Line 6 Variax 700 Acoustic

If you're reading this - you're familiar with the features. It's a modeling guitar - so it doesn't really have much tone on it's own it's designed to emulate other instruments though a PA/amp/etc.

Build quality was fine. Very similar to an Epiphone chet Atkins - so essentially a Solid Body build with a fake Sound hole. Aesthetically it's fine - the real plus is no feedback issues.

Full build/features info on the Line 6 or Sweetwater site.

It's been mentioned that it doesn't work with workbench - but the 700 does. That allows for custom tunings to be saved to the instrument. There's some presents on the instrument that does that anyway - but workbench allows a lot more flexibility. This is one of the major differences between this and the 300. Definitely worth the extra $.

No word on the build date - I'm guessing 04-06... Came with a high quality gig bag - manual... allen wrenches, Planet Waves cable and DI box.

No name on the tuners - but they seem to work fine. Much better quality than my electric 300.

I like some models a lot better than others. I've found some good tips online and like the tones I get w. an external compressor and reverb. Does it sound exactly like the guitars it models? I don't know but for the most part they sound quite good.

You'll hear some artifacts with pitch shifting. Some people complain about delay, but I find it very workable. I just use a manual capo for any of the higher pitched tunings and it works fine.

The fact that I can do a gig that would have taken me 3 guitars before and do it with one, alone make it worth my time.

Not bad. I'd recommend getting a professional setup with any new guitar. Was a night and day playing experience. Plastic nut and bridge pins were cheap for a guitar in this price range, but upgrading made me happy...

Seems durable... having said that - it is essentially a computer housed in a guitar so I wouldn't pull a hendrix on it or anything. But for regular playing - it seems fine.

When I got the guitar, the Low E string was a little low in volume. Tried a couple of different things and then read on the online forum that some of the piezos were bad. Called Line 6 - talked about some repair options and they mailed a piezo w. No charge to me that day. A quick solder later and everything was all set.

I've read that some people have had problems - but my experience was really great.

The guitar takes a little tweaking to get it sounding right to my ears, but it's a worthwhile investment. I was on the fence about getting one, but when I saw the Sweetwater price drop, that answered all my questions about whether or not to get it.

With any piezo guitar - you have to have really clean technique to get everything to sound properly. There's not a lot of mercy with regards to sloppy hammer-ons/pull-offs etc. But it's worth the effort. For someone who lives in a noisy apartment building that makes it IMPOSSIBLE to record an acoustic guitar there - something like this is a godsend.

I have a review below from about 2 years ago (see below) and thought I'd add my views after owning this guitar for a while now.

I'm still VERY happy with this purchase. Did a minor adjustment to the action and love what it did to the playability of this guitar.

All sounds still wonderful - or the ones I use the most, which are Parlor, Dread, and Jazz.

I have little or no use for the exotic instruments, except for the sitar. It's not great, but ok, and after amplification, it's easy to hear what I'm doing with it. A fun, different sound. The dobros and banjo are never used. I will occasionally use the 12-strings and nylon and they are ok in small doses.

As I said, I did an adjustment to the action and I'm still happy with the fit on this guitar. The lighter gauge string made quite a difference.

After 2 years of steady use, I have had absolutely no problems (knock wood). I gig regularly with this guitar for rock/blues shows and solo jazz work. I take multiple guitars on all gigs, so if it should go down, I'd just substitute one of the others. I take care of my stuff and everything on this guitar still works as it did when I bought it over 2 years ago.

Still have not dealt with them. And that is a good thing.

After 2+ years, I am still VERY happy with this guitar. Other musicians are amazed at the sounds this guitar gets. I've used it thru both the Fishman Loudbox and the new Roland AC-90. Both sound great. Have also patched direct into the sound board and again, great.

After 2 years, I'm still VERY happy with this guitar and hope to be in another 2 years. It's been a keeper for sure!

This is a guitar in the same way a keyboard is a piano. My Variax has a spruce look about it, its quite a pretty guitar though I did not orginally think so when I played one last year. As for features, well I paid a small sum for what is effectively 12 guitars, with half a dozen usable open tunings.

I want to add my own open tunings, C and C modal and that looks like it will be tricky - though I haven't tried yet. It may be easy.

The sounds are amazing. They may not be perfect but - wow. I bought this as I play open mic night and I get instant variation at the touch of a button. For the working acoustic guitarist it is a must have unless you have a roadie and 8 vintage guitars.

It was rather shop soiled and they knocked off ??100 for me.

Its a great live guitar. I dunno about the electrical side of it, it has a mini computer inside I guess. I would not use any guitar on a gig without a back up. Tuning is pretty solid though the gig bag inevitably knocks the machine heads. I may get a hard case for it.

N/A

I have been playing 27 years. I traded in an Ovation Balladeer against this - no regrets. I have a Squire Strat (my son has claimed this I think) a Fylde Goodfellow. A basic Yamaha in my classroom at school and a Samick banjo.

If this was robbed I'd have another before the end of the day.

I love its variation at the touch of the switch, amazing.

My only gripe is that there is a workbench for the electric variax but not for the acoustic. Why? There's a thousand guitars they could model for use. Mandolin? Bazouki? Until Line 6 adress that the acosutic is a poor cousin of the electric models.

This goes without saying - features are what the Variax is all about and from this point of view it does not disappoint. Visit their website for the rundown but it's as much a computer as a guitar, and feature-filled.

Here's the truth as I see it. Apart from the models of real acoustics at the beginning of the dial, the other models are useless, seriously. The resonator models sound completely Woolworths, as does the classical model, and the wobble as the pitch shifting software tries to emulate a twelve-string is alarming and renders the sound unusable. Don't even ask about the mandola model - I sat with a mandola player for comparison and he almost wet himself laughing. Seriously, you get what you pay for but ??750? Add to this the fact of the strings being loud enough to hear in their original pitches when you're in alternate tunings even amped up (most musicians have good ears, Line 6!) and you're on a losing streak from the start.

