cruisinon2

There's really no need for the mixer at all, for either the headphones or your monitors. Helix is a fully functional interface... just connect everything directly. The mixer, even if you're running it flat, may still color the sound to some extent. Easiest solution is to just ditch it... you already know that you prefer the results.

Yes.... anything in the Helix family can be used that way.

Not without a load box in between the power amp and Helix to bring the signal back down to line level... otherwise the fire department comes, and you buy all new gear. ;)

It's not about ears? Then what exactly are we using to evaluate whether or not they sound the same? Spec sheets and geek math? Never mind. You win.

I'm not gonna get into a "golden ears" debate. I've run the hardware through my studio monitors and headphones. Done the same with Native and a 3rd party interface.... and I couldn't tell the difference with a gun to my head. That's identical enough for me...

Lol... fat chance. Instant gratification is practically a religion now. Besides, I'm waiting until the Helix watch is released...

Idea Scale is the place for requests... we're all users here. "Official" L6 folks seldom make an appearance.

Currently, no.

I've never tried any of the 12 string pedal emulators, but it's a tall order even for the Variax guitars... the 12 string models still sound a bit artificial, imho. It's a tough thing to mimic... some are octave shifts, then the unisons on the high strings... as nifty as these toys are, some things are still a stretch.

There's really nothing comparable to that pedal in Helix, unfortunately. Polyphonic pitch shifting is on just about everybody's wish list... but we ain't there yet.

Tomāto, tomahto...;)

Lmao... well that should teach us. Translation: "Damn!... Your 'free' shipping idea sucks, Bob! They're figuring it out! Tell 'em it was a glitch..." Well at least it wasn't tariff-related...;) This episode of Sinister Conspiracy has been brought to you by baseless speculation...;) What should we all guess wildly at next?

Well no, not quite... lol. There are myriad options in the POD for mimicking amplifiers, but if you want to make your guitar sound like something other than what it is, you'll need a Variax... but even those don't have any PRS models onboard.

A little more detail would help... what exactly are you trying to do? What else are you currently playing through? Unless you want nothing but a loud raw guitar signal, you'll need something else between the guitar and whatever speaker(s) you choose...POD, Helix, or some other 3rd party guitar modeler, etc.

Realistically, no... the POD models amp circuits, not pickups... and a single coil is a single coil. Trying to mimic one humbucker is a tall enough order, but you're looking to reproduce the interaction of two...

Not if your sales figures are tanking...no money, no business. Ask Gibson, lol

Yup... leveling them all one by one is the only solution...by ear and at the volume you intend to use the patches in question... Tones that are nice and balanced in the living room will not be at stage volume. The only thing I'd add to the post above is that you should balance everything relative to your clean tones... get those as loud as you can without clipping, then adjust you dirty sounds accordingly. Distorted tones will always seem louder than clean tones at any given volume. If you level all the dirty patches first, you will likely run out of headroom trying to get the cleans to keep up. That's why you need to use your ears.

All any of us can do is guess... but in these two cases at least, it smells a whole lot like they're inflating the regular price so the overnight shipping appears "free". They wouldn't be the first to do it... manipulating numbers to make the customer think he's getting a deal is Advertising 101. But alas, without an invite to the marketing department's quarterly meetings, we'll never know.... Either way, whether we blame tariffs or time-honored retail shenanigans, the point is there are still several places that are charging the same price as the day Helix was released... and at least one (MF) that's currently running the free backpack promo. This is why impulse buying from the first source you find is never a good idea... look around. You can often save a few bucks, or score a freebie.

Ancient thread man... if they haven't figured it out by now, they ain't gonna. ;)

Well I don't know what you were seeing yesterday, but I just went to the MF site 10 seconds ago... https://www.musiciansfriend.com/search?sB=r&Ntt=helix Helix + the backpack for $1499....so the backpack is free, and they're advertising a 15% off promo code at the top of the page. Seems like a good time to buy from MF...I'd post a screenshot, but I'm not sure if the powers that be would get cranky about that. Same $1499 at GC and Sweetwater, but no free backpack: https://www.guitarcenter.com/Line-6/Helix-Multi-Effects-Guitar-Pedal.gc https://www.sweetwater.com/store/search.php?s=Helix I see it's $1599 at AMS, but they're also plugging "free 1-day shipping" on certain items, Helix being one of them. Seems the overnight shipping isn't quite "free" after all... round about a hundred bucks if my math is correct, lol. As for Amazon, you could spend a comical $2000 or more, if you want one from Japan... but then again Amazon's prices can be all over the map for lots of things. Some stuff yo-yo's up and down so much that if you leave things on the "save for later" list, you'll get notifications every time prices change. So I don't consider them a good yard stick for much of anything...

Native is identical to the hardware.

I assume we're talking about pricing outside the US? Sweetwater still has them both at the same price they've always been...

The amount of gain will always be a factor, and a compressor can add some sustain too, but much of it boils down to the guitar... some ring forever, some don't, and other gear can only do so much. Exactly where you play the note on the fretboard will factor in as well. If possible, try playing that note on a lower string, farther up on the neck. Strings with more mass will vibrate longer.

The only folks who know the answer to that ain't talking... they never do. L6 doesn't broadcast development plans. We all find out about new gear the same way... when it's officially announced.

First of all, pics would help. It's difficult to tell exactly where it is from your description. That being said... 1) It's nearly impossible to gauge a finish crack from one that goes clear though the wood by looking only at one side...you can stare at the top of the crack from now till Doomsday, and you'll never figure it out. If un-bolting the neck will allow a look underneath the spot in question, go ahead. Provided that you don't have at it like a drunken chimpanzee, you're not going to damage anything. Just make sure you loosen the strings (or remove them completely) first. It's four screws...you're not opening the Hubble telescope. 2) Finish cracks can (and do) happen anywhere...babied instrument or no. Happens more often at spots that are under stress, such as near tremolo post inserts, around pick guard or hardware screws, etc... but, wood moves. If the lacquer is a little thin somewhere, it might crack. Typically it happens to older instruments, but anything is possible. 3) Solvents don't remove cracks. They dissolve things... so don't do that. You could have somebody who knows what they're doing sand it down, re-paint and re-lacquer, but it's probably gonna make things look worse. It'll never match perfectly without stripping the entire instrument and starting from scratch.... but you do that for giant hatchet wounds, not tiny cracks. ;) Bottom line, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. Assuming that it's just cosmetic and not affecting playability, then leave it alone... no instrument that actually gets used will remain blemish-free forever.