amsdenj

Princess has become my goto amp too, pushing out Litigator and Derailed Ingrid. I still like Litigator, but the Princess sounds and feels a bit more "real" to me, whatever that means. Princess has too much bass for my taste. But I can get a really good sound out of it and it takes pedals well.

I can verify that HX Edit 3.01 did not fix the Big Sur connection timeout problem. However, if HX edit retains window focus, the timeout does not occur. So with limitations, its still useful and works for me.

The Kemper and now the Quad Cortex profiling capability is a great feature to have. But a profile is a snapshot of a particular sound. Yes, the Kemper and Quad Cortex provide additional gain and tone controls - but these are layered on top of the snapshot, they're not modeling the actual controls of the captured amp. I'm not saying this is bad, its just what it is. Given that we often set a guitar amp at particular settings and don't change it that often, a snapshot might not be that limiting. But I personally prefer the Helix approach of modeling the amp from the inside out instead of the profile outside in. Its essentially building the amp, but from digital rather than analog components. Quad Cortex seems to do a very good job of accurately capturing a particular tone snapshot Let's even stipulate that it would do a better job of capturing a specific amp and settings than a similar amp model in Helix could produce. That's great. But Helix give me the whole amp, not just a snapshot that can be tailored a bit. Ultimately both are useful. So I recommend adding a Quad Cortex to your Helix effects loop along with your HX Stomp and HX Effects!

I think the XL is a great idea and if I didn't already have an HX Stomp, I would probably get one. HX Stomp, Pod Go and now HX Stomp XL have a fair amount of overlap and might start fragmenting Line6's own market. But given the Helix software architecture, and their ability to design and implement hardware devices, perhaps this is an easy way to broaden market appeal. Its often a delicate balance. For me, HX Stomp + MeloAudio MIDI Commander + optional HX Effects provide a more flexible solution. I can for example use the MeloAudio MIDI Commander for other purposes, including with Helix, in the studio, or with computer based amp modelers such as S-Gear. Anyway, its great to have options. I'm really glad I have an HX Stomp.

I use HX Effects with Helix in the effects loop. I also have settings with HX Stomp as a backup to Helix, but haven't had to use that live yet. HX Stomp standalone is also pretty useful with just some added MIDI control.

Not sure if you saw my response in the Helix forum. Helix Cab models and most IRs are models of speakers in a particular cabinet configuration (including open or closed back) and a microphone. Powercab speaker models are EQ curves layered on Flat mode, LF Flat voicing. Then the speaker is in a 1x12 or 2x12 ported cabinet, no microphone and no other cabinet simulation. So the same speaker in a Helix 4x12 Cab block won't sound the same as that speaker model in Powercab because the cabinet is entirely different. Think of Powercab as a powered guitar speaker in a 1x12 or 2x12 closed back, ported cabinet that has a few additional features: you can easily swap the speaker, can use it as a FRFR if you need that for acoustic, vocal or keyboard instruments, and can run IRs if you need that. To find equivalent Helix cab blocks or IRs, look for the same speaker in the same cabinet configuration with a pretty neutral mic. That might get you close.

I use my HX Effects to extend either Helix or HX Stomp, but got it originally to use with my old tube amp. That amp is currently in storage and hasn't seen a gig in close to 30 years. If I were doing a traditional pedalboard, I'd use HX Stomp for the size and flexibility. See

How are your ears? If you’ve been playing rock in a band for year, you probably have hearing loss, like many of us. For me, if the volume is down, I don’t hear the high end. If I just turn the level in the speaker or headphones up, then there’s the highs! Its just my ears don’t hear the highs at even moderately low volumes. Be sure to protect your ears by keeping levels under 90dB for long periods of time, and use IEMs as much as possible. I wish I had.

Read the post above carefully. Logic Pro only sends MIDI messages to plugins in Software Instrument tracks, not Audio tracks. You need to use a side chain input to get audio input into a Software Instrument track, and you need to use a buss on that track to send the audio output of Helix Native to an audio track for recording. The Software Instrument track only records MIDI messages, not audio.

