A lot of Line 6 Helix for sale - seems unusual?

Musicwolf

I use IR's to model acoustic guitars.  They are particularly effective if I'm using an electric with a piezo bridge (I have a couple of PRS guitars with this feature).  I wouldn't record with them, but they're good enough for gigging plus you can switch between elec and 'acoustic' with a snapshot change.

LukeFRC

I was looking at hx stomps and now looking at LTs … nah too big surely?! 

Heartfeltdawn

relic245 said:

I don't actually understand what you would use an IR in the HXFX for?

I thought an IR is basically a speaker emulator. 

If that's true and you put that in an HXFX set up then where is the amp in the equation?

At the minute, I'm using a compressor and EQ pedal as my preamp (Orange Kongpressor and EHX LPB-3). Dirt is coming from a Fredric Zombie Klone, Maxon OD808, and DF-2 ahead of the preamp section. 

Within the HXFX, I've got the first four/five blocks set up for chorus, delays, parallel stuff, all sorts. 

The last four blocks go: stereo EQ x2, IR loader (Dual Cabs panned L and R), stereo reverb. 

The two EQs are modelling the EQ response of a power amp section. Chap called James Freeman did some very good investigative work and came up with them. 

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/helix-my-solid-state-poweramp-tips.2165908/

I like clean amps. I'm Twin/JC-120 territory so this setup suits me. Sick some suitable speakers in the IR loader, set the compressor and EQ to how I want it, play away. 

Although the Revivaldrive ultimately isn't what I'm looking for, I did give it a good blast last week using the RD, the IR loader and some room reverb only. Really bloody impressive. 

relic245

Thanks to this thread I've just snagged an LT off eBay.

Wouldn't have been looking if I hadn't been alerted that prices have dropped a lot from last time I looked.

Well that's 1 new year resolution out the window.

jackio

relic245 said:

Thanks to this thread I've just snagged an LT off eBay.

Wouldn't have been looking if I hadn't been alerted that prices have dropped a lot from last time I looked.

Well that's 1 new year resolution out the window.

I have one. It's insanely good. Just started plugging it into the front of my amp and using the stomp boxes. So good, the ability to scroll through drives (some excellent models) and stick 2 delays and a reverb in. 

It's also great into a PA using the amps and cabs included. I too have no third party IRs as the cabs are very good, even more since the latest 3.8 FW

PolarityMan

As a helix user I would be tempted to move mostly because it's too big and the delays are really annoying to dial in. 

gearaddict

Voxman said:

@Heartfeltdawn said: "As for the UI... Helix does not have a steep learning curve. It's easy".

 Clearly there's a lot of love for the Helix here and I completely understand and agree that it's a great piece of kit. And there are a lot of experienced users on here. But I absolutely and 100% disagree that it's 'easy'. Sure, it's easy to 'select' an amp, cab & effects. But easy to get a great sound out of?

I’d agree with this. I didn’t find the Helix LT any easier to dial in than the Pod HD500X to be honest. I never understood why Line 6 seemed to fill their units with amp models that were pretty awful sounding unless you spend ages fiddling with IRs or cab settings and add multiple EQ blocks. Out of the box, the amp models on the boss or headrush units sound decent.

UnclePsychosis

I think different people mean different things when they say "easy to use". 

Helix is (almost entirely*) an absolute piece of piss to use. Adding new blocks, moving stuff around, changing what the switches do, changing settings, etc. is really easy and given how powerful it is they did a great job at making it really intuitive. 

The modern Boss stuff is, I would argue, not very intuitive or easy to use at all once you get past the basics of adding and moving blocks. I had a Gx-100 for a bit and it took me ages to get my head round what the hell 'assigns' do. 

Which is "easier to get sounding good" is an interesting question. I personally think the Boss AIRD effects are much easier to get good sounds from than Helix. The sounds are (obviously) in there in Helix but it takes me a long time to coax them out (I own Helix native). I also personally prefer the Boss approach of "here's some archetypal amps" rather than Helix's "here's three thousand different amp models, many of which are very similar and if you're not an amp nerd you won't know where to start" approach. 