The action lies somewhere between acoustic and electric, feeling like a well set-up arch top guitar. The small body makes for comfort and you can sense a strange polarity here - your right hand feels like it's picking or strumming a nice small-bodied acoustic while your left hand enjoys way more fluidity and comfort than you might be used to on a run-of-the-mill acoustic guitar.

My Variax is with Line 6 as we speak for the THIRD TIME in a year! Reliable is NOT the word. Sure it's nicely made and finished, and the gig bag is lovely, but you do not want to go through your playing life wondering when the thing will go wrong next. At your next gig? At the next recording session? In the next five minutes? If they fix it it's back on eBay for a bargain price while I invest in some wood instead of software. Not dependable. Not reliable. Not funny.

The people at Line 6 are a mixture, but by and large very friendly, paying for pickups and redeliveries with no hassles.

32 years man and boy, and in addition to the Variax I have an old Yamaha FG310, a Barcelonian classical, a small bodied Westwood electroacoustic and a Breedlove Atlas through Behringer guitar amps and a Behringer PA. I should have taken more time to listen to the models. If stolen the insurance money would go towards a small bodied Martin. Think seriously and listen hard to this guitar before buying.

If you're checking it out, you probably know what the features are, but it's a digital guitar with various virtual vintage "models", including mandola, shamisen, and sitar. Variax Workbench recently added the ability to tweak the models in really cool ways.

I'm not sure how to rate this. On intention? As in, they intended to give us a lot of cool features? Or on how effective those features turn out to be? I'll split the difference at 5.

At first the sounds were pretty good. I play all open tunings, which was why I bought this thing, so at first, out of convenience, I was willing to overlook the bad sounds that came out of it. Over time, though, my patience got shorter and the sounds got worse and worse. About 7 months after I bought it, they were so awful that I took the thing back. The guy at the store agreed on how awful it sounded and replaced it. He said the chip had gone bad. A week later, the low E string piezo pickup on the replacement blinked out. I took it back and traded it in for an American-made Tele. I'm sure the Tele will never make those awful chirps, blips, squawks, burps, and squirrely digital squiggles that the Variax made.

I would've given it a 1 for sounds, but that wouldn't have been quite fair. I have to hand it to Line 6, they did a great job of emulating those sounds. If you're a strummer, or a very clean picker, you'll probably be okay. However, if you like to hit the strings hard -- if you like to break them sometimes out of sheer joy and abandon -- if you like to play percussively, and especially if you do so with a slide -- then DONT GET THIS GUITAR.

Action is so variable, it's not worth rating. Everybody has their own preferences. The finish was beautiful. Overall, it was like a girl who turns her face away and grunts while you try to make love. Not very sexy. The Tele on the other hand ...

I wouldn't gig it even with a backup.

Never dealt with them. The store took care of everything.

Again, if you're really gentle and don't subject the thing -- I hesitate to call it a guitar -- to too much force, it might be okay. But if you like to play hard, forget it. Don't even waste your time.

The features are well documented by others here - suffice to say they're all OK, though could do with som kind of finishing to the 3 sliders... they look like they used to have knobbly bits on the ends, but they've fallen off!

Sound is brilliant - an ideal guitar for playing in an amplified scenario. Controllable, no feedback, and nicely bright.

Like others, I immediately swapped inte medium guage strings for a set of Martin extra lights, with no noticeable deterioration in sound quality. Just makes it even more playable, in my book.

This is where I had a problem. Eight months into ownership, it failed during a gig. Thought it was the batteries that had expired at first, but eliminated this as the source of the problem when a hefty clout to the body of the guitar brought about a reconcilliation of the sound. So, off it went to Line 6 for a repair under guarantee. I have to say, their service was laughable; 3 weeks and not return of guitar, followed by a brand new one delivered to ther dealer, followed by the dealer admitting Line 6 had made a mistake, followed by my original being returned but without the hard case I had invested in. Took 6 weeks and many paddies from me to get my guitar repaired and delivered with its hard case. NOT GOOD LINE 6!

See above answer...

Playing donkey's years (you wouldn't know, though...). If it were lost/stolen, I would replace immediately - its veratility in a live situation makes it worth its weight in gold. Share other people's comments that it ought to come with a hard case, not just a mucky brown gig bag. It's not a guitar to throw around, so needs A* protection.

I am very happy with the features on this guitar. I wish they would make a way to use the same guitar sound with more than one alternate tuning. In fact, I would be happy if all the patches were either the jumbo or dread sound.

I play through a Bose PAS system and think this is a great way to hear the Acoustic Variax.

For an acoustic guitar, it doesn't get much better than this. It plays like a Les Paul.

This is my second review of the Acoustic Variax. I did another review back in Feb 2005 with my 2nd Variax which I returned. I guess 3 times is a charm, because I've been using my Variax for 10 months now and haven't had a problem.

I've called Line 6 from time to time to see when they are going to bring out a port for this guitar so I can upload sounds and tunings like you can do with the electric Variax guitars. They come off like that don't seem to care.

This feature was supposed to be out a year ago.

I'm very happy with this guitar. It has been very good to me and hasn't let me down once.

Bought this Variax from Guitar Center about 4 months ago. At first, I was not comfortable with the feel, which is very much like a Les Paul. I've always preferred slimmer necks and this guitar felt "chunky". However, I was very much impressed with the sound. They had it demo'ed thru the Bose PAS. I sat for about 3 hours fooling around with the settings, programming, and different sounds. Gradually, I became more comfortable with the feel. I thanked the salesman and told him I'd sleep on it. About 10 days later, he called me and said they'd knock $300 off the price if I could make the purchase before the end of the quarter. I went back in, played around with it a little more, and cut the deal. They were very nice to deal with.

