Originally Posted By: DeaconBlues09
Anyone here ever play or own a Variax (specifically from 2014 or later)? Very curious about them and would love to hear some informed opinions if possible.


I have a JTV and love it. It's not a perfect guitar in terms of the action or even the look of it, but I love being able to switch between emulations and tunings.

Most of the emulations sound pretty fanastic, and when playing through amp/cab emulations I have often found that I like what the Variax emulations are giving me than one of my my traditional guitars. I have compared some emulations with the real guitars and found that the differences can be very minimal and in some cases I even like the result of emulation better (though that would really depend on what you're going for and what amp/cab preset you are using, I think).

Definitely a tool to have in the shed, and it could become your favorite guitar just for the ability to easily experiment with different results (very handy when trying to zero in on a tone for a new song or a recording, and then of course for performing later).

Did you end up getting one, or are you still considering it?

I don't trust it not to fail on me at some point so I keep paying the annual warranty replacement insurance just in case. That computer is bound to fail at some point, I would think.

There were some build and quality control issues when they first came out, so beware buying second hand... though if someone had those minor issues fixed the guitar could be pretty solid.

BIAB 2023 Audiophile, MacPro (Mid-2010) OSX 10.12.6
DAW: Digital Performer 8