smrybacki

Come on, it's the Holiday Season!

Thank you sir!

What about the POD HD bean? Do you know?

I thought these were long gone? http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PodHD

Well that would be awesome if the Line6ers added/updated POD Farm with HD tones and effects. The POD Farm is all the Line 6 gear I have left having jettisoned modelling outside of computer and DAW applications but I still prefer it over anything else I've heard -- and it hasn't been touched in years! Here's to hoping!

I doubt you'd be able to use Line 6 amps in Reason 9 and beyond. That is what they meant by saying "wouldn't be available beyond October 2016" in my view. I am making the transition to SONAR Platinum now and honestly for a guitarist, it is a better fit IMHO. I still LIKE Reason a lot and it is a joy to use, but I get that "rowboat in the ocean" feeling from the Propellerheads these days as I try to figure out what they're about.

You can always use Reason 8 and below to get the Line6 amps. They will only disappear, or rather NOT appear in versions of Reason after October 2016. The Softube amps are pretty good actually, and Kuassa makes pretty good amps as well so you will be able to get quality guitar amp emulations still in Reason. I use Softube's amps, along with Vermillion, Creme and Cerberus (Kuassa's Rack Extensions) along with Line 6 all the time myself. They all have their place IMHO. The thing for me about Line 6 amps is that I also have the POD Farm Plat which means I get ALL of those amps available in Reason (and SONAR). Hope this helps.

I wish there was a way to maark more than one response as the "answer". Thanks all for the info!

Thanks for the replies. A lot to think about here, no doubt. The lack of EQing options is a bit troubling, and it sounds like a crap shoot on getting the right amp as well. I LOVE the idea of Bluetooth streaming and when it works, it's great. But there are those other times, when it just plays like crap, disconnects or otherwise flakes out and makes me just go back to XM radio or whatever. I really want this to be a relaxing and trouble free experience rather than another fight to get the tech working right, because it really detracts from practicing when that happens. I had a Korg Pandora that I still kick myself for letting go, because it was really very simple to use. Which reminds me that I also have a Boss Micro BR recorder kicking around here somewhere that I can probably just keep handy for jams in the basement family room. My wife hates me leaving gear all over the house aanyway.

What I have now (and is on Craigslist) is a POD HD500 and JTV59 Variax. I know I can plug headphones and my phone or MP3 player into this for jam along stuff, but it sounds like lollipop that way to me. I also have a smaller studio now (just moved in June) which puts floor space at a premium now. So instead, I use my POD Farm and Google Play Music because I have over 15k songs of my own from CD uploaded there, plus the unlimited plan so basically ANYTHING I want to play is there. Of all the gear I have right now, the Google/POD Farm setup is best when I am in my studio, and basically renders the POD/Variax combination unused and packed away for sale. The reason the Amplifi is now in the picture is for play elsewhere in the house. I figure if this thing is all that and the bag of chips it claims to be, it would go nicely in the family room along with a Strat (or the Variax?) to just plug in and play there, plus it would make a nice speaker for music playing either there or in the back yard. I have a Bose Soundlink Color that is great for personal portable use most of the time, but it too does the BT stutter trick (I HATE that personally) as does my car audio BT setup. Still an evolving tech IMO. In any event, I just want to really measure this thing for the uses I'd like out of them before I pony up the cash. Make sense?

In the last year or two, I have totally rethought my entire guitar playing life and came to the realization that this is not my living, but rather an intense hobby. Where I used to think I HAD to have the latest, greatest most awesomest gear just to survive as a player, (lightning in a bottle anyone?) I have since reduced the compllexity of my gear hoarde to basically my acoustic, and an electric guitar setup of Strat/Tele -> A few quality analog pedals -> Fender blackface tube amp. I am happy with my sound and have no desire to buy every pedal ever made anymore. Which brings me to Amplifi. Even though I am happy with my sound, I also resolved to practice far more using my wasted gear surfing time for actually working on songs and techniques. Still, it would be nice to have a practice tool that does the things Amplifi claims to do, such as bluetooth speaker, MP3 song mixing along with your guitar output through a reasonable facsimile of the tone for the given song and the ability to (finally) control it all through my Android devices. Sounds like the ticket to me for $400... ...except I know how things can REALLY be. Like bluetooth sound stuttering, firmware update bricking, wonky knobs, funky control schemes and other sundry issues. So I ask the community - if you use Amplifi, does it work reasonably well doing the things Line6 claims it can do with a bare minimum of fuss, or are there "issues" lurking that will more detract from the goal of practicing than aid in it?

I'm kind of leaning toward the L2T because, as you say it is a better value for the dollars spent. I am also looking into other things, but I like the idea of the matched set and I would be using this as a floor wegde montior mostly. The ability to tap into my Yamaha synth is a bonus, but it won't be the primary prupose. If I start with the L2T and want to go stereo, I could get the L2M later.

Thank you sir.

I am envisioning using an L2M along with my POD HD via Line6 Link and my JTV59 via VDI cable, effectively needing only two cables for three pieces. I could play all my patches, acoustic or electric into this one FRFR system and that's that, or am I missing something there? Additionally, I'd like to be able to hook up a keyboard output to the L2M, or would I absolutely need the L2T with it's mixer for that?

Bean-no...I'm betting.

I don't see anyone attacking you here, but there is a lot of helpful information here axplaining how the Helix works. I got a lot out of this thread.

