cruisinon2

This is among the weirdest threads I've seen on here in years... lol

Every time you change the output device, your tone will change... sometimes a lot, sometimes a little. Headphones and studio monitors are two entirely different listening experiences. One has a complete lack of natural room reflections, and the other is well, a room, lol... and the inherent characteristics of that room will have a huge impact on the sound you get from any pair of monitors. Take the same monitors and stick them in: A) A room that's been acoustically treated specifically to serve as a studio... and B) Your home office with wall to wall carpet and a big fluffy couch. The first scenario will likely sound pretty good... and the latter is where trebel goes to die. Same speakers, entirely different results. The moral of the story is this: you have to tweak your tones based on how, where, and at what volume you intend to use them. And you can't really expect tones created for one scenario to be usable in another without (sometimes significant) adjustments... and unfortunately for us all, there are no magic "if you want this, do that" settings to employ. You gotta do the grunt work yourself... because what works for me might not work for you.

Has anyone gotten good results? Yes... the proof is everywhere, as you've already discovered trolling youtube. However, as with any piece of gear... and modelers especially... the results are entirely subjective. You'll either get along with Helix, or you won't... and there's exactly one way to find out. Mostly it boils down managing expectations and having patience. A "plug and play device" it's not. If you go into it expecting to be up and running and thoroughly satisfied 5 minutes after you open the box, you will probably end up frustrated and disappointed. But if you're willing to put the time in, then it's very likely that you'll figure out how to produce the tones you want...but it will take time.

The only people who actually know the answer to your question ain't talking... they never do. L6 never announces anything until it's release is imminent. That's just the way they operate. You'll find out the same way the rest of us will...when you read the press release.

Listen to Here Goes Nuthin' by cruisinon2 on #SoundCloud https://on.soundcloud.com/uJqJT Listen to This Really Needs A Title by cruisinon2 on #SoundCloud https://on.soundcloud.com/VoDRD These are several years old at this point, so I'd be lying if I said that I remembered which patches I used for these tracks... but it's all Helix. It's a safe bet that there's no Vox models, though... I'm not a fan. Any clean stuff in there is probably one of the Fender models, but with God knows what 3rd party IR's. I wasn't using much of the Helix cabs at the time.

I'm the Eastern seaboard... what a view!

Generally speaking when you're trying to match a particular tone, start with whatever amp model Helix has that's closest to whatever "real" amp was used on the original recording. This isn't a magic formula though, and certainly not the only way to achieve a given result... in my experience, playing around with mic choice and placement and EQ can be just as useful, if not more so, than tinkering with a dozen different amp models trying to find the "right" one.

Based on your description, I'd say that your unit is suffering from a condition typically referred to as "busted"...;) When complicated devices like this go off the reservation the way you've described, there's rarely anything that Joe Average end user can do about it. You could try a factory reset, but based on the degree of clusterf*uckage you've detailed, I doubt it'll do any good. Time to open a service ticket.

Looks like you've got a bad Fetzer valve...;)

I'd like to nominate this for "Oddest Request Ever"...by default the tuner is already available at any time via it's own dedicated footswitch. Chewing up a block and limited DSP in every patch just so you can look down and "see" the tuner as you would amidst a bunch of other stomp boxes, is pointless.

This...and I'll go a step further. Having had experience with a variety of modelers for well over 20 years, and having used them pretty much exclusively for at least 10 years now, I can confidently say that there does not exist anywhere on this planet a "plug and play" modeler that one can turn on, set all the knobs at 12 o'clock, and POOF! you have instantly useable tone. They're NOT guitar amps. They're never going to be guitar amps. The tweaking stage is unavoidable. On the bright side, a good modeler can create any tone your mind/ear can conjure, once you know what you're doing... can't stress that enough. There WILL be a learning curve. But if you go into it thinking that you'll be up and running, thoroughly satisfied with your sound 5 minutes after you open the box, you are setting yourself up for a great deal of disappointment, frustration, and buyer's remorse. If you don't like fixing oil leaks, don't buy a Harley, lol.

Guitar signal is "instrument" level.

What kind of reaction do you want? All we have here are some anonymous and grandiose claims, from a guy who stops by with one or two drive-by posts every 3 or 4 months. On any given day, if you poke around enough forums you'll find some psych ward escapee claiming to be Jesus...but for obvious reasons, there's not much point in getting excited about that either. I'll save the cartwheels for the day a functional product actually exists, lol.

