fatgraymatt

Here's what I use for my rock/punk/metal/whatever band-- Helix into a Stagesource L2t. 90% of the time I use the 5150 amp with the Minotaur overdrive for my distorted sounds, for cleans I use either the Roland Jazz Chorus or the Divided Duo. My only outboard pedal is a Custom Audio Electronics MC404 wah. I also use a Line 6 Relay 10 wireless. We play acoustic shows as well. For those I leave the Helix home and run my Alvarez acoustic into a little Zoom MS50G pedal (for a volume boost for leads and occasional delay) and into my L2t. I don't miss lugging my half-stack around and it's nice to be able to fit my whole rig into my trunk. The other guitarist in my band runs through an actual Peavey 5150 head/4x12 and my Helix version more than keeps up both tone and volume-wise.

That's awesome, congrats man. Keep experimenting and refining-- this rig has inspired me to delve into some sounds I never would have even considered in years past. I just wish this kind of technology had been around back when I was playing covers by 40 different bands and doing them all with basically one distorted guitar sound and three or four pedal effects. Enjoy!

PS-- the other great thing is, my band started adding acoustic performances to our repertoire about a year ago and the L2t performs just as well in that capacity-- the on-board EQ, chorus & reverb are great & very useable. For those shows I just bring my Alvarez acoustic, a little Zoom MS-50G pedal for a little compression or light delay if needed, and the L2t and I'm good-to-go for any acoustic gig-- no need to bring the Helix along at all. The second input + built-in PA has saved our bacon on more than one occasion as well.

Hey, I have no experience with the Friedman so I can't compare the two but I've been giggling with the Helix + L2t for well over a year now and have been extremely happy. My old, beloved Soldano 4x12 just sits gathering dust now. I play in a loud rock band with another guitarist who's running a Peavey 5150 and a 4x12 and my Helix setup can hang with his old-school rig and then-some. Even for the rare clubs where our guitars aren't mic'ed I've never needed to go over maybe 60% output level on both the Helix & L2t. It sounds and feels exactly like my old 4x12 setup only with FAR better projection & sound diffusion than any 4x12 I ever heard-- and my entire rig fits in my trunk with ease. Line6 finally came out with a wheeled case for the L2t as well, which has made load-ins & outs much more civilized. By sheer coincidence, I usually use the 5150 model for most of my distorted tones and it's so close to sound of the actual 5150 it's scary. Obviously tone is very subjective and it will take some time to get yours just how you want it but all I can tell you is I took the plunge and am extremely happy I did. I've also gotten better feedback regarding my sound from fans, bandmates & sound-guys over the past year than at any time in the past 30 years of playing in bands. I still occasionally see a sound-guy turn up his nose when he spots my Line6 gear only to listen to him rant & rave later about how good it sounded and how easily it fits in a mix.

Kudos on the 2.0 update! I had no issues with the update and am loving both the Mark IV models (great choice!) and especially the Snapshots feature. That's just a brilliant way of organizing sounds and I love how seamless it is switching from sound to sound. I immediately updated all my patches with snapshot functionality and am extremely impressed so far. I use mine straight into an L2t in a live capacity with my band with outstanding results-- can't wait to use it live after the update. Great job, Line 6!

I've been using the Helix since it was released and am loving it, especially since the 2.0 update. The only external pedal I use is a CAE MC-404 wah. The onboard wahs are great but the CAE has a pretty unique sound and plays well with the Helix.

Just an FYI, Line6 link cables are actually aes/ebu digital audio cables-- digital versions of XLR's. They're mostly used by DJ's but I was able to find some at my local Sam Ash. They're a bit cheaper than the official Line6 cables and still transmit digital audio and the information to switch speaker modes per patch.

"It does raise a question: does the L2t direct out - when the HD500(x) is in combo/poweramp mode- create any mic emulation, similar to the manner in which the DT25 does?" If I read the documentation at Sweetwater correctly, the answer seems to be "no". According to the literature, the speaker can reconfigure itself 6 ways that change the way it puts out frequencies and the frequencies it puts out. One for "flat/reference", one for prerecorded music and DJ's, one for keyboards, one for acoustic guitar, one for vocals and one for electric guitar.

Nice! It definitely takes some tweaking and experimenting but once you're in the ballpark with the sounds you want, the consistency at any volume and the wide sound dispersion make for a really effective, lightweight setup. Happy rocking!

Thanks for the input, all. I'll continue experimenting and let ya'll know what ends up working best. I'm a long-time tube enthusiast and never would have imagined I'd be using a setup like this a few years ago but I'm really impressed so far and my back is appreciating it more and more. Plus, it was really enjoyable setting up for my last show in about 3 minutes, gave me ample opportunity to taunt my band's other guitarist-- "geez man, aren't you ready to go yet? You're taking forever!". Good times.

Should work just fine although I'd hold off buying the second speaker till you try it with just one. I just started using a HD500X into an L2t and found the sound dispersion really good. If you just stand it on it's end and set your volume right, everyone in your band should hear pretty much the same thing. It's got a wider dispersion pattern than a typical guitar amp and you may find you don't even need the second amp unless you wanted a stereo rig (which would actually be pretty cool too).

I've had an HD500X for about 6 months now that I've been extremely happy with and until recently have been running a PRS Custom24 into the HD500X and into the clean channel of a 100-watt Peavey ValveKing head and then to a Soldano 4x12. The sound was quite good but I was curious about trying an FRFR rig and the Stagesource L2t looked to be just the ticket. I've had it about 2 weeks now and have used it at 2 rehearsals and a club show and have been mostly happy but I know that with some tweaking it will get better. To my ears, my patches sounded best with the HD500X output set for combo amp-in with the L2T in Electric Guitar mode. I'm connecting the units using an L6 Link cable. My question is, is there a way that works better? I play electric guitar exclusively in an originals band in the vein of Tool, Jane's Addiction and Alice in Chains so I'm playing relatively high-gain (have been using a dual signal chain using the Soldano SLO-100 model and the Treadplate) 90% of the time, although there are a couple of songs that require Fender or JC-120-like cleans and a couple of mid-gain, AC-30-type tones. I'm intending to use this to replace the halfstack/pedalboard that I've been lugging around for decades and letting clubs either mic the L2t or use it's direct-out. At our single show I was most impressed by the consistency of the sound and especially the sound dispersion. It didn't seem to matter where I put it, which way I faced it or where I went onstage, it sounded the same and everybody in the band said they heard me perfectly and I didn't need to overpower anybody to do it. My clean sound was better than it's ever been and my dirty sound was good but not quite as good as it was running into the Peavey. I didn't have much of a chance to tweak my patches beforehand though, so I figure a few more hours put in trying new things will get me where I want to be. I'm fairly comfortable tweaking the HD500X and I know the only way to get things sounding their best is to experiment but if anyone has used this type of setup for similar purposes I'd sure appreciate any advice you could offer, including the best ways to connect the units and what output settings/speaker modes work best, as well as any patches you've created to work with an HD500X -- L2t setup. I'd be happy to share mine as well.