vmoncebaiz

I haven't had that particular issue myself, but a couple (hopefully helpful) tips ... For most of my gain settings I place an overdrive (usually ts808 or minotaur models) pedal infront of my amp, but I turn the gain to 0 and the level higher, to 9 or 10. It tightens up the bottom end and gives a more crisp feel. It also lets you get away with less gain on the amp's drive parameter with similar sustain and compression. I believe the impedance for both those models is 1m ohm but I leave my global impedance at 1m anyway. Another option for dealing with bottom end is to raise the 'low cut' on the cabinet block to > 80

I've had better luck with the full amp models into power amps so far. My brain is telling me that shouldn't be the way to set it up, but my ears are telling my brain to shut up. Stupid brain.

I do it by matching to the volume of the factory patches. I start with the Helix volume at 50%. Then I set up the tone the way I want it to sound first, and then I compare the overall volume to a factory patch. I use a free SPL meter app on my phone and my ears just to make it so my patches and the factory ones are going to blow the doors off if I switch back and forth. Then there are a number of ways to adjust the volume of the patch without affecting your tone. 1) channel volume on the amp block 2) level on the cab block 3) level on the output block (or a merge point if you run parallel paths back together) 4) add in a "gain" block at the end of your signal chain (found in the volume/pan section of effects) Hope that helps a bit.

What are you unimpressed with so far with that set up? I know you can run the crown power amps into guitar cabs, but I've had better luck with guitar specific power amps so far when going into a guitar cab. I think the "clean" or "transparent" style power amps lend themselves more to an FR/FR set up. You might get more out of it running it into a passive full range speaker. Those Orange cabs are so good, and well made too. That's my front runner for a 2x12 - Just gotta sell off the closet-sitting 4x12.

I've used the power amp section of a traditional amp into a few different 2x12s and 4x12s with varying results. I just run Helix into the power amp return of the amp. Ive done it with Fenders, a PRS Archon and with the EVH 5153. They generally excel at what you'd expect them to - Fenders handled clean and low gain sounds nicely but sounded awful with tons of gain. I think the physical speakers and the power amps handle similar sounds better, even if they are modeled. In all of the set ups I've tried so far, using full amp models, instead of pre-amp only, sounded better to me (I know it should be the other way). In some cases adding in a cabinet block helped out too (despite it being coloration on top of the physical speaker) Soon, I'll start playing around with Helix into engl's 810/20 power amp and into a few different 2x12s I'll try to post my thoughts on it later. I use the Helix floorboard, but it would sound/respond exactly the same with the rack.

I see where the confusion is. The answer to the second questions should be something along the lines of ... You simply search for the tone you want by typing a band name, song title, or artist into the search field in the app. That's found under the "tones" tab in the bottom of the app window, and then in the "cloud" tab on top It searches the cloud for presets (not audio files for streaming). It still searches using the same meta data that it would use if you played the song from your own iTunes library.

I would love to see this happen as well. I've used morley wahs specifically for that feature, I didn't even like the way they sounded as much as other wahs. In the meantime, I'm also looking into Mission's expression pedal with its own toe click. It doesn't solve the heel down=off thing, but it should help with using external pedals for wah and whammy type effects http://missionengineering.com/?product=sp1-l6h-line-6-helix

Make sure you have BOTH the latest Helix app and Helix hardware updates. I just helped a customer having the same message. it ended up being that he had updated his Helix firmware, but not the app. Hopefully yours is as simple of a fix.

At home I use Yamaha MSP5 or HS8 monitors. Both work well, but tend to be on the brighter/crispier side. Others I think are really good for the money are M-Audio or Mackie 5-inchers. I find playing through the 8 inch monitors feels a little better than the 5 inch. Just slightly though and might not be worth the extra cost for most people. When I'm doing in store demos with Helix the QSC K10 or K12 are my go-to speakers. I know I can find them everywhere and Im used to the way they sound. Other common ones I think sound very usable are the Alto 110s (surprised me too) My favorite I've used live are the Mackie HD1221. If its good enough for Devin Townsend I figure its good enough for me. It's hard to find the L3 speakers out in the retail world nowadays, but that was an awesome sounding speaker for amp modelers too (in flat response mode).

Dude I love this! I sit with a pile of picks on my desk about once a month deciding what I like most. At NAMM a few years back, I was most excited to see Dunlop's new JP Jazz III. IF you want a couple other one to check out, I can recommend these from another Jazz III fan (mainly J3 ultex and carbon fibers). Recently I've settled on a company called In tune Gp. They make JazzIII pics from a material called delrin, It feels little stiffer than the Tortex material of the same gauge. They also make XL sizes of that material. I still love the Ultex Jazz III (similar thickness to your carbon fiber ones, but the tip is a little more rounded so it slides by the string a little more than grabbing it the way the carbon fiber point does). They now make an XL version of it that might work with the pick clip. Another one to check out is the redder Big Jazzer. Really nice picks as far as material and tip, and it might work well with the pick clip. Probably not worth almost $30 a pick, but they are pretty cool.

I liked the way the XT's pedal looked best, but I think Helix's pedal feels the best to use.

