Line 6 Variax 300

i've been a aerospace human-machine interface engineer during approx 20 years, and several years i was in charge of acoustic environment design inside spaces station. of course, i play guitar (jazz), mainly for my pleasure and sometimes for audience in a club.
if you are curious about how much i can play a guitar. Please go to my web below and listen to mp3 file that i play. (Sorry it is written by Japanese but you can find mp3 file easily, and furthermore i made English entrance last year.)
I???ve owned dozens of guitars, if you want to see, please visit my web and click ???Guitars???of right side. 'couse their photos are uploaded.

http://www.geocities.jp/extra_vehicular/

i do not recommend variax as a first guitar.
as a first guitar, you'd better buy strat type model more than $400, and you should buy it with reliable friend who can play a guitar.
and you should learn what real guitar can do.
if you know what a real guitar is, variax gives you new extended horizon.

Anyway variax is only a tool to create music. it is not a vintage strat! To own the vintage start gives you supreme experience. Those two are both worthy, but quite different.

Thank line6! you give our great- grandchildren a chance to feel the great sound of the vintage strat and more. Because a 100 year later, a vintage strat with good condition must not exist.

i would like to explain the variax feature using easy equation.

Output = A x Input / B

here...
Output is sound of the variax sent to amp.
A is a simplified ideal vintage strat characteristics(of course, in case of that you choose vintage strat mode).
Input is detected signal by piezo when you hit notes.
B is a characteristics of standard variax 300. (this is very important!!!)

you have to be aware that a variax only gives you simplified sound of vintage strat. So it is limited, but you know the limitation, you can use variax efficiently.

a real guitar has nature, that as you play it, your guitar's sound is getting better (because wood of guitar still has life). Unfortunately the electronics of variax must be tuned for the standard (initial) variax characteristics, so you will not get line 6 intended sound 5 to 10 years later.
Exactly speaking, each variax300 sound is slightly different characteristics from the standardized variax 300 guitar model (=parameter B above). so some variax300s give you nice sound as line6 intended, and there is possibility of that some give you not so good sound, because of the different characteristic from the standard. this difference (=deviation) can not be avoidable, because main structure (which defines each variax300 characteristics) is wood, and there is not any exactly same wood in the world!

there are two caution... when you use variax300

one: electronics of variax is durable as portable md and cd, but exposed piezo pickpu and pickups' wires are fragile. Please be careful.

two: most guy seems to have miss-understanding that electronics of variax 300, 500, 600 are the same. as a fact, they have similar electronics circuit construction but different firm ware (or to say different parameters related to B i mentioned above) therefore if you remove circuit and bridge of variax300 successfully and install it into an other guitar, the sound should be different from line6 originally intended.

for reference...

approx 20 years ago, Roland made VG(Virtual Guitar) system (too expensive product!) at that time, unfortunately we do not have sufficiently speedy & cheap digital processor. Roland used conventional divided magnetic pickup (now it is usually used for GT synth), but the product was in vain. because Roland did not determine B of above equation.

at last, what i would like to say is that you should be careful to modify variax body which is related to the parameters of B. For example, even heavier pegs utilization may be slightly change your favorite sound of the current variax300 you own.

considering price of 299$ including shipping fee, the sounds are amazing.
i like sounds of strat(spank) models and semi & jazz box models. they are far beyond the sound of $299 real guitar.
Variax300 nicely simulates the sounds of decent guitars.
but i am not careful of that how much they are like vintage strat, es-175, es-335 or something. i am only careful of that the sounds are useable or not.

i bought new one (sunburst variax 300 made in china) using web shop. The first one had dead piezo, so the web shop gave me the replacement. Additionally the replacement has awful noise from circuit! So again shop gave me another replacement.

I am satisfied now. The web shop finally gave me a proper one.

anyway $299 is too cheap for the capability of variax300.
does line6 have a plan to release new model? Or are there any powerful competitor?
If anyone knows something, I hope you to write it as a part of variax300???s review.

Sunburst Body... Nice finish too. Everything seems solid so far. The neck finish looks cheap but feels pretty decent.

This thing is the bomb! I usually play Gibson Les Pauls but needed a quite versitile rig for church worship service. I bought a POD XT Live at the same time to use the VAX300 with the variax cable into the POD. So far, so good. This rig is super quiet, can go from a J200 acoustic to a LP into a plexi with one stomp. Pretty awesome actually. I play it direct to FOH or through my studio monitors. Haven't played the VAX and POD into my Matchless DC30 yet... that just seems like tone blasphemy... I can't do it ;)

Set up very good. Finish is nice for the price of this guitar.

Been playing around 28 years and have owned so many guitars and amps through the years I can't beging to name them. My main rig at the moment is a Gibson Les Paul GEM into a few stomps in to a Matchless DC30 or 20 watt Plexi. Now I have these "new fangled" modeling toys (still can't believe it). I'd buy this set up again if something happened to it. I love the versatility (sp?), the light weight of the guitar, the abilty to go to alternate tunings in a second and then back to standard. Only thing I need for this Variax/POD XT Live set up is a good solid state 2x12 combo amp to power it to use with my band.

its an agathis body with a maple neck and rosewood fingerboard - even with cheap tuners and body you have to give it a 10 for the alectronics!

this is my second variax 300 - i traded my first one (wich i bought when they first came out) i had loved it but grown bored and wanted a 'real' guitar. i got bored of my 'real' guitar after a year and listened back to some recordings id made with the variax and decided the models on the variax sounded better than the Epi les Paul classic id traded it for - so i got another vax ;) this one sounds better than the first one - i guess it maybe has a newer firmware version or something. the first one was good but i didnt like the piezo noise youd get if you played with any aggression - this one still has it but you pretty much have to try to make it happen - led zep's good time bad times with the tele model and the line 6 supro amp - is great can play really hard and it just sounds good - aggressive palm muting with the lester models and the line 6 bogner amp works too - its only on some amps like the treadplates and big bottom that i get that horrible piezo noise. but its so good at everything else - im using the ux1 toneport at the moment and can duplicate the tone of any song in seconds and jam along - im going to get the pod xtl so i can use the digital cable for patch changing and power supply and also so i can use workbench for free - im itching to have an open tuned dobro and some fat strat iron maiden action!

my fave sounds are.... pretty much all of them! the lester model sounds better than my epi lp custom - the spank has the exact handrix vibe ive been looking for and i love the hollow bodies with open tuning or for some who action. the acoustics still sound amazing to me - especially mixed with the toneport preamp models. all round winner really im tired of having hundreds (slight exageration!) of guitar and amps and cables all over the place - i think im just gonne ditch everything in favour of the variax and toneport - ill keep my stagemaster around for its SD invader and obviously my bass (although ive heard people use a dobro tuned down an octave with workbench to duplicate upright bass and it really sounds incredible) - but otherwise its just a massive tone library at your finger tips - whats not to like?

first one was perfect - this one was a store demo and the action and intonation was atrocious - not line 6's fault and easily fixed but on this one the tuners are bit poor - when you remove the strings all the compnonent parts are really loose and the tuner for the g string pretty much falls out of the headstock with no string tension. but its still works and sounds great and is as cheap as a mexican strat or standard epiphone LP but sounds better so i can live with it.

well i had the first one for 2 years with no issues - so im pretty confident - just be careful intonating it and changing strings - ive heard the wires on the piezo pickups snap easily around the saddles.

im in love with line 6 at the moment - i got the ux1 and in 6 months weve recieved 3 new versions of drivers and geabox and a free add on pack of new amps and effects to encourage us to buy the bass add on pack. ive tried other companies but im lazy and line 6 do everything so darn well - the faq section on the support part of their website is pretty darn useful..

