Inches from purchasing one of these, but I'm a bit hung up... any advice?

[BaylorPRSer]

There's a used red JV-69 on sale near me.  I live in Vietnam, so these things are a bit hard to come by.  

 

There's also a standard at the local music shop: http://www.doremishop.vn/chi-tiet-san-pham/line-6-variax-standard-sunburst-1695.html

 

1) leaning towards the JV-69 as it is newer.  i'm more of a humbucker guy, but as far as i understand, that doesn't matter as i can just model the humbucker with a model guitar.  any reason you'd nudge me toward the standard?

 

2) worried with both guitars about needing a repair.  is it fair to say that the action, intonation, and all that sort of stuff is fixable, while if anything else goes wrong I'd be boned?

3) The one I truly want is the Shuriken.  Would love to have one of both scale lengths; however, there's none on sale here nor any that I can find that ship here.  Would the shuriken be worth the wait?  say, i took a trip to the USA come November/December, then brought back a Shuriken, would you advise just biting the bullet and waiting?

 

Is there a big difference between the quality of tones from the older to newer variaxes?

 

 

[silverhead]

1) Both the JTV and the Standard Variax guitars use the same modeling technology. In fact. the Variax Standard was introduced after the JTV series so as a model it is more recent. However, both remain in production so there's no telling when each actually came off the production line without tracing serial numbers. But as mentioned - it doesn't really matter as far as the modeling is concerned.  This also answers your unnumbered 4th question. There are differences in the physical guitar - manufacturing and mag pickups - but the modeling sounds the same.

 

2) Variax guitars are still in production, meaning parts and servicing are still available. Of course like any electronic device in any industry, it will eventually fail. At worst you'll still have a guitar with regular pickups.

 

3) Only you can answer that. How much do you really want a Shuriken? Is it worth the wait, to you? What about customs/duty costs?

[shawnmx]

I've owned a JTV-69 and a Standard and I like the Standard better. And yes, you can use the guitar modeling to get a humbucker sound; the magnetic pickups aren't involved in the modeling.

 

If you really think you want the Shuriken, wait. It's almost always better to wait, save your money, and get the one you really want, instead of getting what might be good enough, because it's available now. I know it can be tough, especially when the GAS is calling. But every musician has probably made this mistake (including me) of not waiting for the right one. It's always worth it, long-term, to wait.

[cruisinon2]

On 5/4/2023 at 9:35 AM, BaylorPRSer said:

There's a used red JV-69 on sale near me.  I live in Vietnam, so these things are a bit hard to come by.  

 

There's also a standard at the local music shop: http://www.doremishop.vn/chi-tiet-san-pham/line-6-variax-standard-sunburst-1695.html

 

1) leaning towards the JV-69 as it is newer.  i'm more of a humbucker guy, but as far as i understand, that doesn't matter as i can just model the humbucker with a model guitar.  any reason you'd nudge me toward the standard?

 

2) worried with both guitars about needing a repair.  is it fair to say that the action, intonation, and all that sort of stuff is fixable, while if anything else goes wrong I'd be boned?

3) The one I truly want is the Shuriken.  Would love to have one of both scale lengths; however, there's none on sale here nor any that I can find that ship here.  Would the shuriken be worth the wait?  say, i took a trip to the USA come November/December, then brought back a Shuriken, would you advise just biting the bullet and waiting?

 

Is there a big difference between the quality of tones from the older to newer variaxes?

 

 

 

1) No... the Standard is just a Yamaha Pacifica with Variax guts. The 69 is actually a pretty decent Strat knock-off. I quite like the sound of the single coils, when the modeling isn't necessary.

 

2) Yup... if the electronics crap out on you, there's little to nothing that you'll be able to do on your end. Beyond that, it's a solid body electric guitar...the mag pickups should work forever.

 

3) You're the only one who knows exactly what you want. My advice is don't settle... life only happens once. Assuming that you can afford it, get what you actually want/need, not what would merely "suffice".