Line 6 Variax 700 Acoustic

See Above. I'll pass on re-posting. 'sides, you should check out the line-6 page before you buy anyway.
THE features for me are PLAYing 12 strings and only having to keep 6 in tune <g> - and the alt tunings/capo settings.

Keep in mind what you are buying and what it will be used for. You don't buy a Rolls to pull a manure wagon ...unless you have a very rich wife and the Senate's health care plan <g>

So here's what it does for me.
I play live every Sunday and (1) sometimes the bass player doesn't show up... On some tunes I use an octave down tuneing and fill in the gaps.
(2) I want to inject a wee bit of blues slide... on goes the 11/16th deep craftsmen socket and I twist up a dobro and punch in an open G tuneing.
(3) I need to just strum a bit and fill out the sound while our lead player croons the melody in the intro... so I twist up the Folk 12-string
(4) I need to fingerpick some nice folk - twist... poof Martin D-21 .
- and , cuz this is an electric at heart, I can always step on my Digitech RP-80 and get reverbs and WahWahs that sound better than they do when I use my cheep strat-copy.
No, I can't store but one alt tuning per mode, but hey, their are 13 guitars on this thing. That's 13 quick changes in seconds. What do you want from one set of strings ??

If you want to show this thing off right... Get a Bose PAS ( L1 tower with a B1 sub) The coolest PA/amp/system in the multiverse right now.

That said: what you get out of this guitar is a slave to what you amp it with.
My wee little Electar 30W Acoustic amp sounds great for the Folk-12 strings but if you play "Bass" thu it... it's crap.
My Fender Champ is well... the wrong amp for it <g>
Thru a good PA that can handel the wide range of tone ( remember you can take the pitch up or down a very LONG way ) you can get very convencing smooth er, expensive sound from this toy.
Some wealthy colector may tell you " hey, that don't sound like my 1946 Martin 000-28" But if you put a Shure sm57 4" from the soundhole - amp it thru the house and stand 12 rows back in the hall and SHAZAM , it does sound like it. That's the deal here folks, It sounds darn close to these old guitars and you don't have to hunt them down and spend 20K each for them. All the sounds ( even the fairly poor banjo) sound better as part of a mix. The ear is fooled in context ya know.

This is a 300 dollar guitar with a thousand dollars worth of electronics. Fit and finish was not half bad. It doesn't compare with my Breedlove Focus but it beats the heck out of a Kramer Focus <g>

I hear that you do NOT want to drop this guitar....

I had help from Line-7 finding this guitar and they were great.
I have not had to deal with them for any problems but I do know that the Line-6 user boards are full of info and other owners who can help a great deal.

This is a great Studio tool and live gig ax - IF you have a good PA to play it thru. Don't buy this thing and expect perfection thru a Fender Tweed or Marshal Stack.

Also , buy some high quality rechargable batteries or get used to the extra cord/box

Let me add that the power box has a foot switch that will let you change outputs from 1/4" to XLR so you could, for ex: send your "Bass" sound to a bass amp and then switch back to your acoustic amp for the Gibson SJ-200

Where this guitar excels is in recording. I have a project studio and I can not over emphasize the importance of striking while the creative iron is hot.

Scenario one: grab guitar, tune to open C, Set up condenser mic, tweak preamp, record guitar along with studio noise.

Scenario 2: Plug in Variax, record guitar without worrying about bumping mics or screaming neighbors. Want to try that in DADGAD instead, turn knob, re-record.

The only feature it lacks is a built in tuning function, (Blinking Red for Flat, Amber for Sharp, green for dead on?). Workbench support with the ability to tweak sounds and replace useless models would make this a 12, but as is, I don't know how you could give this anything other than a 10. Multiple Great sounding guitars, minimal setup, alternate tuning, built in compressor.

