amsdenj

I believe these design changes were to reduce size and weight, and improve reliability. USB-C provides two way power, high speed two-sided cable. Its unfortunate these design decisions have some drawbacks, but overall, these are reasonable choices.

Check the guitar input impedance, that might be the problem.

A Variax with the 1/4" cable, using one of the old Variax external power supplies, would work well with Helix FX.

And this seems like a key missing feature of HX Effects. All the physical connections are there, and possibly most of the internal hardware. USB audio couldn’t have added that much cost and would have been a nice feature.

No problems here.

I put SVL Daytona’s on my JTV-69S and love the result. I’m in the process of changing the neck now. This guitar is my main gigging instrument and worth the investment to me.

Pure speculation: but I don’t think the technology of the Variax itself is the issue. Rather I think the limitation is in the process of capturing the models. I don’t know for sure, but I suspect the underlying technology that Variax is based on is Impulse Responses that transform piezo pickup tones into different guitar tones. Its the technology used to capture these IRs that is likely the problem. I’m guessing that’s what hasn’t advanced. That said, my JTV-69S is my goto guitar. I love what I can do with the models that wouldn’t be possible with any other instrument. We should be focusing on what is really unique we can already do instead of just wishing for something shiny and new (but of course I want that too).

https://jimamsden.wordpress.com/2018/06/19/wet-dry-wet-setup-with-helix/

I have also found that my Standard has gotten better with use. It still doesn't play as well or sound as good (on the models) as the JTV--69S, but it is better than it was. Perhaps clang tone can be variable. Make sure the saddles are clean and well seated, and the string is going over the saddle properly.

I have a Standard and a JTV-69S. The Standard has a bit of clang tone - that resonator sound you mentioned, but my JTV-69S doesn't. I have no problems using it with Helix and often switch between acoustic and electric models, and open tunings. I wouldn't gig without it.

Get MainStage, it works great with Helix Native and all the Logic Pro X plugins. MIDI configuration is very powerful and reasonable simple (much simpler than Logic Pro X). Mac OS also comes with a simple VST/AU host called AU Lab.app. You can use that with Helix Native too.

My band uses an X32-Core for the PA, so my backup is Helix Native since we have to have a computer anyway. The SD16 that feeds the X32-Core on my side of the stage has a High-Z input that I can use. This is routed into a MainStage concert that has Helix Native as well as JamOrigin MIDI Guitar2. This runs into a pair of aux inputs into the X32-Core through its USB interface. There would be no MIDI control, but I could get by without stomp control if needed. For longer periods without Helix, I would use my Apogee GiO for I/O and MIDI control. But I don’t bother bringing that to gigs as a backup. I was initially concerned about the reliability of the X32-Core and Helix. But its been 3 years now with gigs about twice a month, and no problems.

I think you’ll have better luck with Helix cab models and IRs. The woofer in a PA speaker isn’t a guitar speaker. Its designed to provide a fuller range in the low end so that with he horn you get closer to a full frequency flat response. There’s a lot of physical magic in good guitar speakers that aren’t necessarily the result of high quality components, full range components.

