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I recently bought a line6 Helix and a Variax to go with it, and I must say, I am very impressed.
I play cover songs, and my approach is to duplicate the original sound as much as possible. In the past, that frequently meant owning a ton of different amps, guitars and effects pedals, because each piece of gear has its own signature sound... and in order to get the same sound as the original recording, you need the same gear that was used on it.
The Helix has EVERYTHING... amp models, cabinet models, clones of all the classic pedals... and you can arrange them in any order. The best part for me is that its all MIDI controllable. By embedding MIDI commands in my sequence, I can change settings on the fly without having to shift my focus from playing to stomping on a pedal.
The Variax is an interesting guitar... it too is programmable. It has built-in models for a Strat, two Les Pauls, a Rickenbacker 12 string, an Epiphone Jazz box, several acoustics and a variety of other guitars and stringed instruments. You can even program different tunings, such as open G, DADGAD , virtual capo settings, or you can even create your own tuning and recall it later in a song. MIDI can change the guitar from a 12 string to a Les Paul in mid song, just mind-blowing what this combo can do. You can go from a realistic Beatles sound to Tom Petty to Led Zeppelin... and absolutely nail the original sound. Without ever touching a knob during the performance (assuming you get it all nailed down when you create your patches)
In a world that is more and more focused on streaming online, the ability to program a set list so you can go seamlessly from one song to the next without having to manually change any settings is priceless. One pause and the click-through rate starts to skyrocket.
And the best part is that the modeling is latency free as far as I can tell. The DSP processing in these units is very powerful. I could go on and on... But I just wanted to offer a heads up to anybody who might be looking for the features this provides.
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I have a room in my studio, full of vintage tweed & blackface Fender amps, but they're all too heavy and valuable to gig with, so I looked into the Line 6, and some others, but settled on the $198 Fender Champion-40 with Digital Voice Models, FX, and Channel Switching... it has a 12" speaker, and weighs less than 20 lbs... It's crazy... I love it...
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eddie1261
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GREEN with envy!! I have wanted a Variax forever! I have played with one and loved the possibilities. To dial in and change to drop D or open E tuning... and to electronically capo... Is your an old original or a newer James Tyler model? The JTs seem to have better electronics. Which of course means a higher price. The older ones, back like version 3, were badly affected by humidity. My friend used one up here and when he went to Florida all of a sudden 2 or 3 strings would stop responding. He tried everything. Sealing the body cavity better. Putting desiccant packets in the body cavity. Nothing helped. He had about 4 new logic boards put in over a few years. But then he got the JT and it has been flawless for like 6 years now. And now you have one!!! AND a Helix!! Waiting for a demo! 
Last edited by eddie1261; 09/18/21 05:54 AM.
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I have a Fender Super Champ XD that serves the same purpose for me--just recording, and it is a BEAST. It combines the best of tubes and digital modeling.
I can't remember the last time I touched my Twin for recording.
Mic-ed up it does anything.
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I have the acoustic Variax and it is kinda cool, but the tones are a little too brittle for me, so I have to say I have not used it on finished product yet that much.
It is super fun to play around with though.
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I had a Variax, but since I pretty much only play acoustic, I never really found the need to use it.
I ended up selling it to a friend who did gigs with his electric. He loved it, because it meant he didn't have to have to haul a bunch of gear around to get the sounds he needed for the songs.
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The Variax and Helix is such a great combo. You don't have to carry a load of stuff and can get a phenomenal number of sounds. Not infinite but it feels like it.
Last edited by etcjoe; 09/18/21 06:53 AM.
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Yeah, I have to say I sorta take my comment back.
This thread caused me to plug it back in and experiment.
I had forgotten how cool it is, if you use the right effects, compression, reverb, etc.
I would not use it as the main upfront acoustic because of the way I play--I like a lot of instantaneous control and wide, varied string response because I pick with my fingers. I also like the main acoustic to "breathe."
BUT, for other tracks mixed down a little lower there some really neat things you can do with the Variax, especially percussive things, that you will not get with a normal acoustic.
Have fun with your model Pat.
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I had a Variax, but since I pretty much only play acoustic, I never really found the need to use it.
I ended up selling it to a friend who did gigs with his electric. He loved it, because it meant he didn't have to have to haul a bunch of gear around to get the sounds he needed for the songs. yes, that's EXACTLY what I love about the combo. Those two items replace a whole room full of amps, pedals and guitars (at least for MY purposes, which are pretty trival. I'm a hobbyist who makes no claims about having the talent to justify a need for really great gear. My goal is to get as close to the original sound on every classic rock song ever recorded as I can afford, and I think I can start selling most of my other gear collection now. Speaking of which, it would be kind of cool if the forum here had a dedicated thread for selling gear.
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The Variax and Helix is such a great combo. You don't have to carry a load of stuff and can get a phenomenal number of sounds. Not infinite but it feels like it. The combo enables more possibilities than I will ever explore in my lifetime.
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Yeah, I have to say I sorta take my comment back.
This thread caused me to plug it back in and experiment.
I had forgotten how cool it is, if you use the right effects, compression, reverb, etc.
I would not use it as the main upfront acoustic because of the way I play--I like a lot of instantaneous control and wide, varied string response because I pick with my fingers. I also like the main acoustic to "breathe."
BUT, for other tracks mixed down a little lower there some really neat things you can do with the Variax, especially percussive things, that you will not get with a normal acoustic.
