DunedinDragon

There's nothing magic about the presets that come with the Stomp. They're just created by someone back at the factory as example presets and you could create one just like it or even better if you put in the time to learn the Stomp and all it's features. You are correct, however in saying the Stomp can be complicated because it's a highly advanced system with an easy to use interface that hides a lot of complexity. The bottom line, the more you're willing to learn, the more you'll be able to get out of it.

I have to admit I'm not the least bit concerned about the limitations of the looper in Helix. But that's because I'm part of the massive crowd of people that's never found a need for one. And I suspect that may be what's behind Line 6's thinking on such things. Looper effects such as those mentioned above by datacommando are in a category of much more specialized effects than the common distortion, compression, eq, delay, reverb, modulation...etc. that come with the Helix. Things that most, if not all of us commonly use. And I'm not sure I, or many like me, would be willing to pay a significantly higher price for my Helix due to it hosting an effect I'd rarely ever use. If you have a driving need for it in your performance feel free to get a good one that fits your needs and use the send/returns provided.

It's a pretty good bet it ain't HX Stomp 3.0!!!!!

I'm more or less guessing here, but Chromebooks don't run a typical Windows OS but rather a chrome browser that looks a bit like Windows. That being the case it wouldn't have the device support available to Windows.

Generally speaking when you route your signal through the sub the sub only forwards the signal above the cutoff level of the sub to the speakers. For example, if your sub cutoff is at 125Hz it will send everything above 125Hz to the main speakers and play everything below that point in the sub. The concept being it isolates the very low frequencies from competing with the higher frequencies in the main speakers providing greater clarity. Since there's not a whole lot of guitar information below the cutoff I'm not sure there'd be a lot of benefit if it's just guitar.

Not to beat a dead horse.....but....Helix represents a different category of modeling than what you're used to. It presents a user-friendly interface on something that has a LOT of depth to it. That's what gives it the versatility to precisely achieve the things you want to achieve. Older modeling units like the POD and even units like the Spider series are much more of a "packaged" unit making it easy to accomplish decent sounds without having to understand the complexities involved in music production. The same CAN be true of the Helix, but there's far more available to you if you're willing to leave your past behind and accept the challenge and resultant flexibility of what's available in today's high end modelers. There are a number of technical disciplines that can be useful in deciding how you want to use the Helix. The more you understand about live sound reinforcement techniques for live performances and studio recording techniques for studio work, the better decisions you'll be able to make about how you ultimately want to configure your Helix. A lot of that will depend on how you personally will be using the Helix whether it be for home practice, recording, or live performance. The Helix in NOT just a simple plug in and play kind of unit. Many musicians in the past have been perfectly happy to have a set sound they prefer so they find an amp and effects and configure them to produce that sound in isolation. If they play live they depend on the sound crew to take their stage sound and mix it with the rest of the band through the PA using whatever magic the sound man might employ. That's perfectly doable with the Helix, but it's also less than optimal. Understanding the technical aspects of 'Unity', signal levels, positioning, adjustment and routing of effects, amps and various components within a signal chain, EQ, cabinet and mic'ing techniques are all essential elements in being able to predictably produce a consistent sound both on stage and for the audience whether that be in a studio or live, all of which are things you now have completely under your control in a Helix unit. The better understanding you have of such things, the better your Helix will serve your purposes. Even planning workflow and production elements become disciplines that can either serve you and hamper your efforts in both recording or live performance. This has a bearing on how you organize your presets and snapshots to adjust customize your sound and flow and dynamics of the music or the way you organize your recording or live performance process which will have an impact on how you might use the inputs and outputs of the Helix. I bring all of this up because it's highly unlikely you'll get everything right and perfect for your situation the first time you plug in. If you're like the vast majority of us that have been using the Helix for several years, you will grow and modify your approach over time as you learn and get better at things. But that's why this and other forums as well as many great training videos can be of great use if you take advantage of them.

This is really dependent more on your skills of dialing in your preset than it is the capabilities of the Helix. The Helix can do whatever you tell it to do.

Apparently there doesn't seem to be any problem with the stock cabs. I know Jason Sadites uses dual stock cabs in almost all of his YouTube videos and has never mentioned any phasing problems. In my experience the most common phasing issues involve combining IRs, particularly ones from different manufacturers. Although some manufacturers like Redwirez specifically state they build all their IRs to ensure there are no phasing problems when combined and mixed together.

Well...to be fair he did say more and more customers join Linux. So if you get two more user going to Linux that's more and more. I'm not sure Line6 can justify the expense of porting and maintaining a Linux version for the new 23rd and 24th new users though.....

That's a bit of a broad generalization as it doesn't take into account the mic, mic combinations, or placements of those mic's in either the cabs or IRs. Yes FRFR style speakers will project the sound more consistently across a wide horizontal field, but it only projects what was captured through the modeled mics and placements on the cab or IR. In fact, because of the way modern FRFR speakers are engineered specifically for projecting across long distances you will undoubtedly hear more harshness when you're very close to the speaker compared to standing 5 or 6 feet away. This is why most people avoid sitting right next to a PA speaker in a club. My personal opinion is most of what people complain about in terms of harshness or "fizz" is simply often fixed with a different combination and mix of the mic's used on the cab or IR. Maybe not completely, but close enough that it often needs very little high frequency adjustment once it's mixed with the band. It will also sound much more natural because it's a natural process rather than the bull in the china closet approach of EQ. The problem is, if all you know is an SM-57 then your sound will always be based on the limitations and characteristics of an SM-57. And that's rarely the case in any studio and in most live concerts because of the knowledge and skills of the soundman or recording engineer are much better than that. If you want proof of such things, mic your traditional guitar cabinet with a SM-57 located on axis directly over the cap of a speaker and listen to what it sounds like out of the PA speakers when you stand right next to it regardless of what it sounds like on stage.