I have a JTV59 that had some serious fret rattling in the low E & A strings above the 2nd fret and through the 13th fret. Went over to a friends house to jam, and brought it along with me because this friend has lots of luthier tools/supplies, including fret leveling tools. We found my 12th fret to be pretty significantly high. So, we destrung it, filed it down, recrowned it and polished it up again and Viola! The guitar now plays like a dream with zero fret buzz. So good in fact, I never even broke out my MIA Telecaster which I had brought to play, nor did I even turn on the modeling on the Variax. I just played played it straight through the mags into a Princeton Reverb and loved it. The guitar now has a new lease on life again, all because of a very simple procedure. So if you have a similar problem, find a luthier with the right tools and it can likely be fixed too. Made a HUGE difference in how bad I want to play my Variax, no doubt. Gotta just break down and buy some tools myself....

What we buy is up to each of us. Not so fast on that whole "disco ain't coming back" idea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nu-disco

I will get a new Surface 3 in a heartbeat when my Nexus 7 finally dies -- or I get antsy. Nice piece of engineering there IMHO. The older I get, and the more tech advances -- the more I realize it is my job to adapt as opposed to bitching that the world is changing. Not easy, but still -- my job.

Can someone move this thread to the Helix sub forum?

An appropriate price is one that recoups the R&D costs, covers the production costs and gives the boys a bit of profit for their efforts. In other words, appropriate is relevant. Each person's abiltity to afford that is another matter altogether.

I am literally amazed at the versatility, flexibility and thoughtful design of this product. I was definitely in the "What has Line6 done lately" camp, and I am more than pleasantly amazed at what was being worked on during this period since Yamaha's acquisition of Line6. All the gentle hinting that DI and other Line6 proponents have been doing was certainly not BS at all. Wow, and holy cow. So by way of apology for doubting the commitment of Line6 to creating cutting edge, professional quality guitar gear, I'd like to say I'm sorry for ever doubting. I'd like to add that I am not a marketing expert, and that radio silence may well be better in a case of an R&D effort such as the Helix obviously was, but it is inevitable that in the absense of real information, people will speculate and feel left out. Line6 employees and forum presences remained above the fray though, and for that they are to be commended since they knew full well anyone saying ugly things about them would ultimately be proven false. That aside, this device looks to be thouroughly amazing and engaging, addressing so many things people wanted AND literally reinventing how a floor processor can be programmed. Using one's feet while maintaining hands on your guitar is pure genius IMHO. The immediacy of tweaking a tone can be maintained on the fly now it seems. Time will tell if the new HX models are as excellent as that Sweetwater video suggested they were. I suspect they are as good as modelling gets in 2015, and the folks at Kemper and Fractal are likely feeling like they now need to up the ante themselves because by comparison, their excellent offerings are now difficult to engage with by comparison to a device like this. If the gap between modeling sound and feel has now been closed along with it -- well, it ought to shake them up a bit. The Kemper can still profile amps, of course which is lacking in either Line6 or Fractal gear but beyond that it's a brand new ballgame in my opinion. Nice work LIne6! The Helix represents some excellent engineering decisions, adherance to customer wishes and desires and apparently you're giving us things we never knew we always wanted.

Be all that as it may, I will continue to try and give people the benefit of the doubt and besides, why would I care if the OP liked Line6 or not? It doesn't affect my view of them one iota. Let them vent says I, because who cares? I know people often "swing by" for parting shots at the faithful in forums on their way out the door and I really don't fully understand that behavior either. It's some psych thing where it validates your choice by belittling others. I get that part of it, but I always feel badly for those who do this because they are so insecure in their own choices. But really, the flip side of that (Fan Boys) are just as bad aren't they? I mean, if you're not hitting nirvana with your gear and express frustration over that, there is usually a cadre of people standing by to tell you how eff'd up you are, right? Thinking about how the digital realm works, it is amazingly hard to get consistent results from setup to setup in my opinion. Yeah, the POD (or whatever device) are all (mostly) the same and even the Variax guitars are a lot the same, but after that -- what are you listening through? Monitors? The SAME monitors as the guy you're taking advice from? Atomic wedges? PA Systems? Headphones? A half-stack? Combo? My point is that no matter how you are perceiving your gear, someone else is surely hearing something that actually is different and it can be very frustrating to hear people gush over their gear while yours sounds like poo to you despite your best efforts. Ironically, often they run to the next perceived big thing in digital guitar world (AXEFx, Kemper, etc...) and it will be a lot the same very often; total and gushing love at first, followed by a nagging suspicion that your tone should be better and often ending in a bitter divorce when you settle into it and realize that you've spent a LOT of money and it still isn't ringing your bell. I think everyone eventually reaches a point of either accepting digital sources for what they are or dumping them and getting back to the basic guitar->pedals->amp setup if the sonic soup they create isn't satisfying to them. Sorry for the ramble, but I have to say that for my own part, watching the gyrations of people trying to make their gear setups perfect for themselves is often just as much fun as playing guitar is. Personally, I accept digital for what it is to ME and at times it is very satisfying and I have a tron of fun while at other times it is nothing but a huge distraction and I spend more time "tweaking parameters" than actually playing. I have had my POD and Variax packed away for 5 weeks now because we are moving and you know what? I pull out my acoustic instead everyday which has nearly zero tweaking capability (sans alternate tuning) and I just play the damn thing lol. I will eventually set my digital rig up again, but until then I am hardly unable to enjoy playing guitar.

Not the actual event, but I grew up not far from there and it was quite something to see for a 10 year old. Naked hippies! In 1973, I also saw the aftermath of the concert they had there that was even bigger and yup, more naked hippies except I was 14 then and knew what that really meant lol. Those were the days in Upstate New York.

30% is a good sale price and I'd like to encourage this sort of behavior more often by Line6 myself ;)