He hit the nail on the head when he said "this came out 17 years ago and alot has changed with emulation". For 2004 this was high tech and we accepted it as such warts and all. We forget sometimes that innovation starts somewhere.

'this bass is a bit of a gimmick' - guy with fake lobster claw unlocked via like button.

Whithout thinking about the different emulations, this bass have good pretty sounds for a variety of styles. In a band, nobody would ears a difference. That's a great studio tool.

Ive got one. Dont expect it to sound like any of the emulations. But treat it as a totally unique instrument. Once you do that it really isnt a bad bass at all. And recording its great .

I own that bass and use it for recording. I think the D/A converter on the 1/4" output gives you that weird extra compression, but thru the Variax cable into my Helix I'm able to get much more of an authentic sounding model.

Still an interesting bass in my opinion, sure it doesn't sound like some or the originals it tries to emulate but it has some good tones. I bet if you branded this a Sire the bedroom players would kill for it.

Still have the 705. It's an amazing studio tool. Perfect? No! :)

I've got one and it's my favourite bass. Nothing to write home about looks wise but the implementation was so carefully thought through, all the hardware is so easy to use. Maybe I've just not had very expensive guitars or basses - this is true - so it was the first time i had come across stuff like the volume pot being super quick to turn, the notches in the blend / eq pots to signal the middle position. The tuners also extremely smooth and in general very easy to set the instrument up. Just seems full of good user interface details in general. It's so incredibly versatile in itself, and just being able to dial things in on the bass so much is amazing. I wish they'd try again. The only thing I don't like is a gloss neck, I've considered modding it but I don't want to decrease the potential value. I got mine for £300 because the battery terminal had some corrosion and therefore wasn't working. Easy fix. Did a 6hr round trip to pick it up, as soon as I discovered it I obsessed about getting one. It's my first pick to record with, I would rarely gig with it due to the battery concerns, and I just don't want to throw it about because it's not something I can fix myself. Do wish I had the 705, but alas, not yet.

Boy, back then I totally drank the Line6 modelling Cool-Aid and wanted the Variax 705 really bad. That is until I acquired a Bass POD and discovered it just wasn't all that great, I got much better tone out of my SansAmp, then figured the Variax was probably the same. So glad I did not waste my money! I've said it before and will say it again... Thanks for wasting your money so we don't have to! You are providing a great public service to the bass community and it is greatly appreciated! 👍

Will Lee used one occasionally on "The Late Show with David Letterman" while performing with "The World's Most Dangerous Band." He said the Variax had a pretty convincing upright bass sound.

Wow, this is a really cool idea. I'm surprised other companies haven't tried to update this concept and re-release it. Especially in today's world of amp/cab sims, VSTs, etc.

What a fun video! I have one of these that I use in my studio and it gets regular use: y'know, sometimes a song calls for a P, sometimes a J, etc. so having multiple basses is a must. For my workflow, it makes more sense to have one bass that can get me to the approximate ballpark of a dozen basses and then just 'nudge' the bass tracks the rest of the way with post-processing rather than a dozen discrete basses; heck, I've actually just made channel strip presets to 'dial in' the various patches the rest of the way -- e.g. dialing in the mid scoop that you noted was absent from the J models (insert "modern problems require modern solutions" meme here). Obviously, they don't sound 1:1 like the real basses that are being emulated (though, as someone who has owned several Warwicks, I can confirm the Warwick model is actually pretty close and definitely captures at least the spirt of the sorta brassy, clanky 'Warwick sound") even after processing, but the majority of the models can be put 80-90% of the way there. Definitely an extremely handy tool in the studio and I personally think it's aged remarkably well for technology that is going on 2 decades old. My only major gripe is not being able to get just a dry piezo signal from it for use with IRs. The Variax guitar on the other hand? Woof. I have one of those, too, and... I mean, it's fun to fart around with and a handy writing tool what with the alternate tuning modes, but I would not let it anywhere near a gig, let alone a recording session. It's just a mess; there's this weird digital "warble" on any sort of polyphonic signal which gets worse the denser the polyphony is (e.g. chords) and while the bass Variax has proven to be robust and durable, the piezo saddles on the Variax guitar seemingly fail every few months even when not being used. TL;DR IMO the Variax bass is still a useful studio tool, but the Variax guitar is absolutely cursed.

So for me as a non bass player who sometimes needs a bass for recording (and does not want to buy multiple basses) that thing is perfect. It may not sound like all the originals (I would not recognize if a bass is a j-bass or p-pass anyway) but it sounds more than alright to me and it is probably the most versatile bass there is.

