tauzero Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 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. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 Nice to meet you Mike, and we never even got around to talking motorbikes ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machines Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 Had a 4 string. Was good fun but never really emulated the intended sounds that closely (except maybe the Rick and Modulus). I think the best way is to treat it as many tones, rather than replacements for the targeted basses. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maude Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 (edited) Congratulations, I love my Variax. I agree with what @Machines has said about regarding it as a bass with huge tonal variety, although I do feel most of the models do capture the essence of the bass being modelled. For instance, some might say the P bass isn't exactly like a P, but whose P bass are we comparing it to? My P probably sounds different to the next man's P due to differing strings, pickups, etc. I should've chosen a different example as that's a lot of talk about pee. What I really like is the different decay on the models, the really short 'dead' ring of the Hofner for example. Coupled with your HD 500 it'll be great as you can set up patches of bass model, amp, cab, EQ and effects and select it all with one switch. Great for cover bands. I've got a spare one that I was going to defret as I reckon some of the models will come alive without frets, doublebass and synths particularly. I'm going to try and find a suitable fretless neck instead now though in case it doesn't sound as good as I hoped and I need to sell it. Have fun experimenting. 🙂 Edited July 2, 2020 by Maude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvia Bluejay Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 3 hours ago, Machines said: Had a 4 string. Was good fun but never really emulated the intended sounds that closely (except maybe the Rick and Modulus). I think the best way is to treat it as many tones, rather than replacements for the targeted basses. Thankfully, GAS will never be killed by a choice of tones on one single bass. We need to buy all the basses the Variax emulates, one by one, and compare their sound closely with the Variax, so we have a very clear idea of which basses we have to keep because, you know, it would never do to go out and play with a poorly emulated tone. God forbid. 😉 Having said that, I do like most of the sounds on that 705. PS - nice to meet you too, Mike - enjoy the bass. 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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