Take 25 Guitars to Your Next Gig with Variax

Line 6 has done it again. After revolutionizing the amplifier modeling with their ground-breaking Pod, Pod 2.0, and PodXT product lines, Line 6 is set to revolutionize guitar modeling with their newest innovation, the Variax.

Guitar players are natural pack rats. For most, just one guitar simply will not do: songs may call for different tunings, different string gauges, etc. Despite the number of guitars a player may have warehoused for the occasional overdub, she usually sticks to her number one guitar. Now, wouldn’t it be amazing to have your number one do everything for you?

The Variax is Line 6’s answer to the need to have multiple guitars — the Variax is the world’s first modeling guitar.

Let’s take a side trip to theory corner. Physical modeling, or modeling for short, refers to the process of analyzing the characteristics of an object to reproduce or emulate its behavior. In the context of musical instrument modeling, the objective is to accurately reproduce the sound of a musical instrument. Many things make this a complicated affair. In the case of a guitar, for example, there are many factors that affect the sound that is eventually produced. These factors include the thickness or gauge of the strings, the size and dimensions of the body and neck, the body and neck woods, pickups, and so on. All in all, it’s a very complicated equation, but perfecting the model right from the start is the key to sounding just like the real thing.

That said, the Variax sounds like the real thing, all 25 models of it. There are 25 presets available on the Variax, each preset corresponding to a specific guitar type. For example, there are presets for 12-string guitars, single-coil guitars, humbucker guitars, and hollow- and semi-hollow body guitars. There’s even a model of a sitar. The Variax can also “tune” its strings to different tunings on the fly. The player doesn’t even have to turn a single tuning key.

Using accompanying Variax Workbench software, all presets can be loaded up on a computer, tweaked, and then downloaded onto the Variax. Alternate tunings can also be created with the software and saved on the guitar. All presets and tunings are accessible via knobs on the front. As far as looks are concerned, the Variax looks like a regular electric guitar. The only noticeable difference is the lack of magnetic pickups on the front. Available in a number of “normal” finishes, the Variax certainly looks “normal,” but after taking it for a spin one would find that it’s anything but normal.

Ads for the Variax display the bold statement, “All guitars have a soul. Pity yours has only one.” The revolutionary functionality and performance of the Variax certainly backs the statement up.