Line 6 Variax 705

[rikki]

Any views on the Line 6 Variax 705?

For some bizarre reason I fancy adding one of these to my collection but I have seen mixed views.
I appreciate the simulations may not be 100% perfect but if they are pretty close they will be good enough for the type of work I do.

But how do they play?
Does anyone gig with one - how reliable are they?

Do they ever come up second hand, I have been looking round and haven't seen any for sale, what are they worth 2nd hand? Anyone got one they want to sell?

Dave

[waynepunkdude]

[quote name='rikki' post='270485' date='Aug 26 2008, 06:42 PM']Any views on the Line 6 Variax 705?

For some bizarre reason I fancy adding one of these to my collection but I have seen mixed views.
I appreciate the simulations may not be 100% perfect but if they are pretty close they will be good enough for the type of work I do.

But how do they play?
Does anyone gig with one - how reliable are they?

Do they ever come up second hand, I have been looking round and haven't seen any for sale, what are they worth 2nd hand? Anyone got one they want to sell?

Dave[/quote]


I saw one in X electrical in Canterbury for £175 I asked why it was so cheap and the guy said no one wants to buy them.

That might give you an idea on how good they are although I have never tried one.

[Matty]

I love mine.
Great range of sounds.
reliable, yes as long as you either keep fresh batteries or use the power supply.
It is bloody heavy though, and perhaps not the best looking bass int he world.

[bnt]

[quote name='Matty' post='270501' date='Aug 26 2008, 07:03 PM']It is bloody heavy though, and perhaps not the best looking bass int he world.[/quote]
I tried the 4-string, and that was my impression too. If they made one in a smaller, more contemporary body, I might like one. The neck was a tree trunk, and the pickguards on both are particularly hideous.

Also, why not add a single "sweet spot" pickup? More flexibility and a rounded look, for not much extra cost. If I had access to a workshop, I might consider getting one and transplanting the guts in to something nicer.

[Matty]

thats what i plan on doing

[stingrayfan]

I've had a go on a couple and was a bit underwhelmed. The neck and headstock put me off the most - they look very cheap. Be interested to see the final result if you transplant the innards out to a normal bass though.

[warwickhunt]

I have the 4 string. re. the sounds available - they are OK and as a basis on which to tweak some interesting sounds it is pretty good (with the exception of the synth thing )

The actual bass guitar itself is on a par with a £200 Fender copy, nothing to write home about but not the worst thing I've ever played.

Cost - pretty cheap if you can find someone desperate to sell but some shops can extract the urine!

[rikki]

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='270489' date='Aug 26 2008, 06:45 PM']I saw one in X electrical in Canterbury for £175 I asked why it was so cheap and the guy said no one wants to buy them.[/quote]


£175 ! thats crazy, they cant be that undesirable or bad surely.
I dont suppose it is still there?

Is that typical of the second hand price that i should be expecting to pay or was that a one off?

[Matty]

well i pad £400ish on here for mine second hand.
I think£175 is undervalued quite a bit

[Fraktal]

2 years ago I ordered a 5 string Line6. Played with it for more than a week and ended up returning it to the music shop. A pity cos I was in need of its versatility BADLY, but I had a lot of annoyances. The most problematic one was that the neck/bridge pickup simulation was FAR from being decent, as if the only difference between the sound of the 2 simulated pickups was equalization, but no difference of character in the tone. That bugged me so much I simply couldnt stand it.

Maybe I could have lived with the heavy weight, the wide string separation, the weird nasal resonances on some simulated models or the non adjustable noise gate on a few simulated models, but the lack of a real bridge pickup tone character was too much for me.

Edited August 26, 2008 by Fraktal

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I tried one out & really wanted to like it, but couldn't get past that the tone is exactly the same whether you play next to the bridge or right up over the end of the neck. Didn't convince me at all. The double bass sound was pretty cool though.

[waynepunkdude]

[quote name='rikki' post='270567' date='Aug 26 2008, 09:07 PM']£175 ! thats crazy, they cant be that undesirable or bad surely.
I dont suppose it is still there?

Is that typical of the second hand price that i should be expecting to pay or was that a one off?[/quote]


I'll check next time I'm in Canterbury probably the weekend.

[wulf]

I was moderately impressed with the ones I tried. The factors that put me off pursuing a Variax bass more seriously were:

a) with similar gizmos (eg. Bass Pod) , I tend to get one sound and stick with it most of the time. I didn't think the expense of another bass was worth it for tones that I might only use a small fraction of the time

I like playing six string basses and they only went up to five

c) I was concerned that an electronics failure might leave me with a piece of junk; I suspect that getting Variax electronics fixed is more expensive than replacing a pickup.

Wulf

[2pods]

I don't know about their basses, but I sold the insides of my Variax 300 and kept the body as GK3 equipped controller.

It was quite weird having a guitar with no visible pu's, but now I have one with holes where the controls and sockets where

I quite liked the modelling (especially combined wit an XTLive), and I think the bass would be worth a punt at under £200

[rikki]

[quote name='rikki' post='270567' date='Aug 26 2008, 09:07 PM']£175 ! thats crazy, they cant be that undesirable or bad surely.
I dont suppose it is still there?

Is that typical of the second hand price that i should be expecting to pay or was that a one off?[/quote]


Well I rang X Electrical in Canterbury today and the guy I spoke to said that they had never had a Line 6 bass. The only Variax they had was a 300 Guitar, it is used and is £115, but it doesn't have the power supply / cable.

So 705 owners maybe they haven't lost quite so much money ... yet

[waynepunkdude]

[quote name='rikki' post='271953' date='Aug 28 2008, 06:44 PM']Well I rang X Electrical in Canterbury today and the guy I spoke to said that they had never had a Line 6 bass. The only Variax they had was a 300 Guitar, it is used and is £115, but it doesn't have the power supply / cable.

So 705 owners maybe they haven't lost quite so much money ... yet[/quote]


They defo had one in it was with the guitar.

I'm not an idiot nor a liar.

[rikki]

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='271954' date='Aug 28 2008, 06:50 PM']They defo had one in it was with the guitar.

I'm not an idiot nor a liar.[/quote]

Didn't say you were, but neither am I, just repeating what the guy in the told me over the phone

at least we can be assume they dont have one any more

[waynepunkdude]

[quote name='rikki' post='272073' date='Aug 28 2008, 09:54 PM']Didn't say you were, but neither am I, just repeating what the guy in the told me over the phone

at least we can be assume they dont have one any more[/quote]


Yeh the're not the brightest in there.

I tried out a P-bass special in there and the guy tried plugging it into a JCM900.