loonsailor

Interesting rundown of two HXFX-centric rigs. "Been on the road for a year and a half, no problems." .

You don’t need to mod the pedal. You just need a different patch cable. My pedals (a Moog and a Valeton) work with a TRS in the Exp-2 plug of my HXFX, but in exp-1 they need a TRS-TS. With either a TS or a TRS I get exactly the same 0-100-0 behavior that you describe. So, in exp-1 I use one of these Y cables. TRS from pedal to Y female jack, then the tip plug of the Y into the HXFX, with the ring plug hanging loose, or cut off. Or, you could cut the ring wire on a TRS cable.

I use acoustic guitar IRs in my HX effects both when plugging my acoustic into it and when I want a semi-acoustic sound from my electric. For that second use case I’ve switched to the acoustic simulator that got added in 3.1 (or 3.0?). I’ve experimented with combining those IRS with the acoustic sim, but so far I prefer the sim alone. Also, I’ve gratefully snarfed up the dobro IRS that codamedia so graciously created and posted. So far I’m still plugging my dobro into its own preamp and bypassing the HXFX with my dobro, but I’m planning on going dobro->HXFX when I can play around with it. btw, coda, where in the signal chain do you put the acoustic IRs- beginning, end or middle? I haven’t figured out the best place yet.

Thanks for sharing that, coda!

Cool! Do you plug directly into the Helix or use a DI for impedance match? If direct, guitar in or return? are you willing to share the IRs?

If the intent is to plug your dobro straight into the Helix, you need to make sure you can match the impedance of the Fishman pedal as well as the IR. (Eq shouldn’t be a problem.). The Fishman pedal is specifically designed for piezo pickups used in the Beard dobros, which require a very high impedance input. if you have ny success, please let us know! I’ve been plugging my RedBerd into the Fishman pedal, then at times going from that to my HXFX.

I use my HXFX exactly as you describe. For 95% of my playing I’m in one of the 3-5 presets that I’ve created as virtual pedalboards, using the HX in stomp mode and punching effects in and out as needed. I use snapshots very little, because each of those few pedalboards is used for many songs and I wouldn’t know what snapshots to create usefully. So, I’m always is Stomp Mode while playing, and, when necessary, go into Preset Mode between songs just long enough to switch to a new “pedalboard”, then immediately back to stomp mode. It’s very simple and works for me. There are a few songs where I’ve needed to create song-specific presets, but very few and I try to avoid that when I can.

Is the position of the speakers, especially the tweeter, the same for the different speakers relative to your ears? If you’re close to the speakers, even a few inches can make a big difference in the tone, especially the high end. Also, probably goes without saying, but if the speakers have eq or filters built in, make sure they’re both flat.

I play in more than one band. In one of them I play almost all electric, but needed acoustic on an occasional tune. My helix has freed me from needing to bring an acoustic to those gigs, because in the mix (the band has three horns, drums, bass, …) my electric can sound enough like an acoustic that it works fine. Another band I play in is all acoustic - guitar, mando, string bass, and I play banjo and dobro as well as guitar. In that setting it would be nuts to play an electric through a helix. It would feel and sound totally wrong. Even in the electric band, if we go into the studio on one of those songs when I want an acoustic sound, I’m gonna use a real acoustic 100% of the time. different tools. Ya don’t pound a nail with a screwdriver. Except, maybe you do if the screwdriver is all you have because you didn’t feel like carrying a hammer.

With my DAW (Cubase/Mac) I can use multiple interfaces simultaneously, so I could use the mic pre's on my Focusrite Clarett together with my guitar through a Helix. And the output routing is all agnostic as well. At least I think so. As I said, I never do it this way because (1) I have an HXFX which isn't an interface and (2) I record my guitar dry directly into the Clarett and process it with Helix Native in the DAW because I like that better anyway. Besides, 95% of my recording is one track at a time, laying down a lead or rhythm track after receiving a file with a skeleton backing track, so for me it's a non-issue. I haven't used any other DAW's much, so if the DAW only allows one interface at a time and you need more inputs or routing, then you're right. Thanks for pointing that out. But the OP didn't say anything about how he plans to record, and if it's simple enough to record the guitar dry into the focusrite (with helix native) or to use the Helix as the guitar interface, then my advice stands.

