brue58ski

This has all of the old Helix Factory presets but I do not think Kashmir is part of it. http://benvesco.com/store/line-6-helix/

One of the great but also kind of a painful things about Helix is all of the options we have. It's great but can lead to finding it difficult to isolate issues. It's just something we have to deal with since I LUV having all of the options we have.

I'm not sure if you've mentioned this but just to confirm, is your RETURN block you are using for the mic at line or instrument level. I would switch it to instrument level if it's currently on line level. That should boost the signal more.

That's what I meant by "controlled by the EXP pedal footswitch". Sorry I wasn't more clear. I should have said bypassed not controlled.

I thought it was worth the purchase when I got it 5 years ago so the answer is yes, it's worth it. I would pretty much assume just about everyone here think's it's worth it. Otherwise I'm not so sure they would be here.

Check to make sure your amp isn't controlled by the EXP pedal footswitch.

I wouldn't characterize it like that. Line 6 is about raw amp accuracy. So setting different amp's levels with different parameter settings so the levels are all the same isn't accurate. A super clean amp turned up will be louder than an amp that's know for distortion that has it's levels lower but just naturally produces more distortion. And as you turn preamp and amp parameters up and down, they affect the volume level as well. I'm going to guess that if you were to take a Fender model and a Marshall model in Helix and compare them to the real things, the relative volume levels of each model will match the real things fairly closely. And as you adjust the pre amp and amp parameters the relative volume level would match the real amps. Full disclosure, I have no evidence or proof of this and have never tested it. It is a huge guess. If you want a modeler that compresses/EQ's etc. the amps so they are all the same level with diverse parameter settings, I think there are plenty of those out there. Line 6 goes for accuracy. I guess I would say Line 6 doesn't set them up the way people would expect them as much as they set them up the way they actually are, whether anyone expects it or not.

This should answer any questions as far as if you are doing anything wrong

I have replaced a piezo to fix this problem in my 69 when the Deoxit didn't work. The replacement. I was able to do it myself but I have a little electronics experience. I don't think you need much, but if you don't have any, send it to psarkissian. And it will kill you warranty. I did it after the warranty had expired.

I haven't listened to the clips but if your Helix is connected to your computer with a USB cable, try unplugging that and see if any of it goes away.

Even your Variax distorts? Assuming you have tested it with nothing in the path, that's gotta be some kind of hardware malfunction. Weird.

There's another issue that may be the problem. You need to make sure the phantom power on your input to the X32 is turned off. The Hellix does not like nor deal with phantom power very well. Having said that, I am familiar with the X32 and one of the major plusses but also a negative is how it can be setup to many different configurations. it just takes one person changing one thing to screw things up. I would strongly suggest downloadng the X32 manual. I needed it to navigate that board. You can download it here. https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0ASF On the side there it says PRODUCT LIBRARY. Go to the DOCUMENTATION dropdown menu. I do think it's a very cool board because of it's versatility.

Deoxit is the best. If it doesn't do it, that's not the problem. I have actually replaced the piezo in my JTV69 to fix this problem. I is cheap and easy and it worked for me. This is not unccomon and my theory is the signal from the piezo is amplified so much for the JTV Variax's that any flaws in the piezo are greatly magnafied. i don't know if they still carry them or if they were available for the JTV 59 but I got the piezo from Full Compass.

Strats and Teles are notorious for picking up hum. Try a guitar with a humbucker. If it goes away, then the guitar is your issue. Having said that, are you hooked up to your computer via USB? That was one thing that created hum for me at one time. Unplug that and see if it goes away.

I get what you are saying but I would not characterize what is going on as confusion. Of course they could buy another tuner. It is, to put it kindly, inaccurate to think that people don't know that. It's just wanting the tuner they have to work properly, or at least what they consider to be properly. I do understand the fidgety description. I don't think it's not working, I just think it's hyper accurate and seems to react immediately to the slightest anything. It doesn't seem to have any damping at all. If you have a Floyd Rose, it is kind of a pain. I defy anyone with one to get every string on a guitar with a Floyd Rose on it so that both the coarse and fine indicators are exactly in the middle. I've never had that issue with any of the other tuners I have used before. Including an old Peterson strobe tuner. Personally, I use it and make it work and I'm in tune and I'm fine with it. But I understand why there are people that don't like it. The best I can get is the coarse indicator in the middle and the fine indicator around the middle for each string. Most of the strings will not have both indicators in the exact middle. If the fine indicator is bouncing between the middle and halfway between the middle and the end, that's the best I can get for all of the strings. Unless there is some method I am unaware of. I do remember that turning the tone knob down all the way seemed to help mellow the inidicator out a little. One thing I have not done is a comparison with other tuners. Like when the string's tuning has the Helix's fine indicator mostly in the middle, how do other tuners read.

