jackwagner

I am a Helix newbie. I have noticed that when I play an open E string on my bass and let it sustain, that it doesn’t hold a consistent pitch. It starts to “warble†a bit as if there were some slight modulation or tremolo effect. As if it were slightly out of tune (out of tune with what? I don’t know). This happens on all of the bass presets that I have tried. It doesn’t seem to happen on any other open strings.

I use this configuration in my practice room:

Bass->Helix Rack->Practice Amp (Aux In)

The bass is a Fender Precision. The Practice amp is an Ampeg BA-112v2 (a bass combo amp). I use the Aux In input to avoid the preamp section.

As a test, I connected my bass directly into the instrument input on the amp. It works fine – no warble.

Any ideas what may be happening?

Thanks,

--jack

How does it sound on a blank preset?

 

Then just add a preamp of choice.

 

The Line 6 built presets are likely full amps and so on. I have not found any pre-programmed preset that i liked.

 

Block by block, build your own sound from a blank preset. Worth a shot!

I found a few bass patches from Line 6 Custom Tone (http://line6.com/customtone/browse/helix/) that I downloaded and will try/tweak.

--jack

What is your setup with Helix?

I only used it for a couple of hours, but, here's how I intend to use it for my live performances (basically as a preamp):

For my on-stage monitor:

Bass->Line 6 Relay G90 Wireless->Helix Rack->Power Amp->Speaker Cabinet

For getting bass to FOH, I would take an XLR output to FOH.

What I did last night was:

Bass->Helix Rack->Ampeg BA-112 (practice amp)

I use the Aux input of the Ampeg BA-112. I use my pedalboard setup this way and it works well.

What I've found so far with the bass presets is that they sound "thin".

--jack

Update:

Last week I called customer service and they offered to repair my Helix Rack. I sent it on Thursday 7/13/17 and got it back yesterday 7/18/17. I live in SoCal so shipping was just 1 day each way. Very quick turn around!

The unit boots as it should. It had firmware version 2.11.00, but I was able to successfully upgrade it to v2.20. It now boots and operates as it should.

I messed around with it for a couple of hours last night. To say that I wasn't thrilled with the preset bass tones is an understatement. But I will continue to work on it.

Line 6 gets an A+ customer service rating from me!

--jack

If it's still borked, call Line 6 support, they're excellent. If you have a copy of the receipt from the original new purchase, the warranty is transferable.

Thanks, I did. Even though I bought it used, they are going to take care of it for me. Excellent customer service!

--jack

Do a factory reset (FS 9/10 simultaneously while powering up, I believe) and try to flash again. 

I have the Helix Rack version without the foot controller. I found this page:

http://line6.com/support/page/kb/_/effects-controllers/helix/helix-reset-procedures-and-troubleshooting-tricks-r768

and followed the instructions to hold ENC1 and ENC6 at boot and that didn't help at all. I tried the other options as well and nothing seemed to make any difference.

Since the unit says that the firmware version is V2.11.0, I thought I might try downloading and installing that version to see if I can get my PC to recognize the Helix and then try to upgrade from there.

Thanks for trying to help, I really appreciate it. If you have any other suggestions, I'm all ears.

--jack

Take it back to GC. Even used stuff they have to take back if it doesn't work. They should have at least tried to turn it on before selling it to you. 

When I called (I live in California and bought it from a GC in Colorado), the guy that I talked to said it worked fine and had firmware v2.00.00. It seems as though they tried to update the firmware and didn't get it right. I have 45 days to mess with it. If I can't resolve this, I will return it. But hopefully there is a way to recover and update the firmware to the latest version.

--jack

Just got the Helix Rack (used from Guitar Center) and it will not boot up...

Stuck in "Updating UI MCU Firmware..." mode

The top of the display has ":-7:-7:-7..."

Any help? I just opened a support ticket. Oh joy...

--jack

Well, I took the plunge. I found a used one at a good price and it will be on its way to me soon. I will report back once I get it...

--jack

Absolutely! Substantial BASS Amps, Cabs, and FX were added in Firmware 2.20. See HelixHelp.com for the Release Notes. The current version is 2.21. It contains maintainence fixes, etc.

