cruisinon2

Lol, doesn't matter. Welcome to instant gratification land. MORE, MORE, MORE!!! And make it snappy...;)

Everybody else beat me to it, but yes you should be able to get some nice acoustic patches set up with Helix. Just check out the resources noted above. You're right though...you're not the target demographic. Same was true of the POD HD series. It took years for L6 to include an acoustic amp model...only arrived in the model packs released last year. And imho, it's not a very good one. I get better results without it.

Me too. All good! And you're right, of course there's industry press, and it does matter. I was just amused at the thought of a media horde descending on Calabasas, camping out in the L6 parking lot, and chanting "Where's My Helix? !?!". I could see that appearing in "The Onion", lol... Move along folks, nothing to see here...;)

Just as I can do nothing more than roll my eyes at those who apparently have no sense of humor whatsoever, and are completely incapable of recognizing sarcasm when they see it...even when accompanied by a little smiley face. But fear not, you have put me squarely in my place...I humbly concede defeat.

The press? Lol...sorry, but this isn't exactly the kind of story that Inside Edition salavates over. "Guitar amp modelling pioneers Line6 having supply issues with their latest gadget. Cranky, tech-obsessed musicians pitch a fit. Film at 11..." ;)

Yeah, I don't get it. Nothing is that good. Waiting months on end, only to be told repeatedly, "Sorry, maybe next month", is ridiculous. Life is short. When I stroll into ManiacalRiffs, Inc and there are a stack of 6 of them in a corner, that's when I'll pick one up...98 seconds for them to ring it up, and off I'll go.

Don't give the gov't any ideas....;)

Regardless of what is or isn't coming down the pike, there is one thing we can count on: No one is going to tell us anything until the press release...no matter how nicely, or how many times the question is asked. You'd have better luck calling Buckingham Palace and asking for the Queen's bra size....

Lol...

I'm fortunate to have been spared the plink issue, despite using a lot of high-gain tones...I just sweat battery acid ;), so I'd go through a set of strings in a week, sometimes less. That's why I made the switch. Tone-wise, I can't say that I noticed much of a difference...then again, I've said the same thing about different string brands for 25 years. Gauge absolutely makes a difference, and some sets have a slightly different tactile feel to them. But otherwise, unless we're talking round-wound vs. flat-wound or half-round strings, I'd say there's very little tonal difference from one brand to another. Subtle at best, if there's any difference at all. Just my 2 cents.

I use Elixirs on all my guitars...I was hesitant at first, mostly because of the price, but if you buy 12+ sets at a time (I get them from Sweetwater), you can get the price down to somewhere between $8-$9 a set. And you're right, they do last a good long time...it's one of the few instances where an advertising blurb actually turns out to be the truth. "Lasts 4x-5x longer than regular strings"...I find that to be pretty accurate. They're worth if for that alone. I hate changing strings ;).

Try a different browser...I've had similar issues with other websites a bunch of times. Using a different browser often solves it...not always, but it's worth a shot.

I'm 42...I figure they'll be readily available by the time I start collecting social security. Then I'll get in line...;)

Don't do that under any circumstances. You'll destroy your Helix. Power amps are for driving speakers, nothing else. They're always the last thing in the chain before the speakers...anywhere else and you'll be calling the fire department...;)

I was hoping for similar results from that ART preamp. I'm using it with a 500X, as I'm presently Helix-less...but no matter where I place it in the chain, I can't get it to sound like anything but a red-lined compressor. Even backing off on the amp's gain and killing whatever distortion box I have in a particular patch, doesn't seem to matter. How are you setting yours up?

Yup. This particular bit of perceived wisdom makes sense on paper, but depending on the combination of guitar/amp/mic models, and the other pieces of gear in question, it turns out to be far from universal truth. I've always run full models, even into a power amp and traditional guitar cab.

You think the initial roll out was only 1000 units? For the sake of the company that we've all patronized repeatedly, I hope it was a hell of a lot more than that...

You lost me at "subsonic filters", but it looks great, and if it works, it works!

Forget gigging...I didn't even take my 500X to rehearsal until I had messed around with it extensively for a solid month after I got it. Takes a while to get comfy with this thing, and it wasn't my first modeler.

Well my 2 cents is just a few posts north of this one, but anything that's billed as "studio" or "studio monitor" headphones should give you a reasonably flat response. Just stay away from anything that says "Dr. Dre" on it, and you should be fine...;)

It's all relative of course, but I've always found the opposite to be the case. Even though it's not the "right" way to do it, I could never get the tones I'm after without running full amp and cab models with the500X, (even before my current FRFR rig), when I was still using a power amp and cabinet. Clean sounds would be OK, but with any kind of distortion, everything always sounded like a buzz saw. I suspect that I'll find the Helix to be the same whenever I get around to upgrading.

I've been using AKG 240S for years. They call them "semi-open back"...it's a fine line I guess. In appearance anyway, they're not drastically different from their "full open back" cans. I've used both, and don't know if I'd notice a difference blindfolded. Closed back I don't like, as most of them seem to accentuate the bottom a end too much, which isn't very helpful for patch creation. Anyway, I love them. I only notice subtle differences in tone between these and what the patches sounds like through my L2T, so they're quite useful for tweaking stuff late at night. They're usually in the neighborhood of $100, and the cord is replaceable which is nice, as that's usually what gets destroyed first, long before the cones themselves would go.

Fine, I'm daft. You win.

That's nice, but irrelevant. And it doesn't negate anything I said. Apples and eggplants are "wildly different" too...you could be deaf and blind and still easily tell the difference, but they're both fruits. JTVs, Helix, and PODS are all modelers, they all have updatable firmware, and they all suffer from difficulties installing said firmware. This too, is obvious. It's not a condemnation, it doesn't mean I don't like the products, and I don't necessarily think that it's anyone's "fault". It's simply a statement of fact based on my own personal experience.

Because traditionalists and purists whine about everything new or different. It's their default response. Change is scary...;)