DunedinDragon

I don't own either but the specs on the BX8 graphite would drive me toward that one. In both cases you're dealing with rear bass reflex speakers which means their performance will be very dependent on their placement near walls. The BX8 grafite has more flexibility in this regard as it has the capability to select and optimize different placements such as wide, narrow, or offset from corners which could be quite useful. Additionally the bi-amp design of the BX8 graphite should provide for a more consistent crossover between the low and high frequency tuning of the speaker than would the single amp design of the BX8 DW Crimson. The Graphite should be about twice the power of the Crimson because you add to two bi-amps together to get the overall level of wattage.

Exactly, and just to be clear, a pitch shifter won't take into account the key and scale being played, but a harmonizer will. The issue with those particular harmonies is the key and scale being used changes throughout the lead based on the underlying chord being played. The only way to do it accurately is to use different non-latched buttons each one with different harmony definitions.

But did you check the status of the Helix device in the device manager to see if it's disabled as I recommended?

I don't do this all the time, but for certain types of songs it works quite well. It's a very good way to dial in certain very specific tones. For example I get a great Joe Walsh sound using a Les Paul through a HiWatt with a Teemah providing the crunch and a Screamer for the lead tone.

In short, are you saying we now live in the age of flash over substance??? THAT I can heartily agree with!!!!

That would be going the wrong way if you're trying to get a representation of what the PA will sound like. Guaranteed they won't sound like a cabinet. The fact is you can get a decent representation out of your FRFR-108 if you adhere to some basics: When dialing in your patches mount them in the same way as a PA would, in the vertical position typically on a pole and keep your distance from them as you play to avoid the harshness of the horn up close. Typically 5 or 6 feet is enough. Wander about the space to get a feel for what people are generally hearing based on their position in the audience and you should be fine. If you're not going to be playing through a PA, place the speaker behind you in the backline on a half height pole and you'll get the same effect for the audience that you would were you going through a PA. Quite honestly, I NEVER use my stage speaker as a floor monitor. It's always placed behind me in the backline and it works better for me as well as the rest of the band.

Communicating in complete sentences is your friend....

Pretty much all of the newer powered speakers sound decent. Where you run into problems are on the older generation of powered speakers that don't use DSP for contouring their sound but rely on bass, mid, and treble controls. Those all tend to have a certain amount of dropoff in the mid-range where the hard crossover point is at between the speaker and the horn. Any and all wedges are most likely going to be pretty bad unless you're dealing with professional high end stage speakers like those used in concert venues.

This is a fairly common complaint on the Headrush if it's placed on the floor due to bass coupling. Some of the better quality FRFR's such as those from QSC, Yamaha, or EV have specific contouring options to correct for this effect. You want to be careful correcting EQ in the Helix for a speaker that's getting bass coupling as your FOH won't have the same type of effect happening to it. Therefore if you correct for your stage speaker your lower frequencies may be missing at the FOH. Personally I set my speaker on a half height pole behind me in the backline as that will be the closest representation for what you're likely to get out of the FOH. It also gives you the benefit of the widest sound radius as all of these types of speakers have the widest radius in the upright position.

Fun for who? Certainly not the developers..and testers if there were any. About 40 manhours to develop and 4,000 manhours to debug.

Well that really depends on what "wow's" you I guess. The rhythm guitar player in our band uses a Spider V 30 and it does an excellent job, even going direct into the mixing board. But quite frankly I'm not "WOWed" by big sound, I'm wow'd by precision, articulation, and clarity and the ability to accurately get the sound and feel of any given song or style or genre I choose the play. The Spider certainly does an adequate job of that, but doesn't have the flexibility of the Helix as far as range of capabilities. But that's not so important to our rhythm player. He only needs a handful of sounds to be happy. But all of that capability and flexibility comes at a price well beyond the price of the unit because the Helix experience isn't exactly a plug in and play type of system. The more you understand about playing in a live environment or a recording environment and the nature of different types of output devices, the more you'll be able to take advantage of all the Helix has to offer. The rhythm player in the band would hate the Helix. He only wants to plug in, adjust a few knobs and play because that's all he feels he needs...and he's right. He would hate having to consider what type of stage monitoring system he'd need to connect to, or the various setups for managing his stage system and his interface to the mixing board. Even worse would be trying to understand how and where to apply different effects in his signal chain or what kind of amp models, cabinet/IR, mic combinations and placements to setup in a patch to get the sound he's after. I guess what I'm trying to get across is there's not a whole lot of people that are probably wow'd initially with a Helix unless they've been in the modeling world a while. But if they're willing to invest the time and effort to understand the choices and what will fit them and what they need, they learn to love it because they can achieve pretty much anything their heart desires.

