PeterHamm

I suspect that the whole "modeled every single component in the circuit" deal is different from what they did before, where they probably measured and modeled parts and pieces together.

But I'm just guessin'...

There are so many options out there for FRFRs that I think we have it covered, actually. Including a bunch of options from Line 6.

And imho, you buy an FRFR not to match with your modeler/profiler/whatever, but to give you a great approximation of the sound with the PA you'll be playing through, if possible. 

 

 

 

Not sure how this will help acoustic guitarists. Isn't the Fishman Artist essentially just a powered full range speaker with a preamp that is tailored for acoustic guitar? Unless it has the Aura circuitry built in. I think that a simpler solution would be just a preamp model tailored for acoustic guitar within the Helix. Maybe Line 6 could come up with some acoustic guitar IRs of their own. That would be way cool.

 

not to mention... when you compare the sounds I got from POD HD using the Acoustic Amp model... with what I get with an acoustic IR, the Vintage Tube Preamp (or whatever it's called), the really nice compressor, and the parametric EQ...

The acoustic sounds out of Helix are the best plugged in acoustic sounds I've ever heard. Good enough for recording if it's in a mix. No lie.

Brilliant!

So I called the Mississauga store to ask them to set the next one in aside for me.

 

The sales dude says, "I think we have one."

 

I told him I called earlier and the guy couldn't find it. He went searching and found it in the back storeroom.

 

Put a deposit on it and I'm picking it up tomorrow. Last one in the chain. Lucky me!

U lucky! And about to be really really happy... cancel all your appointments and call in sick.

I have always just set that knob on any gear like this all the way up for simplicity's sake and adjust levels in the unit. Otherwise I'm never remembering exactly where it was... and it's easy to get right.

Then again, I run direct so far all the time with my Helix.

Guess so, although it's more fair to say that demand is outstripping supply. We're still building way more Helices than we expected to, but aren't willing to sacrifice existing test or quality control processes to ramp things up any faster.

 

To be honest, I kinda like that someone can't walk into any random Bob's Guitar Emporium and hear what the last dude's greasy fingers did to make it look and sound horrible on the show floor. I'd much rather people try out a factory fresh Helix in their own studio or practice space and if they don't connect with it for whatever reason, return it to the dealer. Obviously, I'm a product design guy, not a sales/marketing guy.

Also, I think I answered (maybe this same guy) on the FB forum... but not every L6 dealer is a Helix dealer, correct?

Or... there's another idea...

Stay with me a second...

For some guys (this used to be me on the HD 500, btw), it just makes sense to get a conventional volume pedal (a buffered one if you'd like) and put it before the input on Helix!

I know, it doesn't make sense for everyone (I want drive pedals before it sometimes), but it might be a great low tech solution for some.

Unfortunately that's not as true as it used to be. Still true to an extent.. but the attacks on Mac's are getting more frequent.  Generally ransomware.. which unfortunately while mostly exists via porn, torrent and other darker sites...  has moved to more mainstream sites when possible because... well..   profit.

It's still way way safer than using Win 7 or earlier... Never had a single infection here. Haven't run antivirus since System 7 or 8 I think, either.

As an IT professional, to those holdouts with older operating systems... I get it.  I totally do... but please, please DO NOT hook any computer with less than Windows 7 to the internet...

Even better, just switch to a Mac. Much safer...

...Someone who is willing to pay $1500 for a modeling pedal would probably pay $1510..........

or, even MORE likely, someone paying 1500 for a piece of gear either has a DI lying around (I have 3) or is in an environment where they are plentiful.

I don't think there's bluetooth on the other pro guitar systems either (Axe, Kemper...). It's a consumer thing.

imho, we don't want that here.

Just stick a D.I. on it and be done with it. 

It sounds just as good I promise.

There is a global setting, but... it means that when you go to a new patch, instead of remembering where your EXP pedals were when you saved the patch, it sees where they are right now and uses that value.

