robbieb61

I went the opposite way. Got my Helix in Oct. 2015 when they first started shipping. Used only the Helix cabs until a few months ago. Started trying out IR's Found that they sounded a lot better to me after a year + of using the Helix cabs. Now I'm using the Ownhammer Marshall cab IR Just one of them. Listened to a bunch of them that came in the bundle I bought...picked the one that sounded most like a real Marshall cab does to me and use it on all my sounds. I play live onstage in nightclubs and I tend to use just one amp and one cab with different settings on the amp for clean, crunch, and lead and different effects for different sounds. When I try to use a bunch of different amps and cabs...it starts sounding goofy and "off" when you are playing onstage with a band.

I would say that I've never heard of a high end effects unit or modeler having a tuner that was bad enough to warrant a poll...much less one saying that 40% of people can't really use it. The tuner is usually a no-brainer for ease of use. Bought my first tuner in 1976....wow, I'm old! :( Well...in the 41 years since then...never had a tuner that didn't work great, until now.

I don't THINK there was any difference in that between the DT50 combo and DT25 head. Doesn't make sense that there would be. I also had a head cab made for my DT50 and would use it as a head with my Bogner 4x12 cab at some gigs in the past. But yeah...on the DT50 I could plainly hear the difference between "no cab" and a 4 x 12 cab selected using DT Edit. That's why I ended up just choosing the 1 x12 celestion HD cab in the DT50. I didn't want anything to mess with what I was hearing out of the speaker itself. Maybe they changed that in the later versions like the DT25. I got my DT50 combo amp back in 2011 so they may have altered that by the time the DT25's hit the scene.

That's not what I hear when I change cabs in my DT50. I plainly hear it changing the sound in the guitar speaker. At first I turned off the HD cabs in the DT50 (as well as the HD models of course) and ran straight into the amp with the L6 link using just the preamps. Then I tried running in with the amps and cabs of the Helix out of the L6 into the DT50. Problem is...the way it should work is amp then cab. So pushing an HX cab into the DT50 power amp section is kinda backwards and always had a muffled tone. My final solution after tweaking since Oct. of 2015 when I first got my Helix is: I use the preamps in Helix go out the L6 link using Topology IV only on the DT amp and use the HD cab inside the DT (whichever one fits your style)...after playing with that a bit and trying different cabs, I finally just used the HD cab model with a single celestion so that it "matches" the celestion in the DT combo amp itself. That way I'm hearing exactly what the FOH is getting out of the back of the DT 50. Having said all of that...I've kinda put the DT50 away now and I'm just going to a Bose speaker system to monitor myself. The newest amp models over the past few months have gotten REAL good. And I'm using the PRS Archetype model for clean, crunch, and lead. It sounds really "real" and really warm. :)

My Korg rackmount tuner has the exact same specs as the Helix specs on the tuner accuracy. Never had any problem with tuning with the Korg quickly and accurately. The Helix tuner? No such luck. Jumpy, and like you...I don't find the guitar to be in tune afterwards. Probably because I'm never sure IF it's in tune when I use the Helix tuner because when I finally get a note "in tune" on the Helix, I can pluck it again and it's not in tune according to the Helix. I've never seen a tuner as inconsistent. :(

In the old owners manuals they would show you the actual amp head and the cabinet or the actual combo amp. And they would detail to you what speakers were in it and what tubes were in the amps (especially the cool old vintage amps they had). In other words they were faithfully recreating the amp as it was to the best of their ability with the technology they had. I'm just assuming that they are still doing that. But like you...I have no real way to know that because they don't tell you very much anymore about the amp models. Back in the Vetta days, they told you MORE than you needed to know. lol You got the info on who owns the amp and where they got it and how many years they had it, etc. heh-heh Anyway, bottom line is...I'm able to get this baby to sound even better than my Bogner Ecstasy head with my TC Electronic G Force setup. And I'm talking "in the room". And no, I'm not saying that there are any compromises and that I'm not hearing it sounding like a "real amp". I hear it as it is "in the room". And that's the sound I have always gotten in the P.A. as well. When you start with a good sound out of your amp (or Helix), and you have a good soundman with a good P.A., there is no reason to ever not sound just the same in the mains as you do in front of an amp. Now for those folks who go for the "scooped" sound...I can't help you. The lead will always sound like a mosquito. lol (sorry, I had to bust some balls just for a second there)

