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Post by Die Bullen on Dec 30, 2020 2:32:04 GMT
Unusual NGD for me.
Today a friend of mine gave me this old Line6 variax 500. Not a guitar I'd normally, be interested in but for free, what the heck?
Will post pix tomorrow
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Post by Sgt Rock on Dec 30, 2020 3:44:41 GMT
Unusual NGD for me. Today a friend of mine gave me this old Line6 variax 500. Not a guitar I'd normally, be interested in but for free, what the heck? Will post pix tomorrow I've heard a little about the Variax. weren't they supposed to be the hottest thing since sliced bread ? |
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Post by zontar on Dec 30, 2020 6:47:18 GMT
They are the guitar version of a modelling amp.
Other companies have tried the same idea & not done as well.
For live performances it can be cool so you can get different guitar sounds without having to carry along a large number of guitars.
One thing that no modelling guitar can ever do though is mimic how different guitars can feel different in your hands, and you play them differently.
But since no guitar could ever do that--that's more a quibble than a serious complaint.
And for free?
Cool.
Do you know if it's the one based on the Yamaha or not?
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Post by Die Bullen on Dec 30, 2020 14:44:46 GMT
Unusual NGD for me. Today a friend of mine gave me this old Line6 variax 500. Not a guitar I'd normally, be interested in but for free, what the heck? Will post pix tomorrow I've heard a little about the Variax. weren't they supposed to be the hottest thing since sliced bread ? I know next to nothing about it except it is red and needs batteries! |
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Post by Die Bullen on Dec 30, 2020 14:45:57 GMT
And for free? Cool. Do you know if it's the one based on the Yamaha or not? Yeah my friend basically said if you want this for free just come and take it. I'll give it a try. I'm not sure if it is based on Yamaha or not. I haven't even dug around in the gig bag yet to see what else he put in there |
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Post by Die Bullen on Dec 30, 2020 17:18:06 GMT
Here is a picture of it. I just changed the strings from 9's to 11's. Luckily I had a set of TI roundwounds lying around. Going to take quite a few adjustments to neck and saddles based on the gauge change, and I don't really want to try it out until it is set up at least sort of okay or i kno I will be frustrated with it It is in really good shape, it looks like my friend never played it.  |
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Post by zontar on Dec 30, 2020 21:37:31 GMT
Well it’s not one of the Yamaha ones
Which in & of itself is not a good thing or a bad thing, just a thing
Unless you have strong preferences either way
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Post by Die Bullen on Dec 30, 2020 21:54:08 GMT
Well it’s not one of the Yamaha ones Which in & of itself is not a good thing or a bad thing, just a thing Unless you have strong preferences either way I'm not sure I'd know the difference either way. I am totally unfamiliar with these guitars! So some initial impressions. It does not stay in tune very well. Maybe this is simply because the strings are new and I am still messing with it, but I am not impressed in this department. I plugged it into its AC adapter box and the sound was working for a minute or two and then started sounded unpleasantly distorted. Could be a lot of things- I plugged it directly in, bypassing the AC box (it was running on onboard battery) and it sounded okay but I didn't have time to put it through the paces. Action is very high, especially since the thing was set up with 9's, which is peculiar. I will continue to mess with it but overall this might need a better setup than I can do myself. I did intonate it and I will try lowering the saddles later. So overall initial impressions? Meh. But it was free... |
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Post by Bill h on Dec 30, 2020 23:47:14 GMT
Well it’s not one of the Yamaha ones Which in & of itself is not a good thing or a bad thing, just a thing Unless you have strong preferences either way I'm not sure I'd know the difference either way. I am totally unfamiliar with these guitars! So some initial impressions. It does not stay in tune very well. Maybe this is simply because the strings are new and I am still messing with it, but I am not impressed in this department. I plugged it into its AC adapter box and the sound was working for a minute or two and then started sounded unpleasantly distorted. Could be a lot of things- I plugged it directly in, bypassing the AC box (it was running on onboard battery) and it sounded okay but I didn't have time to put it through the paces. Action is very high, especially since the thing was set up with 9's, which is peculiar. I will continue to mess with it but overall this might need a better setup than I can do myself. I did intonate it and I will try lowering the saddles later. So overall initial impressions? Meh. But it was free... Never heard of this guitar until now. It’s really interesting, I did a little research and saw that it models a lot of guitars. I also noticed they are not exactly cheap either. I’d go the route your taking, get a good setup on it and then start experimenting. I’ll be interested to hear what you think. |
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Post by Die Bullen on Dec 31, 2020 1:51:40 GMT
