Variax guitar: Seriously thinking of buying one, talk me out of it

  • Had a jtv69 for one year with different feelings.
    The electric models are nice and useful.
    The alternative tuning were also okay for me.
    The accoustic models I dont like.
    Also the little bit more of latency with the kemper was the reason is sold it.

    Great information! Thank you! That's very important to me, not to have more latency.

  • I've got another gig upcoming at place that has a stage the size of thumbtack. We play a few tunes in drop D, DADGAD, some requiring a whammy bar. Last time I took a couple of guitars to do the job, but there is just no room to have several guitars on this stage or even be able to have room to be switching guitars without running into something. Seriously, it's like playing in a clown car.


    Anyway, I decided to dig out my JTV59 and see what I could do with it. After spending a little time getting reacquainted with it, I am digging it. It plays great. I scored Glenn DeLaune's Custom Variax patches and tweaked a Les Paul in workbench that sounds pretty spot on to the magnetic pickups, so I can go to DADGAD or drop D by just activating the piezo setup and selecting the tuning I need. I can hardly hear a difference going from the magnetic pickups to the piezos. I also setup a couple of pitch pedal effects to cover my whammy needs, one lowering an octave for divebomb stuff, and one lowering only a wholestep to mimic whammy dips and whatnot. I do find the palm muting to not quite be what I would like it to be, but playing with the guys you can hardly notice. It's bound to be different just from the fact that your palm is actually on top of the piezo pickups instead of being behind the magnetic picks normally. The guitar sounds great going to the board and also thru my Marshall 1960A. In addition, the acoustic stuff sounds pretty damn good as well. I don't notice any latency issues, certainly nothing that makes it feel off to me or anything like that. For small gigs like this it will probably be my go to setup...

  • I was at the music store earlier today (lost my umbrella while there, gah) and I tried out a Variax guitar for the first time. I think it was a JTV-59.


    I was really impressed, there was no latency whatsoever when using the modelling or alternate tunings.

    I'd pass unless its reliability has been improved a lot. I owned a JTV59 for about a year, during which time it was available for use maybe 4 weeks. The rest of the time it spent in transit or in some workshop waiting for parts. The custom switches to select modelling and tuning just wouldn't hold up. Getting parts was hard even for the L6 approved luthiers, and L6 flatly refuse to sell parts directly to consumers who would try to fix their own instrument. It was a decent guitar to play, and well built, but the custom circuitry and controls is too fragile. One could hope that some of Yamaha's normal attention to QC has rubbed off on L6 and improved things following the acquisition, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

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    This is the old Variax 700 I recently found. 8) I used the Bodyrez 100 profile.

  • I've got another gig upcoming at place that has a stage the size of thumbtack. We play a few tunes in drop D, DADGAD, some requiring a whammy bar. Last time I took a couple of guitars to do the job, but there is just no room to have several guitars on this stage or even be able to have room to be switching guitars without running into something. Seriously, it's like playing in a clown car.


    Anyway, I decided to dig out my JTV59 and see what I could do with it. After spending a little time getting reacquainted with it, I am digging it. It plays great. I scored Glenn DeLaune's Custom Variax patches and tweaked a Les Paul in workbench that sounds pretty spot on to the magnetic pickups, so I can go to DADGAD or drop D by just activating the piezo setup and selecting the tuning I need. I can hardly hear a difference going from the magnetic pickups to the piezos. I also setup a couple of pitch pedal effects to cover my whammy needs, one lowering an octave for divebomb stuff, and one lowering only a wholestep to mimic whammy dips and whatnot. I do find the palm muting to not quite be what I would like it to be, but playing with the guys you can hardly notice. It's bound to be different just from the fact that your palm is actually on top of the piezo pickups instead of being behind the magnetic picks normally. The guitar sounds great going to the board and also thru my Marshall 1960A. In addition, the acoustic stuff sounds pretty damn good as well. I don't notice any latency issues, certainly nothing that makes it feel off to me or anything like that. For small gigs like this it will probably be my go to setup...


    Nice! Great to have another point of view! I have no money left for one of these things, but it has a way of sticking in my head. The JTV-59 I played was great.

  • i had a JTV 59 from 2014 - sorry to say- Palm mutig was fine. I used the acoustic models during rehearsals, I rated them inappropiate for shows. I think modelling guitar sounds needs another evolution that most probably must be to get rid of the piezzo pickup and use the impulse response technology. I sold, because I had no need for alternate tunings, they were working fine. They guy who bought my model told me that he has another JTV 59, 500 g heavier and with palm muting problems - seems that quality varies a lot...

  • I bought the first Variax model for my Line6 Vetta years ago.
    Great combination - I could change the sound of the amp and the guitar via the controller.


    I found that I like the LP sound more than the Strat (actually I hated the Strat sound) - the acoustics where ok.


    Sold it - and later sold the Vetta as well.


    Bought the JTV59 later.


    Great alternative tuning feature.


    Acoustics even worst than what I had in mind from the first Variax.


