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FWIW shortly after acquiring my 69 I had an actual Strat neck put on - I believe my luthier said it was from a John Meyer (?) model. Night and day for me - like you I found the stock profile kinda chunky for my hands. Took it from being a guitar I played because of its flexibility on stage to one that I actually enjoyed playing in and of itself.

I always thought it was an inside joke about the Dumble only being affordable to lawyers...?

Buncha Fanboize!! (But then, so am I). Yeah - Helix pretty much wrapped it all up for me, other than some poly fx that I put in the loops everything else I might need is already in there. The only thing I've remotely considered picking up since Helix is maybe a Katana 50 just for the "one box grab-n-go" quickies. But for any real work Helix has me covered.

Just go ahead on the next release and turn "1.82" or whatever into "2.82". Yeah, I get "conventions" and revision histories and all that - just do it. Heck, catching up on this board I've seen several instances in the last 10 minutes where the confusion has tripped up discussions. You guys have slowly been getting the update process more clear and touting how Core unifies the whole thing - bite the bullet, defy convention and just do it. Bring it all into synch. Thenkyouveddymuch.

Voted! I mentioned this over on TGP - call it the "What's In A Name" update or sumtin. Since (I assume) Updater handles other product lines we can live with 1.7 or whatever it is now - but really ALL Helix family should be on the same rev.

You're not alone...

Dang - never thought of that. Good idea!

Note, though, that if you kick the Helix the reverb won't "sproing" like the real thing. Firmware 3.0 perhaps?

Oh, agreed - I never charged more for FR's, just cursed a lot while doing it. The tool I mentioned was a game changer, suddenly I could work the bridge while tuned to pitch. And for $20 - $25 bucks not exactly a major capital expense.

Has the design changed in the last 15 years or so? When I was doing setups the FR was the biggest pain ever - you loosen that screw and the whole saddle piece slams forward. You can loosen the string, then the screw, move and tighten, then retension the string - repeat until correct. Royal time-sucker. Prior to posting this I googled and checked - sure enough Stew Mac is still (or once again) selling a special tool for just this purpose, braces the saddle assembly screw against the frame and lets you incrementally screw the saddle back and forth. Had one on my bench at the time - not my shop so it stayed behind when I left. Highly recommended when working with FR's. Again, I'm willing to stand corrected if the basic FR design has changed - but that quirk is why I've been a Kahler guy.

Interesting - I've never had a problem getting feedback with my Helix/FRFR, in fact I've found it one of the most reliable rigs I've had for that. Nothing really special - I run a couple of Alto TS110s in front of me, floor monitor style. So my sound is firing right back up at me, I suppose that's a big part of it. Never need to be too loud. Most of my patches have a touch of compression before the amp, I'd assume that also helps get things rolling.

This will depend on several variables - Mac or PC, what DAW are you running? Some systems balk at different devices for in/out, as do many DAWs. You'll just have to plug'em in and find out...

Well, I have no hands-on with a Savage so a direct comparison isn't possible, but I can tell you this - any comparison with Helix to a POD series is pointless, they really have upped the game that much. It's a whole new critter, from tonal accuracy to organic feel it sounds and responds like any amp I've ever owned - and in 47 years of playing I've owned a lot. Best advice - buy from a place with a decent satisfaction return policy and find out for yourself. It's been (subtlely) acknowledged by L6 that many of the firmware updates have included under-the-hood tweaks of the engine, and at this point it's hard to find a bad sounding amp in the bunch. That's not saying they'd all be your cuppa tea, but compared to the initial release - where I'd be scrolling thru amps going "blech", "why bother", "who thought this sounded good?" - I now can pull up virtually any amp and find a use for it. Give'er a whirl - my money says you'll keep it...

Annnnd - quote of the century. How on earth did I get through the first 40-odd years of playing with just a Fender, Marshall, Mesa, Markley, or whatever amp I'd have at any given moment? Apparently I was truly deprived and never realized it. By all means, let's hope for more models as time goes by, why not? But I've yet to truly explore whats in there NOW, and am getting everything I could possibly need. The whole "give me this or I'm going to Fractal" thing has gotten kinda tired.

I'll be interested to see if anyone has any suggestions, but one stumbling block - at this moment Helix doesn't have polyphonic detection. I emphasized what I did because there are rumors (confirmed?) that L6 has added some team members with experience in that area. As a user of the "9" series of EHX pedals I'd love to see the capability added - even less stuff to cart around. But I suppose someone might find a way to do a mono Rhodes-type sound.

