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This seems to be a question about gain staging, which is a whole world of its own. In the digital world there is an opportunity for clipping and harshness to occur at virtually all points in your signal flow, especially if you increase a block's Level parameter above 0db. This can potentially overdrive the input of any following block(s) causing clipping and harshness. The Stadium's Output block will tell you if/when clipping is occurring, as described in the manual. If it is, you need to identify which block(s) in the signal chain is causing it and reduce the output level of that block. In my experience the best way to do that is to bypass all blocks and listen to the effectively dry incoming signal. If the Output block still shows clipping then you need to reduce the level of the incoming signal from external equipment, or address it in the Input block by lowering the Trim parameter. After all blocks are bypassed and the Input Trim is reduced if required, then you begin to turn the processing blocks ON one at a time. I generally begin with the amp . If that introduces clipping at the Output block you need to lower the Gain, Level, or Master level - or perhaps the Tone stack levels - in the amp block. These interact with each other so you may need to adjust more than one. Then I move on to the cab block which can introduce fizz and harshness. Experiment with mics, and Hi/Low cut levels. Once the Output block is no longer clipping with amp/cab active, and you don't find the tone too harsh, you can move on to other blocks in the preset. Continue to activate them one at a time. If clipping appears at the Output block, lower the levels in the offending block. Rinse and repeat until your preset no longer shows clipping at the Output block. Tedious? Yes. But learning how to properly gain stage your signal path is a critical part of preset and tone development. The art of Gain Staging is not specifically a Line 6 or Stadium topic. It's a general audio engineering art/skill. Google and/or your favourite AI agent can help you learn more.

This is a comprehensive set of new feature requests. The official way to submit such requests is here: https://line6.com/company/contact/productfeedback/ What I don’t understand is why you request these features in the context of so-called ‘worship’ music. Would they not be helpful in any other context? Perhaps I am a member of a Satanic Worship, or Death Metal, cult. I could use those features too. Why the exclusive approach? A cult is a cult, under any name.

Anyone else having compatibility issues with Windows and the Spider remote app? I cannot connect the device at all. Its clearly connected for sound as my laptop plays sound through it just fine, and the settings on the amp itself work fine but I cannot get the two to talk to each other. I have uninstalled and reinstalled, done all the usual stuff. It was working fine a couple of weeks ago but now wont connect at all. I did note that when I re downloaded the app, Windows had flagged the download as being unsafe (or words to that effect) so dont know if that has anything to do with it?

Not ideal but you could pick up an old laptop that runs an old OS that is compatible with the original Workbench program that is compatible with your Variax 700. That will allow you to create alternate tunings and store them with the model in your V700. The Helix LT will never be fully compatible with your V700 but in some cases it will successfully store and recall V700 models in LT presets. However this is not supported and may not work for you.

Now that you've excluded the power supply from the list of possible causes two things come to mind that you can give a try: 1) You mentioned you reseated the "main" ribbon cable. The HX Effects actually contains two primary ribbon cables: The wide main ribbon cable connecting the main processor board to the display/footswitch board. A smaller, secondary ribbon cable that specifically routes power and control data to the upper scribble strip/LCD assembly. If the main processor tries to boot, queries the secondary display board, and receives a short circuit or no response due to a bad connection, the bootloader will crash and force a reset loop. Open it back up. Disconnect both ribbon cables. Clean the gold contact fingers on the ends of the cables using 99% Isopropyl Alcohol and a Q-tip. Ensure they are seated absolutely straight and deeply into their Molex plastic collars before locking them down. 2) Because you just did an update while the unit was in a semi-broken state, it is possible there is a corrupted global settings file or "problem preset" causing a boot crash. Even with blank screens, you can force a hardware reset using the physical switches: Turn the unit OFF. Press and hold Footswitch 6 (top right switch) and the TAP switch simultaneously. Turn the unit ON while holding those down. Keep holding them for about 10-15 seconds. If it successfully clears the state, the boot loop might stop, allowing the displays to spring back to life. Good luck finding the cause of the issue, share if you find it.