There is not a master global setting that makes an EXP always a volume pedal.

Am I the only one who doesn't think they make any noticeable difference then?

Depends on the amp and the settings. Hum and Bias certainly make a difference.

Any ideas on the bizarre and mysterious "ripple" control?

haven't seriously messed with it, no... anybody else?

Yamaha is a huge manufacturing giant, their software is top notch, and design staff are excellent, but when it comes down to calculating production costs "like all manufacturing giants" they sit down and source out the most economical parts they can find that will do the job... 

Hey, folks. Yamaha owns Line 6, they are not the same company. Helix might not even be manufactured in their facilities for all we know... When Yamaha owns someone (like they used to own Korg) they don't necessarily come in and take over everything.

My experience with L6's reliability on POD, XT Pro (and floorboard for both of them), then through X3Live, M13, DL4, HD 500 (for almost 6 years now) and now Helix is great. I had a minor problem with my JTV Variax that I had for a year. They took care of it instantaneously at their cost.

2 x 12 guitar cabinet? or is that a FRFR of some kind with tweeter or something?

Frank R. just posted these photos over at TGP.

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Hi all!

 

I've been backwards and forwards through the manual and previously owned an hd500x and had the same minor annoyance. Could somebody PLEASE point me toward comprehensive info about the power amp section/page?

 

I see that Line6 is offering free classes that cover the topic but the closest one to me is over 2 hours away.

 

I totally get the master control and oddly enough I'm understanding the "hum" knob. Instinct dictates that hum is bad and I couldn't understand why they even added it till I cranked the master and fiddled with the setting. Now I find myself actually dialing in a decent amount of it. As far as bias, I've burned out more than a few tubes over the years by biasing them hot for that delicious "inch from death" tube tone goodness. But the control in the helix doesn't seem to work the same way. I really prefer what the manual describes as a "colder a/b setting". As far as ripple or bias-x I have absolutely no clue.

 

Any help or link to a more DETAILED explanation is appreciated!

I will try to help a little.

Hum. You got it. Although I like it off almost all the time. No, all the time, on both HD and Helix

Bias... for me, the sweet spot is never all the way up or down, it's in the middle somewhere, and is different for each amp.

Bias X? I think that's mostly really high gain settings, which I never use.

Maybe some other geniuses will pipe in.

My Helix is definitely more sensitive to how clean the power coming in is, especially compared to the HD500X. I can't even use it in the front room of my house because it puts out so much static from the crappy wiring in the building,

I assume you've tried lifting the ground? I've had Helix plugged into my house and my work (2 different parts of the building) so I don't have tons of experiences with this, but have had no issues, whether hooked up to my Mac or not.

You can also use a footswitch instead of an EXP to change every single parameter of an amp if you would like.

You could, for instance, have one footswitch that

slightly ups the gain on the amp

changes the bass, treble, mid, presence and channel volume to compensate

turns on a drive pedal and, if you want, a compressor

and changes the mix on a delay, or some other parameter on an effect.

You can do this all with one footswitch (or EXP for that matter). It is awesome I promise you.

There wasn't anything "typical" with HD 500, so who knows.

I do know they have some grand plans and ideas they want to do, and I also know that they've been totally dumbfounded by the unexpected runaway success of Helix. 

I suspect that we'll see 3 or 4 updates a year for the first year, maybe fewer after that. I'm guessing they may have amp packs for purchase at some point, but for now, they want to add a bunch of amps and effects to this soon. They're on record as saying this.

The 1.0.6 update was awesome just for the Matchless and the Timmy imho... can't wait to see what's next.

That said... never buy a piece of gear for what it might do some day. Buy it for what it can do today. And the Helix can do plenty.

I think you can sign up for email updates at L6, or just follow their facebook feed, but you'll probably hear about it here and at TGP first.

Not gloating... honest...

That is virtually always a grounding issue.

Do you have any external pedals hooked up that are plugged into power?