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Line 6 Variax 600 £565
Line 6’s Variax is still pushing the boundaries...
The MusicRadar Team, Tue 23 Oct 2007, 12:09 pm UTC
Sounds
The Variax 600 feels very like a brand new Mexican Fender Classic with that all-too-new-feeling gloss neck finish. It makes playability a little sticky initially and you have to fight this one. The temptation is to set up one amp sound and flick through the models: we all do it. But trying to nail a great Fender twang or a Les Paul grunt needs a different amp setting (or even a different amp). As a control, we set up a PRS Singlecut to maximum Slash-esque tone. Selecting Lester (the Les Paul models) on Variax produced a brighter sound with a little less depth, but it's certainly in the ballpark. It’s the same comparing a real Fender Strat with the Spank models here, which incidentally sound brighter to these ears than Variax 500.
In some ways the Fender models make more sense on this platform but having a pair of open ears is crucial. All in all, there are a lot of sounds here - some, as ever, work better than others and it wouldn’t be our first choice for acoustic tones. Maybe it’s the vibrato (a shame there’s no hard-tail option) but they don’t sound as accurate, or useable, as on the hardtail Variax.
Variax 600 is a substantial improvement over the 500 - it goes for a vintage vibe and succeeds. The modelled sounds certainly summon up the characters of the originals and, particularly for recording, there's an awful lot of guitar here. However, with its vibrato it seems to suit electric more than acoustic.
Verdict
A Variax that attempts to appease 'vintage' sensibilities and to a large extent succeeds
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User comments (2)
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I too have a Variax 600 along with a Spider 3 75 and a Pocket pod. (I have not encountered any problems with the bridge piezzo, thankfully) this is on heck of a guitar, the tones are just incredible. Its also a very comfortable guitar to play, and hardy, even after 14 months of hard frequent playing the frets hardly show any signs of ware, (unlike my Yamaha). This is my Main guitar now and I don't think I will ever sell it....unless to buy another of the same. Even Gordon Giltrap is playing one of these now! you can't get a much better endorsment than that, can you?
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Great value for the money. But I encountered a problem with the bridge piezzo. It seemed that as time went by, the piezzo pickup can become non responsive. I mean, no sound when certain string is picked. I have to loosen the string and shake the brigde saddle to get it working again... But its ability to change alternate tunings without re-tuning is brilliant and impressive. Great for a live player!
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MusicRadar rating
Pros
The unique Variax concept. The vibrato. The best ‘chassis’ to date.
Cons
Still no nylon string acoustic model. It’s a shame there’s no hard-tail 600.
Verdict
A Variax that attempts to appease 'vintage' sensibilities and to a large extent succeeds
Review Policy
All MusicRadar’s reviews are by independent product specialists, who are not aligned to any gear manufacturer or retailer. Our experts also write for renowned magazines such as Guitarist, Total Guitar, Computer Music, Future Music and Rhythm. All are part of Future PLC, the biggest publisher of music making magazines in the world.
User rating
Specification Show
Variax 600
- Price:
- £565
- Accessories:
- Gigbag. Jack output (stereo cable supplied)
- Available Controls:
- 12-position rotary model selector, Tone, Volume
- Available Finish:
- Sunburst
- Body Style:
- Double-cut
- Bolt-on Neck:
- true
- Bridge:
- LR Baggs vibrato X-Bridge
- Case Included:
- true
- Country of Origin:
- USA
- Cutaway:
- true
- Fingerboard Material:
- Maple
- Guitar Body Material:
- Basswood
- Inlays:
- Dot
- Neck Material:
- Maple
- No of Strings:
- 6
- No. of Frets:
- 22
- Nut Material:
- Synthetic
- Options:
- None.
- Pickguard:
- true
- Pickguard Colour:
- White
- Pickup Type:
- No magnetic pickups. All the sounds are generated via the onboard DSP
- Scale Length (Inches) (Inches):
- 25.5
- Scale Length (mm) (mm):
- 648
- Special Features:
- 28 digital models of solidbody, semi, and hollowbody electrics and acoustic instruments. An additional RJ-45 connector allows hook-up to Workbench, Vetta II, PODxt Live (and future upgrades etc)
- String Spacing (mm):
- 52.5
- Weight (kg) (kg):
- 3.6
- Weight (lb) (lb):
- 8
- Width at Nut (mm) (mm):
- 42.3
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Midnightminstrel
Fri 14 Mar 2008, 6:01 pm UTC
User rating 5 of 5