Line 6 Variax 300

20+ guitars in one. what can you ask for more. I guess you can ask for more. Will there be a software updates add more guitars? Like Maple Neck Strats, PRSs, etc. For the time being it does fine with me. I finished my Christmas instumental CD that I give to eveyone for each year - and I used the Variax 300 and XTlive exclusively. It turned out pretty well. I have used many variation and used lot of different guitar. I had one track that I down tunes to Eb. And it sounded pretty good. I have been using this Varaix for reheasals - was still scared to use it for real gig. Today I did and it turned out pretty good.

I mainly play in a praise and worship band - where veratality is required depending on the songs. We do not have a acoustic guitar player. And many praise/worship song comes alive with acoustic touch. I also own a Brian Moore iGuitar. I call it my Utility guitar. Check my posting on Brian Moore for details. The piezo on BM is pretty good - although it seems harsh. My Main Axe is Fender Stratocaster Eric Johnson Model. It is one of the best guitar that I have ever owned. I started using Boss Acoustic simulator - well it does the job. The acoustic modeling with 5 choices on Variax just blows other acoustic emulator - except using a real acoustic guitar. Even that has limitation dependinh how it is processed by the main PA guy.

The spank (strat) is the setting that I use most. Looks like it is modeled after a rosewood 60's model and it does not have bright maple sound - and the in between sound of BM and MN PU selection is not too good. I do love the P-90. I actually created a P-90 on a Les Paul - looks like it sounds better that the Les Paul Jr.

I had the need to play jazzy for some Christmas gig. I liked the Jazz Box - sounded too boomy. But with the right amp setting it worked great. I wanted to try 335 but it sounded too "electric" I own a Ephiohone Casino - It sounds woody. I thought Semi(335) would sound similar. For Jazz like the Box model.

I like the Lester for lead. Something that I couldn't get with my Strat nor BM. I have not used Rickenbucker or Tele...yet on a live situation.

I will keep it updated

It is $300 Guitar... I actually paid $259.00 - buying a demo.. which happened to be defective. and I got good fresh one in the box.. a Sunburst. Neck could be better. I heard there is a way to swap the neck to something better. I will do more research.

Well first one that I had was DOA. electronical problem... It stays in tune ok..but I can't do too much bending.. So far no major problem

I was told that I could get replacement in 3 days... it took me 4 weeks. It probably is retail thing not the manufacturer's fault

Great guitar- it could be the future of guitar. Like keyboard had a transition from hammered (piano) and bag piped (organ) to digital simulation. I think guitar is evolving toward this... it just took so long.. Because we guitarist are so - traditional?? I still love tube tone and there is nothing like 50 year old banged up strat. Well it is changing..

It's all good

Everyone should know by now what the Variax is and does. There is simplay nothing else like it on the market. That last statement does take into account Fender's new VG Strat. While being a great guitar in it's own right it doesn't compete with the Variax on the instruments it models. I give this section a 9 because there are a few other instruments I would like to have seen modelled. Still, you can't have it all I suppose.

I suspect that, like me, the vast majority of other players out there do not or will not own all the instruments that the Variax offers. Having said that, I own a Strat and a Gretsch. The Variax does not sound exactly like my Strat or my Gretsch. However, the Variax offerings do sound like a Strat or a Gretsch, just not mine. Do you see where I'm going with this? Sound-wise, it does a damn fine job with the breadth of options available. Before Variax what else was there. So why be picky??

I give this section a 9 because it can't be all things to all people but comes mighty close.

Well here is the downside. You get what you pay for. This is basically a cheap Indonesian made guitar that, without the Variax electronics, no one would buy. Certainly not at the price anyway. Want better quality? Then either upgrade to a 600 or a 700 or build your own using either pre-routed body or make you own.

The guitar can be improved by performing a little set-up work etc but it'll never be your dream player.

I give a 4 because that's all the actual guitar itself deserves.

No problems to date. I play it through a POD XT Live so don't have to worry about fading batteries.

I give this section a 7 because the hardware is not as good as other guitars of the same value.

