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Variax Editor Functions Advanced

Vettaville.nl Enhancing the Line 6 User Experience

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Tone Shaping with Variax and WorkbenchMany factors affect the tone of an electric guitar the wood, thepickups, the controls, the bridge, and even the nut. In this discussionwe will explore how various electronic components affect sound, andhow you can methodically build the sounds you want, withpredictable results using a Variax guitar and the Workbench

software. This can generally be accomplished by selecting pickups,positioning them, and by changing pot and tone capacitor values.You just need to know how, right!

Before getting started with the Variax, it is important to understandthe science behind what drives these tonal changes. So first, lets

discuss how the electronics affect a conventional guitar.

Below is a graph showing what essentially amounts to a universalguitar pickup characteristic curve. The basic shape of the curve isalwaysthe same. All that changes is the resonance frequency(horizontal scale), and the resonance peak (vertical scale).

There are several factors that affect pickup sound, they are:

Pickups - winding and construction

Volume and tone pot values - resistance

Tone capacitor value capacitance, although not as much as youmay think

Cable type and length resistance, much more than you may think

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Figure 1 typical universal guitar pickup characteristic curve shape

All of the fundamental notes on a guitar are below 1.3 kHz, which

means the resonance of a pickup, only typically affects overtones.

The resonance frequencydetermines how fat or thin the sound isa lower frequency sounds fatter and a higher frequency soundsthinner.

The resonance peakdetermines how much edge (or character) thesound hasa higher peak sounds more edgy and a lower peaksounds smoother.

For Example:Stratocasters tend to have a high resonance frequencyand a high

resonance peak.Les Pauls tend to have a lower resonance frequencyand a lowerresonance peak.

The so-called hot humbucker available from third party pickupmanufacturers, typically have a high resonance peak and a low

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resonance frequency. By contrast, some premium jazz pickups have ahigh resonance frequency and a low resonance peak.

Confused? Read on

Mostly two things determine resonance frequency:1. Pickup impedance2. Overall capacitance of the system - mostly due to cable

capacitance

First, lets consider pickups. Generally, the hotter the pickup (i.e.the higher the resistance), the lower the resonance frequency. Forexample, if you wire two identical pickups (i.e. stack pickups) inseriesplaced in exactly the same position for a Variax using theWorkbench software, you are essentially creating an over wound

version of that pickup. Thus you will get a fatter, louder pickup. Ifyou wire the pickups in parallel, you will get a thinner, more piercingsound at about the same volume as the unstacked version. Thegraph below shows how stacking and wiring pickups differentlyaffects the sound.

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Figure 2 effect of changing pickup configuration

But there is a twist here. More than one aspect of the sound changeswhen you simply change the pickups. This will not only make thesound fatter, or thinner, but will also change the loudness, and the

height of the resonance peak as well. This can lead to someconfusion because changing only one thing will cause several otherthings to change as well in the overall sound.

For example, if you want to change only the resonance frequency toalter the sound, you must change several components.

Change the resonance frequencyto produce a fattersound:1. Stack pickups and wire in series.2. Reduce the level by 6db.3. Double tone and volume pot values.4. Reduce tone capacitor value by .

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Change the resonance frequencyto produce a thinnersound:

1. Stack pickups and wire in parallel.2. Level is unchanged.3. Reduce the volume and tone pot values by .4. Double tone capacitor value.

The graph below shows the effect of making these changes.

Figure 3 changing only resonance frequency

Lets say you just want to make the sound more edgy (or give itmore spank, or crunch). Basically, this amounts to increasing theamount ofcharacterin the sound. This can be accomplished byincreasing the volume and tone pot values. The higher the values,

the more character the sound will have.

A comment about tone controls is in order here. Changing the valueof the tone capacitor has almost no effect when the tone control isturned all the way up. It only affects how the tone control works

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Vettaville.nl Enhancing the Line 6 User Experience6 - 6

when it is turned down. The graph below shows how changing potvalues affect the overall sound.