Thanks, I didn't know about HelixHelp.com. I will check it out.

--jack

My local Guitar Center had a Helix on display. It was connected to a powered PA speaker (a 2-way speaker with a 15-inch driver. Not sure what brand.)

I wasn't impressed at all. I fiddled with it for about 20 minutes or so and didn't like any of the bass tones. After messing with it I decided to check the firmware version and found that it was 1.xxx. So not the latest firmware.

Is the 2.x firmware version really going to make that much of a difference?

Thanks,

--jack

That would depend on how you're running the everything. If you're running all the amp/cab sims to the house and using that to feed the house monitors or IEMs then you'd probably just leave the amp and sim blocks the same. If you have an actual amp on stage, you probably wouldn't be running any amp/sim on the monitor feed.

 

Thanks, very helpful.

I was assuming that the Rack version was a 2U unit, but it is 3U. This might affect my decision...

--jack

I use the Helix for bass (and guitar, actually). In both cases, I do not bring an amp unless I have to, just run XLR to FOH. I have in-ears, so that is all I need for monitoring. Only problems I have had so far are in monitoring when either the wedges are too low power or when the engineer can't figure out gain staging and I have to crank the crap out of the in-ears (still works fine, just more RF-type noise).

 

You can set it up to run separate amp and cab blocks and run the cab output to FOH and the amp only output to your real amp if you want. I've just gotten lazy and don't bother doing that. For practice, or when necessary for live, I run it into the FX return of a solid state bass amp and then into a cab and it still sounds fine even going through the cab models first.

 

In regards to setup, I generally have one preset per song since I tend to use a lot of different effects. But you could just use one if you are always going to be doing the same thing. Having access to so much more will probably tempt you, though :)

I'm pretty much always going to have an amp on stage. It's just weird to me when bands are ampless. I may eventually go to IEMs, but I'll probably still have an amp for the visual.

Thank you for the feedback!

--jack

I just recently found the Helix product line and I'm considering a Helix Rack for my bass rig for live performance use. I play in several different bands and currently I have different gear (basses, pedals and amps)  for each band to achieve my tonal goals. If the Helix lives up to its billing, I can simplify my gear and reduce my setup time. I have watched a few video reviews that show some impressive results.

I have just one sound that I used for each band that I play with - all the pedals that I use to achieve my tonal goals are always on. My thought is to develop a preset for each band and just dial up the preset and go. Maybe some minor tweaks to adjust for the room, but not much more than that. Maybe the Helix is a bit overkill for that. Also, I intend to use an amp as a monitor (no in-ears).

I currently use a pedalboard and rack setup with a preamp and power amp. If I go with a Helix Rack my rack setup would be something like this:

• Power conditioner
• Line 6 Relay G90 Wireless receiver
• Helix Rack
• Power amp

For those that have used the Helix in a live performance setting for bass, how has it worked for you?

Do you use one of the XLR outputs to go to FOH?

Do you use a bass amp/speaker on stage?

For the FOH feed, I was thinking that having (among other things) an amp block (not sure if that's the right Helix lingo) and cabinet block in the Helix chain. But for the amp (stage monitor) feed, just an amp block. Does that work well in real life?

Thanks for any help and insight!

--jack

The MIDI Mobilizer II firmware version is 1.0.4 if that matters.

I found last night that when I get the "Requires MIDI Mobilizer" error, I was able to dismiss that error then remove and reinsert the Mobilizer and it was detected. I will try it out at band rehearsal and see how that goes. Still would be interested in knowing why it isn't detected in the first place.

--jack

I've had the MIDI Mobilizer II for a few months now and I have installed the MIDI Memo Recorder App (version 3.0.4) on my iPhone 4. About half of the time, when I start the MIDI Memo App it doesn't recognize that I have the MIDI Mobilizer attached - I get the "Requires MIDI Mobilizer" error message. I have to close the app and reopen it. Sometimes I have to do this several times before it recognizes the MIDI Mobilizer.

Help? I want to be able to use this in a live setting, but don't have the confidence to do so yet.

Thanks,

--jack