10! Im never going to have my wood stock maple neck strat and jimi page's les paul and jeff becks telecaster etc..etc.. even if i did i dont have the space to put them anywhere and i get really irritated un plugging and setting everything back up for a new guitar when im recording - this is so good sounding/convenient and compact i love it.

but ive only had cheap stuff im no jobbing musician or anything but as you have asked i shall tell you ive owned an epihpone les paul custom, an epiphone les paul elite, squier stagemaster HH, fame strat copy, variax 300, vox ad30VT amp, behringer LX210 v-ampire amp, marshall mg30dfx amp, marshall mg10cd amp, gorilla tube practice amp (yuk), digitech rp100, bp50, rpx400, gnx3000 - and ive ditched it all for the UX1 toneport and variax 300 and i have more sounds at my disposal then before but now i can actually move freely around my room without standing on things all the time.

Overall I thoiught the features where great on this guitar..

In bands i mainly just play metal .But for when practicing at home I like to mess with several stlyes ranging from jazz to bluegrass..the line 6 work bench is a must own for this guitar..I mean the alternate tunings where amazing..I also use a pod xt ..Having the ability to have full control at the stomp of a button was amazing..the only dis adavatage I founs was ..When playing double and triplet picking on the lower notes I found it had a total different response and sound..I am guessing that was caused by the piezo pickups in it,,But still for any other style out there guitar was perfect..

I put this guitar to the ultimate test not too long ago, and it passed with flying colors. I recorded my entire last album using ONLY the Variax 300 and a PODXT Live (other than the vocals and the drums, of course). I have more than a few buddies that are absolute tube snobs that absolutely HATE Line 6 and everything they stand for. I lied to every single one of them and told them that the album was recorded using the guitars from my considerable collection (3 Fender Strats, 2 PRSs, 1 Gibson Les Paul, 1 Epiphone Les Paul, a Parker P-36, a Martin Acoustic, an Alvarex Acoustic, 2 Ovations, and a Fender P Bass) and three different tube amps (I told them that I used a Vox AC-30, a Fender Blues DeVille, and a Marshall JCM800). As stated, I lied. Every guitar sound on the album came through my Variax and the PODXT Live. NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THEM COULD TELL THAT I WAS LYING!!!! A few of them even commended me on the fact that I chose NOT to use my extensive collection of Line 6 gear on the record. To me, this is the ultimate testament to what this guitar can do...expecially when paired with the PODXT Live.

The finish on this guitar is definitely on par with an entry level Strat. It is certainly more than playable, but it doesn't FEEL like a very expensive guitar.

Well, I am a HUGE Line 6 fan...but I must admit that I did have to return the first Variax 300 that I bought. My top two strings were buzzing like mad out of the box, and I adjusted the saddled to bring the action up a tad. I have been making adjustment to my guitars for years, and I have gotten pretty good at tech-ing my instruments. Despite the fact that the saddle adjustments I made were VERY delicate, my high E string stopped outputting any sound at all after I was finished. I called Line 6, and they told me that there are actually piezo-style electronics underneath EACH saddle, and that I probably shorted one of them out. There is no way that the tiny adjustments I made should have shorted anything out, so this was a BIG disappointment. Guitar Center swapped the instrument out with no problem, but I am a little gun shy about working on this guitar now.

Despite many negative reviews regarding Line 6's customer support, I have never had anything but great experiences with them. I don't know if I am just getting lucky or if the people who are complaining just have unrealistic expectations. Any time I've had a problem, they've been patient and stayed on the phone with me until it was solved.

Based on the fact that I can now go into the recording studio with just two pieces of gear...my Varix and my PODXT Live...and pretty much dial in ANY sound I can imagine in about ten or fifteen minutes, I have to give this guitar the highest rating possible. I don't know how I would feel about it without the XT Live, but since I'm using it with the XT Live, it would just be conjecture anyway. I do agree that some of the models don't sound EXACTLY like the real things, but as with all of the modeling gear that Line 6 produces, it comes SO damn close that you would NEVER know the difference. Like I explained before, I lied through my teeth to quite a few tube snobs about the gear that I used on my last album, and not a single one of them knew the difference.

I have to give it a 10. I mean. How many more features do you want? And they're at least decent...
Mine is the black one. The nicest looking, in my opinion. All black. Except for the white tip on the pickup switch (?). Funny, it sits next to a white strat, with a black pickup switch tip (not on purpose, I bought a special switch for some wiring mods I wanted to do, and the previous white tip wouldn't fit, so I used the black one that came with the switch).
I don't like how you need to use the stereo cable to the power supply, then the mono to the amp... but it's good to have that alternative, rather than relying on batteries only. If you use batteries you can use a normal cable. And you can use either 6x AA type, of if in an emergency, a single 9V one (that would last less time, but will get you out of a tight spot). That's nice. And if you use a POD XT Live, you could simply use the digital cable, and with that one cable do everything. Cool.
One thing: the included stereo cable, by Planet Waves, is TERRIBLE. Get a new decent one. It's very microphonic. I noticed my guitar making some weird noises, and I thought it was some problem with the electronics... until I realised it was just that cable making rustling noises as I moved about the carpeted room). My advice: give it to your enemy, and get yourself a normal decent stereo cable, with good solid connectors and good quality screened cable.

This guitar is growing on me. After the initial "wow", I was a little disappointed. I have had a few guitars, and I still own some various ones, so I was comparing the real strat with the Variax, a twin humbucker with Variax, etc... The Variax always seemed "less nice". But never bad. In fact, certain models are very nice. I love the P90 emulations (Special), and the 335 (Semi). The Gretsch sounds great to me, although that's one style of guitar I never owned or even tried. But in general, they all have the right "spirit". The bite and twang of the tele, the classic strat sounds, the Les Paul bridge humbucker is not bad either...
Only one thing was BAD: the 12-string simulations. Some were better than others, but I didn't like any of them. They sound far too fake, like using a pitchshifter, and when you leave the sound decay you start hearing weird artifacts.
The acoustics were better than I expected (don't try them on an electric guitar amp, please... or they'll sound like... well, an acoustic through an electric amp :-) but they are still no substitute for teh real thing. Yet, they're more than passable, they will record well with other instruments... and having all those sounds in just one guitar body is unbeatable. Even if the sounds are not perfect, they're good.
I hear that with the WorkBench software you can tweak the models to make them sound better... the flexibility offered by the Workbench seems very good.
I also hear that the Variax is best partners with a POD XT Live...
I play mine through a V-Amp2 at home, and it's good enough.
The fact that it will not pick up TV or monitor interference etc, makes it the guitar of choice when messing about in the living room when the TV is on etc. Very quiet.
My guitar came with 10-46 strings. This feels a bit tougher than what I'm used to (mere 9-42 on tremolo equipped guitars... like butter, and a 10-46 on a Les Paul style guitar, with a slightly shorter scale), but I think I'll keep it this way. It probably helps with the acoustic sounds, and unplugged it's very resonant. Not a bad guitar!

The guitar was bought online... but surprisingly came perfectly set up. This is a first! I sometimes bought guitars online (usually cheap, for more money I have to really see it "in the flesh") and I am not worried about set-up as I can do that myself. In fact, I prefer to do it myself so that the guitar plays just the way I want it. But this one was pick it and go. I mean, it was almost in tune too!
The finish was also surprisingly good. I was expecting less, certainly. I have seen more expensive guitars with small flaws, but I couldn't find one on this guitar.
It does feel a bit "generic Korean"... but like a "good generic Korean", if you know what I mean. No, if you were to play it blind you would not mistake it with a PRS, or a nice Am Series stratocaster... but it feels nice enough to me. I paid ?230 for it, and it looks and feels better than what I expect for that money, especially considering that it has some fancy electronics (sure it saves on magnetic pickups, but they're not that expensive for a guitar manufacturer who can buy them un bulk).
I see other people complained about their guitars. Maybe I got lucky? Maybe the shop I got it from (iMuso.co.uk) set it up beforehand? I don't know... but it was good.

