cletcher1

So my first rodeo in trying to repair an out of warranty Helix....my power switch (and subcomponents) have popped out of my unit twice, rendering it useless prior to 2 gigs. Not sure why, could have been an unseen mishap, but I always keep it in gator road-case. Seeing as how these components just snap in, I figured I could order replacement parts (my guess is about a $1 worth of actual wholesale cost parts) and pop in a new switch. After a few email support ticket conversation this is what I was told. 1. They weren't sure what parts I was talking about? Really, the power switch and spring. Be warned they aren't that familiar with the schematics apparently (AMPEG??) 2. They don't sell parts to customers for Helix, you must send the unit in for repair and a much larger cost. 3. Never heard of this happening before...which is not true either. Anyway maybe this has been discussed before...but way disappointed here. Expected to order a new switch and be on my way...now I'm looking at probably a couple hundred dollars or more in costs to have it "officially' repaired. Sorry already spent that on more L6 equipment (backup Helix). sigh.... The reality is that I'll probably have my tech just hardwire it on for a fraction of the cost and use the power cord to turn it on/off . I need it to be reliable. Just beyond frustrated I can't buy the parts I need.

Same issue. Went to use the use the g10 with both an ibanez acoustic and gretsch falcon rancher. Would not connect to either. Electrics were fine connecting. There's nothing special about either of the acoustics inputs. Very disappointed here. I showed my buddy who has one order and it wouldn't work wig his acoustic either. Said he'd be cancelling his order. Using any sort of extender would make this stick out way to far. As an early adopter of most line 6 products including the helix, I'm becoming very disappointed with the issues line 6 release their products with out of the gate. Come on guys. 3 out 3 acoustics wouldn't work. Surely you ran into this.

I've read most of the forums discussing this issue. I get the impression that most manufacturers are blaming Apple with the El Capitan issues. I'm not a techie, but I would like to know what Line 6's official stance and timeline on providing a customer solution on this is. It would not seem logical for Apple to sit back and have all it's music users jump ship back to Windows based on hardware compatibility issues that it isn't addressing with El Capitan. It would also seem unlikely for Line 6 to sit back and have it's flagship processor be a brick when it comes to the latest Apple OS. But I have seen no official response from either, but I could be wrong. I still haven't been able to back up my patches so I can do an upgrade, to which I've had to sit through at least 2 and counting waiting. I'm sure I'm being over cautious, but I've spent way to many hours tweaking my patches. Haven't even had a chance to get to the recording issues you guys are talking about.

well said....

Peter, With all due respect, there is absolutely a story here. A lot of us are aware of audio engineering 101. I studied it at college level. No one intentionally wants to run phantom power to a device that doesn't need it. You seem to not understand what many have explained as not an option in some cases. Your mixer(s) might be fine, however many do not allow for individual power switching. Again, citing Line 6's own M20, of which we have 2. Yes there are work-arounds, but they include multiple direct boxes or phantom blockers....additional investments. And why the hell would they have put protection on the now inferior HD500, but not the flagship Helix? Why are they so silent on the issue? Why was it missing from the manual? Scooby-Doo could put these clues together. For them to say something would possibly have legal implications, even though no one here is probably interested in a class action law suit. I'm done with this thread, although I hope it has educated some of this issue so they don't freak out when it happens. It has probably saved a bunch of returns also. We can revisit this post in a year and discuss if the current production model does this then. That will tell it all. Other than this and the El Capitan issues, I'm enjoying my Helix.

Thanks for validating, although not really a surprise. I find it interesting that more users aren't that upset about this. I'm even more disappointed about how Line 6 has handled this, or not in my opinion. But not surprising given the expense to offer customer's a fix would be huge. I'm sure we will see this fixed in future models or production runs if it hasn't already been addressed. But they have left us first adopters out in the cold. This will conclude my run as a early adopter for their products. Has this been fixed in the floor model manual as a warning? Or is this thread I started handling that awareness for them. Disappointed as the Helix is otherwise a great product.

Interesting. Thanks for sharing. Mines a 2013 MacBook so guess it has the new ports.

Mainly it disconnects during saving bundles and single patches. Thought this was a common issue. I know there are recording issues with pops, but I'm still on simple back up and transfer issues.

I know there are many threads, but there appears to be no end in sight to resolving issues. I'm most concerned that I still can't backup patches or set lists or bundles to th helix app. A potential freeze up or glitch could render all my hours spent on patches useless. This leaves me unable to update as well without losing them. At least that's my understanding. And I do not want to time machine back due to other data in my computer. If it's an apple thing, why aren't music manufactures all over them demanding a fix? Just frustrated.

Maybe we could start a petition in this thread. If you'd like to see a more official response from Line 6, just post "bump". Maybe if the list gets big enough....