Line 6 have always been very helpful when needed. No problems with these guys. They deserve a 10 for that.

Been playing over 35 years and owned all sorts of guitars. Having started off with a Hofner Colorama and dodgy solid-state amp I've been spoiled over the years with better and better gear. The Variax to me is nothing short of a wonder. Technology has made it possible and I'm not one to go on about "how much better things were in the past". I just wish I'd had one of these all those years ago.

I fully intend to transplant the electrics into a better guitar so that I can get the very best out of the modelled sounds.

All of the settings sound good. The Gretsch and semi-hollow sound particularly good.
The problem I have with the sound is all the things that a piezo pickup DOESN'T produce: the interaction between your pick and pickup, the little squeaks and sqwaks and honks when your sound is overdriven, and the subtle variations in string attack. The Variax is just incapable of transmitting that, and after a while, it really bugged me.
Also occasionally I would notice that an individual string would seem quieter than the others. I read on several Line 6 groups that this happened. If you have Workbench you can solve this but I never bought it.

Pretty good for factory setup.

Seemed fine.

I also got tired of having to put batteries in my guitar, that gets old fast.

Stock as described before. Worked well--then I took it apart and tried to put the bridge and electronics into a double neck body with a upper ax being a mandolin. Unfortunately after a lot of routing and juggling it was not to be. So....... I cut the top 3rd off the body of the Variax and cut the double neck in half. I glued them together and put on an old Ibanez Roadstar II neck. It is now a great double ax: Mandolin and Variax.

When I played it for the first time I ran it through my bass amp--Didn't sound so great. Spouse thought it was a waste of money and time. After the alteration above I set it up with 3 channels on my GT3: Clean Jazz sound with verb, Clean preamp with verb, and then a regular twinlike sound for blues etc.

I use the ES 335 emulation with the clean jazz setting to great sucess--sounds fab. As good or better than my regular guitar.

I use the Martin 6 String acoustic sound and the Guild 12 String sounds---They work really well--They are not like having the real thing miked with condenser's but in a gig setting it is great--no hassles, usable acoustic tones.

I have used the Sitar a few times in the clean Jazz or acoustic setting--it works really well.

I have only used a Tele or Strat sounds a few times--but they worked well.

This ax tracks all nuances of playing--just like a real guitar.

Here is my suggestion: I play jazz and don't need to bend a lot. I strung it with Diadario bluegrass acoustic strings. Gives me great jazz tone and very usable acoustic sounds. The GT3 makes the difference for processing. (I am not into distortion--so GT3 is perfect) The sound is very clean

I hated the neck --so I switched it out. There is not much to change after that. Now it is great.So I give it a "5" for the neck--but at $299--it is a steal

I use this ax 3 times a week without a backup for 3 months. I hope that it will last a long time. I took all the electrics out--dragged the cables through new routing holes---then put it all back into the Variax body. It still worked!! After that it should be able to handle normal wear and tear. So far no problems

I destroyed the warranty--so not much point in contacting Line 6

I have been playing 15 years professionally. Have used Ibanez Strat model--Cort Les Paul (great guitar) Hohner ES 335 Model (Another great Guitar), Tacoma Archtop and a Martin M-38.

The Variax with a neck replacement is a great gigging guitar. The amount of usable tones is jaw dropping

Variax 300 electric having solid black body similiar to a Fender Stratocaster with black pickguard, satin bridge, enclosed chrome tuners, maple neck and rosewood fretboard. Five position selection switch has white top and three control knobs are knurled with chrome tops.

Shipped with mini XPS power supply that in turn receives power from a 9 VAC at 2000 milliamp power pack, 6 AAA battery holder, neck truss rod allen wrench, bridge allen wrench, Planet Waves TRS cable, Pilot's (owners) manual and advertisement for Workbench usb interface.

Purchased August 3, 2007 and was manufactured in China March, 2007.

The features are not rated as high as they could be because: TS cable required to connect with an amplifier is not included. Received product is cosmetically different than advertising photographs.