The differenence between EQ and compression is that EQ is static while compression (can be) dynamic. By this I mean that when you use EQ to cut lows and highs (to give more mid focus for guitar), those EQ setting effect the guitar signal regardless of the volume. Quiet passages will get the same tone shaping as loud passages. But often, that’s not what we want for guitar. When the guitar is turned down, we want a more scooped tone with low and high end boosted to give a nice full rich clean tone. As we turn the guitar up, and add distortion, we need the opposite: low cut to reduce mud, high cut to keep the distortion from being too fizzy and ice-pick, and mid focused to help make the louder leads cut through the mix. Now this could be done with a multi-band compressor. You could set the threshold and ratio for the low and high bands to compress more as the guitar is louder, providing the desired mid focus. But this doesn’t work well in practice. Partly this is because there’s likely a fair amount of distortion in most people’s clean tone. This is needed to give better sustain, and add some high frequency content the electric guitar just doesn’t produce and the typical guitar speakers are challenged to reproduce. This is kind of what an exciter does. If you put the compressor before any of this distortion, then any dynamic tone shaping it might do will be partially lost by clipping that comes after the compressor. If you put the compressor after this distortion, then it doesn’t see the guitar’s dynamic range as much and therefore doesn’t have as much to work with, limiting its overall effect. So the solution might be, don’t try to do this automatically with a multi-band compressor, do it manually with multiple distortion pedals into a clean amp to give you the tone shaping and dynamics you need. Use the gain staging of one to three distortion pedals into the front end of a gained up amp, plus the volume control on your guitar, to get a really wide range of dynamics and tone that are completely under your control. Where I think a multi-band compressor might be really useful is for mostly clean tones that have a wide (clean) dynamic range. Think of a Strat into a Twin Reverb. You could use the multi-band compressor to tame some of the lows and highs as the guitar volume is turned up, hitting compressor harder and making a more mid-focused tone. But once distortion is introduced, this may not work that well.

You could be dealing with phase cancellation. When you split a signal into parallel paths, and process them differently, they will eventually combine. If they are out of phase, then there will be cancellations. That can be a useful part of the desired result, so its not necessarily bad. But it might not be good either. Make sure your IRs are phased aligned. If they come from different providers, they might not be aligned and this could cause undesirable cancellation.

I was a long time user of JBL D120F. I have four of them in storage I’d love to find a good home for. I used them years ago in two 2x12 cabinets. But they were a bit harsh and loud for the style I eventually started playing. I have tried the Redwirez model and it seemed to reproduce what I remember pretty well. Their IRs are quite good, I wouldn’t hesitate to use them.

The simple secret is turn it up. Helix will sound a lot more like the original amp if the SPL is similar. You can’t get great guitar tone out of anything that’s quiet. The tone and feel comes from moving air and is totally subjective, something evolution contributed to keep us alive.

The mid-focus frequencies for guitar are between 400 and 2k Hz expanding to between 120 and 5k Hz. But this is pretty subjective, just a rough guide. Generally guitar fits in the mid frequencies, out of the way of the bass, nice and distinct/articulate, and not ice-picky bright. Let other instruments in the band fill in these other frequencies. Note that distortion adds a lot of high order harmonics that contribute a lot of high frequency content that wouldn’t otherwise be there. Controlling the bass into distortion and the treble after distortion is the key to managing guitar tone. This is why Teemah! Is such a nice pedal. Bass cut is before clipping, and treble cut is after clipping. Plus you can choose symmetric or asymmetric clipping which helps voice the distortion. I always thought the only way to get a great woody/warm guitar tone was with a pushed poweramp, just the right magic speakers and an open back cabinet (to reduce muddy bass). Then I heard Matt Schofield. He gets a fantasticly warm tone out of a Strat with single coil pickups using a mostly clean amp and multiple gain staged pedals. Check out the great interview on That Pedal Show to see how he does it.

I put a Super-Vee Mag-Lock on my Variax Standard and JTV-69S. The reason is that I’m an occasional tremolo user, but prefer a hard tail so then bends on one string have no effect on other strings. My Strat Delixe has a Hipshot Tremsettter and I really like it on that guitar. The Mag-Lock works well on the JTV-69S. It makes the tremolo bar a little stiff, but I don’t mind that. If you really like smooth, easy tremolo, this probably isn’t for you. It doesn’t work as well on the Standard because it trends to exaggerate the play in the tremolo bar. You’ll need more plumber’s tape, and will need to change it more often.

