Switching to Variax from dual mag/piezo setup

[srl01]

Hello everyone - first time poster here and potential new joiner to the world of Variax.

 

I play mostly in a small church band often doubling as electric and (faux-)acoustic and up until now, my typical rig has been either a Les Paul with separate piezo (Fishman) output, or an Acousticaster with a minihumbucker; in both cases sending each of the mag and piezo signals to different FX chains (mags to an MS-100BT with overdrive / amp sim /delay ; piezo into an MS-60B clean with some reverb) and then both blended to the PA. Even on the acousticaster the piezo is hardly the world's best acoustic sound but in a church of <100 people and mostly playing alongside only a piano, it's been Good Enough So Far.

 

Could I get some advice on the most cost-effective combination of current-model Variax guitar (Standard or JTV?) and processing (Helix? Helix LT? POD HD? Or just the Workbench HD software?) that would allow me to do essentially the same thing here - dual signal chains for a clean acoustic sound and an overdriven electric tone, blended together - while taking advantage of the Variax modeling capabilities.

 

I have heard that you can map the magnetic pickups on the Variax for the electric tone and the modeling pickup for the acoustic, but would really rather use the modeling pickup to drive both signal chains, one with an acoustic model and one with an electric (and all the subsequent processing), so I can choose guitar models and use tuning changes for both electric and acoustic.

 

Have been trawling through the forums in detail but struggled a bit, as here and there I read comments like "only the JTV can do dual tone and you need a POD HD500" and think I have the answer! ...and then see that the post is from say 2014 and probably way out of date.

 

Very much appreciate some advice.

 

[jakeman19]

Either the Helix family or POD HD 500 with either a JTV or Standard can do what you need, the caveat to this is you'd have to use the VDI cable. 

 

Jd

[cruisinon2]

On 12/6/2019 at 7:06 PM, srl01 said:

I have heard that you can map the magnetic pickups on the Variax for the electric tone and the modeling pickup for the acoustic, but would really rather use the modeling pickup to drive both signal chains, one with an acoustic model and one with an electric (and all the subsequent processing), so I can choose guitar models and use tuning changes for both electric and acoustic.

 

 

Doesn't work that way...you can only have one model selected at any given time, so you can't send the J-200 model to one signal chain and the Les Paul model to another simultaneously, no matter what device(s) you're plugging into. You can toggle back and forth between electric and acoustic models to your heart's content, just can't run them both at the same time. And though it's been requested numerous times over the years, you also cannot send the raw piezo signal to the output... good or bad, you hafta choose a model.

[srl01]

Thank you both - ok, so differing views out of the gate.

 

@jakeman19 yes my intention is to use the VDI cable and then map the signal to two different models and signal paths in external processor, so I think that works. Do you happen to know if Workbench HD can do this or if I need a POD/Helix?

 

@cruisinon2  I know you can only select one model on the guitar, but it seems like the multi-model approach would be doable with a floorboard processor via VDI as jakeman19 noted. Are we missing something? At least this post (https://line6.com/support/topic/608-variax-mags/) seems to indicate that you can run two guitars simultaneously if one is using mags and one is using the variax (piezo) pickup. I'm trying to run two but both driven by the piezo (so one of those channels needs to "ignore" the model setting on the Variax guitar itself)

 

[cruisinon2]

11 hours ago, srl01 said:

Thank you both - ok, so differing views out of the gate.

 

@jakeman19 yes my intention is to use the VDI cable and then map the signal to two different models and signal paths in external processor, so I think that works. Do you happen to know if Workbench HD can do this or if I need a POD/Helix?

 

Workbench is for making adjustments to individual Variax models... relative string volumes, mixing and matching pickup models into different guitar bodies, creating custom tunings, etc... but it has nothing to do with what happens inside any external gear processors, nor does it allow you to offload more than one guitar model from qthe guitar simultaneously.

 

Quote

 

@cruisinon2  I know you can only select one model on the guitar, but it seems like the multi-model approach would be doable with a floorboard processor via VDI as jakeman19 noted. Are we missing something? At least this post (https://line6.com/support/topic/608-variax-mags/) seems to indicate that you can run two guitars simultaneously if one is using mags and one is using the variax (piezo) pickup. I'm trying to run two but both driven by the piezo (so one of those channels needs to "ignore" the model setting on the Variax guitar itself)

 

 

The Variax can't output more than one modeled sound at a time, period. It would be nice, but it is what it is. Yes, you can have isolated signal chains in Helix, one set up for an acoustic tone, and the with a distorted amp model... that's the easy part. And yes, you can set the input blocks of each of those signal chains to receive a Variax model... but you're still limited to the one model that the guitar is spitting out at any given time. The modeling happens entirely inside the Variax, not any external processor you're plugged into. Whatever you've selected, either by physically moving the selector switch on the guitar, or by triggering it from the Helix or POD, is the one and only modeled sound that leaves the guitar, and is the one and only modeled sounds that would then be fed into the Helix, POD, etc.

 

What you can do is use snapshots to toggle between the two chains, disabling the output on one in favor of the other, while also switching Variax models...I do this all the time. But having both chains going together, with a different Variax model feeding each one simultaneously is not possible.

[srl01]

 

@cruisinon2  Huge thanks, that is very clear. Ok so it seems the closest I can get is using mags for electric sounds and Variax model for the acoustic sound, both running through VDI cable. Appreciate the guidance!

 

[jakeman19]

@srl01 I think @cruisinon2 might be complicating this more than I thought your original post was, or maybe I'm not understanding things. 

 

If you want to have the JTV/Standard variax as a acoustic guitar(modelled) on one path and on the other path the JTV/Standard pickups going into an amp model that is possible on a POD HD500(x) or Helix( I don't have one of those but it's more powerful routing wise than the HD500 so I'm sure it's possible on it).

You would have to have both tuned the same as in no funky DADGAD tunings on the acoustic as this wouldn't sound right. 

 

If you want to have a Les Paul on one path and a Fender Strat on the other, then cruision2's comment is correct that this can't be done. It would always have to be Magnetic pickups on one path and the Variax modelled guitar of choice on the other. 

 

Hope this makes sense. Any questions, let me know. 

 

Jd

[cruisinon2]

17 hours ago, jakeman19 said:

If you want to have a Les Paul on one path and a Fender Strat on the other, then cruision2's comment is correct that this can't be done.

 

 

 

Which is exactly what he said he wanted to do... an acoustic model in one path and an LP, Strat, Whatever model in the other. Didn't want to use mags at all... two different modeled guitars feeding separate signal chains at the same time. Can't do that...

[srl01]

Thank you both. Yes @cruisinon2 you are right about what I was hoping to do.

I guess I'll have to wait until they invent and release a "Variax Double"...