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Pod vs Helix


arislaf
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Indeed Nico. My results were the same 10 months before, and that was what i was stating, that pod with a decent cab emulator (torpedo, epsi, whatever) is awesome. On what helix is better, are the delays and modulations. Nothing more. But deaf will claim the opposite because they pay 1500... Check on helix forum, already started.

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"But deaf will claim the opposite because they pay 1500"

 

Had an HD500X. Was never totally happy with the amps. Mostly used the fx with my Engl, a VHT 112 and/or an Alto ts210.

Waited a year after Helix release. Watched YouTube vids, haunted these forums. Finally decided to take the plunge. I could always return it to Sweetwater if it wasn't worth the $1500.

 

After 3 months, sold the HD500X. The Engl is on Craigslist.

 

I'm not deaf, and your ears aren't as good as you think they are.

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I did do the same with the HD500X (replaced an ME70 that I also researched, and that replaced a Behringer V-Amp). At that time, it sounded very good to me. I used it for over 2 years. If not for the Helix, I might still have it. After 3 months of side by side use, I sold it and kept the Helix. My opinion: with A LOT of effort, you can get inferior (to MY ears) results from the HD500X to what you can get MUCH QUICKER/EASIER with the Helix. That's got nothing to do with the price. I wouldn't have bought the Helix if I couldn't afford it (and I work HARD for my money!). I wouldn't keep a car that needed to be worked on constantly just so it would get me to work every day, why keep an effect unit that takes 3 hours to get a good sound when it takes 15 minutes to get a better sound (to MY ears) on the next gen model?

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the HD is a POS. I liked it fine when I got it (compared to the ME70 which was way better than the V-Amp). If what it does is satisfactory for you, it's a great unit. But neither am I buying the argument that it's every bit as good as the Helix because it's cheaper, and that the Helix isn't worth $1500 because it doesn't sound $1000 better. There are so many things about the Helix that I WISHED were in the HD. The combination of sound and features is what makes it worth the price to me.

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Quick add-on to my previous post. I don't think the FX in the Helix are all that much better than the HD. If I was sticking with my tube amp setup, using just the pre amp FX and FX loop, the HD would be perfectly fine. I want to simplify my rig and vary my sound options by going full FRFR, and THAT'S where the HD didn't cut it for me.

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To clarify my 2 previous posts, they were in response to someone's response to mine 3 posts back. He deleted it, so here it is:

 

ME: "Watched YouTube vids, haunted these forums. Finally decided to take the plunge."

DELETED: And what if you had done the same with the POD HD 500x? Probably you still would have it... I'm not saying that 500x is better or viceversa, I just think that both can achieve the same result with some effort.

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Well my opinion is pretty much what the guy in the video said. Amp wise the Helix sounds better. I thought the HD500X tended to sound like a blanket had been thrown over whatever amp the Helix was doing. But not a thick blanket. And I didn't hear anything in the 500 that probably couldn't be mostly corrected by some tweaking. There was an amp or two that I did think were just as good and/or, as he said, not better or worse, just different. I actually thought the HD500X's ENGL amp sounded better. Effects and reverbs, the Helix did better I thought, with exception of the distortions. Those were very very close if not equal. Although I thought the Chandler tube driver sounded better in the Helix.

 

Overall I would say the HD500 is the low end compared to the Helix but is it, based on price, 3x better? I would say no. The HD500 is no slouch at all and will do you absolutely great if that's what you can afford. In fact I would say the HD500 is a fairly better value in regard to bang for the buck. But, it will take a significantly longer time to dial in your patches. I have had to spend more time on patches for my HD500X than I have with any other device I've gotten in the past. But in doing that, I've gotten many very very good results.

 

So, IMHO, get the Helix if you can afford it. But if you can't, the HD500X is absolutely the way to go. I just took the Helix leap (Sweetwater 48 months same as cash and they've thrown in the $150 Line 6 Helix backpack for free. $32 a month). It arrives on Monday. I tried one about two weeks ago in a store and was very convinced. But the HD500X will be my totally acceptable and nearly equal backup. And let's be honest, unless the people you're playing for are guitarists; they, more likely than not, wouldn't hear a difference. It would all sound good to them. This purchase is mostly for my ears.

