cruisinon2

I went digital to get away from pedals...

Fair enough...I never use the amp+cab blocks anyway, and I learned long ago not to chase gremlins that won't affect me one way or the other.... there's only so many hours in the day.

Am I the only one who doesn't have the faintest idea what the gripe is?

Well the most obvious suggestion is to just keep doing everything the way you already are. Why stop? Just because you buy a hardware version, there's nothing compelling you to stop using Native for recording...and not to put too fine a point on it, but recording is what Native is for. The whole reason L6 sells Native for $99 to users who bought the hardware first, is so they can have the same ease of use for recording/re-amping that you already know and like. Tons of us do exactly that. If it ain't broke....

It is possible to use an external pedal/pre-amp/pre-amp section of a head or combo/etc in place of an amp model in Helix, and get your primary tone in that manner.....that's all I said. And plenty of guys do exactly that...but there is no option to add a separate modeled power amp after it, because there aren't any. If you are determined to use an external preamp, but you also can't leave behind the part of your sound that comes from a tube amp's power-section, then you have 2 options: 1)Use the 4 cable method, no cab sims from Helix, and the tube amp of your choice feeding a traditional passive speaker cabinet. In this case your Helix essentially becomes a very expensive multi-fx unit. or 2) Go straight into your amp, then into a load box to bring it's output back down to line level so that it can be safely fed into Helix, using either the native cab sims or 3rd party IR's for speaker emulation, and out to the FRFR output of your choice. I ran an HD500X for 5+ years before getting a Helix...and no, there are no stand alone power amp models in that unit, or anything else Line 6 has ever produced as far as I know. There are stand alone pre-amp models, or full amp models, which contain the both pre-amp and power amp....but you cannot isolate the power amp model by itself. No. Just as it was not possible to isolate only the modeled power amp from the rest of the amp model in the HD series units, it is not possible to do it with Helix either. Running a pre-amp straight into an interface sounds like $hit because there is no speaker emulation anywhere. It has absolutely nothing to do with the lack of a power amp, be it a real one, or the digital model thereof. You could run that ADA into a real tube power amp, then into a load box, and feed that into your interface, but without any cabinet sim plug-ins or IR's, that will sound like crap too.

Yup... but in the end, minus a diamond encrusted pick guard and solid 24k gold hardware, there's nothing that anyone can do to a Strat clone that'll make it worth $4K... even 2 grand is pushing it, imho. At some point all you're buying is a name.

Why are they asking an insane price? The only real answer is "because they can". It's right in line with what some much bigger guitar names want for their "custom" instruments. You can spend just as much and more for Fender and Gibson "custom shop" stuff... the question is, is it worth it? Imho, the answer is almost universally "no". I had a boutique guitar built in the late 90's... from a guy who most have never heard of, and for whom his craft is as much a labor of love as it is a livelihood. In today's dollars, I spent considerably more than what L6 wants for the USA JTV's, so I have no problem spending big dollars on an instrument, if I'm getting my money's worth. Its been my primary axe for 20 years, and I seriously doubt I'll ever own anything nicer. Bottom line, I'm well acquainted what that kind of money buys from a talented craftsman. However, what they're demanding (especially for the bolt-on models) is ludicrous...no matter who's name is on the headstock. Of course this is just one man's opinion...ymmv.

Because they're two of the company's "flagship" products, designed to work together. Plus, I'd guess that most of the Variax customer base was probably already familiar with amp modeling before they took the Variax plunge, so it makes sense to demo them with something the intended audience already knows. But regardless... With the exception of the acoustic models, which will sound like $hit through ANY traditional guitar amp (seriously, don't even bother... the most expensive, tubiest of tube amp on the planet, with a 1000 stomp box pedalboard won't help you. FRFR speaker(s) are non-negotiable if you actually want it to sound like an acoustic) it doesn't much matter what you're plugging into. The rest of models will be good representations of the guitars they're meant to emulate, regardless of your chosen amp. Functionally, the only difference a Helix makes is providing power to the guitar (all batteries suck), plus the ability to change models and tunings on the fly with a footswitch, as opposed to having to do it manually from the guitar...which is obviously easier said than done mid-song.

I'm just guessing, but I see two possibilities: 1) It's a "feature" that prevents you from blasting yourself into next week if the master volume inadvertantly gets cranked while the amp is turned off. or 2) You've got a busted unit. See if manual says anything regarding master volume function, and act accordingly... if not, then open a support ticket or take it back and get a new one.