No experience on this... and long may I remain this way.
I am a little worried, in that with a conventional guitar, as long as it's structurally sound (especially a bolt-on neck guitar) I can make any guitar good. But if this dies... I'll just have a bunch of pretty integrated circuit boards and chips to look at. I guess that as long as the piezo bridge (by LR Baggs, not bad) is not damaged, you can always use it as an acoustic of sorts... Hmmm, it shouldn't be difficult to route it and install real magnetic pickups on this baby and get both styles in one... that's a thought for an interesting project.

I have been playing for about 20 years. (ouch, that long???)
I wouldn't pay ?400 for this guitar... but at ?230, I feel it's a good price. It doesn't sound like any wonderful guitar, but it sounds like many pretty decent ones. Variety. It doesn't feel like a ?1000 guitar, but it feels pretty good to me, better than the ?230 tag suggested. For your average gigging pub musician, this guitar must be a godsend. Just one guitar for everything. However, I'd worry that if the electronics die on me, what then? So a backup guitar would be adviseable. Actually, I've seen people transplanting the Variax brain to other nicer guitars... I quite like this one as it is, and it could be interesting to fit a couple of real pickups on it. Given the construction (bolt-on neck, large pickguard) it should not be difficult to do. That would give you the best of both worlds... and if the electronics die mid-gig, just switch on your magnetic pickups.
I think it's pretty well built, sounds good, feels good, the price is as low as I could expect it to be... you get a lot for ?230!
It's not my favourite guitar, and it will not substitute my Sambora strat or my VRS etc... but I play this one a lot. One reason to love this guitar is the noiselessness. But beware... if you get used to it, the hum from normal pickups seem to become extremely annoying by comparison!
Nice guitar, if you can have it new for ?200-250. At higher prices, I'll think first if I really would benefit significantly from having those sounds or from the noiseless operation.
If it got stolen... I would probably not buy it again. It's nice. Very nice. But it would not be terribly missed.

The features are well-covered by the other reviewers below. Basically it's an inexpensive strat-style body.

Sound? That's a tough one. First, all of the models have a slight digital sound to them. They just don't quite sound "organic". With that said, as other reviewers have noted, some of the models are quite good, some are terrible. To my ear the tele and strat are fairly well done, but not exceptional. My "real" guitar is a G&L Legacy with Vinatge Rail pickups. There is no way that the strat sounds on the Variax can comptete with it. The G&L has much more punch, depth and expression. That doesn't mean the Variax sounds bad, it just doesn't sound as "real". The various les Paul's range from fair to good (there are five to choose from, so one will probably satisfy you). I was impressed with the Grestch 6120. Plug it in a Vox amp and you'll sound like George Harrison circa 1965. The Rickenbacker 360 six string is quite good, and captures the "chime factor" nicely. The Rickenbacker 12 string is terrible, however, because the octave strings all suffer from severe "munchkinization". Ouch. Still, live and in a band setting it might do in a pinch. The various hollowbodies didn't do much for me. Some sound appropriately "woody", but I don't hear the partciular guitar being modeled. For me that is espcially true for the Epiphone Casino. The acoustics, as other reviewers have noted, sound like they are amplified by a piezo pickup. You won't be fooled into thinking they are "real". Not even close. On the other hand the dobro, banjo and coral sitar are surprsing realistic. In terms of the sitar, however, that doesn't mean it sounds like a real sitar (it doesn't), but that it sounds like the "electric" sitars in the '60's. I was also pleased with the Danelectro 3021.

Overall, you have to evaluate the Variax for what it is: a sort of "guitar sampler". With that in mind, what it does, it manages to fairly well.

Mine was set up about as poorly as any other guitar stright out of the box. I had to back off the neck relief, and lower the strings considerably. Once set up properly, though, it's a playable guitar. It won't make you want to put down your PRS, but it's not a chore to play either. The finish is well applied and did not have any blemishes.

The Variax looks and feels like a garden variety Squire Strat you'd find at Guitar Center. If it didn't have the modeling capabilities it would probably sell for about $200. This is not a fine instrument that's going to last a lifetime.

I ordered mine online from Sweetwater Sound and the one I received was DOA (Line 6: I am very unimpressed!!!). I wrote Line 6 and was told to send it in for repair. Instead, I contacted Sweetwater and they replaced it for me. Very cool on Sweetwater's part. Incidentally, the cable on the replacement did not work.

I've noticed from other online reviews that Line 6 seems to have a real quality control issue with these things, so be careful! If you can play it then do so, and if you're going to use the Workbench software, hook it up to the software BEFORE YOU BUY IT!!!

Also I was a bit peeved that for $500 you don't even get a gig bag: that's extra. Come on, Line 6 stop being so cheap, at $500 you're making a killing on these things.

I haven't used it, but I've heard bad stories about it.

I've been playing 40 years, and for a few years did so professionally.

Would I replace it? I guess, but I'd make sure it worked before I carried out of the store.

What do I love about it? The fact you do get a small arsenal of guitars. What do I hate? The fact that Line 6 hasn't worked all the bugs out of this thing, and I'm a bit afraid mine might die.

This guitar is really great when your looking for a special sound. Before i had the variax hours go by before i found the right guitar now it's very simple just turn to knob and you got 25 guitars without changing gear.

It depends on wich guitar you choose, for example the strat and les paul are really great even better than the real job but the tele's don't feel like my own tele. The acoustic guitars are great to bad you can't record them like an acoustic guitar with a neumann mike. The Rickenbacker sound is amazing just like the gibson es-175 the best thing about those guitar sounds are they also got the interaction of the guitar they simulate.

I must say i also tried the variax 500 but the 300 is better in my opinion. The 300 is very light sometimes you forget your playing on a cheap guitar thats really great. The 500 stinks way to heavy playing.

I have this baby for three weeks and i have no problem with it. But on stage i use first quality guitars like musicman or gibson.

I don't know.

This guitar is really great and cheap too. Most of my guitars are 2000 euro or more. I use this baby only at home looking for a sound but i think when your looking for a all-around budget guitar try this out.

I'm torn on this catagory. It has a wide variety of sounds, and workbench makes it amazing with alternate tunings - so it has many unique features - but the guitar this computer is housed in is quite unexciting, so I'm giving it a lower rating that the usual 9 or 10's. The features are well documented in other reviews.

If nothing else, the guitar is certainly versatile. It gives you a wide variety of sounds and can fit more situations than anything else out there, but it just doesn't seem to sound as good as a well built traditional guitar. The sounds were generally good, but there is something missing to me. Also, at higher volume settings it seems to have a brittle/ringing quality that I've never experienced with any other guitar in my amp. Seemed like a bit of unwanted, unmusical feedback that haunted it. I liked how the guitar was totally silent, and doesn't pick up hum from lights, but it seemed to lack the dynamics and finer qualities of the real things. It sounds fantastic through headphones while playing through a POD, but I find that hard to reproduce live with much satisfaction. Through a normal amp, it seems less at home. The acoustic guitars were quite nice sounding through a P.A, but I had a hard time playing an electric guitar and trying to pretend it was an acoustic. So I'd still rather use an acoustic with a soundhole pickup/piezo bridge - but this would be great for live recordings.

In the end, I feel that (aside from trying to sound like a banjo/sitar/acoustic) I can get just as much versatility out of a normal tele/strat/les paul - which ever - and it would generally sound better to me to play the traditional guitar. A good effort by line 6, but the technology seems to still be lacking. In a few more years, whatever they have at that point may be breath taking. Great for some circumstances, and I'd certainly want one around if I owned a small studio - but as a guitar player, I just can't see bonding with one of these in the same way as with a traditional electric guitar.

