Line 6 Helix

guitarfishbay

Cabicular said:

Strat_a_tat_tat said:

Cabicular said:

Straight out of the box it's not a patch on the Helix I have to say ...

@Cabicular. Very interesting. When you say not a patch (no pun intended) on the Helix... are you referring to amp profiles or effects?

I don't really do amp by amp cab by cab comparisons
all the ones I've seen of that have been of two terrible noises and trying to figure out which one is more accurate

All I've done so far is pick a couple of the stock amp profiles and put some pedals against them and tweaked them to my taste

Got a decent set of sounds
switched back to the Helix and it was superior in every way

But I've been gigging the Helix for ages now so I have a lot more experience with it

I'all try profiling my amps (that's what I bought it for) and see how that goes

The thing about profiles is unless you have same guitar, playing style, and similar listening environment it's a bit much to ask that a profile sound good out of the block.

It's like letting someone else dial your amp in with a different guitar at their house, then going with whatever they came up with for your gig.

It's a big part of why I'd prefer a Fractal or Helix over a Kemper... I don't own any real amps anymore so don't want to go trying out loads of amps other people have dialled in.  Having a full model is faster in that scenario IMO

Sporky

Digital_Igloo said:

• A healthy dose of the placebo effect

If I ever get seriously ill, I want placebos. They're mighty powerful!

Bridgehouse

Sporky said:

Digital_Igloo said:

• A healthy dose of the placebo effect

If I ever get seriously ill, I want placebos. They're mighty powerful!

Some of their albums have been good, but still...

Cabicular

Bridgehouse said:

Sporky said:

Digital_Igloo said:

• A healthy dose of the placebo effect

If I ever get seriously ill, I want placebos. They're mighty powerful!

Some of their albums have been good, but still...

You Nancy boy!

Bridgehouse

Cabicular said:

Bridgehouse said:

Sporky said:

Digital_Igloo said:

• A healthy dose of the placebo effect

If I ever get seriously ill, I want placebos. They're mighty powerful!

Some of their albums have been good, but still...

You Nancy boy!

Every you and every me my friend..

Sporky

Lady BMcH had a University acquaintance who was a proud homophobe, but really fancied "the bird who sings in placebo".

LoFi

fretmeister said:

menamestom said:

Sporky said:

IIRC there was a big jump in overall sound quality in one of the early firmware updates. From what I've seen and heard the shops aren't doing the updates at all.

I can imagine that, i suppose it would take quite a while to update everything in stock, not just the Helix, plus some customers like an unopened box.  I'm waiting on the next shipment of LT's, hopefully they have been updated already, but not the end of the world if not.  

I wonder if shops would need a dedicated Retailer Online account to be able to update the firmware without it looking like it was originally owned by someone else.

When I tried (prior to buying) in Anderton's a fortnight ago, the unit had the latest (at that point) firmware. 

fretmeister

I'm sure some will be up to date when newly delivered items match with current firmware.

I wonder if there are any in warehouses or perhaps display models that are 2 or 3 updates out of date.

Digital_Igloo

Bridgehouse said:

Cabicular said:

Bridgehouse said:

Sporky said:

Digital_Igloo said:

• A healthy dose of the placebo effect

If I ever get seriously ill, I want placebos. They're mighty powerful!

Some of their albums have been good, but still...

You Nancy boy!

Every you and every me my friend..

Hey, without you guys, I'm nothing...

sgosden

I saw a comment from @Digital_Igloo ; a while a go, saying how the floor controller is a major part to owning to helix rack. . . I figured this was just some brand loyalty subtle advertising, and have stuck with a different midi controller. 
less than a week into owner the floor controller, I haven't even left the house with it, but I totally get it it. So much more usable. And simple to set up. Should have listened earlier. 

guitarfishbay

It was already discussed in another thread, but I think the floor controller is probably the best designed of its type around. Everything you'd need and sensibly spaced

trolley

Jsut bought a Matrix GT1000. So now I have a 6U rack, the floor controoler, a Mission pedal & my Marshall 1936.
Until that goes
My Roadster is a stand for the rack

BGG

Has there been a price drop on the full fat Helix ? my mate was telling me, seems a bit daft bringing the price closer the the LT ?

gibsongretschfan

BGG said:

Has there been a price drop on the full fat Helix ? my mate was telling me, seems a bit daft bringing the price closer the the LT ?