This guitar will only sound as good as your amplification system. My current monitor setup is Variax to Tascam US428 via XLR, to Pioneer HT receiver via SPDIF, to JBL S38II. Sounds amazing. Played through club sound, cheap Behringer Powered Mixer to Wharfdale 2 way PA speaks, as good as any other $1000 acoustic, but with the Variax, you get 4-5 really great guitar sounds instead of one.


Specifics:
Nylon string - out of the guitar, not real convincing, but not bad. Record it, EQ tweak it, and it's great. Complaints from below did not spend enough time with the nylon. Maybe Line 6 could do a little tweaking and release an update.

12 string - Really good out of the box. Tweak a little on your own, move the mic towards the neck and pull the mix down on the sympathetic strings and it's dead on. No complaints at all.

Alternate tunings - Amazing. I'm sorry, but any comments to the contrary are just plain wrong. See note below for possible reason why mistaken reviews have rated this feature poorly. Is it perfect, no. Taking an acoustic guitar, changing string gauges, and retuning is perfect. Is it practically indistinguishable, amazingly convenient, and one of the greatest advances in live acoustic performance I have ever heard. YES.

As for the virtual capo, still very convincing and great if you need it in a pinch, though I just use a real capo (for partial capoing, I have to). Is it that tough?

A quick note, if anything, I made a mistake in getting one of the more resonate Variax 700As. The guitar plays at a nice volume unplugged, but when plugged in, if not using headphones or monitors turned up far enough, you will hear the original tone, which even when not using an alternate tuning, will color the sound. When using an alternate tuning, this can sound like a bad pitch-shifter, though playing back what's recorded will sound perfect. I believe that anyone who is not satisfied with the sound of this guitar may have this problem. Record the sound or listen to it loud on a good system, all your fears will be gone.

I think it would be better to compare the quality of this guitar to an electric rather than an acoustic. Acoustic just have that organic feel that electrics (which this guitar basically is) just don't. That being said, mine was very well put together. Intonation is right on, and the adjustable bridge is great. Frets level, finish is great (though mine came with a nick in the headstock). Could have used a TUSQ nut, but still plenty functional. Only gripe, the gig bag is nice and holds everything, but for $1200 list, should have gotten a foam core case (as light as a gig bag and much more protective) with cutouts for the pedal and power supply, and a front pocket for the cord. Please don't skimp.

Cord seems super tough, as well as pedal and power. I wonder about the constant know turning from model to model, but only time will tell. Can rate this now (nobody can), maybe in a couple years.

The serial number in the back of the manual did not match the prefix given on Line6's online registration and, therefore, I couldn't register my Variax online. I sent them an email on Friday. Monday, no reply yet...

You can not compare this guitar to a regular acoustic, it is not the same thing. I believe that Line 6 has made the most significant advance in guitar technology since the Humbucking Pickup.

This is a product that you must have a need for to really appreciate it. If you need a simple way to record GREAT acoustic sounds, buy this. If you play in an amplified setting with multiple tunings, buy this. If you need a straight forward acoustic to rock at maximum stage levels, buy this. If you want to jam in your bedroom, buy a great $400 acoustic and be happy with the amazing tone you can get for cheap or spend your $1200 on a Taylor or similar. This guitar is not for you.

Line 6 is great about dropping the price of their products once they recoup RD costs. Look at the going rate of PODs now. They have made this guitar easily upgradeable, so if you buy one now, you will have a top of the line product for many year (which can't be said of the computer you are reading this on now).

If you wait, you will be able to pick up the guitar in a couple years for under $1000, and will be a fool not to if you have a use for it. I give this a 9 only because it's not $1000 now (I think, the perfect price point)

You know the specs. Hard shell would have been nice.

I like it! I've had it for a couple of weeks and have tried it with various combos of amps and a couple of PAs (big and small). It sounds great! I like all of the models, even the Nylon (which I see the most gripes about). In some amps (typically electric guitar amps) it's hard to distinguish the difference between some of the sounds...kind of like they have the same base "samples". This is made to be played through something that won't color the sound, not your typical electric guitar amp (bummer). For what it is, it's amazing! I've used it live and it held it's own with a full band. No live acoustic guitar hassles or problems...yeah!

