PeterHamm

imho and experience, you won't hear the difference between an analog collection over XLR and any digital connection. But... some prefer the analog connection because it adds some "shmutz" to the signal that makes it sound better... I can't hear the difference in anything I've used for about 5 or 10 years like this.

Anything that is 15" (and even, imho, 12") in size is going to be too boomy for relatively close listening. I like a 10" speaker-based FRFR for this. In fact, mine is only 8" and I love it, but I don't play with a full band with it, I use IEMs.

If you buy a Helix primarily as an interface for your DAW, that's the wrong product. It CAN do that, but not as a primary function. I would consider that. It is a guitar processor. To have it do too many things would compromise the main things or drive the price up into the stratosphere. I think even the guys who want to have 2 or 3 musicians use it at once are going to be incredibly frustrated.

Includes real live electric guitar this time. New sound sample of my Hollow Atom CT. Enjoy! https://pietrosquared.wordpress.com/helix-2-voice-guitar/

Wow, you got lucky. Back in my HD 500 and M13 days, I had different results and (especially with HD 500) had to do some futzing to make it work. What 3 amps may I ask?

What is a "semi-balanced" cable? No such thing afaik. And if you connect a TRS cable to a TS jack (like you have on your amp) you could, conceivably, make MORE noise...

Here... you have something... if you were going to use Helix as a general FX processor with a lot of different signals in the studio, I can see that having those be balanced would be useful. But... Helix was designed, as far as I can tell, as a no-compromises guitarist tool, not necessarily a generic studio tool (heck, it doesn't have a stereo input unless you repurpose two of the send/returns or use spdif). I will say that if you use it as an interface in the studio, you can go back and forth to it over USB, and with the rack, you can even sync to a master clock. Again, it's a great guitar processor. I think when you start to make it do things it wasn't necessarily primarily designed for, you are going to make compromises, mostly because NO compromises seem to have been made (within reason) in terms of its primary function.

I am pretty sure if the send/return jacks were TRS it wouldn't make any difference, since your guitar amp does not have balanced signals in and out, does it? TRS servo-balanced I/O doesn't inherently solve any problems with unbalanced lines.

imho, yes. There is a standout amp. There's one standout amp for my Tele, one for my Atom CT, and one for my Crowdster. And they don't always sound so great when I plug my tele in and dial up my Atom CT patch, etc. And... in my experience so far... I mostly don't like the cab that is SUPPOSED to go with the amp. For instance, with a Bassman I like the Z cab better than the 4 - 10 that you're "supposed" to use with it. Also, imho, for the very best tones out of any modeler, you have to create your own. Honestly, I've had Helix in my posession for over a month now, and I haven't dialed up a single factory preset yet. No lie.

If you're happy with what you have and something like Helix doesn't blow your socks off, it's also possible that you have what you currently own dialed in for you so well that it just is the best thing for you. Not everybody needs to upgrade after all... That said, I find it hard to believe that if you dialed that in for your own usage really carefully that you wouldn't hear a very big difference.

I disagree. It has a balanced input for a mic or what have you, it has an input designed for an electric guitar, it even has an input designed for acoustics and basses with a preamp. Then it has balanced outputs, S/PDIF and AES/EBU digital outputs... Let's not forget about those 4 loops (which other high end processors lack). How is it "customer-level". It is a guitar processor designed and priced for pros with all the I/O those individuals need.

Yeah, but are you using every slot in the patch? Because the EQs in the HD are just fine, too. Don't take a lot of juice.

Why not just use one of the built-in EQs? They aren't very dsp-hungry I don't think.

And anything with a built-in wireless would always be on the "no way" list for me.

I think the next step should be DOWN. I mean, L6 has some really great solutions for guitarists in the 500 and under category. They also have, now, this amazing product at 3+X the price. What about a 700 - 900 dollar HX-inspired device for the in-between? Or an "HX x00"... like an HD 500 but with a single Helix signal path with maybe HD FX models instead of HX to maximize dsp usage. I could be nuts and your product research might tell you that customer doesn't exist... what do I know.

I especially liked the addition of the much-requested Talent Booster pedal.

I don't use dual amps, but I think I could with my workflow. I split path 1, use 1A for my acoustic guitar signal, directly out I use path 1B for the amp (but not the cab) and some gain/comp/eq things. Then I have GOBS of processing I use on 2A for the electric. I could add another amp on 2B but I add a couple big verbs for special FX I switch between. There are some ways of figuring out how to use the paths that aren't ways you'd guess. I'd look at those templates and see how that works. How are you monitoring? FRFR? headphones? studio monitors?

I tried this once. Didn't like it and found it better and more fun to just start from scratch for the tone difference and one other huge reason. The new layout and workflow make it so that the ways you wanted to work in HD 500 are not the ways you want to work in Helix anyway. That said, I tend to start from a template for how I normally use things. So once I made a patch that really worked in my particular idiom, I just copy it to new locations and dial up new FX and amp and cab models as needed.

Once it leaves the Helix's send, I'm guessing it's buffered just fine. It's only coming in you need to worry I'd think.

Or just use those IRs inside Helix. Honestly, the cabs in Helix are WAY good enough for me, but you can load your own IRs in. I've done it with acoustic, but not electric yet.

The warning in the Helix Rack manual makes me not want to mess around to find out.

And Yamaha may own them. It doesn't mean they RUN them. In the past, Yamaha has owned companies (like Korg) but not "taken over" and run them.

The outputs are specified as unbalanced in the manual. The loops are not specified, but it FEELS like it's unbalanced when I plug something into it.

You haven't experienced "clipping" but that warmth is a tube distortion that simply sounds really good to you. The "coloring" of sound is technically a "distortion" of it. But even my cleans have some grit in them, so it's not necessarily a bad thing. I just hope your MP lasts better than my buddy's and mine did.

I'm glad you guys loved the ART MP. I hated it. Did something like what you are all describing with my HD 500 years ago. The Tube MP ended up being something that was altering the tone in a way that I just got fatigued with. It is literally distorting your signal, and if you like that, awesome... but that's all it's doing imho. Everybody's different, and it's only 50 bucks. Also... me and a buddy each had one. They didn't even last a year before they broke. Ugh. And, for me, it worked better as a DI from the output of the HD 500 into the system than in the loop, so try it that way, too.