It's not so much a factor of size of the main speaker as it is the design of the speaker cabinet and the way it's placed in the room, but generally I would say you'd probably get the most natural representation of the sound being produced by the Helix without needing to compensate for other factors of your output device.

Bear in mind the signal going through a traditional amp and cabinet will be different than the one you listen to through headphones. The reason being you'll be able to use different amps models, but you won't need a Helix cab model or IR going into a real guitar amp and cab because it would only further change the natural sound of the cabinet. Whereas there is no cabinet on the headphones so you would have to enable the cab or IR there or it would be too harsh.

Could you get by with it? Possibly. But it's going to be deceptive because consumer electronics tend to focus more on trendy sound profiles sucjh as heavier bass and accentuated mids that accurate representation of the frequencies. If the idea is that you want to be able to learn how to dial in decent tones on your Helix, you're going to lose a lot of definition and accuracy if you use consumer grade equipment.

1) Personally, for a new person getting into modeling I think it might be counterproductive to go with an HX Stomp simply due to the fact that the majority of video tutorials and presets you can buy or get free are going to be for the larger units and wouldn't work correctly on the HX Stomp. The most important functional differences in my opinion between the LT and the full floor unit comes down to two things: Durability and Flexibility. The Floor is built like a tank, but that may not be important if it's going to sit in the house. The additional inputs on the Floor are useful especially when it comes to recording or using external effects or additional inputs. If you don't see those things as important to you then the LT is the answer. 2) As far as output, be aware that you tend to get what you pay for in this area. I think it's silly to spend the kind of money one spends on a Helix and then attach the cheapest outputs you can buy because no matter how good the Helix is, it will always be limited by the quality of the output device. This goes for headphones as well. Probably the most often recommended heaphones among Helix users are the Beyerdynamic DT770 in the higher ohm configurations as they tend to be more consistent with what you get from good quality monitors. I personally own the 80 ohm version but many go higher that than. I own quite a number of different headphones but the DT770's are the only ones I use with the Helix. Given your situation you could go with studio monitors or live powered speakers. The real gotcha here is that in order to get the best representation of the sound out of the Helix with live powered speakers you really need to be playing close to or at performance level volumes due to the fact that's what they're designed to do and tend to be more affected by the way we hear things known as the Fletcher-Munson curve. If you do go with studio monitors there's a WORLD of difference between cheaper speakers and higher quality speakers in this area. Personally I have several different live speakers that I use. Mostly I depend on my Yamaha DXR12, but I've also used my QSC CP8 as well as my Electro Voice ZLX-12P. As far as studio monitors I use Yamaha HS-7's and have for many, many years. 3) The only real use for a headphone amp would be if you were to choose a very high impedance pair of headphones as the higher the impedance the lower the output. 4) Personally I think the whole "amp in the room" thing is way overstated. The fact is, the amp in the room experience is only heard by the person standing near a traditional amp and cab. Once you mic that amp and cab and send it through a PA or record it with a mic, you have the same situation as you have with the Helix. Audiences rarely experience the amp in the room sound. What is also a fact with traditional speakers is the sound varies greatly depending on where you're standing relative to the speaker simply due to the way they work. This is the reason why so much attention is given both in live performances and in the studio to what mic's are used and how they're placed on the cabinet....the same way it's done in the Helix when working with studio monitors or live powered monitors. What you're hearing using good headphones, studio monitors or live powered speakers is the sound you would hear on a production recording that you've been listening to your whole life or in every concert you've ever attended. The amp in the room only relates to what a musician hears standing near a cabinet. Even in concerts nowaday the artist rarely hears the amp in a room effect because they're hearing the mic'd up version of the sound through their in ears.

