njglover

AHAHA! I finally did it. Spent like a week messing around and mostly being frustrated, but now I have finally done it. Run an A/B split, set to B 30, then on the B path put a Triangle Fuzz running into a 1x12 US Deluxe cab with the 30 Dynamic mic and then an EQ to fine tune after that. It's a little dumb, and frankly I shouldn't have to do all that, but it works. Now I can finally play with nothing but the Helix!

Pretty much that. Also Reaper is totally fine. I love it and I have access to... Studio One, Pro Tools, Cubase, Ableton... the point is, no need to feel bad about Reaper. The option for your interface is in the upper right corner where it shows your current buffer size and latency settings.

I uh... don't disagree. He has gotten a lot better since then, but his double bassing still needs some work.

I'm going to play a bit of devil's advocate here and remind people that this unit isn't really intended to be roadworthy. We are talking about a $180 wireless unit with a maximum 50-foot range and no ability to manually select channels. It is very much designed for the occasional user or light gigging at best. The receiver is plastic even. So saying it isn't roadworthy is kind of missing the point. Further, I actually think it's great they went with USB for power. Yes, little 9v plugs are standard these days, but a) they weren't always (and there are still many pedals with non-standard plugs) and b) considering guitar pedals are the only thing using that plug, it's probably not going to stick around forever. With a USB plug, I can be truly wireless, powering the receiver off a standard USB battery pack. Technically this could be done with a Volto if it used a standard 9v plug, but that requires a more expensive specialty battery (that is frankly less road worthy) instead of the cheaper, higher capacity battery pack I already have (I actually have both, but that's not the point). If the port is breaking after a couple times of use, as you describe, then that is poor design. As others have mentioned, phones have been using these plugs for years with no problems despite near constant use and abuse. If they just have the plug in there sort of floating on its pins, that's not very durable. At the bare minimum I'd want it secured to the housing of the receiver so the jack doesn't move when plugging and unplugging. Hot glue is one option, though a screw would be better. I'd rather it also be flush to the PCB so there is less risk of solder points coming loose. These are all fairly simple fixes that could be easily be changed on their part (or my part, really, but I'd like to not have to). Would also be good, speaking of roadworthiness, to have recessed the jack somewhat so that there is less risk of damaging the jack by bumping the cable. In conclusion, not disagreeing with your sentiments about it being designed poorly, but I think there are some important caveats. And now that I know about them, I'm tempted to open mine up and reinforce it...

It's not going to be significant, but it will be a slight roll off in the higher frequencies. If you've been using cables prior to this, it should be roughly what you've been used to hearing. The G10 into my Helix is nearly identical to using my 12-foot Mogami Platinum cable into the Helix. And by nearly I mean if you blindfolded me and asked me to pick one I couldn't.

That is exactly what I meant, thank you for clarifying.

Oh I'm not disagreeing on that point. Even if it is accurate, get rid of it. But that may be more complicated- if they are truly modeling on a component basis, they would likely have to change something about the component models to get rid of it, which would theoretically also change the tone. I don't know enough about the programming of it all to really speak to that, though.

I love me some Mesa Boogie, but they aren't without their share of problems. I have blown many a phase inverter tube before discovering that that's just what happens if you run the channel masters at more than half. Design flaw is an understatement there.

I have also noticed it, but I also own a Roadster, whose fat channel is basically the same, and I feel like I remember that doing a similar thing and it irritating me there, too. So it could be that they are just accurately modeling the real thing, but I could also be misremembering. I've been meaning to play with the input pad to see how that changes the fuzzes anyway, wonder if it will help.

That is pretty normal, and I have tried that. Generally using the crossover split makes the distortion sound like garbage, but using an A/B split helps. Have tried that, not nearly enough dirt.