Okay. Not like my Taylor that I couldn't put down...Pretty decent out of the box though (a $1200 guitar should be at least pretty decent). I tried 3 different ones that they had in stock and they had 3 different personalities. It's like that with all guitars though, but since there may be workmanship issues, I'd be hesitant to buy it without playing it first (online). From the other reviews I've read, this seems like it's weaker point.

Finish is good. No flaws I can see. I like the look and feel of it.

we'll see...

weee'll seeee....

I have a bunch of different guitars and amps. I'm a pro musician who's been playing a long time in many different acts, venues and setups. My feeling is the right tool for the right job. I'm not selling any of my acoustics, but I now have a powerful tool for playing acoustic live in a band setting. One less setup hassle, feedback hassle, idiot house soundman hassle...

2004 Korean made 'modelling' guitar

Loads of features, not for the faint of heart (esp. technophobes)

Overall I liked the sounds of the vast majority of the models, I even found a place for the banjo! I am using this mainly through a Mackie PA, however when I have better monitors I will attempt to record with it. However, the 12 string models aren't the greatest... But as its potential is vast I'll have to give it an 8/10.

My guitar has a scratch in the top underneath the finish, but is not that noticable unless you go looking for it. Otherwise it is quite good.

I have however had problems with the bridge, a split has appeared between all of the bridge pins (I only bought the guitar a week ago, hence the low score, VERY annoyed)

No Comment, let me just say that I wasn't pleased about the crack in the bridge.

I hope that my variax will be repaired soon as it is a nice toy, and I enjoy experimentation on stage, the looks you get when using the sitar model are worth the money alone!

As I mentioned above, the guitar has a split in the bridge, a potential fault of any guitar with bridge pins (?). So far I have had only positive results from the people at Line6 Europe. Webpage is hit and miss thought, am unable to register my product (I wonder why?)

I have only been playing the guitar for about 4 years now, mainly self taught, I have 'too many' guitars according to she who must be obeyed (fiance), to name them: 1778-t Ovation, Takamine EG523SC, Fender Strat Plus Deluxe, a Gibson Les Paul Standard, and the Variax. If it was lost or stolen, I wouldn't get another, I'd go for a Taylor 514 or a Gibson J100 as an upgrade.

Check out the Line 6 website for the details and FAQs. Overall, "running" this guitar (it is a computer, after all) is simple and intuitive. The alternative tunings are the bomb. They're kinda hard to setup - you'll need the easy-to-read manual in hand when tweaking them. But once they're setup, they are fabulous. Anyone who's spent time retuning, or simply decided not to play a song in drop D because of the time it'd take to swap guitars, will appreciate this feature.

It will never sound as good a $3,000 Breedlove or the like, as it doesn't have the same body feel and vibration. This thing is meant for playing live and playing loud, and it's as good as anything I've heard (haven't heard the newer Taylor pickup system, but I do know that would cost you about double what this runs.) If anything, the string volume balance is even better than some of the high end stuff unplugged. The compressor and mike position sliders do really change the sound, and nicely address the issue of needing different patches for fingerpicking vs. hard strumming. Re: the models... Martin and Gibson models are all quite good and very usable. Jazz and Gypsy models are more usable than I'd guessed. I'm not into resonators, but the 2 models do sound believable (I think 1 would have been plenty.) The 12 string models were surprisingly bad, and Nylon string was not at all realistic (dissappointing, too, but not unexpected.) And would somebody tell me who needs a sitar or a shamisen? Exactly what or who is a shamisen? Those are a huge waste of space - should have been replaced by a model of a modern acoustic (Taylor or Breedlove?)

Factory setup was acceptable. There weren't any obvious screw ups, but this guitar isn't an aesthetic work of art. If you're more into a way a guitar looks than it sounds, you won't be impressed. Just think about how good it sounds, how amazing to be able to drop D at the push of a button, and close your eyes while playing if necessary. Plus, you'd have to pay at least $500 more if they put a pretty top on it.

