amsdenj

Depends on what you're trying to accomplish. Putting boost before distortion lets the boost help shape the saturation and sustain from the distortion. Putting boost after distortion provides a volume boost, but doesn't otherwise change the tone (assuming its going into a clean amp - otherwise its just part of a multi-part gain staging).

I have some footswitches that act up a little once in a while, mostly with multiple activations on a single press. These can get dirty with a lot of use. But they are self cleaning if you just press straight up and down a few times. This usually fixes the problem. My Helix has gotten a lot of club use in the last 3 years and its never had any problems in live use. I’ve come to really trust it, but I do have backup - Helix Native in the computer that runs our PA, or HX Stomp.

Try this: https://jimamsden.wordpress.com/2016/01/04/using-helix-as-an-effects-pedal-board/

Variax models, volume, tone, and string tunings are all parameters of the input block. Like any other parameter, these can be assigned to controllers: buttons, expression pedals, snapshots, MIDI messages, etc. So for example, you can use a footswitch to control the tuning of the B string to create a B-bender effect. I addition, Variax volume and tone can be used as controllers for other Helix parameters. The Variax is a fantastic gigging concept. If Line6 did two things, it would be much better: 1) allow the creation of a Variax model that exposes the raw piezo pickups so we can leverage instrument IRs in Helix with Variax and 2) create HX versions of the models with more instrument choices to improve the quality and variety of instruments available.

In theory, an IR could turn an acoustic guitar into a banjo. However, variation the source (guitar construction, pickups, etc.) don't provide a standard acoustic guitar tone that the IR could use as a consistent source. So in practice, this would be difficult. A Variax is your best option.

There is no input gain adjustment on HX Stomp, and no pad switch as on Helix. However, the HX Stomp input is designed to take a pretty wide range of guitar outputs without clipping. If you have a guitar with really hot active pickups, this might be a problem. But its likely a typical double-coil pickup with typical output specs isn't going to need a pad on HX Stomp.

The advantage of IRs is that you can have a completely different IR for mic position and distance. Helix cab models appear to have no support for mic position and appear to emulate mic distance by modifying a single IR with EQ. But moving the mic to cap, cap-edge, cone, cone-edge can have a huge impact on the tone. Helix cabs seem to be pretty bright, perhaps because they used a cap IR in order to get the most high end, and then rely on high-cuts to adjust. This is not the same as cap-edge or cone mic positions, or off axis. The cab models also have early reflections which add some room to the tone. Redwirez has IRs for room mics which you can use mixIR to blend with other IRs to get a similar effect. It's really all about the tone you need. IRs provide a lot of flexibility, but at the cost of constructing and auditioning a lot of different choices, many of which make pretty subtle differences. If you can get a tone you like using Helix cab models, then don't fret too much about what you might be missing from some optimized IR. Focus instead on playing more. That said, I use IRs for all my patches as I simply prefer them over the cab models.

This is supported in recent Helix versions, except for Variax firmware updates. That still requires the VDI interface.

You could also consider JamOrigin's MIDI Guitar 2 which does not require any hardware on the guitar.

Here's a picture of the patch and how to set the A/B split to separate the L and R inputs: You can drag the merge block down to create a separate output, but you can't drag the split block down to create a separate input.

If I remember right, this doesn't work on HX Stomp. Rather its has a L/R Input that feeds the stereo path. When you move a block down to path B, you can move the split block to the beginning and the merge block to the end of the path. Then you adjust the A/B split volumes to control which input goes to with path. I use this to run guitar and mandolin into HX stomp at the same time.

If you have Helix and HX Stomp, then you can have two HX Edit windows open at the same time and can use one of them as the source for copying you template blocks into your target without having to switch patches. Helix and Helix Native will work this way too.

I use DAW or Orban Loudness Meter over USB. You can also use a dB meter on your phone with your FRFR. Works great and is very simple and easy to use.

This identifies the core missing capability - the ability for a preset to reference some other preset, and override only certain blocks. Then we could build a generic preset that gets reused in many different variants, but update the reused blocks in only one place and have all those changes appear in all other presets through references. You can do this today, but you need to do it by manually editing the JSON files.