Well, it was well setup for a guitar that's about the equivalent of a squier strat (though I've play some squiers with better build qualities). I have the guitar set up, and the frets polished, which helps, but it's still not a great feeling guitar. Certainly a well made guitar not for the price - but you are paying for the electronics. The one I had didn't have great sustain, and the neck felt rough/unfinished. It's also quite heavy as guitars go (and I've tried others, which had the same issue) and I don't see any point to that. It doesn't seem to add to the sustain, and the guitar itself has little bearings on it's sound because the electronics modify everything anyway.

I've been playing about 12 years. I'm constantly changing my gear line up. Thus far, I've owned a strat, telecaster custom, a les paul, a gretsch hollowbody, a gibson blueshawk, godin LG, Martin and a breedlove acoustic, a danelectro DC-59, an old Teisco like hound dog taylor used to play, an epiphone dot, and more. Amp wise, I played the variax through a podxt live, through a PA (for the acoustics), and through a '59 fender bassman. The variax was good at capturing the general quality of the real instruments but was lacking at ever capturing real excellence in any particular sound. I thought the guitar my quench my thirst for variety in my sounds, but I've realized that I'd much rather have a few great sounds as opposed to a bunch of less than excellent sounds from a guitar. I don't think I was ever quite comfortable with the feel of the guitar either, and I like how different guitars feel different and force you to play differently. I've returned the guitar now, but can see renting a variax from time to time for recordings. But most of the time, I don't think you need all of what this offers. With a well built, responsive guitar and a good amp I feel my fingers can help give me just as much versatility.

Just got my Variax 300, no point repeating what has been written many times. It is a modelling guitar that has some very good sounds, easy to use and very useful if you are lugging loads of guitars around to gigs or recordings.
Can store 2 lots of 5 sounds so that you can change sounds more quickly without the rotary knob. Useful if like me you are in different bands and use different sounds for each band.

I am a professional musician and have been playing for almost 30 years, the reason I bought this was mainly for the acoustic sounds (to save carrying too many guitars to gigs). As has already been said the sounds are great, but the acoustic sounds really must either be played through an acoustic amp or directly through a PA to fully appreciate them. Through a normal guitar amp they sound like most modelling units through a full range system they really come alive.
Also like some of the Gretch, Les Paul, Tele and most of all the Strat sounds(great clean sound for funky music)

It seems that finish, tuners etc seem to be hit or miss according to others I must be lucky!. The finish is good the tuners are smooth and stay in tune well even when string bending a lot.Neck is clean and smooth with no rough frets etc. I suppose it is the standard you would expect for a normal guitar of around this price.

The pick up selector and rotary knob for selecting sounds may be a little flimsy but if you look after your guitars properly there shouldn't be a problem.

Gigging with it for first time this week so don't really know. I don't forsee any problems tho. Always have at least one back up guitar anyway.

Never dealt with although the Line 6 website is more than you get from most companies anyway!

At the moment I think the guitar is a very useful tool. I've played better guitars but I've also played a lot worse! If the guitar was a standard guitar I think the build quality is about right for the money. For the features and sounds I think it's a bargain.
Again I can only stress for the acoustic sounds you really need to find a way to bypass your FX pedals and guitar amp and put is straight into a PA or acoustic amp with just a touch of reverb and it will sound great. You will be disappointed with the acoustic sounds through a normal amp!! However Line 6 do mention this on the website.
This guitar is great if you have say a Les Paul and a Tele but also need a strat sound and a 12 string acoustic for example because you can now have those sounds without the expense or hassle of carring loads of guitars!

Matter of public record, so I won't repeat what many others have said. The features are what makes this guitar useful.

Very good emulation of many guitars. It's not going to replace high quality guitars in certain environments, but for an out of town weekend jam with friends, it's perfect because you aren't limited to one sound.

I bought a blemished return and as usual, found absolutely nothing wrong with it.

I must have gotten one of the good ones. Some others have complained about the finish or the neck, but mine was good straight out of the box. I worked for 10 minutes on the intonation and that was it. My tuners seem to hold just fine too, something others coplained about.

I don't gig anyway, but I think if I did, I would never go with only one guitar, so it's not an issue to me.

I called them about some other Line 6 products I have and found them pretty nice, responsive and immediately knowledgable.

I've been playing 40 years, mostly country, blues and rock. This is just a toy for me and it's great to play.

black with maple neck and rosewood fretboard, came with Planet Waves stereo cable (power and signal), power supply with junction box, no case

It recreates the models well enough. You won't replace a strat or LP with this or any other "real" guitar that you use regularly, you'll want the real one. It will however, replace guitars that you wouldn't buy. For me that's the resonators, semis, 12-string and some others.

the frets were too narrow and high. I think they weren't really dressed properly. I'm about to change the neck for a WD flame maple with jumbo frets. Also, the volume knob goes onto a star shaped spline. It was pressed on by the robot in line but the plastic insert was off which meant using a puller to get it off to remove the plastic on the pickguard. The insert is ruined and I'll have to get another knob...

no idea, the electronics are an unknown

It's at the dealer now because of electronic weird behaviour, clips, volume drops, etc.

This guitar together with the optional WorkBench software is a must for anyone who wants to be able to switch between various alternate tunings at the flick of a switch AND get access to a number of okay models of guitars which you wouldn't normally have.

Well, it's a Variax, it stands apart from the other guitars for it's inovative technology, as for the features I will give it a 10 because it simply can't be beaten... Lots of models to select, 10 user memories... And if you also have variax workbench you have literaly thousands of possibilities...

As it says, it emulates the sound of several models, it's not perfect, but it's VERY good (And no other manufacturer has anything like this). The only thing I can't do with it is the muffled distortion sound, I suppose it's impossible due to the piezzo architecture... Therefore I'm giving it a 9.

Well, a lot of folks complain about the poor build of the 300, but I wouldn't call it poor (I also have an Aria Fullerton and Aria's neck is much less solid). I'm no guitar expert (In fact I'm a keyboard player), I don't know nothing about woods of the body, necks or whatever.

The Variax 300 is visually quite simple, as expected for an entry level model, mine is the all black version. I find it solid, it stays in tune, it plays well, I like the neck action... The only thing I might change is the strings, the stock 0.10 are a bit thick for the solos I like to do. But the strings issue is a personal matter, therefeore it won't influence my rating.

The guitar is very quiet, it doesn't suffer from feedback or noise problems.

The knobs and sliders work very well without noises, treat them gently though, the don't seem made to take abuses.

I'm giving it a 9 because I had to put a little bit of paper inside the model selector knob's axe hole to make it a little higher so I could fully press it down to activate the save function (read the manual and you'll understand what I'm talking about). This was just a minor and easy to solve issue.

It's fair for the price.

Can say anything about it yet, I've only bought it 2 days ago.

There's a user forum at line 6, there's variax workbench, there's firmware upgrades for the variax, there's custom warmoth parts to upgrade your Variax...

Never had any issue with mine, nor dealt with the support staff, but all that seems promising... :-)

In the future I will tell.

It's worth every cent. For it's price, it simply can't be beaten at the present time. Get one, you won't regret. If this was stolen or damaged I would definitely get another one. Make sure you check everythings in order before buying it.

This is best buy for budget guitars... It delivers 28 guitar for one price, and for people who never could afford to have a bunch of guitars, this is the right one.

