cruisinon2

Because they contain bug fixes. If none of the known issues have affected you however, then don't bother. Your choice...

Rolling back is no different than doing an update. Just select the firmware version you want from the list in L6 Updater, and install it... they're all there.

They can barely walk the masses through a firmware update on the two platforms that the whole planet uses (yes, I'm ignoring Linux ;) ), so I wouldn't hold my breath for mobile app connectivity anytime soon... too many different devices running too many OS versions. Customer service would spend every waking hour fielding "HX Edit app sucks! It doesn't work on the ancient phone I've been carrying around for 11 years!" complaints.

That's just how they work... in any new patch, when you set up your first snapshot, the remaining 7 snapshots will be identical by default, until you go into each one individually and make one or more changes. "If you select a snapshot that hasn’t yet been altered, it appears the same as the snapshot you came from. As soon as you alter a new snapshot (say, by enabling or bypassing an amp or effect block), the snapshot becomes "active" and remembers any changes." https://helixhelp.com/manuals/helix/snapshots.html#snapshots-block-bypass

I admit I only watched a couple of minutes of those videos, so perhaps I missed the groundbreaking part...but all I see is a pop star in an arena with some slick production, backup dancers, and an expensive light show. If he was blonde and disgusting, he'd be Madonna...;)

Hard truth time... most, if not all those who attempt a switch to modeling, but go into it half- heartedly, needing to be convinced that the technology is worthy, end up unhappy and going back to their amps. Why? Because they had already made up their minds before they whipped out the credit card, and all they were really interested in was validating preconceived notions. If you don't want to like something, you won't. Period. It's human nature... fight it if ya like, but it's a waste of time. Most of the questions you've asked are entirely subjective, and therefore essentially unanswerable. Getting any two guitar players to agree on what "good tone" means is nearly impossible. Nobody can tell you if the proposed assortment of gear will sound good to you when paired with Helix, because your definition of "good" is exactly that... yours. Maybe you'll like it, and maybe you won't. Buying and trying is the only way to find out. What I can tell you with 100% certainty is this: If you're expecting plug and play, instant gratification...Stop. Do not pass "Go". Do not collect $200. Be prepared to spend a considerable amount of time experimenting, and figuring out what works for you. But it absolutely will not happen just by turning the thing on. As for the aesthetics of the Powercab... if you're more concerned with what stuff looks like than what it sounds like, I don't know what to tell you. I haven't had a cabinet of any kind on stage for years at this point... but if I did decide to go that route again, I wouldn't care if the only cabs left in existence were hot pink with green polka dots... if it gives me the sound I want, then the job is done.

It's no different than using a guitar amp model into the FX return of a guitar amp... whether or not you'll like it is another question entirely, but that's what rehearsals are for. Try it out. Either way, the Helix neither knows nor cares what you're monitoring through. It'll either sound good or it won't. If not, turn knobs until it does, or try another configuration until you find something that works for you.

Why not?

Most of the stuff out there isn't gonna interest you if your looking for an ultra-modern body style. Almost everything I've seen are retrofitted Strat, Tele, or LP knock-offs, etc.

So in other words, when all is said and done, regardless of what some meter has told you (ahead of time and out of context), the final arbiter is your ears... ain't that something? ;)

Well there's little point in having a semantic argument about it, but you are changing things back and forth repeatedly... that's manipulation, any way you slice it. The underlying assumption is that the problem is related to a handful of corrupt patches that currently exist only on YOUR hardware. If that's the case, then unfortunately there's nothing for anyone else in the universe to address except you. You're asking people with no issues to voluntarily introduce a problem and screw up their units. Nobody sane is going to do that. I appreciate that you're having problems, and you have my sympathy... but you're spinning your wheels here. You could spend the rest of your life poking the bear and testing assumptions, and still never figure it out. Open a sport ticket and see if the tech guys can help you... that's what they're there for. L6 might want your corrupt patches to experiment with... but I seriously doubt your gonna find any other takers.

I applaud your tenacity, but I'm not sure what you think you're going to accomplish by repeatedly manipulating the firmware. The more you screw around with everything, the greater the likelihood that you'll introduce some other problem... sometimes patches get corrupted, it happens. If you've managed to figure out which ones, just get rid of them and let it go. Either way, I don't think you're gonna get any volunteers to load up the same patches that you've decided are torpedoing your hardware...

