DunedinDragon

That sure sounds to me like a memory problem within the unit itself. I'd open a ticket on that one with Line 6. That's actually pretty scary.

Well then I guess all the sound companies need to replace their line arrays with guitar cabinets, huh? HINT: perceived loudness is subjective, actual volume is measured and objective. You might perceive you're going 120 mph in a car when the speedometer says you're only going 90. I've run shows where the guy cranks his Marshall through a 4x12 cabinet and refuses to turn it down, so I mute his PA channel. Around row 10 he won't be heard above the rest of the band, nor will he be heard on the opposing side of the stage. Everyone else in the band will be heard clearly throughout the auditorium. By the way, I'm not the only sound guy that does this.....it's an old trick that's been used quite often.

Actually you're likely to get more volume as heard by the audience due to the difference in design of cabs and powered speakers. Cabinets have a LOT of bleed and the sound cone is quite large in all directions, so a lot of sound energy gets wasted in the ceiling and floors. Powered cabinets are much more directional with a wide horizontal sound cone and limited vertical cone. There's also a LOT less bleed from the type of sealed cabinets used on powered cabinets so the sound energy is MUCH more directional and efficient maintaining higher db over distance. That's why you haven't seen cabinets used for FOH speakers for at least 2 decades now. As far as the 133db SPL rating that is the peak without any specification of distance, but those are instantaneous so it's likely in the 120-ish range. You wouldn't want much more since a military jet takeoff from 25 ft measures in at 150 db which results in an immediate rupture of the eardrum. Most often a loud rock concert will generally be in the 108 to 114 db range as it becomes physically painful pretty much above that range.

Is this behavior both on the Helix display and in HX Edit?

It's a little bit older design but it would probably be okay. It is a bi-amp design, but unlike more modern designs it allocates the amps equally between the horn and the speaker. Generally more modern designs allocate less wattage to the horn than to the speaker because highs are more easily produced, but it has a pretty flat response in the "Normal position". As far as loudness it's right up there with most powered speakers with a rating of 133 db SPL, so it should be loud enough.

It's not like this wasn't one of the first, if not the VERY first things people started asking about from the moment the Helix was introduced. I certainly wouldn't hold my breath on it.

I don't think anyone is questioning what you're attempting to demonstrate nor the results you achieved. What's really the question here is HOW you got there, specifically promoting the use of Global EQ to achieve it. Personally I love the idea of someone taking the time to create videos to help the user base understand key hints and tips for getting the tone they want. But I'm also of the opinion that if one does so they also have the responsibility of educating users on how to do it in an appropriate way consistent with the design of the Helix and not promote bad practices that can lead someone to further problems down the road. You'll notice it didn't take long for myself and several others to chime in on that subject, and there's a reason for that. It's because we're constantly seeing new users make that mistake not understanding the importance of why Line 6 specifically warns against using global EQ that way in the Helix manual because they don't understanding the implications of how that might affect them in their long term use of Helix. Imagine that someone follows your directions and makes that correction in global EQ, then creates other presets that aren't using Ownhammer IRs or are needing to create other presets that are for a completely different style or genre of music which is the flexibility that Helix is designed for. They could turn off Global EQ in that case, but that's just putting a bandaid on the problem and it's certainly not a convenient way of dealing with it in a live performance. The correct solution would be to go back and put that EQ correction in each of their other presets that depend on it so they can use it or not use it depending on the patch they're working on. More importantly is when they turn up at a show and find they need to make corrections for the acoustics of the room, but they now have no pristine tool available to make those corrections across all of their patches because global eq is already being used for something that should have been done within the patches that need it.

So why use Global EQ? What happens if you choose to use stock cabs on a different patch? It seems to me that's why Line 6 advises only using Global EQ for acoustic differences in a room as you could do this same thing through a parametric EQ in the patch itself.

I'm with spikey on this one. I'm okay with doing in ears or monitors, but I'm much more comfortable working with the live feel of the mix on stage, probably because I've done that for so many years it just feels natural. I'm okay with in ears, but it has more of a feel like working a studio session so it has less energy to it. If you've been doing this for any length of time there's no trick to getting both your stage mix as well as your FOH mix right. All you need is a pair of ears, a pair of feet and a wireless setup on your guitar.

Try the Particle Verb, Glitz, Ganymede, Searchlights, and Plateau...or some combination of them.

Actually small venues are the best place to use it since you're not likely going to be putting instruments through the PA in those situations, so you're really depending on the backline to provide what the PA and stage monitors aren't for both on stage and off stage coverage. Obviously you still have to manage your stage volume...just like we've been doing for the last 70 years.

I'll never understand why someone will spend top dollar on their guitars, top dollar on a premium modeler, and attach it all to a bargain basement output device....