Some sounds brilliant, some sounds mid-ranged. Especially the semi-acoustic sounds good. (like es-335...) But the twelve strings does not deliver any quality sounds... i will never use those presents, but i'll use those who sounds godd. In my opinion, i found it suprising that some says that this guitar not deliver metal tone... The Les Paul sound kicks ass with some quality dist-pedal. (i use a boss mega distorion, md-2, and a boss blues driver, bd-2)

For the price...(!!):
This guitar delivers more than expected in playability... it's a mid between a squire and a fender:s Not as comfortable as a fender neck, but more comfortable than a Squier... So i would say this guitar delivers the goods very well.

Well.. i bought the guitar yesterday, so i cant say anything about this yet.

Well.. i bought the guitar yesterday, so i cant say anything about this yet.

This is the guitar for someona who ownes a rel guitar and use it as a first guitar, but sometimes need variations, without spending too much money...
It's also the guitar for a studio musicioan, who has endless possibilities whit this guitar.
-But... if i had to choose, from this guitar or my Delux Powerhouse Stratocaster, i would choose the stratocaster! But its a genius piece for a second guitar.

It is difficult to compare features with any other guitar i have ever played other than the body style which right away felt incredibly comfortable to me. the balance and weight were so right that the first time i played it live i didnt even think about the weight and balance which is a major factor to me...the less i have to be aware of...the more i can just play. the knobs are in the right spot and the 5 way switch is properly placed(i may be biased because of my extensive years on the strat). Neck was very surprisingly good with a natural finish. frets are nice. tuners are working great and staying in tune well. finish is great.

i play every style of music from heavy distortion to fingerpicking country in my concerts. This guitar sounds incredible to me. i know a lot of the reviews here try to compare it to different guitars but this guitar stands on its own. i fly to almost all of my gigs and plug into house systems and can usually fly with a single guitar and many times i wish i had an acoustic sound or a chunkier sound on some of my tunes. with acoustics rooms and sometime less than adequate sound systems, i could care less if it accurately models a paul, tele or strat or martin etc. i know the sound i need and want to hear and this guitar makes it happen for me. keyboard players were thrilled when they were able to have a keyboard or a module that gave them a rhodes, acoustic, strings, organ etc even if wasnt 100% the convenience was the tradeoff. i play my variax thru a pod xt live and it works well for me. the bottom line of this guitar to me is being able to express myself thru a variety of tones and sounds with one guitar. Sure i wish i could carry all of my guitars on the road but i am just glad to be able to make a living playing and people enjoying what i do. They could care less what brand my guitar is.

i had to slightly lower the strings. the frets arent highly finished on the edges but for the price i cant complain.
everything else was great

everything seems well made and durable. Finish is good. it does seem a little odd knowing that these arent conventional pickups and if the guitar quit i wouldnt know what to do about that but i think i will adjust kind of like going from tape base recording to hard drive.
i do use it without a backup because its great enough to take that chance.

no contact with them. i will say that i have owned the original pod 1.0 since they came out and that unit has been a workhorse for me and has been tougher than a box of rocks. that speaks volumes to me about there reputation and products

i am 44 and started playing at age 6. i own a don grosh retro classic 1995 and several fender strats and other assorted guitars including carvin and ibanez as well as some custom built guitars. i had researched this guitar for a while and the reviews were great but i was thinking no way could it be near as playable as some of my other guitars. It is. i would buy another one if it were stolen and probably will soon...maybe for the warmoth retrofit. I love the fact that this is the most revolutionary guitar i have ever seen and played and that line 6 has set the standard and hopefully as in the amp modeling clones that followed we will see several guitar companies enter the ring. It will be great for us as players and give us so many other options.

for whatever reason whether it be financial, space or justification of expenses most of us will never own a huge stable of vintage guitars much less play a lot of them. that makes this guitar a must have to get that sound for almost any sound and style you want. i like the fact that this guitar has its own identity both in style and sounds even if i never read about the guitars it models it would be a sure bet just for the versitilty. major kudos to line 6 here

This is an '05 red model. It was a floor demo which is why the price was low. No sense in going over the controls, everybody else has. Tuners leave a lot to be desired as they tend to go out of tune quickly. I have two Ibanez's and they both do it. My Musicman Sillouhette however is rock solid so it has to be the Korean connection. The neck takes some time to get used to. The frets appear to be jumbo so sliding around the neck takes some doing. Comes with a stereo cable, the power supply interface and the wall wart. Rate eight because of the tuners.

I play classic rock to standards to 60s to jazz. I have a guitar for every occasion. This one seems to cover everything so far. I run it into my Zoom GFX-8 into two Carvin halfstacks. There is no noise whatsoever but some of the meatier models will overdrive while other patches aren't quite as hot volumewise..a lot like the volume change between a humbucker and a single coil. The twelve string models are good whether it's the Rick or the acoustic and as the previous writer pointed out they aren't perfect but are a good match when playing with drums, keys, other guitars, etc. The strat model is great. Some of the others are very usable such as the sitar. Very 70ish. I've even thrown in the banjo on Eagle tunes. Really different.

The finish is what you get with a $400 Korean guitar, you're paying for the guts and not much attention is paid to the looks of the guitar. Everything is fit except for the tuners. Without strings the posts tend to wobble just as my Ibanez's do. This may contribute to the tuning problem.

I've used this on a few gigs now including one out side (in southern AZ we can do this comfortably almost all year). It seems to be steady and reliable but I won't play without a backup. I bring at least one or maybe two other guitars with me. If the electronics go down there is no sound so my advice is to make sure there's a backup handy.

n/a, never dealt with them

I've been playing for 40 years and have had my share of Gibsons and Fenders and others over the years. My favorite is still my Musicman. But I find I use the Variax a lot of the night. I tend to get bored with the same sound so to be able to switch from a strat to an acoustic is very refreshing. A true sound fanatic will tell you the sounds are not exactly the same. That's probably true but it also depends on the quality of your rig. If you use a two bit peavy nothing will sound good and the same is for a hot rodded Marshall on ten. But if you do what I do, go from a motown tune to one by the Beatles it's enough of a sound difference to make it believable. And that's what we do as a cover band, make the reproduction believable. I may replace the neck with a Carvin only because they are more closer to my Musicman and because I found a slight dead spot very high on the neck. I'd buy another one but maybe a higher model. The bottom line is if you don't have a few thousand bucks to buy everything it doesn't sound exactly like then this guitar should do what you need it to do.

This is an 05 model...no need to discuss the features as they are well documented here.

I play in a 60's - 70's retro show and this guitar suits me better than any guitar I've owned. I have a Strat and thin line Tele and I have recently parted ways with my ovation since I purchased this guitar. I use it with a Kustom Quad 100DFX and VOX AD100 VT and I like how it sounds with both of them. It is as quiet as a guitar can be with no hums, buzzes or otherwise annoying sonic ad ons. Of course it has many different sounds with the various modeling options available and I like all of them. I have to disagree with those who say that the 12 string Ric sound is not good...I find when I play it live that it really does the job and captures the essence of the guitar it is emulating. Obviously it is not a Rickenbacker but being available at the flick of a switch makes it equally valuable to me in a live situation. Of particular use to me are the acoustic sounds. They sound just like any acoustic that has a peizo would sound...very close to an ovation I would say. This being said, each acoustic sound is quite different from the other and I really liked the Martin 12 string model.

The guitar was set perfectly from the factory and the action was the way I liked it. The neck was very playable and the pocket was tight and secure. The finish was flawless and all hardware seemed of a workmanlike quality. The tuners seem to be fine but I might change them in the future if I become so inclined.

This guitar is very solid...finish and hardware seems to be durable and it is very dependable. Obviously the wild card is the electronic brain that lives in the guitar...I'm not sure how durable or reliable this is but so far so good. I haven't heard of many complaints so I'll give it a good mark. I would never go to a gig without a back up guitar in any event. The problem now is deciding whether or not to take the Strat or Tele.

