njglover

Ah, so that's in the Command Center! That was not made very clear in the manual, it only really mentioned the footswitch assign menu when I looked it up. Thanks! I don't have it in front of me at the moment, but if there is an option to compensate for the gain loss on the merge block, that would also be acceptable. It would be ideal if, say, it set it to -3 dB by default and then I could just return it to 0 dB if I don't want a cut. If 0 is the default cut, that will be more annoying.

So far I am really liking the Helix but I've encountered a couple small things that I guess I would consider to be quirks, things that maybe no one noticed. 1) Let's say I set up a footswitch to control the amp gain and the master output volume, which is a fairly typical way for me to set up a solo boost. There is no way for me to rename that footswitch UNLESS I assign a block's bypass function to that switch. So, to rename it, I would have to go to another block, hit menu, hit footswitch assign, assign it to that footswitch, hit customize, then go back through all those steps to remove that block from the footswitch assignment so that I can have a named switch that only controls the things I actually wanted it to control. The point here, really, is that there HAS to be an easier way to name a switch. Ideally, it would be under the options when I touch and hold the switch. Way easier. 2) On one of my presets, I have it set so that it switches on a phaser, ups the amp gain, and toggles between two different reverbs. So when it is on, one reverb is on the other is off, when it is off, they switch. The problem is that if the reverb that will be off for that part of the song is the last thing I assigned to that footswitch, then the switch appears off even though everything else is on. So I have to go and reassign, say, the phaser to that footswitch so that it is "on" when most everything is on. It would be nice if there was an easier way to toggle which position is declared as on and which is off. 3) I don't think the A/B splits are working properly. I have the exact same amp and cab set up on two different presets but the output volume is not the same. All the settings are exactly the same, one is just quieter than the other and the only difference is that one preset has just the amp, cab, and a reverb and the other has an A/B split so I can toggle between sets of effects. But even with everything bypassed, and no matter which side of the A/B split I am on, the split one is quieter than the non-split one. Otherwise, sounding great! Takes a little getting used to, but so does any new piece of gear.

So far I am loving the Helix, but I need a little help figuring out the best way to set up a song. In this song, I would like the following setups: 1) Intro: rectifier with delay and reverb as well as a volume pedal for swells 2) main part: rectifier with reverb 3) solo: boosted mids and volume (maybe a different amp?) with 5th up harmony, delay, and reverb 4) final bit: rectifier with harmony and reverb The way I would normally do this, on my real amp (a dual rec) is to use the modern channel for all the "rectifier" parts, do the volume swells with the guitar volume, and just have the delay on for the intro section. When I get to the solo, I would switch to the "vintage" channel, which has more gain and is set up for a slight volume boost, more mids, and a smoother distortion character, switch on my Whammy, which is set for the harmony, and switch on the delay (obviously a bit of a tap dance). Then, for the final bit, switch back to the "modern" channel and switch off the delay. What I would like to be able to do, ideally, is have this all handled under one preset (my ideal is that each song has it's own preset) and that, within that preset, there is one button per section. So, for example, it starts on the intro section, then I hit the "main" switch and it switches to that part, then I hit "solo" to switch to that part, then I hit "outro" to switch to that part. Since I would need to be able to switch each pedal with multiple footswitches, I don't think that is actually possible, so I'm trying to figure out what the best solution is. I like to try to make everything as drunk proof as possible so that no matter how far gone I am on stage I can still hit all the right changes. What would you suggest is the best way to go about setting this up?

So now that I have a Helix, I can actually confirm that the delay in switching patches is absolutely not any worse than my Mesa Roadster. Seems fine to me.

So I just wanted to add my two cents to this whole debate about patch switches taking time. Is it annoying? Sure! But you know what? My Mesa Boogie Roadster also has a slight dropout when switching channels, and that's a $2200 tube amp, no weird DSP switching or anything! My point is that life ain't perfect, and the more complicated your setup, the more likely you are to run into these problems. If you can't work around them, then this isn't the product for you. Hit the switch a beat earlier, run multiple settings in a single patch, whatever you have to do to make it work for you, that's just the way it is. If even my $2200 Mesa Boogie requires these workarounds, then you can deal with it on a $1500 modeler. Which I am very hopeful will sound just as good so I can stop lugging that monstrosity to gigs...