Visited Happy Jack yesterday and came away with less money and a Variax 705. I'd wanted one for a while, on and off, but as I've decided to get serious about doing some home recording, I thought I should actually bite the bullet and buy one instead of deciding not to and then regretting it (again). Also had a play on assorted other Happy Jack basses, which was fun.
It's in very decent nick for a generation one and a half Variax. Firmware was as up to date as it will ever get. The neck is a little chunkier than my ideal neck but it's comfortable enough. More experimentation coming up, plus the combination of that and my HD500 which should be fun. And it was nice to meet Happy Jack and Bluejay too.