cruisinon2

What on earth are you talking about? The modeling is either engaged, or it isn't. If the modeling is off, then you're using the mags. It's one or the other...the only exception being a custom model that blends a chosen percentage of the mag pickup's output together with one of the models. If that's what you want, fine... but "100% mags" does not mean that the model's output is zero. It means the mag pickup's full output had been blended with whatever model you've selected. If you also set the model's output to zero, then all that's left is the mags...in which case there is no "custom" model anymore...you've effectively turned the modeling off. Why bother?

Might wanna just keep it...it's a more than able back up for Helix, and you'll be lucky to get half of what you paid for it, depending on what shape it's in.

Yup. It's WAY more trouble than it's worth. Anyone who's super picky about the neck dimensions should just get a JTV69 and swap it out with whatever Strat replacement floats their boat. The modeling is all the same anyway...

Makes two of us...and realistically, who has? The busiest, and most stylistically well-rounded full time pro would be hard pressed to use everything there is in this box. The attempt alone would be exhausting...

Nobody can answer this question for you. You're the only one who will hear the difference once you swap the pickups...some patches may require just a little adjustment, and others may have to be completely reworked. There are WAY too many variables for anyone here to guess, when all we know for certain is that you're replacing an unidentified single coil with an unidentified humbucker.

And what about summer NAMM? And next winter's, 6 months after that? The next "latest and greatest 'whatever' " is always just over the horizon at this point. Blink, and you'll miss it... and if it's not L6, it'll be somebody else. Technology is marching along at a ridiculous rate now. With this philosophy, you'll be in a constant state of waiting for the next "better" product. It's a great way to save money, but you'll never have anything either...

To the best of my knowledge, there is no "working with Warmoth" in that manner... they make the designs that they make, and they fit what they fit. I vaguely recall somewhere on their site a "will it fit my guitar?" section where they list some common models of various manufacturers, and give a rough idea of what will work and what won't. But I don't think they're gonna tool-up to make a neck with heel dimensions that aren't already on the menu. You can always ask of course...just don't get your hopes up.

If you want an iron-clad guarantee that a purchase will be worth something in the future, buy gold (or a brothel 😂). Sentimental value notwithstanding, pretty much everything else one can purchase will eventually be worth less than a warm cup of pi$$...if that's really what drives your decision making, you'd never buy anything.

I second this... My 500X served me well for almost 5 years, and remains my backup, but it was Helix's dynamics that stood out the most when I tried Native...that and how much easier it was to get a useable tone quickly. The POD was a struggle at first, and took quite a while for me to get it to bend to my will, as it were. If you ride the volume knob a lot, Helix models really clean up nicely without becoming anemic. The POD couldn't do that very well.

That's the best way to do it...and once it's done, it's done. Then, once you get familiar with the settings for your live tones, even if you build a new patch at home, you'll have at least a rough idea of what tweaks will be necessary to get that same patch ready for a gig. Just trial and error... heavy on the "error" at the beginning, lol.

No mocking intended at all...transitioning from amps to modelers can be tricky at first. We all went through it to some degree. Yes, I have 2 sets of patches. One for the studio monitors at home, and another for live use. When I was still using the 500X, I had a third set for use with headphones, as that unit sounded considerably different with my monitors vs. the cans. Despite using the same monitors and headphones, I find this to be much less of an issue with Helix...who knows why? Modeling is a strange world sometimes. Live I run straight to FOH, and I have an L2T I use as a floor monitor. Tweaking back and forth constantly would be a nightmare, and Helix has more than enough capacity to store 2 sets of patches. At this rate, I'll be taking a dirt nap long before I run out of space... As for tweaking on the fly, the global EQ is useful for that. Each room sounds a little different so it comes in handy, though I tend to use it sparingly. If you've got everything well balanced ahead of time, you generally won't need to make massive EQ changes at the gig. Just make sure that you build patches with the global EQ OFF...then it's there if/when you need it. 🤘

Indeed. It's one of those features that you don't "need" per se, until you try it...then you never wanna go back, lol. Same thing happened first time I got into a car with a heated stearing wheel on an 8° morning...best thing ever. 😨

What you're all describing is the alleged "ghost note" phenomenon familiar to those of us who play a Variax and use the alt tunings...and the diagnoses above are very likely correct. At low volumes, it's a whole lot easier to hear one's instrument acoustically than most people realize. The acoustic sound is easily ignored...at least until the pitch that's coming out of the speaker and the one ringing from the instrument itself are no longer the same. Dissonance is terrible, and chaos ensues 😉...the closer the interval, the worse it gets. Crank it up, problem solved.

