jpfeifer
April 11th, 2007, 04:21 PM
Hi Everyone,
Robert's posting on synth guitars got me thinking about this other new category of guitars that are emerging, modeling guitars.
Fender just announced their new VG Strat, and Line 6 has had the Variax on the market for some time now. Here are the links to these two brands for you to check out if you've never seen them or heard them:
Fender VG Strat: http://www.fender.com/vgstrat/home.html
Line6 Variax: http://line6.com/variax/
I've played the Variax, but the new Fender VG Strat is just now starting to ship so I haven't had a chance to try it out. I was quite impressed with the Variax, although I think that the guitar itself is a little clunky. The modeling technology in it is really quite amazing.
I think that Fender's offering will have a much better playing guitar (basically a USA Strat), but I think that they made some key misteps on this design after checking out the features on Fender's website. The biggest thing that I didn't like was that the guitar requires 4 AA batteries. There is no box that you plug into that keeps the electronics powered up. This will be a big pain for anyone who is planning to gig with this guitar, since the batteries only last for 10 hours. You will need to keep a stash of fresh batteries in you bag and change them out about every other gig, unless you plan to only use the standard Strat pickups (then why have a modeling guitar?)
The other thing that I see missing is a dedicated output for the acoustic sounds. The Line6 guitar has a splitter box that allows you to route your acoustic sounds to a separate amp if you need to. It also powers up the guitar for you so that you never have to rely on batteries.
I can't wait to try one of these new Fenders though. It seems to have some great sounds in it. I just think that they didn't go far enough on some of the features that would have made it a Variax killer.
I want to get a modeling guitar someday. If I had to buy one today I'd probably go with the Variax 700. But I don't have the money for one right now.
Anyone else have any thoughts on these new kind of guitars?
-- Jim
Robert's posting on synth guitars got me thinking about this other new category of guitars that are emerging, modeling guitars.
Fender just announced their new VG Strat, and Line 6 has had the Variax on the market for some time now. Here are the links to these two brands for you to check out if you've never seen them or heard them:
Fender VG Strat: http://www.fender.com/vgstrat/home.html
Line6 Variax: http://line6.com/variax/
I've played the Variax, but the new Fender VG Strat is just now starting to ship so I haven't had a chance to try it out. I was quite impressed with the Variax, although I think that the guitar itself is a little clunky. The modeling technology in it is really quite amazing.
I think that Fender's offering will have a much better playing guitar (basically a USA Strat), but I think that they made some key misteps on this design after checking out the features on Fender's website. The biggest thing that I didn't like was that the guitar requires 4 AA batteries. There is no box that you plug into that keeps the electronics powered up. This will be a big pain for anyone who is planning to gig with this guitar, since the batteries only last for 10 hours. You will need to keep a stash of fresh batteries in you bag and change them out about every other gig, unless you plan to only use the standard Strat pickups (then why have a modeling guitar?)
The other thing that I see missing is a dedicated output for the acoustic sounds. The Line6 guitar has a splitter box that allows you to route your acoustic sounds to a separate amp if you need to. It also powers up the guitar for you so that you never have to rely on batteries.
I can't wait to try one of these new Fenders though. It seems to have some great sounds in it. I just think that they didn't go far enough on some of the features that would have made it a Variax killer.
I want to get a modeling guitar someday. If I had to buy one today I'd probably go with the Variax 700. But I don't have the money for one right now.
Anyone else have any thoughts on these new kind of guitars?
-- Jim