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I've been getting the itch to jam with some music like I used to when I was younger and stuff that isnt in my current live play lists. So I'm revisiting my Metallica days. I decided to create a preset that emulates each albums sorta tone. I'm only 2 albums in, but the Helix is amazing for this. Kill em all I simply grabbed the Mod2204 amp added a Stupor OD in front 0 gain/7.5 level, added a stereo cab with greenback 25/57 and mesa v30/160 combination and with minimal tweaking was in the ballpark for a nice early/mid 80's thrash type tone that worked well. Added a TS808 and a delay for some lead work and off to play The Four Horsemen I went. 10 minutes to create that tone. Ride The Lightning was my task today, more complicated tone to stay true to their setups. I believe they slaved Marshalls into Mesa power sections back in this time. I've never done this in Helix or tried it...so here I went. I grabbed the MOD2204 Preamp only block (bypassed initially), added a Mesa Rectifier amp block, kept the same cab combo as above, greenback 25/57 and mesa v30/160. I lowered the rectifier gain to 0.0 to where I was getting more just the power section. Even with gain on 0, I was getting a gritty cleanish sound...loved it. raised the master to about 6.5, lower the bias, raised the sag a bit and liked what I was getting. I then unbypassed the Mod2204, brought the gain up to about 6, hell everything to about 6 as a starting point. I lowered the sag, raised the master (what does this do with no power section?) and it was getting really close. Something was just off.....OH, they probably boosted the Marshall.. so added the Stupor OD as mentioned above...also added the Mesa EQ between the Mesa amp and Cab. Boosted 80hz about 1.5, 240hz about .7, cut 750hz about 1.2, boosted 2.2khz about 2db and 6khz about 1.5. Adjusted the Mesa amp settings to add more thickness and less bit by a touch....and then proceeded to enjoy Creeping Death and Ride The Lightning before shuffling off to work. All in all...this tone took about 15 minutes on a laptop with no mouse attached, that would have helped a lot. I mention all that cause I literally was telling my girlfriend that Helix is so amazing to be able to create those tones that quickly, that accurately, and it was fun to build them. I'm sure some final tweaking could be done, but when volume was balanced between my Helix and the Spotify audio....it was pretty tough to distinguish one from the other in a way (minus my mistakes, lol)