I might try making a knob

I reported this issue in my Beta testing. I thought it was reported as fixed. The work around is to delete the amp block and add it directly, not from Favorites. User defaults should be retained.

The Powercab speaker models aren't the same kind of models as the Cab blocks in Helix. We don't know the details of how the Powercab speakers are modeled, but I suspect they start with the LF Flat base, and then add simple EQ curves to modify that frequency response to duplicate that of the modeled speaker. This would be easy to do because no IR is needed since the LF Flat speaker is already a guitar speaker in a cabinet in a room. We also don't know what's coming out of the XLR outputs in speaker mode. But I'd guess these are IRs of the modeled speaker in a 1 or 2x12 ported cabinet - which is what Powercab is. So they wouldn't necessarily correspond to any Helix cab block, although there may be some that would be close. If you picked a cab block with the same speaker in a similar cabinet (closed back, ported), then they should sound pretty similar to the XLR outputs. Fine tune from there.

I use HX Edit with Big Sur. It works fine as long as HX Edit retains the window focus. If it looses focus, HX Edit will disconnect after about 30 seconds. But clicking reconnect gets it right back without any loss or much delay. I haven't done any exhaustive testing, but I use it a lot and that's the only issue I've seen so far. I'd be careful about disconnecting during updates. I've done it, but make sure HX Edit retains the window focus until the update is done. Not sure it would be a problem if it disconnected, but I didn't try it.

It's actually just the volume control that gets in the way, mostly when I attempt to pick behind the middle pickup instead of in front of it.

I put it after the Wah block in Helix, second block in the Helix signal chain. That's because all the effects I use in HX Effects are front of the amp effects that typically go before distortion. This includes Mutant Filter, Rochester Comp, Kinky Boost, Script Mod Phase, Ubiquitous Vibe, and Gray Flanger - that is, all effects that modulate tone, and not frequency - those usually go after distortion.

USB cables can create ground loops just like audio cables.

If you bypass all blocks and set the output block level to 0dB, then the output meter on Helix is also an input meter. Are you using overwound or active hot pickups? Is your guitar clipping the input/output on its own? If so, you may need to turn on the input pad.

Powercab has a FRFR mode, but it might not work the same as a high-end PA speaker. Powercab212 is a 2x12 closed back cabinet. In FRFR mode, it's never going to sound exactly like a 4x12 cabinet, no matter what cab model or IR you use. Similarly, if you use the speaker models in Powercab, they're going to sound like those speakers in a 2x12 closed back cabinet - because that's what it is. So if you choose Powercab112 or 212, expect it to do a pretty good job on cab and IR models of 1x12 or 2x12 closed back cabinets, and to only approximate larger, smaller, or open back cabinets. If you really want 4x12 sound, you might need to either use pretty high end and large PA speakers, or use a 4x12 directly.

Truefire lessons?

Input gain knob turned all the way down doesn't sound right, you could have really low input. Helix Native bocks are likely expecting more input than you are giving them. With the Helix Native input slider set to 0.0dB, you should turn up the Scarlett input until you're seeing the input meter close to mid scale for normal strumming, and no peaks going into the red for hard strumming. Unity gain doesn't apply to inputs and outputs, only blocks that have and input, do some processing and produce an output. Unity gain is setting the level in these blocks so the volume is close to the same when the block bypass is turned off and on. This means the block is neither reducing or increasing the gain that much in the signal chain and will provide a reference starting point for gain staging your patch. Helix Native does not have global EQ, you could provide that with an EQ plugin following Helix Native in your DAW or plugin host application. An audio interface that has proper gain staging and matching input impedance should not change the tone of your guitar. So Helix Native should see a pretty similar guitar input regardless of the audio interface. Now different interfaces have different quality preamplifiers, and may not have high enough input impedance for guitar. But The Scarlett should be fine unless it's broken. Helix Floor does have a very good guitar input, with variable impedance, and lots of headroom, without the need for a gain control (other than the input pad switch which might be needed for some active pickups). But all of the tone processing is done in the Helix Native blocks and these are the same as the Helix Floor blocks.

macOS Big Sur disconnects after about a minute, but only if the HX Edit window looses focus. If you go away from HX Edit to another window, but get back within about a minute, it doesn't disconnect. I don't recall this behavior in Catalina. So I think this is an issue with Big Sur.