The official method for bringing feature requests like this directly to the attention of Line 6 is here: https://line6.com/company/contact/productfeedback/

We all have heard by now that the JTV magnetic pickups should be between 6K and 8K DCR. We are told below that, the sound will be thin/weak, and above that, rolled off and dull. But that is not true for a "regular" guitar, the pickups sound as intended when wired in a typical guitar with volume and tone pots and pickup selectors. There is some variation with cap and pot values, but nobody recommends a narrow DCR range for a typical guitar unless you are trying to get a very specific sound. PAF? Fine. Duncan JB? Fine. Lipstick pickup? Fine. They sound how they sound, maybe you like it, maybe you don't, but there is no critical operating range for a standard guitar. From this, I conclude that the JTV electronics are not neutral/transparent compared to typical guitar wiring. When in magnetic mode, with or without a battery present, they are somewhere in the circuit and interact with the magnetics in a way that is different from your every day pots and caps. Has this every been discussed/disclosed here? I can't find it. Am I just wrong on my conclusion? If so, how to explain the 6K-8K range? Has anyone done any tinkering/testing to see how the circuit actually works?

I did a quick search and there doesn't seem to be a canned reese bass sound for the Helix. I'm assuming you're doing it on bass guitar. It's all subjective, but part of the sound is the vibrato, sometimes detuning, sub-octave (harmonizer to lower the pitch), some kind of a chorus, and distortion. All of these ingredients are available in the Helix. For detuning, you can use any harmonizer and harmonize it in unison with a few cents flat. I have personally used this trick on guitar to sound like bagpipes. With bass, if you do the detuning trick, then it will naturally start to pulsate, so you won't even need the vibrato effect; and you can dial in the rate by fine-tuning the out of tune note. Here's the detuned trick on guitar linked below, if interested.

Hey everyone, we wanted to share a beginner-friendly tutorial series for the Line 6 Helix Stadium on YouTube that we’ve been working on for over half a year! The course is completely free! Yesterday, we published the final episode of the series, so now feels like the right time to post about it here. The full series contains almost 2 hours of Helix Stadium knowledge, so if you want to learn something new, understand the unit better, or simply see whether the Helix Stadium is the right fit for you, we’d love for you to check it out. Across the whole course, we cover everything you need to know: hardware and navigation, presets and setlists, blocks and signal flow, building your first tones, snapshots, routing and stereo, Song View and automation, controllers and footswitches, the Command Center, and finally global settings, USB audio, and maintenance. We also included a lot of practical audio examples, real-world use cases, animations, and graphics to make everything easier to follow, especially for beginners. We put a huge amount of work, time, and our own knowledge into this series to make the content as clear, practical, and reliable as possible. The series is available both as individual episodes in a playlist and as one full tutorial video, depending on how you prefer to watch. We’d genuinely appreciate any feedback. Let us know what you think - we really hope this helps someone get more comfortable with the Helix Stadium and make better use of it! :) Tutorial on YT:

What silverhead said. Nexus is not a VDI connection for Variax, the D-10 has that. Use the Variax interface device in the meantime.

Line 6 Monkey has been retired as described in a banner at the top of this page. Stadium will support Variax models JTV and later with the pending release of the Expand D-10. I continue to use Workbench HD with my Helix Rack and JTV-59 on Windows 11 as desired. Mostly these days I use my Stadium Floor with my 59 on battery power. I await the D-10 for full Stadium/Variax integration.

At our rehearsal room, I use a Fender Blues Deville that lives there for monitoring purposes. I plug my Helix Stadium XLw/o IR in the path, into the the power amp in. Unfortunately, if I use a standard TS cable, I get a loud ground hum. Using a Fractal Humbuster cable, the hum goes away. Give this a try, if you are experiencing a similar issue.

Hi Thanks for the link All worked out great Just had to adjust the USB trim 1&2 to the required level … Thanks again

@boynigel You could just buy the ferrite clips, knowing your cord's diameter, for getting a few options when using various other types of power cords. https://www.amazon.com/Topnisus-Anti-Interference-High-Frequency-Suppressor-Diameter/dp/B01E6PLXZU?th=1

Hi See the section of the Helix Owner’s Manual regarding USB Audio on page 73. Your playback from the iPad and the Camera Connection Kit is via USB 1&2 through the Helix “Multi IN”, additional controls can be found on page 68, Global Settings In/Out - USB1&2 Destination, and USB1&2 Trim. https://line6.com/data/6/0a00051afda2673ccc1cc8e68/application/pdf/Helix 3.80 Owner's Manual - English .pdf Hope this helps/makes sense.

Without power, the relay default position is in passive mode, but it still goes through the main board circuitry, which is fixed, and not to be messed with,... before it goes to the output. The filters are fix, and one can't just put some gum-drop polyester capacitors in there without altering the impedance and filter curve. 6.5k or 7.8k is fine. Also, number of windings of the pick-up coils, gauge of the wire, etc,... plays a part in it as well. Too deep for me to go into here, would be an hour lecture on electronics,... don't want to put anyone through that, too much math. Best to stick with what is specified. There is some lee-way, but not much. Doing mods outside the boundaries on a JTV is not for the faint of heart. I've done a number of mods and Frankie Steins,... so I know the pitfalls. Tread carefully. Good luck.

