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In this Discussion
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Line 6 Helix
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
Exciting times
Exciting times [/quote]
Most importantly, do you feel it needs constant tweaking?
The axe thread on here sounds like it's amazing, but the constant updates and people saying they've got amazing tone, and then something changes and it's infinitely better makes me wonder how good it was in the first place, and whether I'd value simplicity over constant updates.
Hope that makes sense!
Updates thing is mostly because of the different business models. Fractal is a small company next to L6 - and the philosophy behind the Axe is it should be powerful so it can evolve over time. Updates aren't mandatory but incremental updates do get shared (hence so many FW updates) - if you realise the unit has been out several years now it does make sense that the developers have improved their knowledge over time etc. The positive thing is that it has been responsively developed in coordination with user/artist requests.
L6 historically don't update much and don't offer as many tweakable parameters. In theory if the models are designed well you shouldn't need to tweak advanced parameters (want/need are different here) and well the Helix demos I've heard sound good so should be a winner. As I said I'm still waiting to hear a demo through an SS power amp and cab, and would like to know what parameters they have to facilitate performance in that scenario.
FWIW Fractal have pretty much got their position stuck with regards leaving all the advanced parameters open for tweaking. Every time Cliff wants to remove things people complain, and stuff often gets cut only to reappear after mass user request. He's said in the past he doesn't think certain parameters need tweaking, but some users want to. You don't have to.
I do find experience with the real amp to be a massive help, to know if you're trying to get performance the model should be capable of. If the Helix is accurate then it'll have the same 'limitation', if that makes sense.
Just to clarify one point (as I can't remember seeing it anywhere yet), if you want all 12 switches to be set to act as pedal on/offs, you can. You don't have to have four dedicated to Mode, Tap-Tempo, Bank Up, Bank Down. I'd assumed you could alter this already, but until yesterday I couldn't remember seeing this confirmed anywhere.
The capacitive touch thing isn't as annoying as I thought it might be since you do need to be quite deliberate to activate it and probably won't do it by accident.
The tape delay adjusts smoothly into self oscillation and the whammy appears to do polyphony.
It's really tempting to try and make some kind of ridiculously routed frankenstein rig but you can't really try that in a shop. There's no POG model for instance but you could fake one using 2 sends easily.
Paul was a good sport though, and he said he might pop by the forum. So I sorta preemptively apologized for saying he needed to get bummed re: the GuitarGuitar video.
The Helix...
There is a limit to how much you can explore at something like this, small crowd of people that me and Hug scared off, limited time to dig down into menus and such things. But...
- I was impressed with the variety of midi/switching options.
- It isn't really possible to emulate a "scenes" mode right now. You need to workaround it - lots of ways to do that.
- High gain amps all sounded pretty decent, particularly the Soldano channels.
- I was impressed at how different the distortion stomps all sounded from one another. The RAT did indeed sound like a RAT.
- When assigning switches to effects, it's toggle behaviour only. IE: You can't specify a min and max value for the switches. You cannot currently say "make this switch *always* bypass n effect regardless of it's current state" - which is a bit of a bummer. Something I was hoping for.
We had the volume fairly low, so I can't talk about the feel too much. But I wouldn't say the tones or the feel were in anyway inferior to the Axe FX II and the Kemper. In fact I think we've just reached the point where it's all about "flavour" rather than superiority. You'd be hard pressed to pick a "better sounding" unit between the three of them. I truly believe that, and having owned the Kemper and Axe FX II, I don't feel I am talking out of my arse. Whereas the Pod HD was probably 80% of the way there to matching the Axe and Kemper... the Helix is definitely an equal for raw amp quality.
I can say it didn't feel like standing next to an amp. Obviously. If you're expecting that, then you're a loon and you probably need to be put down. No, it felt like a mic'd up amp in a live room and with us monitoring from the control room. And it felt good. The built in cabs. I only went through the 4x12s quickly, but they were head and shoulders above anything inside of the Pod HD unit.
The delays and reverbs all sounded very nice, though I didn't explore them as much as I would've liked.
All in all, I think the hype is justified. I'm now in the position of having to figure out if I should get one. My gut says YEEESSSS definitely!! My head is going through all the possible ramifications of my band ending, and if it does how that will impact my real world needs. I guess at that point, the Helix comes into it's own as a studio recording tool. But right now I'm really looking at it as a pedalboard replacement unit.
If you've got any questions throw 'em at us, and we'll try to remember anything we've missed.
@Drew_fx. I wanted to get there today - but gig last night meant a late night and zombie-like behaviour today... so thanks for letting us know how it went today.
Can I ask a bit about the effects? I'm thinking of the Helix as two things:
1. Effects pedalboard - to replace my analogue board and add more versatility and programmability... but I'm used to using what I regard as fairly good quality analogue stuff (T Rex, Fulltone etc) - so I won't want low quality digital. Impossible question - but do you think, in general, the effects will hack it?
2. As above but also replacing my valve amp (for small gig venues - or times when I can't be arsed to take everything to a gig). Would probably want to use one clean amp sim all night (Carr Rambler or Tone King Imperial type cleans.... or even tweedy semi-cleans)... and then just use different fx models. Nothing high gain... playing in a covers band playing rock, pop, indie from 50s up to now.
As you can see, I'm not what you'd regard a sophisticated user - but I want good quality sound and a bit of response/feel.
Your comments would be welcomed.
Cheers