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Doesn´t look much like a workbench to us. It may come as a disappointment to the carpenters among you to learn that the Line 6 Variax Workbench has almost nothing in common with an actual workbench. If you want vices, spirit levels and a place to keep screwdrivers, may we suggest a trip to your local DIY store instead and leave the rest of us to peruse the latest offering from the heavyweight champion of modelling technology. If you're familiar with Line 6 - and, unless you´ve just emerged from a cave, we´ll assume you are - then you'll have already realised that the Variax Workbench is a virtual workbench.
It lets you customise the models within your Variax guitar, save the changes you've made and then trade them online with other users. Brian May had to smash up a fireplace to create his trademark Red Special; EVH´s bastardised guitars were the product of many a lonely night spent with a pair of pliers. With the Line 6 Workbench, you can now create an arsenal of customised guitars without ever hitting your thumb with a hammer. The Workbench operates in tandem with any Line 6 Variax electric guitar.
Admittedly, this does add a fair whack onto the £60-or-so price of the Workbench software, but with the Variax 300 so reasonably priced (that´s what we tested the Workbench with), it´s not as much of a pain as you might think. Alongside the Variax, you'll also need a PC equipped with Windows XP/2000 and a USB port, plus an amplifier. Workbench will run effectively on a Mac too. To begin, insert the Workbench CD into your computer. While fairly straightforward, we didn´t find the software installation process quite as intuitive as some of the Line 6 products we´ve tested. By the time we registered our Variax, reconfigured the guitar´s memory banks to let us use it with the Workbench, and established that, no, we weren´t interested in taking out a subscription to Rolling Stone, a good 15 minutes had ticked. With the Workbench icon on your desktop, you connect the Variax to the converter box via the supplied RJ-45 connector and plug that into the USB port of your laptop.
Then you take the TRS cable (it comes with your Variax) and plug it into the XPS Mini power supply. Then - deep breath - you link the ‘Output jack´ of the XPS to your amp via a normal guitar lead. Your bedroom will look like spaghetti junction once it´s done, but you can dump half the wires before you hit the stage. Models The standard Variax 300 has models based on a selection of classic guitars, from the Gibson Les Paul to the Gretsch Silver Jet.
The tonal nuances of each guitar are modelled, as closely as possible, from the character of the woods to the wiring of the pickups. That´s fine if you want to emulate a 1958 Les Paul, but how about if you fancy sticking a Strat-style pole-piece singlecoil in the neck? Most custom shops would tell you to sling your hook, but the Workbench turns such hypothetical flights of fancy into reality with a few clicks of the mouse. We kicked off by choosing a Les Paul via the model select knob on our Variax. To remind ourselves of the blueprint, we gave it a strum in its original form and were hit with the beefy PAF roar that Line 6 have always nailed so well. Then we got the virtual hacksaw out.
Workbench HD also lets you select any Variax pickup model and use it with the natural tone and response of your physical James Tyler Variax guitar—or blend the. The Variax HD upgrade and Workbench HD software are compatible with all James Tyler Variax guitars. Nj dmv driving test locations. Download the updates from Line6.com/software/.
The logical first step was to get rid of those humbuckers, so we headed to the ‘Pickup´ section and scrolled down the list of substitutes. As usual, Line 6 have laid the options on with a trowel, offering a choice of 17 different pickups that cover everything from Gretsch-style Filtertrons to the kind of P90s you'd find on a Les Paul Goldtop. In the interests of undermining everything the Les Paul stands for, however, we dropped a Strat-style singlecoil into both the neck and bridge. We were intrigued by the combination of a mahogany body and singlecoil snap - it works much better than you might think, actually - but continued to tear up the blueprint by adjusting the position of the pickups on the body and rotating them by 20 degrees. We then adjusted the levels to make the bridge cut through more than the neck, put them slightly out of phase and tweaked the resistance of the tone and volume controls. Beyond a certain point, you'll probably have to guess how authentic it all sounds (we don´t know anyone who's carried out this customisation in ‘real life´), but there´s no doubting the sheer versatility on offer here.
Once you're completely satisfied with the body and pickups, a separate section allows you to save your new customised tunings. Just turn your amp up so that you´re unable to hear what the unamplified strings are doing, then select a tuning from the Workbench´s comprehensive list. While we were initially tempted by a Keef-style Open G, we eventually settled on Drop D and watched in awe as the software virtually reconfigured our tuning, dropping our low string (previously tuned to E) to a bowel-quaking D. Performance The Workbench would be kind of pointless if you couldn´t unleash your custom models on a packed venue, so once you've finished tweaking, give your creation a name and save it into the Variax´s memory banks.
