Variax Alternate Tunings - Work with ALL Variax models?

[cchimi]

I​ just purchased a Helix today.  I've been trying to use it to set alternate tunings on my Variax 300.  I can set a Variax model (say Spank-1), and I then tell it to use a custom tuning.  I go to the next page, and set a different tuning for the strings (say Open-G).  But I never hear the change in tuning.

 

​Am I doing something wrong, or missing something?  Or are there models of the Variax with which this feature won't work? If so, that would be a huge disappointment.

 

​Thanks for any advice.

 

​Carl

[silverhead]

Alternate turnings in a Variax 300 do not work with Helix nor with any previous guitar multi-FX processor like the POD HD series. The Variax 300 supports alternate tunings within the specific Variax models using Workbench. This is a limitation of the Variax 300, not Helix.

 

In fact, Helix does not support any sort of interaction with older Variax models like the 300. In some cases the 300 will respond to model selections in a Helix preset but it is not a supported feature and may not work reliably or in all cases.

 

Since your 300 seems to respond to model selectoins within a Helix preset you could use Workbench to define the desired alternate tuning within a Variax model and then select that model in the Helix preset.

[shanecgriffo]

yeah my 500 wont work either! pity.. 😓

[cchimi]

If this is true, then I have two comments:

 

1.  Wouldn't it be reasonable to expect to see that Helix only works with SOME Variax models in advertisements and official tutorial videos on sites such as YouTube?  I can't remember ever seeing any distinction made between which models work and which don't in any of the many places I looked at before making this expensive purchase.  That distinction may be made somewhere, but I've never seen it.  All references to "Variax" I've ever seen simply say "Variax".

 

2.  The 300 I mentioned is one of two Variaxes I have.  The other is a left handed 500.  The 300 is actually a custom-made guitar using the guts of a 300.  I needed a backup for my 500 and scoured the internet trying to find another left handed 500, without luck.  So, I had to buy a right handed 300 and have a luthier build a left handed body to put the electronics in.  Line 6 did make the long-discontinued 500 in a left handed model for a while, but has (as far as I know) completely ignored the needs of left handed players since.  If any of the newer Variaxes were made left handed, I'd probably have two or three of them now.  Instead, I have now bought an expensive item that was advertised to work with my existing guitars, and have to wrote to this forum to find out that it doesn't.  Seriously, that's adding insult to injury.

 

Why doesn't Line 6 make at least ONE current Variax model in a left handed version?

 

I'm sorry to sound harsh, but left handed players get treated pretty badly in the guitar world, and I've had almost 50 years of it.

 

Carl 

[shanecgriffo]

i agree about the variax and helix, i bought it thinking it would work with mine, after seeing nothing mentioned to the contrary on websites or videos..

[shanecgriffo]

..bought the helix to work with my 500 i mean

[LittleLeroy]

I have a 300 I bought used that has 5 alternate tunings accessible with the Custom2 mode.

 

How would they have been programmed into this unit?

 

According to the 300 Pilot's Manual it didn't come with alternate tunings.

 

 

[silverhead]

They were programmed using Workbench which supports alternate tuning built in to the stored model. Later Variax guitars, beginning with the JTV series, allow alternate tuning to be applied independently from the stored model.