ricstudioc

Well a common request of L6 for years was to provide some kind of access to the individual strings provided by the Variax piezos, and nothing ever came of it. Given the EOL status of the Variax line I'd doubt we'll see any movement there. But even then Roland hasn't exactly made it easy, with the new GK5 class pickups. I have 2 Roland-ready Strats, a Godin nylon SA and a floater GK2a pickup - looks like I'd have to spend $200 to buy a format converter if I want in to the new stuff. I've got plenty of 13 pin synth stuff, so I think I'll be passing on this new generation.

Well, I'd differ to this extent - in this day and age of powered FOH enclosures, pretty much every system I've owned/seen/operated for, say, the past 20 years comes out of the boxes ready to go for stereo. You may choose to pan everything center, and I certainly get that. For the OP - I always ran my Helix - and keyboard rig - in stereo. 1/4" out to 2 FRFR's in front of me like slants, XLR's to the house. Big volume knob assigned to the 1/4's only so I could adjust things on stage without effin' with the sound guy. My last few projects ran in what I'd call "tight stereo" - not too wide a spread, maybe 10 and 2 on respective pans, maybe a touch more. Allows a little dimensionality in the mix without so much isolation that the core signal gets lost to the other side. Works great for ping pong delays, chorus, spread pitch shifters, stuff like that. But of course that also assumes you have the inputs to spare on the console. Mono or Stereo (tight) - whatever works for you.

Starting from the bottom - if you're not delving into multitrack recording, and strictly want to run Native for practice/patch tweaks, your existing lappy is... oh, 85%+ gonna be fine. What constitutes a "low end" computer these days still smokes rigs that 20 years back I was doing full production on. Should be ok. Footpedals - the trick here is MIDI. While there are actual MIDI based expresson pedals, they tend to run to the pricey side. Add to that most smaller interfaces only have one MIDI in/out, and you said you'd like to run a couple. You probably want a converter box that can take std 1/4" footpedal plugs and convert them to MIDI. Something like this - https://www.amazon.com/DOREMIDI-Expression-Converter-Expander-MPC-10/dp/B0BZ87CVJ7/ref=asc_df_B0BZ87CVJ7?mcid=5a82f9de24c539e4a2ab8de115b30c6f&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693366139103&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=910855457161691036&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9030030&hvtargid=pla-2202627121882&psc=1 As to interfaces, skies the limit, there are more than I can shake a dead cat at (don't ask where I get the cats...). Personally I'd look at PreSonus or Focusrite 2x2 boxes. Solid, good drivers, well established. You can get great results for $100 -$150.

Are we talking about a click coming from the audio outs, or some sort of mechanical sound?

Did I see you at one of my shows? :-)

Sorry, no immediate solution but - Glanced at the manual, apparently in the Global/Footswitch menu you have an option to change the Tap function to Bypass. I'd assume that would stop the blinking, and probably set the light to one of two states- lit/unlit. This would at least let you determine if one state or the other is causing the noise, or switching between the two. While we're waiting for a solution to be offered, this seems at least a usable diagnostic. Best I got - there are some great folks 'round here, I'm sure the answer is out there.

Also take a look at phantom power settings at the mixer, it's fairly well documented that the Helix xlr's don't always play nice with phantom. Not sure how simply swapping cables would rectify it, but hey - I'm answering a question without seeing the issue. An "educated theory".

Well, most FX on Helix have mono/stereo versions, so simply using them takes care of that issue ref left/right, but - I'm not seeing here where you'd be getting a band mix from FOH into your in ears - if the rest of the band is also running direct this could be an issue. A while back a former band asked me to rejoin them on a series of tribute type shows, since my original departure the band had gone to in ears, which I had never used. While I was fine with the idea (and the band FOH guy is really really good) I still had concerns about my gtr mix in my headset. My solution - picked up an inexpensive small format mixer (Harbinger?) for about $50 - the size of a paperback book, but had an XLR input on one channel. I send the FOH stereo from the XLR's, but I told the sound guy to send me a band reference mix only, without my guitar included. (From the stage box, hence the XLR) I then took a 1/4" out from the Helix and brought it into one of the other channels, and fed that mixer into my in ears. Problem solved - I have a solid ref mix from the band and still maintain control over my guitar level.