Here again, we didn´t feel the Workbench was as intuitive as some Line 6 gear - it wouldn´t have hurt to provide an instruction manual, for instance - but after a few aborted attempts we managed to get our heads around the process. If you´ve already got a Variax and feel you´ve almost exhausted its potential, we wouldn´t hesitate to recommend the Workbench. It offers hours of fun, tons of options and the opportunity to create a tone like no one else on the planet. If you haven´t got a Variax, we´d think carefully before blowing the £400-plus on the guitar and Workbench. This product isn´t designed for someone who´s satisfied with their Telecaster and Marshall.
It´s a playground for guitarists who are continually searching for the ultimate tone and who change their setup more often than their socks. If that sounds like you, then the Line 6 Workbench offers a level of customisation that will blow you away. The benchmark has been set.
Line 6 GOLD AWARD I probably didn’t have my morning cup of coffee when I first received news about the Line 6 Variax Shuriken. “How cool!” I thought to myself. “Looks like Line 6 is making a Variax that has models of Japanese stringed instruments.” But after a robust caffeine injection and reading further to find out that the instrument in question was designed in collaboration with 12 Foot Ninja guitarist Steve “Stevic” MacKay, I suddenly realized that I was mistakenly thinking of a shamisen (a banjo-like Japanese stringed instrument) and that the object in question was named after shuriken, the various stealth weapons (like throwing stars) employed by ninjas and samurai warriors. Once I actually got the Line 6 Variax Shuriken in my hands, I realized that the weapon-inspired name truly fits.
The Variax Shuriken boasts a unique custom body shape, 27-inch baritone scale length and several other features that are notably different than those of previous Variax guitars. This is a truly modern instrument that’s ideal for visionary players who want to slay listeners with a vast repertoire of tones and tunings that are unexpected coming from a relatively streamlined and straightforward-albeit-futuristic-looking guitar.
FEATURES At its core, the Variax Shuriken is an impressive guitar even before one ventures into the expanded creative capabilities of its Variax technology. It has a lightweight alder body with dramatic sweeping curves and contours that provide ideal comfort and balance, and the body is finished in matte satin black, which complements the black-finish hardware and sealed locking tuners. PERFORMANCE Unless you’re already familiar with Variax guitars, you might be wondering why a guitar with a single standard humbucker has a five-position blade selector. Depending on where the model select and alternate tuning knobs are set, the switch allows players to instantly access different instrument models and/or tunings.
Some settings provide virtual neck pickup tones even though the Shuriken doesn’t have a physical neck pickup. Model banks include Shuriken, T-Model (Tele), Spank (Strat), Lester (Les Paul Standard and Special, Firebird), Acoustic (various 6- and 12-string steel-string flattops), Jazz (various archtops and semi-hollow models), World (resonator, banjo and Danelectro guitars), Twang (Gretsch and Rickenbacker) and four User banks—the latter featuring settings pre-programmed by Steve MacKay and optimized for drop-D tuning. Alternate tuning knob settings consist of Model, Standard, User I-IV, 1 whole step Down, 2 whole step Down, Drop C, Baritone, Drop A and Octave down.
The second-generation Variax electronics provide a notable performance upgrade over the previous version, delivering modeled instrument tones with dynamics and expressiveness indistinguishable from the “real thing” and natural-sounding notes even when tuned down or up an octave or more. Like previous Variax instruments, the Shuriken is compatible with Line 6 Workbench HD software (a free download), which allows users to create their own custom guitar models and tunings. From a standard guitar perspective alone, the Shuriken is worth its price, but the addition of the versatile Variax electronics makes it an incredible deal. The body is well balanced and comfortable to play, and the mid-gain humbucker sounds great on its own through a wide variety of amps.
Even if an extended-scale baritone guitar is not your main ax, the Shuriken is comfortable enough to play for an entire gig and the longer scale length will be easy for most players to adapt to. Considering the vast variety of tones and tunings that are instantly accessible, the Shuriken is a guitar that you won’t want to put down anyway, and it saves players the hassle of hauling multiple instruments to gigs.