I've never interacted with them but the website is quite comprehensive. I think most people are pleased with their Line 6 customer service experience so I'll give them a good mark until they do something to change my mind.

Im an average rhythm guitar player that has been gigging for about 25 years. I own a Kustom Quad 100DFX, VOX AD100VT, Stratocaster and a 69 thinline Telecaster. I really like everything about this guitar, it's very easy to program and play. I even like the sitar, it sounds great at the beginning of Paint it Black. I'd buy another one but probably the one with the better neck if this one went away. If you are a purist or guitar snob, you will not like this guitar in any event. I've even heard some people discussing the angular distortion caused by the digital electronics that are resident in the electronic brain and I am wondering how they can hear that over acoustic drums and 3 other instruments blasting away on the stage. These are the same people who claim they can hear the transistors switching in a solid state amp. All I can say is that if it's good enough for Steve Howe, it is certainly good enough for me.

This is an 05' model, red, with white pickguard. 22 frets, controls are volume, tone, and model knob. I guess you would say that the controls are active. The tuners, neck, and other hardware are fair considering the price of the guitar, needless to say for $500 you are getting awesome electronics in a Squier "level" guitar. It came with the cables and box needed for the wallwart, but I use it through a POD XTL using a VDI cable(well worth the $28 I paid Sam Ash for it). Forfeatures this guitar gets a 10 because it has somany sounds, and with the software, you can create a plethora(5 dollar word) of other guitar sounds. Probably the only guitar on the planet that deserves a 10 for the features.

This fits my musical style well, as I play at a church, and we play stuff with distortion, but not death metal or heavey, heavy stuff. I use it with an XTL, and it works and sounds great. It has a wide variety of models and a free download of a software(Only with the POD XTL) that you can use to alter all of the amp models. It sounds as good as you tweak it to sound. I like it.

This is where I score low. The body finish and controls are fine, no issues. But every guitar player knows that you have a certain type of neck that is just fast and playable. This guitar doesn't have one of those. It feels cheap and slow. It goes out of tune quite easily, and you are limited with how low you can set the action.

At this moment, I am considering replacing the neck with a Carvin Bolt replacement neck. Because IMO they make the best necks in the business. I own a Bolt and it plays better than any other guitar that I have ever played. It's just not as versatile as the Variax.

I've used this guitar in 3 or 4 services and have not had a problem with it yet, buit it's too soon to comment on it's reliability.

Line 6's customer service has always been good to me. They have sent me free parts and pieces when they didn't have to. I got free rubber feet for my POD 2.0 mounting bracket, that was really cool. I think they are pretty good.

I have been playing off and on for about 18 years. I own a Carvin Bolt, a Carvin C850 acoustic, and a POD XT Live. I like the Variax, and probably would buy another one if it were stolen. I love it's versatility, and when coupled with my XTL, it is just great for recording on my computer, and playing live. I don't care for the neck, but I had expected this before I purchased it, and I didn't expect much for $499. I think this guitar is a really great bargain for $499.

Has anybody else experienced the following problems ?

1. Intermittent crackling: this occurs both when the strings are played and when the guitar is at rest.

2. Total loss of sound: worst experience to date was loss of sound and could not get it back. Previously, a gentle tap or two on the volume control had returned sound.

I ask this as my Variax was a couple of months ago and do not feel that a brand new guitar should give such unreliability. My overall impression of the guitar is that it is an amazing piece of gear .... when it works! At the moment I do not have the confidence to consider that it will not let me down again.

So far I have dealt with the supplier. The guitar was returned to them and they apparently returned it to Line6. I had the guitar back several weeks later. I was told that it was fixed and that the fault had been with the mini box. This was something I found surprising as I had also reproduced the above faults whilst the mini box was not used. Anyway, at the first gig the guitar played for all of about 10 to 15 minutes when the crackling again started, followed by total unrecoverable sound loss. I have since tried to test the guitar and have had once again intermittent results. I am currently in dialogue with the supplier (or at least am trying to be). At the moment they are not answering my emails and I am thinking of contacting Line6 direct.

I guess that at a price of ?440, this is a very good quality instrument. Finish is OK, neck is easy, frets are OK, bridge is high-quality L.R.Baggs, tuners are OK, body wood does not make a difference as sound/sustain is generated by the DSP. Instrument is a little heavy, and I installed strap lock clips to prevent later problems. I have tried it with 6 AA rechargeable batteries (2200mA Ni-MH) and could play for more than 6 hours with no reload, so this option remains a very valid one when there is a need for wireless connectivity. I was fortunate to get my 300 with the higher series A/B box and power supply, normaly the 300 has a very tiny power unit, I was told. Workbench adds a bunch of extra features and at that price (around ?100), is a must.

Playing mostly in a cover band, this instrument is a perfect fit, allowing to change from Teli to Strat to LP to Acoustic in seconds... Sounds are usually very good (with as already mentioned, some weak ones like the rick 12-strings). At VERY low fingering dynamics, there are some digital weaknesses (some DSP noiseand other artefacts,..) but those are really minor (to me at least) and I don't think they can impact a normal playing session. I was surprised to read that palm muting or other harmonic effects (a la ZZTop) could not be realized... I have absolutely no problem with any of those. On top, the workbench opens new horizons, allowing alternate tunings, and personal hardware setups adding to the overall capabilities.
It is important to use a dedicated acoustic or PA amplification for the acoustic emulations, as well as for the resonators, banjor, Citar,.. as the tonal response is totally different. Using a guitar amp does no good to the quality that can be obtained.

Action was OK, overall finish and setup was just fine, and to my opinion, far above instruments in the same price range.

Too early to say. I hope the selection switch is not too fragile... but only time will tell.

I didn't need any support at this stage, and I hope I won't for a while.

I used this for 2 months now, on a daily base. Using it with a little Roland Cube 60 seems like a perfect fit, including the acoustic mode for the acoustic and resonator simulations. I took me a while to get into such digital instrument, but I am convinced now about the validity of this, specially for cover bands and/or need for various tone/sound responses.

Right, we have an agathis body and a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard. The look of the guitar takes a bit of getting used to as there are no magnetic pick-ups, but it does make it easier to get all the dust out from under the strings ;). Tuners are ok, not the best, but I have seen worse. It comes with a power supply, little box to get the power to the guitar and a stereo cable. I also got a hardcase included in the price of mine, which was nice.

The guitar is amazing! The sheer amount of sounds available make this guitar worth buying. I got it for my 18th birthday and now I've gone up to Leeds College of Music and it is great because I can just take 1 guitar into the studio. I tend to use the tele and firebird sounds and they really work well with my set-up. I've got the variax, boss SD-1, Frontline Chorus, Dano Wasabi Delay, Dano Fuzz, Marshall MG50DFX. I don't particularly think that the acoustic sounds are that great, but I think that if it was eq'd properly for the acoustics it would be fine. However, as I don't have a separate amp I don't particularly rate them. I can live without the acoustic sounds, but what I really miss is being able to create feedback. The only thing that I've found that can do this is a rat but unfortunately it wasn't mine, so I think I know what I'm getting after christmas!

The guitar was set up surprisingly well out of the box, it just needed a slight truss rod adjustment. The finish is very good, smooth and very black. It even had D'Addario 10's fitted (my favourite guage and brand!).

I can't really see that there will be any problems. I've only used it live once for a very small set but I can't think of anything that might cause a problem, except maybe the supplied 10ft stereo cable isn't quite long enough. However, that problem could soon be rectified.

No idea, I've heard they are good though.