I have had dozens of guitars over the past 40 years. This is one I simply have not been able to put down. I've played it some every day since I got it. While I don't have all of the acoustics modeled by the Variax, I can tell you that they are all first rate sounding acoustic tones. I prefer the Parlor, Dread, Triple O, and Jazz. The Nylon is ok, but sounds more like a synthesized nylon rather than a true classical guitar. My regular nylon sounds much better, but it is useable live.

The 12 strings sound fine to me, and the sitar is fun. Adds a nice toch to a jazz arrangement of Steely Dan's "Do It Again". Dobro's and banjo sound pretty good, but I don't have much use for them.

But the acoustics are great, and that's what I bought it for. For live performance thru a good, flat PA, or direct recording, you can't do much better.

Controls and settings are all documented here and on the Line-6 website. There are also some demo sounds on the web that are helpful.

Guitar seems very well made and durable. I am very careful with all my guitars (7) and maybe a little moreso with this one because of the electronics. Setup was pretty good, but I put a lighter guage string on when I got it home. Despite what some say, I installed some light gauge strings and they performed just as they do on a standard acoustic. Bright sounds and easy fingering.

Time will tell, and I'm very careful with my stuff. I have used this guitar on about a dozen live gigs so far, and it's working beautifully.

Overall, it seems to be a very solid guitar. I always take a backup of some sort.

Have not dealt with them.

Played about 40+ years. Have several guitars from Fender Strat, Takamine 12-string, Gibson ES-175, Ovation Tornado, Ovation Balladeer, etc. Fender, Tech-21, and Roland amps. Lots of analog pedals and a few digital ones.

One thing about this guitar that I didn't expect to use, but do is the virtual capo. I occasionally do a jazz trio with guitar, sax, and percussionist. As a guitarist, I do a lot of solo arrangements in "guitar" keys like A or E. The virtual capo lets me move those to Bb or F easily to better accommodate the sax. HE loves it!!

I would buy this guitar again in a heartbeat.

Wish it had a tuner and a better sounding nylon string.

The $950 price I paid was not too bad. I think the regular price is around $1200 which is a little pricey for a basically, electronic modeling guitar.

For what it is - a great acoustic sound for live or studio performance - this guitar is fantastic.

Good selection of acoustic models. The sitar and shamisen are gimmicky and not very useful.

Initially sounded great, at least for a direct-recording situation. After a little over a year of owning the guitar it began to develop problems with the electronics, and now pretty much sounds like crap, in spite of resetting it and trying a host of other remedies. I suspect something on the circuit board or in the processor has gone south.

Looks good, but the construction is poor. Three months after I bought it the bridge began to lift and the top began to delaminate around the bridge. Had it fixed by a local shop. Now a year-plus on it's coming up again, and even more of the top is delaminating.

Very poor. See the above categories.

Word was it could be a month or two to get the bridge repaired when it first came up, so I paid to have it fixed locally. Now that it's coming apart again AND the electronics are going it's out of warranty. Learned my lesson the expensive way- I do not reccomend this particular Line6 product.

Very, very disappointing. Yeah, sounded fantastic, but barely a year after I bought it it's now worthless.

This sound review is from the audience perspective. A pro female singer who's gigs I attend, recently switched to the Variax Acoustic: Her sound improved dramatically with the Variax. (Sorry, I don't know what guitars she was using prior). Her musical style is sort of folk-rock, her own material, a strummer, with 1 electric guitar backup guy. The venue was outdoors at a party. She's only owned it for a few days. She plugged directly into a modest PA. Her sound was focused and clear, no mud, no twang, no rumbles, no feedback. Bright but not harsh, you could hear the low string clearly. Plenty of dynamic balance. She used a few different guitar patches. When she started one of her numbers, I suddenly hear a Dobro. Another, a 12 string. This was one of the best live acoustic sounds I've ever heard.

During a break, she let me mess with it a little. The action was low and smooth. I asked her to switch to various sounds as I played, and most sounded very good. The "banjo" and some others were a little wierd, but hey, this was all on the fly on stage and new to both of us.

Hearsay, she said she absolutely loves it, and is so easy to just plug and play in a live situation.

lOTS OF FEATURES. MANY MODELS TO CHOOSE FROM. THIN BODY LIKE A GIBSON CHET ATKINS ACOUSTIC. CHUNKY NECK, THOUGH. SIMILAR TO A LES PAUL NECK.
OVERALL, NICE FEEL, AND NICE PLAYABILITY

CANT SAY ENOUGH. SO MUCH TO CHOOSE FROM. MOST SOUND DEAD ON, THOUGH I PREFER THE BANJO SOUND FROM THE VARIAX ELECTRICS. SOUNDS PRETTY CHEAP. LOTS OF TWEAKING THROUGH THE BOARD, BUT IF YOU LIKE THAT, WHICH MOST MUSICIANS DO, ALL IS WELL.

I HATE GIVING THIS A LOW SCORE, BUT I WAS EXPECTING TO BE FLOORED BY THE OVERALL LOOK, AND WASNT. A BIT DISSAPOINTED BY THE NECK. WOULD HAVE LIKED BETTER TUNERS. NECK FELT...WELL, IT FELT A BIT CHEAP. BUT I PROMISE YOU WILL CHANGE YOUR MIND WHEN YOU PLAY THIS.

NO OPINION, THOUGH IM A BIT NERVOUS ABOUT THE FIRST TIME I DROP IT. SCARED CONCERNING THE ELECTRONICS INSIDE.

oWN A FEW OTHER GUITARS, AND I GUESS I JUST NEED TO GROW WITH THIS GUITAR, YA KNOW? IM EXCITED, BECAUSE THERE ARE ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES, BUT ITS JUST GETTING PAST THE POINT OF TRUSTING IT. I CANT SPEAK ENOUGH OF THE FEATURES. WOW. I DONT REGRET BUYING IT, I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING THIS INTO A GIG.