LIST PRICE: $1,959.99 MANUFACTURER: Line 6, ● The 27-inch baritone scale provides ideal intonation and string tension even when tuning down a whole step or more. ● Second-generation Variax electronics provide an impressive variety of electric and acoustic guitar models and even alternate instruments like banjo and sitar. ● The model select and alternate tuning control knobs each feature four user settings that come with custom presets by Steve MacKay or can be used to save new settings. When Line 6 introduced its Variax technology back in 2003, guitarists were immediately knocked out by its ability to produce the sounds of various guitars and stringed instruments in numerous alternate tunings. However, many players were somewhat lukewarm about the solidbody guitars that housed the technology, which were decent and playable but not particularly sexy. Line 6 has solved that dilemma in a grand fashion by teaming up with James Tyler Guitars, long known for its boutique electrics favored by numerous L.A.
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Studio guitarists. Line 6 now offers a stunning variety of James Tyler Variax guitars, including a series of high-end U.S. Custom Shop instruments and the more affordable Standard Series. Both series consist of three models: dual- and triple-pickup super-Strat guitars and a Les Paul–style single-cutaway with dual humbuckers.
I looked at the Standard Series JTV-59 model, which is based on a Les Paul–style single-cutaway design. FEATURES If you’re familiar with the previous Variax electric guitars, you probably recall that they didn’t have any traditional pickups at all. The James Tyler Variax models all have traditional pickups in addition to Line 6’s Variax technology, so you can plug these guitars into an amp and play them just like any other solidbody. That also means that you have a way to finish playing your gig should you forget to recharge the Variax’s internal lithium-ion battery. (On that note, the battery is a big improvement over the external power supply that came with previous Variax guitars.) nThe JTV-59 has a mahogany body with a carved maple top and flame maple veneer. The set mahogany neck has a rosewood fretboard, 24 9/16–inch scale and 22 medium jumbo frets, and the neck heel is smoothly contoured to provide a seamless transition with the body and deliver incredible playing comfort. The pickups are Tyler’s own vintage-voiced Alnico humbuckers, which are just slightly hotter than traditional PAFs.
Controls include individual rotary switches for selecting guitar models and tunings, traditional master volume and master tone knobs, and a three-way pickup selector switch. The JTV-59’s Variax technology is an improvement of that found on Line 6’s previous Variax solidbody electric guitars, providing new remastered versions of the original 28 instrument models and new pitch-shifting algorithms for the 10 alternate tunings (in addition to standard tuning). You can modify or program your own custom models on a computer using Variax Workbench software (included as a free download) and use them to replace any of the sounds on the model selector knob. Should you prefer not to replace the default models, two custom banks are provided for storing your own models.
The guitar ships with a USB interface and Variax Digital Interface (VDI) cable for connecting the guitar to a computer, POD HD500 or POD HD Pro, but performing guitarists will want to purchase the optional heavy-duty VDI cable that connects the Variax guitar to other Line 6 products, like the POD xt, POD X3 or Vetta II. PERFORMANCE The James Tyler Variax guitars provide a considerable upgrade from previous Variax models. The instrument itself is awesome, boasting impeccable workmanship, comfortable playability and classic looks. The JTV-59 plays and sounds great independent of its Variax features, and it’s worth its price just for the guitar alone. This is an ax that most guitarists will have no problems playing as their main guitar all night long. Compared to Variax guitars with five-position switches, the JTV-59, with its three-position pickup selector, presents a few quirks when it comes to accessing instrument models. Although 28 instrument models are available, the model selector switch provides only 10 settings in addition to the two custom settings.
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On Variax guitars with five-position switches (like the JTV-69 and JTV-89) additional instruments within each setting are accessed at different pickup selector settings, but the JTV-59 often requires a combination of certain pickup settings and pressing down the alternate-tuning knob to access many instruments. It can take a while to memorize each combination, and accessing particular instruments from the JTV-59 isn’t always as instantaneous as it is on the other James Tyler Variax guitars, although if you use certain instruments frequently, you can always assign them to one of the custom settings. The instrument models sound great, and it’s still a thrill to hear realistic acoustic, resonator, 12-string, banjo, sitar, semihollow, and hollowbody tones coming from a standard solidbody, in addition to all of the solidbody variations. While the stock settings don’t always include all of the possible pickup combinations for certain models, Line 6 really nailed the settings most players need. THE BOTTOM LINE Thanks to the incredibly sexy looks and playability of James Tyler’s guitar artistry, using Line 6’s Variax technology is more fun and rewarding than ever.
LIST PRICE $2,099.99.