This ^ - it's unlikely I'll purchase another new instrument, I'm kinda-sorta retired from live work and would have a hard time justifying the purchase. But give me a board I can slap into my existing JTV and/or Standard and I'm pretty sure I'm in.

It's been my only gripe about Native - as noted above you have to be online to open it, once running you can pull the plug. My DAW is typically offline, I use a USB dongle when I need to update/autho something. So I open my DAW, plug in my dongle, open Native, then unplug. Annoying as hell, and I wish they'd change it. BTW - Native is totally worth it, not dissing the software. But this one choice was kinda lame...

Uhhh - gonna need some documentation on that one. "Selling England" was released in 1973, and Feranades' own website implies that the Sustainer was developed in the '90's, which jibes with my memory of first seeing it on the market. Heck, Fernandes didn't start until '69. Quite willing to be wrong, but in '73 the tech on the Sustainer board (I have a Ravel w/Sustainer) pretty much didn't exist, at least in such a compact form. That's not to say Hackett isn't using one now, in one of his current projects. To the OP - the one thing I haven't seen anyone mention above is good old fashioned feedback - speaker-to-string excitation. It's not necessarily all about volume alone, placement of yourself in relationship to the speakers can allow reliable feedback at quite realistic levels. Personally I run a couple Altos on the floor in front of me, monitor style - and I knew I'd made the right choice in Helix the first time I bashed out a clean chord (Matchless clean) at fairly modest volume and notes started to bloom. Joygasm! Before all the tech advances - I was setting up at a gig back in the... late 70's, I think (been doing this for awhile) and someone from another band noticed me on stage, measuring distances from my speaker and placing little tape marks on the floor. He kinda chuckled at me - but quit laughing when, time after time, I'd hit a given note and have it hold forever. It's not magic or mojo - its physics. Find where the nodes for a given note are, and be there. I'm only so-so as a player, but I can make a note hold purt' near forever...

Just echoing what's been said above - there's really no formula or "obvious" thing, every case is different. Certainly just recording your "go to" tone is a good starting point, you're in the ball park. I've yet - in 45-odd years of recording - to NOT have to eq a track surgically to make it "right". Duncann and Crusin pretty much nailed it, that which sounds great by itself can take up a lot of space in a mix. What's the "right" tone? Some years back I was working on an album for a local artist, the songs were all hers but production was strictly mine, as were electric guitar parts. I'd been trying to fit a certain line into the mix, but everything I dialed up from my various amp rigs just wasn't right. Finally I DI'd the guitar signal in dry and opened up Amplitube (an early version). Started going thru presets - "nope...nope...blech..." - and suddenly there it was!! The SOUND - fit right into the mix, was present without being pushy, had it's own space. Got curious and soloed the channel - god, what a horrible sound! Thin, abrasive, grating - working from the amp forward I would NEVER have gone with this tone, would have dismissed it without a moments thought. But first heard in the context of the mix it was perfect, absolutely the right sound for the moment. So - on any given track, do you find the sound - or let the sound find you?

FWIW - on all my electrics I tend to bounce between 9s and 10s, just keep the left hand on its' toes. While the 9s are perfectly acceptable, I DO find the 10s have a bit more authority so to speak. Goes back to the "tension across the piezos" comment above. So certainly give'em a try (9s), they won't hurt anything and if you're good with the response... there ya go. Oh btw - JTV69s w/Fender neck, and a Standard. Same response for either...

I'm just dying to know what kind of clever name L6 would come up with for it - Kitty Creamer? Feline Fusion? That would be an interesting lunchroom chat to listen in on...

Well, opinions will vary but if you're sure he's gonna be acoustic only for the foreseeable future I'd go with the HXFX. Don't really need the amp models - when you think about it, what happens to an acoustic in the studio? Little compression and EQ - and you got that in spades on the HX. Heck it even handles IR's, so there's the possibility of loading acoustic impulses to enhance the existing guitar. Just my 2 cents.

I'm running a Black Lion upgraded MOTU interface - the difference there was subtle but noticeable. Based on that experience, would I do it again? Probably not - as I say, subtle. Not sure that there'd be a big enough difference modding a Helix - and to what end? Let's be honest, guitar amplification is hardly based on high fidelity reproduction - that's what makes it what it is. If anybody goes for it - please post before and after samples....

This is what I meant - ALWAYS stereo on stage for me - sounds damn glorious and maybe I even play a little better/harder. FOH - not my problem (tho I'll certainly work with the sound guy to optimize the front). But I always wallow in the thick gooey goodness just for me....

I always run stereo on stage - up to the FOH guy if he wants stereo or mono for the house. Easy enough, just use the one XLR out if he wants mono, Helix sums it.