I'm not sure I'd know the difference either way. I am totally unfamiliar with these guitars! So some initial impressions. It does not stay in tune very well. Maybe this is simply because the strings are new and I am still messing with it, but I am not impressed in this department. I plugged it into its AC adapter box and the sound was working for a minute or two and then started sounded unpleasantly distorted. Could be a lot of things- I plugged it directly in, bypassing the AC box (it was running on onboard battery) and it sounded okay but I didn't have time to put it through the paces. Action is very high, especially since the thing was set up with 9's, which is peculiar. I will continue to mess with it but overall this might need a better setup than I can do myself. I did intonate it and I will try lowering the saddles later. So overall initial impressions? Meh. But it was free... Never heard of this guitar until now. It’s really interesting, I did a little research and saw that it models a lot of guitars. I also noticed they are not exactly cheap either. I’d go the route your taking, get a good setup on it and then start experimenting. I’ll be interested to hear what you think. No, they certainly weren't cheap. I really thing having someone who knows what he's doing set the thing up. Like I said, I know nothing about this kind of guitar- I'm a pretty simple guy when it comes to gear. Although if you could model as many guitars as they advertise, it could be neat |
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Post by Bill h on Dec 31, 2020 2:05:02 GMT
Never heard of this guitar until now. It’s really interesting, I did a little research and saw that it models a lot of guitars. I also noticed they are not exactly cheap either. I’d go the route your taking, get a good setup on it and then start experimenting. I’ll be interested to hear what you think. No, they certainly weren't cheap. I really thing having someone who knows what he's doing set the thing up. Like I said, I know nothing about this kind of guitar- I'm a pretty simple guy when it comes to gear. Although if you could model as many guitars as they advertise, it could be neat Keep us posted, I’m really curious. |
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Post by Die Bullen on Dec 31, 2020 2:24:31 GMT
No, they certainly weren't cheap. I really thing having someone who knows what he's doing set the thing up. Like I said, I know nothing about this kind of guitar- I'm a pretty simple guy when it comes to gear. Although if you could model as many guitars as they advertise, it could be neat Keep us posted, I’m really curious. Will do! |
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Post by zontar on Dec 31, 2020 4:20:23 GMT
I could be wrong but it looks like one of the older ones
That could be part of the issue
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Post by zontar on Dec 31, 2020 5:41:37 GMT
Checkeed tehri website & the 500 is indeed no longer made--but they do have ones that do look similar to various Yamaha Pacifica models.
Which is a nice base for those guitars.
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Post by Die Bullen on Dec 31, 2020 14:33:39 GMT
I could be wrong but it looks like one of the older ones That could be part of the issue I think it was made between 2002 and 2005 |
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Post by Die Bullen on Dec 31, 2020 21:27:20 GMT
Okay I did a little more messing around with this guitar today. I still haven't had a chance to get it set up so I played it as is with high action.
When I simply play direct to an amp or seems to work fine, so i assume the AC power supply is hosed.
There are an awful lot of voices emulated so i only tried a few out. The gibson super 400 voices are both pretty nice. The Rick 6 and 12 string voices are also not bad. The tele voice (1960?) Neck pickup setting was nice as was the Gretsch .
The national tricone voice was really neat as it sounded just like a banjo.
On the other hand the gibson banjo setting was simply terrible and fake sounding. Still a lot to try out but most voices were pretty nice, especially the super 400
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Post by zontar on Dec 31, 2020 21:42:36 GMT
Okay I did a little more messing around with this guitar today. I still haven't had a chance to get it set up so I played it as is with high action. When I simply play direct to an amp or seems to work fine, so i assume the AC power supply is hosed. There are an awful lot of voices emulated so i only tried a few out. The gibson super 400 voices are both pretty nice. The Rick 6 and 12 string voices are also not bad. The tele voice (1960?) Neck pickup setting was nice as was the Gretsch . The national tricone voice was really neat as it sounded just like a banjo. On the other hand the gibson banjo setting was simply terrible and fake sounding. Still a lot to try out but most voices were pretty nice, especially the super 400 Well banjos & tricones have resonators Maybe that messed them up |
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Post by Die Bullen on Dec 31, 2020 23:21:14 GMT
I messed with it quite a bit just now, it is definitely interesting. I find quite a few settings that I think sound good, from LP to Danelectro.
A few are not great, but I find I generally get at least 1 good voice in each model (i.e. Les Paul or Strat). Some are really good.
I also lowered the saddles to make it more playable, which also improved the intonation beyond the adjustments I'd already done. I have to ask my friend why the devil he had the saddles set so high.
