Line 6 Variax Acoustic 700

[Lemsky]

What's your thoughts on this acoustic guitar ?

Looks @ all the sounds.....

http://line6.com/variaxacoustic/sounds.html

[Lemsky]

^

[rileykill]

How are you planning to use it?

[GtrPlyr]

It looks like something I'd have fun playing around with, trying out all the different sounds, hours of fun. For recording purposes I guess it could come in handy if you can't afford to buy all those instruments it imitates. Having said that, some of the sounds aren't that great compared to the originals. It's a jack-off-all-trades master of none kind of guitar I suppose. As cool as that guitar is though, I'd still take a nice sounding Gibson or Martin over it in a heartbeat. I think the main beneficiaries of such a guitar are solo acoustic performers and home studio enthusiasts on a budget.

[rileykill]

That's basically where I was going ... this guitar probably has it's uses as a recording tool. Personally, I don't do modeling at all but Line 6 has a good reputation among those who have tried their stuff.

 

For that kind of $$ I would really check the guitar over to see whay you will be buying. I can't find any specs online that specify solid wood back/sides as opposed to laminate. If the guitar is laminate it isn't gonna sound very good unplugged. I judge acoustics by playing them unamplified first. If they sound thin or hollow it's for me.

[BigWheeledWagon]

It took a while, but Line 6 has won me over with some of their modeling pedals; HOWEVER, I would hesitate at a modeling acoustic guitar (or any guitar or amp modeler). The "digitalness" of the effect pedal modeling can be overcome by pushing them through a good tube amp (basically, you can use them to color your guitar tone, but not to define it), but the samples on the website of the acoustic modeler sound very digital and not very realistic. If you really need sitar and other exotic instruments for recording, there are sample-based MIDI programs that could probably do a better job getting those sounds into your mix. If you're just looking to simulate different varieties of acoustic guitars, well, that unfortunately just really requires a bunch of different acoustic guitars.

[Lemsky]

This question is for everybody: can you tell me the best acoustic guitars in your opinion ?

[rileykill]

This question is for everybody: can you tell me the best acoustic guitars in your opinion ?

 

Well, you could definitely get some widely varied answers on this one.

 

Generally speaking, I always look for guitars made of solid wood - not a laminate (although some older guitars made with laminated wood (HPL) can sound decent). I prefer a scalloped "X" bracing pattern for an all-around guitar. "Ladder" bracing is good for blues, but those instruments are often a one trick pony. Mahogany, rosewood and maple are the tried and true tonewoods but there are all kinds of interesting woods out there. A nice acoustic will be lightly built and (assuming it has been set up properly) easy to play all the way up the neck. You should be able to find something great for $800 - $1K.

 

For new guitars, I personally like Gibsons. I have a rosewood Advanced Jumbo that is a really great guitar and a mahogany WM-00 that is perfect for fingerstyle blues.

 

Martins, of course, are wonderful too. I have lately been jonesin' for a Martin 000-16S which is a nice 12 fret blues guitar. I have also played a number of Guilds that were relatively inexpensive and sounded great. Then there are small builders (Collings, Santa Cruz, etc.), private luthiers that build custom instruments and vintage guitars - too much to get into, really.

 

The best you can do is play as many acoustics as you can possibly get your hands on and pick the one that strikes you. If you can't identify the wood and bracing pattern, a salesperson should be able to answer those questions.