Leaderboard

Live Ready Sound has very good IRs. Here is a demo I did, which I also posted as its thread:

Here's the latest HX Edit manual, corresponding to firmware v2.82. https://line6.com/data/6/0a020a4024285d8d400160c84/application/pdf/HX Edit Pilot's Guide - English .pdf

When you connect Helix via USB to your laptop it becomes your PC's soundcard; your internal soundcard is bypassed. By default your DAW (recording program) should recognize Helix and its ASIO driver as the audio device. If this does not happen automatically you may have to do it manually in your DAW's Audio Devices Configuration/Prefernces area. This is particularly important if you use Audacity because its default is to use a pseudo-ASIO driver called ASIO4ALL. Avoid using that because it is known to cause problems in some situations. Because your Helix becomes the soundcard for both audio input and output you will need to connect your speakers or headphones to the Helix outputs. Your internal laptop mic/line inputs and speakers will be bypassed. In your DAW, when you create a new audio track and arm it for recording you will need to select the Input Source. Helix has 8 independent channels that you can select from. For details check the manual's Global Settings section, particularly the subsections that describe DAW, Recording, and ASIO.

Same here. Opened a ticket last Saturday March 14. Still waiting for a reply from Line6...

Definitely need more snaps. I just got the Morningstar MC6 MKII midi controller. And I have it set up to access 5 snaps and the tuner. It's awesome. But of course 2 of the snaps are on a different preset so I lose trails from the delay with them. I could easily put all of them on one preset, but being limited to 3 snaps screws me. :( I'd also like to see the name of the snapshot displayed on the Stomp screen instead of the name of the preset when in stomp view. Having the preset name and just a number for the snap sucks visually.

@Line6Tony What do you mean by new ? Are they just "old" hardware with latest firmware ? Is line6 aware of the the poor battery life with the latest firmware ?

I also felt that the battery life of the transmitter was significantly reduced, after updating all the firmware of the G10s. I suspect that the Line6 simply reduced the maximum charging limit itself to prevent overheating. If I knew that the battery duration would change, I would never update since i never had a problem :( If this is obviously due to the firmware, I need a way back to the previous firmware. I also need to create a support ticket. BTW, Will they change the battery life specification in the package and manual???

The one in the editor? Oh wait..... ; )

So, support ticket open for me too, we'll see what's going on

Thank you amsdenj, many people will be reading this thread with more accurate explanations than could be found before. Here is a link with what I think the best technical explanation of Bias Excursion, Grid Clipping, Blocking Distortion on the internet. https://robrobinette.com/Tube_Guitar_Amp_Overdrive.htm

It occurs to me that a lot of readers of this forum might not know what bias actually is and why they should care. Changing the Bias and Bias X controls on a Helix amp block might not do that much to the tone, depending on how hard the amp is pushed. Understanding what bias is might help you understand what these controls do. Here's a brief description of bias that might provide a context for understanding what it does in Helix. Tubes amplify by heating up a cathode that boils off free electrons. These electrons pass through a grid and are attracted to a positive plate, creating a current in the tube. A small change in voltage on the grid can effect a much larger change in voltage on the plate which is an amplifier. Now imagine an alternating input voltage on the grid. On the negative half of the input voltage, electrons will be repelled by the grid back to the cathode, reducing the current through the tube. On the positive half of the input voltage, electrons will be accelerated past the grid to the plate, increasing the current through the tube. This is how a tube amplifies an input signal. Now a tube has operating limits based on how it is designed - how hot the cathode can get, how big the plate is, how far away from the cathode it is, etc. If you keep increasing the negative voltage on the grid, eventually the electron flow will stop, and at that point increasing the input further results in no corresponding further decrease in the output. This is called cutoff. Its very sharp, and results in a lot of odd order harmonics. If you increase the positive voltage on the grid, it will attempt to push electrons faster and faster to the plate. But eventually the plate won't be able to consume any more of the electrons and the output won't continue to increase with the input. This is called saturation. Saturation distortion is more gradual, less sharp and generates even order harmonics. Bias is a voltage difference between the cathode and grid that establishes the operating point of the tube between saturation and cutoff. Normal bias sets the voltage so that the tube is operating over its linear region. Hot bias reduces the bias voltage, allowing more current to pass through the tube when there is no input - the quiescent current. This makes the tube tend to saturate earlier. Colder bias increases the bias voltage allowing less current to pass through the tube when there is no input, giving the tube more headroom, but increasing the chance that it will reach cutoff.

Apologies ... I didn't mean to "get at you" ... although, with hindsight, my words do seem a little sarcastic and "pointed" ... I'm sorry about that ... there was never any offence intended, I assure you. However, your response has significant merit as, IMHO, it is indicative of a problem that we all face as contemporary musicians. There is so much gear available (even from a single company such as Line 6), that it's pretty much impossible to review it all, let alone derive valid conclusions, comparisons and commentary. Indeed, managing to keep up with all the information relating to the XT, X3 and HD series, is praiseworthy in its own right. So, as for "missing the Firehawk"; well, let's just say, "That's understandable" (and probably a very wise move). As above, my apologies if you found my words intimidating in any way.

I can't answer the detailed technical questions but can maybe provide some useful guidelines. Biased hot: Stronger overall output, more lows, not as much clean headroom, more saturation and less cutoff distortion, more even order harmonics, tubes wear out faster. Biased cold: Weaker, thin, harsh output, Lows aren't as strong, more clean headroom overall, more cutoff and less saturation distortion, more odd-order harmonics, and the tubes don't breakup as fast. I don't know what the range of the Bias control is, but I would expect 5 to be where the tubes are normally biassed, 0 is colder, 10 is hotter - but how hot/cold is unknown. The above applies to typical Fender, Vox and Marshall amps where the majority of the distortion is coming from the power tubes, and where negative feedback is lost (because the power tubes are clipping and have no more gain), and therefore damping factor be lower. For modern high gain amps where most to the distortion is coming from the preamp section, power tube bias can have a very different impact. A slightly colder bias might tighten up the amp, and improve the transient response. Hotter bias might result in less controlled tone and too much muddy bass. So biasing hotter for blues in small amps and biasing colder for metal in high-gain amps might be something to try. Bias excursion is caused by distorting power tubes causing increased grid current which charges the coupling capacitor between the phase inverter and power tube, which changes the bias of the power tubes. When the input stops, the coupling capacitor slowly discharges allowing the power tube bias to recover. This could make an amp that is biased hotter, become colder biased as it is pushed further into distortion, changing the color of the distortion. Maybe when the hotter biased power tubes are pushed to the edge of breakup there might be warmer even order harmonics, and better bass. As the tube is pushed harder the bias gets colder, there might be more odd order harmonics for more aggressive sounding distortion, and the bass might be reduced.

Didn’t know we could do 5 snapshots but dividing some to another preset! What a great idea! Yes a name on the Snapshot preset would definitely be on my list of to have too.