Line 6 Variax guitars are officially discontinued

[Sascha Franck]

Glad I never bought one of these. Planned obsolescence is something I have to deal with too much already, can't afford my guitars to be a victim of it, too.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Also goes to show how much more "robust" the Roland idea of doing things is.
I can still slap my almost 30y old GK 2a onto any actual guitar and keep going without too much drawbacks compared to newer models. That's how you define a standard (if they only found a way to mount the GK a bit better - seriously, that's an offense to human intelligence).

 

[Eagle]

Looks it this was announced one month ago. Pretty surprised by how this basically didn't make the news *anywhere*

James Tyler Variax/Variax Standard/Shuriken End of Life

Is the James Tyler Variax/Variax Standard/Shuriken guitar still manufactured? No, it is no longer manufactured. Despite this, retailers may still have units in inventory over time. Why is it no longer manufactured? Typically, as with many companies, the decision to end the manufacture of any YGG ...

line6.com

Is the James Tyler Variax/Variax Standard/Shuriken guitar still manufactured?
No, it is no longer manufactured. Despite this, retailers may still have units in inventory over time.

Why is it no longer manufactured?
Typically, as with many companies, the decision to end the manufacture of any YGG product is based on one or more of these factors: a lack of market demand, a planned successor product, or because the parts to manufacture it are no longer available.

What product will replace it?
For a number of reasons vital to our business, we can't comment on future product releases, but follow us on social media or sign up for our email list to receive new product announcements.

Why is it at a lower price?
You may find the James Tyler Variax/Variax Standard/Shuriken guitar at a lower price at retailers to allow them to clear their inventory of this discontinued product.

If I buy it, will you honor the warranty?
Yes. The full warranty applies if bought as new from an authorized Line 6 retailer and a receipt copy is furnished. See our Warranty page for details.

In what ways will the discontinued product be supported?
You can find manuals on our Legacy Products page, additional information at our Knowledge Base, tutorial videos on our YouTube Support channel, and our Customer Support team can be reached from our Contact Us page.

Line 6 support at it's usual f you best.

 

[paisleywookiee]

For me the Variax never appealed because I didn't do anything that would need that many sounds from one guitar, and I liked that my different guitars with different builds all guide me towards playing different things.

It would be nice to see a successor. Maybe now technology can be packaged small enough and has advanced enough that you don't need large PCBs inside the guitar itself, but maybe something that can be retrofitted to more guitars.

For me, it was a couple things: 1. learning songs, it's cool to be in that tuning the band used, because I learn better by playing along to the song. But it was never practical to have guitars in a billionty different tunings. In fact, I tune all of my guitars to 1/2 step down, and that's it. 2. It's a fun studio tool, especially the acoustic stuff coupled with tunings.

The world is a better place, having a Willem Defoe in a Marilyn Dress GIF.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Line 6 support at it's usual f you best.

I find it very hard to believe that your very particular self ever thought twice about even looking at a Line 6 product

 

[vtgearhead]

JTV range are basically a $250 guitar with electronic parts that should be outboard and their discontinued status and very soon to end support for common faults proves this. A nasty pot metal piezo bridge is no basis for a good fundamental tone.

Yes, and that same pot metal bridge is used as the ground return for the piezo elements. What could possibly go wrong with relying on contact between dissimilar metals in a high-impedance, high-gain circuit?

 

[Eagle]

I find it very hard to believe that your very particular self ever thought twice about even looking at a Line 6 product

I unfortunately have to repair them. They always are the worst quality parts inside.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Seriously, those JTV 69 Variaxes IMO are horrible guitars. I was obviously considering to get one when I had the Helix, but then, when you look at a strat-alike guitar, you expect a strat-alike, smoothly curved body - and not that bulky mess without a belly shape and a reduced forarm shaping, just because they couldn't figure out a better way to slap the electronics in. And from all I know, the way the cables are running from the vibrato to the electronics cavity is almost an intended breaking point.
Got quite a raving review by Bonedo's Thomas Dill (typically a pretty good reviewer), and when I finally had an option to check one out myself, I was really wondering what whomever might have paid him.

