PeterHamm

Now we REALLY need to read all the instructions... Thanks, DI!

Minutes away

If you're only using the power amp part of that, SURE, I'd rock that. The built-in sounds are basically a POD 2.0 I think. I doubt I'd want to use them today, but they'd be a backup, built-in, wouldn't they!

I have never used the combo block one single time. Because as I'm building the patch, if I add a spring verb or a tremolo effect I want it after the amp but before the cab (close to how it might be in a real amp) and because I can do dual cabs if they are separate, which sound AMAZING... and finally... because if I use a leslie effect, I can turn off the cab when I turn on the leslie. You won't run out of blocks. Keeping them separated is, imho, the only way to go.

I also like most delays and time-based FX after the cab... BUT... there is a different sound when they are before the cab, more like a real-world FX loop on an amp, and some FX, notably spring reverb and amp tremolo, sound way better to me in that spot than anywhere else.

Since the latest bug fix JUST hit, I'm guessing that whatever they have at NAMM isn't new stuff for Helix. That would be too soon.

I often see a lot of questions about both acoustic guitar and acoustic and electric at the same time. This patch might help. the very first chain is my typical acoustic guitar signal chain. Then there's my electric and "schmaltz" channels. If you go to YouTube, there is a link to the patch and to the directory of totally free Impulse Responses I that I used (one of) to make this. This patch requires a guitar with electric pickups AND a piezo running separately. Electric goes to Guitar In and Acoustic goes to Return 1. Change that if you wish.

Free Acoustic IR are here. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1XgNa5vH3j1ZkVoTFJLQ241WTg/view https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B5YMP7cdVF-LTWE5TkFrb0ZTUGc https://www.dropbox.com/sh/f2qdh9jtcl6s5cv/AACRlEt-UVeLAhuvV4YwMY7Wa?dl=0

Download one of the free acoustic IRs out there, or better yet, buy the 3 Sigma Audio ones... and sell your para DI. Then... Guitar -> Aux input -> IR (choose the one that sounds best to you) ->Tube Mic Pre -> Para EQ (Cut the low and mid frequencies that honk just a few dB) -> LA Studio Comp (default settings are fine) -> time and modulation (PLEASE go easy on these) FX. You will sound way better and have one less piece of gear on stage.

Archon clean and Litigator are blowing me away.

No. You have to go into a computer to do it. Even the most basic little PC laptops however should work okay.

Looks like it will be a lot less than Helix, I think in about the 1000-dollar ballpark or under. And probably only one signal chain. It doesn't compete with Helix, imho, but it just might be a valid option for some folks.

Tuner and cab sound, I'm pretty sure, did not change...

With the rack, you can have the "buffered guitar out" go to it and have no other need of setting anything up. I sometimes think I'm going to hook up my strobostomp this way, but fact is the tuner on Helix works great for me.

Phantom is on or off. XLR in, with a DI box, can be set to receive a guitar, but the switchable guitar-based auto-impedance feature only works on the guitar input. I find the Aux input useless for anything except a preamp equipped acoustic guitar or bass guitar. Don't understand the third question at all. But you select the input for each path, Multi, or one of the many inputs that are available. Huh? Dysintery?

Which rack tuner? It might not be as good as the one in Helix, just' saying'...

You need to change the sensitivity of the Studio Tube Pre. Don't remember from what to what. I set the global mic sensitivity to -24db I think

There is one from Mission that is for the Floor unit with a foot switch. Connects to Helix Control (or directly to the rack) with two cables, one for the EXP and one for the foot switch. If you must have a foot switch, you get ONE of those. There isn't any option. Mission pedals are very nice, but my favorite EXP has been the Ernie Ball VP Jr., I think it's the 25K version (but I could be wrong... mine doesn't say what it is). I also like the little Zoom pedal, but you have to either reverse the polarity and deal with 100% at 50% travel on the pedal (which I prefer, actually, so that's what I do), or make a custom cable (VERY easy to do).

He's a luddite with gear. Very dangerous.

Try this. Set level to max. Set speakers where they work that way. Go to a totally empty patch and make your own patch from scratch all the way. Don't copy anything from another patch. Just work there. After a while, you realize how to use both path 1 and 2, and then you figure out everything you need to know about Helix eventually. I honestly believe that the only way to learn this unit (or, really, anything like it) is to make patches from scratch.

"to protect his equipment" from his own ignorance and boneheadedness.

I've heard amazing things about this amp. You can get a single channel version, too. Don't assume that Yamaha and Line 6 tech are going to somehow merge. Years ago, Yamaha bought Korg. Virtually none of the keyboard technology from either company appeared on the other the whole time they were part of the same family. Jus' sayin'...

I've never seen any decent cable like that that's better than the standard one.

I have used all the free ones and am actually the guy who made the DTAR ones some of you have probably tried. Yes. All the free ones require very careful and occasionally drastic parametric EQ to sound good. And yes, normally out of 10 or 20 you will find that only 1 or 2 work well with a particular guitar. The 3 Sigma Audio ones do NOT need that EQ to sound great. I use very little EQ, to sit the instrument in the mix, not so much to "fix" that upper mid-range hump problem. Just buy 'em...

There is no power amplification in Helix. It won't connect directly to a passive 2 x 12. It needs SOME kind of an amp.