Have fun with your model Pat. I totally agree David. If you have the real thing, you don't need a model of the real thing. And if your application is in a studio where there is no time constraint to change from one instrument to another that is the right instrument for the next track... that's a no brainer. You're doing it right. My situation is always a live performance where I can't stop, switch guitars from an electric to an acoustic (even though the instrumental part in the song requires it)... so I have to fudge a bit. At the end of the day, modelling is best suited to live performances, and the advantages are: 1) not having to carry as much gear to the gig. 2) the ability to automate a lot of what you're doing 3) a much better representation of the sound you're imitating than you'd get by playing the acoustic part on an electric guitar etc
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GREEN with envy!! I have wanted a Variax forever! I have played with one and loved the possibilities. To dial in and change to drop D or open E tuning... and to electronically capo... Is your an old original or a newer James Tyler model? The JTs seem to have better electronics. Which of course means a higher price. The older ones, back like version 3, were badly affected by humidity. My friend used one up here and when he went to Florida all of a sudden 2 or 3 strings would stop responding. He tried everything. Sealing the body cavity better. Putting desiccant packets in the body cavity. Nothing helped. He had about 4 new logic boards put in over a few years. But then he got the JT and it has been flawless for like 6 years now. And now you have one!!! AND a Helix!! Waiting for a demo! Its one of the James Tyler models... a JTV-69S https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/JTV69SEOW--line-6-jtv-69s-variax-olympic-white-with-ebony-fingerboard
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Growing GREENER as we speak!!!
Beautiful!
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Four guitars in one for the price of four guitars! 
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Pat, that's a nice guitar. The thumb wheel control to select twelve alternate tunings is pretty neat. I believe the Line 6 Helix has a Variax digital cable port. The Variax port may be able to provide power to the Variax electronic circuitry. So you don't need to have a battery power pack installed in the guitar. The Variax can send a digital audio signal through the cable and an analog audio signal through the guitar plug.
One thing many people may not realize is that Yamaha bought Line 6. Yamaha has improved the Line 6 quality control.
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Four guitars in one for the price of four guitars! Ha... that's funny... well, I already have way too many guitars, but after some research, I may have to reconsider my "no more guitars" policy. I'm very impressed with the alt. tuning functions, and I hate dragging out my resophonics for a freeby gig... BTW, just how heavy is your new Variax guitar? "don't want no heavy wood"...
Last edited by bloc-head; 09/18/21 03:45 PM. Reason: added text
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Four guitars in one for the price of four guitars! Ha... that's funny... well, I already have way too many guitars, but after some research, I may have to reconsider my "no more guitars" policy. I'm very impressed with the alt. tuning functions, and I hate dragging out my resophonics for a freeby gig... BTW, just how heavy is your new Variax guitar? "don't want no heavy wood"... The variax comes in several models: One is a strat clone, one is a Les Paul Clone and they have a couple that resemble Ibanez shredder guitars. Weights (I'm guessing) are about the same as the guitars they're styled after. One thing I didn't mention clearly: the Variax is powerful by itself, but all of its capabilities are accessed manually (ie. by turning knobs) if you are using it with a regular amp. In order to access the programmability, the variax needs to be coupled with a Helix. I never intended to buy a Variax.. I already have plenty of guitars. But when I realized that all the features of a variax are MIDI controllable once you pair it with a Helix, I had to go that extra step. For what I do, its a natural progression.
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Four guitars in one for the price of four guitars! Yeah, that is a common observation. The Variax isn't for everybody. Most people would be better off spending their money on a vintage guitar that will grow in value. Tech toys don't grow in value, because technology quickly becomes obsolete, and demand for the product diminishes. I'm at a stage in life where *I* am also becoming obsolete, so the window of usefulness for a tech toy is approximately the same as my window of life expectancy. I'm willing to pay a premium price for a tool that checks all the boxes for what I want to do on stage. At this point in life all my decisions are driven by the goal of keeping me interested. Once the interest in being alive goes away, its all downhill after that. And regarding the very clever line "4 guitars in one for the price of 4 guitars"... there are many more than 4 guitar models in the Variax. The guitar also comes with software that lets you create your own guitar model by changing the pickup locations and a variety of other variables that define a guitar's signature sound. So theoretically, the Variax replicates an infinite number of guitars. That and the ability to change tunings on the fly AND do it all programmatically... that gets my interest.
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Its really hard to articulate all the features of the Helix-Variax combo, because the list is huge. For anyone who might be interested in knowing more, go to YouTube and query the phrase LINE 6 HELIX or USING A VARIAX WITH A HELIX
You'll get enough hits to keep you watching for days.
In a nutshell, its like owning every guitar and every amp and every effects pedal ever made. Imagine the possibilities.
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Pat, that's a nice guitar. The thumb wheel control to select twelve alternate tunings is pretty neat. I believe the Line 6 Helix has a Variax digital cable port. The Variax port may be able to provide power to the Variax electronic circuitry. So you don't need to have a battery power pack installed in the guitar. The Variax can send a digital audio signal through the cable and an analog audio signal through the guitar plug.
One thing many people may not realize is that Yamaha bought Line 6. Yamaha has improved the Line 6 quality control. Thanks for weighing in Jim. As an engineer, you always have interesting observations to make. On the Line6 user forum, a lot of long standing users have commented on the favorable change in quality since Yamaha took over. I'm a big fan of Yamaha products. My last gear acquisition before buying the Helix was a Yamaha acoustic (AC5R), which I researched a lot before buying an acoustic. I love it. The electronics are amazing, the Japanese workmanship is flawless, the action is as low as my electric, the acoustic tone is the best I've heard... and paired with the helix, it really delivers a nice sound. The Helix lets me combine a plugged signal and a mic signal and add separate effects to each path. Again, you can get any sound you want.
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