Line 6 Helix

Drew_TNBD

trolley said:

Just bought the Helix rack & Controller today, Having lotsa fun
Goodbye Roadster I think

Congrats!

Drew_TNBD

I'm having tons of fun with this thing, especially with 4-cable method and my 5150 amp. I think the thing that really makes this work for me is that it sounds GREAT. I tried using the Axe FX II MkI in 4-cm with amps, and it always sounded way too noisy and it affected the tone too much.

I understand the FX8 doesn't have that issue, and one day I may grab one... but between the excellent signal to noise-ratio and quality AD/DA in the Helix, coupled with the workflow of the unit and the ease of use... I don't see that day coming soon!

I will still buy pedals though. I don't really enjoy being tied to a single platform, I like to change things up every now and then. So I estimate needing a bigger room for pedal storage in a year or two!

guitarfishbay

That's pretty cool.  I particularly like the tones in the first 45 seconds.  I'm not familiar with the icons on the Helix - are you bit crushing the repeats?

welshboyo

Seriously @Drew_TNBD the Helix is as good as the FX8 so wouldn't really worry about noise etc, I can't hear or feel any difference or Tone Suck (Yuk!! hate that phrase) with the Helix compared to the FX8.

Drew_TNBD

And a final little ditty for today:

Drew_TNBD

guitarfishbay said:

That's pretty cool.  I particularly like the tones in the first 45 seconds.  I'm not familiar with the icons on the Helix - are you bit crushing the repeats?

The Adriatic Delay allows you to choose the size of the BBD's, and it can result in bit-crushed style sounds when you've got them set low. I'm also splitting it to two paths, so it gets processed twice by two different sets of effects before going to the amp.

Megii

Probably shouldn't be asking this, but would the Helix be overkill for someone like me that does jazz gigs with a few local bands? I do like to use a few effects with a couple of the bands, and I suppose have a bit of an experimental outlook where possible. Also I'm quite into using a looper to create ambient soundscapes - or at least I would be if I ever find the time and get around to it.

For my gigs, I generally use just a small portable 1x12" 100W solid state amp (a Polytone Mini-Brute 2 jazz amp) and it's just guitar into effects board, into clean amp. Some of the venues are a bit tight for space - pubs/restaurants etc., but I doubt the Helix would take up much more room than my pedal board. And it would be nice to have the Helix's ability to save and easily access different patches, and simplify the tap-dancing aspect, which I think it would make it possible for me to be a bit more adventurous with different sounds when playing live. Plus, I think obviously the Helix would have better effects than my Zoom G3 based board, and I guess more of them too.

Drew_TNBD

Megii said:

Probably shouldn't be asking this, but would the Helix be overkill for someone like me that does jazz gigs with a few local bands? I do like to use a few effects with a couple of the bands, and I suppose have a bit of an experimental outlook where possible. Also I'm quite into using a looper to create ambient soundscapes - or at least I would be if I ever find the time and get around to it.

For my gigs, I generally use just a small portable 1x12" 100W solid state amp (a Polytone Mini-Brute 2 jazz amp) and it's just guitar into effects board, into clean amp. Some of the venues are a bit tight for space - pubs/restaurants etc., but I doubt the Helix would take up much more room than my pedal board. And it would be nice to have the Helix's ability to save and easily access different patches, and simplify the tap-dancing aspect, which I think it would make it possible for me to be a bit more adventurous with different sounds when playing live. Plus, I think obviously the Helix would have better effects than my Zoom G3 based board, and I guess more of them too.

Well it's a really flexible bit of kit. You can be as complex with it as you like, or as simple. So for your needs I can imagine you'd have a patch per-band, maybe with a few snapshots in each patch to get different sounds. If you want to do the whole ambient thing, you can have a separate set of patches for that too.

I'm not sure thinking about it in terms of 'overkill or not' is particularly useful. Really it's about what cool stuff do you envision doing with it and is the financial outlay worth it?

Megii

Drew_TNBD said:

Megii said:

Probably shouldn't be asking this, but would the Helix be overkill for someone like me that does jazz gigs with a few local bands? I do like to use a few effects with a couple of the bands, and I suppose have a bit of an experimental outlook where possible. Also I'm quite into using a looper to create ambient soundscapes - or at least I would be if I ever find the time and get around to it.