The guitar sounds really good for the uses I have. I use it on ballads, country and classic rock. I use a Fender 15G amplifier and the effects section of a Zoom MRS-8 multitrack recorder.

Factory setup was fair. Strings were set way too high, all strings were in tune but one. Intonation was slightly off.

Intonation is diffcult to set because the bridge to body screws interfere with saddle adjustments. The screw heads are raised a little higher than the bridge itself.

I don't like the satin finish to the bridge and string saddles as I expected chrome. Similarly I don't understand the white cap on the five way switch or the stainless steel pickguard screws on a black body guitar having a black pickguard. Both are more a matter of taste and expectation than fault with the finish.

The build quality was better than I expected and in line with what I hoped.

I have no doubts about the guitar lasting. Strap button are solid and dependable. The finish is thick, solid and glossy. All controls have a solid feel. It stays in tune. If I was a professional musician, I used it on gigs.

I have not had to use Line 6 or AMS customer support.

The amazing breathe of tone is both the plus and minus to this guitar. All the sounds are pleasing, solid and clean. Having said that, the sounds are a little different than any other guitar I've ever heard. I think sound quantity and quality are why most people buy this instrument. If this one was lost or stolen, I'd definately buy another.

Okay if, like me, you never tried a line 6 product before, this is my first impression having purchased a Variax 300 yesterday and been playing it "non-stop" at home (for only one day).

1] to me, the sound is un-usable with a solid state amp. too grainy. horrible.
2] useable with a tube amp. not bad. good enough.
3] at low volume its like a synthesizer vs. a piano (each are useful). it has less dynamic range and less tonal variations. to me, it definitely does not sound like the real thing but nevertheless its an "attractive" artifical sound. Its "addictive" emough to pratice with.)
4] at high volume (which I haven't really tried fully yet) this sounds damn good. Actually, even with "real" equipment, to me, really loud guitars sound like "horns".
5] "un-plugged" the guitar sounds "twangy" as in "country". louder than I expected. the wood is good but still light weight.

I made the seller set the intonation at purchase (took 15 minutes).

Build better than I expected. hey, this is only a $299 instrument. No problems playing. Nice wide flat neck with big enough frets. Knobs feel solid. Nice paint job. Am pleased and cannot ask for anything more at this price.

I give this a 9 when considering the price.

You know what I'm going to do? At home, I'm going to put away all my guitars except for 3, this one, a nylon acoustic and a bass. This is all I need to mess around with. I like 2 of the extremely reverby acoustics settings. I will have a small tube amp upstairs and a larger tube amp downstairs. I think this is good for now.

Note: I am just a hobbyist. Not a professional or giging guitar player. I do have a little recording business (tracking and post) so I know decent sound.

I give this an 8 because it fills a need.

P.S. I ordered a Live XT floorboard that I didn't get yet.

Very nicely finished guitar and the features for the price are probably unbeatable. The guitar seems well made and solid and so far the electronics are working perfectly. The only thing i would say is that the strings that it came with were not that great but then again i dont know how long this guitar was hung on the wall in the shop before i bought it. A new set of strings made it brighter and more responsive with much better sustain. The new strings perticularly made the acoustics sound alot better.

Though the variax 300 does come with a power supply, to cut costs Lin6 only provided the basic one and not the footswitchable one. This does seem a bit cheep of line6 as they only cost ??22 so i will be purchasing one soon.

Other than that apsolutly brilliant for the money, i bought it for studio recording at uni just because i dont have that many guitars so the versatility is amazing.

The sound quality is brilliant. The fact that it has no conventinal pickups makes it extremely quiet and none of my computer hardware effects it. I did take some time setting up my POD so the different patches were true to the different guitar models. I did this because my friend tried one out and said he was disapointed as the different guitar models sounded two simialar.

In response to this they will sound samey if you dont change your amp settings to correspond to the different styles of music that each model in the variax has been designed for, Once i had set up my POD with the patches that i liked the range of this instrument is almost endless.

