codamedia

Not everybody will reach into (or require) the deep capabilities, but I can assure you it can be very useful. In a 4cm setup you can split the path and send an IR signal to the FOH or to a recording desk while sending the "non IR" signal back to the amps power/speaker. It only takes a single "amp-in-the-box" pedal in one of the loops to turn the HX Effects into an amp sim you can use for live use or recording. IR's are really handy here. Myself... I connect my HX Effects with my HD500 and use the pre-amp models from that... I have found some IR's for the HX that are far nicer than the stock cabinet models in the HD500... it's a nice combination. With the multiple ins/outs and internal routing you don't have to send everything to the amp. You can send the 2nd path or one of the sends in any patch direct to the FOH (or an acoustic amp) just as you would many/most acoustic instruments. Those outputs or sends only need to be active when you program them into the patch.

Here you go.... there is no amps in this one by the looks of it.

This is not limited to "home use" .... I play many clubs full of neon and fluorescent lighting, air conditioners and coolers.... noise can be a nightmare. The Variax saves my a@$ on those gigs. Not to mention... I never have to worry about grounding issues with the FOH (PA). BTW: You want to look into "noise suppression" rather than "noise gates". There is a different, and suppression is much more natural for guitar. Although even then - it's not perfect :)

What a great idea.... this would also be handy going volume to wah when you don't want "full volume" when you head to the wah effect. Sadly, I'm not sure this is possible but maybe someone else knows better. I think you need to add a second expression pedal which would then separate exp1 from exp2.

I was going to say "June 21st, maybe a little earlier", but I like "soon" better :)

I found the Vocal Synth patch buried in a set list on my HD500... I hope this is the one you want. Attached are three images. Aside from the EDIT page that shows the settings, I also attached the "Amp Page" (not really relevant with an HX Effects) and the "Controller Page" just for reference.

Most WAH pedals actually mix the wah and direct signals to varying degrees.... and they make the sweep a lot lower.... Line 6 leaves this control up to you. Try setting the MIX for the wah to 50%... then adjust from there. Lower the peak setting of the wah so it doesn't go into "ear piercing" territory. That's a great point... never take anything for granted and always double/triple check parameters and controllers. I always start from an empty patch, just to make sure any assignments in place are assignments I have made. If a person is starting from a preset all bets are off.

It's buried in fine print in one of the posts above, but I will come right out and say it... If you suspect this was a display model, DO A FACTORY RESET before you do anything else. Next in line is to make sure your Helix is 100% up to date, then start the process of learning how to use it.

That's a great question... I've been wanting to ask this myself, as I don't want to be the one to sacrifice a XPS and/or Variax in a test run :)

John McFee is one of the early adopters of Line 6 gear... not to mention he's an absolute monster of a musician. His guitar work on Elvis Costello's first albums is likely his most iconic, but nobody even knows it's him. Southern Pacific was his baby ... some amazing guitar, pedal steel and fiddle work on those 4 albums from the late 80's. John is also a very quiet guitar player, he does not play loud at all and likes to hear himself the way the audience would... "in the mix with a refined (studio) tone". He dropped the amps (a pair of Musicman HD130 heads/cabs) to go direct with the POD XT Live and has never looked back since. Another musician that uses the Helix / Variax is Corey Churko. A consummate sideman that plays with Shania Twain and Kelly Clarkson. I wouldn't suggest anybody call his bluff :) I also see Kenny Greenberg on the Artist page with a Helix.... A Nashville Studio musician that also tours with Kenny Chesney. Probably the player we hear most and just don't know it. IMO - that's a triple crown of highly respected musicians that have adopted the Helix and other Line 6 gear.

By default, the Helix (and most other devices) will transmit & receive on all channels, and by default they will send and receive PC (program change) messages. This is something company's setup so items talk to each other "out of the box" with minimal setup. I suspect these default settings are colliding with your custom settings. If you do not want Program Changes to happen by default then you need to change one setting... Global > MIDI/Tempo > set MIDI PC Tx to "Off Now the only program changes that should ever occur will be items you program into command center.

This just started happening recently (over the past week or two) so I'm not sure if it began with the slight forum design change, or if a recent browser update is causing it. I'll visit the forums and will be logged in... I visit a post or two, return to the forum (via the breadcrumb, not the back button) and I am no longer logged in. Sometimes a simple refresh will work, sometimes I have to click the "sign in" button near the upper right to get back in. I never have to enter my credentials.... just clicking "sign in" is often enough. There is no set pattern.... it is very random and frustrating!

I don't disagree but if you take a look through the Helix forums 60% or more of the topics are on Amp/Cab/Mic models... and how to monitor the unit effectively. There isn't a lot of talk about the effects themselves which is the primary focus of the HX Effects. This creates a lot of irrelevant chatter (for HX Effects user) and clutters the forum. Questions specific to the HX Effects are on Page 2 in a heartbeat due to more and more topics on FRFR and shrill cabinets models. Just sayin'... I would also suggest the M series effects had a lot in common with the HD Processors... but they got their own forum. Certainly not a big deal for me... I'm just saying it would be nice to not have to weed through irrelevant threads looking for the ones the matter to us.

There is a Line 6 Artist page if anyone really needs to know who uses their gear. https://line6.com/artists/ It's not immediate as to who is using a Helix, but clicking on the artist will display the L6 gear they use. At a glance, there are many notable players using the Helix... just keep in mind that what is notable to me may not mean anything to you and vice versa.