I wouldn't count on it... Just to share a quick story as to how this issue has affected me. I was going to go back to praise band rehearsal last night and let the other guitar player filling in for me this week play through the Helix while I dialed in the settings better, before I left our "worship leader" texted me and asked me not to show up with the Helix until after practice, simply because the noise issue train wrecked practice last week. Needless to say I was a bit mad. But that will be another story.

True...I just remember him showing it off on Facebook several months ago and then never heard anything again.

Maybe it's me, but doesn't look like he's put his Helix to use yet. Curious as to why...

I agree Peter, it's hard to be flawless out of the gate. I'm sure they are having discussions about this. If not, that would be very concerning. Opinions are going to very on how much of a buzkill this issue is. I'm a little disappointed, but not going to return the unit over this...others may. My main point in starting the thread was issue awareness, as I was very frustrated at the time this happened, almost embarrassed, as the band guys were laughing my expensive new toy was making all kinds of noise. Had it been an actual gig I would have been seriously angry. Almost came home and boxed it up for a return to MF. I can't imagine this not happening to others as this roles out with the backorders continuing, communication will save new users the frustration and Line 6 from returned units to retailers because users think it's defective. Hard not think that when you unplug from the Helix back into the HD500 and it sounds fine, back to Helix..hiss.

I guess it depends on your opinion. Does the Kemper, Axe Fx do the same thing? We know the HD500 doesn't, which is not even in the same class now. This is suppose to be a rugged/tour ready piece of gear, but yet you have to baby it when it comes to phantom power. I would agree it appears to be an afterthought they just discovered based on the manual and knowledge network statement. Coming out and saying oops, we owe you 1st gen guys a fix would be too expensive. So ya I expect them to lay low, act like it's intentional, maybe fix really angry customers units at some point, but mainly address it with an engineering change in future models. Fortunately for Line6 there are clearly customers that this is not a big deal do to their mixers or the way they choose to connect to the Helix, but it's fair to say others that this issue affects directly should have the right to be unhappy. Let's face it, early adopters are really beta testers anyway. Having said all that, it still is an amazing piece. Kudos to the design team... Just my opinion...and I'm a longtime Line6 customer: M13 M9 2- HD500 1- X3 Live 2- M20 boards Relay 60 Helix Original Bean Various other....

Thank you. I guess I wasn't aware of the knowledge base page (my bad) and it didn't come up when googled. My opinion would be that this explanation is still vague and doesn't communicate the issue of noise as well. I'm assuming this is not going to be addressed in some sort of fix anytime soon, as it's probably hardware related. I personally find the 1/4" output to be sonically inferior, at least with my initial test. As far as I'm concerned I can deal with the issue, however I do view it as an unfortunate downside especially since it wasn't an issue with the HD500. As I and others have said, many boards, including the Line 6 M20, do not offer individual phantom power switching forcing you to choose 1/4' outs if you need to share with condensers.

Good points Brainbug....that's why I started the thread. I too could find no warnings of this issue in the manual. I almost left practice and boxed the thing up to send back out of frustration because I thought it was defective. Thankfully others had posted something. Even if it's only a manual statement "don't accidentally use phantom power dummy, you'll get massive hiss", at least users will be aware. Especially considering lesser models have never done this...I would think this board is the first place to look for oversights discovered by customers given that it's a brand new product.

Thanks Dave for reporting your results. I guess to summarize would be to say that depending on the board your connected to, the Heilx can and will have phantom power issues (mainly hiss) that can possibly be corrected by the ground lift switch. Obviously disengaging phantom power is the preferred method, however this might not be an option on boards with shared power switching (including Line 6's flagship M20). Furthermore this issue never existed to my knowledge on the HD500 for either software and/or hardware design. So the minimum thing Line 6 would need to do is at least make sure users are aware of this in the manual. I could see the less tech savvy users and sound guys scratching their heads in frustration trying to figure this out right before a possible gig. Thanks everyone....

Sounds great Dave. Look forward to hearing your results!

Ya I'm not an expert, but it seems to be a popular cost saving method. Even on a few pricey boards.

Interesting. Ran the same test with 2 different boards...had hiss regardless of ground lift switch position on both. Turned phantom off and of course no noise.

Good points and yes I agree you shouldn't have phantom power running to the helix outputs anyway if possible. It's strange they would have included the correct hardware on the hd500 and not the helix. I'm only trying to help raise awareness as many mixers don't have individual channel phantom power selection. Even so how many experiencing this issue for the first time would even think to attribute it to phantom power from the board? Especially if your dealing with an inexperienced sound crew.

Verified today it also had phantom power noise with my cheap basic alto mixer at home.

Good to hear...did you upgrade to newest El Capitan that came out yesterday? Is the Helix app working without dropping the connection to Helix?

Nope appreciate it...however in every case I found the issue was with the phantom power provided from the board. Sounds like it's not playing well with some mixers, especially the newer advanced ones.