DunedinDragon

Sounds like electrical noise. Is this always on the same electric wall socket or have you tried it in different places or a different physical house or location? Of course it also could be related to your output setup, or even your guitar and not your Helix. Try it through a different output setup and guitar to isolate where it's coming from.

What you didn't tell us is what version of HxEdit you're running and whether you're talking about renaming presets from the Helix or from HxEdit, so we're still in the dark understanding what you're doing. When you did the update of the 2.82 how did you do it? The process SHOULD have been: -do a full backup of your system with HXEdit using the backup function in the HxEdit menus (not a setlist export) -download and RUN the 2.82 HxEdit program -run the appropriate version of Line 6 Updater that was installed by the HxEdit installation and install the 2.82 version of the firmware. -after the firmware installation is redone the Helix will reboot and reformat all of your presets on the Helix. -restore at least your global settings from your full backup using HxEdit. Make sure you've done each and every step outlined in the upgrade instructions and have done them precisely as outlined. If not, you're going to have problems exactly like you've just described. This may or may not fix the problem you're having if you didn't follow the directions step by step in the past as you may have corrupted some presets.

It's not clear if you're talking about trying to make changes from HX Edit or directly on the unit. There are one of two likely problems. You may have a mismatch on the versions of HX Edit and the Helix firmware, or your Helix didn't do a rebuild of your presets when you upgraded the firmware. Given you haven't mentioned what version of firmware you're using it's pretty hard to tell what you're dealing with from your description of he problem.

The information you found about having the volume all the way up on the Helix is a valid recommendation for a typical setup which would be the Helix going direct to the FOH, but going through a mic'd up Marshall and not using speaker emulation isn't a typical setup. It might be fine for someone not using a modeler, but you lose a lot of the benefit of the Helix in doing so. But apparently the sound crew on the gig is either lazy or still living in 1999. There's absolutely no reason you couldn't go direct to FOH if your sound crew wasn't retarded. I have my Helix volume knob disengaged for my XLR outputs and I have my XLR outputs set to Mic level signal strength rather than Line level (the default) which makes it the same as all other inputs going into the mixing board (voices, drums, etc). Having the ooutput on the Helix set this way allows the amp model volume settings to be more consistent with a real amp model and their volumes can be managed using the channel volume on the amp model which won't affect your tone, only your volume. There is no real consistency in the way different amp manufacturers set up their FX Loop returns, but you might try lowering the output signal level on your 1/4" out that goes into the Marshall to either Instrument level or Mic level to see it that helps with your overall volume level on the Marshall.

A lot of the mellowness factor in a lead tone depends on the guitar and pickups and also sometimes strings, and you don't really say much about the other guitar in the band and his setup. But that aside I also tend to favor the Timmy and Minotaur along with the Tube Screamer or Kinky Boost, but it all depends on the amp and cab/ir I'm using and what comes across best for the tone I'm looking for. I personally prefer to use both pickups on my guitar rather than switch to the bridge pickup for leads which keeps my tone pretty mellow and not so harsh or biting. I also tend to find that too much distortion can make the lead sound less musical therefore less mellow. Generally my EQ settings are consistent for the whole patch and I don't have to do any real fiddling with EQ when it comes to the lead tone other than what's provided by the pedal. My experience has been less is more when it comes to tinkering with these sorts of things. The more complexity you add the less authentic it starts to sound and soon you find yourself diving into a rabbit hole and can't find your way out. My advice is to make small adjustments either at the guitar or in the settings of the pedals and see if you can get it where you want it. You may be simply overthinking the problem.

When it comes to harmony leads I always depend on the Twin Harmony which can support up to three guitar harmonies, which I've used for some of Brian May's Queen leads for example, but mostly i tend to use it for dual harmonies on stuff like Joe Walsh or Allman Bros. It's sometimes tricky to get right, but easier if you're familiar with the keys, scales and modes you'll be using. For more complex harmonies like those from Hotel California, you may need to use snapshots to adjust the parameters to fit with the chord being played. I've found it to also be handy in situations where there are just brief passages that contain a guitar harmony by using it in momentary mode. I've always placed it right after the amp and cab/IR, but I've heard some people say they get good results between the amp and cab/IR. When I've tried placing it earlier in the chain (before the distortion pedal) I've gotten too many artifacts and a lack of definition on the harmony lines.

I honestly wish we'd never coined the term FRFR, which was in common use LONG before it was commercialized by Headrush. It's been so misleading and confusing for people. But I do think this generation of powered speaker brings a lot to the table depending on how it's being used. For me it's not about range or flatness as much as it is about clarity and definition when it comes to the guitar. In some cases and in some genres particularly those using high gain sound that may not be as important as it is in styles like jazz, funk, country or even certain finger picked styles. Regardless of whether you use it on stage to monitor your sound, you can be assured speakers of this nature will be what is heard by your audience on most modern PA systems, so you might as well get used to adapting to it if you're going to be using a modeler.