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Post by zontar on Dec 31, 2020 23:58:56 GMT
If you can get one good sound out of it you come out ahead
Several is just gravy
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Post by Bill h on Jan 1, 2021 0:46:56 GMT
I messed with it quite a bit just now, it is definitely interesting. I find quite a few settings that I think sound good, from LP to Danelectro. A few are not great, but I find I generally get at least 1 good voice in each model (i.e. Les Paul or Strat). Some are really good. I also lowered the saddles to make it more playable, which also improved the intonation beyond the adjustments I'd already done. I have to ask my friend why the devil he had the saddles set so high. It’s great you found a few of the models useful, at the very least you have a pretty cool practice guitar...or more. String action is always something I had to talk about to whoever was doing the setup on my guitars. If I didn’t talk about it it was always to high for me. I always tell them as low as possible with zero buzz. |
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Post by Die Bullen on Jan 1, 2021 1:01:22 GMT
If you can get one good sound out of it you come out ahead Several is just gravy Totally agree. Am I blown away so that I'd not use my archtops? No, and if you own a real Super 400 you'd probably say it sounds nothing like the original. But there are usable sounds here. I could see someone in a rock cover band using this guitar extensively. |
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Post by Die Bullen on Jan 1, 2021 1:04:32 GMT
I messed with it quite a bit just now, it is definitely interesting. I find quite a few settings that I think sound good, from LP to Danelectro. A few are not great, but I find I generally get at least 1 good voice in each model (i.e. Les Paul or Strat). Some are really good. I also lowered the saddles to make it more playable, which also improved the intonation beyond the adjustments I'd already done. I have to ask my friend why the devil he had the saddles set so high. It’s great you found a few of the models useful, at the very least you have a pretty cool practice guitar...or more. String action is always something I had to talk about to whoever was doing the setup on my guitars. If I didn’t talk about it it was always to high for me. I always tell them as low as possible with zero buzz. Since I play with pretty heavy strings, I can't go much lower than middle of the road action. The 11s on this are as light as it gets for me, but it plays reasonably well now. Would probably still benefit from a pro setup but I did a fairly good job. Even adjusted the neck relief |
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Post by zontar on Jan 1, 2021 1:04:38 GMT
I messed with it quite a bit just now, it is definitely interesting. I find quite a few settings that I think sound good, from LP to Danelectro. A few are not great, but I find I generally get at least 1 good voice in each model (i.e. Les Paul or Strat). Some are really good. I also lowered the saddles to make it more playable, which also improved the intonation beyond the adjustments I'd already done. I have to ask my friend why the devil he had the saddles set so high. It’s great you found a few of the models useful, at the very least you have a pretty cool practice guitar...or more. String action is always something I had to talk about to whoever was doing the setup on my guitars. If I didn’t talk about it it was always to high for me. I always tell them as low as possible with zero buzz. I’ve had the opposite While I don’t like high action, I don’t like it real low I like to bend strings and if the action is too low that can be quite difficult So I like mine in that sweet spot of low but not too low and easy to bend |
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Post by Bill h on Jan 1, 2021 1:39:35 GMT
It’s great you found a few of the models useful, at the very least you have a pretty cool practice guitar...or more. String action is always something I had to talk about to whoever was doing the setup on my guitars. If I didn’t talk about it it was always to high for me. I always tell them as low as possible with zero buzz. I’ve had the opposite While I don’t like high action, I don’t like it real low I like to bend strings and if the action is too low that can be quite difficult So I like mine in that sweet spot of low but not too low and easy to bend If you want absolutely no buzz your not going to get super super low anyway, I don’t like buzz of any kind. I use tens and they will get down there pretty good. I like it low because I do a lot of pulling and hammering, the drawback of course is chording can be tricky as it’s easy to bend something out. |
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Post by Die Bullen on Jan 1, 2021 2:09:35 GMT
Yeah see I am not bending anything. I could deal with the action that high but it is really odd to see something Strat-ish with action between 3/16 and 1/4" high unless it is a slide guitar.
And maybe he did use it for slide because some of the custom voices were set to alternate tunings. Now that’s weird- you are tuned to standard tuning but when you come through the amp it is an alternate tuning with all the pitches electronically altered
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Post by zontar on Jan 1, 2021 2:10:34 GMT
I’m okay with bit of buzz
Just not too much
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Post by Bill h on Jan 1, 2021 2:15:40 GMT
Yeah see I am not bending anything. I could deal with the action that high but it is really odd to see something Strat-ish with action between 3/16 and 1/4" high unless it is a slide guitar. And maybe he did use it for slide because some of the custom voices were set to alternate tunings. Now that’s weird- you are tuned to standard tuning but when you come through the amp it is an alternate tuning with all the pitches electronically altered Wow. Alternate tunings as well, now that’s really cool!! That would come in really handy learning covers in different tunings. |
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Post by Bill h on Jan 1, 2021 2:21:44 GMT
I hate having to change tunings when I’m learning covers but it’s a necessity. Even though it only takes a minute it’s still a pain, most of the time I’ll wind up playing it in standard after I’ve learned it anyway.
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Post by Die Bullen on Jan 1, 2021 14:47:07 GMT
Yeah see I am not bending anything. I could deal with the action that high but it is really odd to see something Strat-ish with action between 3/16 and 1/4" high unless it is a slide guitar. And maybe he did use it for slide because some of the custom voices were set to alternate tunings. Now that’s weird- you are tuned to standard tuning but when you come through the amp it is an alternate tuning with all the pitches electronically altered Wow. Alternate tunings as well, now that’s really cool!! That would come in really handy learning covers in different tunings. Yeah it is cool but surreal. I have to download the software for this thing, I hear there all kinds of other custom settings you can load |
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Post by Bill h on Jan 1, 2021 15:42:04 GMT
Wow. Alternate tunings as well, now that’s really cool!! That would come in really handy learning covers in different tunings. Yeah it is cool but surreal. I have to download the software for this thing, I hear there all kinds of other custom settings you can load I think it’s going to be a lot of fun for ya. |
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