A complete listing of ways to power variax's

[mofostone]

i have read several posts that probably did list all of the methods throughout the post and replies. I am trying to put together a complete list beginning with: battery, xps, pods etc

 

1. variax internal battery
2.  xps-dl direct box/power supply and trs cable
3.  i had an old box similar to the xps but it was just a black box with 9v power, one in and one out, I cold e sworn it needed trs in and out but i lost i lost it and now i cant even find a reminisce of it onlin
4. POD devices

   1. Line 6 POD xt Live Multi-Effect and Amp Modeler

   2. POD HD500x (i bought it so i know i can verify)
   3. help
   4. fill
   5. in
   6. please
   7. helix devices
   8. please
   9. do
   10. the
   11. same
   12. any other devices that are not line 6 please do the same

thanks all

MofoStone

soundcloud.com/mofostone

[brue58ski]

There are essentially two types of Variax's. The original ones with no pickups. And the JTV/Shuriken/Standard Variax's with pickups. The bottom line is there are three things that will power all of these Variax's; batteries (9V or 6AA's for the original or a propriety battery for the JTV/Shuriken/Standard), the XPS direct box and any Line 6 product with a Variax input are everything that will power the Variax. There are various levels of control depending on the Line 6 products used, but they will all provide power for any of the Variax's. And remember, there are issues with using the Variax's 1/4" output at the same time as you use the Variax CAT 5 connector. You could seriously damage it. So if you want to use the 1/4" output, you can't use the Variax output at the same time. You are stuck with the other two alternatives.

[soundog]

12 hours ago, mofostone said:

1.  i had an old box similar to the xps but it was just a black box with 9v power, one in and one out, I cold e sworn it needed trs in and out but i lost i lost it and now i cant even find a reminisce of it onlin

 

Yeah, I had one of those. I think it might have come with my Variax Acoustic. It was an XPS-Mini .... like a shrunk down XPS A/B but without the footswitch and the XLR our. TRS to the Variax; TS out. Mine went bad after awhile, as do the A/B versions sometimes.

[datacommando]

13 hours ago, mofostone said:

 i had an old box similar to the xps but it was just a black box with 9v power, one in and one out

 

Yep- that's the XPS Mini for the 300 series - it was supplied with my Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon. Still got it right here, can't remember the last time I needed to use it.

IIRC, I have the old XPS-AB lurking around here someplace. I had that for the old Variax 600 which is in a sleeping bag over in the corner. I vaguely remember loaning out one of those transparent boxes that were for use with the first version of Workbench - that never reappeared, but I didn't need it because I then moved on to using the POD XT Live as an interface, followed by the POD HD500 and now Helix floor which I can use with the JTV 59. There are always batteries around if needed.

 

 

[codamedia]

On 5/16/2021 at 8:53 PM, mofostone said:

POD devices

1: Line 6 POD xt Live Multi-Effect and Amp Modeler

 

Yes - this is powered through a VDI cable which you seemed to miss on your opening post, but is extremely important. 

Keeping with POD devices and a VDI cable... off the top of my head this is what works...

 

First Generation of Variax (no pickups)

• POD XT Live
• POD X3 Live
• POD X3 Pro (rack)
• HD500
• HD500 PRO (rack)

Basic functions (power & patch changes... but no connection to Workbench for editing)

• HD500x
• Helix LT
• Helix Floor
• Helix Rack

The 2nd generation Variax (with pickups) works in reverse... basic functions (power and patch) with the older products, and ALL functions with the newer products. 

 

NOTE: I may have missed a product or two... I think some older amps, Firehawk, etc... may work with some Variax guitars to a certain degree of success. 

 

FWIW: I use an older Variax 300 with a Helix LT. It took a while to figure out all the caveats to making that work without surprises! Power was never an issue, patch changing was. Everything was seamless with my Variax 300 & X3 and HD500. 

 

 

 

[mofostone]

I actually found the tps mini box, i remember when k first got my variax 300 I was taken aback at end price of those tps cables. Guitar center around here didn’t even know what I was tallkin bout.  Still have my 300 but sold my jtv 59 & replaced it with a standard,( Boought the 59 for $600 a couple years ago & sold to 900 then bought the standard for 515 so o just has to do it. I will be snatching up another hd500x which will be my second of that along with an xt live I bought & sold for some reason, then I bought a whammy ddt & a Mxr sub machine so along with those things three ways to octave plus ice got w headrucg looperboard which I bought the add on exp pedal so that’s 4 or 5 octave options. So I’ll be keeping the standard, adding a reverse reverend or fender beck & witt my hd500x, whammy, looperboard & & variax standsrd should be plenty of options to drop a bass line. Hopefully this looper will be easier to work wirt like my old jm4 line 6 looper, it was lollipop but I needed more so I tried a trio + but that was weird so I’m hiijbg my hd 500x has decent drums otherwise I’ll just buck up & Learn this looperboard & or I use riffworks to record songs(greatest songwriting tool ever, hope they update it) but it’s got done dope lollipop drums. All in all I think I’ve used all the variax power devices & im going back to stay with Ty r 500x this time, just got a new M1 iPad too & im told there are some sweet daw options on those. I digress take it sleazy & thanks 

[MGW-Alberta]

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