The biggest limitation for producing a "surf" sound isn't going to be the Helix. It's going to be your knowledge and skills about the elements in the signal chain that will produce that sound. And that signal chain consists of everything from your guitar, it's pickups, the strings you use and even the output device you send the signal to. The rest of the stuff in the middle such as amps, cabinets, mics for the cabinet, mic placements and various effects such as reverbs and how all of that should be configured will all be a part of getting the "surf" sound. It's no different than in the real world choosing an amp to play through. You can go buy a Fender Bassman amp which was used by Bob Bogle back in the day back in the day with the Ventures. But that amp has been used for many different genres over the years, so it's up to you to know what all is needed and how to configure it specifically to get the Ventures sound. Likewise in the Helix you can select a Fender Bassman amp along with a cabinet containing 2 C12N speakers along with an appropriate mic and it's placement as well as a spring reverb, but it's still the same limitations as the real amp in that you have to provide the knowledge of how to set it all up. You can go onto CustomTone on the Line 6 web site and search for the Ventures and they'll have presets to get you started. They may or may not be right to your ears, but that may be dependent on the other factors such as your guitar, your strings and your output device. But that's the limitation on any preset because the Helix only controls so much of the signal chain. There's no doubt the Helix (with the proper gear) can provide a studio quality representation of a surf sound. But it depends a lot on your knowledge and skills and other external equipment to produce it. Case in point is your interest in doing some Duane Eddy tones. The Helix is perfectly capable of that, but you'll struggle to get an authentic Duane Eddy tone using the same guitar used for surf music because most surf music was based on Tele's, Strat's, and Mosrite's whereas Duane Eddy was a famous Gretch hollow body user and Gretsch Filter'Trons sound nothing like Fender single coils.

Actually about 2 1/2 years ago I switched over from using my DXR12 in front of me as a monitor to behind me in the backline in vertical position on a half height pole and I'll never go back. There are multiple good things that happen when you do that. First of all, these speakers in the vertical position have a very wide sound cone, but in the horizontal position they have a much more limited horizontal sound cone. That means you get better coverage across the stage and it makes it much easier for everyone to get a good stage mix. A second huge advantage is if you happen to play at a smaller venue where you aren't putting the instruments through the PA. An FRFR mounted on a pole behind will project much better than an amp and will project in the exact same way as if it were going through a PA.

I can't imagine anything overpowering a QSC K12.2 or a Yamaha DXR12. If so you need to remind your bandmates that there's this modern times answer to volume....it's called a PA, and it does it way better than any amps or drums you might have.

If you mean when you press the up preset button it goes down in the list of presets as displayed in HX Edit, that would be normal. Pressing the up preset selects the next numerically higher preset. Pressing down selects the next numerically lower preset.

I'm don't remember seeing any of the Helix units on sale specifically, but I do know that you can sometimes get pretty decent discounts on B-stock units from Sweetwater for example. The B-stock units are simply units people bought and returned within the authorized return period for full credit. They have a normal, full warranty and are only sold at a discount because they've been opened (similar to floor stock at a retail outlet). I've personally bought two Helix units this way and have been quite happy with them. I wouldn't be too alarmed at the price because you're dealing with a completely new generation of modelers in these units. In comparison to their direct competition as far as quality/price they're actually quite reasonable. Especially compared to the Boss GT100 which is really more at the product level of the Pod HD500X and not the Helix. The decision factors, in my opinion, between the Helix LT and the full Helix Floor come down to how you intend to use it. For example if you play out quite a bit and expect to put a lot of performance hours on the unit, the more rugged build of the Helix Floor will likely be worth it to you. Also, if you intend to do a lot of recording work the additional inputs, outputs and controls such as the headphone volume control and the Aux input are invaluable time savers when it comes to having an easy and straightforward way of working directly with a DAW.

You should be able to do this via the controller assignment function on a regular stomp targeting the output block, but I've never tried it. It would definitely work on a gain block. Although in that case I'd just use it as a regular bypass stomp and only have to use one stomp button. If I'm understanding what you're after here.

Being a person that uses a LOT of different presets, I have a set of around 35 IRs I use exclusively in all my various presets. It's just so much easier to select the one that best fits the preset and have no further tinkering with it.

Have you tried opening a ticket with Line 6 support so someone can walk you through it and identify where the problem is?

It seems to me the Simple Pitch effect would be the ideal solution for you. It's not key dependent and works in whatever interval you want, and it's a simple on/off button.

Oh...don't worry about me. I'm just checking in to catch up on the drama going on in this thread. I gotta fill my time somehow until the final season of 'Game of Thrones' starts later this year.....

If all that you want is to simply boost the existing tone the simplest way is to use a compressor. If you want more sustain then increase the release time, if you don't want it peaking change the ratio. A lot of this sort of thing is done almost automatically for you with the Minotaur, but if you want more control over it you can just use a compressor and lift the volume output on the the compressor. Alternatively you can just adjust the output level on the output block. I'm just not a great fan of using a volume pedal for such things because it's sometimes hard to get it back to it's original position when you want to turn off the boost in volume.

I use a fairly wide range of guitars and consequently pickups that include a Les Paul w/ Burstbucker Pro, Tele and Strat Elites with 4th generation noiseless single-coils, a Gretsch Silver Falcon with Filter'Tron pickups and I've always left the pad alone and had no problems with any of my patches. But all of my patches are built for the specific guitar that will be used with it.

From the comments I've gleaned over the last few years from different L6 sources it seems the stock cabinets "emulate" the behaviors of IRs but in a more processing efficient way. Beyond that I doubt you'll ever get a comprehensive answer about the details of their workings, but feel free to speculate as much as you'd like.... From my personal observations, they do a pretty decent job that's comparable to IRs, but in my experience they don't have the full range of differences you can get from IRs, particularly when it comes to using multiple mic's on a cabinet and mixing them. Another example of differences can be heard if you take a SM57 mic and listen to the difference when placed at a distance of 1" and at 12" on a stock cab. The tone will get darker, but not nearly as dark as an IR with a mic placed on the cap edge of the speaker compared to the cone edge of a speaker. Granted those are two different techniques for shaping the sound of a cabinet, but in the end it's still a difference that pertains to how flexibly you can craft the sound of a speaker cabinet. And it may be the case that the way in which they implement their IR emulation doesn't easily or efficiently provide for that range of behavior.