amsdenj

When you first run HX Edit 2.51 and display its About page, it shows the version of an attached Helix and the version of HX Edit. The version of Helix will still be 2.3 (or whatever version is in your unit) until you update it with Line 6 Updater. The installation process has changed a little with 2.5. Be sure to follow the new instructions.

I would very much like to have the choice to show generic block type icons, or specific block icons. 32 blocks is a lot to distinguish when there are many of the same type in a complex signal path. As the number of blocks increase (as they will in 2.5), it will get harder and harder to distinguish elements of a signal path since there are so few block types and so many blocks. That is, a UI design that works for one scale doen’t necessarily work at a much larger scale.

A cut one place results effectively in boosts around the cut. But they’re not the same. Generally you cut narrow (higher Q) and boost wide as boosts trend to have more perceived impact than cuts. Cutting what you don’t want instead of boosting what you do want will both sound more natural, and improve downstream headroom. If you have any distortion blocks in the signal path, then generally cutting bass and increasing treble before the distortion, while boosting bass and cutting treble after distortion will provide a better overall tone. Balancing these cuts and boosts can help keep a natural tone when you turn the guitar volume down and the distortion cleans up. Cutting bass before distortion reduces mud, cutting treble after distortion reduces ice-pick and fizz.

I have both, and find the JTV much better. There's a lot of play in the tremolo arm of the Standard. you can correct it for a while by wrapping the threads in plumber tape. But you have to keep replacing the tape.

A small MIDI controller could be used to control the looper without changing the mode switch. But if you're going to do that, you might as well use a separate, more flexible looper in the effects loop or between Helix and your FRFR.

There are also utilities that can mix multiple IRs into the same file. You could use this to for example mix four different cabinet IRs together for a particular sound. And this would only take one IR block.

Sorry, I can read French OK, but not write it at all. Not enough use I guess. On MacOS, you can use Audio/MIDI Setup app to create and aggregate device for Helix and your Focusrite, this will let you use them both at the same time and preserve audio synchronization. Regarding the best way to input - Helix and Focusrite are both multi channel. By default Helix USB uses USB 1/2 for stereo output in Logic. If you use a stereo track in Logic, and stereo effects in Helix, you’ll get stereo. It use to be good advice to limit the number of A-to-D and D-to-A conversions you put your signal through in order to avoid signal degradation and noise. That’s not so much of a problem anymore. So Helix analog outputs into Focusrite would be fine. However an aggregate device would be better because it would eliminate the extra conversion and save your Focusrite inputs for some other purpose.

I have a set of JTV-69S pickups I would be willing to sell.

You might consider gain staging each of the input at between -18 and -12 dB, especially if you're using a digital mixer. This give plenty of headroom in each channel to avoid any (digital) clipping. But it also ensures that at the some of all those channels doesn't clip your master bus or any of the monitor busses.

I own four Variax guitars, and old black 300, a very nice 700 acoustic, a Standard, and a JTV-69S. Since I replaced the magnetic pickups in the JTV-69S with Jerry Amalfitano Daytonas, it has become my #1 gigging instrument - almost every song of every gig. I have a wonderful Strat Deluxe (with the same pickups) and a ‘67 Les Paul with Tom Holmes pickups. These don’t go on gigs anymore. My gig backup guitar is a black Epiphone Sheraton II Pro which I really like. Here’s how I think about the Variax: New technologies are interesting and enabling, but they often change fast. I just updated my 15†2012 MacBook Pro to a 2017. The delta between a mid 2000’s and early 2010’s MacBook Pro is pretty great. The delta from 2012 to 2017 wasn’t nearly as great. They’re both great computers. I have owned every generation of the POD series since the original POD 1.x all the way up to Helix. That’s five generations of hardware and firmware. Helix isn’t perfect, but its good enough that I suspect the next generation will not be the same delta as between the HD500 and Helix - which was pretty great. And Helix does a great job meeting my needs. There’s nothing I absolutely need that I can’t get from Helix. Variax is in its second generation. The modeling tones clearly have a way to go, even ignoring clang tone. Has the technology reached its limits? I hope not. I suspect a 3rd generation will make a significant difference - if there’s enough market to support the research and development. Since the biggest delta between 1st and 2nd generation Variax was the introduction of magnetic pickups and dual processors, I’m hoping the next delta will be more internal hardware and firmware changes that won’t result in significantly different physical guitars. I really hope that Line6 continues investing in Variax technology, and they help us preserve our investments in our instruments and them by ensuring the new hardware can be retrofitted into existing JTV instruments.

Variax is a good solution if you want Helix to change guitar pickups (as well as tunings, etc.) from a footswitch, snapshot, or patch. Typically getting it right at the source is sound advice. So picking the playing position and style, pick, strings and guitar pickup should be the first thing you do to get the desired tone. The next thing is the cabinet. The rest just fills in between these primary contributors to tone. Its the things that touch the air that matter the most in tone.

