gunpointmetal

Guitar Center's website is never accurate. The site will tell you they have one in-stock even if its a returned, damaged unit, as I called multiple times while waiting because I would catch an "In-Stock, Order Now!" ad in an email.....

Helix absolutely destroys the AX8 in useability, routing, recording options, live configuration, onboard editing, and its sounds are on-par to the point that slightly "less-detailed" amp modeling is MORE than made up for by the other options that no other MFX is really doing right now like the interface, scribble strips, footboard editing, all of the MIDI control options...... And I've heard just as many AFX's sound like poop out in the real world as I have PODs, because ultimately, a Zoom G3 can sound as convincing as an AFXIIXL ULTRA MEGA or whatever they're on now when its dialed in and set into a mix.....

It's probably not as large of a curve as one might expect. Also, don't forget there are templates of various routing features in the last set list.

This is what the people I trust at GC said, too. They're getting way more orders than expected units anytime soon. So you can preorder and wait, or preorder and call everyday and try to catch one between a store and delivery, as some have done.

OK, now I got it. I'm pretty sure I did exactly that before but there was no customize option. But its all good now, must have missed something basic. THANKS for the speedy assistance!

I'm sure I'm missing something really stupid here, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to customize the ring and scribble strip on a footswitch that is ONLY assigned to a controller function and not controlling the on/off state of a block. In my case I have a switch assigned to the mid-boost, and I can't figure out how to change the name and ring color. The manual says to do it from the command center, but I can only access the the edit function if I assign another MIDI or CV control function to that switch. So, what am I missing here?

The one I picked up yesterday (after waiting two months) came with the latest firmware installed. I was a little worried when I opened it up and there was one cut sticker under a new sticker closing the box, but everything looks untouched, so I'm guessing they had to unbox it and install the firmware.

That is the strangest issue...there shouldn't be anything to cause that.

One of the only reasons I still put up with Guitar Center is because I can buy something online, ship it to my house, and if it busts, or sucks, I can return it to the store in town no problem.

MF/GC must have got their expected order, because I just got my tracking notice, too. Super excited to get this thing by the weekend, super weary of all the damaged display stories.

Been using IEM monitors for a few years now and this is 100% accurate. Build your tones with the IEM out and hear how everyone else is going to hear it, then deal with the variances in the in-ears. IMO, I don't need a "perfect" tone in my ears to monitor whether I'm playing correctly or well, I just need to hear me. I could have a Boss HM-2 tone in my ears all night and not care as long as as I could hear me and the drums, because I know it will be tight. If you're dialing your tones to your in-ears, its probably not going to translate well to the FOH without a lot of EQ'ing at the board because you'll more than likely end up with too much bass and treble as most people who build tones in headphones end up doing.

If you come back and say you got yours shipped already, I'm gonna have to go fight someone. I've called them multiple times trying to source one from a store, and I'm told that they don't have any, or they have open box items, but I can't have any discount because I used a coupon when I pre-ordered...and they're still putting a hold on my account the day after it expires since 11/8...

Cool, another person who ordered after I did getting their Helix shipped.... cool...

Make it a band investment. Or go cheap with some wired set-ups. We get away with one mix for the drummer, one mix for the guitar/bass, but we don't have a vocalist who needs his/her own mix. There's no reason to buy $400 earbuds and a $700 transmitter till you're sure you can even play with headphones in.

IEM and forget about it. You'll sound better and play tighter through the "growing pains" gigs where the PA sucks and there is no monitoring, and you'll look like you know what you're doing when you show up at a better place with a real sound guy and sound system. I completely agree with the "garbage in=garbage out" but you should be getting your "out-front mix" separate from your IEM mix anyways. An IEM mix should be CLEAR, and balanced to what you would want in your floor wedge, and if you're well-rehearsed, your show should only be better for it. I've only ever seen ONE band that performed worse with an IEM set, and it turned out one of the members was trying to use a bluetooth audio transmitter for his IEM set, which gave him about 30ms of latency from the rest of the band, and he was off the whole night. Playing super tight and being super in tune vocally and instrumentally is WAAAAAY easier via IEM and even if the sound is crap (not mixed well/at all/bad EQ) you'll still sound like you know what you're doing.