Some others have said that the acoustic models dont sound very good. I think they do sound good but only when used right Line 6 did state that the Acoustics sound best through a PA (why i will be purchasing the footswitch) or acoustic amp just like any other so its not bound to sound very nice through a guitar amp because that isnt what it was designed for. I managed to get them to sound pretty good through a small fender combo with a flat EQ (bass-0 middle-10 treble-0) but when tried through a PA they sounded amazing. I guess its thats fact thatit still feels like an electric guitar that places a slight bit of doubt in my mind.

The finish was perfect!!
The action was to high for my liking though the shop i bought it from offers a free set up with every guitar when bought new so this wasnt an issue either.

The guitar seems very well built. The wood used for the neck and the body have some weight to them and the guitar is nicely ballanced. The tuning stablity is fabulous aswell. So far i have had apsolutely no trouble with the electronics within the guitar but as it is a digital instrument im not sure i would fully trust it just yet. Because of the sheer range of tone i can produce i would probably use it live but i would definatly have a backup guitar just in case.

The strap pegs are solid and the finish seems very thick and durable.

I havnt had to deal with line 6 for this particular product though they have been helpful in the past when it came to recomending a good foot controller for the POD 2.0 (Behringer FCB1010 :D)

The guitar also comes with a one year waranty on the electronics and a limited lifetime waranty on wood.

Overall i would have to give this guitar a 10 just because if its sound/build quality and versatility. I have been playing about 7 years now and do alot of recording and composing, I also play bass in a semi professional band. In fairness i have only every owned a Squire Showmaster, a Vintage SG and an Ibanez destroyer but as far as it goes this is the best guitar i have evr bought and if it were lost or stolen i would definatly buy another.

The only thing i would say about the guitar that i didnt like was the fact that it came with no case and no footswitch and to switch to a PA during a gig to make the acoustics sound awsome you need that footswitch. The footswitch is ??22 how much does that cost to make. No alot as i would imagine as the thing is powered by a 9vDC PSU so there is nothing at all in the DI box apart from a very basic curcuit so how much more would it cost to add a footswitch into that, not alot.

I am still going to give it a 10 because it is an awsome instrument and i cant wait to get the Workbench software :D

The features have been covered enough, it's a digital modeling guitar and it has a bunch of models available. You'll like some and have no use for others.

Sounds surprisingly good, I was expecting less. I play it through a tube amp built by Mark Sampson and use good analog stompboxes. I favor Strats and Jazzboxes, but I also like P-90 guitars as well. The Jazzbox is not that great but it's useable for practice. The acoustic models have typical piezo sounds and the reso models are a kick, but I don't know what to do with them. The Strat, P-90 and semi-hollow models alone make this instrument worth the money for me.

I bought mine from a local dealer and got it already set-up and in tune. It's not an attractive guitar to my eyes (the pickguard is just flat ugly) but that's not what I bought it for. I have the three tone finish and it looks amateurish. But the fretwork is excellent and there is no burring. The neck is unfinished so I'll probably have to take some 0000 steel wool to it.

No comment.

Not needed so far, but it's still early.

17 amps-100+ pedals-and this is my 46th guitar. Doesn't mean I know anything but I've had plenty of things to compare it to. It's nowhere near the best guitar I've ever owned but it's quite serviceable. I wish they would have had these things around when I was young, it would have saved me a lot of time, effort and money. If you're a purist-stay away- if you like variety, this is a gas. It has plenty of limitations tonally but it's a lot of fun for those of us who are easily bored.

Strat style solid body with piezo pickups in the bridge. Simulates several popular electric and acoustic guitars. Not built like a PRS but not bad for the price.

Sounds very good, full stop. I have/had a few nice guitars such as an American Deluxe strat, Mexican strat, Gibson Nighthawk among others. Now I only play the Variax. I don??t care if the sound matches the originals or not. I only know that the strat model sounds like a nice sounding strat, the tele sounds like a nice tele and there is at least one great sounding acoustic model. Another great feature is its silence. I play in circumstances where even silent humbucker guitars are noisy (lots of ligthing, Giottos and all that stuff). It is quiet even with high gain and compressors on. Also, to be able to tune down a whole step or however you like is a blessing, although you must use the Workbench program for that.