I can pretty confidently say I've found no reason over the last 4 years across a pretty wide range of FOH setups and venues to adjust anything globally at the Helix. First, it would affect every preset and each preset is different both in style and in use of the various guitars that the preset was designed for. Whatever you might adjust in terms of high or low cuts or any other EQ for that matter can just as easily be done on a preset basis and not interfere across other presets with different sound requirements. As far as the FOH, whatever they may need to adjust for the room it applies equally to all instruments and voices due to the acoustics of the room. I have no problem with them doing that, but my attempts to adjust for acoustics of the room would only compete with or impede whatever RTA process they're using with their sound system. Other than that there are a few of the more modern digital systems that do incorporate preset assignements for different types of speaker systems. Again that's a global adjustment that affects all inputs but in my experience it really doesn't change the basic nature of the signal I'm sending nor the way it mixes with the band. It just tends to refine the overall characteristics of the PA in a fairly moderate manner. I can't say I've been surprised at all by any of the various PA systems making my sound different than what I expect when I go out and listen to the mix during sound checks. The only time I've ever run into any problems is with much older PA systems that use older analog centralized amps and passive speakers due to the the mid range dropoff that happens with non DSP driven crossovers. But we really don't play in situations that use those type of systems anymore. As far as what I listen to on stage as our stage mix will have some slight differences from the FOH, but I wouldn't say I listen to my guitar louder than other instruments. There's really no reason to IMO. Getting an accurate stage mix is the first step in getting a decent FOH mix and I'll leave it up to the PA to do the heavy lifting when it comes to volume. But everyone is different in that regard. My job is to blend with the music and not stand out other than for leads or color fills and most of the time that requires no interaction from the FOH mixing board because I've already adjusted for that in my preset. I only mentioned the contour options as a way to adjust for differences between a floor monitor and a raised vertical monitor. I don't use mine that way as I mentioned I always place mine vertically and therefore only use the contour setting for live sound, so I'm getting the same response characteristics as if it were it being used as a FOH speaker.

I had over 50 years of playing with tube amps and personally going all digital has given me all the things I could never accomplish effectively with my tube amps. But that's probably due in large part to playing a very wide range of styles from blues, to rock, to jazz, to rockabilly, to funk...etc. So for me, bringing a polished studio sound into the live environment was what I always strove for and was never able to achieve effectively with tube setups, especially when it came to mic'ing the amps to achieve that finished studio sound. For me, this was a one stop shop for getting what I've always wanted.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned here that might be of value to you. The higher end speakers most commonly come with some contouring options for how the speaker will be voiced. Generally if used appropriately you shouldn't need to correct for things like bass coupling if placed on the floor in a monitor position because the speaker will correct for such things if the "Monitor" contour is selected. I have a range of FRFR speakers I use depending on the situation from an Electrovoice ZLX-12P, to a QSC CP8, to my most common one which is a Yamaha DXR12. I personally place my FRFR behind me in the backline on a half height speaker stand. The reason for this is to avoid the bass coupling issues when used as a monitor. But more importantly it provides a better stage mix with the other instruments on stage in that these speakers are all designed in such a way that (in a vertical position) they have a very wide horizontal sound cone and a very narrow vertical sound cone. When placed vertically as I do it all the instruments can hear it and mix with it on stage much better than if it's used as a monitor. It also has the additional advantage if you're playing in a smaller venue and not sending instruments through the PA, it can pretty easily fill a room since it's, in effect, a PA speaker. In all cases I never make any corrections to my global EQ for any of my speakers as the signal I send to them is the same as what I send to the FOH so I have some confidence that what I'm hearing is what the audience is hearing.

Honestly that kind of supports my initial impression that he likely didn't bother gain staging your incoming signal separately from the previous band. Although both you and the previous band were sending mic level signals, that doesn't mean they were the same signal level, and you were likely a much stronger signal than was the raw microphone signal, especially if you had your XLR disconnected from the Helix master volume knob. I still can't explain why the ART would cause a problem though. My bet is he made some changes in your channel he didn't tell you about like dialing down the gain/trim on your channel when you were changing the ART...but who knows.

It's really hard to diagnose what was causing the issue without asking a lot of questions about what the sound-guy was doing at the board and how you were sending the signal to the board (1/4" or XLR). The ART DTI is simply a hum eliminator which shouldn't have any effect on the tone, just on transient noise. But then when you say the FOH sounds "awful" that's not very specific. My only guess is, based on you thinking the signal was too hot, that the sound guy wasn't gain staging your signal correctly on your channel and the signal was either clipping or engaging a limiter...but there's not enough information here to say one way or another.