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"So, IMHO, get the Helix if you can afford it. But if you can't, the HD500X is absolutely the way to go......But the HD500X will be my totally acceptable and nearly equal backup. And let's be honest, unless the people you're playing for are guitarists; they, more likely than not, wouldn't hear a difference. It would all sound good to them. This purchase is mostly for my ears."

 

Excellent summary!

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They both sounded about the same to me with a slight edge to the Helix.  Neither sounded as good as my friend's hot rodded Plexi.  But I haven't heard anything from anybody that really simulates that true analogue sputter and richness of a well setup tube amp - not even a stock tube amp.  I guess I'm asking for too much.  In reality they all sound plenty good for 99.9% of the people that will hear it.

 

I'm keeping my PODHD for now.  I'm also keeping my Marshall amps that I plug my PODHD into.  Although I'm trying hard to switch to FRFR.  Getting tired of lugging around heavy equipment.

 

Thanks for posting this video.

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It can have up to 32 blocks in one preset.

Like the gay teen that was about to cry said in the video, there are reasons other than tone that would make the Helix costs 3x. 

32 blocks is one of them. 

 

The HD units, if you took them and redesigned the programming to allow 32 blocks, it would still sound the same, it would just have more blocks available and would cost more. If you took the HD units and added a color screen, it would still sound the same but would now have a color screen and would cost more. If you... if you... if you... Same result, sounding the same but costs more.

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Like the gay teen that was about to cry said in the video, there are reasons other than tone that would make the Helix costs 3x. 

32 blocks is one of them. 

 

The HD units, if you took them and redesigned the programming to allow 32 blocks, it would still sound the same, it would just have more blocks available and would cost more. If you took the HD units and added a color screen, it would still sound the same but would now have a color screen and would cost more. If you... if you... if you... Same result, sounding the same but costs more.

 

True that the sounds generated from the modeling do not change because of increasing block count. But increasing the number of blocks does allow for different tones not possible otherwise. For example you could have a number of blocks - EQs, modulation, filters, etc. - that exceeds the eight block count, which creates a tone that's unlikely to be duplicated with only eight blocks. Throw in some extravagant routing, and the options for creating tones increases even more.

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Yeah, it's a lot of blocks. I would think for most people using modelers, that many blocks would go to waste. Most of my presets on Helix have low block counts. Plus for someone trying to use that many blocks, they are likely to run out of DSP first. It is nice to have that many blocks available though. It can be useful. I know there were times with the HD that I was wishing for more blocks.

 

I don't see building presets as work, but part of the creation process that's integral to the music.

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I have heard and used the Helix models next to HD models. The Helix models are definitely higher resolution that is quite noticeable to me. Line 6 made a big improvement in the amp model defaults in Helix. At least in the ones that I have actually used. You pick the model and it sounds pretty darn good from the start without nearly the amount of the tweaking that it takes in the HD. The difference in model quality might be something you could notice in a studio setting where you are recording all the time in a tone critical environment. However, I think most people would be very hard pressed to tell the difference between the Helix and a dialed in HD in a live setting. The player might certainly be able to tell the difference, but no one listening would be able to.

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However, I think most people would be very hard pressed to tell the difference between the Helix and a dialed in HD in a live setting. The player might certainly be able to tell the difference, but no one listening would be able to.

 
+1... in my case... I play mostly in live environments, where other things get in the way, for example the MIC position in front of my marshall amp, the sound guy, the post-effects, room, etc...higher/brighter? i think the difference will be little noticeable. I will keep my hd500x until it dies (is a young lady now :])
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Too many of these videos are made by gay teens. 

 

 

Like the gay teen that was about to cry said in the video...

 

Ya know.. some of us have friends and family in the LGBTQ community. Maybe next time you could leave the assumption that this guy is "gay" for another forum?

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