The pounds got stronger 

LoFi

fretmeister said:

I'm sure some will be up to date when newly delivered items match with current firmware.

I wonder if there are any in warehouses or perhaps display models that are 2 or 3 updates out of date.

Well, the actual one I bought was on v1.6 when I powered it up at home - no biggie - took me 5 mins to do an update.

RandallFlagg

I'm disappointed with my Helix for the first time since getting it last year.

I bought a new amp recently, a Morgan PR12, which sounds great and I want to use the Helix for effects only through the front and it works a treat for that no problem. I have everything I need either in stompbox mode with scenes for each of my guitars or I can use presets as and when required. All good.

But, this weekend I spent some time A/B'ing between guitar direct to amp and via Helix with everything off and there is a change in the dry sound running through the Helix. I'm losing something that is really hard to put into words, but a smoothness, rounding of the tone, is lost and the dry tone through the Helix sounds a little colder, brighter maybe, a little more solid state amp sounding. It's subtle but noticeable.  

The Morgan's pure tone is so good that it's really worth preserving so I am in a dilemma now as to whether the Helix is really cutting it for me in front of the amp but I love the mulit-fx programmability and convenience and also have the Helix available for direct to desktop playing and recording, just wish I could keep that pure Morgan tone.

Sporky

Take a hair off the treble in the global EQ, or try tweaking the input impedance. And then stop worrying.

dindude

RandallFlagg said:

I'm disappointed with my Helix for the first time since getting it last year.

I bought a new amp recently, a Morgan PR12, which sounds great and I want to use the Helix for effects only through the front and it works a treat for that no problem. I have everything I need either in stompbox mode with scenes for each of my guitars or I can use presets as and when required. All good.

But, this weekend I spent some time A/B'ing between guitar direct to amp and via Helix with everything off and there is a change in the dry sound running through the Helix. I'm losing something that is really hard to put into words, but a smoothness, rounding of the tone, is lost and the dry tone through the Helix sounds a little colder, brighter maybe, a little more solid state amp sounding. It's subtle but noticeable.  

The Morgan's pure tone is so good that it's really worth preserving so I am in a dilemma now as to whether the Helix is really cutting it for me in front of the amp but I love the mulit-fx programmability and convenience and also have the Helix available for direct to desktop playing and recording, just wish I could keep that pure Morgan tone.

Thing to remember is that anything you put between the guitar and amp will have an effect. My pedalboard is not too excessive, all anolog (except for the delay which has a very good anolog dry-through), and I'm absolutely anal about the signal path, but the board still dulls my amp a little compared to running direct. So the choice needs to be if it is too much of a compromise vs the extra sounds you get.

The best approach is to accept the change, not get obsessed with A/B'ing, and dial in your amp with the board/Helix in the path, you may have to change the tone controls or volume to compensate but ultimately if the sounds coming out the end are satisfactory then jobs a goodun. 

I got over my own dilemma by putting a very nice and very subtle sounding compressor as my "clean" sound (I.e. I never run the amp with no pedals at all), it enhances the tone to the point where I prefer it to going direct so I don't feel like I'm loosing out now.

Having said all of that, digital gear does do something else, it is converting your signal to digital and back again, there's no getting away from that.

stickyfiddle

fretmeister said:

I'm sure some will be up to date when newly delivered items match with current firmware.

I wonder if there are any in warehouses or perhaps display models that are 2 or 3 updates out of date.

Very likely. Mine shipped with v1.6 about a month ago.

Sporky

dindude said:

Having said all of that, digital gear does do something else, it is converting your signal to digital and back again, there's no getting away from that.

True, but the idea of "your signal" is actually pretty abstract. The wiggling of the strings in a magnetic field induces other fields around a coil that get affected by the tone cap, then another related field wiggles around the guitar lead, then the amp is full of more capacitors and valves and so on that affect and are affected by those fields, and finally another field makes a bit of paper wiggle and sound comes out.

By comparison digital sounds awfully simple - the field gets turned into numbers, sums are done, and another field is generated based on the sums.