I am very close to being able to use the Helix by itself as my entire rig, but one thing that is holding me up is fuzz. There just aren't a lot of good options on the Helix, particularly for bass players. I have found something that I can make work for guitar, but bass... What I am trying to mimic is my Malekko Plus Ultra with the filter on. I leave sustain and tone at 12 o'clock and frequency at 3. This gets me a tone that sustains forever, scoops the mids a bit to still leave room for guitars but not in such a way as to get hidden (in that I want people to know I have a fuzz turned on), and is nice and aggressive. I just cannot seem to get that out of anything on the Helix, be it distortion or fuzz pedals or even blending with guitar amps. Anyone else managed to get a good fuzz tone? For reference, skip to about 3:04 in this song: http://gunbladex.bandcamp.com/track/remain. That's the exact tone (because that's my bass with my fuzz :P)

Sort of on a whim, I picked up a G10 on the way to a gig. Probably a terrible idea to buy something to use live immediately after, but I had a cable as backup anyway. Read up in the manual on the way there and when we got to the gig, tried it out. Not a whole lot goes into setup, you pretty much just plug it in and go. Started walking toward the bar to test the range and it cut out about halfway there, which was probably about 20-30 feet from the receiver. That was... not great. On the other hand, I completely missed the part in the manual about needing to plug the transmitter into the receiver to search for the best channel, so that might have had something to do with it. I also basically don't move at all when I perform, so mostly I just wanted something so that I don't trip over a cable. For that purpose, 20 feet is way more than enough. It's just enough for me to go out and check our levels (since we were running our own sound). In actual use during the gig, performance was flawless. The only time the sound cut out was when I bumped the transmitter and it pulled slightly out of the jack - a failing of the jack being loose more than a problem with the transmitter. The jack has since been fixed. Having had a good experience live (which, really, is what wireless is for), I wanted to see how it really holds up vs a cable. I use a Helix for... well, my entire rig (got sick of carrying my Roadster and giant pedal board around), which I only mention by way of saying your mileage may vary. I plug in using a Mogami Platinum instrument cable, which is a $100 12-foot cable I chose after comparing it to Livewire, Monster, and Mogami Gold cables. The point is I have a lot of experience with the tone of different cables and I wanted to see how the G10 compares. I have now tried it with both my bass (a Music Man Stingray, so it's active) and my guitar (a PRS Custom 24, so passive) and I can honestly say that there is at most very little difference between the G10 and the Mogami Platinum cable. This is where I have to say "your mileage may vary." If you are used to using a 20-foot cheap cable and a ton of pedals, the G10 is almost certainly going to sound different. Further, it is designed (I believe) with a 1M input impedence in mind, which is fairly standard, but some amps or pedals may differ, so that will also change your guitar's tone. But, again, using it with the Helix, the G10 is practically identical in tone to my absurdly expensive 12-foot guitar cable. So the bottom line: it sounds great, it works great (both live and at practice where there are other wireless systems active), and it's stupidly easy to use. Plus I can power the receiver off a portable USB battery pack, meaning it can be truly wireless. Is it for everyone? Probably not. If you are a fuzz aficionado, no wireless system is going to work for you. If you need the receiver to be 30+ feet away, this particular system is probably not your best bet. But for the average guitarist who plays on small stages and just hates tripping over wires, this system is great. Hell, you could buy two of these, one to get to the pedal board and one to get from the pedal board to the amp, for the same price as the G70. And, having used a G50 previously, I can say that this is no worse in terms of quality.

Ah, sorry, it was in the FAQ, not the manual: http://line6.com/support/page/kb/_/live-sound/relay-digital-wireless/relay-g10-faq-r808

I'm sure the folks at Line 6 are well aware of the success of their G10 wireless system. It's simple and completely lacking in options, but it's cheap and it works as advertised. And it requires zero effort on the part of the user. I would love it if they would keep it going with an XLR version of the G10. Quite literally just replace the 1/4" in an XLR and remove cable tone (or not, since the XLR out doesn't have cable tone anyway). It would be cheap and, for most people, good enough for use on small stages or just at home (for example, sometimes I record videos at home, but I have to run the mics to my computer in another room, which is annoying). I would also love it if Line 6 would make a set of wireless in-ears. I'm not even talking about making them G10-level of cheap, just anything at all. The cheapest "good" offerings start at $600, which is frankly outrageous for what they actually provide (the technology in there cannot possibly cost them more than $150-200). I can get a set of bluetooth Bose headphones for half that. Line 6 has a history of making good wireless systems for less than the competition, and I would love to see that extended into in-ears so that I might one day be able to afford a system.

