A Beatles Virtual Instrument

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:27 am

zed wrote:
monkey man wrote:Line6 Variax for all guitars.
Very interesting, Mr Monkey. Seems like this would be a very useful guitar to add to the collection. Very tempting indeed.
For anyone else interested, you can hear some sample demos here: http://line6.com/variax/sounds.html

Thanks for not laughing, Zed.
I figured, if I can only afford one guitar...

So I cashed in my life insurance, a whopping $2200, on a Variax 700 electric and a schmicko leather locking strap last year.
Embarrassingly, this single guitar will also provide my acoustic sounds, even though had I the funds I'd be way better off purchasing the Variax Acoustic 700 for all the standard acoustic and the Variax 300 for nylon sounds.
I'm hoping to hide most of the shortfalls with some HQ reverb, preferably convolution.
I figured placing an acoustic guitar that's 80%+ real sounding into a near 100% real sounding space may do the trick.
It's only for pop/rock pieces; isolated solo parts may be almost entirely avoidable.

For folks in one-man-band situations, Line6 guitars and processors are just the ticket, IMHO.
We'll see how it goes.

Tritonemusic · Post by **Tritonemusic** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:30 am

monkey man wrote:Embarrassingly, this single guitar will also provide my acoustic sounds...

That is nothing to be embarrassed about.

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:46 am

666 wrote:
monkey man wrote:Embarrassingly, this single guitar will also provide my acoustic sounds...
That is nothing to be embarrassed about.

Gee, thank you, 6ster.
I've already been laughed at by many, and am frankly a little concerned as to how this will work out, but I figure the pop factor may be my best defense.
Oh, and statements like yours are encouraging too.

Sorry I missed your 666th post; I followed your count from around the 500 mark and then lost count after some months.
Dang. I really wanted to "surprise" you with that one.

I love your avatar, BTW.
More Unicorns - that's just what we need.
Bring 'em on!

Hang in there, bud.

zed · Post by **zed** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 1:11 pm

monkey man wrote:Thanks for not laughing, Zed.
I figured, if I can only afford one guitar...

On the contrary, Monkey. I like this kind of technology. Obviously I would rather own vintage copies of all of those guitars... but I'm still busy learning what guitars I love, and which ones would sound best in any given song. And I, also, am on a budget. That guitar would be extremely useful to try out several different guitars using the same amp simulation, and no doubt will get you close to the ballpark you are looking for. Kind of cool to be able to turn the knob and get those different guitars.

And once you discover that there are a couple of guitar models that you really like and which you use all the time, and can set your sights on getting a real one down the road.

I already learned from listening to those samples that, in future, I would be much more interested in getting a Rickenbacker 360-12 rather than just a plain ol' Ricky 360.

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 9:25 am

Agreed, Zed; it'll make a good learning tool in those respects too.
That is, if I can get it to play in tune.

I just spent 2 hours messin' with it after changing the strings.
I could never get it to stay in tune anyway, so this time I added a little coconut oil to the nut.
Still no go. Not having much good luck (actually, none!) with gear this year I'm afraid.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 1:02 am

Hey Z:

I just saw that RealStrat has been released-- and there's some sort of discount if you have RealGuitar....

... not that I'm going to be doing any installations any time soon...

zed · Post by **zed** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 1:31 am

LOL. Abbey Road Rage.

Frodo wrote:Hey Z:

I just saw that RealStrat has been released-- and there's some sort of discount if you have RealGuitar....

Yeah, I got an e-mail to that effect... unfortunately the crossgrade price is still $199. I would jump on it if maybe it was $79 or even $99. But I ain't jumpin' at that price.

I have been thinking much more about the Variax Line 6 guitars and the Fender VG strat. I went to my music store, yesterday, and tried them both out. Quite impressive, really. I think the Fender seemed to have a more rich sounding and authentic tone, but the Variax was a third of the price and has many more guitar simulations. I think it would be a great guitar to have in the collection (sooner than later) just to quickly switch through different guitars when creating Amplitube patches, in order to find the combination that sounds the coolest.

Thanks for the heads up on the Variax Monkey Man.

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 7:06 am

zed wrote:LOL. Abbey Road Rage.

