Line 6 Variax Bass

I mean c'mon -- like you can give this bass a lower rating for features? They're there, they just aren't good.

Alright -- what did I expect? I don't think they hit their mark with this one. Anyone who is endorsing this product is only doing so to get paid (obviously) i.e. Mike Elizondo is not coming into a Jon Brion or Dr. Dre session with this toy and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. Maybe live you could get away with, with a tube DI, badass rig, and top notch engineer, you might be able to get this thing to sound like an electric bass. I'll give them credit on the fact that some of the features actually sounds like REAL BASSES -- but the models they set out to emulate? No. The jazz basses sounds like korean fender copies at best - the stingray/flea bass setting sounds like midi bass - the rickenbacker is somewhat convincing. not really. hofner? Sir Paul -- you want to try this thing out and let us know? and whoever came up with the idea that they could emulate the sound of an upright was REALLY stretching it -- c'mon -- they can barely do that with EUBs that have the same scale length.

the look i'm not into -- it goes up there with the Kubicki Ex Factor with most dated design -- get the Kubicki, it sounds better. The feel actually isn't bad.

i'm sure its sturdy -- didn't really have time to check -- it was ebayed instantly

didn't bother -- if they are even in the same building, using the same coffee machine, or go to the same annual Line 6 christmas party as the design team, i give them a 0

if you sand off the paint and put some real pickups and pots in it -- this thing would be great

It is difficult to compare to anything else. Includes a lot of bass models, some of them not so different. I tried it for three hours and tested it extensively. Comfortable neck, good acoustic (unplugged) tone. It is very ugly, looks like a $200 Korean thing (after all, it probably is construction-wise) so I was pleasantly surprised when I tried it. Comes with DI, cable and a nice gig bag.

Good balance on a strap. Tuners look and feel a bit flimsy, but OK. Same for pots. The one I tried had D'addario roundwounds on.

For comparison, I also tried a Parker Fly bass, a Fender Jazz Relic and a Musicman Stingray, all of them expensive instruments. I must say that it is a very competent bass for the price. With almost new strings, the 'modern' models (Alembic, MTD) sounded surprisingly good. Not so impressed with the Fender Jazz models. Precision sounds OK. The upright bass emulation is funny and probably useful. The synth is a joke - completely useless, it doesn't track at all. The rest of models I didn't find them so very different, although the warwick model has some of the famous 'growl'. I didn't hear any convincent fretless so I was surprised when I checked the manual to see that there were a couple - I thought all of them were fretted! That speaks for the fretless modeling, I guess. One thing: you probably have to adjust tone, etc. when you change model (and what each control does changes with each), so it is not so 'on the fly' than you can change sounds. The controls are somewhat confusing - at some point the 'PU' selector acted as if going all the way in either direction took you to the neck 'pickup'. No noise, of course, which is good.

I tested it with a Hartke head and 4x10 cab. Overall, the sound tends to be on the bright side, when you try to get a warm sound it loses some clarity.

Looks and feels a bit cheap. But then there were no flaws. A couple of small finish cracks at the trussrod access and bridge. Action was rather low with no buzzes. The neck is comfortable, plays effortlessly (btw the neck of the Parker Fly has SHARP edges - I didn't see anything special on that bass so I don't understand all the excellent reviews).

This thing probably has very complex electronics, so I don't know. Seems tough for live playing, but I can imagine hitting it hard and some chip being affected, resulting in a useless instrument. It's all prejudice, but...

What would you do if the model selector comes loose? Will the bass change sounds randomly? Anyway I will not rate reliability, I really don't know.

N/A

I own several basses : Zon, Ibanez, Tune, Yamaha... The Variax is definitely something special.

The Variax is a nice option if you:
- Like the neck and body feel. Which I did.
- Are looking for a variety of sounds,or are a gigging musician with a need for that.
- Are not obsessed with the sound/feel/myth of one particular instrument.

It is a tad expensive in my opinion. It could be nicer. But I was surprised about how good it sounded. It's easy to play. If the price was around 800-900 Euro, I probably would have bought it, just for fun. At 1300, I would suggest to compare it with a good MFX unit for your current axe. I am still making up my mind.

Line6 products are in general overpriced.