I think these will become loved as their own thing, like some of the very limited synthesizers or weird effects pedals nobody thought would be worth anything in the future.

I have a zoom 506 processor from 1997. It has presets for punk ,funk ,rock and synth. It was great back in the day. Yes. It still works 👍🦞

I think what really killed the variax bass was not giving it workbench. Also, the "blend" knob on a sigle pickup bass "moves" the pickup closer to the neck/bridge.

I had one of these for a few years. Was my first non cheapo bass. Played it in a band and a studio and eventually ditched it for a warwick corvette. I like the warwick a ton more i have to say!

I was in high school when this was released and even then they seemed silly - but fun. Line6 products at the time generally seemed more like novelties/toys than "serious" gear. It's amazing to look back on this or the Spyder amps and compare them to today's highly respected Helix series.

My favorite setting was the upright bass. That sounded cool and would be fun to see peoples reactions in a live setting. This is if they new the difference between the two, in the first place.

Makes me wonder what a more modern Variax bass would sound like with all the advances made in emulation since this thing was released

I remember when these came out and was curious how it worked without a pickup. While it may not nail the tones perfectly I bet for a wedding or cruise ship gig it would be nice to have.

I kind of like it and the sounds ..even though they don't match what they're supposed to be.

Have one since it came out in 2006. To be honest still think it's still quite amazing that they could build so many models into one bass. I mainly used it with the Hoefner emulation and I think it did that job pretty well.

I had one of these, it didn't last long unfortunately. In summary - it felt like it was doing impressions of the instruments (in the same way a comedian would), you knew what it was trying to do, but you would never be fooled. There was also a hollow tone to it (which also still the case unplugged). I wondered if the massive circuit board cavity had an effect on the instruments general tone. In the end I sold it (for a surprisingly high figure) and no regrets. They were a great idea, but I just don't think you can truly replace any of the real thing.

Oh wow the fretless jazz setting sounds like a Casiotone keyboard impersonation of a bass. ... I want one.

This was truely one of the og drool worthy bass of my youth. 6 foot ninja the band uses their guitars i believe as well. Awesome review!

I walked into a music shop in early 2006 to buy some strings. Had seen this in there and was really fascinated by it at the time. I also saw a 2005 limited edition Stingray in Buttercream. Needless to say I walked out with the Stinga….. and not this …. thing. And ….. after all that …..I forgot to grab the bloody strings haha Thanks for sharing mate ….. I’m glad I made the right decision 17 odd years ago …… still gigging that Ray today !! Great channel….. love ya work mate….. cheers from down under 💪

Thanks Lobster, for another deep dive into something I had never heard of before. Very interesting.

This was a lot of fun! That Moog setting might be cool when used with an ebow, but like you said, just get a pedal. Also, nice rendition of "A Portrait of Lobster"!

When I was 17 in 2007 I got sent one in the post I believe by mistake from Line 6 (unless they were trying t get rid of them!) I had recently bought a Line 6 POD studio recording interface from them for my computer which is the only connection I can think of but I certainly did not order the Variax! held onto it for 6 months to see if anyone would claim it (no one did) and then sold it in Ebay for £500. I then saved up another £500 and used the £1k in 2008 to buy the bass I actually wanted - a USA American Fender Standard Jazz Bass which has been my workhorse for years and I still use to this day! I have zero regrets selling the Variax, I absolutely hated that is was a fake bass emulator and was happy to be rid of it. But I enjoyed your video and it reminded me the strange moment I tried it out and was thinking what the hell is this bass emulation abomination?!

It’s the soda stream of Bass.

Great looking, freaking versatile, with a hell out of different tones. It can be expensive for some, but it's an amazing instrument period. You can compare to the originals, just because this is trying to sound like them, but you definitely can't take what it accomplishes and throw it to the pigs like it was nothing... I'd love to have one of this!

Hey Lobster, I'll be honest with you that I feel like it's doing a better job then you're giving it credit. It's always going to have that slightly artificial compressed sound due to the modelling but other than that they sound very close in my opinion, due to the format of the instrument it's not possible to get the high end perfect but at it's core it seems to be doing a good job. The "real" instruments are just more but that doesn't mean it sounds nothing like it

I have a Variax 700 and for me its value is not in how accurate it emulates classic bass guitars but how versatile this instrument is from a producer point of view. I think it was not successful commercially because most bass players don't really care about this bass features, I mean how many times we see a bass player changing bass from song to song while playing live? Never.

