof, that is worth it that changing 700 to JTV.
Who have expirience to direct comparing same models on 700/JTV - please let me know about what you have found.

When i play through my studio monitors on 700, i can't say that sounds low-quality or guitars sounds plastic or like a bad parody. All sounds pretty cool, authentic and different, and some tibres may be better that a real guitars. (For example - some light equalization in a process of miodeling can make Lester sound much better than middly-frequency importunate real true Les Paul, and it's mistery, whether have refused to themselves this line6 or not:)))


----Some may be offtopic----
P.S:. But when you play on real guitar with magnetic pickups, you have some difficult sense (about wooden resonance on your knees and lack of some little little predelay) - and for me, this sense, IT"S NOT occasion to have all this guitars and to serve them. Goodbye my Fender Jazzmaster AVRI'62, Goodbye my big woode ndreadnote semi-acoustic. Only, what i try to hold - real 4-string bass tuned to B and Ibanez MMM1 tuned to drop A to black/doom/metalcore/another high-gain deals and tranquility to having classical passive magnetic pickups. But from E and high, VAX is better choice, when you need result, not guitar fetishism or G.A.S.

[VAX700]

I wasn't going to reply to this one (too much time posting/not enough playing). But pushing the 700 or JTV button would have been too easy. And besides, my science-geek, analytical left brain kept whispering "something doesn't add up here." So... here goes.

 

1. As everyone knows, you want to compare apples with apples: you can't lump all JTV's together like they're the same. The poll should offer a choice between JTV-59, 69, 89 and V700. Plus it should also offer a "like em equally" option. The way it's currently set up, the results are bound to be skewed in favour of the JTV because when forced to choose, people usually go with "newer is better".

 

Therefore, I'm abstaining. Why? For the following:

 

2. Asking me to choose between my JTV-59 and V700 is like asking me which of my two kids I love more. Sure, I give my JTV-59 more time and attention because it's "younger", but every time I play with my 700 I realize just how wonderful it is. It's symbiotic: both guitars have unique qualities that influence my playing and creativity. If I was forced to give up either one, my brain would go into a "feedback" loop. 😨

 

In fact, that's why I "decided" to keep em both. I agree with arislaf (the original poster) when he says:

 

For all of the above, exept the tone (for realism) , the best choice is the old 700...

The soul is better on 700 too...

To sum it up (and get back to playing): I know this poll is just for fun, but since I don't have the option to vote my true feelings, I chose to explain em instead. JTV or V700? Hmmm! I choose... Both! 😎