Yes, use the XLR out. Manual states (I think it's the manual) that the XLR out is uncolored.

Also, if you read the manual, it states that the XLR output does not have cable tone activated. I'm not sure what cable you have been using, but I use a Mogami Platinum cable (a $100 cable) and I don't notice any appreciable difference, certainly not in a live setting where you might actually be running a wireless system. Shouldn't be using wireless when recording anyway, so...

I use one of those portable rechargeable USB battery packs. Works great. The one I have powered it for probably an hour and barely used any juice.

Is there a particular reason you are doing that instead of plugging in the USB cable and using the Helix as the audio device? That's the best way to get sound from your computer into the Helix.

I had a problem with one of my footswitches. I would tap it and sometimes it would switch and other times it would not. It seemed like what we would call in programming to be a "bounce" - it would trigger, then very quickly trigger again, causing it to seem like it did nothing. I wasn't ready to send it in for repair since I had some upcoming gigs and didn't need that particular switch all that much, so instead I just rapidly clicked it a bunch of times, opened it up to look inside (they really are quite unique switches, but essentially they are still just operating a small button at the bottom) in case there was any dust. Not sure if there was dirt or dust, but the problem just kinda went away and I haven't had that happen since. So either they updated something in the code to better account for bounces or it really was just dirt that needed to get worked out.

Meh. Octave down doesn't work so great, it seems to pick up too much of the upper harmonic content, so it sounds... odd. Better if distorted, but not ideal. The synth seems geared toward guitar and doesn't track that great with bass, plus the initial hit has way too much upper harmonic content, kinda painful to my ears.

I use the Helix for guitar in one band and bass in another. And in both cases, I only bring a real amp and cab if I absolutely have to. I use it for everything except fuzz. For bass, I run a compressor, fuzz (through FX loop), chorus, reverb, and two amp choices. Most of the time I run through Cali ch 1, which sounds to me nearly identical to the 400+ I owned (until I got tired of carrying it and realized it was pointless now), and that goes into the 2x15 cab model. When I want a little extra grit, I put the preamp from the SVT model in front of that. Sounds amazing. If I do need to run a real amp (like this weekend at a con), I disable the cab model and run into the FX loop of a solid state amp (Markbass SD800 into a 1x15 cab).

There is not a jump at all, it is a volume drop. It decreases the volume from each path by 3 dB, which is incredibly annoying if you are using them as alternate paths to switch between. If you are noticing a volume increase, then it is likely because you haven't set the delay to 100% wet, so you are getting clean signal from both paths. In which case... what's even the point of putting the delay on a second path?

I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's probably going to require a whole lot more doing than has been done. It may even require you to enter in the values of the components of your guitar to really work correctly. A pedal like the Fuzz Factory changes completely by rolling the volume or tone knobs down. Not just in gain or in volume, but you can alter the frequency of the oscillation that way, too.

More to the point of this topic, I think it will be very difficult (if not downright impossible) for the Helix (or any other processor) to truly emulate a classic Fuzz Face or Fuzz Factory or other picky fuzz. The problem is that these fuzzes require a direct connection to the guitar in order to sound good. They don't play nice with active guitars, they don't play nice with buffers or other pedals in front of them. They need to become part of the guitar circuit. How is that even going to be possible with a digital model? Having said that, there is also a Big Muff model on there and I feel like that also needs some work. But if you've really gotta have that Fuzz Face/Factory tone, then you're probably just gonna have to bring a pedal with. At least until they find some other way to model it.

I would argue that that's a good problem to have. A modeler where you can just forget about it all and enjoy playing? That's kind of the goal, I'd say.