This is partly why I don't own either a Helix LT or a Boss GT-1000, despite my mouse hovering over both for months now. I know full well that they both sound good, but I just can't be arsed with the endless tweaking of EQs and shelves and gain stages on the Helix or dealing with the "its just not fun to use regardless of how good it sounds" of the Boss. 








*the Helix approach to what splitters do being flabbergastingly unintuitive is a hill I am full prepared to die on

Sporky

It would be nice (and I will accept three thicko points if it's possible but I've not found it) to be able to "favourite" some amps on the Helix. There are a lot. 

stickyfiddle

Sporky said:

It would be nice (and I will accept three thicko points if it's possible but I've not found it) to be able to "favourite" some amps on the Helix. There are a lot. 

You can definitely mark fx as favourites on the Stomp. 99% sure you can for amps too. I think they even save your settings under the favourited version as well

relic245

Sporky said:

It would be nice (and I will accept three thicko points if it's possible but I've not found it) to be able to "favourite" some amps on the Helix. There are a lot. 

Not sure if I'm oversimplifying what you want to do.

Set up your amp block in hx edit. Right mouse click and select add to favorites.

It's not quite the same as being able to filter the amp list based on those you've stared for example but it does the job. 

Musicwolf

stickyfiddle said:

Sporky said:

It would be nice (and I will accept three thicko points if it's possible but I've not found it) to be able to "favourite" some amps on the Helix. There are a lot. 

You can definitely mark fx as favourites on the Stomp. 99% sure you can for amps too. I think they even save your settings under the favourited version as well

You can do this.  You set your amp up as you want it, then right-click and add to favourites giving it a suitable name if you wish.

What you can't do, which would have been a nice to have, is to be able to link presets in such a way that, if you tweak your favourite amp within one preset, those changes take effect in all other presets using that same amp.

Sporky

Hurrah. I award myself three thicko points and will have a go later - thanks all. 

relic245

Musicwolf said:

What you can't do, which would have been a nice to have, is to be able to link presets in such a way that, if you tweak your favourite amp within one preset, those changes take effect in all other presets using that same amp.

That is number 1 on my wishlist too.

Heartfeltdawn

UnclePsychosis said:

I think different people mean different things when they say "easy to use". 

Helix is (almost entirely*) an absolute piece of piss to use. Adding new blocks, moving stuff around, changing what the switches do, changing settings, etc. is really easy and given how powerful it is they did a great job at making it really intuitive. 

The modern Boss stuff is, I would argue, not very intuitive or easy to use at all once you get past the basics of adding and moving blocks. I had a Gx-100 for a bit and it took me ages to get my head round what the hell 'assigns' do. 

Which is "easier to get sounding good" is an interesting question. I personally think the Boss AIRD effects are much easier to get good sounds from than Helix. The sounds are (obviously) in there in Helix but it takes me a long time to coax them out (I own Helix native). I also personally prefer the Boss approach of "here's some archetypal amps" rather than Helix's "here's three thousand different amp models, many of which are very similar and if you're not an amp nerd you won't know where to start" approach. 

This is partly why I don't own either a Helix LT or a Boss GT-1000, despite my mouse hovering over both for months now. I know full well that they both sound good, but I just can't be arsed with the endless tweaking of EQs and shelves and gain stages on the Helix or dealing with the "its just not fun to use regardless of how good it sounds" of the Boss. 

*the Helix approach to what splitters do being flabbergastingly unintuitive is a hill I am full prepared to die on

Ha, I'm curious now about the splitters and what you don't like about them. Pretty much every patch I've set up in HXFX have splits as I run a lot of parallel effects. 

