Variax 2 info out....

[Germanicus-fgn]

http://tylervariax.com/

Not much new info but its definitely out of the vaporware stage.

[Johnnyurq-fgn]

Ha ha I was just about to post the same link.

There are a couple of pictures on their twitter feed.

http://tweetphoto.com/15596014

Damn there goes most of this years GAS tokens.

I hope they deliver most of what they talked about on the epic Line 6 forum thread.

[Elantric-fgn]

http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/musikmesse-2010-line-6-announces-variax-guitars-designed-by-james-tyler-241372




RELEASE: Line 6, Inc, the industry leader in digital modelling technology for music-creation products, announced today the next generation of Variax® modelling guitars: Variax Designed by James Tyler. This new line of guitars is designed to deliver the feel of the finest boutique instruments and the optimal tonal performance of Line 6 guitar modeling technology.

Through patented Line 6 guitar modelling technology, Variax guitars can reproduce the sounds of an entire collection of 25 vintage electric and acoustic instruments, and a dozen custom tunings. The modelled instruments include solid-body, semi-hollow guitars and hollow-body electrics with a variety of pickup configurations, six- and twelve-string acoustics, and other guitar-related instruments including a resonator, banjo, and an electric sitar.

This new line of guitars will be available in three styles. Each one reflects the innovative designs of James Tyler in each curve, component and control. Acclaimed for his attention to detail in making custom, hand-crafted instruments for the most discerning players, James Tyler has designed guitars for the world's most respected guitarists and sought-after session players including Steve Lukather, Michael Landau and Dan Huff.

In a launch as creative as the instruments are innovative, Line 6 will be chronicling in real-time the design and development of the new guitars. At www.TylerVariax.com, the public is invited to participate firsthand in the evolution of these groundbreaking instruments.

Each Variax Designed by James Tyler will ship Summer, 2010.

http://emusician.com/musikmesse_2010/line6_variax_james_tyler/

This new line of guitars is designed to deliver the feel of the finest boutique instruments and the optimal tonal performance of Line 6 guitar-modeling technology.

Through patented Line 6 guitar modeling technology, Variax guitars can reproduce the sounds of an entire collection of 25 vintage electric and acoustic instruments, and a dozen custom tunings. The modeled instruments include solid-body, semi-hollow guitars and hollow-body electrics with a variety of pickup configurations, 6- and 12-string acoustics, and other guitar-related instruments including a resonator, banjo and an electric sitar.

This new line of guitars will be available in three styles.

In a launch as creative as the instruments are innovative, Line 6 will be chronicling in real-time the design and development of the new guitars. At www.TylerVariax.com, the public is invited to participate in the evolution of these instruments.

Each Variax Designed by James Tyler will ship summer 2010.

[Germanicus-fgn]

dozen custom tunings?

I REALLY hope those are user definable and not preset.

I hope that you can apply any tuning to any guitar on the fly as well (ala VG Strat).

[Elantric-fgn]

Looks nice with the option of Mag Pickups now.

And they will have utilized a newer generation, faster MIPS DSP, hopefully without the "flutter" problems during alternate tunings that plague the older Variaxs.

Better pics here:
http://www.vettaville.nl/page.php?id=141#1062

[Germanicus-fgn]

4x current dsp. Has an alt-tuning knob. Improved Piezos.

[Germanicus-fgn]

Apparently the alt tuning knob is totally customizable.

It will ship with Workbench. You also dont need to use workbench to set up custom tunings apparently.

[MCK-fgn]

Looks very interesting... Thanks for sharing.

[Elantric-fgn]

The Korean Models will be street priced between $1099-1299, Tyler USA Models start at $3600 - Due Summer 2010.

[MCK-fgn]

Sweet... Many new possibilities... Meanwhile RackVax is still MIA right?

[Elantric-fgn]

[Elantric-fgn]

Looks like my July 2009 predictions all came true
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=31484.msg231810#msg231810

Likewise, the new Variax will be an updated Variax 600, "Strat " type with S-S-H mag pickups, tremolo  + the piezo bridge, and DSP. A faster DSP will be employed - the current one is a Motorola /Freescale running at 533Mhz.

[Elantric-fgn]

Rich Renken wrote>
Each James Tyler Variax sports some big advances in Line 6 Variax technology. Many of these advances will pop up as separate blog posts but, for now, wet your whistle with what's to come:

1. The Lithium-ion battery delivers 12 hours of continuous play time.

2. Improved piezos and bridge offer pure polyphonic tone transference while addressing various requests from users of first-gen Variax.

3. The new Dual Core processor allowed our crack engineering team to improve on key areas of our modeling technology. This provides richer and more authentic-sounding models than ever before.

4. We added an Alt Tune knob that instantly provides up to 10 different tunings including Drop D, DADGAD, Open G, and Baritone.

5. Virtual Capo can get you to any tuning that you can think up – instantly and on the fly. You can save your new creations in any of the 10 spots on the Alt Tune knob.

6. Variax Workbench is now included with each and every guitar. All it takes is your imagination and one USB slot to bring new guitar sounds to life.