I'll try to provide some basic advice and usage hints, on one condition. When you reply, DO NOT mention your Fender Mustang unless it's to say "I sold the Catalyst and kept the Mustang". I really don't care and don't want to hear it. So, my first piece of advice is to sell the Catalyst and keep the Mustang. You seem to like it a lot, why not go with what you know? If you want to keep the Cat, and you bought it at a store with a proper return policy, take it back and swap it for a Cat100. You'll see why below. Assuming you've decided to keep the Cat, here goes: Start on Bank 1, Channel A. See Page 8 of the Pilot's Guide. DL it if you don't have the hard copy. Once you've done that, start by pressing the MANUAL button. Use the Amp Selector Knob to select an amp. Turn GAIN OFF (full counterclockwise). Turn all of the Tone knobs to noon EXCEPT Presence. Turn Presence OFF for now. Effects and Reverb OFF. Set Wattage at .5 watts, Channel and Master at noon. While strumming, slowly turn up the gain to a pleasing level. Starting with BASS, while strumming sweep each tone knob end to end and back, noting what they do and stopping when it sounds nice. The tone knobs are somewhat interactive, so note also how they interact. Certain tone changes, especially around the midrange, can affect the GAIN, so keep that in mind as another potential interaction. When the amp sounds nice, press and hold the Channel A button until the LEDs start blinking. Now press and hold the Channel B button until the LEDs start blinking. Switch to Bank 2 Channel A. Repeat the above process with a different amp. When you reach Bank 6 you'll have 6 2-channel amps, each with both channels set identically. Now, grab a beverage, sit down in your recliner and READ THE PILOT'S GUIDE! Pay special attention to the Catalyst edit section. While you can select FX/Reverbs from the panel, you can't set their parameters from there. The whole process of dealing with the FX/Reverbs is SO much easier from the Edit Screen. Overwhelming? IT'S ONE SCREEN with a couple of dropdowns! As to the footswitch and two FX limitation. This is not a modeling amp in the same way as the Mustang, L6 Spider or Peavey Vyper. Your two button FS controls the Channel and either the FX ON/OFF or BOOST ON/OFF. If you use it for BOOST you can set the B Channel to have the FX ON, and thus mimic an FX ON/OFF Switch. ITRW, the second channel of a two channel amp is usually the LEAD CHANNEL. Think of it that way. Also, if you MUST have more FX available at all times, you can put OD/DIST/FUZZ pedals between the guitar and amp, and you can put Mods/Delays/Reverbs either before or after the amp in the FX Loop. NOTE: The FX Loop is NOT between the pre and power sections in the same way as a traditional amp. The power amp of the catalyst is more like taking a line to a PA. FX placed in the Cat's FX loop function more like Rack FX in a studio. While I'm sure that somebody has done it, it's rare that someone would put a FUZZ in a Rack in the studio! Keep in mind that you don't HAVE to use all 6 amps. You might only use a CLEAN, a CRUNCH and a HIGH GAIN amp, but use two or 3 Banks for each, with different settings and FX in each Bank. Once you've become familiar with the amps through the above suggested procedures you'll be able to narrow it down to your favorites. For instance, I mostly use the Boutique, Crunch and Dynamic amps. Which brings us to the question of switching Banks. You either do it manually from the panel (not practical in performance), or you get a MIDI FS. The MIDI knowledge required here is neither VooDoo nor Rocket Science, but MIDI switchers are an extra expense. It doesn't sound like you're ready to jump into a gigging band just yet, so worry about it later. For now just consider what I said above about swapping your Cat60 for a Cat100. You can't just plug a MIDI controller into the Cat60 without being tethered to a computer like you can with the Cat100, and the external host box required to use MIDI with the Cat 60 away from a computer costs about the same as the upcharge to a Cat100. Earlier in this thread I posted a couple of summaries of what's NOT in the Pilot's Guide. You can also find a lot of info here: VGuitar Forums - Index Posted by Elantric, who also posts in the Digital and Modeling Forum on The Gear Page. I've given you a lot of homework to do. Do it and you'll be happy with your Catalyst. Or not. But at least you'll know why, and you'll have learned a lot in the process.

Hi, As pointed out by "craiganderton" in his illustrated post above, there's lots of variation with different amps. This topic has also been covered recently over on YouTube an a video from Jason Sadites. Also he covers Bias in this video. Hope this helps/makes sense

When checking out sag, I found that it varies tremendously depending on the amp. These oscilloscope shots are from my Helix eBook:

SOLVED! Line6 Support worked with me for a while to figure this out. After performing a fresh install of 'Line 6 Audio-Midi Driver 7.6.8', and restarting my Mac (which is required), I immediately went to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Click the lock to make changes. Click the 'Allow' button next to "Some system software was blocked from loading", and then select the Line 6 Audio-Midi Driver. You only have a few min. after restarting your system to do this before it goes away. This is a huge relief to have this fixed! I hope this helps someone else.

I would use the mini jack in to the Ampfili, as this input bypasses the pre amp stage straight to the slave amp. This works as FRFR, due to the fact that the signal of the Helix is injected directly to the stereo signal sent out to the 5 way speaker system of the Amplifi. I set the Helix at 12 o’clock and use the master volume on the amp for stage volume. No problems, and the stereo image of FX from the Helix are maintained.

Man, I like the Helix headphone out idea, saves the Y cable. I'll probably keep an eye out for a good deal on an Amplifi 75 or 150 for home use. Can't really justify Firehawk 1500 for that. Maybe Amplifi is a good FRFR gateway drug to see if I would like to go that route.

Thanks so much for testing and writing it up! That should be some useful info for others too. Did you hapen to try Bluetooth music at the same time as using Helix in the 1/8" jack? It would be nice to have an practice amp (though it sounds like Amplifi could do more if needed) always set up in the room to just plug Helix into and do some low volume jamming. The gig rig usually stays packed up bwtween shows. I get tired of headphones and have to drag out XLR cables to use the studio monitors.