Plain strings on the lower three? Your string cores will be huge... not sure if it will help with string bending... maybe. You may have to adjust the volumes in work bench... although I don't believe this will be as drastic as it would be on a normal guitar. You will have more tension in the neck, therefore a truss adjustment will likely be necessary You will definitely have to adjust intonation... no way around that one. As with any guitar, I'm not sure there will be enough play to make this work.

Since you have a Mark V (although I am not sure what Mark V you are referencing) you can use for power, I'd suggest buying an Eminence Beta-12LTA, then look for an empty used 1x12" cabinet for it to sit in - or build one. https://www.parts-express.com/eminence-beta-12lta-12-full-range-pa-driver--290-409 You could probably do both within a $150 budget (or close) and you would have a setup capable of live use, not just home use. A decent set of studio monitors would likely cost much more, and they could only be used at home.

Over the past couple of years I've been disappointed with my Variax (just an older 300 with a Fender Tele neck)... it just didn't seem to sound as nice as I remember it being when I first got it and has some nasty over tones. I tried all the general guitar maintenance such as new strings, make sure the piezos are clean, check/adjust intonation, double check all the connections, etc... etc.. No difference. It seems like the guitar has been getting worse over the months... but I suspect it's just me hyper focusing on the problems I was hearing.. So today I hooked it up and did a complete backup. Then I re-installed the latest firmware and original patches. VOILA! I don't know if something was corrupt in the firmware, or if I had just tweaked the patches to death over the years, but it is back, sounding like I remember it sounding.

I'm not sure that all are wired the same, which model of Variax did you buy? I hope you got it at a good price... and was told it wasn't working. I suspect someome "tried" to fix it and that is why the wires are off... even if you get them back on there is a good chance that was never the problem.

When you change patches there will be a slight delay ... as much as people don't like it, it is the nature of digital multi effects. To get around this, try to stay in the patch and use Snapshots to make some changes, or work from stomp mode to turn things on/off. Based on the items you listed, you should be able to stay in one preset and cover it all.

^^^^ THIS ^^^^ My setup is very similar and the dummy plug in the unused 1/4" output solves the problem.

I don't have experience with these particular products being debated, but I do know gear! A MIC pre is not a feature you want in a cabinet aimed to guitar players unless there is an input that bypasses it completely. If the Alto has both a flat input and a mic pre input - it's a feature.... if it's just a mic pre input, I'd pass on it and gladly pay the same price for the headrush. It is likely a response center that has a choice of canned answers to choose from. When the question goes beyond the canned answer, they don't know what to say because most often they simply don't know the product or the answer.

Some effect blocks are louder than others... just as some effect pedals are louder than others. Having "almost identical effects" won't make it immune to volume differences... any different effect can contribute to a change in volume. The big question.... are your quiet patches too quiet, or are you loud patches overly loud making it impossible to get them to even out? Retaining gain structure from beginning to end with the effect on/off is very important. Every time I add an effect block I balance the signal... it should be equal volume on or off. The only exception is an item such as a boost - or something meant to boost... which I generally set about 3 db higher. I have a project/home studio so I have the aid of meters when needed... so it makes it easier for me other than just guessing. In general, I find the volumes on each block sufficient to balance the effect. Spend a little times and make sure you get that right and you should be fine. Caveat... make sure you haven't inadvertently setup a controller on one of the blocks, with the volume to low at the controller level. Doing an "effect on/off" volume test for each block will make that easier to find. Good luck...

Let me get this right... You setup a patch with the expression, and save it. You go to a new patch and the expression doesn't work.... I would expect that unless you setup the patch to use it. You return to the original patch and the expression no longer works? Are you sure? I would expect it to work as it did when you saved the patch. If that isn't what you are trying to explain, please provide us with a recipe of what you are doing, and what you are expecting when you do it.

You need two sends, and one return on the Helix... You would have to experiment with a loop and a separate send if you want to minimize the blocks used, but if you set this up as three blocks it would be fairly easy. Send A - Send to channel 1 (set the expression volume from "unity level - all the way down") Send B - Send to channel 2 (set the expression volume from "all the way down - unity level") Return A - this is a common return for both channels... from the loop in the amp. Output from Helix would return to the loop IN on the amp. The expression is now controlling the send volumes to each channel. Heel down it goes to channel 1, toe down goes to channel 2. Everything in between will be a blend - but there is no guarantee how the blend will work out. If the 2nd channel is a "gain channel" then you won't be hitting it with enough gain to work until it is full so I don't think blending into it will work as you think it might. IMO - I would put the two sends on a toggle switch. You will get "full channel one", or "full channel 2"... just like a 2 channel amp with channel switching.

A parametric should take care of honk.... keep your Q setting as narrow as possible to solve the problem without damaging frequencies around it. Tried sweeping? As in your not sure what to do with this knob? In my experience, if this is too far to the "cab" side and your are trying to run an IR through it, that will create honk. Set this to FLAT when you want to use the speaker simulation from the Helix... then adjust the tone on the Helix If you want to use it as an FRFR cabinet, you need to fine tune the position of that knob. It is likely just attenuating the tweeter... on "flat" is is full, on "cab" it would be completely off. What I would do (FWIW) is play a nice sounding CD through the speaker and adjust that knob until the high end sounds best - then mark that spot or at least take a photo of it. That setting would be your "FRFR" setting tweaked to your taste. Now leave it there and setup your Helix including any IR's or cab sims. Set this to CAB for the "Amp in the Room" sound... If you want the "amp in a room" sound... dial it back to cab so it is just the speaker, then turn all speaker emulation (including IR's) off on the Helix. Generally speaking, any speaker simulation is meant to work (as designed) with an FRFR speaker.