This is a hilarious bass! Especially when it tries to mimic flatwounds or the upright tone.

I remember those. Lol. Ibanez had a sr bass with a Korg kaosilator (synth thing) on it. It looked like someone stuck a mini pedal on its body. Weird basses out there.

I remember this bass. It was an interesting idea that they made a pod version of bass. Tone wise it sounds fun despite how digital it sounded. there are some tones I dig. Other than that, not really the kind of bass I would go for.

This really isn’t that bad

Going to be quite frank and to the point. Lobster is one of the most interesting bass you have reviewed in a long time. Really quite surprised at your disdain for this instrument. And what it is trying to accomplish. Giving you a flavor of different instruments, precision bass, jazz bass, your Rickenbacker, and music man. It's a breath of fresh air. outward thinking by the design us of this bass. Just think of the few software updates to get this bass up to scratch, sounding better with each update. Really surprised with you not being able to think outside the box. To think things through. You have being spoiled. Remember less is more... Cool bass!

I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS! YES

Honestly, this is a great piece of gear. You need to see it as a bass that has 24 different sounds. Are they all great and usable? No they are not, but if offers a lot of versatility and some of these sounds work great in different kind of mixes. And ultimately, what is more important, that it works in the mix or that it sounds exactly like a [insert favourite model] bass? Once you have that clear and you are ok with it, this is a very nice instrument. Might not be the best at anything but it really does a lot of things well. I bought one second handed a couple of years ago for a little less than 700 euro and to me it is totally worth it.

The synth emulations at the end is hilarious!!

Hi Lobster, Glad to see the cat in this vid. I actually have that bass and it does one thing very well. I had my local shop put a fretless neck on the bass plus’s I have tapewounds on it also. Bingo, an upright bass without the bulk! Enjoyable video as always!

All of the tones sound like they're derived from a piezo pickup in the bridge hence the finger noise and thin sound overall despite bass and other frequence boosting available. I quite liked some of the crispy tones but you can't beat real pickups located nearer the neck

I had the same bass but the 5 string. I also bought the special cable to run it to the Line 6 floor pedal thing that you could use to control the bass and do even more crazy effects stuff with. I also had a early 90s Stingray, some Peavey Cirrus basses, and P and a J and several other basses. The Variax seemed sterile compared to the real basses it tried to mimic. And, at times it would glitch, much like a computer, making selecting the correct bass model impossible. I got rid of it and took a sizable financial hit when I sold everything.

It gets some different sounds is all I can say.I can see coupled with a higher price why it didn't catch on.

There's a guy local to me who still gigs the 5 string version as his main bass, just sounds like your average low output cheap bass from the 90s.

this thing honestly sounds great! does it do custom tunings?

To me some of the patches sounded like someone trying to recreate a specific bass tone from memory without proper reference lol. Most of the presets just sounded like filters trying to disguise a piezo sound, which if I've understood how the electronics work from the little information I could find, is pretty much what is going on! It seems to pick up the signal under the bridge, which makes emulating neck pickups quite problematic.

And let’s not forget fender has done something very similar with the rumble 800 stage combo back in 2018. They also did a 25 and 40 watt version.

i once had one ( 5 String ) and for practicing at home i liked it very well, especially the upright bass sound. only at sessions with my band, i learned that sound created by physics and sound created by electronics are two totally different things. in a band situation, there was not much left from the line 6 sounds.

as a longtime thunderbird player there is nothing about that tone that approaches any thunderbird i have ever heard. that embassy comes closer, has a little more fullness but that may be the luckiest break line 6 got for a comparison. thank god they didn't try to claim a "gripper" model because those bill lawrence designs out t-bird the t-bird and variax just can't compare. I will say that I appreciate what line 6 was trying to accomplish and i really like the overall concept and design of the variax instruments but they fell a little short trying to capture the spirit of some pretty distinctive voices. Thats the real trouble with trying to please bass players; a strat doesnt sound like a les paul and a les paul doesnt sound like a ricky 330 but as far as truly unique tones go, guitars really rely on what the signal goes into more than what it comes out of ,especially when you consider that 90% of all six strings of note are just the same 2 humbuckers layout. you would be hard pressed to find an average guitarist who could pick a warlock from an rg from a soloist from a mccarty just on tone with even a little distortion... but almost any bass player in their 20s can hear the difference between a stingray, a thumb, an L2000, a 4001, a j-bass, a p-bass, a tbird, a violin bass, really any bass, and they can do it blindfolded, played through a practice amp, in a dave and busters at 10pm on a friday night, after 6 beers and nursing a headcold. the differences in tone are miles apart. tell me...am i wrong?