The best sound of the guitar is it's natural sound, and they're all different. Probably the best way to understand it is to use a simple clean preset and play the guitars through it. THAT is the natural sound of the guitar, and I prefer to maximize the sound of a guitar by choosing the right guitar for the sound I'm going for in the preset. For example, I generally use one of 4 different guitars on presets that require an electric guitar. I also have a resonator (steel guitar) and an acoustic, but we'll only deal with electrics for now. My 4 electrics that I use in the band are, a Les Paul standard, a Strat Elite, a Tele Elite, and a Gretsch Silver Falcon Hollow body. If I were to put them each through a simple clean preset I would hear the Les Paul with a tight mid-range and low end punchy sound. My Strat would have a very crisp tone that favors more higher mids and highs without a lot of bottom end. The Tele would tend to be more twangy and plucky with less mid range. My Gretsch would be a very even, full sound across the full typical frequency range of the guitar. Those are things that are built into the guitar based on the way it's designed and the type of pickups they use. How that converts to how they're used is based on the style of the guitar in a given song. If I want a lot of punch and heft for things like rock or metal so I'd build my patch for the Les Paul. I wouldn't try and build a patch that was a jazz tone for the Les Paul, I'd build it for the Gretsch or sometimes for the Tele depending on the jazz style. The bottom line is if I want a patch to sound authentic, I'll target it for the guitar that will have the proper characteristics. I wouldn't try and force-fit the guitar into a style using EQ and other effects as it will never be as good as an appropriate guitar for that sound. Not only will it sound better and more natural, it will be a less complex patch. In my case this is how they tend to be used for different styles: Les Paul - Heavier and/or classic rock, southern rock, higher gain blues. Strat - Mid gain or clean blues, chunky mid-gain rock, punk, non-twangy vintage country, 50's style rock and roll. R&B. Tele - Funk, modern mid-gain country, twangy country, chunky mid-gain rock (Rolling Stones or Who), black high energy gospel, certain types of rock and roll. Gretsch - Finger picked Chet Atkins style, Jazz Rock (like Atlanta Rhythm Section, Toto or Stevie Wonder), Rockabilly, orchestral style ballads. very big sounding rock anthems, traditional clean jazz. But that's just me. I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to having a sound that best matches the style of song.

Wow...this is really turning into a convoluted discussion with a lot of weird stuff which really suggests you may need some training for the folks running your PA mixer. First, and foremost, there are NO mixers on the market that have a separate trim/gain for auxes. Trim/gain is the first thing a signal encounters when coming into a channel on the mixer and is used to simply adjust the input signal so the signal levels are equal across all channels and then passed on to the rest of the channel strip so that they can be mixed appropriately for the FOH via the faders or the monitors(aux) via the Aux output level for each Aux output. Trim/gain is NOT for setting output volumes, only for equalizing the signals across all channels. So the fact that you were sending in a hot signal compared to the other guitar players makes sense if you were sending a LINE level signal as that's significantly hotter than the MIC level coming from an actual mic on a cabinet. In the end that doesn't matter as long as you're sending a signal that's not clipping. Lowering the gain/trim doesn't affect anything other than make your incoming signal match the other guitar players who are sending MIC level signals. This is the reason I always send my XLR output at MIC level so as to avoid any confusion at the board as all other signals coming into the mixer are likely at MIC level. Loudness is a completely different thing than signal level as that's what results from adjusting the output faders on the board or the aux outputs. All you really need to control at the Helix is a to send a non-clipping signal from the Helix. And that's done by not building up too much volume in the course of your Helix signal chain. It's still important that all of your presets and snapshots are roughly in the same output range whether that be by a loudness meter or by managing the output signal strength using a signal meter on a mixer. I have my Helix set up so that the Helix big knob volume is disengaged from the XLR output and only controls my 1/4" output to my stage monitor which is sent at LINE level to the monitor. That means I'm sending a signal to the board that's equivalent to having the Helix volume knob at full volume. However because it's set at MIC level signal it's not that much different than any mic coming into the board and it's gain/trim adjustment is fairly close to all other inputs all of which tend to be fairly close to unity or 12 o'clock on the gain/trim knob. But I can see why you were shocked when I said I target around -6 db when setting up my presets. That's measured as the signal level coming into a mixing board not as loudness which is db SPL (Sound Pressure Level) which is what you're measuring and that only really relates to output. Bottom line the thing you need to get away from is thinking of the gain/trim knob as a volume adjustment. Although it can have that affect if it's misused, that's not what it's for. Send an appropriate non-clipping signal form the Helix at MIC level and adjust FOH and in-ears via the output faders or aux output knobs and you'll be fine. Other than that, get some training for the people working the board because they clearly don't understand these basic concepts in running a live board. By the way, if you're worried about phantom power on your XLR, simply connect a phantom power blocker on your XLR output line. They're cheap and will protect you from any phantom power applied to your channel...and MUCH smaller than a DI box.

