Line 6 Helix

Cabicular

EricTheWeary said:

digitalscream said:

Cabicular said:

digitalscream said:

Cabicular said:

Problem I have with all this is that SS equipment just doesn't compete with a live drummer
Maybe this will be there one that will be different
If not they are getting close

I know. The regular complaints from people who can't hear the guitars at Steve Vai, Metallica and Periphery gigs are proof of that.

Oh, wait.

:P

Arsehole Sarcasm aside Steve Vai and Metallica known for using solid state amps? They certainly weren't when I saw them live..Carvins Fender twins and dual rectifiers were very much the order of the day And for the record I did say I liked the sound the issue is is it ready to plug straight in the PA and do away with say my Matchless I know Paul does (but he spends all his time demoing this stuff so is more comfortable with it.) I also know he used to run it though the fx loop to use the power section of a vintage modern head because in rock it's hard to compete with a valve power section Pantera did I guess but to be honest I couldn't hear Dimebags guitar very well live. ( although that may have been the night, I saw Vai on the sex and religion tour in Madrid and couldn't hear a not he was playing due to the sound guys mixing from the balcony)

All three of those acts use Fractal Axe FX IIs live (EDIT: being less sarcastic. Rough night). Which is why I mentioned them.

Regardless of your musical tastes you could do worse than check out recent Dweezil Zappa live footage ( there's a rig rundown somewhere as well). He uses two Axe FX, no valve amps. It's a very complex rig but he produces a lot of different tones - including some very warm, fat bluesy tones. Part of his argument is that this is much closer to the audience hearing the same thing wherever they are seated ( no spill from big valve amps to the front rows) and although it's complex doing the same things with valve amps and pedals and rack gear ( although he still uses additional pedals to the Axe) would take a warehouse of stuff. 

I'm a big fan. I've been to see him several times and have been pretty active on his forum. He was still using the Cornford stuff on the last tour I saw.

I'm not adverse to the idea I just haven't tried it yet.

Fortheloveofguitar

4 Amps via the effects sends sounds unreal.

One speaker per amp equals surround sound rig for home stadium shows

rossyamaha

HEEEEEEADS UP!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6w41qFLB88

ElectroDan

Good to see/hear a bit more of an extensive review. It certainly is the best thought out and best looking processor I have ever seen.

I must say though at first, despite all the phwoaring from Rob Chapman, I wasn't amazed by anything I was hearing. When they switched to the JCM 800 patch though, there was briefly a few riffs captured from the room mic. It sounded great for a few seconds, before it disappeared back to the flatter less raw sounding vibe of all the earlier stuff (captured directly to the recorder).

Some of the later tones (Paul and Lee) were much better. The pick attack and guitar personalities were quite natural sounding.

Would definitely be interested to hear more (non direct) recordings, either FRFR or Valve amp or even 4CM.

rossyamaha

Just stumbled across this 4 cable method demo too. This is the absolute tits and above everything else has sold it for me. Sean Halley is a God.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FEhXjJgZFo

Fortheloveofguitar

rossyamaha;751250" said:

Just stumbled across this 4 cable method demo too. This is the absolute tits and above everything else has sold it for me. Sean Halley is a God.

Agreed. Sean Halley is great.

Love watching his videos

ElectroDan

Any man who can change switches that quickly and accurately in flip-flops, deserves special praise.

digitalscream

Andertons 4CM video:

Bron_Yr_Aur

digitalscream said:

Andertons 4CM video:

Clever stuff. I'll definitely be trying one of these!

monquixote

For several years I've been waiting for the day to come where something appeared that was powerful enough, usable enough and cost effective enough to make me consider going all digital and I think this might be it.

Fractal must be shitting themselves.

Fortheloveofguitar

monquixote said:

For several years I've been waiting for the day to come where something appeared that was powerful enough, usable enough and cost effective enough to make me consider going all digital and I think this might be it.

Fractal must be shitting themselves.

I've come close a couple of time to pulling the trigger on an Axefx or a Kemper but the thought of the immense tweaking etc involved put me off.