Figure 4 changing only resonance peak

This may all seem somewhat confusing at this point, but Workbenchcan make it easy you just have to know a few recipes for success.You also have much more control over these parameters with

Workbench and Variax, than you do with a conventional guitar.

Using Workbench and a Variax provides some definite advantagesover conventional guitars where these controls are concerned. First,you dont have to worry about how loud pickups are at all you cansimply set the level to anything you like. Second, you dont have toworry about the effect of cable capacitance. A few paragraphs backthere was mention that two things affected resonance frequency oneof them was cable capacitance. With a conventional guitar the cablehas a VERY big influence on resonance frequency. The higher thecapacitance (the longer the cable), the lower the resonance frequency.Variax has a low impedance output making cable length, and type,virtually immaterial.

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Recipes for SuccessFollowing is a list ofrecipeswith examples. The examples use theVariax Spankmodel patch, for the neck position. Note that theavailable component values are not always exactly what you need,

but the closest available values will work. Other models and pickupshave different base values. For example, the Lester model starts offwith 500k pots.

Figure 5 Example default Spank model neck position patch values as shown in Workbench.

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Figure 6 Shown above, is the new Fat Spank Patch (Recipe 1) with all modifications circled.

Before you start please note:The values shown below in all recipes are for the Spank model only,and are shown in parenthesis. Other models will need to have their

values recalculated accordingly.

#1 Fat Spank Make my guitar sound fatter.

(Lower the resonance frequency only)

1. Place two identical pickups in the exact same.2. Wire them in series.3. Double the tone and volume pot values (500k).4. Cut the tone capacitor value in half (22nF).5. Reduce the volume by 6db (-6db).

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#2 Funky Rhythm Spank Make my guitar sound thinner.

(Raise the resonance frequency only)

1. Place two identical pickups in the same exact position.2. Wire them in parallel.3. Cut the tone and volume pot values in half (100k).4. Double the tone capacitor value (0.1uF).

#3 Spank Lead Solo Make my guitar sound more edgy, crunchier make it have more

spank.(Have more character only)

1. Increase tone and volume pot values (500k, or 1M).

#4 Jazzy Rhythm Spank Make my guitar sound smoother.

(Have less character only)

1. Decrease tone and volume pot values (100k, or lower).

#5 Hot Rhythm Spank Make my guitar sound fatter and, have more character.

(Lower the resonance frequency and have more character)

1. Place two identical pickups in the same exact position.

2. Wire them in series.3. Quadruple the tone and volume pot values (1M).4. Cut the tone capacitor value in half (22nF).5. Reduce the volume by 6db (-6db).

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#6 Edgy Spank Make my guitar sound, have more character.

(Raise the resonance frequency and have more character)

1. Place two identical pickups in the exact same position.2. Wire them in parallel.3. Double the tone capacitor value (0.1uF).

4. To make the sound even edgier, increase tone and volume potvalues (500k, or higher).

#7 Smooth Spank Make my guitar sound smoother.

(Lower the resonance frequency and have less character)

1. Place two identical pickups in the exact same position.2. Wire them in series.3. Cut the tone capacitor value in half (22nF).4. Reduce the volume by 6db (-6db).5. To make the sound even smoother, reduce tone and volume pot

values (100k, or lower).

#8 Super Smooth Spank Make my guitar sound even more smoother.

(Raise the resonance frequency and have less character)

1. Place two identical pickups in the same exact position.

2. Wire them in parallel.3. Double the tone capacitor value (0.1uF).4. Cut the tone and volume pot values to value, or less (50k, or

lower).

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#9 Turn-it-Up Make my guitar pickups hotter.1. Turn up the level.

#10 Turn-it-Down

Make my guitar pickups quieter.

1. Turn down the level.

There are many, many things you can do to shape tone with a Variaxand Workbench. For example, you can stack dissimilar pickups, or

change their relative positions a little, or set each pickup level a littledifferently. And we havent even talked about selecting different bodytypes. Dont be afraid to experiment, who knows what you mightdiscover.

The possibilities are endless, so keep exploring!

wb tutorial 6 290107

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