I like it and the different tones sound really good to me! I’d like to have a five string if they make one!!!

3/8 sounded like Nemo telling Mr Ray where he lived an Anemone . Great work Lobster

Awesome Lowend! Now could you do a followup on the sim1 xt-b which is the next level of digital emulation in terms of being able to profile any bass from your own pickups... Sim 1 is a crazy innovative italian company.

Gotta say I love the bridge pickup of a fender P bass. I don't know why the "fretless" tone made me cringe it's a very weird bass which does really nothing well. Not to mention that the lack of a pickup is quite uncomfortable

It's a weird bass says the guy with a lobster glove on his hand 😂 lmao! I do enjoy your videos I just thought it was funny.

Oh, I get it. It's a Pickle Ric.

I did a little bit of research on these just now and if the electronics fail, well… good luck. Though it might be worth taking it to a luthier to install a white colored p pickup on the edge of pickguard, and it would look really cool.

If your car’s battery dies on the way back from the gig you could always use the bass to jumpstart it ;-)

Lobster, wild man wild, busting out the Mingus. Yes this Bass tries all things succeeds at none.

I wanted an “insert bass type here” and found it on sale at wish . com for a fraction of the price!

Your alchemy patch is just loaded wrong, you can repatch it if you have an interface like the POD xt. I have the Variax 700 bass and 300 Guitar, the guitar for some reason lost its patches so I had to redownload from line6 online.

I think the best phrase that sums up Line6 gear would be; "Not great, not terrible"

This bass mostly fails, but would be great for some meme music with terrible 80s drum machines, Casio keyboards, and cheap chorus pedals. Are you gonna keep this one in your collection because it's so odd?

I was hoping you would review this bass one day as I have one that was given to me by a friend. You share of my opinion of it: somewhere between a fun toy and abomination.

If they tried to sell it on having a ton of distinct modes w/o trying to claim they are emulations, it would be much more attractive! I mean, you are getting a TON of variation!

it's just a piezo pickup style with different eq's :)

is the modern and vintage synths back-to-front? the modern present sounds more like a vintage one to me (think herbie & the headhunters)

The disaster about this bass is that it was marketed as an emulator bass of established brands - Line 6 really let it down here. The fair point would be to evaluate it for it's own sound - because if the premise is to do a one to one comparison with Fender etc - it will fail. Different bass forums back in the time when this came out - really gave this instrument a shitstorm - instead of - evaluating it for what it sounds like. I own one - it's the most quiet studio bass i've ever tried recording with. You will have to find your way with this instrument ( will the force be with you....?) - it either fits you or not - take it for what it sounds and plays like - not what Line 6 wrote on it. This very video is a sort of recap of the same situation back in the day when the variax 700 came out. like your fellow man - this instrument has its own unique voice

That stingray, the bass boosting was a mistake. It sounded pretty close to my iPhone speaker ears

What a fun bass though! If only it had a real pickup too.

When I worked at THE DUNGEON CALLED GUITAR CENTER I used to TALK PEOPLE OUT OF BUYING THESE P.O.S. BASSES!! I DID WHAT SEEMED LIKE HUNDREDS OF MUSIC MAN SPECIAL ORDERS!!! THANKS MAESTRO LOBSTER

LETS GOOOOOOOO

At 15:58 Lobster realizes the futility of this exercise but knows he’s all in and has 20 more models to go through. The bass has some decent sounds on its own, but it really sounds nothing like what it is trying to model. The “Jaco” model was especially hideous. You can get better results with a multi effect.

It's a shame because it really is such a cool idea. I think updating it and adding in those tones plus distortion options would be super cool. Again probably wouldn't be a big seller but it could be a lot of fun.

This is gonna be a good one!

The only person I ever saw rock one of these live was Gary Sinise with his Lieutenant Dan band. I thought it was a modulus initially but it turned out to be way less cool.

I love how some commenters are trashing you for stating objective facts: it doesn't sound like the models it's emulating. Or they move the goalposts by saying "but it's versatile!". If someone can't tell the diff between the Variax and a Stingray then they have no business calling themselves a bass player.

The only thing these bass tones are convincing me of is that one is far better off with the real deal.

I can see you hate this bass from beginning however for us that find it interesting can you do a video on material, setup, finishing etc please?

Reading the comments it’s surprising how many people have come across these or nearly bought one. The best sound I heard all night was the Classic Stingray. These were around the same price ? Geez, there’s some good marketing.