Standard Variax acoustic with natural spruce top, purchased in August 2005. I bought it mostly as a novelty. The concept of the the different modeled instruments was pretty inovative to my thinking. The ability to change tunings by turning a switch is a great feature, and the primary reason I bought it.

I rate the features "9". What other guitar has them?

The 000, dreadnaught and jumbo all sound very good and natural to me. The jumbo sounds particularly good for strumming. I prefer the 000 for fingerpicking. The parlor is a little tinny and the nylon does not sound realistic (I don't care for nylon strings anyway). The squareneck is a nice sound, but to me, it does not sound at all like my squareneck model 45 Dobro. The roundneck model played with a slide sounds remarkably like my Dobro DM33 brass bodied resonator, but it does not quite sound as realistic when fretted with the fingers. Both 12 sting models are quite good.

The mandola sounds good with a capo at the 5th fret. It would have been a nice feature if you could set up alternate tuning for the bottom four strings to GDAE so those who also play mandolin could utilize mandolin fingering and get a more usable sound (alternate tuning is not available for the 12 strings or the mandola).

The guitar has an all around good, usable acoustic sound. I play it through the clean channel of a Peavey Classic 30.

I play mostly traditional blues so I really like to be able to switch to open G or D for bottlenecking without retuning or switching instruments.

Does this guitar sound as good as my Taylor 615CE? No. But it was less than half the price and has a lot more features, and sounds pretty damn good for my money.

The overall construction is very good. Played OK right out of the box. The fit and finish rivals most American made guitars. Some people will slam the construction because it was made in Korea, just like some people slammed Japanese guitars before Yamahas became world class instruments.

Seems durable enough to me. Solidly built.

No contact with the folks at Line 6.

I have played for 41 years. I have a Taylor 615CE, 2 Martin D-35's, 2 Dobros, Epiphone Emperor, Epiphone Sheridan, Gibson Les Paul, Beard resonator, couple of mandolins,Gibson lap steel.

I bought this guitar for the novel features. I like it.

Basically it's a guitar with a type of synthesizer in it. A features list is easy to come by right now, so i won't bore you with the repetition. Mine is black and looks sharp. Tuners seem good so far, probably Korean almost certainly asian. This thing is active only, no chance of not powering the processor(s?) The body is a bit unusual in dimesnions with a really small top bout, but i find the cutaway lovely. i like the height adjustable(by screws) saddle but for some people to get the right action the bridge itself may need shaved down. My only beef is that the neck is too fat for my tastes. i've never played a fatter neck. Ever. The gig bag is quite beefy as well.

My "8" rating is for the fact that they could have used Grovers, made it with a slimmer neck and bridge and included a hard case for the price(though i bought mine in perfect condition after it was returned by someone else and saved quite a bit.) It would get a "7" but it's software upgradable, so there's probably not going to be a "2.0" physically before any improvements are made.

Well, i lead worship and play in a worship band regularly. Now, don't let those words define a style because i'm very wide-ranging stylistically: pop, rock, soul, gospel, country, "alternative"(whatever that means now,) and so on. There are plenty of acoustic vibes on this to match just about anything, though a more modern-sounding model like a Taylor or Olsen would be a welcome addition. i've been told by Line6 that the next version of their Variax Workbench software which allows you to design your own instrument will be compatible with the Variax Acoustic, so maybe that will be available then.

i do find that in a live situation the models don't quite cut it without some processing. They have recorded well for me, but there's always manipulation in the studio setting. i have, however, managed to get good live sound out of it by playing through my XT Live and EQing each to taste and viola! A little extra presence goes a long way. i most often use the J-45 model.

i found the 12-strings to be disappointing. The octave mandolin is nice, but try to play fingerings that sound right and never sound more than 4 strings at a time or it sounds fake. the nylon is acceptable and the sitar is a lot of fun. i never use the jazz models, i like a fat electric sound better.

The most interesting thing to me is the ability to use alternate tunings without messing with your strings. It's a bit frustrating, though to play using a model in DADGAD if you can still hear the physical resonance of the strings in conventional tuning(which is not a problem for me since we usually use ear monitors.) I got this hoping it would solve a problem for me- i was carrying 2 Godin A6 guitars in different tunings and a solid body classical and switching instruments a lot during a worship set can wreck the flow. Now i can play nearly any acoustic parts i want to, however varied, with the same instrument.

Bottom line: played live through a PA this thing sounds better than *ANY* acoustic with a pickup except perhaps the Taylor Expression System, but there is still a little work to do on the software.

Super high action when it arrived. The neck adjustment was pretty good. i must say that the build quality was quite good considering expectations of Korean instruments used to be questionable. Take into consideration the fact that most US-factory-built guitars these days(Gibson, Fender, etc.) are generally not any better, in fact the build quality on mine is better than a couple of US "Custom Shop" Washburns i *used* to own. I think this is built by Samick judging by my experiences with those instruments over the last few years. It's basically a $600-$700 guitar with an $800-$900 computer in it.

Physically, i expect this instrument to hold up well, but i don't know how sturdy the electronics are, we'll have to see. I waited 7 months to write this to be sure things were not hairy in that compartment. So far, bulletproof.

i have owned a Flextone II XL, POD and POD XT Live, all made by Line6 before this guitar. All have held up well, all my questions, concerns and interests have been well handled by the manufacturer and that in a rapid fashion. In the past Line 6 has made software and firmware updates free and even some chips for physical updates have been handled at no charge. i have no reason to expect that to change. In my opinion they are a great American company.

i have been playing since 1993 and you could consider me semi-proffesional. Nothing beats a real acoustic. i have a Tacoma JM-19 that i love. It's a waste of time to take them on stage in most cases and often hard to get a good recording of one in a home studio and that is where the Variax works well for me. i most often play electric and mandolin in addition to this guitar and i'm glad i made this purchase. i would suggest getting the XT Live and using the Variax cable for live work, but i think this will only get better with updates and the Workbench.

i love not having to change guitars or retune for alternate tunings or classical and "effect" sounds. If it had a slimmer neck and a hard case included(i can't find one to fit it,) i'd give it a "9."

