Helix LT... my pedal board build plans have been halted and probably / maybe scrapped?

sw67

Just ordered a Helix LT from bax shop for the 3y warranty. Keeping my pedal board as some of the pub gigs are a bit too rowdy to have a helix in front of me.

JonHosker

Great.. .love to hear your first impressions.
Looking forward to plugging direct into PA.
With acoustic, bass or guitar!!

Drew_TNBD

John, you'll dig it. You really will. It's the most versatile bit of kit I have.

- Home recording with amps and IR's and effects
- Pedalboard with my real amp
- Vocal effects
- Capturing guitar DI's and reamping
- Midi controller for all my gear - including midi capable amps
- Looper for when I'm testing out other single stomps
- Command centre for my entire rig

JonHosker

Great.. .numpty as I am...i think it will be a good move

John_A

equalsql said:

In 10 years you'll get less for a Helix than a mini germanium fuzz-face, such is the pace of technology 

Should this even be a consideration?  Even if the Helix depreciated to nothing, that's a huge leap s of £6 a month to sound great.  It's a 'tool' would you spend the next 10 years handwriting letters because a PC would depreciate?  

Sporky

equalsql said:

In 10 years you'll get less for a Helix than a mini germanium fuzz-face, such is the pace of technology 

But you'll have achieved so much more over that decade.

guitarfishbay

John_A said:

equalsql said:

In 10 years you'll get less for a Helix than a mini germanium fuzz-face, such is the pace of technology 

Should this even be a consideration?  Even if the Helix depreciated to nothing, that's a huge leap s of £6 a month to sound great.  It's a 'tool' would you spend the next 10 years handwriting letters because a PC would depreciate?  

Exactly depreciation isn't the only factor. Capability and future proofing (through already having FX and not needing to keep buying new FX) also save money. It probably balances out over time. Actually quite a few people came out ahead in money terms after selling their old gear

John_A

Sporky said:

equalsql said:

In 10 years you'll get less for a Helix than a mini germanium fuzz-face, such is the pace of technology 

But you'll have achieved so much more over that decade.

Exactly.  And no-one is forcing anyone to sell their fuzz face, it'll make a cool doorstop.

jgmouton

I tried the LT yesterday and no it's not for me.  I far prefer the sounds I get with my pedals.

menamestom

jgmouton said:

I tried the LT yesterday and no it's not for me.  I far prefer the sounds I get with my pedals.

What pedals, out of interest?

Wazmeister

jgmouton said:

I tried the LT yesterday and no it's not for me.  I far prefer the sounds I get with my pedals.

Did you use presets or programme your own ?

Travisthedog

I'm aching to go down this route. As primarily the rhythm player in my band I do all the heavy lifting for our lead chap. 

Something like the LT would give me so many more options for filling out our sound while he's fucking about out front

I just can't bring myself to do it until I get a load of live players on here going "it's mentally easy to use live and adjusting stuff on the fly is as easy as normal stomps"...................................,.

TimmyO

Have you not been reading the main Helix thread? it's easy to adjust on the fly :-) 

Teyeplayer

Travisthedog said:

I just can't bring myself to do it until I get a load of live players on here going "it's mentally easy to use live and adjusting stuff on the fly is as easy as normal stomps"...................................,.

I'm wondering the same.

Also, I keep thinking that it's the way forward but then I plug in my rig, remember it sounds damn good already and I wonder, if it ain't broke then why fix it?

I know the helix would be physically lighter and (the main attraction) have more toys on it to play with, but is this possibly too many toys, more than are really needed and enough to distract from the job -which is to make a good sound live, rather than fiddling with pedal settings all the time?

John_A

Teyeplayer said:

Travisthedog said:

I just can't bring myself to do it until I get a load of live players on here going "it's mentally easy to use live and adjusting stuff on the fly is as easy as normal stomps"...................................,.

I'm wondering the same.

Also, I keep thinking that it's the way forward but then I plug in my rig, remember it sounds damn good already and I wonder, if it ain't broke then why fix it?

I know the helix would be physically lighter and (the main attraction) have more toys on it to play with, but is this possibly too many toys, more than are really needed and enough to distract from the job -which is to make a good sound live, rather than fiddling with pedal settings all the time?

I've found totally the opposite.  I thought my rig (JTM45 and a pile of expensive pedals) sounded great, but the Helix definitely sounds better in a band context and while I fiddled endlessly with my pedals, I just plug in the Helix and play.  The sound of my band has definitely benefited from it

Travisthedog

John_A said:

Teyeplayer said:

Travisthedog said:

I just can't bring myself to do it until I get a load of live players on here going "it's mentally easy to use live and adjusting stuff on the fly is as easy as normal stomps"...................................,.

I'm wondering the same.

Also, I keep thinking that it's the way forward but then I plug in my rig, remember it sounds damn good already and I wonder, if it ain't broke then why fix it?

I know the helix would be physically lighter and (the main attraction) have more toys on it to play with, but is this possibly too many toys, more than are really needed and enough to distract from the job -which is to make a good sound live, rather than fiddling with pedal settings all the time?

I've found totally the opposite.  I thought my rig (JTM45 and a pile of expensive pedals) sounded great, but the Helix definitely sounds better in a band context and while I fiddled endlessly with my pedals, I just plug in the Helix and play.  The sound of my band has definitely benefited from it

That's the kind of thing I wanted to hear but my wallet didn't want to hear

Wazmeister

Drew_TNBD said:

- Looper for when I'm testing out other single stomps
- Command centre for my entire rig

Drew, absolutely bang on mate 

Beexter

Travisthedog said:

I'm aching to go down this route. As primarily the rhythm player in my band I do all the heavy lifting for our lead chap. 

Something like the LT would give me so many more options for filling out our sound while he's fucking about out front

I just can't bring myself to do it until I get a load of live players on here going "it's mentally easy to use live and adjusting stuff on the fly is as easy as normal stomps"...................................,.

This was similar to my thinking before I went for one of the latest modellers but I took a long hard look at myself.... I have a pedalboard which I'd whittled down to a Fuzz, a Wah, a drive,  a compressor,  a boost, a tremolo and a Zoom MS100 BT that takes care of delay, reverb and Modulation. 
Did I ever change the order they were routed on my board mid-gig? No
All I ever did was slightly tweak maybe a level, gain or mix or delay time control. 

I can do that just as easily on my AX8, literally bend down,  press a button for whichever effect I want to adjust and all the parameters I would want are assigned to easily turned rotary knobs just like they would be on a real pedal. Even better,  I can assign an expression pedal to pretty well any parameter I want, giving me instant on the fly control at the rock of a foot.  And that's on an AX 8. 
As noted by everyone,  the Helix interface is even easier so I really think your concern is a non-issue,  and that's coming from someone who used to think along the same lines. 

Travisthedog

Gah! The GAS is strong now 

sw67

I have had mine for a few days and did a fair bit of playing around. I am getting some great results using headphones , into return of Roland JC22 and in 4 cable method into MJW amp. Playing tonight but using my pedalboard until i can properly set up at gig volumes. I probably wont use it at every gig as some are a bit rough and too much risk of damage. 

Like a previous poster i tend to do more rhythm and heavy lifting as the other guitarist is our singer and i am sure it will give me a lot of flexibility esp as we do covers from gary numan to the cult as well as a few keyboard songs. The helix def covers what my pedals can do and more.

Keeping my pedals - TU3 - Thorpy Warthog - Keeley TR2 - Keeley Mag Echo - EHX Pitchfork - TC spark all running of ciocks power supply