line 6 variax

[ArDee]

I have a 300, got it a few years ago from Regent Guitars with a setup, its great but like Sporky said the 12 string sounds are a bit crappy, more like a chorus on a 6 string than 12 stringy. One of the great things is programing alternate tunings so you don't have to retune or have a few different guitars about. Another good thing about that is transposing to a different key (for the singer, wouldn't ye know!!) you can play the usual way but just program a different tuning, coolio

[gweilo]

I got the 300 a couple of years ago when I started out. Its good fun for messing about on, easy way of playing different tunings and changing between electric and acoustic sounds is a doddle.

I have lent it to a friend of mine to use for songwriting and he loves it for its versatility.

Its not a high end guitar but it never pretends to be (well actually it does pretend LOL).

[impmann]

Hmmm. I repair Variaxes so I'm not sure who told you that the 300/600 has paired processing - it doesn't. All of them have separate processing per string (except the V300 Acoustics) but all of them have paired audio output per string - ie once the sound is converted to audio from digital it passes through the Op amps as pairs of strings and then grouped together for the output jack.

The V300 isn't particularly great as a guitar - although keep your eyes open for 2-tone sunburst V300s, there was a very early batch of them that were painted incorrectly in 2-tone as opposed to 3. These also were made from the wrong wood stocks, and are much better quality than any other V300. There were only ever 150 of these brought into the UK/EU market - two of them had flamed maple necks (I had one of them - the other went to a Tech at L6). But all of the other 2-tones were exceptional.

There are limitations to the technology but they do sound incredible. Put it another way, Steve Howe has a custom Variax (its a 335 shape but with 24 frets, and the Variax electronics) that he gigs regularly - and that sounds fabulous. I've had the pleasure of working on that guitar and it shows what the electronics can sound like when bolted into a body/neck worthy of them.

My fave - the V500, without question. The best necks, the most solid electronics (different board/flash to a V700) and without that god-awful trem.

[imported_El Diablo]

So Impmann - If you were just a regular guitarist looking to do a transplant: would you hold out for getting a 500 for the guts or would you just use a 300??

I ask this as some one who has been thinking about this for some time. But I really would want a Floyd(ish) trem - either an Ibby piezo or the new Ghost licenced jobby.

Would really be interested to hear your thoughts!

[impmann]

I've seen a V700 with a Wilkinson trem and Ghost saddles - that worked really well. The Steve Howe guitar has a TonePro wraparound bridge with Ghost saddles...

As for the electronics - the limitation of the V300/V600 electronics is they are housed within a metal casing (known as a 'coffin'). This acts as a Faraday's cage and is essential to keep noise and interference to a minimum because of the unsheilded ribbon cable that joins the main pcb to the pcb with the knobs and output socket on. Therefore you need to have the space to mount it - and a lot of it.

The V500 is a much more elegant system that allows re-housing much easier. However, beware that the connector for the bridge cable (the ribbon cable that transfers all the info from the piezo pickups) is VERY fragile and so is the cable. If you damage the connector, you need a new board (the connector is bespoke and not available from L6) - the board is around £160 from memory. If you damage the bridge cable, you need a new bridge - again its bespoke and will cost around £130. So be careful!

Warmoth do some superb bodies for rehoming Variax guts - all the routings are spot on for fitting the electronics.

Hope that helps!

[DiscoStu]

http://www.transaxeguitars.com/index.htm

What you can do with Variax guts and your imagination!

[imported_El Diablo]

Thanks Fella!

Although I've seen a fair few transplants done with trems - I have to admit - I'm getting shyer about the idea of doing mine with a trem all the time.

Interesting to hear about the "cage" thing in the 300/600 design. I had just assumed that I could do away with that - Obviously not then!

It will be interesting to see what line 6's next guitar output will be (I've heard well sourced rumours!!) But I can imagine that I'll probably just get a 300 and see how I get on with it. I think my main regret was getting my 700ac just before workbench was announced. If I'd known about workbench - I would have got a 500 back then. - Ho-hum!

[impmann]

http://www.guitaristjeffmiller.com/guitars.htm

What you can do with Variax guts, your imagination and some BEAUTIFUL wood

[Sporky_McGuffin]

Interesting to hear about the "cage" thing in the 300/600 design. I had just assumed that I could do away with that - Obviously not then!

You can if you properly shield the cavities.

The bigger problem with transplanting a 300 (from experience) is that you're restricted on where you can put things - the ribbon cables don't have much in the way of slack.

[tim_caesar]

How about this one, into an SRV relic...

http://www.innarudemood.com/photos-group-28.html