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Finally tried a Helix today - loved it!


linz
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I had some time to spare on a trip to Newcastle (UK) today, so decided to pop into PMT. it's the first time I've seen the Helix in person - it was the rack version. It's stunning! The display/UI are excellent and the build quality is just as good as if hoped it would be.

 

Spying a beautiful PRS Custom 24 Floyd, I had them set it all up direct into a Mackie powered monitor. The feel was what really grabbed me. It's incredibly responsive to dynamics/volume control, and that's what I really wanted to know about most. There were only 2 patches on the demo unit, but it's so easy to program, I didn't mind having to tweak.

 

The foot controller's great, but it would've been nice if it had a built-in expression pedal. The scribble strips are a god-send!

 

I was a little disappointed with the lack of effects vs. my old Pod HD Pro X, but I'm sure I could work round that and hopefully there'll be more added later on.

 

It had firmware 1.05 (I think), so there are probably some improvements I didn't get to see.

 

Overall I'm pretty tempted. At the moment, I'm using a heavily modified JTV-69 with GK pickup and an on-board arduino for MIDI control, into a GP-10 and a Mac mini running s-gear, and that's hard to beat - but the Helix is probably a bit more practical.

 

I wanted to post this because I was quite sceptical about the unit as a whole, but I couldn't really fault it. It's definitely something you need to try in order to appreciate and I'm glad I finally have.

 

Loved the PRS, too!!!

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Glad you liked it.  From what I can tell, the number of effects between the Pod HD Pro X and Helix are similar.  The HD Pro X had "over 100" and the Helix shipped with 91 and they've already added some more (with more on the way).

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I had some time to spare on a trip to Newcastle (UK) today, so decided to pop into PMT. it's the first time I've seen the Helix in person - it was the rack version. It's stunning! The display/UI are excellent and the build quality is just as good as if hoped it would be.

 

Spying a beautiful PRS Custom 24 Floyd, I had them set it all up direct into a Mackie powered monitor. The feel was what really grabbed me. It's incredibly responsive to dynamics/volume control, and that's what I really wanted to know about most. There were only 2 patches on the demo unit, but it's so easy to program, I didn't mind having to tweak.

 

The foot controller's great, but it would've been nice if it had a built-in expression pedal. The scribble strips are a god-send!

 

I was a little disappointed with the lack of effects vs. my old Pod HD Pro X, but I'm sure I could work round that and hopefully there'll be more added later on.

 

It had firmware 1.05 (I think), so there are probably some improvements I didn't get to see.

 

Overall I'm pretty tempted. At the moment, I'm using a heavily modified JTV-69 with GK pickup and an on-board arduino for MIDI control, into a GP-10 and a Mac mini running s-gear, and that's hard to beat - but the Helix is probably a bit more practical.

 

I wanted to post this because I was quite sceptical about the unit as a whole, but I couldn't really fault it. It's definitely something you need to try in order to appreciate and I'm glad I finally have.

 

Loved the PRS, too!!!

The helix is just so much fun. You'll be amazed of how many sounds you can coax out with it. I just got a Goldtop PRS Cu 22 that I'm rocking the helix with. Good match that can cover a lot of ground (not as much as a Variax, but the PRS is effortless to play.)

 

Thanks for posting!

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