I've been guitar for about 3 years and bass for about 6 years. My other guitar is a Dean baby Z, which is a nice starter guitar, but it is a bit of a one trick pony. This guitar is brilliant. Even if you don't agree that, say, the tele sounds exactly like a tele it doesn't matter. The thing about this guitar is that there are plenty of very useable sounds regerdless of what they are meant to sound like. If it were stolen, I would be seriously peeved and would immediately blow the student loan on another. My only real greivance is that I can't make feedback, well, at least untill I get my rat.....

As ststed in my previous rev,the main joy of this model is its price and ability to act as doner!

With the new software up-grade the sounds are very good indeed,apart from the ricky patch being a lot louder than the rest,still workbench sorts this out ,

I had to return it to get new sadds,fitted as almost from the box 2 failed.

The electronics were removed and fitted into a top end squire-strat by Vic in Watford,It is now a guitar I love with a passion play's,looks and sounds superb,has a great Trem and cost me half what a 700 would have (sold one hated it ) Am now buying another one to donate to an OLP.MM4 to make a spare with a difference ,Total cost after selling off surplus bits #345!! Pretty damn good value for two custom one off's

L6 are a great bunch of guy's and cannot do enough to help you with any problems ( pity the cant put a harmoniser into the pod xt-live though)

I have been before the mast 40 years man and boy and owned and sold nearly everthing with strings on ,what I went for was the versatility factor ,I mean switching from accoustic to les-paul and back with one foot,etc how can you not like this? If my guitars were stolen the thief would die horribly a thousand times (my personal demon would see to it ).I love the sound of these through my new Bose pas system,that is one up-grade I will never regret making IT ROCKS BIG TIME.

This guitar is one of the most versatile tools I have ever used. It is of course Digital Modeling of 26 different guitars, I use it with the PODXT Live through the digital link, and the results are amazing.

The sounds that come from this instrument are incredible especially when coupled with the PODXT Live, I play Rock, Hard Rock, R&B, Blues. The versatality of this intstrument makes a great tool, in both Live and Studio Settings. There is the dreaded Microphonic feedback with high gain settings, but it can be controlled through the pots.

It is not the most beautiful guitar in the world, but it is the most versatile. The finish is cheap but the action is good, I care about what comes out of the pickups mostly. It is dead quiet too.

I got this guitar back in May, and I have been playing live gigs with it ever since, I use it exclusively live and in the studio. I never gig without a backup. Just this last weekend I was in Louisiana and the R&B band I was in, opened for the Fabulous Thunderbirds, one guy looked at my variax (owner of a music store), and said "Maybe someday you will get a real guitar" I said that I have many real guitars right there, I also told him that I own a Les Paul, a PRS, and a Strat, and they are all at home. My backup? it was another Variax 300 thank you, I don't have to...I choose to play the Variax.

The forums on their website are great, they have worked really hard to get the kinks worked out of the software and the interface between the PODXT Live and the Workbench Software.

I've been playing guitar for 24 years, I am currently in a Christian Band (www.liftmeup.net) and a R&B band (www.greggmartinez.com). I use the variax exclusively in both of these bands, in both performing and recording. When coupled with the PODXT Live and Workbench, the options are limitless, In fact I created a guitar that doesn't exist, and use it as a solo instrument in one of the bands I play in. It's not perfect, but it is the future, and this is coming from a vintage tube head that came kicking and screaming to the digital age, I'm glad it has arrived. Like line6 says....Believe

not much to add versus other reviews. I have never been fan of digital modelling but this guitar was the gateway drug. A friend lent me a Variax 500 early in 2005. I thought it was butt ugly, had an abysmal neck, but could not believe the variety and quality of the sounds available even when plugged in direct to a decent amp with no effects. I tried the Variax 300 in local store a few weeks later, and while I thought it was even uglier than the 500, it had a much improved more strat like neck, and I left store with it that day.

Guitar as a standalone has more features than just aobut any other guitar on the planet. Hook it digitally to a pod XT or XTlive and it has previously unimaginable capability (single footswitch controlling guitar model, i.e. go from Martin/acoustic to strat to les paul to sitar using only footswitches.

There really is not much to knock this guitar on from a feature standpoint. I would give 10 if it had tremelo arm, but have to ding by a point.

Sound quality is commendable and frankly very surprising for an instrument this cheap, and radical (no magnetic pickups, instead using LR Baggs piezo). I play varied guitars and styles, but I am normally a strat player, and variax strat model holds up very well with a decent fender strat. I have quite a few strats of various vintages (fender, tokai, fernandes, early squier). Variax holds up decently against many of these. (Better than mexican standard (birthday gift last year, I wish I had a receipt to take it back. Fender are my most and least favourite company, the really have had some classics but an abundance of absolute crap products over the years). Anyway, without going down a strat rat hole, I have found probably half the models usable. Highlights being the strat, some tele (position 5 tele, can recall what it is, but i don't like it), lester, rockabilly, semi, jazzbox, and martin om are used frequently. Reso models, 12strings, and rick I have found to be novel for first few strums, but dont hold up well and cannot image using live. For first few months, I played happily through my Fender Blues deville. For last month, I have been playing using variax digital cable, through XTlive, into Tech21 powerengine, and PA. I am now finding this gives huge flexibility and scope, and also allows me to simultaneously hook up other guitar(s) into XTlive analog input. I have used this to A/B the variax sounds with some of my other guitars, and also have used live with breedlove acoustic. Switching between guitars takes just a few seconds and volume knob up/down action.
Regarding A/B comparison. Variax models are close in all the cases I could compare (I have more than 26 guitars, but not the ones Line 6 modelled unfortunately). Despite what some reviewers have mentioned variax models, played through digital input, sound similar, but have a bit more gain AND a lot more harmonics than the originals. The natural harmonics surprised me, but actually, it should not be difficult thing to recreate in terms of modelling, and I think Line6 may intentionally over-use this technique to make the sound more pleasing to the ear. Essentially, the Variax strat at even the lowest volume, has ringing undertones, that only come out on my conventional strats when volume is cranked a lot more (strat/tele using holy grails, texas specials, tex mex, tele US std p/u, vintage tokai).

Acoustic sounds are passable especially using position 1 (guild?), or 3 (martin om?), running digital input to XTlive acoustic pre-amp, then into PA.

This thing is not perfect however. There is some unexpected background noise that is subtle, but can be annoying. Some is constant (like an underlying fizz that is not noticable until note/chord volume decays, and really takes A/Bing to put your finger on it. It seems to be an artefact of the digital processing. You can have variax set up with insane amp volume setting, dont touch a string, and it is absolutely silent. Hit a string, you get the back to the future speaker blast, its as musical as expected, but then as note decays, you get some (very subtle) background hiss/crackle. It took me several months to really nail this down (as opposed to it being amp noise, power supply noise, or an effect, etc). Its always there, whether I use the analog guitar lead output or the digital variax output (which bypasses the variaxs onboard D/A converter, and pre-amp). This is very minor, but very unexpected.

For rating. This really deserves a 10, given that there are 26 models, ranging from 5/10 to 8/10). Quite commendable. I will take off one for the background noise issue.

This is obviously a cheap guitar, but workmanship is actually very good. Tight neck pocket, good paint, good fret job. I am actually on my second variax 300, the first one had a problem with the onboard flash memory used to store the 10 custom configs, and I had to return it after a week. That guitar also had poor truss rod setup and I had to tweak, but it could have been degradation in shipping. Satin neck finish is good, but I hate bleached satin maple finish found a lot of new guitars. I will strip and do a nitro refinish at some point.

First one was almost DOA, I had to return in a week, but I suspect that this was a test issue at factory. It took some demoing and convincing at local store before they even realised there was a problem (dead flash in a guitar is kinda rare for now...)

