The Edge & Line 6 Variax 700

[Edge_Orchestra]

Line 6 Variax 700 modeling acoustic. I've played one of these, they are really cool guitars. I wouldn't mind having one myself.

Here's a pic of me playing "One" w/ Chas (from Joshua Tree-LA). I wonder if he still has that guitar? It's great fun to play.

He had it finished by Marty Bell. Marty does great refinishing. Look him up if you ever want a guitar refinished. #Quality #FactoryFreshWork






Love and Peace. LA Nov 2005.

[Mack_Again]

Is Variax any good in general? While ago I was very tempted to buy one of those Variax guitars which is basically a Yamaha Pacifica with that system. I really wanted it but I wasn't too sure all the sounds are good or passable/usable. Also I thought I could just get option paralysis with that many sounds.

But I know Variax is good enough for bunch of amazing players like Edge, Steve Howe, and Adrian Belew. So........I guess I was worrying too much then.

[Edge_Orchestra]

Originally Posted by Mack_Again

Is Variax any good in general? While ago I was very tempted to buy one of those Variax guitars which is basically a Yamaha Pacifica with that system. I really wanted it but I wasn't too sure all the sounds are good or passable/usable. Also I thought I could just get option paralysis with that many sounds.

But I know Variax is good enough for bunch of amazing players like Edge, Steve Howe, and Adrian Belew. So........I guess I was worrying too much then.

I don't know about all of the other Variax. I've only played the acoustic 700. I think that guitar was the best of the bunch (acoustic or electric model 'modelling guitars).

[Mack_Again]

Edge used some kind of Gibson acoustic emulation off of this guitar for solo for Love, Peace or Else, right? I mean while on tour

[Edge_Orchestra]

Originally Posted by Mack_Again

Edge used some kind of Gibson acoustic emulation off of this guitar for solo for Love, Peace or Else, right? I mean while on tour

Might have been a Gibson Jumbo emulation.

It'd be interesting to see him use one for 'Discotheque', as the main riff on the studio version is a heavily treated acoustic.

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[gareth brown]

oh wow i didn't know that, where do people get these cool little facts from?

[Edge_Orchestra]

Where? From Interviews, Books, Magazines and Chats with Edge, Dallas, Lanois, Eno, Flood... Others they have been involved in U2 recordings.

If memory serves, the Discotheque/acoustic info came from Flood.



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[Mack_Again]

I knew about that Discotheque intro being recorded with acoustic from the article on Sound on Sound that talked about U2 recording Pop. That article is now gone (I mean it's from the 90s, so it was pretty old).

[gareth brown]

it's here SOUND ON SOUND: Pop Art: Flood & Howie B - Producing U2's 'Pop'

pretty great read

[Mack_Again]

Great that you found one, I searched for that article on SOS page and I couldn't find one........

Is there any reason why Edge hasn't used Variax all that much these days? Is that because modeling guitars are just fad for the Edge?

[Edge_Orchestra]

Originally Posted by Mack_Again

Great that you found one, I searched for that article on SOS page and I couldn't find one........

Is there any reason why Edge hasn't used Variax all that much these days? Is that because modeling guitars are just fad for the Edge?

'Love and Peace...' was recorded with an acoustic guitar . The Variax came out at the same time as HTDAAB.

It made sense to find a way to play LAPOE but not have it feedback, as it might if played with a regular acoustic.

Once getting them, I can see how he experiment and came to use it on The Fly.

Why not uses since then? Unsure they have played LAPOE. And 360 tour - as they were revisiting AB - Edge revisited playing The Fly on a Strat, like during the AB/Zoo era

It could/would/should be cool if he played Discotheque on a Variax 700.

But the main reason Edge probably did not continued using them might be as they are no longer made. So if there are issues, replacement guitar / parts would be more difficult.


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[Muad'zin]

On the other hand the dude used a SHITLOAD of gear which was no longer being made. Whammy 1, Korg SDD 3K and A3, TC 2290 all come to mind. And then there are his vintage guitars.

Maybe the answer is way more simple then that? You get new toys, the old toys start gathering dust. Simple as that. I currently have some 15+ guitars and I myself notice that since I've begun to build my own new guitars the old guitars just sit around doing nothing. I've even recently sold my only Explorer for having become a dustbunny. And Edge has WAY more guitars then I do. But the principle remains the same, you can only play one of them at a time. On the plus side, he can afford to keep them all and put them in storage. So who knows what the future will bring.

Another thing, U2 is probably never going to play LAPOE ever again, it's not a song that's become a greatest hits classic, so why bring one of those Line6 guitars along on the 360 tour? And they did only start to play The Fly again on that tour while they were right in the middle of the last tour leg. So he just grabbed one of his guitars that he had with them instead of flying in the Line6.

And third explanation, and probably the most likely, it might have been just a phase for him where he thought they were cool. Just like for a while he thought Clapton Strats with Lace Sensors were cool, only to ditch them again a few years later.

[Mack_Again]

when I think of it, it'll be rather weird and unfitting to play a guitar with visual from the tour before that doesn't match the aesthetics of the tour overall. Damn why didn't I notice that?

Also I really haven't seen modeling guitars becoming popular. Is that because we're all purists?