Only had it a short while... The tuners seem a bit wimpy. No pickguard. Never had a guitar with an onboard computer, so I don't know what to expect. Most other computers crash all the time. If I had to count on it to make my living, I'd be nervous. But I don't, so I'm not.

Nothing yet. Would like to know more about future releases of more usable models to replace the goofy sitar and shamisen. Who's this shamisen, anyway? What were the guys at Line 6 smoking when they thought "hey, let's include a shamisen model on the Variax!" Are there large underground shamisen-playing groups out in California? Did Bob Dylan once play a shamisen on a song, and all the rock critics declared it a sacred instrument? Come on, guys. I've heard that Japanese businessmen bought up all the old classic, collectible Les Paul's back in the '90s. I don't think they did it to pave the way for the shamisen.

Been playing for 20+ years, mostly rock, have done a little recording but don't get paid to play any more. The alternate tunings at the touch of a button is nothing short of miraculous. DADGAD is great, as is Drop D. Virtual Capo all the way to the 5th fret starts to push the limits a little, but would be good in a pinch. I think the Variax Acoustic plays like an acoustic more than an electric (provides the typical finger ache after multiple hours of playing that any hard strummed acoustic will provide.) All of this is from the context of playing live in a rock setting, which is what this seems designed for. Not sure you'd really need it for the singer-songwriter, just-a-guy-and-his-guitar kind of stuff.

It's a well layed out guitar for me. It provides me with the eletric guitar feel. I'm just not an acoustic player. My dad has a stratacoustic that I realy like, but I wanted a resophonic guitar, a 12 string, and a jumbo acoustic. And I got them all and a hole lot more in this Line 6 700 Acoustic.

The (Dobro) square neck seting, is rite on the money of a gig mic'ed wood body Dobro. But you have to realise that a mic setup is vary prone to feedback on these and most other acoustic guitars. so the gig setups arent exacly the same sound as a true nonelectric sound. I am very happy with the sound from most of the models. The nylon string model is the weakest in my opinion, but 15 out of 16 aint bad.

I pefer to play this Line 6 Variax 700 Acoustic over any of the other 6 guitars I own. Lite acoustic strings that still feel very medium electric to me. fast average action no buzz and can hanle my hevy brass slide with no problems.

I've only had it a month. So far so good. Who gigs without a back up?

"If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?"
I can't aford to replace it it cost to much the first time. My only compant is that this is a good $800-$1000 guitar that cost me $1260.

I hate to spoil the party but this guitar is a bomb. The features are listed on the web site and may be a try at innovation but the user interface is dismal. All the fancy features like tuning and virtual capo are on the sliders which have no detents or markings. If you want to change the pitch or capo up you better have "perfect pitch", or a tuner and some time on your hands. In addition you can only save one alternate tuning in each model detent and that tuning is hard wired to the model and only available to that model where saved. So you can't have say a jumbo with two alternate tunings handy on the fly or two different capo positions on the same model. Not very flexible.

It may be better than having several guitars tuned and handy but it is certainly not something you can do on the fly.
There is no midi interface or other way to save the tunings outside the guitar as far as I can tell. That function may be available on the Vetta amps but then you'll have to shell out another $1,600 more or less.

Lastly there is nothing "acoustic" about this guitar at all. It is basically a solid body electric with a fake soundhole. So if the modeling card goes on the fritz which mine did (see below) you basically have a $1,200 wall ornament. :-( What you have is the original variax with acoustic guitar models at twice the price for the fake cosmetics. Great marketing hype. Ouch!

The sounds are good for modeling and I don't have any beefs here. It doesn't sound like a live guitar in any of the models but close enough. It is after all a digital model and you have to give up some trade offs.