What's probably more important than the speakers is the type of microphones and their placements. If you're familiar with those differences you'll be more likely to get the sound you want.

I play at least once week, sometimes 2, and 90% of the time I use my 12 inch Yamaha DXR. It just seems to better replicate the sound I get out of most FOH PA speakers. The only time I use my QSC CP8 is when I play smaller, more intimate venues in which we aren't using the PA for the instruments or if I'm just jamming with someone, and it's more than adequate for those situations. At home dialing in my presets I always use my DXR12, and it translates just fine to the CP8 if necessary. I always have my DXR12 or my CP8 mounted behind me in the backline and never as a floor monitor. I even dial in my tones with the speakers in a vertical position at home. This is true even though both speakers provide a correction for bass coupling in their DSP contouring options. The reason I do this is that these type of speakers have a very wide sound coverage in the upright vertical position, but a limited horizontal sound coverage if used as a monitor. This makes it much easier for blending with the rest of the band and I don't have to worry about wandering out of coverage or off-axis when I'm on stage.

It's more likely useful to someone that just wants to plug in and play as there's not a lot of flexibility or adjustability to it. You kind of get what they give you. I'm not sure it's exactly in the same market as the Stomp.

It's called "Line 6 Updater" and is a standalone program that was installed as part of the installation of HX Edit. Your Helix needs to be connected via USB and turned on when you run it.

There's really no reason to run 1/4" to FOH and there's lots of reasons not to. As was stated previously, if you're concerned about phantom power then attach a phantom power blocker onto your XLR out and be done with . BTW, the 1/4" output is an unbalanced cable. However the right choice for going to the FOH is generally XLR because that's what all the other inputs are that are going to the board. That's generally because they all send at Mic level and there's less chance for room interference especially over long distances, which is what XLR is perfect for. If you use the XLR out from the Helix to go to the FOH you have the opportunity to disengage the XLR from the Helix big volume knob in your global ins/outs which then allows you to adjust your stage volume using the Helix volume knob without affecting the signal going to the board. In that case you should probably also set the XLR output to Mic level as it will send at full volume and Mic level then won't overwhelm the board when it comes to gain staging. That's why all of those facilities are designed in the the Helix settings so you can do such things and remain consistent with the other inputs coming into the mixing board. Makes you a best friend to all the sound crews you work with .

I wouldn't overreact and go jumping into a new rig just before a gig. I've used my Helix to DXR12 combination for well over 3 years with zero problems. But I've never used the XLR output to go to the monitor. I reserve that output for direct to the FOH mixing board which is probably the predominant way most people do it. I can see no advantage in using an XLR output to go to an on stage monitor as that's too short of a run to make any difference and the 1/4" output works fine.

I'm just curious if you tried exporting an empty preset to your computer hard drive, then just restore the empty preset over the one you want to replace. I do that if I want a clean empty preset, but I can't say I've ever done it en masse like what you were doing. Typically it's just one at a time.

Mine isn't nearly as complicated since I'm really only building my basic preset that I'll use when I play the song live, so no surprises there. The difference is, since I have a full Helix floor, I have separate presets that are designed for the Bass, Keyboard, rhythm guitar, and electronic drums all of which can stay plugged in to the Helix. Then when I'm ready to record the bass track or the keyboard track I simply select the appropriate preset, arm the track and start recording. My studio monitors are attached to the Helix and are used for general playback but I usually use the headsets when actively recording a track. I can control the playback output level from the DAW with the master volume control and the mix with what I'm recording using the headphone control. It all makes for a quick and easy workflow when I'm recording.