What else are you connecting your POD to that there is phasing happening with? I have some stereo patches to fill space as the only guitarist, but I just give the sound guy both of my XLR outs on the POD and suggest that each signal be treated as a separate guitar. Nobody has ever mentioned that it sounded strange out front, and I do run my own left/right monitors on stage. If what you're hearing is actually phasing, there might be something weird in the panning on the patch to cause that in a mono signal. You could always build your live patches with everything panned center. Then both outputs should be sending the same signal.

Dynamic DSP should come with an approximated % list for each item available in the chain, that would be helpful.

I would suspect as the unit matures there will be many DSP optimizations, as I believe there was in later updates to the POD when more amps and cabs were added.

I'd take non-summing over possibly noisy connections any day. It's pretty easy to build centered versions of patches if that situation were to arise, then summing wouldn't matter, and that's actually a logical workaround to a minor issue, whereas me spending extra money on cables, DI boxes, phantom blockers, modding cables, whatever, is a "fix" for a problem that shouldn't exist. I'm not trying to argue with people on this subject, but there really isn't a reasonable justification from a design or functionality standpoint, and if there is, why can't Line6Hunter or DI say so now, since we're talking about it.

I've never trusted a venue to have anything, ever, and I'm usually better for it. There shouldn't need to be a workaround for this, and since there is, L6 should provide it for us, since they f*&ked the design in the first place.

Yeah, sounds like L6 needs to start sending out free phantom blockers to early adopters and included them in the box with new-to-ship units.....This is and could be a serious problem for people, and there's no reason we should expect to spend MORE money to be able to DI a device a that is specifically designed to run direct via XLR.... especially considered the company's own flagship mixer can cause the problem.

The HD500X at $449 plays just fine with phantom power, its definitely not unreasonable to expect a device at three times the price point to AT MINIMUM have the same functionality. I use my POD DI from the XLR outs at pretty much every venue, and was planning to do the same with the Helix (if it ever arrives - f&%k you Guitar Center), but now it looks like I'm going to have to carry around another DI box or couple of Phantom Blockers (at my own expense, of course) to make sure my $1500 "flagship" amp modeler will play nice with any board I might have to plug into. Kinda almost completely defeats the purpose of having those XLR direct outputs if half the time I'm going to have to DI off of my 1/4" outputs anyways and carry extra equipment.

1/11/16 is the new "expected" availability date. GC must not really care at all, as the response I got when I asked made sure to remind me that I can cancel my order at any time.....f&%kers....

Luckily, I didn't have to dump my rig to fund the Helix, but I did have two recording projects to finish this year and wanted to have it for those. Nothing wrong with the HD500X, but having the new amps would have been nice. I've never had anything that I've had to order in, backordered or not, be soooo far from the predicted delivery date with ANY retailer. This is first time I've had customer service basically tell me to cool my shorts when I asked for a a prospective ship date, also. I'm 99% positive now that GC doesn't honor any sort of purchase order, either, as I've talked to two people who ordered weeks after I did (in larger-market cities, of course) that have units or have them on the way, a couple people have walked into stores and found new-in-box units... and GC is still putting a hold on my account every 4 days, just in case, though.

No, it's not. Part of the draw of a a MFX board is that you have a virtually unlimited array of "rigs" at your disposal that should be useable in ANY context. If I want my verses on a song to be a twin with a comp, two delays, a reverb, some light dirt, and phaser on one side, and a tremolo on the other and the chorus needs a Mesa/5150 mixed rhythm tone with a comp, a boost, two gates, a delay, a reverb, probably an IR or two, and some EQ, I should be able to do that. Especially considering that a "lesser" unit can do this between patches with a limited delay. Cramming all your crap onto one patch and having to make compromises on which effects are available are the pretty much the EXACT reason a lot of us prefer MFX over pedals/amps. We don't want to be stuck to only this chorus, these two delays, this boost, and these two amp sounds, even for the 3 minutes it takes to play a song. I want to be able to create lush recording patches using everything available on the board, then tweak them for live so I'm getting the same sounds, but if the patch switching is too slow, I have to do "dumbed down" versions of my patches to make everything fit in a single preset, which again, kinda negates one of the main reasons for owning a MFX.