Relative merits aside, asking in here is futile... nobody official ever visits. Gotta put requests in Idea Scale.

I'm gonna check the paperwork... think I may have married a pile of sand. ;)

Well "unavailable" and "discontinued" aren't the same thing. "Unavailable" could mean just about anything, from "we're waiting on a late shipment" to "we don't carry this item anymore"... either way, neither one means that production has ceased. Regardless, under no circumstances should you ever believe anything a retailer says... in a retail environment, truth is like kryptonite. ;)

This bears repeating... not everything requires a technical solution.

Actually, returning things to Sweetwater is almost easier than buying them...I had to return a recent purchase to them a just a couple of weeks ago. They had the replacement out the door the same day I contacted them, including with it a prepaid return label for the the busted item. Their customer service is excellent, and they're very responsive to issues with defective gear. As long as you're within their 30 day return period, you can return anything, for any reason, even if you just don't like the thing. It's why I buy almost everything from them at this point... and for the record, I have no affiliation with them whatsoever, just a happy customer.

In another month or so it'll have been 5 years since the last meaningful update.... they're clearly done developing this generation of Variax. Plus, this particular request ain't new... guys have been asking for it since day one. If they were at all inclined to do it, it would have happened loooooooooong ago, so don't hold your breath. However, If you need something to feel better about, there's still very little in the way of competition for the Variax, so I doubt they've abandoned guitar modeling altogether... they pretty much have the market cornered. It's likely that the next Variax iteration is on it's way in the not too distant future. When is anybody's guess of course, but when development of one platform grinds to a halt it usually means something else is poised to take its place.

I'm afraid you've have to get either better glasses or smaller feet...;)

Welcome to the wonderful world of "piezo plink". The are a thousand threads in here discussing this problem... including one rather infamous one that's endured for years. Bottom line is that some guitars suffer from this problem and others don't. And nobody, including L6, has ever been able to come up with a satisfactory explanation as to why... in fact, they formally declared in that other epic thread, that they're no longer devoting resources to figuring it out. You may be able to mitigate it somewhat with a good set-up, no fret buzz (really none...the typical amount of fret rattle that you'd never notice with mag pickups will stick out like a turd in a punchbowl with piezos), and dampening sympathetic vibration behind the nut, at the trem springs, etc... but don't expect miracles. If the guitar is new, the path of least resistance is returning it for another one.

I'm guessing that we've seen all the hardware versions we're gonna see. There are already got 5 in the Helix family.... go to the well too often, and eventually you pull up an empty bucket. They've carved up the platform and covered every base there is already. Releasing yet another iteration of the same device risks fragmenting the customer base and triggering buyer's remorse in those who've already purchased something else.

This thing was recently posted: https://black-raven-design.myshopify.com/?fbclid=IwAR3R--jOGQ41RNvNjbKhTxbW29w2pXN9ksL7obbCZ0e3FwQFgeheO0kODhM Looks nice, but it's absurdly overpriced, imho.

That's easily remedied with a 1/4 turn of the giant hex wrench that should have come with your Helix.

Well it might make us happy, but there's certainly nothing in it for them at this point...

I'm only guessing... but I suspect that it would depend on exactly what mic positions are acquired during the modeling process. I could be wrong, but I would assume that if they're not capturing off-axis mic positions, then the answer is probably "no", unless there's some way to interpolate...essentially "create" those off- axis positions from what they already have, with fancy math.

The only time it makes sense to use the global EQ for patch creation is if you intend to use exactly 1, DSP-heavy patch forever. Then by all means global EQ your brains out, and save an FX block for something else. Otherwise, you're shooting yourself in the foot.

I don't get it either. Forget the technical crap, which I freely admit sails right over my head anyway. We're dealing with perception, which is notoriously fickle, and constantly in flux for any of a thousand reasons. That alone precludes any magic "one size fits all" formula that'll guarantee any one particular result... All you can do is start with a clean slate and let your ears tell you what to boost or cut. There are a whole bunch of wildly different amp/cab models in this thing, each with their own default settings and inherent characteristics. Why would I ever assume that they all require the same baseline global EQ adjustments? It's not a stained tablecloth that we're pre-treating with "Shout"...Hell, you're lucky if you can take the same patch and use it in two different mixes without needing to fiddle with something.

Global anything is more trouble than it's worth... want proof? Look no further than the U.N. ;)