PeterHamm

...So, is the Helix really that much better sonic-wise for modeling and the overdrive/distortion pedals?...

i can only speak for myself.

If I set up a similar amp tone with a dirt pedal on both HD 500 and Helix, I can get them both to sound really great for most regular rhythm playing. So much so that if that's all you do, the HD 500 is plenty.

Where Helix shines is when you back off your picking and/or volume/tone controls on the guitar. The dynamics of the situation.

Helix cleans up exactly like a really great "real amp". Moreso than any modeling situation I've been in ever.

Just to throw my 2 cents in, I can edit on Helix without an editor way faster than I could with the HD500 with an editor.

added emphasis and agreed +1000. Yes, I do understand not wanting to bend over (not an issue for me, I am using the rack), so I am sure that some of you will benefit from the editor, but honestly, with only a mouse vs. all the knobs, I think the Editor will be HARDER to use than the front panel on Helix. I'm convinced of it, but eventually, I learned that most things were quicker and easier on HD 500 once I learned where it all was.

I use two-voice guitars, used to be with HD 500, and now with Helix. Both work great.

Here's a sample that actually ONLY uses Helix and the Vintage Model Pack (acoustic guitar model) for ya.

If you're on a budget, the single-driver Shures that are a hundred bucks sound just fine for stage work to me.

Do not ever use just one.

That's the only way, you should pick which mode you want and stick with it.

I used it in the 8 stomp-box mode. switching patches just meant hitting two buttons instead of 1, and I thought it was just fine.

I rarely switch patches within a song though.

Ugh -- so this means my Roland EV-5 pedal won't work with the Helix?

Actually, it probably will.

Also, on Helix, a LOT of other pedals work. One of my EXPs is an ordinary Ernie Ball VP Jr. with one cable connected from EXP to the output jack on the VP.

I noticed it first thing.

If I needed a faster boot up than 22 seconds I guess I'd stick with analog pedals into a solid state amp. You may come to that same conclusion after you look at the boot times of other modelers.

Although iirc, HD 500 boots up much much faster. But, again... I don't need to worry about it unless there's a power problem on stage, and if that's the case, 22 seconds is probably the least of my concerns.

Wouldn't it be sweet if you could change the input impedance on the guitar input per patch instead of globally?

I think it would be a great addition to the input block screen.

Vote it up!

http://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Make-Input-Impedance-a-per-patch-variable/807048-23508?submitted=1

21.67 seconds.

 

No.

 

I use it for bass and guitar. And it's really great for bass. But it depends on what you think is overkill and what you want out of your tools you connect your bass to. For someone that only will ever play one single tone ever, I guess that would be overkill.

Mine boots in 21.62, man. I'm better than you.

yup, there are two kinds of people in this world.

1. Those who just lost data.
2. Those who are about to lose data.

And...

Data does not exist unless and until it exists in 3 places.

Other than getting rid of the bending over stuff, I think you guys might end up being disappointed in the Editor.

It's exactly like the screen of the unit, only without all the knobs, and using the mouse will, I predict, end up being less easy than just putting the unit on your desk while editing and on the floor while playing...

Just my thought. Fortunately, mine is a rack, so I just sit the rack up on a drum throne and Control on the ground and I'm good to go. Honestly, don't know how much I'll want to use the editor. I also, after I forced myself to learn to use the HD 500 on screen, found it easier to do almost everything on the unit than in the editor, as a matter of fact.

They were OK releasing it without the editor because its super simple to program without it.

Yup. So simple that it's going on 3 weeks since I lost my printed manual and haven't started even looking for it.

Here's what I ALWAYS do with an upgrade.

First: save my banks and a bundle from my current firmware with the current app.

Second: update installer and Helix to latest.

Third: Install new firmware.

Fourth: re-set the whole box and re-install my patches.

So far (I'm on the rack) I have had some of the issues others have where I had to install the firmware repeatedly, but it's worked well for me, and that's even on some of the beta firmware releases that weren't ready for prime-time. Even with those, I was able to use Helix in every weekend service I've played since it came to me.

JUMP ON THAT GUYS!

I thought it was "shift" - return, btw.

like this.

and this...

Another tip. I rename the files for my IRs before importing, adding "000" "001" etc. before the file name. Doesn't change the name within Helix it seems, but makes it easier to manage. That said, I only have 8 loaded...

On the HD500 you had a bypass volume when the amp was turned off. This could be set to zero. I'm not sure if Helix does the same thing.

Nope.

But, you can set the footswitch for switching to do a number of things including the volume control tip mentioned above... or perhaps change the output of the actual amp from full to zero and vice versa on the other amp.

Instead I use a modest pedalboard or my M13. I may not be able to change between 3 modeled amps with reverse reverbs and 2 chorused delays but at least I can turn stuff on and off whilst singing and keep the guitar droning away...

It should be mentioned that the HD 500 could effectively switch between two or three different scenarios similar to that on the M13 without leaving the patch, and that the M13 is also a unit with no spillover, essentially, if you switch between two delays on one of the 4 processors for instance...

Best way to do this, imho, is with a dB meter, free for most phones.

It'd be interesting to use an electric guitar with piezo saddles with this patch.

Well, here's how one sounds with one of my patches.

My proposal changes nothing in the current Helix operation, it simply allows the preset to come up in the same mode in which it was saved.

Oh, I get ya now. I'd like to see a global option that says if I click the mode button to switch patches, when I've selected a patch, it ALWAYS immediately goes back to stomp box mode. I think that was on ideascale once, too.

The way HD 500 works.

If you hit bank up or whatever to get to those 10 patches instead of 8, how do you travel up and down through banks, though? you lose the bank up and down, plus it would mean perhaps extensive re-working of the logic behind patches, as they are organized into 4s now.

Logically, I think this idea would not work well.

With piezos, you have to strum a little less hard than you are used to. Para EQ and LA Studio Comp are your friends in getting the whole chord in there.

...While it's true that two separate amp models—one for each channel of the same amp—may take up more DSP than a single "multichannel" model containing shared elements for both channels, we'd likely be looking at some weird new "Multichannel Amp" subcategory, containing combinations of channels so everyone can optimize their DSP usage: Channels 1 and 2, Channels 2 and 3, Channels 1 and 3, and Channels 1, 2, and 3. And then of course the people who want a Marshall and a Fender to be considered separate channels (a more common use case than channels of the same amp) within the same "Multichannel Amp" model are out of luck. In my opinion, if a feature takes longer than a paragraph to explain to your average guitarist, it's a bad user experience...

Incidentally, this was the way the Vox Tonelab SE worked (it was an awesome product in its day about 10 years ago). You had your signal chain, and there was a channel button for two different amps. IIRC, not at the same time, only one.

But...

I need all the processing that the Helix affords me and I come within spitting distance of maxing out the DSP on every patch. The last thing I want is to either a.) not have a Helix, because they decided to add spillover and it added 500 bucks to the price and it failed in the marketplace... or b.) to have spillover within this unit's parameters and have significantly less processing power than I have now... I don't think there is an option C.

And... again... the Axe FX doesn't have spillover either.