Thanks hollis1003! We need some more of these clips from Helix owners. Now clue me in on your settings. :)

So you're saying that when they model an amp...they are modeling a miced amp? So how do they determine which microphone it is that they use for the modeling? And the characteristics of the preamp of the studio board channel they are using for the miced amp? You see what I'm saying? There are just as many...if not MORE variables in the modeling aspect of it than the end user aspect. And as I said...in the past Line 6 literature pushed very strongly that they were modeling the amps on actual real amplifiers that they had in their possession. So how do they determine what an amp sounds like? And wouldn't the most logical thing be to simply set up the real amp in a "dead" room, put all the knobs at the halfway mark and then "model" it (with whatever proprietary way they do that)? That is how they suggested in the old manuals that they did it. Do they not do that now? Or is it all just digital readouts from the speaker output? As I said...my Helix gets the same sound I have always gotten with my real amps (in a room...) with effects on them. Just like I did with my old head, rack of effects, and guitar cab. Same sound. Not sure why people can't seem to get that sound for themselves or why so many on here keep making excuses as to why the Helix "can't" get that sound...when I have found it does indeed. I even posted "live" onstage footage of me in another thread. The sound you hear is straight out of the P.A. and it's the same exact sound I get out of my Bose speaker setup to monitor myself...and the same sound I hear when I plug it direct into my studio to record. Pretty close soundwise in all those environments. Anyway...it seems logical that even IF Line 6 listens to it in a studio control room...surely they sit down with it (in a room) and plug it into a frfr or other speaker combo to get some idea of what their product is going to sound like for the consumer. And when they do that...I would like to know the EXACT frfr setup they have. If they revealed the main one that they use (I'm sure that they probably have a few)...then all Helix owners could purchase the same one and THEN we would all have a starting point that is a valid one.

Doesn't Line 6 have an actual example of each amp like they used to? And then model that amp to make it sound as close to that amp in that room? That's what the old "Pilots" manual used to say with my old Vetta amp. Matter of fact each model was accompanied by a pic of the actual amp modeled and a synopsis of how they came into possession of said amp. So with all of this talk that NOBODY can decide how the amp should sound in the room...does that mean that NOBODY at Line 6 listens to these models in a room and compares them to the real amp side by side in that room? Quite frankly...I am getting a great tone...and I do it in a room. Lol And the sound I seek, and get, is the sound of an amp in the room with some effects on it. Just like I did with real amps and effects. I think that Line6 should reveal and then market the EXACT frfr system they use to compare the Helix to the real amps they model. That way we could all simply purchase that exact setup and hear the same thing that the line6 people do.

I'd like to see some live onstage footage of the Helix from others here too. C'mon guys...post those vids. We've all seen enough YouTube vids of guys in their bedroom "explaining" the Helix to last a lifetime! LOL!

Thanks...that was done with a camera on a tripod out in the audience. So what you hear is straight off the camera microphone...exactly the way it sounded in the room. I'm using the PRS archetype model with no distortion pedals or anything. Just the amp, delay, and a Marshall cab IR

I don't see anybody posting what the Helix actually sounds like with a live band. So here is some footage of me this past week onstage here in Vegas:

A poll? Ridiculous. Glad I have a tuner in front of Helix. If line 6 fixes it then great. If not, you guys can vote on a poll. :)

