Leaderboard

I keep checking this forum and TGP daily. Part of me is embarrassed but I don't care. I don't get Christmas like hype experiences very often at my age. This is fun.

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/helix-2-8.2004443/

Elixir 10-46 sound good with acoustic model clear sound Skull 10 -46 sound more heavy (metal)

Hi, thank you for getting back to me. After I made the post, I kind of engaged my brain a bit and remembered I could connect to the iPad, so tried and it worked, then remembered the instruction manual on the USB drive! I downloaded the Helix Application and installed, connected fine and I backed up the presets. I still wasn't 100% on the next step, so if I am reading right, I use the Line 6 Updater to update to the latest firmware, then install HX Edit and we are good to go???

Hi there There are some news. I sent it to Line 6 support. And they found out that there is a problem with the volume poti or knob. It seems that the signal of the pickups jumps over and overlaps with the emulated signal. Which makes from my perspective sense. I don't have it back yet but hoping that I get it back the next days.

Eeeeeewwwwwwwwwww! That's kinda creepy. ;)

The hardware has the capability to be upgraded (via software) as long as the DSP chips have capacity. The current modeling is light years ahead of even the PODHD stuff, which was quite good in itself. I don't think the hardware is the limiting factor of development just yet. As far as things like touchscreens or physical knob interface, it shouldn't really effect base functionality. At this point, beyond adding more amps, the only thing left is allowing custom models. I mean, being able to assemble your own amp, picking what tubes are in what spots (V1 is a 12AX7, V2 a 12AU7, etc...) EL84/6L6, how many, what wattage, output transformer type....etc. Also putting different speaker models in different cabinets, and also mic position between center and edge of speaker cone. These are the type of things that I can see being a welcome addition to the Helix. I don't see any of these features necessitating new hardware. This all seems like a great big beta test of hardware in the last few years. You had HD500X with the improved POD HD modelling, and mulit (dual) paths, and there's the Firehawk FX(which also uses PODHD) with built-in Bluetooth, but single path. The Firehawk FX interface is eerily similar to the Helix, which is why it was such an easy jump for me (from FHFX to Helix LT). Maybe these technologies will all roll into a great package, hopefully for no more cost of current generation of hardware and the current hardware is discounted some. I say this because the hardware development costs should have recovered, based on most business cases of 2-yr ROI. Why spend the money when you won't make any? Helix released in 2015. I would say they have made their money back plus some to be profitable (they don't do this for free). Helix LT is in a similar situation, released in 2017, with minimal costs as most of the internals are just a derivative of the original. The hardware development of the Bluetooth functionality was tested and proven with the Firehawk FX/Amplifi platform. Thoughts, anyone?

There's nothing wrong with the 500X... it's still my backup in case the Helix craps out, but the POD is a rapidly aging platform that hasn't had an update in years. I won't go so far as to call it obsolete, but it's getting close. Helix is a far more versatile unit.... save a few shekels and get Helix. If you're gonna upgrade...upgrade.

If budget allows.... go for a Helix Floor or LT and call it a day! Just my opinion here... but if your XT Live still works fine and all you can afford is an HD500x..... spend the little extra money on an HX Stomp and run it in the loop if the XT Live. Use the Stomp for all the amp models and a few extra effects.... and keep the XT for the stuff you like (delays, modulation, etc...). Connect a midi cable between the two and the patch changes on the XT will change the patch on the Stomp.... just that all fall naturally (don't try to change how it works) and line the patches up to work with each other. There is nothing wrong with the HD500x.... as PianoGuyy says above, if you can't get a tone that works with that the problem is not the device. BUT - the HX devices have IR capability and nicer overdrives/distortions/fuzz, amps/cab than the HD500 so it adds the "state of the art" things you don't like about the XTL to the things you do like about the XTL.

Thanks, seems like a good group of folks here! Helix was love at first sight for me, so I've been working with it a lot.

Earlier in this thread I posted that rather than use the pad... I would just insert a GAIN control in the first block and attenuate that as needed for higher gain guitars.... BUT my thought process has now changed. According to DI (Digital Igloo) the INPUT PAD is an analog pad applied prior to the A/D conversion so I now keep it on. At the very least... it's a safety net in case you swap out for a particularly hot instrument... but I also know that the digital realm likes to have headroom, there is NO HARM in coming in a little softer and compensating later. I still keep a GAIN control in the first block... but now I use it to "increase" the level for lower output guitars rather than attenuate for higher output guitars.

Don't get too excited for imminent polyphonic pitch shifting, or getting a hint about a time frame, for that matter. ..L6 has never divulged much of anything, and they're not starting today. As you can see this thread is about as old as Helix itself, and guys have been clamoring for this since day one. Yet here we are 3+ years hence, "pitch-shiftless" if you will, lol. If it's really a "must" for you, the Digitech Drop is really your only viable option.

Maybe he plays in a fusion jazz band that has no vocals. Not everyone mics everything up. Most bands in small bars don't mic lollipop.

Just what you say you did - run through the Helix Jazz Chorus 120 model and listen out for artifacts arising from pushing the front of the model too hard - slight fartiness in the low strings and scratchiness in the high strings. I'm amazed you can get EMGs to sound good through the JC 120 with the pad off. For a good, crystal-clean tone, even with low-wind PAFs, I prefer the pad on for best results. With a bridge JB, I *need* the pad on or it sounds crappy. All you need to do is increase the gain at the end of the chain, either with a gain block or by tweaking the output gain parameter. That way, you get (imho) much cleaner cleans, but no loss of gain with the pad on. What you take away at the beginning of the chain, you add back in at the end. I'm getting an impression that the high gain fraternity are less sensitive to input gain issues than the rest of us :-)

I found myself wondering about exactly that a couple of years (!?!) ago. Some good reading for you here:

That's interesting. So not just me then who feels that some fine tuning of input gain is worth the effort. Tonight I'll experiment with the gain block approach vs the pad. It's logical and more flexible, so if *all* the pad does is a ~5dB gain cut - no special tonal sauce - then the gain block is the way to go, I suppose.

I was leaving it off but I noticed recently that my clean sounds were kind of harsh. I tried adding a compressor (which I hate to do) and that didn't work. Finally it dawned on me to try the pad and it instantly made my clean tones better. I am using fairly high output pickups (EVH). I don't really hear much of a difference with distorted tones. Listen to your ears and try out all of your guitars before you decide. I still don't understand exactly what the Pad feature does, technically.

Just push-turn the knob of the parameter you want to adjust. It will get brackets around it and then just turn the knob to change the parameter value in each snapshot.