It comes with 20+ 'models' namely:
1961 Fender Jazz
1960 Fender Jazz (Flatwound)
2004 Fender Deluxe Jazz
1961 Fender Jazz Fretless
1963 Fender Precision
1958 Fender Precision (Flatwound)
1977 Musicman Stingray
2003 Modulus Flea
1972 Rickenbacker 4001
1963 Rickenbacker 4001 (Flatwound)
1966 Danelectro Longhorn
1963 Hofner 500/1
1963 Gibson Thunderbird
1966 Gibson EB-2D (Flatwound)
2002 MTD 535
2003 Warwick Thumb
1978 Alembic Long Scale
1984 Steinberger
1968 Hagstrom H8
1994 Hamer B12A
2003 Tacoma Thunderchief
1949 Kay M-1 (Upright)

The guitar itself is well made with no glaring faux pah's. The neck is small-ish - somewhere between Jazz and Precision size and feels very comfortable. The fretboard is a nice piece of rosewood and the fretwork is perfect - no sharp edges anywhere. The set up is fine for a factory job. The body is gloss black - god knows what the black is covering... Its a cinch to play and comes with a comprehensive manual and DI/Power supply (which uses stereo jacks to power the axe if you dont like carrying around 6 AA's in your gig bag!).
Comes with a sturdy gig bag emblazoned with the Line6 logo.

Acoustically the bass plays very well with good volume and ringout and the string spacing is very comfortable to play. Overall, the weight of this machine is slightly less than my Stingray but more than my Flea bass. I particularly liked the Rickenbacker and upright models - the Rick is awesome and the upright will add a totally new dimension to my bands version of various Stray Cats numbers! The Stingray and Flea sound very familiar as I already own both of these guitars.

I cannot speak highky enough of the sounds that this bass can produce.

The only thing that lets this bass down is that it says 'Made In Korea' and the back of the headstock! To the untrained eye you would struggle to find fault, the build of this thing is top notch. The tuners work well but look a little cheap but thats about it! The factory action and intonation were spot on for my playing... any lower and I would have had fret buzz.
Electronics seem gig proof too.

I do believe that this bass will stand up to the level of gigging that I do - about 20 gigs a year. The fittings are all of reasonable quality the colour finish seems on par with any other quality bass. The strap buttons have a wide spread and seem pretty secure. I will probably put strap locks on it though as I do this with all my gigging guitars. As I have only had it a few days and only gigged it once I cannot really speak about reliability over time. Prognosis is good though.

Warranty is one year but had no need to contact customer support. Would imagine that, if other Line 6 products are anythig to go by, customer support will be quite good.

I gigged this bass on Saturday night just gone and I was simply BLOWN away by this thing. I havent stopped laughing since!

We played two sets - the first lasted 45 minutes, the second lasted an hour and a half. We played classic and modern rock tunes with the occaisional Elvis / Eddie Cochrane number thrown in for good measure. For the 'oldies' and Stray cats numbers I used the Variax's Upright bass modelling and I swear to god, it brought the house down! It grooved like a snake in quicksand! For The Darkness numbers I was able to select the Gibson Firebird (just like The Darkness use) and this heavyweight beast really added the 'phat' to the tune. For numbers from Green Day, The Clash, Thin Lizzy or Dandy Warhols I used the Fender Precision or Jazz bass models, sometimes selecting the flatwound versions for less fret noise, and they also sounded awesome. Our Brian Adams number used the Stingray model which cut through nicely. The model that made the biggest impression on me was using the Rickenbacker 4001 model - this had so much fantastic growl that I used it on loads of tunes - from Paranoid to Alright Now. We also played Every Breath you Take for which I dialled in a fretless jazz bass and Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl which I used the Gibson EB-2D. On more funky numbers like Play that funky music (were I get to slap a Solo) I used an Alembic model AND a Warwick Thumb - I changed virtual guitar mid song!!! Finally, to completely convince me of the value of this guitar, I selected the Modulus Flea bass for Californication and the Stingray for Under the bridge. Speechless!

This is the most amazing guitar. It played beautifully and looked awesome (I have the black one!) We turned a quiet night at the pub into Rock heaven and had everyone in the joint banging away on the floor - even some 82 year old biddy who looked ready to retire permanently!!

I have some great basses. And individually, they all do their own thing brilliantly. But nothing NOTHING touches this Variax for the sheer diversity of tones and simplicity of use. I was not sure about all this modelling stuff and the Variax test model at the Music Live show last year was very disappointing but I am now very much convinced that this is a great tool for the gigging musician. The models all sound authentic and sufficiently different to warrant a place in the axes memory - in a recording environment I would prefer to use the real things but for gigging, you cannot beat this bass. I can have 20+ guitars with me but just one tidy looking gigbag!

Can you tell Im hooked?