2005 Variax acoustic 700, natural color. Made in Korea. Comes with a nice gig bag but for this price should come with a very nice hardshell case. I was attracted to this guitar because the idea of one guitar doing so much is a great idea, but..... only had it about a week when the electronics quit working and then you just have a mediocre Korean guitar you can't use. I took it back.

I play blues and folk, some gospel. The sound was pretty decent through my Fender Acoustasonic Jr. The Martin and Gibson models were great, and I was impressed with the 12 string sound. It did however get an annoying "ka-chunk" sound, I guess because of the piezo pickups. I think the idea is so cool, but the quality just isn't there to me, especially for the price. You also have to send it back to Line 6 when something goes wrong. Like I said before I took mine back and will wait untill they get the bugs out and quality control improved.

Modeling control knob was lose, otherwise seemed like a pretty good $600 price range guitar.

Would not depend on this guitar in a live situation. Have a backup or two!!

Did not contact them.

I have been playing for 30 years. Have a Strat, an SG, and Martin acoustic.

I've had my Acoustic Variax 700 for over a month now and finally feel able to review it fairly. I got the guitar (used) as a gigging guitar. My main acoustic is a multi-thousand dollar Olson SJ that will now live in semi-retirement in my home. I wanted a guitar that would not feedback through my sound system (Bose PAS) and would sound great plugged in.

I just finished listening to the CD I made of my show last weekend. The guitar sounds fabulous. I use only the Jumbo, Dread, Parlor and 000 models. I guess I did use the sitar for "Norwegian Wood". These models all sound fantastic. I love the clear, expressive sound. Very authentic. Exactly like the originals? I don't know. I don't care. My audience wouldn't have a clue. These models sound wonderful to my ear.

I originally wanted this guitar for its ability to program alternate tunings. I do not like the sound of them and find them really hit and miss. I hope Line 6 updates the firmware to address some of the issues around the alternate tuning/capo function. As it stands, I don't use them because they sound awkward. I retune the guitar the old fashioned way and arrive at the same destination in a way that is more aesthetically pleasing.

I don't like the slim neck only because I'm used to the wider neck of the Olson. However, after playing it for a month, I'm now pretty comfortable with the neck. The quality of the neck feels pretty good. It doesn't play like the Olson or a nice Taylor, however.

Again, I bought this as a gigging, road guitar and I didn't pay a lot for it. It feels great for the price I paid.

I have no idea how this thing will hold up. Do I worry about the electronics failing me? You bet I do! That is why I'll always bring a backup acoustic (in my case a 1983 Martin D-25 koa).

I've never dealt with them before so giving a rating wouldn't be fair.

I bought the Pod XT Live to mate with this guitar. I power the guitar through the digital connection which allows me to switch models on the fly through XTL. I also am trying to use the VAX with the Roland GR-20 guitar synth, but have not been able to get the tracking sufficient with the GK-3 to really move forward. I'll keep experimenting.

This is my first acoustic that allows access to upper frets (i.e. cutaway). I love it.

I recently compared this guitar with the new Taylor T5. I like the idea of having one guitar that does it all. The T5 would be awesome if the acoustic sounds from the guitar were better. It does not compare with the VAX with regard to sounding like an acoustic.

I am scoring the guitar overall a 9. It is not perfect. It has its weaknesses, but is a pretty amazing instrument. Where this guitar really shines is in the studio.

This was one of the first Acoustic modles to come out about a year ago. I did like the technology and its great ability to model a lot of guitars. It was made in Korea and the quality of wood is fair. I rate the features of this guitar's ability to be a 10.

Through a PA or an acoustic amp this thing sounds great. Great for alternate tunning players.

The only thing I did not like about this guitar is the size of the neck and the strings are (for me) too close togeather. It is great for strumming, but very difficult for fingerpicking. I'm use to Taylors 1 3/4" with nuts, and early model Fender strats. It will take some work to get acustom to this guitar.

I have no clue if it will last, but the guitar is built solid.

It is an innovative guitar that has its place in recording and performing. It's like having 10 instruments in one at the push and turn of a button. Great for the diverse guitarist. I have played for over 25 years. I would like the company to come out with a model more suited for fingerpicers. I would like to see other manufactures meet the challange.

Solid body acoustic guitar modeller. Besides the modelling of about 20 guitars, it has the innovative virtual stringtuning feature. This means that you can change the pitch of the strings, without altering the stringtuning itself. And although I wasn't convinced when I read about it, is is really good. This was also one of the main reasons for me to buy this guitar.

The guitar was built in 2004, I bought it second-hand in february 2005 for 800 euro's. A high quality gigbag, XLR/1/4-switch with power supply and a stereocable are included.

See the Line6 website for more information!

The normal guitars like the dread, jumbo, C&w, triple-o and parlor sound really nice. The jumbo is my favorite. I have this guitar tuned in BDDDDD to play Iris from the Goo Goo Dolls, and it sounds very good, and I don't have a flobbering B-string! The only remark is that the b and high e string sound a little sharp and electronic when tuned up around 4-5 semitones. It is not very annoying, but you hear that it is about the limit of the tuningfunction.

I use the Jazz model for solo's, and it sounds really ok. I owned a Cort Yorktown jazzbox, but the model sounds way better. I like it. Furthermore I use the squareneck dobro to play Dire Straits' Romeo & Juliet (open G), and the round neck for slide (Solo Corrs' Little Wing Unplugged). The 12-strings are nice for some Eagles songs and slow picking tunes.