Thank you for the response, I was hoping you would see this, I have read your contributions to this and other forums over the years and greatly appreciate your expertise and willingness to teach. Glad I was not totally off base with my assumptions. Here is one source of my confusion. You said the JTV has active circuitry, requiring a power source. But, we know that the JTV does not require a power source to pass the magnetic signal, ie, there is nothing active going on at least when the battery is dead or not in place. Under these "passive" conditions, why would there be a DCR range? I guess the active electronics, even when not powered, are able to pass the sound, but still contribute some impedance value? Or maybe there is a passive impedance matcher (like a passive DI) that is always in line and allows the mags to work with the active circuit and therefore always plays a role? Assuming we stay within the 6K to 8K range, would there be an audible difference between the mag sound going through the JTV electronics vs. if they were wired up in the same guitar with typical pot and cap values? In general, I find the JTV sounds a bit darker than what I would expect from the pickups I have in there. FYI, I have a Duncan SSL1 in the neck (6.5K) and a Gibson 57 Classic in the bridge (7.8K). Stock middle.

"... magnetic pickups should be between 6K and 8K DCR. ", and "... sound will be thin/weak, and above that, rolled off and dull. ", yes, correct, very much so. "But that is not true for a "regular" guitar", also correct. This being a guitar with active circuitry (require a power source), as a result, is not a 'regular guitar' with passive circuitry. Pick up companies will have a DCR spec for their products. The pick-up signal goes through the main board, then to the the jack plate. What is in between on the main board I cannot discuss (it's a non disclosure agreement (NDA) thing). I have posted on this subject a number of times, here and on the Facebook Variax group page. "Has anyone done any tinkering/testing to see how the circuit actually works? ", yes, many people have swapped out pick-ups and found out for themselves, and didn't like it. There is a difference in how active verses passive and active filters work, and impedance matching two disparate circuits is key tot that. And I've been the guy at Line 6 who has been doing service and repair on these since 2010. Have been dealing with active circuits for guitars since 1975-76 'ish.

AFAIK, Line 6 don't monitor this forum - you need to send a Feature Request https://line6.com/company/contact/productfeedback/

The setting that causes confusion is the ToggleExp setting in Global Settings > Footswitches > FS8 Function, set it to Stomp 8. ToggleExp is what "alternates from EXP1 to 2 with each pass of the ring and sleeve".

First: Where is a damn PDF on the OM? Seriously. Too big? Do it in chapters. Hullo? Any of the old salts still here? Set up took a couple of days. Part of it was the no QR-code glitch, part of it was networking tomf**kery, and part was because I have a life. But it's done. There is a sizeable gap from just onboarding the old setlists, hitting that trusty 11 Blu Eqyp preset, and expecting magic to occur, and fishing through 100+ IRs named way to similarly to one another and having it hit right. That was expected and, honestly, I have too many IRs. But this one IRs better. They sound more organic. Two days back I finally got into ground-up tone building. I have a handful of Lifeson builds I've done over the years and...honestly...they sound not-good now. My youngest has finally grokked Rush and, predictably, landed at Moving Pictures, so I decided to build a new Limelight preset. Here's where it gets good: So much less BS in this build. I got away with just a handful of blocks. OD>Amp>2 IRs>Pitch>Chorus>Delay>Reverb. On one path to the mixer and split into two FRFRs (mono). The biggest headache is that I keep expecting both the app and the box to act like the OG floor, but that's on me. The end tone is one I'm happy with and once I finish tweaking it I hope to be satisfied with it. That's huge. I'm putting the Floor back into it's ship box and throwing it up for sale. This is a keeper.