I’m not sure why there’s any advantage to helix->interface->computer over simply helix->computer. The usb plug is there on the helix. Why not use it? The helix is an interface. Why plug it into a second interface? Personally, I have an HX Effects, which doesn’t work as an interface. I could plug my HXFX via the 1/4” analog output into the interface, but I find it much more convenient to plug the guitar into the interface directly, and use helix native in my computer. Works great, and gives me the hugely beneficial option of tweaking the guitar tone as the mix comes together. If you’re ok laying out the very reasonable cost of helix native (discounted because you own the helix) that might be your best bet as well.

You’re welcome. Glad to hear it.

You could use an HX Effects instead. It runs on DC power, so no inverter needed. If you’re using a decent amp you don’t really need the amp modeling part of the Helix anyway, or you could follow the HXFX with an amp simulator pedal (even a cheap Mooer or similar should do for busking) that also runs on DC.

That's right, that's why you need the Y adapter, or a special cord. The pedal wants a TRS plug, and the Helix a TS. So, you can use a TRS cord with the R (ring) wire cut, or you can use an unmodified TRS cord from pedal to the Y that I mentioned above, and then just plug the tip wire into the Helix. Either of those options will satisfy both units. A straight, unmodified cord, either TS or TRS, won't work because it will fake out one or the other.

There are indeed many posts about this. You don't need to sell or replace or solder the pedal! The problem stems from the fact that the Helix (at least my HX-Effects, and I think the Helix is the same) needs a TS connection and many pedals are TRS. You can change the wiring of the pedal, but it's much easier to get a cheap adapter cable. My pedals (a Moog and a Valeton) work with a TRS in the Exp-2 plug of my HX-FX, but in exp-1 they need a TRS-TS. With either a TS or a TRS patch cord I get exactly the same 0-100-0 behavior that you describe. So, in exp-1 I use one of these Y cables. Use a short TRS cord from pedal to Y female jack, then the tip plug of the Y into the HXFX, with the ring plug hanging loose, or cut off. Or, you could cut the ring wire on a TRS cable.

There's a very interesting Rhett Shull video about building a new HXFX based rig for Rebecca Lovell of Larkin Poe. The rig includes a couple of different drives, an MXR octave fuzz, and a couple of Strymon boxes. Personally, I'm currently using my HXFX into my amp as my entire rig. I've used a few other drives, but I'm happy enough with the drives in HXFX that I don't usually bother with separate pedals. But this is very personal, and I get why she want the drive pedals that she wants. I get why the Iridium is there. Although I'm not familiar with the Deco, it seems like its tape saturation function is something that the HXFX doesn't have, though there's plenty of delays to get the slap effect. The Sub Machine, though, is something that seems kind of superfluous. Is it sufficiently better / different than the octave fuzzes built into the HXFX to make it necessary? What pedals are you adding to the HXFX to get something that it doesn't give you? How many of you, like me, have simplified life by using nothing but an HXFX (or a Helix) into an amp or direct to FRFR / FOH?

I've developed a few voices under Native (in Cubase) and I'd like to bring them into my HXFX box for live use. Can I do it? I tried exporting from Native, but when I import via HX Edit it refuses, saying "8703 - Preset translation not supported, incompatible model.". I tried copying (cmd-c) the voice in Native, but when I paste in HX Edit nothing happens, and when I left-click "paste" is grayed out. I know that I'll lose the amp and speaker sims, but can't I get the rest of the voice to move?

The "mutant filter" is a fine auto-wah. Don't put a compressor before it, though. The auto-wah works by tracking the amplitude (volume) with the filter. If you put a compressor before it, there will be less amplitude variation, thus less auto-wah happening. You probably don't need to, but you could put a gain block before it if you want.

