Propower

Thanks!

Looking at using the SoftStep2 to control Helix looper and control some effects parameters. Do I need their extra MIDI box or can i plug USB from SoftStep into Helix? If I need the little extra box and power supply the attraction gets smaller :-)

In the end I decided to sell it for a good price and get a new one. Crazy I know - but I rely on this thing for like 75 to 100 gigs a year and I just wanted to feel like things were in the best shape. I sold it to a local who was very happy to get it and to my knowledge - no issues for the 9 months i used after the event - or from the new owner. Best to all :-)

Exactly how I feel too :-). I suppose I am fishing for any who have had theirs overheat and shutdown - any problems show up later? If the overheat shutdown is a design protection I feel more confident passing the unit on.

I had Helix for 6 months and did a 5 hour outdoor gig on a hot day. For a good past of it the awning was not shielding the Helix. Near the end the unit shut off (only then did i realize how hot it was!). Played last two songs without it. Rebooted later and all was working fine - though at some point two of the 4 leds on the tap tempo light stopped working. Over the next year the unit would hang on boot a couple of times as well as having some odd behavior when programming things like CC commands. Most of these are real bugs though since a new Helix dd the same thing. SO - now I want to sell this one (have another - don't ask :-)... but I want to price and represent it right for the new owner. Is a single overheat incident something that has damaged the unit or is a year of 99% trouble free use enough of a selling point (never any issue at a gig - probably 100 gigs later).... Thanks!

I Wish for Log and exponential curve options for expression pedals on Helix. Linear is not right for so many things audio... Put option on Helix so that when a footswitch is pressed it "selects" the first effect on that switch sending its parameters to the dials on the unit for quick editing while gigging. Otherwise you have to touch a switch first to select - then dial - a lot to do while playing! Would also love that if you hold a switch down it opens the edit parameters on the switches (like Headrush)

I absolutely have this issue with a Bose L1 model II system. I use the Triton Phantom Blocker (works great - is like the one listed above) but am now looking at the Radial Ice Cube as well - anyone try one of these? The most likely reason some don't have the problem is that the phantom circuit voltage and impedance from the mixer may be different than standard (aka not true 48V and some other impedance than 6.8kohm. https://www.amazon.com/Radial-Engineering-Balanced-Isolator-Eliminator/dp/B00UIDM6TW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1548619286&sr=8-1&keywords=radial+ice+cube

I use an external volume pedal dedicated to looper playback volume. The absolutely most critical areas are in the first 6 dBs from full scale. I bought the Mission EP pedal and that part of the curve is a tiny portion of the pedals throw and any movement when taking my foot off changes things drastically (since it is stuck on linear taper). Even worse i have to continually recalibrate the pedal everytime I turn the Helix on to make sure the patch is working correctly. I tried the same thing with a Ernie Ball Volume pedal (250K audio taper) with a 10 K resistor soldered across the output. Preserves the audio taper but shifts the range down to 10K. Pretty much works but again - no matter how I save the patch when i start the Helix again sit does not respond right until I calibrate the pedal. I change patch and it can lose the calibration. Has anyone run into this?? Solutions?? I did use the Helix pedal (which is set to logarithmic) for master volume and loop volume when the toe switch is down. Works best but in live performance is clumsy for me - much prefer two seperate pedals. Any help appreciated...

I want to power a 9V internal guitar mic using the phantom power on the Helix. The draw from the mic is ~2mA. I can add something like a 2K resistor in parallel with the mic to ground to get the 48V to be ~9V at the Mic. I will also put a matching resistor to GND in the - leg of the XLR since the guitar mic is a single ended device. Complete schematic is 2K in series with + lead to Mic, - side of Mic to GND (pin 1 XLR) 2k in series with - lead to GND So this puts ~6mA on the internal 6.8k (I believe) resistor in the helix. That is ~ 1/4W - more than a Condensor Mic would normally load on the internal part. SO... the question is - what is the current rating for the HELIX phantom power? Anyone know - Anyone at Line6 want to chime in? Thanks

Update: No GND lift anywhere All devices plugged into a power strip to a grounded outlet. Accidentally had phantom to Helix yesterday - you would certainly notice it on mine :-) - Today I went to repro last nights result and couldn't - Today XLR into mixer - Hiss, no buzz Line out TRS cable into Mixer - Hiss, slight buzz Line Out --> TS cable into Mixer - Hiss + distinct buzz (louder than I want for an acoustic gig) Line out to cheap DI (Pyle) - Hiss, no buzz, but not sound great either :-) Radial JDi will be here Wednesday... - forgot to try Line out --> TS to DI.... Sure wish i could just use the XLR outs but my mixer has to have Phantom at times and its global... More info as I get it....

After both measuring and testing, the line outputs on the Helix are impedance balanced IMO. If they were unbalanced the "ring" of the 1/4 inch would read shorted to the sleeve. It does not - it reads ~680 ohms (IIRC). I hooked three connections to my Bose mixer and L1 stick; XLR, 1/4" Left via TRS and 1/4" R via TS. Adjusted all gains on the mixer to the same place (made XLR out Mic level, 1/4" Line level. Results; XLR small hiss - no Hum, TRS same - small hiss no hum, TS small hiss small Hum. Impedance balanced is a method of simply placing a balancing resistor in series with the ring contact to ground. If you feed such an output into a balanced/differential input (most decent mixers line inputs including the BOSE) you get a reasonable amount of Common Mode (hum many times) rejection. It is even better with a true balanced output (either driven (solid state) or transformer based.

Phil - I have struggled with the Note value and finally have figured it out. Being an old delay pedal guy I was stuck that tap was a time control - its not. It really is a tap tempo in that taps are always BPM. For things to make sense in the rest of the pedalboard it is always quarter notes! The note value in the timing is what does this tapped quarter note turn into for the function it is assigned to (delay in my uses most of the time). Once this light went off for me I find a simple "tap twice" on the TAP switch in quarter notes to be perfectly adequate. Not sure if more taps get averaged or not (hoping it is) but will test that later. Then for most call response things setting the Note parameter to 1/2 is what I mostly want with 1/1 as another option. This has vexed me for months and I mostly gave up - but now I am actually pretty excited since I do a ton of solo work and this will give me access to a much missed tool (used to have a timeline for this). PS - huge love for the 1 switch looper. PSPS - It may also have something to do with the 2.6 FW upgrade I just did but taps do seem accurate in todays 1/2 hour playing...

I often am in a song and want to tap a delay time of a whole measure (or half a measure) - to do call and answer stuff. Whenever I try this with tap tempo it is never close. I know I am less than the 2 second limit of the delay (maybe 1 second or so) but the delay is wildly off. If I tap normal 1/4 notes all is fine but once i try to have more like half not spaces it is way off. Any ideas how to improve this? Am I the only one who sees this :-) Thanks!

Page 59 of the manual - You can assign the Emulate Toe Switch to a FS on the board. I use EXP1 for Looper Playback volume a lot and I assigned the EXP1 to Looper volume. Use the Command Center. CC Toggle, CC=59, Min 0, Max 127 - works great!