Did you use Focusrite Control to set the input to Inst? Is the Inst light lit and pad light off? If not, this could be your problem, your guitar would be seeing the wrong input impedance.

Jason Sadites has a great set of videos explaining the details, myths and facts of gain staging, unity gain and digital clipping: Not only are these videos extremely informative, but they also demonstrate very useful analytics approaches. Jason's main points are: Getting the most out of Helix is gain staging so that the level and dynamic range of your guitar and playing style fits optimally between the noise floor and digital clipping (primarily caused by the analog to digital converters at the Helix input and output). For linear blocks, levels into the blocks don't matter as long as the result at the output block is what you're looking for For non-linear blocks that would typically follow an amp block (e.g., some delays, compressors, etc.) you can use headroom and threshold to control the amount of desired distortion (if any) that these blocks add. If you don't go crazy on winding up all the levels to the max on every block, you're not likely to need to worry about digital clipping in Helix blocks, except for those where digital clipping is part of the design of the block (e.g., Vintage Digital delay). The optional output level is one that turns the Powercab signal light yellow, but rarely red (which would indicate the possibility of digital clipping in Powercab). This corresponds to approximately -3dB peak headroom and -15dB RMS headroom. You can use these numbers and your DAW meters to set patch levels so they match and are providing the optimum output for Powercab or other FRFR options That is, for best results, don't be afraid of turning up the level, say in either the amp block channel volume, or the output level to get your patches in this sweet spot. Don't worry about setting all blocks unity gain, and don't worry too much about digital clipping inside blocks. This is great advice. However, I did a brief experiment today that might indicate unity gain may still be a useful starting point. What I found is that a Les Paul, or probably guitars with similar passive double coil humbucker pickups, on the bridge pickup strummed pretty hard into an empty patch pushes the Helix output to just under 0dB peak, about -17dB RMS, -15db LUFS, and is just enough output to flash the Powercab input signal lights into yellow. That means for this guitar at least, there is no unused headroom that you might be leaving on the table, and all the blocks in the signal chain could be unity gain in order to produce the optimal output. Any guitar with hotter pickups would need to use the input pad switch to avoid digital clipping on the Helix guitar input. My Strat with single coil pickups had an output of about -9dB peak, -28db RMS and about the same for LUFS Integrated. That would indicate there is about say 9dB of headroom that you might want to make up somewhere in the signal chain in order to achieve optimal output. The most likely place might be the amp block channel volume and/or the output block level. But as Jason points out, it probably doesn't matter that much where you add the additional level. Keeping most blocks unity gain however would allow you to save them as favorites, or set your own block user defaults, and be able to use the blocks in other patches without worrying about potential unwanted level changes. So Jason is absolutely right in his analysis of gain staging for optimal signal to noise ratio, not needing unity gain (at least not on all blocks) that leaves headroom on the table, and not worrying too much about digital clipping if you keep the Helix output at a healthy level. However, how much headroom you have depends on the guitar you're using and how hard you typically play. Maybe unity gain in blocks is still a good place to start, especially for higher output guitars. But we shouldn't be afraid of turning up the amp block to get Helix and Powercab into their sweet spot. Thanks Jason for the great videos!

I doubt it. Using the transformer just works better.

I somewhat foolishly updated to MacOS Big Sur after checking at focusrite.com that my old Saffire Pro 40 FireWire audio interfaces would work with Big Sur. I updated, and sure enough, they didn't work. I ended up spending a lot of time and finally purchased a Clarett 8Pre USB so I could move away from FireWire. But a few days ago, I decided to give it another try. What I found is that my computer, which has gone through many OS updates over the years, had accumulated a bunch of old kernel extensions for applications and hardware that I hadn't used in years. I cleaned up these kernel extensions, rebooted and up came the Saffire Pro 40. It works great in Big Sur. That was an expensive lesson. Sometimes its a good idea to start over with a computer upgrade, and re-install your apps from scratch in order to clean up old junk. But I don't mind the studio upgrade of the Clarett 8Pre. All's well that ends well.