The Boss GT-1000Core was the biggest gear disappointment of last year for me. Seeing how many effects were missing from the 500 series pedals was pretty shit and looks like a cheap move from Boss. The editing software is horrible. The UI is horrible. The sounds are decent, no doubt, but it is an absolute fucking horror to program if you're doing stereo/parallel things. I love that I can use Helix and know exactly whether I'm using mono or stereo effects (excluding the Legacy effects). I don't know that with the GT1000 and that was irritating. I love that I can set four reverbs up in a row in Helix: I can't with GT1000. The Boss restrictions ultimately overshadowed the sound quality. 

Is Helix the best sounding thing? No. Does it win overall when you go with sound quality, ease of use, reliability, cost new or secondhand, manufacturer support? Overwhelmingly yes. If they'd put in the variable impedance input on the HX Effects, it'd be damn close to perfect for me. 

UnclePsychosis

Oh, that's easy.

If you have an A/B splitter block and then "turn off" the splitter block then the A/B splitter becomes a perfect Y split.

This means that if you have an A/B split that is set to perfect 50-50 splitting, and then switch it off, then your signal literally doesn't change. That's weird in my book.

This problem is particularly noticeable in Helix Native for reasons that relate to not having footswitches to play with.

I think part of my problem is the naming. A/B blocks should probably be called Switchable Y blocks or something.

Voxman

relic245 said:

Musicwolf said:

What you can't do, which would have been a nice to have, is to be able to link presets in such a way that, if you tweak your favourite amp within one preset, those changes take effect in all other presets using that same amp.

That is number 1 on my wishlist too.

It's pretty much there already. In Helix and Pod Go you can set any amp or fx or cab to your favourite settings. When you next select it you can choose factory settings or your favourite, so you no longer have to manually set it. You can also cut and paste any amp, cab or fx into another patch (or copy if from the unit itself). So if you have a patch with a Fender amp but you want the same patch but with your favourite jtm45 settings, you can change it quickly and easily. 

Heartfeltdawn

UnclePsychosis said:

Oh, that's easy.

If you have an A/B splitter block and then "turn off" the splitter block then the A/B splitter becomes a perfect Y split.

This means that if you have an A/B split that is set to perfect 50-50 splitting, and then switch it off, then your signal literally doesn't change. That's weird in my book.

Trying it now... yeah, that is a bit odd. Also it shows up how many ruddy Y blocks I use! 

Musicwolf

Voxman said:

relic245 said:

Musicwolf said:

What you can't do, which would have been a nice to have, is to be able to link presets in such a way that, if you tweak your favourite amp within one preset, those changes take effect in all other presets using that same amp.

That is number 1 on my wishlist too.

It's pretty much there already. In Helix and Pod Go you can set any amp or fx or cab to your favourite settings. When you next select it you can choose factory settings or your favourite, so you no longer have to manually set it. You can also cut and paste any amp, cab or fx into another patch (or copy if from the unit itself). So if you have a patch with a Fender amp but you want the same patch but with your favourite jtm45 settings, you can change it quickly and easily. 

Yes, I'm aware of this and it's how I do things now.  What would be nice though is if you could link patches so that all of the amps change simultaneously if you make changes on the fly in the rehearsal room or if you switch guitars.

My Kemper and the Fender Tone Master Pro approach things a bit differently.  Rather than Snapshots they have 'song' patches which then draw from shared setups.

rocker6

Voxman said:

Majorscale said:

It’s the ten year anniversary thing combined with NAMM fast approaching. If L6 release a new version then helix v1 values may tank…

L6 have already said nothing new at NAMM re Helix/, mfx wise. 

stickyfiddle said:

Equally it’s January and folks have bills to pay..?

Possible I suppose maybe for one or two, but I think the sellers have just fallen out of love with them or just don't need them anymore. 

Yes they have, you just don't know who to get to ask haha , I have a mate who works for a huge amp company, he was at namm, I asked him to find out, they said its coming but wouldn't say when