Large volume differences are a problem whether the chosen monitoring method is FRFR or otherwise. It is a virtual certainty that you will find that patches you set up at comfy bedroom volume will sound SIGNIFICANTLY different at stage volume. The only way to avoid this is to tweak all your tones at, or at least reasonably close to the volume at which you intend to use them...otherwise you're likely to get to the gig and find that you've got booming low end, screechy highs, and mids that have flown south for the winter.

Doesn't matter how fancy modelers get... you can NEVER feed a power amp into anything but a cabinet or a load box. Unless of course the goal is testing your new fire extinguisher...

Which isn't unreasonable, just don't expect an answer in here. This is a user forum... while L6 staffers occasionally chime in, nobody "official" is actively monitoring every thread, and most of the time they don't participate in discussions. If you want an answer you'll have to contact them directly... especially for something sensitive like this.

Perceived volume is exactly that... perceived. Ears and a brain are all you need to level things out, and clearly you've got those. You seem to know your way around a Variax better than most. Measured amplitude doesn't help much. For any two frequencies at a given volume, one may SEEM louder than the other, regardless of what some meter is telling you. Raise or lower the volume significantly, and that relationship changes. The farther apart the frequencies in question are, the more likely this is to be the case. So if you're trying to balance the low E and high E strings for example, the meter might tell you that they're both 80 dB, but but one might still overpower the other...turn up a little from there, and the disparity will likely get worse. That being the case, what good is the number? Tweak at or close to the volume you're gonna play at, and you're off to the races.🤘 FWIW, on some models, I've got the low E and A strings as low as 50-60%... piezo outputs can vary a lot. Each guitar will be a bit different is this respect.

"There are no mistakes, only happy accidents." - Bob Ross. It's only a "bad idea" if it sounds like $hit. Otherwise, all you're doing is manipulating 1's and 0's...short of trying to feed your power amp into the Helix or using it for target practice, you can't damage anything. If it sounds good, it is good.

And we're back! Plink, plank...plunk. 😂

Don't get me wrong...I consider it borderline miraculous that I can own stuff this sophisticated, which continues to evolve into something more than it was the day I opened the box...and for free. But by the same token, I'm a realist. They're coy about release dates for a reason: Nothing's ready until it's ready, and with stuff this complicated, the 937th "oops" that nobody thought of has to be dealt with before it drops. The last time something was supposed to be released "sometime in the spring", everybody was frothing at the mouth when they were cleaning up after their 4th of July BBQ without new firmware... it'll get here when it gets here. Meanwhile, snapshots work just fine on the hardware. Suits me fine.

At present, no. Allegedly, some future version of Native will have snapshots. When is anybody's guess, and the few who know ain't talkin'. Hurry up and wait....

It's not even that. Everybody's got their own wish list, each with a different #1 at the top. Since it is inevitable that any one update will fail to satisfy these myriad fantasies simultaneously, it is likewise inevitable that some will choose to take their individual lack of fulfillment as a personal affront. Hence the periodic declarations of "The features I want are the most critical things in the history of guitar amplification, and I'm never buying Line 6 products again unless I get X,Y,and Z by noon, Thursday". Incidentally, this is also reason #653 on the "Why The Terrorists Hate Us" list. ðŸ˜

Are you sure you don't even wanna TRY half -a$$ing it just a little? It works for the gov't, and they've been in business for 240+ years...ðŸ˜

Unless you're John Cage...then you're a "visionary". 😂

Yup...I've got a Strat with Kinman pups with that option, and that's as close as you'll ever get to pulling off this sort of alchemy. It's another tool in the box and a useable sound, but it still leaves a bit to be desired, imho. In the end, a Mini Cooper is never gonna be an Abrams tank, and a single coil can't be EQed, or otherwise miracle'd into a humbucker...😉