DunedinDragon

There's no trick to examining the contents of any preset stored on your disk drive. Just google "JSON viewer" and you'll find plenty of them for free or at a minimal cost. It won't be pretty or slick, but it will let you see what's in it.

The Helix would be the wrong device for capturing a live multitrack recording of the band. You may already have a solution for that depending on your mixing board. If you're using a digital board you probably already have the capability to capture individual live channels simultaneously onto a USB hard drive that can be imported into a DAW for mixing. Other than that there are a number o relatively cheap devices that can do live multichannel captures, but the mixing board approach is by far the easiest.

Being an engineer by trade I can't help but be intrigued by technical minutiae. I've noticed that as I've gotten older, I've also gotten much more pragmatic about it. The fact is we can convince our brains to hear anything that we logically think is the case. But the only relevant thing is when it comes to music and performance, our audience isn't that discerning. Think about it this way. As much as is made over stereo effects, how many people in the audience even notice or care that you did or didn't use stereo in your live performance? Play the wrong chord or the wrong note and they'll notice for sure. So while much attention is given within the musician community over matters like IR length and other technical details, those things will never have any effect over whether or not you'll play the right notes. Stuff like this is more about marketing to the ego of musicians than it is about providing a memorable and satisfying performance for our audience.

This is the kind of stuff that totally mystifies me. I'm coming up on 4 years with my Helix and have well over 200 presets I've built, and I have yet to lose one or have problems during the editing, building or performance of my presets. Granted I don't go crazy with tons of snapshots or stomps, and I only assign effects blocks to stomps if I need to use them during the course of the song... and maybe that's it. Since I have a preset per song they tend to stay pretty simple with no more than 3 snapshots and a couple of stomps. Other than that I really do most, if not all of my editing on the Helix itself. And I do constantly export my individual presets and restore them when I'm getting them ready for a gig each week. So maybe some of that process has saved me from this anguish, but I can't explain why I've never run into these types of problems.

I can't say I've ever experienced any problems with HX Edit similar to what you experienced..or any at all for that matter. But like you I rarely use it for editing, and when I do I'm extremely diligent about making "saves" to the preset I'm editing. By saves I mean making the changes permanent on the Helix hardware the same as pressing the hardware Save button.

Be careful about "conventional wisdom" because some would say based on remarks by many users that EQ should always be done in Global EQ...which of course is dead wrong. Is there a strong emphasis on EQ? I suppose so in that you'll see it used quite often even in Jason Sadites videos as a final EQ on a patch. But I would agree that it's not always necessary. I think a lot of why you hear conversations about it is that it's an easy fix for less experienced users to compensate for their lack of knowledge on how to correctly configure cabinets or IRs. That's understandable since that particular area of the Helix is far more oriented toward the traditional practices used in a studio than practices on stage. But if it makes you feel any better, I have a considerable number of patches that use no EQ at all depending on the guitar being used, the style of the music, and the amp model...as long as I get the cab/IR configured correctly. One other thing to consider when talking about modeling. Modeling in general doesn't deal with being acoustically accurate. It deals with accurately modeling circuits mathematically, which results in an accurate output. Cabinets and IRs are the only exception. When you look at it that way it makes sense why those things are so important to achieving the sound you're going after.

Technically all of the modern crop of FRFR powered speakers from Alto to QSC to Yamaha to EV all work fine for acoustic and electric, obviously because those are the same speakers used on PAs for the audience. I use a Yamaha DXR12 for both electric songs as well as acoustic (both hand-picking as well as strummed). I position it behind me on stage on a half height speaker pole in the backline. My acoustic also has a sound hole cover, but the sound on stage is magnificent. Obviously you have to manage your volume more than with electric to avoid feedback, but it works fine for me in my configuration. But that same signal is also going to the FOH so I only have to really fill the stage, not the audience. In a smaller room it would probably still be fine.

Regardless of the size whether it's an LT or a HX, the same thing will apply. You'll still have to figure out the best output method for your system as that's going to be a MAJOR part of whether it will work consistently for you in all circumstances. I pretty much doubt the HX would have made any difference at all in the problems you encountered in your first rehearsal. Making a critical evaluation between LT or HX without a clear idea of how you will output whatever sounds come out of them is kind of like not seeing the forest for the trees. Bottom line you can't evaluate any modeling unit in a vacuum because it's not a turnkey system...it's a component of a system.

