Line 6 Helix

ChuckManual

  

Teetonetal

I was mucking about with the 3 note generator last night. How much fun is that! Really hoping line 6 get good response to it and develop the synth side more. 

We have a few songs in the band where a little synth pad would really work and triggering chords via the feet would be awesome.

Sporky

Anyone else tried putting a patch lead across a send and return pair, then using them to create feedback loops in the Helix?

You have to be very careful with levels, but it does create some interesting sounds. Next I might try splitting the paths so that the feedback loop gets processed separately. Delay and wah on just the feedback loop is an intriguing idea.

Cabicular

Teetonetal said:

I was mucking about with the 3 note generator last night. How much fun is that! Really hoping line 6 get good response to it and develop the synth side more. 

We have a few songs in the band where a little synth pad would really work and triggering chords via the feet would be awesome.

@timmyo has started a very interesting thread about triggering via an iPad app

gibsongretschfan

POLL: how many Helix Floor (or LT) guys aren't using eithe one or more external Exp pedals?

And do you find they get much use?

Cabicular

I use 2 
cant work without them 
1 for volume boost (0-7db) the other for modulation depth or delay mix (or both)

gibsongretschfan

Cabicular said:

I use 2 
cant work without them 
1 for volume boost (0-7db) the other for modulation depth or delay mix (or both)

Do you find the need to adjust delay mix or mod depth on the fly mid performance or is it for specific effects on specific parts of songs?

TimmyO

Frank Ritchotte from Line 6 is the guest on this podcast this week :  http://www.therockerdadpodcast.com/e/the-rocker-dad-podcast-episode-8-frank-ritchotte/ - some chat about Helix 

Cabicular

gibsongretschfan said:

Cabicular said:

I use 2 
cant work without them 
1 for volume boost (0-7db) the other for modulation depth or delay mix (or both)

Do you find the need to adjust delay mix or mod depth on the fly mid performance or is it for specific effects on specific parts of songs?

I mainly do it for the delay level
I do it quite a lot. Sometimes for the finishing stab I'll rock it right up
or for atmospheric whammy dives

kjdowd

Cabicular said:

I use 2 
cant work without them 
1 for volume boost (0-7db) the other for modulation depth or delay mix (or both)

The volume boost on an expression pedal is a great tip. Have nicked this and use it in all my patches. Beauty of doing it with a modeller is that you can get a genuine and reliable (and variable) volume boost for solos, depending on where you put it, of course. 

LoFi

After a few hours playing with it (I've had a busy week), I noticed a very feint artefact that sounded like a very slightly-delayed octave below. Tried several different guitars, patches (inc. stripping them down to barebones), googling to find out if I was doing something wrong before I realized the mixer I'm running it through had an octave effect with a tiny bit of the main signal fed to it... never been so glad to find something was user error...

Cabicular

kjdowd said:

Cabicular said:

I use 2 
cant work without them 
1 for volume boost (0-7db) the other for modulation depth or delay mix (or both)

The volume boost on an expression pedal is a great tip. Have nicked this and use it in all my patches. Beauty of doing it with a modeller is that you can get a genuine and reliable (and variable) volume boost for solos, depending on where you put it, of course. 

I put it on the output block

John_A

Use mine as a delay mx 90% of the time I just leave my delay on and add more for the twiddly bits and roll it off when playing chords, use a Wah on a few songs and volume swells occasionally, haven't dabbled with whammy stuff, but should do I suppos

TimmyO

Rather than just have it adjust output volume, why not have it control a number of parameters to morph whatever best suits the boosted sound (eq shift, effect mix, compression etc) ? 

Digital_Igloo

ChuckManual said: Guitar > Helix pre-amp/overdrive/distortion models > Both amps front ends > Amps FX loops Send > Helix time-based effects > Amps FX loops Return > (power amp, speakers, etc, etc...)

There's already a template for using Helix in 4CM with two amps: 8 TEMPLATES > 02B 7-Cable Method. Footswitches 2 and 3 toggle between Helix's preamp models and either/both of your real amps' preamp sections.

gibsongretschfan

TimmyO said:

Rather than just have it adjust output volume, why not have it control a number of parameters to morph whatever best suits the boosted sound (eq shift, effect mix, compression etc) ? 

That's a good shout. I always fancied having an amp that turn up the mids as you turned up the gain. Guess I can already do that in Helix!

vaticancameos

So, just to clear things up, whats the model of Expression pedal that works properly heel-to-toe and with the switch? I've read a lot about exp. pedals that sound weird at the heel position and switches dont work..

Only reason is, I'd be fine with the built in one for intermittent use, like volume or whammy, but I use wah in practically 90% of my solos, and I'm left footed which makes the movement to use my left foot on it a little awkward...

markblack

vaticancameos said:

So broad question I know but - 

I'm insanely stuck between Kemper or Helix. My main reason being, I only play at home, most likely only through headphones as well...

I've always been more into FX creativity than into amps, I usually just find an amp that sounds nice clean and dump pedals in front of it but, seeing as I only play at home now, I dont want a huge board and an amp.

Someone talk me into a Helix, I know i'll like it more because of the focus on FX and amps, as opposed to just amps really in the Kemper

*DILEMMA*


EDIT - This is fucking sick!

Drew_TNBD said:

Helix doing some cool clean tones and some nuts delay oscillation craziness:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/213lj38bkbin0uv/Shake The Creeper_Vox.mp3?dl=0

(New TNBD song idea!)

I was in exactly the same place. Was about to buy a kemper. Tried a Helix and haven't looked back. If you're into FX IMO the Helix is great - you can kind of do anything. I dropped a few £ on a pair of Sennheiser HD 600's

Best guitar purchase I've made. I play more and more. Yes it's pricey for home use - but the LT might answer that.

All that said I'm sure the Kemper is very good. Just the way you use the Helix is so clever and intuitive. 

vaticancameos

markblack said:

I was in exactly the same place. Was about to buy a kemper. Tried a Helix and haven't looked back. If you're into FX IMO the Helix is great - you can kind of do anything. I dropped a few £ on a pair of Sennheiser HD 600's

Best guitar purchase I've made. I play more and more. Yes it's pricey for home use - but the LT might answer that.

All that said I'm sure the Kemper is very good. Just the way you use the Helix is so clever and intuitive. 

Interesting! I have bought a Helix, waiting for it to arrive.

Another question - how are the HD600's with it? Do they give like a nice actual-amp-sounding sound? They are the headphones I'd been thinking of getting for using with it as I'd read everywhere theyre nice, would be good to get an idea from someone on here thats used them!

Cabicular

vaticancameos said:

So, just to clear things up, whats the model of Expression pedal that works properly heel-to-toe and with the switch? I've read a lot about exp. pedals that sound weird at the heel position and switches dont work..

Only reason is, I'd be fine with the built in one for intermittent use, like volume or whammy, but I use wah in practically 90% of my solos, and I'm left footed which makes the movement to use my left foot on it a little awkward...

The Full floor version doesn't support toe switches on the ext pedals just the built in one.
Having said that I really think your best option is to continue to use your favourite wah and use the onboard exp for delay depth or amp blend or solo boost (or all three....)
The onboard pedal has a toe switch that means you can switch the wah on and off (its basically two expression pedals in one)
Thats a great idea but there are some issues that have been pointed out here. The main one is that to engage the wah you have to push the pedal forward to engage the toe switch. Meaning if you have the pedal doing anything else it will be 100% every time you use the wah
I would keep a separate wah if it is that important to you