Big ding here. This is my major gripe and why mine is one the way back to Line 6. Waited 4 months for the guitar because Line 6 could not keep up with demand. Within one week I had the same problems with noise and other stuff that the other gentlemen described. I looked at the innards and what you have is about a $400 korean made guitar with a $29.95 sound card. After talking to Line 6 and others including the dealer it is obvious that Line6 has quality and production problems in every electronic component in this guitar. I have been in computers and electronics for 30+ years and this has some really chintzy electronics. The margin on this thing must be astronomical. Line 6 will need the money to service warranty claims. And it can only be serviced in California. Good luck

See my comments above. The guitar itself is not bad but not any better than any other $400 Korean assembled guitar (and I have several which I like) and it is totally worthless without the electronics. May I say again it lasted one week in the field before it went south? Poor quality electronics, poor quality control and again without the electronics you might be able to sell it to Hard Rock Cafe to hang on their wall. Use it without backup are you kidding?

Only gave them a five because I couldn't get it repaired locally and in a timely manner other wise would be higher. The people I spoke to were knowledgeable and great to deal with. And big plus you don't have to hang on forever after a couple of minutes you can punch in your call back number as an option and they are very prompt +/- 30 minutes on calling you back on their dime. Too bad other companies don't do this. Unfortuantely this is the highlight of the experience.

In summary I own a pretty good array of equipment Peavey, Epiphone, Alvarez, Turser and Takamine guitars and as I said the actual guitar rates about in this category of $300-500 guitars from a fit and finish standpoint. The electronics are doodoo and without them there is no guitar.

I sent this back to SAMASH which is making good on the purchase. Thanks SAMASH!
I re-thought this concept and used the credit ($1,200)to get the following: Fender Telecoustic, Roland 7 series modeling amp, Roland foot pedal midi controller, GK3 divided pickup. This set up will do way more than the Line6 and has 130 stereo amp to boot from ROLAND.

My advice to anyone take a big pass on this one, use your cash to get a Roland Synth and pickup/ a GeNX3 or similar and pocket the difference or use the difference to buy a decent guitar that you can actually use. Nough said?

Anybody got some good Roland blues patches???

Before I can talk about the sound, let me mention that I had to send my VA back twice. When I first got it, it produced an awful background noise and some "whistling" whenever a string was picked. After sending it back and waiting for two weeks (!) the noise was gone and the whistling still there. This reduced my belief in this product to almost zero, and I was considering to ask for my money back. Nontheless I sent it back another time, and they didn't send me a new one, but repaired mine. Well let me say that finally it works. However I had to wait for 4 weeks, and still I'm quite nervous if it will soon be broke again...

The Variax sounds almost only good when played directly plugged to the PA. But this accounts for other acoustic guitars as well. The sound is already enhanced in some way. It doesn't sound like an unplugged acoustic... But for most cases that is cool anyway. The Sitar sounds however not good to my ears, as it has some annoying high frequency parts. However the biggest difference between the Variax and the acoustic edition is in my oppinion that the VA has also nylonstring simulation and of course the virtual tuning opportunity. While you could get a real decent Martin Guitar plus the normal Variax 500 I therefore was especially about these two features. As I play in very various styles an nylon sound is very important for my gigs. But let me tell you that I consider it ok. Of course it sounds not exactly like a spanish guitar. Anyways you cannot play it like one as cannot clap onto the corpus to make percussive sounds. But for having a "touch of Latin" it still works. What surprised me, is that it sounds much better when played through my Zoom Nylon simulator.

Tuning: You will HAVE to play loud in order to not hear the original sounds. The folks in the audience won't anyways, but as you sit close to the guitar you almost always will. And there was another big problem: I am the lead singer in our ensemble, and the mic for singing also got the original guitar sound in. This means you will hear detuned strings through the PA as well! The only setting where this isn't a problem is when shifting them down an octave. Then you will hear something as a "12-string"-bass. Strange, huh? And there is one thing I truly use: A bass emulation at hand. I often play the bass part in our combo, and now I have a "short-scale" bass at a click...