Purely subjective, what do YOU consider "improved" tone? Personally - if you're already running dual 15", i don't know what you hope to achieve by adding another (or god forbid an 18"). If you play live at all a soundman would just start cutting everything below, say 100hz or so to clean up the mix. I do sound for a number of locals, and I sure would. I've been running dual 10" FRFRs since day one and get plenty of thump. Perhaps some time with your EQ?

Just a thought - wouldn't an FX return (I assume that's what you're using on the amp) expect to see a "line" level? i.e. coming back from some sort of processor? And anyway, line is just plain hotter than instrument.

Actually, not completely. (And let me clear up some terminology, I was a bit sloppy - the Floor has an actual, dedicated Aux in. Both the Floor and LT have Send/Returns for routing to external devices, those Returns can be used as Aux ins as well. So when I mention an aux in on the LT I was actually referring to using a Return for that purpose.) The Guitar In on the Floor/LT is designed to see an electric guitars magnetic pickups, and as such is (can be) very aware of impedance, and how that impedance interacts with the pickups, as well as downstream effects of that. Additionally it has a noise gate and variable pad in case the pickups are "hot" and need some taming. So far as I recall (corrections, anyone?) the Aux In/Returns have none of those niceties. They're a fixed impedance, the Returns have a level/pan control - and that's about it. Here's the thing - typically piezo pickups aren't impedance sensitive like magnetics, there's a whole different principle at work with them. So the Aux/Return pathway is perfectly viable for such use. At various times I've used the Aux In for piezos, keyboards, drum pads, all manner of things. None of which really care much about impedance. So you have options. Worth noting - I'm a Variax user, but since my shows required use of a wireless system I never used the fancy VDI inputs, or all the magic that a Helix can do when so connected. But I did switch to acoustic via the Variax, as such: I had presets where, say, the top three "paths" were dedicated to the electric guitar (kitchen sink stuff), and the final path dedicated to the acoustic sounds (little compression, EQ, verb). I set it up to where one switch took me between those paths - switch to acoustic, hit the switch and off we go. I'm not aware of the switching options on your PRS, most of my peizo equpped electrics (even with dual outputs) had the option to send everything down the one main cable, with a switch on the guitar choosing Elec/Acous/Both. So if you have that option, and would rather not have two cables hanging from your guitar, there's a way to do it. Hope this helps.

With all respect, Silverhead's overthinking this, if you simply have one output for the mags and one for the piezo. The LT will do it, but you'd have to bring the piezo in thru one of the 2 aux returns. The Floor actually has an Aux input for just such cases., leaving its Aux's free for external FX. If you absolutely, positively know that you're never going to want to use outboard pedals or fx, the LT should do just fine. If you want to maintain some future flexibility regarding external boxes, go with the Floor. My full kitchen sink rig used all 4 sends/returns to incorporate a bunch of EHX "9" series processors - your needs may not ever reach that need.

I'm in the Phoenix area - my first summer with the JTV's was educational, batteries would just prematurely... stop... in outdoor shows where the ambient could be 115f or so. Thank heavens the JTV's keep functioning as a reg guitar - got me thru a few shows while I figured it out. Turns out there are thermal safeties in those batteries, and the ambient plus sun beating on the guitar was enough to trip them even showing a good charge. I finally started keeping spares in a cooler, could typically get a set out of one before swapping out. Fortunately those kinds of gigs were an exception. If this is happening on indoor gigs, haven't a clue - can't imagine indoor temps in those ranges.

I'm sure others with experience in w/d/w will chime in, I'm a humble mono or stereo guy, but - I had to check on the Laney, sure enough a powered 4x12 - so speaker emulation on that side of things is covered (by an actual speaker). First thing I'd try: Helix in > boosts/drives/wahs and other mono stuff into > amp head of choice > right here insert a send to the Laney > cab/IR of choice > stereo processors > L/R out to small 1x12's. Make sense?

Hard to get specific, there are tons of variables here. I used an XVive U4 for the last couple years with my prior band and they worked a treat. So, you're getting a cue mix back from the board, the other instruments sound fine but not your guitar? That, to me, eliminates the XVive and the earbuds you're using. So - what's the make/model of the mixer? The band I mentioned used an X32, each one of it's cue mixes could easily have extensive EQ inserted, as well as(if I recall correctly) sends to that cue mix. So you might want to have a sit down with your FOH guy, see if there's an answer there if the mixer is comprehensive enough.