I had not heard that the new cabs use a lot less DSP (or don't remember hearing it; a more likely scenario). I must revisit some of my patches.

On quick trick before you give up is to just quickly go through all of the cabs. It's surprising what might pop up. You can just move down the list with your down arrow and quickly listen to everything. Of course, there are more parameters to mess with (mic and mic placement) but something may get your attention that you can tweak some more. Also there is the IR rabbit hole. I think there are a bunch of "Fender" IR's out there.

The master tune is a hard thing to quantify. I guess I would classify Red Barchetta by Rush as a master tune. But there are many others. (haha)

Your Strat, Hiwatt and the Ubiquitous Vibe (a Univibe). Add some reverb, I'm not at home so i can't remember the settings. That's the starting point for Breathe. Use this setup up for a starting point on Dark Side Of The Moon. I'm pretty sure he used a Fuzz Face on that album. Use that for the Time solo.

I did exactly the same thing with the Line 6 XT and it worked great. I wasn't able to get any of the new ones (one?) in the POD HD500 to work. I haven't even tried in the Helix. I will steal your settings and try them out. Thank You.

I'm really sure they have not been discontinued. They are just hard to get. Partly because of all of the shipping issues these days. It has been described as a passion of the heart or something like that by a Line 6 rep. I can't remember who. So it sounds like they are not flying off of the shelves but Line 6 is still cranking them out.

I just wanted peoples opinions of how good they thought they were.

It actually does say "700+ IR’s in WAV format" if you click the More info button Has anyone used these? I kinda dipped my toe (maybe foot would be a better describer) into the IR rabbit hole a while ago and found some things I liked but not enough to continue, but the sales pitch has me intrigued.

So I decided to do a quick search and could find no threads about a battery frying a Varaix. Several about non Line 6 batteries not working like the thread I attached but nothing about any batteries actually frying a Varaix. So that would be great if you are right and it looks like you probably are. Line 6 may just have to say that in case one of those non Line 6 batteries winds up frying a Varaix. Also, I found something I had completely forgot about. If you are using a battery with your JTV, you are supposed to use a TRS to plug the guitar into an amp with. The explanation is TRS engages the battery, TS can dribble away charge if what would be the ring, is not there to isolate +Vdc from the ground/return pin. Most all, if not all of our amps use TRS on the input to accommodate either one. TRS has become something of a de-facto standard for guitars with active powered circuitry since (at least) the mid 1970's (when I was doing guitar mod's with active, mostly battery powered) circuitry. That's from this thread

I have no actual specifics but essentially the official JTV Variax battery has a chip in it that regulates the battery in some way. I do not know if this is a Line 6 only propriety chip, or something you can get with some of the batteries that will fit in a JTV Variax. That's everything I know about this. My main hope is that when the JTV is dropped by Line 6, that they provide a way to continue to get the battery for the life of the guitar. Or at least my own lifespan. I've only got about 20-30 years left on this planet so it doesn't have to be forever. (haha) One of the great things about the previous Variax technology is it used AA's or even a 9volt if you were only playing for couple of hours. There are two other batteryless options for the JTV Variax in case you didn't know about them. One is this but Line 6 does not make them anymore so you'd have to find a used one. Essentially you plug into it from your amp with a regular guitar cable, and, using a TRS cable, plug into the JTV Variax from the other jack https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/VariaxPwrKit--line-6-variax-cabled-power-kit The other option is in here. If you scroll down the thread you will find this picture I attached. He describes what he did and the thread will probabaly answere any other questions you have You can find one of these regulators on Amazom here https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XTBR15W/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_10?smid=AFW951J7877QL&psc=1\ The first post in this thread refers to the older Variax's but further down the thread, someone tried it with a JTV and it worked. Hope all of this helps.