I'm probably at the far end of the OCD scale from you in that every one of my patches sounds pretty different and unique in most ways from the others. But that's by design because I don't generally play within the same genre with each song. Even when I do, there will be differences. For example if I play classic rock, Joe Walsh's sound is nothing at all like Brian May's sound. Or in blues BB King's sound is different than Eric Clapton's sound. And of course there's always the completely unique sound of some artists such as Mark Knopfler or Chet Atkins. That doesn't bother me at all because I appreciate the differences and try to pay homage to those differences when I play. It doesn't bother me any more than when I hear two songs from different artists on the radio and they sound different....because the sound is part of what makes each song unique. And to me, that's what the Helix is best at. However, I do understand when someone generally plays within the same genre such as metal or punk, there's often not as much variety in sounds and in that case I can see one or two presets for dealing with those circumstances. I have a few like that such as a strummed acoustic patch or a slide resonator patch or a clean jazz patch. I think it's really all based on what kind of things you play as to what will work best for you.

Excellent idea and execution!!! Chances are this design would work for most powered speakers. You might spend some time getting a patent then licensing the idea to one of the many manufacturers of stage gear. That might be worth your time.

It probably was in the wrong state when you last saved the preset.

Sorry to burden you with so much reading, but unfortunately that's the best way for one to gain KNOWLEDGE in this world.

Generally I'm emulating a reference tone from a recording, so I use that to give me a first impression of what amp and which guitar will be the best starting point for this preset. I select the amp and IR and compression (if needed). Then using the default values I get the volume set consistently with the rest of my presets adjusting the channel volume and the signal meter on my mixing board and any necessary compression characteristics. I keep the signal meter on through the whole process to make sure I keep the volume level stays consistent as I add things. I then dial in the tone and gain levels I'm looking for on the amp for the basic tone and audition other IRs to get things closer to the reference tone. I add a final parametric EQ to make adjustments at the end of the signal chain for high and low cuts. From that point I make a decision about what other blocks will be necessary and whether I'll need to use snapshots or just some simple stomps to accommodate the tonal changes in the song. Then it's a simple matter of adding whatever blocks and signal chain adjustments the song calls for. I'll then come back to the preset several times over the next few days to listen with fresh ears and make adjustments.

It is remarkable how flexible this gear is. I'm 4 years in and there's not a month that goes by that I don't discover new approaches and ideas for improving my sound, and I have NO interest at all in any new equipment. I've got everything I need and I use everything I've got....for the first time in my life!!!

I go a step further than codamedia in that my setup at home for dialing in patches very closely simulates what I'll get from a PA or decent stage monitor in that I use a Yamaha DXR12 as my home speaker standing vertically at about chest height. I play at roughly stage volume to avoid Fletcher Munson problems and I have a laptop attached to the Helix that allows me to play the reference material so I can dial in the tone to match on my Helix. This has been my home rig for over 4 years now and it's never failed to produce the same sound live as I get at home.

This sounds to me more like a shielding or grounding issue on the NUC unit itself. Normally ground loops are caused by a difference in grounding between two devices on two different wall sockets that are on different circuits causing that difference to be sent through other cables that are connecting the two devices trying to reconcile the differences, and it would be present with your laptop as well. If the NUC is new you might try exchanging it for a new one as that may simply be a defect in that unit. Alternatively you could try the Ebtech Hum Eliminator, but they advise against connecting that through a power strip, but in my experience it still seems to work when connected that way.

It's the same amount of computing either way. Since this is all real-time execution there's really no CPU overhead in managing these blocks. The only downside to me is that if you do decide later to break the amp and cab apart you have to rebuild them each by hand.

Well there's not a lot to go on here for diagnosing what's going on. I have well over 200 presets and palm mute to some extent on most of them and they sound perfect...better than most amps as far as clarity and definition. The fist things I tend to think of when I hear someone mentioning buzzing are cab/IR blocks and how they're setup as far as mics, mic mixes, and mic placements, high cuts which is often related to bad cab/IR and micing setups, and occasionally listening position relative to the FRFR speaker such that you're getting overwhelmed by the horn in an FRFR. I suppose it could also be due to palm muting technique if you're coming from a traditional setup which tends to be less articulate and therefore more forgiving when it comes to palm muting. But without more information on how you have your signal chain setup it's pretty hard to come up with an answer.

Actually I think it's pretty uncommon. Generally most people stick with one or the other when combining them. I did it a couple of times over the last 4 years, but honestly I saw no advantage once I began to get into more sophisticated multiple mic mixes and placements as that is really what makes all the practical differences in tone. Combining cabinets is almost a necessity when using stock cabs and that's why you have dual cabinet blocks as an option, but IRs tend to have such a wide variety of mic mixes and placements, it's typically not necessary in my case.

Well the real question here is what are you hearing the digital clipping FROM? In other words, what is your output device when you hear it. For example, if you were playing through a FRFR speaker or through a mixing board, if that device isn't gain staged appropriately the clipping could be coming from there rather than the Helix.

This has to be a problem with your computer. I've downloaded and installed 2.81 and 2.82 on both my desktop system and my laptop both running Windows 10 and it works fine. What will NOT work is running a Helix with 2.8, 2.81 or 2.82 firmware and an older HXEdit and device drivers since the device drivers changed on 2.8. The best way to check this is when the Helix is connected to your PC call up the windows device manager on your PC and check the status of the Helix device driver under the Sound, video, and game controllers. If it's not the right version it will show as disabled with a notice it can't be run.