Interesting analysis... but whatever it is, I don't think it's either the old factory presets or templates themselves that are causing the problem. I don't even remember what firmware version I had when I first got my Helix, but I've still got whatever presets and templates came with it. Never touched any of them, and never bothered to load the new ones, with any of the updates I've done...so the ones I've got are well over 2 years old. I have had the occasional corrupted patch that just stopped working properly, for whatever reason... I'm guessing that's what happened in your case. You probably just had a handful that went on tilt. But in my case neither 2.8 nor 2.81 had any problem rebuilding factory patches that are older than dirt.

Go into your account profile and change the password...

If it sounded fine one day, and became boiled crap the next, you probably just have one or more settings out of whack somewhere. If if happened immediately following the update, then it's likely the result of all the global settings being reset to their defaults. Did you backup everything before the update? If you did, I'd start by restoring the backup and see if that helps. If you don't have a backup then you'll have to try and remember how you had everything set when it was sounding good.

Yeah, I don't get it. Everything about the hardware screams "old". I can't actually make out "NCC-1701" anywhere, but it would have fit right in on the bridge of the original Enterprise...;) Come to think of it... Shatner is a hilarious pitchman. The folks at Kemper should look into that, lol... it would be the best music gear ad campaign, ever. ;)

"What are you doing to my firmware, Dave?" ;)

A room temperature IQ...;)

Here's the problem: What your proposing is what's called an "observational study"... in short, a study where the researcher has no control over what the subjects actually do, and relies heavily (if not entirely) on self-reported data... which is about as reliable as your average campaign promise. Self-reported data is just shy of meaningless because almost no one gets it right, even if they're genuinely trying. The best example is asking people to estimate how much they drink. Since most folks don't keep a graduated cylinder on the bar next to their cocktail shaker, it's almost impossible to estimate accurately, and your typical boozer seriously underestimates their intake... but I digress. In this case, the self reported info in question is doubly useless because for some, true accuracy means admitting that they're an idiot. Nobody's gonna cop to not reading the instructions and screwing it up as a result, or that the computer they're using is a POS, loaded with malware and old enough to vote. The overwhelming majority will swear on a stack of bibles that they read every word and followed it to the letter, whether they did or not.

Oh goody! We haven't had one of these threads in at least 12 minutes...;)

Just makes sure you always have a few pipe cleaners handy in case the fetzer valve gets clogged... and a set of 5/8" ball bearings. Just try doing a firmware update with worn bearings... it'll never finish. ;)

Unfortunately it sounds like you've already done just about everything you can do on your own... open a support ticket, and perhaps there's something else that they can have you try.

Nothing wrong with that...I don't gig with anything that I haven't put through it's paces. But some guys seem to be paralyzed by the fear that they could have a problem, and that's just a little silly. It's not irreversible. Don't like it, go back. Done. A piano might fall on my head tomorrow. Odds are low, but there's remains some numerical probability. Doesn't mean I'm gonna refuse to go outside, though.

Why, exactly? Because you have issues with it, therefore the problems must be universal? There's no logic to that conclusion. Now I can only speak for myself, but what incentive would I have to lie? L6 isn't cutting me a check or giving me free $hit. And I'm not exactly what you'd call a "glass is half-full" kinda guy. I'm a realist, and have no interest in blowing sunshine up anybody's arse. If something sucks, I'm only too happy to point it out. But the truth is, no matter how unsettling it is when you're the one having problems, is that it's comparatively rare, and in no way representative of a majority of users. Companies that churn out useless crap that dies on everybody who buys one, don't stay in business very long. You can't conclude anything from your own personal sample size of one, nor from the fact that a handful of others show up here to complain... this is the Complaint Depot... where else are they gonna go? Most users though, don't come here at all, whether they're happy and trouble free, or not.

Just my 2 cents, but I think a little perspective might be in order. Nothing involved here is permanent. You're not donating a kidney... if you do the update and all hell breaks loose with the LA comp, roll it back to 2.71. Problem solved. The most "apocalyptic" result might be that you'll waste 40 minutes bouncing back and forth.