One more thing to add to this topic. Above I talked about preamp and power amp distortion. There’s some flexibility there for voicing the distortion. For example, the presence control will boost highs when the power amp isn’t clipping, but has almost no effect when it is (because the power amp has no remaining gain to process negative feedback). If there are two gain controls, then often at least one will have a bypass cap that can boost highs when the control is turned down. This can be used to control distortion voicing depending on which gain stage is contributing the distortion - the first or second. But this is pretty limited. Of course you can use EQ after the amp to do most anything. But for simplicity, you can use an on the edge of distortion amp for clean tones, and pedal distortion blocks in front for a lot of flexibility. That’s because most distortion pedals have tone controls that can be used to sculpt the distortion voicing in very specific ways. And turning the pedal off removes them from the signal chain. Some modern amps with multiple channels and tone voicing switches can also do this. But distortion pedals often have more flexibility. Its also easy to stack them for even more control

Adding to this: sometimes too much choice isn’t a good thing. If you record dry, then of course you can re-amp to do anything, and Helix Native and/or S-Gear are great for this. But when you mix, you can get stuck re-amping forever trying to find that elusive tone. I’d suggest a compromise where you spend the time getting the tone the performer wants and needs to play the part, then record the dry and wet tracks at the same time. Then you can use what was recorded for the performance and if there’s something really wrong, you can still go down the re-amp route. Getting it right at the source is the first rule of mixing. And one more thing, try to record electric guitar by monitoring though actual monitor speakers so the guitar physically interacts with the amp. This has a significant impact on tone, sustain and feel, and really influences how one plays.

My guess is that they’ve reached some modeling and technology limitations that are barriers to significantly improved Variax models. There’s also the experience from moving from the 1.x to 2.0 HD models. Some people preferred the old models and that create a lot of discussion that probably didn’t lead to increased sales. Its possible that the same thing could happen on the next “improvement”. But its also likely that Line6 has been consumed with other things including becoming part of the Yamaha Guitar Group, and the Ampeg acquisition. This is likely a big deal. Let’s hope there’s room for Variax improvements in the future. I’ve made a big investment in my JTV-69S with new pickups and new neck. But I don’t feel bad about that, new models or not since its easily my go-to gigging guitar.

I have Helix and HelixFX. I use Helix routinely for acoustic because I generally play three instruments in an acoustic setting: acoustic guitar (sometimes Variax 700 Acoustic), mandolin and electric guitar. So Helix provides all the inputs I need and tones. Helix FX is really best used as front of the amp effects for a traditional guitar amp. Either can be used for acoustic guitar because you can include acoustic body IRs which I always use. Looping is also a consideration. Basically its a question of what you need now and what you might need in the future.

I use Logic Pro X, and find that it has the capabilities and ease of use I was missing from SONAR. But I think cross platform is important for collaboration. That leads to Reaper or Presonus Studio One. Note that even though you might be using the same DAW, you might not have the same plugins. Plan on worst case importing raw tracks and creating your own mix. Conversion between DAWs isn’t really viable, and probably never will be. There’s no motivation to do it, and its pretty complicated. Regarding interfaces, any modern interface will do a pretty good job. They all have reasonably good preamps, and relatively low latency. That’s a big change from 5-10 years ago and is a real blessing. So get an interface that has the audio and MIDI inputs you need for tracking and don’t worry too much beyond that. Helix Native and S-Gear are necessary plugins for guitar. Cerberus bass amp is also wonderful.

In summary, stand out in the mix by: focusing on what the song needs from section to section, making sure what you and everyone else is playing reinforces the song. Do this from the perspective of the whole, in addition to your particular part play something different than the other guitarist, do this as part of your band’s arrangement of the song. Sometimes less is more. use a different guitar or different pickups. In a two guitar band, having one guitarist use double coils and another single creates a nice complimentary contrast between mid focused and scooped. Use neck vs. bridge pickups, there’s a lot of tone variation there that can help distinguish parts use different amps and cabinets to compliment sounds use EQ to cut/boost each guitar at complimentary frequencies: boost guitar one at the same frequencies you cut guitar two. A little goes a long way beware of low-mid buildup, everyone’s competing for those same frequencies. Low and high cut can provide mid focus without adding volume to cut through a mix. beware of what sounds good by yourself, it often won’t sound good in a mix. Set patches and play in context. But most important, stand out by turning everything else down at appropriate times. Be heard by cutting what’s not needed rather than boosting what is needed. The latter leads to volume escalation that ends up in one loud jumbled mess.