Line 6 Helix

guitargeek62

Yep - email came through 10 minutes ago.

lewisjenkins

I've just called my retailer, Absolute Music in Bournemouth. They haven't received any yet. My pre-order was placed on August 25th. I should have ordered with Andertons

Paul_C

has it locked up yet ?

guitargeek62

As long as it doesn't lockup the engine or brakes of the courier then I'll let you know tomorrow

ElectroDan

Clarky said:

PFAllen2 said:

guitargeek62 said:

- please name the last piece of electonics (of equivalent complexity) that was flawless from day one?

My VW 2.0 litre diesel was ........ never mind.

I never encountered any issues with the VG-99 or Digitech 2120 from day 1

I guess that don't mean there weren't any.. I just never noticed any issues myself..

Yeah. There is a huge difference between a typo or parameter not working and a £1000+ unit locking up and wiping all your presets. Hopefully this will be sorted very quickly as the Helix looks like a great unit.

lewisjenkins

From what I can tell on other forums, the issues with locking up / crashing are relatively few, and only occur when the Helix is connected via USB to a PC/Mac. The vast majority of users appear to be over the moon with their purchases. I'm sure these initial teething problems will be quickly resolved by Line6. It certainly hasn't put me off - I can't wait to receive mine

Strat_a_tat_tat

Bit disappointing that Line 6 don't appear to have commented much on the lock ups (unless I've missed something... I've only seen Ross's comment here... but nothing on TGP). I know it's a sensitive time for the company (and they have to be careful what they say) - but I think 'radio silence' is probably not the best policy. Might be better to say something like 'we've seen reports about lock ups that can occur in some specific circumstances - we're investigating and will be commenting on a fix very shortly'.  A simple statement along those lines would help to reassure users (and potential customers - that already appear to be cancelling orders) that the company is working on a fix (or at least trying to isolate the specific combination of circumstances that lead to the lock up condition).

At the moment it's left to the goodwill of the user to think... 'I'm sure L6 will be working on a fix.'  (in the absence of any statement to that effect from the company). That sort of goodwill can run out.. if the fix is not forthcoming in short order.

I wish L6 well with the product and the fix... but a bit more comms. on this issue would be less damaging with regard to PR etc.

siremoon

^^This.  When I raised the lock up issue earlier the radio silence almost bothered me more than the lock ups themselves. 

I've been doing some digging around the various fora and it seems that many of the lockups appear to be when the unit is hooked up to a pc/mac via usb.  I haven't pre-ordered because I prefer to see how stuff turns out and so I will in any event probably have to wait several weeks until it's freely available.  Hopefully some more definitive information and/or a fix will be available by then.

guitargeek62

I'll have a play around with mine and see if I can get it to replicate the behaviour on-demand once it's here, at least that way I'll be starting from a blank state and won't care if I lose anything permanently*!

 

*assuming I don't manage to brick it entirely

 

 

@digital_igloo @rossyamaha - I assume you've already got QA guys on this but if I dig anything up I'll drop you a line anyway.

DesVegas

If the update is via USB cable you might well have a closed loop situation, be sure to wear a tin foil hat.

Teetonetal

DesVegas said:

If the update is via USB cable you might well have a closed loop situation, be sure to wear a tin foil hat.

Oh imagine that. The error is when USB connected. You update the firmware to fix the error, during which the error happens and you have a doorstop at the end of it... If that is the issue, be bound to happen to someone. Would expect Line 6 to ship a new unit in these cases though..

All speculation of course.

Fretwired

siremoon said:

^^This.  When I raised the lock up issue earlier the radio silence almost bothered me more than the lock ups themselves. 

I've been doing some digging around the various fora and it seems that many of the lockups appear to be when the unit is hooked up to a pc/mac via usb.  I haven't pre-ordered because I prefer to see how stuff turns out and so I will in any event probably have to wait several weeks until it's freely available.  Hopefully some more definitive information and/or a fix will be available by then.

Not good. I recall a similar issue when the HD500 was released. There were issues connecting and updating via USB - I hope it's not a similar problem.

Heartfeltdawn

Teetonetal said:

Oh imagine that. The error is when USB connected. You update the firmware to fix the error, during which the error happens and you have a doorstop at the end of it...

Sweet! I could use it to rehouse my TU-2. 

guitargeek62

I'm pretty sure you could flip it over, wall-mount it, and use it as a shelf with built-in downlighting?

Gitarrenschlumpf

Some days ago I said, that I was not able to nail my lovely Bogner profile from my Kemper. I was wrong! 3 hours of tweaking and a Ownhammer IR later I nailed it! Plus some effects (which are really great in the Helix) I am very happy now. Love it! \m/

guitargeek62

I'm totally not counting down the hours until I get home tomorrow... nope, not at all.

Strat_a_tat_tat

guitargeek62 said:

I'm totally not counting down the hours until I get home tomorrow... nope, not at all.

If you don't go to sleep.... Father Christmas won't bother calling at your house.

guitargeek62

Well it's currently gone from Guildford > Reading > Birmingham, and is now on it's way back down to Dartford.

Given that I'm in SE London, I'm fairly certain they're trying to make it do a full lap of honour before it arrives.

Clarky

ElectroDan said:

Clarky said:

PFAllen2 said:

guitargeek62 said:

- please name the last piece of electonics (of equivalent complexity) that was flawless from day one?

My VW 2.0 litre diesel was ........ never mind.

I never encountered any issues with the VG-99 or Digitech 2120 from day 1

I guess that don't mean there weren't any.. I just never noticed any issues myself..

Yeah. There is a huge difference between a typo or parameter not working and a £1000+ unit locking up and wiping all your presets. Hopefully this will be sorted very quickly as the Helix looks like a great unit.

My VG-99 has never gone wrong.. and it's been physically punished on tour too..

the pair of 2120's I have have done more than 10 years touring..

I only had one fail on stage [switched to the backup] once - a motherboard cable came loose..

most likely cos airport ground-goon-crew folks being less than gentle with my stuff..

from day 1, both 2120 units and the VG-99 have been great.. reliable and rock solid..

my Axe-II has gigged a few times but never toured..

that's had a few bugs from time to time from early versions of a major fw drop

but FAS are red-hot with the fw updates containing fixes

and pretty regular with new amps, cabs, features etc too..

I have to say I'm loving the Axe-II.. great tone, really flexible, very controllable [via MIDI] etc..

the Helix is certainly an interesting looking unit..

I hope to try one some day if for no other reason than to satisfy my curiosity..

from what I've seen so far it looks very capable

Digital_Igloo

Strat_a_tat_tat said:

Bit disappointing that Line 6 don't appear to have commented much on the lock ups (unless I've missed something... I've only seen Ross's comment here... but nothing on TGP).

It's really important to understand that comments on TGP (or SevenString or The Fretboard) do not mean an issue's been reported. We're working on potential fixes right now—should have 1.03 live sometime next week—but the fastest way BY FAR to get things fixed is to contact customer service and open a ticket. That way, we get the full picture and can track potential issues directly instead of Googling all day and asking "Hmm... I wonder what OS he/she's on... I wonder what video card they have..."

Line 6 isn't nearly big enough to hire an army of people to read every forum and copy/paste posts to QA and CS.