I think a deep dive into the various amps and effects and how they differ could be useful to some people, but the research could also be exhausting and take LOTS of time to pull together. If you were to put it into the context of "what do I need for a good blues tone", then you're certainly jumping into the same type of content that Jason Sadites covers. I can conceive of a 2 topic areas that appear to be underserved. One is what you're talking about as far as deep dives into the various categories of amps, compressors, delays, reverbs, etc. But that would have to be a HUGE effort to be of any value. The other area that appears to me to be underserved is a very basic understanding of what modeling is and where/how the Helix fits it and gets configured and setup. We run into this all the time with people that are coming from traditional amp setups and are completely lost when they enter into the modeling world. Even the Helix manual itself doesn't really address this in any significant fashion. I'm talking about very basic stuff such as what is DSP and how does it get applied, or signal chains, their usage, and why, very basic navigation stuff, patches, presets, and snapshots..where they all fit in, cabinets, IRs, mic'ing and mic mixes. There's a ton of potential areas that newbies to the modeling world struggle with and could be useful.

You actually have a lot of choices available to you, but you first need to figure out what benefits you want to get from the Helix and the situation you're going to be using it in. The main thing to get a handle on is that the Helix will only be as good as the output device you use for it. You can choose to simply plan on taking the Helix to the gig and plugging it into the PA, but then you're dependent upon the PA and that's a crap shoot as you saw at rehearsal. Through a great PA system with adequate stage monitors and someone running the equipment that knows what they're doing, you'll sound great and you can have your sound mixed appropriately for the stage...however, that's not a guarantee because a lot of that is out of your hands. Most likely your best bet is to get a GOOD powered speaker that won't be too heavy, so you can somewhat duplicate the type of setup you've been doing with less weight and a more dependable/predictable stage sound. Something along the lines of a QSC CP8 might suit your purpose since it's very light, and has more than enough power to meet your needs. Of course you could also route the Helix output through your existing amp, but you wouldn't be gaining any advantage as far as weight and you would lose a certain amount of flexibility and features of the Helix since you wouldn't be using cabs or IRs since you'd be going through a real cabinet. Ideally all of these things would have been better thought about before jumping in, but that didn't happen so you either press forward, or call the whole thing off.

All I can add to this is...I'm SOOOOOO impressed that you actually took the time to read the manual!!!! That would save a TON of redundant questions we keep getting in here if only a fraction of the new users would follow your lead!!!! I can't say I had any particular good or bad feelings about the manual, although I will say I find it far more useful as a reference guide than as a beginner's tutorial. I think in some ways Line 6 may have a predilection toward thinking it's user base will be familiar with modeling because that's really all they do. What may be different now because of the Helix and the general state of modeling is that you have many more users that are completely un-initiated in the concepts of modeling, and I can understand how that can be confusing. Although the user interface does somewhat duplicate the visual aspect of a traditional pedalboard and amp arrangement, I would encourage you thing a bit outside of the box and do some investigation of the concepts of signal chains as applied both in the recording studio as well as in live performances, because that's where all of this modeling stuff really comes to life and can add extraordinary value to your efforts. For example, the general idea is that a compressor pedal tends to be one of the first pedals on a pedalboard before going to an amp. But that's really not true when it comes to recording studios or even live performance setups through a mixing board and PA. Likewise are the concepts that separate an amp from the cabinet it uses and the cabinet from the microphones used on the cabinet and how those mics are placed on the cabinet which have significant implications in your final tone and sound. Those, as well as mixing effects in parallel paths really don't have much of a parallel in the traditional floorboard and amp world, but bring a world of unique and useful capabilities to the Helix for both recording and very professional live sound.

There's nothing to stop you from doing it, but the results may not be what you want. There's no doubt that what you hear on stage may be quite different than the sound the audience will be hearing through the PA. Most people find it better to split the signal chain prior to the IR and send one signal to the power amp and the other one with the IR to the PA. Even then there will be differences. You'll just have to experiment and see what works best for you.

To each their own. I'm okay with most configurations including in ears. My personal problem with many smaller venues and their PAs are how bad they are. Often the ones I've run into are the typical powered mixer with cheap passive speakers. They might sound okay for vocals, but they're pitiful for representing instrument tones. That's when I'll leave the vocals to the budget PA and use something decent for the stage sound. Often it's a 2 DXR12's, one for myself and one for the upper end electronic drum kit. If nothing else the audience will get the benefit of premium sound from the instruments. Given that the people I tend to work with in those situations have been playing for many decades, they have the discipline to maintain a managed stage mix.

