Will Line6 ever have a competitor to variax?

[Lemmy Koopa]

You CAN mix magnetics and modeling via POD or a Workbench preset.
You can also split the signal via POD.

Great to know! A friend of mine recently picked up a USA JTV-69 and the magnetic pickups sound excellent on it.

Auto Tune guitar is pretty cool. Do you have to pay for the models or are they free?

It seems that they're freely accessible via the app:

http://vimeo.com/52581802

Nice. I'd say Auto Tune is the best competitor for the Variax then. If I had money to throw away I'd probably get one as well.

I wish I could try a JTV with HD firmware. I love my 600 but some of the new features on the new Variaxes are a serious deal breaker.
You have no idea how annoying it is to waste patches and banks on duplicates just for alternate tunings. Example: If I wanted a strat both in E standard and Drop D, I would have to use a whole nother bank for drop D, for all the 5 pickup selections.

The JTV has the alt tuning knob and capo mode where you can basically dial in a tuning on the guitar on the fly, you don't even need to save it, you can put a temporary one that won't change if you change banks and pickups, as if you physically retuned the guitar. I'd kill for that functionality. I have so many guitars I've thrown out of my Bank roster just for alt tunings that I wish I had room for.
I couldn't afford a JTV so I got a used Generation 1 Variax off ebay.

Another thing I like about the Variax is that you can make your own guitars. I made a Jaguar Jazzmaster and SG through workbench.

[blueman]

..... to mix the guitar's magnetic pickups with the Variax circuitry. In addition to possibly sounding cool, it would allow you to get feedback.

+1

This does exist now, in Workbench HD; you can mix in the analog pickups, from 0-100%, with any of the modeled instruments

Varaix has come a looooong way! I was an early adopter--ended up just giving away my 300--and this guitar is finally rock solid for me (JTV 69). I have absolutely 0 issues with warble now--was horrible before upgrades--and palm muting is VASTLY improved! The neutral body is awesome; you can get just the pickup tones; it has more output and more bass/treble. The JTV is not plug-and-play though. It takes some work to get everthing sorted.

I think this is the most improved, undervalued, and overlooked guitar on the market. The build quality is still not quite right, but it's very close.

[Uncle E]

The build quality is still not quite right, but it's very close.

Since the body wood doesn't matter, wouldn't you only need to replace the neck to have it be improved? I imagine that a Korean JTV with a Warmoth neck would be an amazing guitar.

[blueman]

Since the body wood doesn't matter, wouldn't you only need to replace the neck to have it be improved? I imagine that a Korean JTV with a Warmoth neck would be an amazing guitar.

You're quite right. Buying a new neck is on my to-do list but it's unfortunate to spend $1300 on a guitar only to replace the neck.

Tell me, how can they work with somebody as accomplished as James Tyler and design such a shitty neck?

[Uncle E]

What would you think of a line of JTV replacement bodies? I'm thinking we could make Tele Deluxe and Jazzmaster bodies for the 69 and RG bodies for the 89. If we sell these for around $125, do you think anyone would be interested?

[blueman]

What would you think of a line of JTV replacement bodies? I'm thinking we could make Tele Deluxe and Jazzmaster bodies for the 69 and RG bodies for the 89. If we sell these for around $125, do you think anyone would be interested?

I know one person who would be interested

[Lemmy Koopa]

..... to mix the guitar's magnetic pickups with the Variax circuitry. In addition to possibly sounding cool, it would allow you to get feedback.

+1

This does exist now, in Workbench HD; you can mix in the analog pickups, from 0-100%, with any of the modeled instruments

Varaix has come a looooong way! I was an early adopter--ended up just giving away my 300--and this guitar is finally rock solid for me (JTV 69). I have absolutely 0 issues with warble now--was horrible before upgrades--and palm muting is VASTLY improved! The neutral body is awesome; you can get just the pickup tones; it has more output and more bass/treble. The JTV is not plug-and-play though. It takes some work to get everthing sorted.

I think this is the most improved, undervalued, and overlooked guitar on the market. The build quality is still not quite right, but it's very close.

Thank you for this post. I've heard demos of the 12 string and the pitch shifting function sounds a lot nicer than the pre 2.0 firmware ones. One of my biggest gripes I have with my Variax is that it's not the best with hammer ons and pulls offs above the 12th fret when alt tuning.

So those are completely gone now? I also like that the pitching sound a lot more natural, like it has formant preserving. It makes pitch shifting up sound less ear piercing and makes pitching down less muddy.

Since the body wood doesn't matter, wouldn't you only need to replace the neck to have it be improved? I imagine that a Korean JTV with a Warmoth neck would be an amazing guitar.

You're quite right. Buying a new neck is on my to-do list but it's unfortunate to spend $1300 on a guitar only to replace the neck.

Tell me, how can they work with somebody as accomplished as James Tyler and design such a shitty neck?

I kind of agree. The 69 used to have issues with the strings sliding off from bends. I still think the headstock still looks like a deformed bell end, I love my 600's laminated maple fretboard neck with a Strat esque headstock.