Variax Bass

[Simon]

Check this out:

http://www.line6.com/variaxBass/index.html

Im very impressed by it all... if I had the cash I'd probably go for one :P

Not to crazy on the look of it though...

How cool would it be to have all those sounds at your fingertips....especially check out the video on the site, it all sounds very impressive!

[yasmanian]

If its anythign like the guitar versions thats been out for a while its a bit like marmite, for some players thy feel they can get a sorta tone that theyre after but for others it just doesnt have the right feel or the natural quality you would get with traditional basses.

[Ben]

hey! yeah i saw this on talkbass a couple of days back and in all honesty im not impressed every thing sounds really trebly even the emulated thumb sounds like a right old plank of balsa wood, but without being too skeptical it could all be down to the fact of the quick over the net transfer rate quality of the sound bites, i still definatly want a go on one, but it hasnt convinced me enough to buy one from the online media.

[Rob]

Yeah I agree, however I was impressed though! I mean, how the hell do they do that? Its almost too good to be true, innit? I'm affraid that the bass sounds arent really flexible, that it might sound a bit like a midi-sequenced-bass-sound...

[Simon]

£850 by the way... so it's like buying a cheapish bass, with a built in POD or something!

[Alfred Jazz Punker]

I think that this kind of instruments it's the new beginning of the era of modern instruments... I mean, I don't really understand the ones that claim for old basses saying they are better than anything... But as far as I can remember this instrument, the bass, has no more than 50 or 60 years of existing (in fact is one the youngest instruments in earth).... Do you know what I mean?
I think we don't even imagine the things that will come with time for basses.
I consider myself a hughe fan of classical basses, such as fender... But I went nuts everytime I look something like this. For me the bass it's not pretty, but I can imagine a cool future for bass...