The release notes for Helix Native 3.1 list MacOS up through Catalina, but not Big Sur. They do say that HX Edit is Big Sur compatible, which is odd because HX Edit is not part of HX Native. I assume that this was just a cut and paste, but could somebody from Line6 confirm that Native is now Big Sur compatible? I have an Intel MacPro, not an M1, though I expect that I'll want to move to an M1 within the next 6-9 months.

Thanks. I’ll confirm that it’s discharging when unplugged and reach out to Line6 support if necessary. I had assumed (hoped) that since the amp is plugged in it could supply power to charge the G10 even though the rest of the amp is powered off. These days, many devices are not totally powered down even when the power LED is off.

I recently bought one for my Yamaha TR 10-ii. It works great, but the amp only seems to charge it when turned on. If I fully charge the G10 and then go away, when I come back a day or two later the charge is completely exhausted. Happens whether I leave it plugged in to the amp (turned off) or sitting next to it and plugged in to nothing. It recharges fairly quickly, and then works fine, but it just seems surprising that the battery dies so quickly when unused. FWIW, it also seems odd that the amp doesn't charge the G10 when turned off. Is this normal?

Anybody who really knows (if anybody does know for sure) can’t say. 3.1 entered public beta just over a week ago, and a few weeks ago an insider on thegearpage said “soon, but not in February”. I would guess the public beta would last 1-4 weeks depending on how it goes, then there may be some release work that Line6 needs to do once 3.1 is frozen. Tomorrow is March 1. So, I would guess that 3.1 could drop as soon as this week, more likely later in March. I also assume that 3.1 will be Big Sur compatible, because it would be pretty crazy if it isn’t. BUT that’s just my guess, and the only reason that I’m free to guess publicly is that I’m not an insider, not on the beta release, and therefore don’t really know.

I'm using the CIOKS DC7 with this current doubler and this adapter cable to get to the 2.5mm plug for my HXFX. Both are made by CIOKS.

What do you want to do with the pedals? I use a midi pedal (actually, my HxEffects as a midi pedal) pretty much just to connect an expression pedal for wah. To do that, I use control center on the HXFX to output the desired midi cc from the expression pedal and connect by usb to the computer. In Cubase, I make sure that midi data from the pedal is enabled (in studio setup), then set Helix Native to connect the desired parameter to the desired controller number, using the "automation / controller assign" tab in the editor. If recording, I record the midi data on a separate midi track, so that it will play back properly later. I don't really use switches to bypass / enable effects, because if I want a different sound for a lead part or something I put it on a different track and record it separately, but it could be done the same way if you want that. I also don't use the pedal to change presets, but I assume that could be done by sending a midi program change. I've never used Reaper, so I don't know what you need to do to make sure that the midi data gets to Native. It's easy in Cubase, but does need to be done. Also, on a Mac MIDI pretty much just works, but if you're on a PC there may be something you need to do that I'm not aware of. Really, this is all pretty easy. I set aside a full morning to figure it out and make it work the first time, and was pleasantly surprised with it only took me like 15 minutes.

I'd start by spending a little time with the manual. I know some folks ignore the manual, and go straight to youtube, but I learn better reading. Up to you. Whichever route you go, the idea is just to get a very general idea of how to create a patch. For now, ignore snapshots, multiple signal paths, midi (including control center), effect send/recv, and anything else superfluous to creating a basic patch. Then, try to re-create what you are currently using. Create a patch with models of your current pedals and amp, and try to tweak it to sound like what you're used to. In order to do this, you'll need to know how add and adjust effects, amps and speakers. Alternatively, you could even ignore the amp and speakers for now, and plug in to your existing amp. You may need to add a gain block at the beginning of the patch, as many users (not me) find that the Helix is much more similar to their non-Helix setup with a bit of gain reduction. Also, I find that I use a lot less gain on the drive / distortion effects than the defaults, but that's just me. Maybe you'll like them as-is. Try to assign the Helix's footswitches to activate/bypass the effects that you don't want always on. Once you've done that, you'll know everything you need to know to start experimenting with different effects, amp-speakers, ... You can learn about snapshots, midi, etc. when/if you need them.