LINE 6 VARIAX

ManualsBrandsLine6 ManualsGuitar & Bass EffectsVariax CustomiSation SoftwareNow you can build your own dream guitar at home with a PC or Mac! Variax offers you a fully equipped virtual guitar workshop. This allows you to easily create, store, and share the most advanced models with other users

“YES, BUT WHAT ABOUT THE GUITAR?” TG INTRODUCES THE NEW VARIAX 300

GEAR LINE 6 VARIAX WORKBENCH

138 |

TOTAL GUITAR

AUGUST 2005

LINE 6 VARIAX WORKBENCH

£79

CREATE YOUR DREAM AXE IN A MATTER OF MINUTES. NO CHISEL REQUIRED! WORDS: HENRY YATES

Doesn’t look much like a workbench

to me…

It may come as a disappointment to the

carpenters among our readership to learn

that the Line 6 Variax Workbench has

almost nothing in common with an actual

workbench. If you want vices, spirit levels

and a place to keep screwdrivers, may we

suggest a trip to your local DIY store instead

and leave the rest of us to peruse the latest

offering from the heavyweight champion of

modelling technology.

If you are familiar with Line 6 – and,

unless you’ve just emerged from a cave, we’ll

assume you are – then you will have already

realised that the Variax Workbench is a

virtual workbench. It lets you customise the

models within your Variax guitar, save the

changes you have made and then trade them

online with other users. Brian May had to

smash up a ﬁ replace to create his trademark

Red Special; EVH’s bastardised guitars

were the product of many a lonely night

spent with a pair of pliers. With the Line 6

Workbench, you can now create an arsenal of

customised guitars without ever hitting your

thumb with a hammer.

What will I need to make it work?

The Workbench operates in tandem with any

Line 6 Variax electric guitar. Admittedly, this

does add a fair whack onto the £79 retail

price of the Workbench software, but with

the recent launch of the Variax 300 at £340

(that’s what we tested the Workbench with

– see below), it’s not as much of a pisser as

you might think. Alongside the Variax, you

will also need a PC equipped with Windows

XP/2000 and a USB port, plus an ampliﬁ er.

Workbench will run effectively on a Mac too,

just check out our information panel for

system requirements.

OK, where do I start?

To begin, insert the Workbench CD into your

computer. While fairly straightforward, we

didn’t ﬁ nd the software installation process

quite as intuitive as some of the Line 6

products we’ve tested in the past. By the

time we registered our Variax, reconﬁ gured

the guitar’s memory banks to let us use it

with the Workbench, and established that,

no, we weren’t interested in taking out a

subscription to Rolling Stone, a good 15

minutes had ticked by. Try and think of it like

losing your virginity – painful and confusing,

yes, but you only have to do it once.

Fair enough, so what happens next?

With the Workbench icon on your desktop,

you connect the Variax to the converter box

via the supplied RJ-45 connector and plug

that into the USB port of your laptop. Then

you take the TRS cable (it comes with your

t’s surely no coincidence that the Line 6

Variax Workbench was launched on the

same day as the Variax 300. With production

of the Variax 500 having ceased (“There’s

only about nine left in the country,” chirped

a very friendly Line 6 lady down the phone),

and the Variax 700 weighing in at a mighty

£1,049, the market was ripe for a budget

version of this famous modelling guitar.

And considering that you can’t operate the

Workbench software without a Variax, it

seemed the perfect opportunity to launch the

Variax 300 – yours for £340.

If you’ve never heard of the Variax concept,

here’s how it works. Like its predecessors,

the Variax 300 is a single electric guitar that

is able to mimic – or ‘model’ – the tones and

nuances of 28 other electric and acoustic

models. Unless you play modern metal, you

should ﬁ nd most of the bases covered here,

from a convincing reading of the Gibson

ES-335 to the hairy chested swagger of the

Les Paul Standard. Line 6 can do this kind

of thing with its eyes closed, and TG wasn’t

surprised to learn that the Variax 300

excelled on the authenticity front.

With all the fanfare surrounding the

Variax’s modelling abilities, it often gets

overlooked how well these guitars actually

play. With two cutaways, a contoured body

and a fast-playing maple neck, the Variax 300

is not an instrument to be hunched over in

a darkened bedsit. On the contrary, it’s a

serious gig weapon that easily dealt with

all the genres we threw at it and didn’t

roll over when it accompanied us on an

all-day jam session. Now, if only people

would stop asking us what happened to

the frigging pickups…

WHO’S IT FOR?

Anyone who’s considered

dropping a PAF into their

Telecaster, but doesn’t

know which way up to

hold a hacksaw

TGR139.gear_line6 138TGR139.gear_line6 138 4/7/05 3:39:24 pm4/7/05 3:39:24 pm

Summary of content (2 pages)

PAGE 1
GEAR LINE 6 VARIAX WORKBENCH £79 LINE 6 VARIAX WORKBENCH CREATE YOUR DREAM AXE IN A MATTER OF MINUTES. NO CHISEL REQUIRED! WORDS: HENRY YATES Doesn’t look much like a workbench to me… Red Special; EVH’s bastardised guitars were the product of many a lonely night spent with a pair of pliers. With the Line 6 Workbench, you can now create an arsenal of customised guitars without ever hitting your thumb with a hammer.
PAGE 2
LINE 6 VARIAX WORKBENCH GEAR Ever wanted to stick a PAF on a Strat? The Workbench’s software lets you choose from 17 different pickups… [c [c [c [c so [c I Adjusting the position and angle of your chosen pickups is simple, allowing you to subtly customise your tone Variax) and plug it into the XPS Mini power supply. Then – deep breath – you link the ‘Output jack’ of the XPS to your amp via a normal guitar lead.