And all this time he's wondering why nobody gives a $hit... lol

Maybe I'm crazy, but I'd bet money that the Helix was first rolled out in 2015... ~8 years back, tops. I'm not even sure the HD500 existed 15 years ago, never mind Helix. Am I nuts?

Amen to that, lol...

You'll find a pearl in a pig's ear before you'd get a response from anyone who actually knows the truth... but given that there hasn't been a firmware update of any significance for what is rapidly approaching a decade, it's not hard to guess. While they may not have been officially "discontinued", they're certainly not a priority. They were a niche product to begin with, that simply never caught on with the vast majority of the guitar playing world... ask any 10 guitarists, and 8 of them won't even know that they exist. The fact that you can't find them anywhere should be your first clue.... if they're still making them at all, it's obviously the occasional small batch. It is what it is...

THIS... If wasted time took up physical space, then Customtone would be the world's biggest landfill. It's a nice idea that is entirely unworkable in the real world, as the list of variables that contribute to one's tone is of Biblical length, and when the only common denominator is a bunch of 1's and 0's of Helix code, tonal continuity from one person to the next is essentially impossible. You'll grow old and die before you find anything in there that you don't have to tweak extensively to your liking...might as well just do it yourself from the jump, and save yourself the aggravation.

1) No... the Standard is just a Yamaha Pacifica with Variax guts. The 69 is actually a pretty decent Strat knock-off. I quite like the sound of the single coils, when the modeling isn't necessary. 2) Yup... if the electronics crap out on you, there's little to nothing that you'll be able to do on your end. Beyond that, it's a solid body electric guitar...the mag pickups should work forever. 3) You're the only one who knows exactly what you want. My advice is don't settle... life only happens once. Assuming that you can afford it, get what you actually want/need, not what would merely "suffice".

Use whatever twirls your beenie... if you want to be a tube amp and stomp box purist, and go back to dragging 200 lbs of gear to a gig...then have at it. There will always be those who can't get past the lack of the "amp in the room" component. So be it... And yes, obsessively tweaking your sound(s) is an easy rabbit hole to fall into... but it's also easy to climb back out. Just stop doing it. Dial in the sounds you actuality need for whatever it is that you do, then hit "save" and walk away. If you wouldn't sit and fiddle with an analog rig for 37 hours straight trying to get everything "just right", then there's no need to do it with a modeler...ANY modeler. All the knobs are pretty much the same... the only difference is whether or not everything is crammed into the same box. Yes there's a learning curve at the beginning...but you only have to suffer through that once. Any time wasted after that is on you.

To each their own, I suppose...and as grateful as I am for the tech that we all currently enjoy, the last thing I need is another tweaking rabbit hole. Once it starts to feel more like a science experiment than making music, I'd rather have gum surgery. Maybe it's me...

Wow... unfortunately you'll never be able to prove it one way or the other, but it does give one pause. I object to Alexa and the like on other grounds, anyway...I refuse to have a internet connected listening device in my home. The powers that be will have to work a little harder to spy on me, should they so choose....I sure as $hit won't do it for them.

This request will languish in here forever, mostly unseen... took me nearly a month to notice it. Post it in the Catalyst forum if you actually want any eyeballs to chance upon it.

And that's just what the devices are doing to themselves, lol...can't wait till somebody establishes a provable link between all this close-range, 24/7 EM exposure and some exotic cancer, or other weird ailment(s). We were built to be wearing a loincloth, and chasing wildebeest across the Serengeti...there's no way any of this crap is good for us, but I digress. On the bright side all the Telecoms will eventually go the way of Big Tobacco, once the lawsuits begin...hope I last long enough to see it, lol.

Planned obsolescence is nothing new. That being said, in order for this to be a viable conspiracy, the manufacturer would have had to either: A )Have some way of remotely sabotaging existing units in the wild, or B) Built a Mission Impossible-style self-destruct circuit into your device, working on a timer and conveniently bursting into flames just prior to releasing the new product. I don't think either scenario is terribly likely...which leaves us with coincidence. When you hear hoof beats, think "horse"...zebras are in short supply around here.