The reason for this difference is that if the EQ is between the preamp and power amp, then it's shaping the tone out of the preamp, and into the power amp. If the power amp is not clipping, this won't make much difference. But if it is, and there's sag and bias changes, then what hits the power amp can have a lot of impact on how it distorts. That can be good or bad. The real Boogie put the EQ between the preamp and power amp because that was really the only practical choice. But with Helix, you can put the same EQ block before and/or after the amp for more tone shaping options. As a general rule, cutting bass and boosting treble before distortion and doing the opposite after distortion stages helps reduce low-end mud and high end ice pick, while providing a nice clean tone when backing off the guitar volume. With Helix, we have the flexibility to try these things that would have been difficult in the hardware domain. Of course EQ after the amp was common in studio and live sound situations, just not with the guitar amp itself as a backline.

If it sounds fine with the magnetic pickups then either the piezo pickup isn’t seated properly, is not soldered in properly, or is partially defective.

I’d re-install the firmware and reset all the models on any Variax I bought to set to factory settings. Then adjust the global string volumes to match the string outputs. Then start playing with WorkbenchHD to make model changes.

I believe you can do all these things.

Short answer: 1. https://line6.com/customtone/browse/helix/ provides lots of tones to experiment with. But don’t be afraid to create your own, its easy. 2. For beadroom guitarist, Helix floor is fine, but you might want to consider HX Stomp if that meets your needs. Its only three footswitches and 6 blocks, but provides all the same Helix models 3. You have lots of options: run Helix as a pedal board in front your amp (like a traditional pedalboard), run Helix in 4CM for effects in front of the preamp and between the preamp and power amp, or run Helix into the amp’s effects return with amp models. But for beadroom use, ditch the bing 4x12 monster and use the amp models in Helix directly into your computer monitors or headphones. 4. Connect Helix or HX Stop with USB to your computer and you have a great audio/MIDI interface. Nothing else needed.

Agree 100%

Do you have HX Stomp selected as the audio input device? Have you selected the proper input channel? Do you have input monitoring turned on?

Interesting idea. This allows you to use presets to overcome the 6 block limitation for most tones, and use snapshots to control the effects within a given patch. Since you can do anything with snapshots that you can do with stomp foots switches and more, using snapshots instead of stomp foot switches makes sense for controlling three different tones. In Snapshot mode, you can press FS1+FS2 to access the previous bank of three presets, and FS2+FS3 to access the next bank of three presets. You can't do this from stomp mode without bending down and pressing some buttons. If you press two foot switches at the same time in stomp model, this will do whatever each foot switch does at the same time - toggle two settings - just what you would expect. I wouldn't want to change that. Once you select a preset, HX stomp automatically goes back to snapshot mode in that preset, where you are able to again select three different snapshots for three different tones in that patch. FS4 and FS5 can still be used for stomp type controllers if needed, independently of the snapshots. I see three issues with this. First there's no tap tempo. You can get to the tuner by pressing ACTION and PAGE> together, but you can't tap the tempo for effects that sync to the tempo. That may not be a big problem in many cases, and is consistent with most traditional modulation and delay effects that didn't have tempo sync. I've heard many great players say that syncing the delay repeats to the song tempo isn't all that necessary in many cases. Second there's the problem of the reliability of accurately pressing the two foot switches at the same time. If you miss, you're going to pick the wrong snapshot or scroll to the wrong group of 3 patches. It takes some practice to get this right. Third, three snapshots give you three tones, one for each snapshot. Two stomp foot switches (leaving FS3 for Tap tempo) gives you 4: all possible combinations of FS1 and FS2 (2**(number of foot switches)). Three foot switches give you 8 different tonal combinations, not 3. Of course any individual patch can combine the two. You can still setup FS1 and FS2 (and FS4 and FS5) for stomp controllers, and have FS1, FS2 and FS3 do similar things with snapshots. Then no matter what mode you're in, you have reasonable and consistent control of the tone. If you only need to change patches between songs, then maybe bending down and turning the upper knob in play view to select the patch isn't that inconvenient. In my acoustic band, I mostly only change patches when I change instruments (mandolin, acoustic guitar, electric guitar). So bending down to turn the knob is fine, and something I routinely do with Helix because it was often faster than pressing the mode switch, selecting the patch, then pressing the mode switch again to get back to stomp mode. But at my age, bending down is getting harder all the time! So options are good.

