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I recently picked up a like new JTV-59 for a steal of a deal ($500). It's heavy (9lb 15oz . . .wow) but it's built very well and frankly sounds amazing. The frets are smoothly finished, the feel overall is totally quality, and the paint job is spotless. The heel is carved out so playing higher is easy and the guitar sustains like a freaking piano.
The stock pickups are great and many of the modeled sounds are flat out eerily accurate. In fact the only tones that I really think are lacking is the Tele and Strat bridge sounds. Everything else is super close - the Special sounds pretty much dead on to my LP special, the Firebird is freaking DEAD ON, the Tele Deluxe sounds are closer to recorded tones than my actual Tele Deluxe, and the Rick tones are spot on. Most of the models are right in line with expected tones. The alternate tunings can sound decent as long as you don't go up or down more than a few half-steps - for example the drop D is totally believable as is the DADGAD tuning.
The Variax Workbench HD is absolutely amazing. If you take that stock Strat bridge and change the body to Masonite and angle it a bit less then move it a scootch away from the bridge it's a dead nuts Strat tone. I'm absolutely blown away by the flexibility and most of all the *believability* of the tones. You can *feel* that the guitar isn't a Rick or a ES335 but the sounds coming out of the monitors are so close that it's ridiculous.
This dang thing is amazing. If it doesn't throw my back out I'll play the frets off of this thing.
I'm just wondering if this is going to wither on the vine. I haven't seen really any noise about the Variax guitars since Yamaha took over and there hasn't been an update in 2 years. I know that they never really took off because of initial issues with palm muting metal chugs but the latest firmware seems to clear that up fairly well.
So TGP (and hopefully Line6 folks) are there any plans to continue to develop this platform?
The stock pickups are great and many of the modeled sounds are flat out eerily accurate. In fact the only tones that I really think are lacking is the Tele and Strat bridge sounds. Everything else is super close - the Special sounds pretty much dead on to my LP special, the Firebird is freaking DEAD ON, the Tele Deluxe sounds are closer to recorded tones than my actual Tele Deluxe, and the Rick tones are spot on. Most of the models are right in line with expected tones. The alternate tunings can sound decent as long as you don't go up or down more than a few half-steps - for example the drop D is totally believable as is the DADGAD tuning.
The Variax Workbench HD is absolutely amazing. If you take that stock Strat bridge and change the body to Masonite and angle it a bit less then move it a scootch away from the bridge it's a dead nuts Strat tone. I'm absolutely blown away by the flexibility and most of all the *believability* of the tones. You can *feel* that the guitar isn't a Rick or a ES335 but the sounds coming out of the monitors are so close that it's ridiculous.
This dang thing is amazing. If it doesn't throw my back out I'll play the frets off of this thing.
I'm just wondering if this is going to wither on the vine. I haven't seen really any noise about the Variax guitars since Yamaha took over and there hasn't been an update in 2 years. I know that they never really took off because of initial issues with palm muting metal chugs but the latest firmware seems to clear that up fairly well.
So TGP (and hopefully Line6 folks) are there any plans to continue to develop this platform?