cruisinon2

Any minute now. Or not.

I get that. But in the interest of using the one input that we all know is appropriate to the task and eliminating all the guesswork, I'd still use the guitar in regardless...one "messy" cable and all...'cause that's what the signal is.

The ancient discussion above notwithstanding...the wireless is feeding a guitar signal. In a million years, it would never have occurred to me to stick it anywhere but the "guitar in" on Helix...and the mic input is probably expecting a much lower signal level. But if it works, it works. Ymmv...

"Where is the rest of this moose?"

I could, yes...but the less I manipulate the device, the fewer chances there are for something to go wrong. It'll get updated eventually, I'm just not in any particular hurry. To each their own...

After the Nth time of tweaking various things, then neglecting to save before turning everything off, now I automatically save whatever patch I was using and create a backup before powering down. Saves me from pulling the last 3 hairs out of my head. Besides, I'll be doing the same thing I've done with every other firmware release... letting the early adopters be the canary in the coal mine. I always wait to see how much and what variety of "this sucks" chatter there is in the immediate aftermath of the release...then I'll decide whether or not the inevitable "oops we didn't notice that" bug is annoying enough to justify sticking with the status quo for a while.

Leaving a 1/4" cable plugged in will drain it, the VDI won't.... though it will drain gradually over time whether you use it or not, like any similar rechargeable battery. You didn't mention when it was last charged...if it was fully charged one day and dead the next, and you were not issuing the 1/4" out at all, then the battery itself is toast.

Have you ever had any other 1/4" plug just fall out? As long as the clip inside the jack isn't ancient and worn out, it's not going anywhere. There's some anecdotal evidence over on the Relay forum about issues with one particular kind of bass (I think) that has a weird, non-standard jack... but that aside, I seriously doubt you'll have a problem.

It's a computer. Computers do weird $hit. Worry about if/when it keeps happening.

You should be able to set different models to snapshots. I do it all the time... you assign the Variax model to a snapshot the same way you would any other amp or effect parameter. Make sure the white brackets appear around the Variax model, either in HX Edit or on the Helix itself. However, if you have snapshots set to "recall", and you manually change the model from the guitar, then that's the model the selected snapshot will remember... perhaps that's what is screwing you up. You can turn the "recall" function off in global settings if you want.

Lmao...

Buying 3 different units at the same time, knowing full well that you're gonna return 2 of them, would be "taking advantage" of a return policy. But buying one thing, and taking the time to make sure you haven't wasted $1600 is not. If those policies were putting retailers out of business, they wouldn't exist. At one point they let you download a trial version of Helix Native... don't know if they're still doing that or not. You wouldn't have the hardware obviously, but functionally the software is essentially identical.

If we could harness the mental energy expended guessing when the stupid firmware will be released, nobody would ever need to buy a tank of gas again...;)

Try here: https://www.fullcompass.com/

Yup... Collectors buy rare, pricey instruments as "investments"... and virtually nothing that's factory produced will ever be worth more than two wet farts unless it was owned by somebody famous. Musicians play... and they want a functional instrument that meets their needs, and that satisfies whatever their definition of "sounds good", is. I've never met a working musician who's concerned over the potential resale value of anything they use. They're tools. When the band saw or impact wrench craps out, you get a new one. Looking for an ironclad "investment"?... buy gold or real estate. Everything else in life is a consumable expense.

Wireless units either work, or they don't... and there won't be a "best" one to use with any particular modeler or guitar. There only two real considerations: 1) Are you playing Giants Stadium? and 2) Active pickups, which can cause problems with some wireless units... or so I've read, anyway. Assuming that the answer to #1 is "no" and your not playing on 200' stages, then range and line-of-sight isn't much of an issue. In that case, something like the Relay G10S works great, and there's no giant battery pack to attach to yourself or guitar strap. I use in-ears live, so I've already got one of those... didn't want two. Can't help you much with the active pickups issue, as I don't have any... so it's never come up.

You mention wanting to go amp-less... but there's nothing amp-less about your proposed rig. If you like the Mesa and want to continue to use it, then the HX FX makes more sense, and will give you a few more footswitch options than the Stomp.

To a point, yes... but like all tech-heavy products, eventually it reaches EOL, and then you're SOL. ;)

These guitars get weird, and can behave in all sorts of strange ways. You can guess all day long, but without an actual diagnosis as to what's causing the problem, the only real option you have is to try re-flashing the firmware. Sometimes it helps, sometimes not... if the issue persists, then you may have a hardware problem... one or more switches, the main board, etc. In that case, you'll need to open a service ticket. Try the firmware first though...it might not help, but it's extraordinarily unlikely that it'll make things any worse.

Sure... but it'll cost ya your first born and a kidney. ;)

Don't hold your breath. There is such a thing as having too many irons in the fire. They've already got 5 hardware products... Helix floor, LT, rack, Stomp, HX FX...6 if you include the floorboard for the rack unit. If you keep cranking out slightly different versions, eventually you start inflicting option paralysis on your customers. Nobody needs a Helix with 11 1/2 footswitches, a breakfast nook, and a fire escape...;)

Well, you know what they say. Wish in one hand....;)

Will the soiled pants be available in Marketplace?....;)

Some amps disable the master volume control when the FX return is in use, but there's nothing plugged into the front end, or coming out of the FX send. Many moons ago I had an old Peavey Bandit which worked like that. If that's the case, there's nothing you can do about it, and the Stomp's master volume is it... if you're running out of headroom that way, you'll have to boost your levels at the output block.

Retailers pick and choose what they carry... usually with little rhyme nor reason. If an item doesn't sell well enogh to satisfy the bean counters, then guess what? They'll stop keeping that thing in stock. It's not supernatural.... but it's not an indication that the item in question has ceased to exist anywhere else on earth.