The Nylon doesn't sound that great in my opinion, but it is ok for some flamenco work. I never use the Gypsy and ethnical instruments. I would have rather seen some more Jumbo's or Semi's instead of these.

I like the instrument. First of all, it is really heavy, and that makes it feel reliable. Furter does it feel like an electric guitar.. it plays incredibly light, for sure when you are used to acoustics with gauge 0.13. It has a nice highgloss laquer without any flaws as far I have discovered.

Did not have any problems with it yet.

Never dealt with Line6

I've been playing for about 10 years now, mainly on acoustic guitars. I like open tunings, fingerpicking and jazz, so the tuningfeature is perfect for me. It is really quiet, so you don't hear the normal string tuning over the virtual tuning. I would like to see some more useful guitars added, but overall it is simply a great instrument.

Other guitars I own are a Seagull Artist Cameo, Gibson Songwriter Deluxe and an old Prudencio Saez concert. Currently I'm saving money for a Santa Cruz Archtop.

I must say that I play the Variax the most of these guitars, and I would certainly buy another one if this was stolen.

This is my second try with the Acoustic Variax. I sent the first one back after a day or two because it just didn't work with my setup. I bought a Bose PAS system, and feel this guitar will work much better now for me, but I have my reservations.

I'd like to know what preset in the PAS others are using with the Variax. I thought Bose was going to come with a preset for the Variax, but I have Ver 2 and they don't have one there.

Big problem! After owning the guitar for less than a week and only playing it for maybe 5 hours, the D string doesn't work anymore. No sound is coming from the electronics for the D string at all. What kind of electronics are in this thing? I don't know if the problem is in the bridge saddle or the sound card, but this is a real bad start for the 2nd time around.

I think the features in this guitar are really great. You can have multiple guitars, plus alternate tunings, in one guitar.

I feel like it plays like a LesPaul, but weighs more than any of my acoustics, so you can feel it after a long set. The playability, for an acoustic, is great though.

When playing alternate tunings, you can hear the strings along with the tuned guitar unless the PAS is really loud. I use some bizzare tunings and it bothers me. Since I haven't used this for a gig yet, I wonder what the audience will hear. This is bad and I think I'm going to have to do something for gigs. I still can sing on tune, but it bothers me.

The idea of being able to bring one guitar to a gig instead of three is a nice feature, but without a backup, I don't think this is wise, due to the problems mentioned above. I will need a backup anyway, so why not just bring three guitars to a gig anyway?

Why didn't they add a tuner?

I'm a singer songwriter and play rock/pop style. I play gigs with just the guitar and myself. I think this guitar would work better in a mix with other instruments, but by itself, it lacks a little soul.

I've played model guitars for a long time now with the Roland VG-8 and VG-88, so I have a lot of experience with modeling. It's like playing a recording of a guitar and I'm ok with that.

I think I miss the vibrations of a real acoustic guitar against my body.

I've found only a few models to work for me, such as the Dread, Triple O and Jumbo. It will be nice when and if Line 6 can get the port together that will allow you to upload different sounds into the guitar so I can use only the few guitar I like and have multiple versions of each, with different tunings.

For an acoustic guitar, I like the playability. This guitar plays like an electric with acoustic strings. I like how it is thin and doesn't stick out like a real acoustic.

The shape and finish are fine for me. I like the cutaway.

As mentioned above this is a big problem! After owning the guitar for less than a week and only playing it for maybe 5 hours, the D string doesn't work anymore. No sound is coming from the electronics for the D string at all. What kind of electronics are in this thing? I don't know if the problem is in the bridge saddle or the sound card, but this is a real bad start for the 2nd time around.

I may return this guitar and forget about Line 6 altogether. I own a studio and have never seen modern electronics fail this quickly. I've played the Roland modelers for years since 1999 and haven't even had to replace a 13 pin cord yet.

After this, I would have to have another Variax as a backup. That would mean another $1000. This might not be so convenient after all.

I haven't called them yet because I'm sending it back and getting a new one or my money back.

I've player guitar for over 30 years. I own 5 acoustic guitars (Taylor, Martin, Takamine, Alvarez Yari), 3 electric guitars (Brian Moore, Strat, Charvel) and a bass. I own a Roland VG88, Roland GR33 guitar syntl, Vox Valctronics Plus. I own a studio with good mics and preamps, etc.

I'm really concerned with the electronics in this thing. How can they be so bad. Line 6 really needs to get this under control if they are serious. My girlfriend asked how I could trust something like this on a gig. She said at least with regular acoustics, if something goes wrong, I would have another one there that I could retune. That's why I bought this in the first place, to minimize my setup.

I think if I could trust the electronics or I had a backup Variax, this would be a right decision, but having to spend another $1000 to get reliability, I may as well go with real acoustics. They sound better and have soul.

I still don't know what I'm going to do, but will decide by tomorrow.

This guitar is the latest modelling type guitar produced by the folks at Line6. It has models of many acoustic-type instruments. The instruments are selected by a rotary switch located on the guitar body. The controls include compression, volume and microphone placement. Although the exact result of each control can be much more complex, the compression control adjusts the overall dynamic range and microphone control effects the "virtual placement" of the microphone in relation to the sound hole of the guitar, basically either increasing or decreasing low end response. Volume does what it usually does. The same rotary switch when depressed, can change the guitar into a tuning mode where either an open tuning or a virtual capo is employed. Guitar is powered by 6 AA batteries or a DC-powered footswitch, with a tip, ring and sleeve plug. Footswitch switches between a balanced +6db balanced connection (typical for microphone inputs) or an unbalanced guitar-type tip and sleeve connection. Most of the other features of this guitar can be discovered by looking at the marketing hype provided by the manufacturer's web site, I'll not go into those details.

I'm giving this an 8 instead of a 10 because with all it's computer technology, the Line6 folks failed to include a guitar tuner in the package. Seems a bit of an oversight to leave it out, espcially when the guitar is nothing more than a mahogony slab with a spruce top. The neck is decent and playable. It feels like a quality instrument.