Hey I had one of these for a cool minute. Got rid of it… the whole 6 aa batteries or that power brick was a turn off.

Some interesting sounds

You got me singing "money, money, money"

Haha The last setting reminds me of the intro to State of Independence (by Quincy Jones) feat Donna Summer 😊 I love that tune!

Line 6 is still rocking some premium digital all in one pedal (hx stomp for example)

I’ve seen one of these recently for about the equivalent of $750. I must admit I was tempted.

I had one of these. Heavier than imaginable, even without the battery pack. I had the whole deal - the bass, the TRS cord, and the bass pod. I liked the versatility, but it was NOT at all reliable. The piezo pickups would cut in and out at random times. The weight and unreliability is what killed it for me

I use to have one, when you tapping it end of the magic.

I love the look of a Rickenbacker. What's hanging on the headstock

It probably missed the mark for most basses, but overall the bass does sound pretty good, and it does have a ton of versatility. So in that regard this wouldn’t be a bad purchase, provided you can get one at a good price. I didn’t like the last sound at all

You should do a firmware reset, the Alembic sounds way different on my Line 6 variax.

Those are the HAIRIEST harmonics I ever heard. Sounds like you’re using your beard. Awesome!!!!

I played a 705 for over 15 years. I loved it. It was great in my band and at church. I learned how to "work" the models pretty quickly. The models were programmed with D'Addario nickle roundwounds. Sticking to them gave the best results, although I used Pro Steels. Sorry Lobster....a very poor demo of this wonderful instruments.

i have a 705 i use it on all my stuff i love it

The way this bass should be looked at is that has a digital preamp with a broad eq and even envelope. If you sit down with one thinking its replacing an actual bass its emulating well you are looking at it wrong. Just like thinking a flight sim is realistic, but until the seat of the pants is simulated it will never be realistic.

I still own a Variax Bass 705 (Black as well). I also have a 1997 Fender American Deluxe P-Bass that I never warmed up to. The Variax is a FUN bass but I shied away from the Variax Bass because I could never hear the difference between the Bass models very well using a traditional Amp. But when plugged in to a Line 6 PODxt floor unit... the models cam e alive for some reason. You can't compare the Line 6 Variax Bass guitar to ANY of the models that it attempted to emulate any more than you could compare the actually 60's era bass to the modern Jazz Bass that is similar even with the exact same pickups (though I would expect them to be closer. Line 6 used an EQ based algorithmic approach to emulating the bass tones just as they have done with their Amplifiers. I think that they would get much closer now were they to try another attempt. But I think that they realized that having a bass guitar that you could try different approaches with had much more value than trying to copy the exact sound of other basses. The off-sound of the models was intentional to build in some additional flexibility that you could not get with the bass guitars that were modelled. Unfortunately, Line 6 was unsure if the Variax Bass would sell as well as the Line 6 Variax 500 guitars (they didn't). So I think that they are a bit gun shy about another attempt. The piezo pickups were (and continue to be) the weak point on Variax guitars (and basses). You got it dead on target when you kept mentioning the attack being a bit odd on (pretty much) ALL of the models. It is an apparent weakness of the modelling approach that Line 6 used. I disagree that the Line 6 Variax Bass was a relic of an "overly digitized time". That was the eighties. It was an attempt at guitar modelling of the early 2000's when the technology was just beginning to be feasible. I think that they could do a much better job and maybe even nail really close several of the models today. But that would take away from the versatility and intent of the Bass guitar (I think) - Marketing not withstanding. Thanks for this fresh look at an interesting and very useful instrument - just not for replacing ANY of the models that it tries to implement. On a last note... it is interesting that I know of no other company that has even attempted this... Hmmmm... One thing to note about your review (and many others), the review is based on playing the bass guitar through a power amp in a room, which sounds reasonable enough, but the Variax guitars, like the amplifiers, are most at home in a recording situation where the room, the Amp, Cab, Mic and placement all affect the tone you ultimately hear. Many of your play throughs on this bass sound the same to me, whereas the sounds would be much different if you paired the bass guitar models with an appropriate Amplifier through a modeller such as the Helix (and yes, the Variax bass still will work with the Line 6 Helix through the preset models are not correct). For instance, Line 6 was finally able to produce polyphonic sounds in the Line 6 Helix only with release v3.0. But, like you said, a lot has changed in 17 years.

You do know that the moog sounds can be altered? As long as you set the controls correctly a lot of the sounds aren't bad.

Oh I like that!