7. Blending mags and models. Got a POD® X3? Use its powerful dual tone modeling and routing options to process the magnetic pickups and a guitar model through two different amp and effects chains simultaneously.

8. Backlighting on the Model and Alt Tune knobs gives easy identification on dark stages. (Pressing the Model knob switches between models and magnetic pickups.)
__________________

[javajunkie-fgn]

Mine should be here in around 3 weeks

[Elantric-fgn]

Which Model did you order?

Which vendor did you order this from?

[javajunkie-fgn]

Which Model did you order?

Which vendor did you order this from?

JTV-69

Sweetwater

[cgarlie-fgn]

I attended a Line 6 demo session last weekend and the JTV-69 was one of the items demoed. Here are few notes --

>> The one demoed was a nice "Belew Tangerine" (not sure what their name for it will be) -- I really liked the color, but it only is available for the American models (which are out of my budget).

>> World Guitars in Korea are doing the Korean versions -- they are the same guys that do the PRS SE models. Everyone seems pleased with their work.

>> In fact, Line 6 is so pleased with the Korean (passive) pups that they will be used in the American models also. The piezos will be a new design from L.R. Baggs.

>> So the main differences between the Korean and Am. models are the number of batteries (Am=2, K=1), wood, finish, and assembly -- I don't think JT does anything with the American model guitars except maybe a final inspection.

>> Three models as you know. Output for the passive and emulated pups goes out the quarter inch jack and you can select one or the other -- unless -- you use the ethernet cable to connect to a Line 6 X-type pedal, then you can access both signal paths. In the demo, switching from the Fender pup emulation to the passive pups resulted in no noticeable difference in sound.

>> Rep said pricing wasn't set yet (?? -- someone should tell Sweetwater -- maybe he meant the Am models) and expect delivery in sometime "late October".

>> Overall, the guitar sounded great and the (Korean) JTV-69 is on my "to buy" list.

Charlie

[Elantric-fgn]

I have heard the September arrival date here n the USA has now slipped to Mid October.

http://www.amazon.com/Line-Variax-JTV-69-Modeling-Electric/dp/B003TO6C3I

[cgarlie-fgn]

The Sweetwater quote (via a rep, not their online price) is about 100 dollars less than this.

Charlie

[Johnnyurq-fgn]

I have heard the September arrival date here n the USA has now slipped to Mid October.

http://www.amazon.com/Line-Variax-JTV-69-Modeling-Electric/dp/B003TO6C3I

Some are also stating that it may slip to November due to hassles at the factory.

It is of course all rumour and supposition at present so who knows for sure.

On another note it looks like some information on the new POD HD has been leaked out.

The HD300, HD400 and HD500 are due out November too apparently and are pitched at new Vax users by the look of it.

They will have a looper as well as other cool stuff.

http://line6.com/community/message/175177;jsessionid=456D1CC055A2BBCC97C6927BD0C1442B

[javajunkie-fgn]

I have heard the September arrival date here n the USA has now slipped to Mid October.

http://www.amazon.com/Line-Variax-JTV-69-Modeling-Electric/dp/B003TO6C3I

I heard the same.

[sunshine]

On another note it looks like some information on the new POD HD has been leaked out.

I have to admit that I haven't been so interested about Variax. But this Variax <-> POD HD <-> DT50 integrations sounds interesting.

[Johnnyurq-fgn]

I am patiently awaiting my JTV-59 (supposedly next month barring further "suppliers" issues) and have already bought a POD HD500, which should be here by Wednesday all being well. 

I have to admit that I haven't been so interested about Variax. But this Variax <-> POD HD <-> DT50 integrations sounds interesting.

Agreed on the DT50 amps and having the whole kit and kaboodle integrated together seems like a killer setup.

Only problem is the price of the DT50's here in the UK as the head starts at £1000 ($1580 and the combos are £1300 ($2055) and £1400 ($2213) respectively, approximately.

Makes for an expensive setup and the amp prices put them into the price bracket of a lot of other very good amps, particularly used amps.

Having said that I am sure I will succumb to the GAS and go for it.

[MCK-fgn]

Good luck with the JTV-59 delivery. I look forward to your JTV-59 + 500HD combined review.

[Johnnyurq-fgn]

Good luck with the JTV-59 delivery. I look forward to your JTV-59 + 500HD combined review.

Once I have both I will indeed report on how they work together. The POD HD 500 is very good indeed and the FX are excellent. They did the right thing by doing less amp models of higher quality as it has upped the quality and expressiveness of them. They behave very much more like an amp does regarding when you use the volume control to clean a tone up.

Plus they can be used in 2 different ways i.e. full amp model or just a preamp version of the models. Loads of flexibility.

Rich Renken (Variax product manager) from Line 6 has now stated on the Tyler Variax forum that the new Variax guitars will be shipping through December. So depending on your Vendor the end of December at the latest is the updated forecast.

So for me it looks like Santa will be bringing me my Variax.

Rich Renken is in Korea this week to oversee the first production run of all 3 models which will all ship at the same time.

During the extended wait due to suppliers they have also apparently used this time to revise and improve some of the models, mainly the acoustic models.

Good times indeed and here is hoping they are worth the wait.