Many of the acoustic models are fairly accurate. For my style of playing I prefer these models: Parlor, Triple O, Dreadnought, Jumbo and Country and Western. They all sound pretty accurate to the originals (at least those that I've been lucky enough to play over the years)! The twelve string models are sufficient, but quite frankly, I think that the sound of twelve string is difficult to model successfuly, though I'm probably spoilled from playing my Lemon Grove 555 Taylor. Still, the sounds are useful. I actually like the sound of a the mandola, it sounds like a cross between a mandolin and a twelve string, but with more depth and resonance. The sitar, shamisen and banjo are fun, but can't see much use for these except for recording. There are other sounds such as those based upon the Maccaferri, a D'Angelico and a Velzaquez, but my playing style can't do those justice, so I can't comment extensively. There's also a round neck and square neck dobro to fill out the collection. They are great for slide playing.

I bought this guitar to play at open-mics and occasional gigs doing the singer/songwriter thing. Pretty much all acoustic guitars that are amplified using under the saddle, under the soundboard or other types of transducers> Soundwise, these can be a major compromise in sound quality, plus they are prone to feedback when playing loud with a back-up band. This guitar can be cranked with no feedback plus the models sound pretty true. True enough for the crowds I intend to be playing to. Plus the virtual capo is great for those songs that I need to drop a step or two to help my limited vocal range. I can just dial up a detuned guitar and voila, I can hit all the high notes!

The only thing to keep in mind is that when playing capo'ed or in an open tuning is that there is some sound that eminates from the guitar itself (amazingling it sounds pretty good although a bit quiet played unplugged). This can be distracting due to the blending of the natural sound of the guitar and the amplified output. In these cases either a headphone is required or a loud enough monitor mix to mask the inevitable dissonances.

I bought the black model, because I thought it looked cooler than the natural model. After all, the top is not really contributing much to the sound of the instrument. The neck will probably need some work, i.e nut adjusted, neck tweaked, etc. But I will wait until after I play it for a while and put on my usual set of strings as I'm still playing the factory installed D'Addarios. Still, not too bad a set up for a mass produced guitar.

Time will tell. I purchased this guitar on December 30, 2004 and have been beating the hell out of it ever since. I have yet to play any gigs with it, and will report back with that information when and if. I like the fact that if my AA's are weak I can swap in a 9volt in a pinch. I don't intend on using the powered footswitch when playing live. Keepin' it simple if I can. The guiar gig bag is quality an the pockets hold everything.

Haven't had to deal with them yet, although I did call them when I was waiting for the guitar (black is somewhat harder to get for some reason) and they did talk to me. Everyones mileage varies in this category though.

I've been playing for 35 years. I own a Lemon Grove Taylor 555 twelve string and a 1982 Guild D-55. This is an acoustic guitar sounding instrument that is a necessity for recording and live musicians. Hopefully it will work for me live. I don't anticipate any problems though.

made in korea (2004), 22+2 frets (neck is like the les paul), 6 piezo pickup (one for string), active electronic, flawless finish but good looking!
light weight, no tonal rooms, bridge adjustable for action (very good feature!)
included gig bag, professional stereo cable, power/switch pedal (very solid)

the sound is very impressive!
seems like a recorded guitar, very clear and deep!
the sound for every instrument is very very good!
the modelled sound is great and there is NO LATENCY as midi pickups!!!! the sound is modelled, not digitally decoded and encoded!
bandings, armonics, hammer off pull on and everything you play, is present!!!
16 great instruments, only nylon is not great (it seems like an acoustic string with a repentine sound decay!) and blues 12 strings (only in solos, in chords is not very bad!).
the martins are incredible, also the gibson and resophonic.
sitar, banjo, mandola and samishen are ok, but i prefer more guitars. after all the suond is ok!
i really like the compressor and virtual mic position, that add some kind of magic!!
alternate tuning is very great, but just once per guitar...but old-capo is not a tuner problem, even with big strings!!

action ok, flawless finish, i prefer a F style instead of a hole!!!
my ibanez aej-90 sounds not so good but is more great lookin'!!!!!!
mechanic is ok, no problem with electronic.
finish is not bad, but average. natural is better than black!
maybe not so good lookin but inside is a GREAT deal!!!

i use it in a gig...no problem , great sound, volume perfect, tracking ok, i have a backup but i never felt that that one is necessary!
guitar seems very solid, even electronics...i hope that one never die!!!

i'm addicted to this guitar....i very like it, i was not very sure to buy it, until i heard it!!!!
i'd like to customize my own guitar with line 6 guitar workbech!!!
i reccomend it to anyone like me have an acoustic duo or need a variety of guitars sound or even play live in a band....i repeat...the sound is incredible(in an acoustic ampli or directly in a PA or mixer)!!!

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.

The main feature for this guitar is all the models. Some are good, some are so-so. You also get the ability to have electronically controlled alternate tunings, virtual mike placement, and compression.

This is a difficult one on this instrument. Does it sound like a live, acoustic guitar? No. It can sound like a well recorded acoustic guitar, however. A previous reviewer mention that the models should be viewed as being inspired by certain guitars. I think that is the right attitude to approach the variax acoustic.

I have had the guitar for about a week. So far I like the Gibson models and Dobro models the best. The Martin parlor is also getting a lot of use. I think part of learning this instrument is figuring out which model(s) to use for a particular song/style. I am finding that in one instance I might really like the Martin 000-28 model but not like it at all on another song. It really depends. The bottom line? I think that I could fool the average person listening with eyes closed to this guitar compared to a reasonably priced acoustic-electric in a solo performance. In a mix, the variety of models to choose from is great. Even the 12 strings (which I think are weak), work in a mix.