I bought this as a novelty guitar to motivate me to practice. I don't like to record, I don't like to practice. I play live and know I should practice more. The variax has been perfect motivational practice tool in that regard. I have taken variax as backup numerous times, and played live on a few occasions and it held up flawlessly. I have used for entire evening on one occasion when my primary strat broke a string. I switched out string at next break, but had a blast using the variax in any case. There is a lot more to go wrong obviously than on the tried and tested strat or LP config. I am hard on guitars live, and usually need to do a lot of tech work keeping them in playing condition. Who knows how variax will hold up in long term, but so far so good.

I am obviously quite impressed NOW by Line 6 products. This was a slow process, as I have played along side early POD, Spyder and stomp box wielding bandmates for close to 10 years now and thought some of Line6 earlier products were absolute crap. First the variax, then the xtlive have convinced me that Line6 have something special going on. Products are very decent, support documentation is excellent, hardware and software suport and integration is great, web support is good. I have not gone as far as trying to get one on one support for a specific problem. I may do that for the digi noise issue, they may get 10 in a follow up.

It is hard to rate this guitar. I have been playing since 1975 and if this had come along in my first 20 years of playing, it would have received an absolutely perfect score, because it achieved something that no one would have believed possible. It does either very well, or at least decently in so many areas, that I am compelled to give it 10 out of 10. It is not perfect, but it has exceeded my expecations by a long shot and I really cant see much in the way of downsides. Six months into ownersip, I have grown to quite like the look of the guitar (I guess its like finding out the elephant man is your son and growing not to mind his looks... these features, in an old strat body would be a killer). Actually theres my pet peav... Warmoth do Variax conversion bodies and necks (, but the 300 electronics pack is not supported). Damn, I need to fork out $1500 for a variax 700, take out the bridge and guts, insert into a warmoth strat. $2000 for an unfinished but more convential looking modelling guitar... I think I may have to wait till squier release one, if my cryogenic freezing fee is much under $2K.

Line 6 Variax 300 Hardtail, Made in Indonesia, Bought New, $450 US
22 fret Rosewood neck
Black-on-black finish
Non-Name sealed tuners
Accessories: Combination A/B Switch-Power Supply, TRS 14" cable, 'Wall Wart' power supply. No case or gig bag.

I play in a couple of tribute bands as well as a hard-rock copy band, and I record quite a bit on a hame studio, so versatility is a must with any equipment that I buy. The Variax fits the bill unlike any other instrument I've ever owned - and I have nearly a couple of rooms full of equipment after 40 years of playing.

I'm using this giutar with Line 6's Pod XTLive, and while the guitar sounds pretty good straight into an amp, you don't get a handle on the full range of possibilities unless and until you plug in with the Variax Digital Interface (VDI). Using what appears to be an ethernet cable with Neutrik XLR-type metal clips, you plug into the Variax (it's outfitted with both VDI and 1/4" jacks), and bypass the Audio in on the Pod for the Digital In. This powers the guitar as well as kicking open the door for total control of the instrument.

The guitar models, from the '59 Strat to the Les Paul Goldtop, from the Telecaster to the Electric Sitar, and everything in between sound great. I nearly bought a Variax about six months ago, but the neck was horrible (burrs on every fret, up and down both sides of the neck) and it put me off, even though I loved the sounds that came out of it. After re-visiting the shop, I found that later models knocked the neck problems, so I bought it. And I'm glad I did.

If you'd told me five years ago that I could buy a guitar that would effectively replace my beloved Strat and 335 (as well as adding another 23 guitars to the sonic arsenal) and it would cost me under a couple of grand, I would have told you that you were nuts. But here it is.

The only problem model was the Rickenbacker 12-string, which is every bit as cutting and shrill as the original. But using the Variax Workbench (more on that in a bit), I was able to swap out the Rick 'toaster' pickup for a DeArmond pickup, and the sound is much better suited for playing with a band.

I've been a Line 6 user from the days of the very first Pod and FlexTone amps, so I was familiar with how they approach things - but the real surprise is the Variax Workbench. Sold as a standalone VDI-USB interface for computer, it's also available for free to Variax players who use the Pod XTLive as a download from Line 6's web site. This is where the magic happens.

Imagine having a Telecaster body and a couple of vintage P-90 pickups, and putting those pickups on the Tele. Don't like the sound? Then take off the 90s and put on a set of DeArmond pickups - or Strat pickups, or Humbuckers or Danelectro Lipstick Pickups.

As rough as that would be to do in the real world, Workbench lets you put together combinations of guitar bodies, pickups, volume and tone configurations, phase settings, and hear it on the spot. And if a certain song demands a 'drop-D' tuning, just 'retune' the guitar through the Workbench and save it in one of 60 slots on the Variax. Every time you go to that model, you're in 'drop-D' without having to touch the machine heads.

And when you put the Variax together with the XTLive, you can go from a Martin Dreadnought with a clean amp (or no amp) and a touch of chorus and reverb to a Les Paul through a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier with saturated distortion by stepping on a switch.

One dislike - the Variax/Workbench/Pod XTLive setup was a long time coming - Line 6 released the 300 without allowing for the XTL to recognize the 300, which prevented the updating of the Variax firmware using this setup. The wait was agonizing, but they finally released the appropriate software to do it. One can fgault Line 6 for rushing a product on to the market without providing ample support, but now that they've taken care of it, all is forgiven.

I have to say it does take a while to get everything coordinated between guitar models, amp models, Pod output levels and amp levels (I found that too high of a level off the Pod causes the Variax to squeal like a LP Junior with P-90 pickups, which is annoying). I dove right in and started building the necessary patches for my bands' stuff, but still had to re-tweak a lot of the sounds to work well in a band setting. After 3 weeks, a few shows and a few rehearsals, I seem to have found a happy medium where the guitar responds as well as any 'traditional' guitar I own.

I'd compare the Variax 300 to a good mid-level Stratocaster. The satin neck is very comfortable, and the neck is uniform from end to end. The one weak spot is the tuners - they seem to 'catch' like the ones on cheap Fender guitars - but I've got a set of Sperzel locking tuners that will be put on this week.

The black-on-black finish lends sort of a 'Stealth' look to the guitar, and along with the fact that there are no traditional pickups on the thing, it gets people asking what the hell it is every time I've played a show with it.

I play hard. The joke among my bandmates is that I lead the league in broken strings. My guitars need to be 'tightend up' on a bi-weekly basis because of the way I play. The Variax stands up to everything I dish out to my other guitars, and the number of broken strings has dropped dramatically since I've started using it on stage.

Hopefully, the electronics will hold up. This is pretty much uncharted territory - this thing is basically a computer with a guitar-shaped interface. I doubt my laptop would react well to my taking it on stage and banging it against my knee for four hours a night, but so far, so good.

During the time when I was wating for the software issues to be cleared up, Line 6 seemed pretty unresponsive. Once they released the software, I attempted to update the Variax firmware and it failed, leaving me with precisely one guitar model in all of the slots on the guitar. At that point, they came through like a champ. I spent an hour on the phone with their tech support, and even though they didn't resolve the problem, they were as helpful as I could have hoped for.

I eventually tried the firmware update again, and it worked perfectly yhe second time.

I've been playing for about 40 years. I have Strats, Les Pauls, a 335, an Explorer, and various other 6 and 7-strings, acoustic and electric. Most of what I own is fairly good quality, with a few low-end pieces. For the price I paid for the Variax, I got an instrument that stacks up quite well against a mid-level Fender or Gibson, for a slightly lower price. But what makes it a worthwhile buy is the sound you get out of it. This is the next generation of electric guitar, and it is nothing short of revolutionary.

Pardon the long review. I can't say enough about the possibilities of this instrument.