    I used that guitar live a lot - the inbuilt real PUs where ok - and I was able to switch to a Strat like sound with the same guitar.


    Did not like the combination of Variax and Kemper - 'fake guitar into fake amp' was to much fake for my ears ;)
    And I could feel the latency of both (Variax and Kemper) together.


    I learned a lot about the different guitar models in the Variax and bought the ones I liked in real :)


    Sold this Variax as well some years later.


    If I ever need to switch between humbucker,Strat,Tele sounds I now use my:
    Suhr Guthrie Govan Modern


    And if I need to switch between electric and acoustic sounds I now us my:
    Music Man - Majesty 6


    Best way to find it out may be to try one (with the Kemper) yourself.

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    Edited once, last by Armin ().

  • would there be any merit in trying it with a line 6 variaxe compatible modeler? I.e Helix or Firehawk? not really sure if it would improve the sound of the acoustic sounds on the guitar? im not entirely sure how they work if im honest but i have the Firehawk 1500 and im curious as to how it would sound through that?

  • would there be any merit in trying it with a line 6 variaxe compatible modeler? I.e Helix or Firehawk?

    I doubt that is a good solution. To tweak an existing guitar-sound into something else is a whole different concept than trying to emulate the output from different types of instruments and pickups.


    I found the sounds from the Variax quite ok, but the quality of the circuitry was horrible. It wouldn't stand a chance in A/B comparisons with the real instruments, but our perception of sound is always relative to the overall sound. The access to banjo, sitar, resonator and various other sounds for effects was nice, but the instrument became useless when I discovered that I couldn't rely on it.

  • Seems like the overwhelming opinion is that these are a no-go.

    That's a shame, in concept it sounds so interesting and potentially very useful for me live. The sound samples on the Line 6 website also sound so great, it's a little puzzling so many on here have not been wowed by it. Latency didn't seem evident on the demo by @MuddySludge either, which was a great demo by the way. I personally find terrible latency using the Transpose FX in the KPA and rarely use it. Does anybody know any tricks to reduce this latency?

    Gary ô¿ô

  • yeah i see what you are saying with regards to the hardware being a bit crap, but what i meant is will the variax compatible modelers sound better? do they influence how the variax guitars perform?

  • Just sold a JTV-59 - nice axe, but I didn't use it as planned (banjo, acoustic, altered tunings) after the novelty wore off. Also felt it was very heavy and I never fully trusted the battery system. Might have felt differently if I had connected through a Line 6 Floorboard that provided power. I do believe there is standalone power unit or something from Line 6 that can provide power without needing a full floor board.

  • Gig is tomorrow, but so far from rehearsal and firing things up at home, I feel pretty confident that I can get done what I need to get done with the JTV59 / Kemper setup. I am using the Line 6 power supply and a TRS cable between it and the JTV so I don't have to worry about the battery situation. Here's my current board config for such. I actually use the Boss RC3 / FS7 to trigger samples, so it's not inline with the guitar rig, it runs direct to the board. Not what it's intended for, but it works great for the purpose. First time I am trying that out as well as the JTV59. No beers for me tomorrow night, need to focus!


    The case was made by a fellow selling them on eBay specifically for a POD HD500, but it works great for the KPA gear as well. I was gonna see if he made anything for the Kemper floorboard, but unfortunately I can no longer find him...


  • Oh yeah, one thing I was gonna mention that I did not like about the JTV59 were the stock tuners. Way too much play in them. Got some replacement drop in Schallers (M6 locking type J). No drilling or other modifcation at all. Took about 10 minutes to replace. Much better!

  • With Variax is not possible to play palm muting technique. Absolutely not usable.

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    I had an older Variax transplanted into a G&L Tele (far left on my profile pic) and tried a JTV. I could palm mute away without any issue. I'm quite a choppy, aggressive picker when playing riffs and honestly never noticed any problems. I was made aware of this claim and tried to find fault, I acknowledge that it behaved differently in Variax mode but it's not true at all to say it is not usable.


    I generally found the guitars a bit unexciting and uninspiring and don't miss them at all; I'd always pick something else to play instead of the Variax but I don't accept your claim.

  • I have a line on a slightly used JTV 89-F which sounds great on demos, has the type of neck (on paper at least) I like, and it comes with a 45 day no fuss full refund guarantee. It's a more modern model, so I think my chances of enjoying it may be better than those above who used older models. Seems like a cool way to check it out with little risk, plus it's cheaper because it's slightly used. I'm going to go for it, give my feedback down the line. Wish me luck!

    Gary ô¿ô

  • I have a line on a slightly used JTV 89-F which sounds great on demos, has the type of neck (on paper at least) I like, and it comes with a 45 day no fuss full refund guarantee. It's a more modern model, so I think my chances of enjoying it may be better than those above who used older models. Seems like a cool way to check it out with little risk, plus it's cheaper because it's slightly used. I'm going to go for it, give my feedback down the line. Wish me luck!

    Nice. I found a used "modern" Variax as well, but no longer have the funds, so it's all moot, I guess.