For my gigs, I generally use just a small portable 1x12" 100W solid state amp (a Polytone Mini-Brute 2 jazz amp) and it's just guitar into effects board, into clean amp. Some of the venues are a bit tight for space - pubs/restaurants etc., but I doubt the Helix would take up much more room than my pedal board. And it would be nice to have the Helix's ability to save and easily access different patches, and simplify the tap-dancing aspect, which I think it would make it possible for me to be a bit more adventurous with different sounds when playing live. Plus, I think obviously the Helix would have better effects than my Zoom G3 based board, and I guess more of them too.

Well it's a really flexible bit of kit. You can be as complex with it as you like, or as simple. So for your needs I can imagine you'd have a patch per-band, maybe with a few snapshots in each patch to get different sounds. If you want to do the whole ambient thing, you can have a separate set of patches for that too.

I'm not sure thinking about it in terms of 'overkill or not' is particularly useful. Really it's about what cool stuff do you envision doing with it and is the financial outlay worth it?

Cheers for that - to be honest, for some of the bands, I don't need any effects - just a good clean jazz tone, which the Polytone can do very well on it's own. But a couple of the bands have a more modern approach, and are favourable for using effects - I can imagine having a fair few patches to use with those ones. I think there would be capabilities of the Helix which I would never use, but I also think I'd enjoy the quality and design of the thing, and just having the extra/better sounding effects. I guess you're right that it's not overkill if I can justify the expense (which I think I could... ).

sw67

I watched a band play last weekend and the guitarist was using a helix ( i think it was Cabicular ) and the sound was stunning.I am seriously looking at the helix to use with my MJW.

Drew_TNBD

Hello phantom loller!

Megii

Just googled the Helix's dimensions, and actually a bit smaller than my 60cm x 40cm pedal board - Helix is about 56 cm by 32 cm. Hmm - I may have to sell a few things... 

sgosden

 @Drew_TNBD I searched 'line6 helix'on my PC at work today and your videos were right at the top, you'll be as big a YouTube star as Chappers soon! :P  

nick79

I'm really trying my hardest here to not take too much notice of the Helix, but failing miserably. So, a quick question. If i gave in to temptation could i use it in the effects loop my amp, bypassing my preamp and just using the power section. Would that work and sound decent? 

Drew_TNBD

nick79 said:

I'm really trying my hardest here to not take too much notice of the Helix, but failing miserably. So, a quick question. If i gave in to temptation could i use it in the effects loop my amp, bypassing my preamp and just using the power section. Would that work and sound decent? 

Yes to all of the above!

welshboyo

nick79 said:

I'm really trying my hardest here to not take too much notice of the Helix, but failing miserably. So, a quick question. If i gave in to temptation could i use it in the effects loop my amp, bypassing my preamp and just using the power section. Would that work and sound decent? 

Yep, provided your loop is totally serial.

I have today gone back to a proper amp in 4CM and I have currently built patches with 4 snapshots - clean, crunch, dirty and lead.

The Crunch is actually a modelled preamp straight into the FX return on my amp - it works a treat - it also helps that the model I am using is the same as my real amp (Bogner Shiva or Mahadeva in Helix world) there is no difference in tone, it sounds like someone has actually turned the gain down on my real amp when I switch in the modelled version.

All of this is also devoid of any lag or switching time whatsoever - totally seamless.

nick79

Cheers guys, my amp has a parallel loop, with a mix knob, but it only goes to 90%... I'm guessing that may effect things? I have seen a mod tutorial somewhere on the net about changing it to serial so i could always do that if needed i guess.

FarleyUK

Quick question...... can you (or rather, is it advisable....!) to use IRs with a 'real' amp in 4CM?

Just got Glenn's Boutique pack, and I'm playing in 4CM. Planning to use the Marshall JVM JS poweramp for the amp section, then the modeled preamps and IRs...

welshboyo

FarleyUK said:

Quick question...... can you (or rather, is it advisable....!) to use IRs with a 'real' amp in 4CM?

Just got Glenn's Boutique pack, and I'm playing in 4CM. Planning to use the Marshall JVM JS poweramp for the amp section, then the modeled preamps and IRs...

I wouldn't, but its a personal preference, the IR is basically the Cab sim - you will be running a cab sim into a real cab..

FarleyUK

welshboyo said:

FarleyUK said:

Quick question...... can you (or rather, is it advisable....!) to use IRs with a 'real' amp in 4CM?

Just got Glenn's Boutique pack, and I'm playing in 4CM. Planning to use the Marshall JVM JS poweramp for the amp section, then the modeled preamps and IRs...

I wouldn't, but its a personal preference, the IR is basically the Cab sim - you will be running a cab sim into a real cab..

Yeah, that's what I thought... will try it and see. If not, might be handy for rehearsals going direct to PA.

Ta!