This looks very straight forward and i'm hoping i can get it sounding like Sean Halley does

I dont gig anymore so its for home use only but i only have a Marshall SL-5 so i'm aloud to spoil myself i think 

ElectroDan

If Fractal are shitting themselves they certainly aren't showing it.
I'd be really pushing the AX8 if I were them. It's out in two months and apart from a couple of photos and a few comments on their forum, there is very little.

digitalscream

monquixote said:

Fractal must be shitting themselves.

My guess is that with digital gear becoming seriously good at half the price of Fractal gear, they'll just position themselves as boutique modelling to justify the cost. The fanboyism will continue on the Fractal forums, while the rest of the world takes advantage of Line 6's mass manufacturing capability.

digitalscream

ElectroDan said:

If Fractal are shitting themselves they certainly aren't showing it.
I'd be really pushing the AX8 if I were them. It's out in two months and apart from a couple of photos and a few comments on their forum, there is very little.

The problem with that is the AX8 and FX8 just aren't as capable as the Helix - the modelling might be fractionally better in the Fractal units, but everything else is significantly reduced by comparison; the routing, parallel signal paths, user interface, I/O options etc - all are inferior to the Helix.

monquixote

Fortheloveofguitar said:

monquixote said:

For several years I've been waiting for the day to come where something appeared that was powerful enough, usable enough and cost effective enough to make me consider going all digital and I think this might be it.

Fractal must be shitting themselves.

I've come close a couple of time to pulling the trigger on an Axefx or a Kemper but the thought of the immense tweaking etc involved put me off.

This looks very straight forward and i'm hoping i can get it sounding like Sean Halley does

I dont gig anymore so its for home use only but i only have a Marshall SL-5 so i'm aloud to spoil myself i think 

I actually borrowed an Axe Ultra for a couple of months with an eye to buying it, but though it unquestionably sounded very good you really had to put the effort in to get the best out of it and it definitely felt like work rather than play to use it. 

I was sat on the sofa for a whole evening with the axe on one side and a laptop open on various information sites just to get a single patch into a state I was happy with. In the end I just thought "fuck this" it's supposed to be a hobby not my job. 

dindude

Can't fault what I've seen of the looks, functionality, user interface of the Helix. But for me it won't be worth a jot unless it sounds top class. Most demos have sounded good, and often very good. Nothing so far has sounded exceptional though We won't know until some real users get there hands on it IMO.

hobbio

The sounds you hear in the demos are only as good as the recording, and in the case of YT how badly it's been compressed.

I'd love one of these, but I'd want to know for how long Line 6 would be supporting it with firmware updates etc. I'd hate for it to be completely superseded and unsupported within 18 months or something.

guitarfishbay

hobbio said:

The sounds you hear in the demos are only as good as the recording, and in the case of YT how badly it's been compressed.

I'd love one of these, but I'd want to know for how long Line 6 would be supporting it with firmware updates etc. I'd hate for it to be completely superseded and unsupported within 18 months or something.

I wouldn't worry about that. Updates to the flagship modelling units are never that fast. They've probably spent a small fortune designing this so need to recoup. But it is an inescapable fact that one day there will be something better. It is digital after all. It will still sound as good though.

digitalscream

dindude said:

Can't fault what I've seen of the looks, functionality, user interface of the Helix. But for me it won't be worth a jot unless it sounds top class. Most demos have sounded good, and often very good. Nothing so far has sounded exceptional though We won't know until some real users get there hands on it IMO.

Think about this, though - how many valve amps actually sound top-class? There's a reason we all tend to settle on one or two amps; they're the ones that reasonate with us as players. The rest - no matter how expensive - just sound/feel "meh", and it's different for everybody.

That's what modellers are up against, really, and it's something of an unfair fight.

With all that said, I've only found one modeller which both sounded and felt like my amps of choice (the Jet City range), and that's the Eleven Rack. Running that into a 20/20 and a guitar cab, I genuinely couldn't tell the difference. Until I came to switch patches, of course, at which point the flaws in the unit became abundantly clear (and painful).

Fortheloveofguitar

Hoping that come release day there's not a large amount of members on here posting that the patch switching it too long 

The HD500 was just about workable in a gig situation with the small gap