Line 6 Helix

John_A

I'm perfectly happy with the sound/feel of the Helix direct, in fact never been happier with my sound.  My current dilemma is what to do with all my amps and pedals that haven't been used once since I got the Helix.

I keep looking for reasons to keep them and can't find any

welshboyo

Yep, I feel the same is going to happen here..

Its a bit scary actually...

professorben

I want to go Helix, but I've spent ages on getting my board together.......
senms a shame to sell it all. 

Drew_TNBD

professorben said:

I want to go Helix, but I've spent ages on getting my board together.......
senms a shame to sell it all. 

Two boards.

welshboyo

professorben said:

I want to go Helix, but I've spent ages on getting my board together.......
senms a shame to sell it all. 

Depends on whether you have anything strange on your board, I sold a huge amount of stuff to get the FX8 (Strymons, Xotics, Fulltones etc) and couldn't have been happier.

Gone to the Helix and even happier!!! The Fractal vs Helix stuff is a little tiresome and it's really just different flavours rather than quality - both are immense at what they do.

John_A

Drew_TNBD said:

professorben said:

I want to go Helix, but I've spent ages on getting my board together.......
senms a shame to sell it all. 

Two boards.

That was my plan, but haven't used the 'proper' board or an amp for that matter in nearly 3 months, it's sitting gathering dust, which I suppose is a shame, but my sound is better, life's easier which is a good thing

Proper pedals will go one of two ways, the way of 1st edition Star Wars figures, or the way of CRT TV's.  The thing is, knowing my luck, which way it goes is going to be decided by what I do with my pedals 

sweepy

One handy advantage that the Helix has over the Axe-X is the 4 fx loop facility, allowing seamless integration of your existing pedals. I have to agree that comparisons are often odious and both the Axe-Fx and Helix are excellent units and if I could afford both I would.

John_A

There are really none of my existing pedals I couldn't live without, I'd be using the Helix loops for the sake of it, it's good that they are there, but it does make things more complex, and I love the simplicity of having it all in one box

Sporky

John_A said:

There are really none of my existing pedals I couldn't live without

That's how I felt. The Helix doesn't exactly cop each and every one of my stompers, but that just doesn't matter. I think there can be a tendency for people to become too attached to their tools.

Cabicular

My only concession (and it is for no 'real' reason) is I like to have a mid gain drive pedal like a Marvel Rambler or a KOT on the board

professorben

welshboyo said:

professorben said:

I want to go Helix, but I've spent ages on getting my board together.......
senms a shame to sell it all. 

Depends on whether you have anything strange on your board, I sold a huge amount of stuff to get the FX8 (Strymons, Xotics, Fulltones etc) and couldn't have been happier.

Gone to the Helix and even happier!!! The Fractal vs Helix stuff is a little tiresome and it's really just different flavours rather than quality - both are immense at what they do.

Not really, nothing boutique or obscure, and I've run out of loops on my loop switcher and would ideally like to add a few extras (trem and octave) but I'm worried about the whole resale thing, having bought an Eleven Rack a few years ago for a pretty good price, I'm wary of how much I'd lose if I wanted to sell, I know I can get pretty much the same money for all my pedals as I shelled out in the first place, as almost all are s/h. 

Ive been round the modelling merry go round a couple of times so far, I had one of the first Flextone amps, which was great at home, rubbish live, and the 11r which is fine for recording but a bugger to dial in live. 

I'd like to consider myself a modern player, both in equipment and attitude, I'm all midi switching, sample triggering, ambient swelling and whatnot. 
But I'm just not sure I can put my faith in yet another multi fx that's gonna be worth £5 in 4 years time, I don't have the disposable income to throw at gear as some guys here seem to. 

John_A

^ even if it is worth £5 in 4 years time it'll still be a very capable unit, but appreciate your point

hugbot

High end proprietary stuff doesent lose value that quick. A Mac Pro tower from 2010 is still over a grand second hand on eBay.

Drew_TNBD

Once/if they add a load of modern sounding reverbs (currently the plate is my favourite) and fix the reverse delay, I will struggle to justify keeping my Strymons I think.

Cabicular

Very few Pedals appreciate in value
most drop 50% of their value after you plug them in
the Helix has actually gone up in price but that won't last forever
if you sunk a grand into a brand new pedal board with a switcher what would it be worth in a few years time?
To me multifx are disposable use things. I used the M13 live for 6 years plus so it doesn't owe me anything
im looking for the Helix to be on that board for the next 5 years at least and then move it into the studio

professorben

John_A said:

^ even if it is worth £5 in 4 years time it'll still be a very capable unit, but appreciate your point

This is what I mean, look at the stuff 4/5 years old, are we reaching a plateau of technical advancement with regard to accuracy of modelling? Will things get better slightly with each year or is it going to be stellar jumps like we have had from AxeFX 1/11R??

digitalscream

professorben said:

John_A said:

^ even if it is worth £5 in 4 years time it'll still be a very capable unit, but appreciate your point

This is what I mean, look at the stuff 4/5 years old, are we reaching a plateau of technical advancement with regard to accuracy of modelling? Will things get better slightly with each year or is it going to be stellar jumps like we have had from AxeFX 1/11R??

Two questions:

1 - How good does it need to be?
2 - If the Kemper (the one to beat in terms of accuracy, IMO) was superceded by a more accurate version with respect to its profiling, do you think you'd be able to tell?

At some point, modelling is going to have to move on from everybody trying to reproduce the same old amps, and into the realm of making their own sounds. The units all sound different anyway at this point - I'm thinking about the high-end ones, so Kemper/Helix/Fractal - so there will have to come a time when they all make a feature of that rather than everybody chasing the same unicorn (just as happened in the valve amp world).

John_A

I think the stellar jumps will be in price rather than capability, in 5 years there'll be a Helix Mk3 for £149 or Helix based Spider 8's or something, There isn't that far to go regarding accuracy IMO, and no one needs 10 amps at a time  so I think were just about at that plateau. 

I'm sure I said that when the Boss ME-5 came out though  

welshboyo

With technology being the way it is now, the days of it increasing in value are long gone, anyone thinking that a piece of electronic gear is going to keep its value are very much mistaken.

Same in all walks of life - cars are a prime example..

professorben

welshboyo said:

With technology being the way it is now, the days of it increasing in value are long gone, anyone thinking that a piece of electronic gear is going to keep its value are very much mistaken.

Same in all walks of life - cars are a prime example..

Oh no I wouldn't begin to think it would hold any value, I'm just wondering about what may be likely in the next few years, if I commit to something like a Helix or Kemper then I'm all in for at least another 10 years with regards to my gear budget. 
The rolling gear merry go round will be over.