"Tab Tool Kit" is an app that can read Guitar Pro and Power Tab files as well as store PDFs. For the Tab files it can playback with speed control. Pretty good practice tool for learning songs, and there are plenty of lesson materials out there in Guitar Pro format. Its also cheaper than guitar pro software and runs on your iPhone.

Love the idea of being able to save each preset in either 8 or 10 FS mode. I'd back that idea.

I'll try to recreate this at some point soon and see if it's a bug. In the mean time, and if it is meant to behave that way, try setting up the same models on different positions on the pickup selector. Have your "5 string" model on say pos 5, then use the same model except with normal string volumes on the other positions. You can assign the open g tuning to the "5 string" versio" and leave you're tuning know on "model". It might make switching tunings a little easier and faster live too.

I haven't come across a variax with that issue yet, and if it's happened recently, I don't think the shielding would be the heart of the issue Is there any difference in the noise when you touch the strings or the pots? Sometimes a guitar's bridge ground wires loses its connection (maybe corrosion from sweat or just getting worked by the floyd). Check the wire that is soldered, or connected to the trem spring claw. If thats not the case, then shielding may help, it can't hurt, and its easy to do yourself. If you do it, just be mindful of anything that would touch the shielding and ground itself out. Grab some shrink wrap tubing (or electrical tape works too) and cover exposed wires or contacts that might touch your shielding.

A buddy of mine has an old bassman and he wanted to use Helix for FX. He came up with the idea to put all his traditional FX in front of the amp. Then he mics the amp and sends that back through the mic in on Helix. Then he places some delay and verb after it in the chain, creating a virtual post section for his amp with no FX loop. It also essentially lets him play direct with his favorite amp, and as a bonus he gets to bring his own mic instead of relying on whatever the venue has. My favorite part of Helix hands down is its ability to work with other gear.

When you're connected via USB, the compute will recognize Helix as the interface. Inside Protools, you just have to select that track's input to be Helix USB 7. If you still want to use your 3rd party interface you can set up your normal processed sounds to run out XLR or 1/4" into that interface. You can then place a send block at the very start of your signal chain and that will be a DI signal to send to the interface's other input. (Or you can set the send block on a parallel path or on the second path - depending on how you have the actual tone set up)

It took me a little while to get this one to do what I wanted too. It can be a very saturated, sizzly amp, so I try to smooth it out. It's the block logo 5150, and I don't really like these amps in real life either, but boosted with a tube screamer model (gain at 0, level 8-10) it feels better, and you can get away using less amp gain. Then using the high cut filter (sometimes as low as 11k) on the cab helps this one sound a little less fizzy. Pulling the mic away (or using a second cab with a mic placed further away) can also help this amp sound a little less thrashy. With the updates some of the default values change around, check the master amp levels. On the PV panama I was lowering master volume to around 3.

I think i did the same thing where I didn't notice the description on the side in your diagram. I just went for the pictures. Haha.

mcbeddall has it right. Here's an example diagram of running the 4-cable method with a podHD500 (or similarly the FirehawkFX). http://guitargearfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/4-cable-method-hd500x.jpg If you have your FX loop placed early in your signal chain (before your amp/cab blocks) , you can still turn on amp and cabinet modeling as they will be in the FX loop or power amp section of the physical amp. Sometimes it might not be perfectly ideal to use modeling in that set up (as opposed to with a powered speaker or just completely bypassing the pre-amp of the physical amp), but it doesn't mean that you won't find good sounds with some experimenting.

I would recommend against adding in the zero fret, not just in a JTV, but in any guitar that wasn't designed for one from the drawing board. The biggest benefit of the zero fret is less friction and less string binding at the nut. As an intonation point, a well placed nut works as well as a well dressed zero fret in my experiences. Things that will noticeably improve your Variax experience are: 1) Having your guitar properly set up and well intoned. 2) Using heaver gauge strings. I normally prefer 9s in standard, and I think there are pros and cons of either light or heavy strings with normal electric guitars, but with the piezo pickups you're relying on the string itself. The bigger strings tend to sound better to me for the modeled guitars.

Audio or logrhythmic pots are what I believe most guitarist prefer, or at they are what most are used to for volume control on a guitar. They roll off more evenly through out the sweep of the pot. Linear taper pots tend to have a big jump in the last part of the rotation 10-7 on guitar volume, but then have a smooth roll off from 6-0. I think most guys use linear pots for tone controls and audio pots for volume. But it's all preference for your control. Neither one has difference in overall tone, just the sweep. Cool thing about workbench is theres no soldering involved and you can quickly find out which taper you like better.

You'll be fine with the screws in the front for racking Helix. The rack shelves and drawers tend to be used for storing extra pedals to loop into your racked gear.

You can use Workbench HD to not only change the resistance value of the pots (250k vs 500k), you can also change the taper of the pots from audio to linear. This might help you achieve what you want with volume roll-off. In general though, Helix is much more responsive to dynamics than HD500, and on either unit you'll find certain amp models are more responsive than others.

Hey Just starting', Have you checked out http://line6.ideascale.com? It's the wishlist for Line 6 gear and features. I'm always asking the guys back at Line 6 HQ about features I want to see on Helix. Most of the time they are already thinking about how to make it happen. You have some useful ideas about midi use with Helix. There are ways to set up the x/y states of amp/effects blocks in Helix. You just assign any parameters you'd like to shift to the same footswitch.