I don't see that at all. All the people (like me) saying the tuner is hard to use are saying it jumps all over the place and isn't stable. Nobody is saying it's not "accurate" enough. Just the opposite. Almost every person who says the tuner is just fine has talked about how accurate it IS. Where do you get that people asking for the tuner to be more stable and useable are saying that they have some kind of golden perfect pitch? Jesus....all I'm asking for is the tuner to calm down and be stable so I can quickly tune the freakin' guitar. No way anybody is gonna hear a .01 cent difference in anything. Why are we even discussing stupid stuff like that? All I want is to be able to tune my guitar quickly without the note "jumping" all over the place on the Helix. I don't want to spend more than 6 seconds at the most tuning my guitar. And I never have had to over the course of playing professionally since 1978. I think answers like the one you just gave are what causes this issue to be a bigger deal than it should be. The tuner is not good. It's jumpy. SO...I put a tuner that works fast in front of the Helix. I hope that they fix it one day so I can finally get to use that big beautiful display screen to tune. That's all. No need for insults and arguments about tuning. I'm 100% confident that everyone on this forum can tune their guitar with or without a guitar tuner.

I don't think that the "problem" is that it's more "accurate" lol The problem is that it can't seem to "capture" the note and allow you to tune up quickly and efficiently. It's not more accurate than my Korg rackmount tuner. Exact same specs. And yet my Korg doesn't have the stability issues that the Helix tuner has. As I said earlier...one of the selling points in advertising for most tuners I bought since the 1970's was the ability to zero in on the note you are tuning. It was a big selling point. People don't have time to tune endlessly. It needs to be quick and accurate. The Helix tuner kinda goes all over the place on my unit with my guitars. No other tuner I own or have ever owned does that. Makes it hard to figure out if you are in tune or not when you tune a string and finally get it to be "in tune" on Helix. And then pluck it again...and it shows completely out of tune. :( Frustrating and time consuming. That's why I finally just stuck my Boss TU-12 in front of my Helix. Now I'm in tune fast and everything sounds good onstage. Hopefully this will get fixed one day and I will no longer need that small tuner and can use that big, beautiful display on the Helix.

Are you coming through the PA out front? Or trying to play with stage volume alone? Mixed in the P.A. my sounds on my Helix are phenomenal. Had several guitarists and other musicians from various bands here in Vegas tell me that I had the best guitar sound they had ever heard. :) That made me VERY happy to say the least. But they are hearing me loud and clear from the audience through the P.A. speakers (yeah, we do our own sound too except at gigs here in town with house P.A. and a soundman). How are you amplifying your Helix?

That last line is meant as a punishment for failing to follow the update instructions. From what I've read about Helix Vodka...it would be more of a reward. :) Now must get my cliche rock-n-roll drug dealer that I keep on speed dial (naturally) and have him formulate a "Helix Cocaine" and have my groupies wear t-shirts that say "Helix-Ho's" heh-heh

And yeah...it's a real vodka brand! :)

I'm just sayin' I'd like to be able to save edited versions of amps and effects in the list of amps and effects. :)

Well, the Snapshot of your amp settings changes between Snapshots. No big deal. Let's say Snap1 I want to use "My Archon". And Snap 2 I want to add more drive and master volume to make it a lead sound. That's what I would do. Exactly the same as I do now with the Factory "Archon" amp. But if I had saved "My Archon" with all my tweaks for bass, mids, treble, presence, sag, hum, depth, etc. then I would automatically be starting from MY reference point of what I feel is the "sweet spot" of the amp to my ears. :)

I'd like to be able to "save" an Amp's settings on Helix in the Amp options. That way I could tweak out an Amp just the way I really like it and then choose it any time from the list of Amps. Same with effects and cabs. I hate having to write every setting down or take pictures of every page of the settings in order to use it on another preset. :) Be nice to have "My Archnon" listed in the Amps or "My Digital Delay" in the Delays.

Sounds great at home at low volume. Sounds even better cranked up. :)

I actually used it for my Helix AND vocals with no FOH at all. The rest of the band used the P.A. out front but I insisted on only using the Bose to see what it could do.

Worked beautifully! My band was like: "What IS that speaker?" They couldn't believe how good it sounded and how lightweight and easy to set up it was. :) Technology kicks a$$

I'll be using it today at a gig. Our drummer is very powerful & loud...we play classic rock. So it will be a good test for it.