Setting Variax string volumes can be a lot easier using an RMS meter in your DAW. Just hook up your Variax to your Helix (you have a Helix of course!) and then go into your DAW using the raw guitar signal, no amp or effect blocks. “Calibrate†your DAW metering by using the magnetic pickups to see the different string volumes and how they react to picking. By calibrate, I mean just see what the magnetic pickups are doing, and use that as a reference for the models. You can also use different guitars with different pickups to see how they respond. I used my Strat and Les Paul to understand how magnetic pickups respond and the outputs they produce. I try to set the string volumes so the similar guitar models respond similarly. There are two places to set set string volumes, globally and in each model. I start by trying different models and seeing if there is a pattern in how the string volumes differ from the magnetic picks I used as a reference. Generally you’ll see a consistent set of differences that reflect how the different piezo pickups are picking up the string. The low strings are often too loud and the E and B string can’t keep up. There are lots of reasons these piezos will be different, perhaps significantly. They are very pressure sensitive. So how the string fits on the pickup, how the pickup seats in the bridge, and the variation in pickups can contribute to different levels, and even clang tone. Make the gross adjustments using the global string volumes as these apply to all models. You can only reduce the string levels, so you may need to apply some makeup gain to get the model producing the output you want - say to match the magnetic pickups. Make any individual model adjustments that might be needed for the particular model. I haven’t found any need to do this, but you might.

Note to my ears, the magnetic pickups on the Variax Standard are a bit better than the JTV-69S. I was surprised by that and decided not to migrate my left over JTV-69S pickups to my Variax Standard when I replaced them. Of course, that’s pretty subjective.

I have a pretty big investment in my JTB-69S, new magnetic pickups, new nut, really good setup, etc. Its a very nice guitar at the point, models or not. I sincerely hope that if Line6 produces a new Variax line, that the new hardware can be retrofitted into the current JTV line. This would be a good way to leverage new sales to existing customers. I’d pay for it in a heartbeat.

I suspect it also has a lot to do with that guitar, and how loud the amp is in the room. We often build our patches at pretty low volume levels.

Try using a lighter pick with the acoustic models, especially when using light electric guitar strings. The pick interacts a lot with the piezo pickups and the pick material, thickness and shape can make a greater difference with Vairax models than it might with the usual magnetic pickups. Experiment to see what works for you, addressing feel, tone, picking speed, ability to hold between your fingers, etc.

There's a reason for this. We all know how a tuner should work, and how good tuners do indeed work. When the Helix tuner has accuracy and stability issues compared to other tuners, we left wondering if there are other inaccuracies and stability issues that aren't as readily apparent. I'm not saying there's a correlation between tuner accuracy and usability and the other Helix blocks, but that's something we might feel, even if there is no correlation.

Highly recommend Reaper for usability, function, and community.

This would seem to indicate there’s a potential problem with your signal chain. What your’re describing sounds like digital clipping. There’s no reason the patch should sound that different for you.

Start with what you already know and reproduce it in Helix. Get to know how to do that. Then explore setups by professionals you like and reproduce those. Then start building your own tones for your own purposes.

The 700 acoustic models are different than the HD acoustic models in th JTV. Personally I prefer the older models and I hope Line6 provide an update soon that gives us more choice on Variax models.

If I were a pro, and had my own signature sound, I'd likely use a Les Paul or Strat into a boutique tube amp with 2x12 Celection G12-65 in an open back cabinet. But I'm not a pro. I play in a reasonably busy reasonably good club band playing rock dance music. Helix and my JTV-69S are perfect for this. I can get any sound I need easily. Is it the best? No. Is it good enough? Absolutely, more than go enough. I had to work on that JTV-69S - new nut, good setup, polished the frets, and Amalfitano Daytona pickups. But now my Strat Deluxe (with the same pickups) sits on the stand and my Les Paul stays home most of the time. I love that JTV-69S and don't mind at all making the changes that make it mine. I also like the thicker neck even though I don't have big hands. The thicker neck is more stable and has better sustain. Now to the marketing - there are a lot of pro guitarists that use ultimate and/or vintage pro gear. Great, we can learn from them and set our Helix and Variax to come close to their rigs and tone. But there are LOT more guys just like me playing in clubs all over the world for $100/gig, having a great time, and buying our share of gear. So I think there's a place in the world for Variax, even if all the pros don't decide to use it.

I do exactly the same thing. 1/4" outputs to to my two JBL EON610s setup as backline behind me and controlled by the Helix output. My IEM monitor is my own mix out our our X32-Core and two SD-16's. I use two busses in the X32-Core and two outputs in one of the SD-16s into a Behringer stereo headphone amp that is mounted on my mic stand. I have hearing issues, so I really need to have the IEMs and my own mix or I couldn't play. One issue - with 4 out of 5 of us using IEMs, and using acoustic drums and stage amps (except for keys which are direct FOH only), we don't really have good control of our stage volume - because we feel it, but don't hear it. This is getting too complex to run without help from a sound man.

I have tried it. See https://wordpress.com/view/jimamsden.wordpress.com. I replace the tone controls in the Normal channel of my Showman amp with Hi-Fi tone controls (flat on 5 with boost/cut) so its a good input for Helix amp models. It sounds great, but isn't flexible enough. I need to use FRFR so I can also do acoustic tones using my JTV-69S.

You didn’t say (or I didn’t see it) what OS you’re using or the drivers. Its possible that the driver you are using with Helix USB has an input volume control that is turned down.