The guitar had a scratch within the plastic. But hey, guitars are made for rock'n'roll...

I doubt that it will withstand, as I had a lot of trouble so far as mentioned above...

As I clearly described both problems (noise and whistling) and they sent it back with only one problem fixed, I wonder how they test the guitars. This error was CLEARLY audible! How can you send something back as fixed that rings like hell...? At least it was quite fast.

I play since some years, mostly blues, jazz, rock and latin. I had a lot of trouble with this guitar so far, but I still love it. Since I got it, I hardly can't wait to get back from work to play it all night long. And by now I already miss a knob to switch sound at my Ibanez or Martin acoustic guitars. As I play very much electric on a Gibson Les Paul and a Fender strat I love the shape and body, which is very slim and not like an acoustic guitar at all. I also love the snowflake inlays. Why is almost every guitar having these boring dot inlays? And instantly switching to Open D, having the slide out, well it rocks. From now on I take only two guitars to my gigs: The variax and my Fender. That is cool. And the sound is awesome without mic and feedback problems. If only it doesn't produce those noises and whistling one day again... Keeps me nervous ;)

The features are well documented on the Line6 site. There is nothing else like this guitar that I am aware of, so for innovation it gets a 10. I scored the features lower because there are some features Line6 could improve on in the next generation.
Things that stand out: 1) the ability to pick from a list of pre-configured alternate tunings or dial your own custom alternate tuning and save the settings. This is a great feature, because your guitar setup stays the same, unlike a normal guitar where the different string tensions take some getting used to, and may even require bridge or truss rod adjustments. There is some latency here, so you have to train yourself to play with a noticable delay between picked note and audible note. 2) In addition to a volume slider, it has a mic position and compressor slider. These add a wide range of sound control to each guitar model. 3) The padded case is high quality, with pouches for cords, power box, and manual. 4) The bridge adjusts with a hex-wrench, and is very solid and easy to tweak. 5) For each of the 16 sounds, you can program two different sound settings. So really, there are 32 customizable sounds available.
Things that lack: 1) The strings anchor to the bridge with regular acoustic-style plastic push pins. These are a real pain to change, you need a special plug puller tool. It looks nice, but I would rather see a through the bridge design. 2) There is no factory reset to the default settings. Not a big deal, but the one I got was a display model, so the settings had been changed and I would have liked to have been able to get back to how Line6 intended it. 3) The fretboard extends to 24 frets for the 1st and 2nd strings. This is right in the sweet-spot for certain settings (more on that in the sound section). I would rather see the fretboard end at the 22nd fret for greater playability. 4) The capo feature is not very good when tuning up. I get a lot better sound just using a real capo.