 

[Eagle]

Seriously, those JTV 69 Variaxes IMO are horrible guitars. I was obviously considering to get one when I had the Helix, but then, when you look at a strat-alike guitar, you expect a strat-alike, smoothly curved body - and not that bulky mess without a belly shape and a reduced forarm shaping, just because they couldn't figure out a better way to slap the electronics in. And from all I know, the way the cables are running from the vibrato to the electronics cavity is almost an intended breaking point.
Got quite a raving review by Bonedo's Thomas Dill (typically a pretty good reviewer), and when I finally had an option to check one out myself, I was really wondering what whomever might have paid him.

You’re right they are garbage. In fairness the idea is basically a good one but it needs to not limit the life expectancy of a decent instrument and being electronic it’s going to need to be upgradeable . A pickup and basic control for model select is all that should be in the guitar and the rest should be outboard. If they did this you could justify a decent instrument. But instead to hit the price point they thought it was going to work for they built a POS.

 

[Sascha Franck]

A pickup and basic control for model select is all that should be in the guitar and the rest should be outboard.

I totally agree. At least offer an option to keep it outboard or onboard (there's valid reasons for both).
And anyway, the idea that you necessarily have to buy what L6 thinks of being a decent guitar is stupid to start with. Roland is doing way better here - apart from the GK being as fugly as it gets. Fwiw, ideally IMO Roland should team up with a decent pickup builder and come up with a variety of great sounding bridge pickups which would have the hex-elements built in as well. Then allow the users to decide whether they wanted additional controls on the guitar itself or just route the hex pickup signal out.

 

[Eagle]

I totally agree. At least offer an option to keep it outboard or onboard (there's valid reasons for both).
And anyway, the idea that you necessarily have to buy what L6 thinks of being a decent guitar is stupid to start with. Roland is doing way better here - apart from the GK being as fugly as it gets. Fwiw, ideally IMO Roland should team up with a decent pickup builder and come up with a variety of great sounding bridge pickups which would have the hex-elements built in as well. Then allow the users to decide whether they wanted additional controls on the guitar itself or just route the hex pickup signal out.

They should be paying us for these ideas.

 

[ragingplatypi]

If Line 6 makes a removable system like Boss I hope they embrace the bulkiness of it and make something that attempts to look cool on a guitar. Maybe make it chrome and mid-century like a Bigsby.

 

[ragingplatypi]

I’m still tempted to grab a very nicely priced Variax Standard (in the Pacifica body) on CL.

 

[Toby Krebs]

I had to give both of mine up.If the temperature hits above about 90 degrees the lithium batteries go into protect and the modeling won’t function.
After 4/5 of those episodes I sold both of mine.
I also had to solder/repair a bunch of stuff on it.

That kept me away from L6 for about 10 years.
I got the little POD Go two weeks ago for acoustic trio duty.
Great little unit!

 

[Sascha Franck]

Yeah well, there's always been quality issues, especially with the newer Variaxes. Apart from the guitars I checked feeling pretty bad for my taste, there's also been lots of user reports about whatever hardware issues that kept me away from getting one. Quite a pity, really, as the idea is marvelleous. But as said before, Yamaha and Roland should possibly just team up for once and establish any kind of hex pickup standard communication protocol (I'd bet there's not even much rocket science under the hood anyway), so this thing could finally take off.

After all, now that amp modeling is pretty much "there" (whatever that might mean to whomever), the next rather logical step would be guitar modeling (and maybe also guitar synthesis, but I'd understand this to stay a niche thing) using direct links to whatever modelers (pretty much what Line 6 has already been doing).
But I doubt anything like that will happen in my lifetime.

 

[yeky83]

But as said before, Yamaha and Roland should possibly just team up for once and establish any kind of hex pickup standard communication protocol (I'd bet there's not even much rocket science under the hood anyway), so this thing could finally take off.

Doesn't seem like a comm protocol standardization issue, Roland's kind of the only major player and their 13-pin hex pickup's been around a long time, no? Anyone could've jumped on and joined. Now they're using A2B which anyone can also jump on and use if they wanted to.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Roland's kind of the only major player and their 13-pin hex pickup's been around a long time, no? Anyone could've jumped on and joined. Now they're using A2B which anyone can also jump on and use if they wanted to.

Oh, quite defenitely. And I don't have much sympathies for strange ideas to reinvent the wheel just to be different, especially in case you come up with a triangle instead...

 

[Devin]

They were no Firebird X, that's for sure