LOL here too. Good one Frodo.

zed wrote:I have been thinking much more about the Variax Line 6 guitars and the Fender VG strat. I went to my music store, yesterday, and tried them both out. Quite impressive, really. I think the Fender seemed to have a more rich sounding and authentic tone, but the Variax was a third of the price and has many more guitar simulations. I think it would be a great guitar to have in the collection (sooner than later) just to quickly switch through different guitars when creating Amplitube patches, in order to find the combination that sounds the coolest.
Thanks for the heads up on the Variax Monkey Man.

Hey, you're welcome Zed.

Forget the Fender; it's always safer to go with the established product, IMHO, and Fender's new to this approach.
Besides, the plethora of add-ons and related products, as well as the guarantee of further development from Line6 can't be ignored!

FWIW, I still can't tune my 18 month old Variax 700.
My guitar guy's taking several months off after 14 straight years of luthier work, but when he returns to work in Canberra I'll be acquiring a Graphtech nut which should see the strings slidin' through smoothly, and sending the axe all the way to him.
Hang, I can't even bend a note on this thing without it going all outa whack.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 1:47 am

I was happy to see the Variax models without the pick guard and some of the other finishes. I've held off on getting one once the bug bit me to try to get a couple of actual vintage remakes.

And: Guitar Center USA is having some wild Gibson/Epiphone sale going on for the next two days. I promised myself to put off getting a Casino in favor of a Rickenbacker. Hmm. If I find a Casino Elitist for a decent price the Ricky may be in trouble. (Do I dare take a peek?)

GC quit selling new Rickenbackers, but has a number of vintage models going for some serious bean.

They're selling the Variax 300 with a Line6 PodXT pedal board for almost half price-- with the special cable. Not too shabby.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 4:44 am

I'm convinced.

A great guitar is the answer to my computer woes.

I've been working through the night. It's nearly 5 AM.

I'm going to Guitar Center when it opens in a few hours. Replacing a tuning pin is ever so much simpler than parsing through crash logs.

zed · Post by **zed** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 5:24 am

Frodo wrote:I'm convinced.

A great guitar is the answer to my computer woes...

Damn rights. When computer problems threaten to drive you crazy, then it's time to buy a new guitar! And a Variax 300 at half the price sounds like a deal that can't be missed. I would buy one instantly if I could find it in the $300-$400 range.

Of course, beware of buying a lemon, or you'll be asking for trouble (Sorry to hear about you tuning problems Mr Monkey Man!)

As for Rickys, I've decided that I am much more interested in the 360-12 than just the regular 360. Never realised that the 360-12 was Georges' twangy secret. Love that sound. The Variax simulates it... but I'm not sure how closely, cause I didn't play with that setting.

Let us know what you bring home Frodo.

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 10:26 am

zed wrote:... Let us know what you bring home Frodo.

I'm sure he will.

Sounds like the boy might actually have some fun for once.
Isn't the 300 model a nylon acoustic, or have I been misinformed?
Perhaps it's the Acoustic 300 or something that I'm thinking of.

I reckon Hobby'll be happy with whatever he picks up, as long as it doesn't require debugging, OS updates or additional RAM.

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 12:06 pm

Dohhh!

I just found out that the PODX3 and PODX3 Live are out; I meant to tell Hobby they were imminent and suggest not rushing into anything.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 2:17 pm

Well, the sale ends on the 10th, but I'm still swatting away at meeting a project deadline. I may have to pass on it.

Perhaps it's not such a bad thing to save those bucks for later, considering that I'll likely be buying another new computer soon. Hmm.

me like guitar, and there's an EJ-160E going for half price right now.

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Sun Sep 09, 2007 8:30 am

That local guitar shop I mentioned to you earlier, Fwoggy, now has two "signature" guitars.
The "new" one is an Epiphone Casino with, I think, Paul's signature, and that $12000 job is still there (can't remember what it was called, but I think it had John's sig on it).

I haven't rechecked the site; the ad was in the local trading post.
Here's the link in case you're feelin' pickish... er... peckish.

http://www.gallinsguitars.com.au/products/

OK, I rechecked the site:

EEEJVS John Lennon EJ-160 E $999
USCR John Lennon "Revolution" Casino $5,799
and
EMT USA EPIPHONE McCARTNEY TEXAN $12,999