Honestly in over 3 1/2 years of gigging at least once every week with my Helix I've yet to encounter this as a problem. I tune at the beginning of each set and really have no need to pause to tune within a set. If I did, I'd probably just do it by ear. That may be why you don't see a lot of interest in this feature.

I''m assuming if you were going into a physical cabinet that you weren't using a cab block with your amp block. If so you'd need to add a cab block (or two if you want multiple mic's) to take the place of your physical cabinet.

There's an admin announcement post at the top of the forum that outlines all the changes in 2.80, but I didn't see any mention about adding cab/mic options to HX Effects. Kind of makes sense since there aren't any amp models in HX Effects which is what you'd use them for.

One that you may want to take a look at that really intrigues me is the Yamaha Revstar RS820CR. This comes with a set of humbuckers but has a push/pull dry switch for getting a single coil sound. I know Jason Sadites uses these a lot in his YouTube videos and he raves about them. If I didn't already have a Les Paul and a Strat I'd probably be interested in one of these. Worth checking out I think...

Normally the best automatic feedback systems tend to be on some of the newer digital mixers and work great. As stated before you can manually simulate the process with a parametric EQ using a pretty high Q setting and a negative gain value of around -6db then roll up through the frequency range until you knock it out. Then add volume to your output and do it again. Keep repeating the process until you've knocked out the offending frequencies then return your volume back to normal. This ensures you've addressed all the feedback frequencies and have plenty of headroom. Or...you can just get a soundhole cover and not have to worry about it.

Ideally, your Helix becomes your audio device for your computer once it's connected to the PC via a USB cable assuming of course that you have the Helix audio device driver loaded. With the Helix selected as the audio device from your PC and your headphones (or studio monitors) connected to your Helix, any music source your play on your PC will automatically play through the Helix audio output along with your live guitar input into the Helix. When it comes to the iPhone I haven't got a clue if it will be able to recognize the Helix as an audio device via USB but maybe someone else can fill in the blank there. My gut reaction is that it wouldn't be able to directly recognize the Helix as an audio device because it wouldn't have the appropriate audio device driver available. There are other possible ways to connect an audio output into the Helix using the audio inputs, but you would have to allocate a separate signal chain on the Helix for it.

You mean like slicing up a speaker so you could get that overdriven/distorted sound? That kind of "back in the day"???

Alternatively, depending on what kind of tone you're wanting, I've sometimes used the Teemah with a very low drive setting (around 1 or 2). Still very clean but with a tiny bit of bite that allows it to sustain and stand out. It also lets you adjust the tone for more presence.

Ideally, the advantage to using a FRFR type speaker is that it generally has the same response characteristics as most decent PA speakers because...well it IS a PA speaker. So if your sound is dialed in for the FRFR speaker that should be the sound, or pretty close to the sound it will get through the PA. There is no real magic to be done at the mixer for your signal to blended with the other instruments. The fact is you have far more advanced controls for such things in the Helix than they probably have at the mixing board. If it blends on stage it should blend out front. All that needs to be done is for them to mix your volume level correctly with the other instruments. That means it's up to you to make sure your signal level or volume stays consistent across all of your patches or snapshots.

It shouldn't be a problem. If the parameter is displayed with brackets around it, it's one that's being controlled by the snapshot. I would think if you're adjusting a parameter you'd be looking at the value of the parameter and notice it doesn't have brackets.

I have no idea how you're getting this problem. In over 200 presets I've built over the last 3 years on the Helix across a wide range of styles and genres using six different types of guitars and a fairly wide range of Helix amp models I've never experienced anything like what's being described here either with Helix cabs or with IRs. But then you weren't very specific about the guitar you're using or the general configuration of mics and placements on your cabinet nor your output system, so it's hard to gauge what might be influencing the sound you're getting. From your description it does sound like a pretty good description of a clipped signal.

I'm not really clear on what you're asking, but if you're saying that instead of pushing in the knob and turning it in order to get the brackets that tie it to the snapshot, that ANY time you change a setting it's tied to the snapshot unless you explicitly tell it not to..then the answer is no. I would think that type of behavior would likely be pretty inefficient since the snapshot only has to keep track of the specific parameter you've selected, whereas the other way around it would have to keep track of every parameter unless you specified otherwise. And given the lion's share of the parameters it's tracking would never get changed it seems quite wasteful to me in terms of memory.