Needed to be adjusted a bit. Its hard to get very low action without buzzing but I love its playability anyway. Finish is decent.

I do trust this guitar and it hasn't broken down on me yet, but it does have one flaw. When using the five way switch it will not always change to the desired sound. Sometimes it won't even change or it will go to another sound. That's not good. So Line 6 please take notice on this. Good idea to have a backup guitar.

I play guitar for a living. I have seen other pros using the 700, 500 and even the cheap 300 live. Judge sound with your ears. Playability can always be improved. I'm using this guitar instead of my beloved American
Deluxe so it can't be that bad.

Standard features of the Variax 300 which have been covered numerous times here. Picked up a sunburst model, not due to choice, but due to being the only one I could lay my hands on in any shop in my area. Finish is excellent. Very think poly finish. Perfectly finished. Almost looks like someone's poured treacle over it. Everything is was perfect. Frets finished nicely, tuners functioning good and no cosmetic or functional issues at all.

I think the sounds of the variax are all excellent and perfectly usable. There's not as much difference between some models as you might think. I think if someone played some of the models, you might have a hard time guessing which one it was. As all have said, the lack of pickups and the subsequent lack of noise interference is very handy. I find a lot of the sounds lacking in top end regardless of the amp used or DI. The acoustic sounds are very well done. A lot of people don't like the 12 string simulations, but I think they're excellent. I think it's partly psychological in what works, but if you heard the tones recorded, you'd be hard pushed to know it was a simulation. The only thing I'd say about the variax is that if you play metal or rock and are looking for a high output, sharp top end tone, you won't find it here. For classic rock, blues and anything where gain isn't much on an issue, you'd find something here to suit you. The alternate tunings are a god send. The variax now ships with 5 alternate tunings in the second custom back to give you a taste of them and based on that, I'll be picking up workbench to go along with it, and I'm sure most people would too. The only issue with that is the model which is stated as tuned to open G and it is, but not what the majority would consider open G. It's an odd variation which won't help most. Other than that, very impressed.

Do to it being the only place that had one, I had to buy from Sound Control which I try to avoid. I don't know if they'd done any setup, but I doubt it and the setup was good for me out of the box. I thought it was set up with 9s but I'm starting wonder if they're 10s. I don't know how the string gauge would affect a piezo pickup as I'm new to them, but I'd prefer 8s on there. The action was tiny bit higher than I'd like, but it's certainly playable. The neck is comfortable and fast enough. You're not gonna feel like you're playing a ??500 plus guitar, but it doesn't feel like a bargain basement banjo either. Not excellent, but not bad,

I haven't used to variax live and I don't think I would. The options it offers are a godsend, but the majority of an audience doesn't give a crap about your tones really, they care about looks. I think I'll stick to my usual rig for live, but in the studio, I think I'd take nothing but the variax. I wouldn't want to have only the variax at a gig and have it die on me and not have a full rig to back it up and if I had to take the full rig anyway, why bother with the variax?

haven't had to deal with them.

I've played for almost 20 years and owned loads of gear. Some good, some laughable. The variax isn't the worst guitar I've ever picked up. Ironically, it is one of the cheapest. I haven't had it long and I'd have to wait till the novelty 'new toy' factor wore off to see if I went back to it. It doesn't feel like home yet when playing it. I think it's going to become at home in the studio and never feel the heat of the lights. The 300 is so cheap now that I'd recommend most guitar players pick one up just for tinkering with. You can explore alternate tunings and pick away on a banjo for fun. I guess that's worth the price of admission alone. The final word I will say is that I was under the impression that all variax's came with a gig bag and that the power box was also an A/B box, but that's not the case now. To make is cheaper there's no gig back and power box is just that and nothing more. Still, I only paid ??249 and while it can be found cheaper, I feel it's been worth the cost, so far.