I think of this more as a new instrument than an acoustic. If you are looking for a dead-on replica of a mic'd acoustic you will be disappointed. But the 16 different guitars all create a different sound and feel, making it an awesome creativity tool. All sounds record better than they play live, so if you are looking for a recording tool, make sure you don't judge it on a live audition alone.
Effects: There are no built-in effects, but it sounds good plugged straight into the sound board.
Feel: This instrument does not have any true acoustic sound, meaning that you can't play it unplugged or mic it. As a result, I had a hard time getting used to the lack of resonance from the body and vibrations transfered to my hands. If you've played acoustic for a long time, you have to untrain your brain from expecting certain reactions generated from your playing style.
Alternate Tunings: If you do not amplify the sound loud enough to drown out the sound of the real strings, you will hear wrong notes or chorused sounds that really aren't there. This also takes some getting used to.
Strings: The lowest gage you can go is 11-46 in a Phosphor Bronze. I tried a light 10-46 acoustic set, and a regular 9-42 Nickle electric set, and they sounded terrible. The action can be set up pretty low, so it is not as hard to play as a normal acoustic.
Piezo-Electric: While the pickups sound better than my Ovation, there is still some of that Piezo-Electric plastic crunch that keeps it from sounding exactly like a mic'd acoustic. In addition, it gives a "thump" sound on single picked notes. Set the guitar to Parlor and play some high single notes to demo the effect. You will hear a low thumping with each picked note. My Ovation does this to ... annoying but not fatal to the overall sound.
Summary of sounds (5=Ovation, 10=True Acoustic Sound):
Standard Acoustics: Rating=7. Differences between models are more than just eq changes - the attack, sustain, and overall feel covers a wide spectrum. Set the Parlor to an open G, and you are transported to Led Zeppelin III!
12-Strings: Rating = 9. Jaw dropping sound combined with the ease of playing just 6 strings. The settings allow you to adjust the level of the octave strings and the amount of de-tuning. Think Magic Power by Triumph or Over the Hills and Far Away by Zep. The Blues12 with just a hint of the octave strings is a great sound that you could not get with a regular 12 string. The Mandola sounds great with the octave strings turned down slightly, and a real capo put on the 3rd or 5th frets.
Nylon: Rating = 5. This is a real disappointment. It has a nice sound, but I wouldn't recognize it a classical nylon stringed instrument. You have to pick or pluck right at the 22nd fret area to get the right tone, but it still sounds like a steel string. On all the settings, the sound if very sensitive to where you are picking. I think the best sound comes from the area near the top of the sound hole, which may make you adjust your normal picking style.
Novelty: Sound Rating = 8. The banjo, sitar, and shamisen are a lot of fun. The banjo is best with an open tuning, and is one where you have to record it to truly appreciate how close it sounds to a real banjo. It is nice for a guitar player to have the option of getting these sounds without having to use a synthesizer.

The nut on mine is poor quality. There were rough edges, and shavings underneath the strings. The G string slot is so tight it grabs preventing smooth tuning. For $1200, I should not have had to mess with the nut.
The neck is comfortable, and the truss rod is easy to adjust.
The tuners are solid and accurate.
The finish is nice - this a professional looking instrument. It feels solid and well balanced hanging from a strap.

It is not a fragile instrument. The sliders and selector switch are high quality, and look like they will stand up to frequent use. I'll have to use it for a longer period before I can rate it.

I had some questions that were answered via. email within 48 hours. The answer was very detailed, I could tell the tech knew the product and also was a guitar player. The website is helpful.

This is an instrument that I will play and record a lot with. Line6 is a company that continues to innovate and deliver products that focus on sound quality. My guess is that they will refine this instrument even more, and the next generation will surpass the sound and function of this first release.

Variax 700 Acou. really tickled me ... for features learn more at the line6 website. Guitar is really well crafted reminds be of a Gibson Chet Atkins SST. Instant alt tunings are a gas, I was skeptical.

Blues/folk/tortured unrequited love :^) singer songwriter, the axe just appealed to me, I have never been gadgets guy. My performing guitar of choice, 97 Gibson BKE. I can achieve good results through my Bose PAS. Although a couple of the "models" sound a bit electronic, just keep on playing and it's pretty magic. No problems uncovered, i.e. noisy. There is a virtual capo feature that I don't care for, alt tunings are great thought.

I really was impressed by the guitar right out of the box. No flaws, real pretty guitar. More like an electric in ones hands than a acoustic. Very well crafted.

Gigged once so far with the guitar and the audience was pleased. I played with the alt tunings, and several different models, 12 string classics, SF Bay Blues, Walk Right In. Used the resonator model. Every part of the guitar seems bullet proof. I didn't bring a backup to my first gig with it.

Playing for 35 years. Sound reinforcement Bose PAS w/ B1 module. Super. Gibsons x3.
The V 700 A is a real nice axe, and of course the favorite feature is it's alternative voices at the flick of a switch. I test drove it for 1.5 hours before deciding to purchase.
It's not a sit around the living room enjoying mellow sound acoustic, but I beleive it can deliver some good live entertainment value. I can tell after one gig that it will be in my hands at most venues I play.