There hasn’t been much new for us Variax users for quite some time. That’ a pity because there’s nothing on the marker that can do what a Variax does for a gigging musician. Variax is so close to being fantastic, its too bad it hasn’t gotten incremental improvements to push the technology over the top they way Helix did with the HD500 series of amp modelers. So here’a a fiew ideas on what a next generation Variax might look like. Hopefully this will generate some discussion and customer demand that will help Line6 justify some new development in the Variax line. Miniaturization: Use HX Stomp engineering to significantly reduce the hardware footprint of the Variax while increasing its DSP capacity. Leverage this new hardware component to make it very easy to install Variax hardware in almost any existing guitar. This might require some routing and a new back plate, but I think we all prefer the flexibility of Variax in our own favorite instruments. Stick to the four knob layout of the Variax Standard to fit on guitars that typically have four knobs (volume, tone, model selector, tuning selector) On guitars with two knobs, use a mode switch on the knobs to change between volume/model selector and tone/tuning selector - this will take some engineering on the control, but would simplify functional layout on the guitar. Ensure VDI and 1/4” outputs sound the same and VDI faithfully reproduces the magnetic pickups into Helix Support option for VDI guitar impedance modeling and simulate treble rolloff for different lengths of cable and different cable capacitance. Support more customization slots, or better yet, just treat all blocks in the guitar the same way and use presets to load whatever block the user needs into whatever switch position they want. Allow Impulse Responses for guitar models. These can include IRs for body, pickup, acoustic bodies, mandolin, acoustic bass, etc. There’s a growing market for instrument IRs Variax should be able to leverage this. Include a model that provides access to the raw piezo pickups so that Variax can leverage IR blocks in the Helix line as well as other models for additional flexibility Support Line6 marketplace for purchasing guitar models and guitar IRs Expand the models available from Line6 (and maybe others from the marketplace) and let users choose which ones to load into their guitars. This allows the existing model to be retained for backward compatibility while opening up the possibility for new models. Its ok to have more models than what can fit into the guitar at one time. Allow additional guitar models to be loaded as part of Helix presets (just like different blocks in Helix). This will require much faster model load time that is currently available from Workbench. And finally, and most important, improve the body, pickup and acoustic models to make them “HX” quality. Do this by expanding the models available in while retaining the current 1.9 and 2.0 models if anyone wants to use these. There’s no reason to not have the choice to retain what was while opening up new opportunities. These models should just be Variax “blocks” that can be loaded as presets from Helix or Workbench HX.

All excellent points. But there are also a lot of people who use Helix the same way they would use a pedalboard in front of a traditional guitar amp and cabinet, with some studio effects in the PA. This might be especially true of performers that have a signature tone. Presets are great, and preset per song is certainly a valid way to go. But I don’t work that way. I try to have a signature tone and use a consistent set of effects to augment that tone in different situations. So I tend to use a single, somewhat complex patch that looks a lot like a traditional pedalboard into an amp. This is real easy to use live. I don’t have to hunt around for a special preset if the set list changes, I just play and use the effect I need. The biggest issues with presets are: Audio gaps and loss of tails when switching presets making With HX Stomp, likely the need to bend down to change the preset Redundancy in settings and high overhead for making the same change in all configured presets Again, the key point is that just two extra blocks goes a long way to enabling HX Stomp to be used this way, without adding much additional complexity. Its that flexibility I’m looking for. Helix allows 16 blocks on Path 1, for path A and B. I’m not looking for that, just 8 total. Note: one way #3 above could be addressed is if Line6 allowed presets to have block references to blocks in some other patch (or block template). Then a change in that block would be inherited in all presets that reference it. You change the block parameters in one place and it updates all presets. Today you have to do that by editing the JSON files.

Presets are certainly a good solution. No, I don’t need chorus (for example) on every song, nor do I need a lot of modulation effects on at the same time. I have setup presets with the different effects I need and this works fine. But its not that convenient since you have to plan out the songs and patches ahead of time, and we try to keep gigs flexible, playing to the crowd at the moment rather than following rigid set lists. If you’re using a Mission Line6 pedal to control one of the stomps, then there’s no way to use FS4 or FS5 to control the footswitch mode. So you’d have to bend down to select a different patch. You could use a MIDI controller, but that’s getting pretty complicated, better to just bring the Helix. There will always be a compromise and collaboration between the music demands and hardware capability. This just seems like a case where a couple more blocks adds a lot of musical flexibility with pretty minimal additional hardware complexity.