Hankon6 Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 Just starting. Currently a bluegrass banjo player who have gigged in front of thousands at church environments. I am interested in greatly expanding my music genre and diving into the guitar. For weeks I have scouted many web pages including this forum. For a few years I have been a member of the Banjo Hangout. I now have a great interest in this forum. After much study I will be going with the Line 6 V 120 amp and the Variax Standard,,,,for many reasons. It was an extremely difficult decision foe me because of all the negative posts and reviews on these Line 6 products. This is not as bad in the banjo world. This is because of the type of pickers who really want to help those who are looking for a product or musical needs. I really like that attitude. But when searching for electric guitar stuff,,,much disdain and vitriol in review answers. I. myself take much of the angst caused by these people with a grain of salt! These kinds of people seem to come out of the wood work and become experts on everything! Well,,,the Line 6 products are very innovative and getting better. I like that. Just because they are somewhat different than the rest does not mean one should not try them out. I have heard very good sounds from the modeling amps and the presets on the Variax guitars. I am a continual noodeler on by 5 string ..always looking for THAT sound. This what intrigues me on the amp and guitar I will be getting in the next few months (saving those pesos)! I am an energetic 70 year old. I have played a Fender Electric 12 string many years ago while I was in the Air Force. I loved it...but quit for needing some greenback. So its been nearly 40 years since I have held a guitar in hand. I am extremely excited in this new endeavor. Metal,blues,country, ext........ Including Ventures instrumentals. Anyway, sorry for the long post....I was particularly turned off by the many naysayers on the web. I will continue to monitor this forum. When I get the ax and amp I will give my personal review, Love the idea of being able to change so many variables to arrive at may tones! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveFrance Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 Welcome on the forum ! Line 6 is criticized (for good or bad reasons), sometimes because it seems to be for geeks..... What do you want a variax for ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hankon6 Posted February 16, 2018 Author Share Posted February 16, 2018 Welcome on the forum ! Line 6 is criticized (for good or bad reasons), sometimes because it seems to be for geeks..... What do you want a variax for ? Because of the myriad of tone that it can deliver with nice XF! I am taken back with Line 6 accomplishments and out of the box thinking!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cclement Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 Welcome aboard. I'm a long time Line 6 user (back to the AxSys 212) days), and I've never had an issues getting good tones. Of course over the years, I've been happy with the updates Line 6 has made. I'm currently using the Helix and am getting some of the best tones I have ever had. I'm just getting started with the Variax, but I've already found a few songs with the band that I can use it on. It's a pretty amazing bit of kit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hankon6 Posted February 17, 2018 Author Share Posted February 17, 2018 Thnx all for chiming in! My printer is working OT in printing Music and guitar techniques...... I think i may have visited the biggest portion on the net that I believe may be of help. I am already memorizing the CAGE patterns for soloing in Pentatonic and Diatonic scales on a different type of fret board. I am doing this in order to get ready when I order my Variax standard and Spider V 120 in a couple of months. Have to put a few green backs together! But I believe this will get me further ahead. As you know from my first post, I have been an avid Bluegrass Banjo picker for a few years....and I understand a lot of music theory. But still, using 1 plastic pick instead 3 metal finger picks will not be easy to pick up quickly. Although, it will help in some arpeggios in picking a little faster. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fehrer77 Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 Hey, Wish I lived closer to you... I am 72 and have played guitar on & off most of my life. I have almost purchased a banjo many times. lol Have been in a few bands and like mostly oldies. The name of the last band was OBG (Oldies But Goodies). I just got a Line 6 Variax Standard. Loving it so far... The last amp I got is a Fender Mustang GT100. (a modeller). I am told I have way too many guitars. Maybe so, but I do enjoy working with and playing them. Nice to see there are other old farts like us, not giving up and still have fun doing something they enjoy. Best wishes with your new end-ever, Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerseyboy Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 I find using guitar tuning banjo sounds to be rather odd. Everything mostly sounds like guitar chords/riffs but with a banjo tone. A Variax trick I’ve used with some success is to create a custom open G tuning banjo model. IN Workbench edit top 4 strings to bluegrass banjo D G B D (low-high) then tune the Variax/Guitar A string up to the highest G (10th fret) and the low E string to a lower G (3rd fret) note. Not exactly 5 string banjo tuning but close enough for the top 4 strings to sell some bluegrass licks. The open G notes don’t wreck things much even if you hit one every once in a while. Same thing with resonator models too. Edit couple of those with various open tunings along with electric models for slide or lap steel stuff as well. Very versatile instrument. It can be a lot to take in and apply sometimes but often worth the effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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