As has been stated before, there is no possible way of knowing it will go bad. Therefore if you want to be SURE then upgrade it to the Helix floor which has had zero defects on the pedal. That's the only option I know of. And quite frankly if you're on "tour" you need the more robust enclosure of the Helix floor anyway. I would never tour with an LT. It's just too lightweight as far as construction.

Pretty much any would likely do the trick as cabinets aren't designed specifically for clean/dirty...although some do better with cleans than others. Vox and Fender cabinets come to mind in that regard as do Hiwatt Fane speakers as well as JC120 Roland 12s.

A couple of other notes here: I think you need to get a new perspective, your stage speaker whether it's a 108 or the 112 would easily fill the space you're talking about. In a live environment you generally won't be depending on your stage speaker to fill the audience space. That's what a PA is for. The LAST thing in the world you'd want to do is try to mic a powered speaker as you'd totally negate the value of the speaker and it would sound like crap through the PA. Remember, the sound you're producing from the Helix is the sound of a amp through a mic'd cabinet, so you don't want to add layers to that with yet another mic of the speaker which is producing an accurate representation of the mic'd cabinet from the Helix. Generally you would do what HonestOpinion said and feed a direct XLR line to the board whether that be from the speaker or from the Helix. Your stage speaker only needs to be loud enough to fill the stage if you're using a PA. In fact, the more anyone in the group breaks that rule the harder it will be for the sound guy to get a good mix of the band for the audience. There are plenty of folks using 108's and lots using 112's, so either would likely work. However bear in mind that a LOT of people have problems with these speakers sounding boomy from too much low end when placed on the floor due to an acoustic artifact known as "bass coupling". You can correct this by putting the speaker on a pole, or you can choose to go to a higher end and more professional speaker which has DSP contouring adjustments to correct for such things. What you should NEVER do is try and correct for that boominess by adjusting the Helix as that adjustment would mess up the sound for the front speakers on the PA also. Granted, the Headrush has a low price, but you get what you pay for.

I just want to back up a bit because you're missing some information in your post. What version of the Helix firmware are you currently running? If you tried to download HX Edit 2.92 and you're running an earlier version of the firmware it won't work. The firmware and the HX Edit program need to be in sync. That being said your best bet is to upgrade everything to 2.92 since it's the most simple process. For that, you only need to download HX Edit 2.92 and then run the download file. That will walk you through the install of all the correct components so that everything is working correctly..nothing else needs to be downloaded. Follow the instructions step by step and you won't have any problems.

A lot depends on what you want to do with your Helix. If you're looking more at home playing, practicing with recordings, or possibly doing some recording you might prefer a good set of studio monitors. If your thinking about doing live playing the Power Cab might be the way to go and stereo won't be that big of an issue since stereo isn't really used that much in live venues as the audience isnt really able to distinguish the separation in the chaotic acoustics of a live venue.

I don't think I've ever done a restore after updating the firmware and all the presets have been rebuilt. I've always assumed that was there just in case something went wrong, which in my case has never happened.

This is one of the most common mistakes people make with IRs. Just because there are all sorts of variations with the IRs, doesn't mean you need to experiment with all of them. Chances are what will most likely best fit your needs is right there in the Summary files. The others are there for completeness, but there's nothing saying you'll find anything better. I know I never have. I've purchased about 10 different OH packages over the years and I've never found much need to venture beyond the Summary files, and even then I generally know which ones will be more to my taste given the mic's being used. Of course some people just can't help themselves and find themselves drowning in IRs and getting confused. But to each their own.

I believe you're another victim of fake news...

A preset knows to use an "IR" because an IR block was used rather than a Cab or Dual Cab block. When the IR block is placed into the signal chain you then configure that IR to use one of the IR's you have loaded into the 128 available slots for IRs in the Helix which tells the preset which one of the IRs will be used for that preset. Generally speaking an IR or a Cab block are interchangeable. The difference being in a Cab block you have to do all the work of configuring which mic or mic combination is being used, how they are placed on the cabinet, and a number of other relevant factors...all of which can be changed at any time to vary the sound. An IR, on the other hand, is already preconfigured with that sort of information so it's just dropped in with no additional configuration info needed. I personally prefer IRs simply because they are quicker and a lot less work than cab blocks.

You're comparing apples and oranges. Not know what kind of headphones, some consumer brands add a lot of EQ to sweeten the sound which you wont get through a speaker. You also have to bear in mind powered speakers are simple PA speakers and they're going to sound harsh up close. That's why people tend to not sit next to them in clubs. Everything here is guesswork without seeing what you've got in your signal chain. One thing is for sure, the sound you'd be getting in a live performance will be MUCH more like what you're getting from the HR than it will from the headphones.

You might get more relevant info if you describe your setup (speakers, guitar, pickups, etc.)

I've been tempted numerous times when this comes up to explain this relationship as, snapshots are just macros within a preset. Unfortunately I suspect if you're under 30 years old no one understands what a macro is......

Unfortunately it gives no context for what you're playing if the person listening isn't familiar with the song....like I am.

Fortunately for me I set my high and low cuts based on what I hear rather than what I see....

It's a nice tone but it overwhelms the backing track so much it's hard to get a feel for how it blends within the mix with the other instruments and vocals.