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Well, I have no hands-on with a Savage so a direct comparison isn't possible, but I can tell you this - any comparison with Helix to a POD series is pointless, they really have upped the game that much. It's a whole new critter, from tonal accuracy to organic feel it sounds and responds like any amp I've ever owned - and in 47 years of playing I've owned a lot. Best advice - buy from a place with a decent satisfaction return policy and find out for yourself. It's been (subtlely) acknowledged by L6 that many of the firmware updates have included under-the-hood tweaks of the engine, and at this point it's hard to find a bad sounding amp in the bunch. That's not saying they'd all be your cuppa tea, but compared to the initial release - where I'd be scrolling thru amps going "blech", "why bother", "who thought this sounded good?" - I now can pull up virtually any amp and find a use for it. Give'er a whirl - my money says you'll keep it...

Nice work on finding and then reporting that info coda! I too have my Variax 500 (and my Vetta 2). And I agree with the OP, there needs to "more" support for the Variax 500 in Helix but I realize that is just another pipe dream (just like Line-6 fixing the midi control in L6-Link)... Helix is an awesome sounding box thus the reason I still own one, but there are lots of little things (like this stuff) that would make it even better I'm thinking. But OTOH, the general business mindset for supporting older products usually is "that's not moving forward" so let's make new products and sell them. Line-6 follows this mindset to a "T", and for all practical purposes, their bank account is (guessing here) in the black because of it. So, it would take some sort of "Jesus in the sky" event for them to ever change the way they make money. Sigh.... That leaves lots of folks (me included) with "dead-on-arrival" wishes I'm afraid. Like that "tuner" in the editor I've wanted.... ; )

Plug into the effects return of the DT from an effects send of the Helix that is before the amp cab model. Obviously, the DT is it's own cab and you'll probably not want to send a cab processed signal to it. That's what I would do. With the Helix you can place an effects send anywhere in the chain.

It happens. Knowing how things work limits magical phenomenons. ;)

I am on a Mac Pro with El Capitan (10.11.6) and my DAW is Logic Pro. I installed the Helix Native demo and it worked fine for 2 days. Now when attempt to add the effect to my channel I get the 'beach ball of death' and must FORCE QUIT Logic Pro as my only way to start over. I have just 3 other (modern) plugins for amps, effects, etc. that continue to run with no issue. I was actually ready to pay $400 for this paid version of Helix but Line 6 can't get it to run as a demo why would I lock myself into a $400 expense? My Mac is super clean and reliable. I have never had an issue like this before. This thread is actually the only info I can find from others having the same issue. I have deleted all of the associated files from my folders, tried reinstalling Helix Native, deleted and re-establish my computer connection with Line 6 but still I get only the beach ball. Very disappointing. Has anyone figured out a solution to this? Line 6 are you listening???