The Gypsy and Jazz models are good, but not great. The banjo sounds like an electric banjo to me -- Bela Fleck anyone? The Gibsons are great. The Martins are growing on me (I have played Martins guitars for years, so I'm a tough sell on those). Since I have a good quality electric-acoustic nylon string, I haven't tried the nylon model yet.

Overall, good marks and thanks to Line6 for developing a creative and well sounding product. Don't sell the old Martin, but get the Variax Acoustic to add lots of spice to your gigs and recordings.

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the body of the guitar. It is a solid body, but has fairly good tonal qualities. There were a few minor blemishes on the back of the guitar, but nothing you would notice at a casual glance. The action is low -- maybe too low for some folks. It looks like an easy adjustment, however. It plays easily, almost like an electric to me, even with 12s on it. One low point was the strings. They were dead, and the bottom E string was the wrong size for the rest of the set! A new set of strings improved the feel and sound of the guitar. I did not need to make any adjustments to the guitar.

Fingers are crossed. This is my first Line6 guitar.

No need for customer support so far.

At first I was a little leery of the guitar, but I have come to love in a week of playing. Many thanks to my wife who must love me to buy it!

I just paid for mine.It'll be here in a week.I've been into modeling
since the beginning having owned the Line6AX2,Yamaha DG Stomp, The Line6 PODxt, and the new MagicStomp by Yamaha.
I think Line6 is the hands down top dog when it comes to innovation and quality, and sound in modeling.
Based on my research, and a lot of that comes from this website, I'm purchasing this guitar without really seeing it or hearing it. I really feel it will be great.

Based on what I've heard, and read, I'll give this baby a 10. The hype has been great.

All I've heard about this new guitar says it sounds great.And in recording these guitars should or will come into focus much more.

Playing live you need to think of what is your chain of signal,what is your speaker system? this is so important. I use two Tech21 Power Engine 60 power amp/cabs. These were designed to have no tone, be transperant as possible. I think they sound awesome with the PODxt
and they will sound great with my new acoustic modeling guitar.

I don't like the name though. sounds like a perscription for meds.

Based on my expectations it gets a 10

This is the area that will make or break any possibility of a long term relationship. If it don't feel right it's gone. I have five days to return it and I will if this thing doesn't play well. I expect it to be a very playable guitar but not a great one so I'll give it an 8

All Line6 gear I've bought has held up well. Built better than average
That's a 10 in this day and age.

As is all areas of this most booming of music companies I can still
talk to someone in customer support and get help. I've called a couple of times.

This whole thing is a gamble for me. I expect a 10

I'm looking forward to my next review of my new fantastic
"wonder guitar" now that's a name.

Mahogony body, cedar top...Ton of useful features. I think the virtual capo is one of the most useful things ever. Check www.line6 for all the specs...

One should not be too critical when comparing the sounds to the actual guitars that it is modeled after...Though it does a great job of emulating them, it has a charactistic of it's own...which happens to be very cool. I would say the sounds are "inspired" by the models listed...When put in a mix, it can sound very convincing. I think the JUMBO model sounds great when strum...the Triple O sounds very good when finger picked...The Sitar is excellent...Never heard a more realistic sitar emulation...The Nylon...hmmm...Though it's playable, I wouldn't sell my real nylon guitar just yet...Overall, the sound is great. It definitely beats having to mic acoustic guitars in my small home studio. The sounds are bright and powerful...

The setup was perfect out of the box...practically no fret buzz...I couldn't believe it, but it was actually in tune right out of the box...The guitar looks beautful and plays just as well...The only gripe would be the lacquer on the guitar...I noticed that Korean made guitars sometimes go overboard with the lacquer...There is a lot of lacquer on the entire guitar...In fact, on the headstock there is a bump where the excess lacquer dried up while it was dripping down the headstock...It's not too bad to look at though...Other than that, the guitar is absolutely pristine...One of the best Korean made guitars I've played...Any Korean guitar you pay over a grand for should be made pretty well...

Seems like a solid guitar...Definitely could gig without a backup. I do worry about the knob...There is ONE knob that basically controls everything...I'm afraid I might break it cuz I'm going nuts going through the sounds every 5 seconds...I wish there was some sort of display that shows the edits, etc...

Haven't dealt with them yet...

Overall, it's a very useful guitar for live or studio. It's one of the coolest things to happen to acoustic guitars...true genius...It will put an end to the plastic sounding standard "piezo" pickups of all acoustic/electric guitars of the past...I'm a happy camper...

Made April 2004, 24 frets on thr treble side, Solid Mahogany Body, Laminate Cedar Top, Variax controls for model selection, compression, volume,mic positioning. Mahogany Neck 1 and 11 sixteenths fingerboard, Rosewood fingerboard,Rosewood bridge with six piezo elements adjustable for height. Ping? Tuners, gig bag, trs lead, footswitch, manual

Acoustic modelling, some are awesome some are diabolical. The acoustic dreadnought in open A tuning through a PA is very impressive. The Triple O in DADGAD is very good, The Parlour fingerpicked is quite authentic and even re-creates the boxy sound. The Nylon is excellent. The 12 strings nearly credible in a mix, The Banjo is a Joke. It's Quiet and some tunings are better suited to different models. The mic positioning is really just a tone control but the compressor is very useful for evening out your pickink attack. Occasionally you'll hear wolf tones and certain fret positions are overly loud. String balance suffers on certain settings. Overall though a very useful live tool and for studio work. Best used in a mix rather than solo.

Well set up, nicely finished albeit very Korean. Needed to drop the action slightly

Looks tough and durable. I worry about the lifespan of the rotary control with all that switching and pressing. Quite heavy, could take a fall.

not applicable as yet

I like it. I would replace it because I think it will be invaluable a a stage guitar for live performances where it's versitality lets me be lazy. Don't compare it to your collection, see it as a new and very different addition that can do things no other guitar can do.