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Will there be a New Variax HD Bass?


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I am starting to do the demos for my new album. The album concept is "keyboard free". All tracks are played using only Guitar, Bass and Drums. So to record the bass for "Lujon" by the great Henry Mancini, I dusted off my Variax 700 Bass. I used the 1949 Kay Upright Bass for the track and I think the model is kind of flat compared to the models in my James Tyler 89 and 69. It made me wonder if Line 6 is going to produce an updated bass. I've included the link to the demo, the bass is ok, but not as resonant as my real upright bass.

https://soundcloud.com/kimguidry/lujon

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I talked to a Sweetwater rep today and he told me the JTV-89 was showing as discontinued in his order system. He thinks something new is coming from Line 6. I would hope they would expand the Variax line.

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I wouldn't be surprised - I'm guessing the 89 could be discontinued because the 89F (with the Floyd Rose trem) was so wanted, the regular 89 with the hard tail didn't really sell after the new one came out...

 

When the JTV's first came out - I got my 59, but remember all the clamor in the forum about the 89 not having a trem - especially the Floyd... The reaction was "really?" The concept of that model pretty much demanded the Floyd. It took L6 a couple of years, but they did it. I picked up the 69S when it was issued, as I like the strat with single coils (SSS), not HSS. Personal preferences....

 

I don't really know what a new JTV style would be. Tele? Semi? Gretsch? Seems to me that anything but a sold body would be problematic, as the semi's body resonances would really color the tones of the guitar to the peizo's. Just thinking out loud...

 

Dave

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I wouldn't be surprised - I'm guessing the 89 could be discontinued because the 89F (with the Floyd Rose trem) was so wanted, the regular 89 with the hard tail didn't really sell after the new one came out...

 

When the JTV's first came out - I got my 59, but remember all the clamor in the forum about the 89 not having a trem - especially the Floyd... The reaction was "really?" The concept of that model pretty much demanded the Floyd. It took L6 a couple of years, but they did it. I picked up the 69S when it was issued, as I like the strat with single coils (SSS), not HSS. Personal preferences....

 

I don't really know what a new JTV style would be. Tele? Semi? Gretsch? Seems to me that anything but a sold body would be problematic, as the semi's body resonances would really color the tones of the guitar to the peizo's. Just thinking out loud...

 

Dave

 

Awesome post. Down to a T.

 

99.99% sure 89 is being discontinued because of the 89F as well. It just took long because they weren't sure whether to make a bridge or install a premade piezo floyd, graphtech having the answer. 

 

Anyone know if the Graphtech uses ghosts or LR baggs piezos?

 

Also I'd kill for a Tele JTV. Personally I want a trem with my JTV (69 specifically) but I'd definitely kill for a Tele JTV.

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no thanks.. sounds like too much work for me...

not sure i'd want to play any plank that i built....

i prefer quality :D

 

If they really wanted to make folks happy, they'd just sell you transplant-ready guts, and let you shove it into the axe of your choice. I'd buy that in a second...maybe 2 or 3.

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The problems related to this are only one reason that this will never happen!  Building a transplant is a very specialized task and there are only a handful of folks that would do this anyway.  I considered doing it years ago but never had the time to design what I wanted.  Warmouth did sill transplant bodies for a while for the 500 guts but the guts had to come from a donor guitar.  There are many JTV models available and they are plenty nice so I lost interest in transplants.

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I still feel that Line6's greatest recent success has been born from collaboration with other companies. The Variax itself was good, paired with James Tyler luthier, it's great. The modeling amps and POD's are good - paired with the Bogner designed tube amp portion of the DT series, it's great!

 

As for the future of Variax in general, I would love to see them build some bridges with other major guitar companies. In reference to the original post topic, I think a Variax bass partnered with someone like Alembic, or Modulus would be a stellar notion!

 

And I'd love to be able to get a custom shop PRS with next gen Variax hardware onboard. That, to me, is the next step forward. Expand the functional awesomeness of the Variax system into the realms of other fine instrument makers, styles, models, and such. No easy feat, but a cool idea, none the less. Especially PRS and Modulus!!! :)

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