Glad you are happy with the new Unit. The O.G. Helix PDF Manual is still out there. The new one does not exist as a PDF but is entirely online. The entire eco-system of the Stadium is somewhat different than the O.G. Helix. I have gotten exact matches of the O.G. presets to come in perfectly into the Stadium and they sound great. But other times, they sound really bad. I have developed a whole new methodology for building presets in the Stadium. So far, It has been hit or miss on whether they sound better than they would on the O.G. Helix. But there is definitely more flexibility on the new Stadium. But those Agoura Amp models can chew up your DSP so you think that you are working on the old Helix. I have found many blocks seem to come through the mix more than the old Helix and I find myself dialing them back. I also have had some interaction between blocks work a little differently. An example is that I had a O.G Helix preset with an Autoswell block and a Compressor as I would get the compressor the flatten out and give the Autoswell block something to work with and it worked great on the O.G. Helix. But on the Stadium, the Compressor and Autoswell appear to fight each other and I found that I could put the Autoswell between the Amp and Cab and that worked better. Wierd. I am a modeler guy but some of the things that I have done to get the sound that is in my head are probably not what I would do with a real pedal board. I just like the idea of swapping out pedals and trying things out WAY easier than dealing with physical pedals. Experiment some, and if you don't like what you are getting - then try a different approach. Like the Compressor and Autoswell - I am not one for convention and what I think would make sense. if it works for you then share it on CustomTone. I think that presets should be free for all. The stuff I have paid for is good. But I can usually do better for free - sometimes, if it is worth the time and effort.

You could put a Gain block at the beginning of the chain and then add a Stomp button to toggle it on and off. Set the level of the Gain block to whatever boost is needed to bring it to the level of your high output guitar. You can even name the Stomp button to be "Strat" (or whatever name is appropriate). Save the Gain block with the settings and then its easy to plant the same block into new presets.

SOLVED! Wow what a bunch of hoops I had to jump through. 1. I had to "manage bitlocker" in windows settings to "suspend bitlocker" on my drive. 2. windows update>Advanced options>recovery>advanced startup and clicked "Restart" there. 3. On the startup screen "Troubleshoot>Advanced options> Startup settings" then restart again. 4. Option 7 on the startup screen "Disable driver signature enforcement" Then I logged in as normal, reinstalled the Variax USB Interface drivers and Workbench recognized my Variax.

Okay - figured it out. Needed to make sure that midi clock was turned "On" in the TimeLine parameters and that the Stadium was set to send midi clock. Works quite nicely!

The course is completely free!

The way I read it, some CCs are RESERVED for GLOBAL FUNCTIONS. These are called when CCs are sent on MIDI Channel 1. Use MIDI Channel 2 for USER ASSIGNED CCs.

Hi everyone, I’ve been closely following the recent launch of Neural Amp Modeler (NAM) Architecture 2 (A2) and the TONE3000 platform. Seeing that HeadRush has already announced native NAM support for their Prime, Core, and Flex Prime units, I was wondering if anyone has heard any news or official statements from the Line 6 team regarding a possible integration? As many of you know, NAM A2 is a fully open-source protocol (MIT licensed), which should make it easier for manufacturers to implement. According to recent industry tests, the A2-Lite architecture is efficient enough to run on budget chips while maintaining incredible accuracy, even outperforming traditional modeling in blind listening tests. Having native integration and access to the TONE3000 API would be a game-changer for the Helix ecosystem. It would allow us to: Load high-quality captures directly without lossy third-party conversions. Access a massive library of over 350,000 free tones directly from our devices. Keep our Helix/HX units at the forefront of the "open tone" era. Does anyone know if this is on the roadmap or if any staff member has commented on it? It would be amazing to see Line 6 embrace this technology and not stay behind its competitors in this new era of neural captures. Thanks!

Are all of your computers Windows 11? A recent update (maybe several) caused the problem. On one of my W11 boxes the problem was caused by a ".net Framework" update (KB5092427). Rolling back to a restore point previous to that update and preventing Windows Update from reinstalling it fixed the problem. On another W11 box I didn't have a similar restore point and simply uninstalling (KB5092427) didn't fix it. On my last remaining W10 box it's not an issue, USB MIDI works fine.

Hey! SOLVED! So, here's the final setting that works for me! You'll need: a Dunlop Mini Volume (X) MIni DVP4 a normal 1/4 TS cable, which is actually 6.3 jack cable patch. Follow the steps as downtowndalebrown suggested Step 1 - Open up the back of the Volume Pedal and make sure the dip switches are set to Exp and Ring Step 2 - In Global Settings on the HX Stomp, set Ring Polarity to Inverted. UPDATED step Step 3 - Plug the patch cable into the 1/2 EXP input jack of HX Stomp - Plug the other side of the cable in the AUX input jack of the DVP4 CONSIDERATIONS: It still doesn't work if I insert the TS cable in the OUTPUT input jack of the DVP4 I hope it will help

I know it's been discussed by Eric in interviews as a "maybe" (and it sounds to me like a "probably" from some of the interviews I've seen), but I feel like the more requests for NAM support, the more likely Line 6 might be pushed to include/finish it. I already submitted a feedback form. Anyone else interested can do so here.