talonmm

Great point! Just skip right over it and move along to a topic of interest! Not just here at line 6's great forum, but it seems every forum on every subject from music, to sports, to what-ever-else, is filled with nasty argumentative chatter. No need for this.

I understand, thanks for pointing that out as I missed it the first time around. I know these discussions about future updates and their schedule get monotonous and out of hand, but somehow I do enjoy them. Kind of like when we were kids waiting for holiday presents.... Things leaking out in the past such as DT amp integrations and perhaps improved polyphonic abilities to come, keep things really interesting....

Before you and others jump on the op, we were told over and over again, that the new way of coding future Helix updates would really speed up future updates. I don't feel that a polite inquiry after five months (if it's really been that long) is out of line - especially given the announcement from line 6 about faster updates coming our way. Yes I know - we are not entitled to any updates ever again, yada yada yada; and many updates (and the news associated with them) is "Top-Secret" like area-51 stuff, but this discussion and question should not be mocked.

sounds like a great mod!

I totally agree, and was thrilled to pick one up with a broken reverb tank for very little money. It works great with pedals and a helix (and the helix can help with reverb now that my amp's reverb tank is broken) but when starting from scratch when creating a helix tone, and having tons of amps to choose from and tons of cabinets with celestrian speakers, I was surprised that the op choose a bandit IR.

I can't imagine a peavy bandit being the go-to choice for clean tones with so many other amps to choose from, but thanks for the ir library link. I purchased an old Bandit a couple of years back and use a clear tone and have my helix go right into the input jack on the front. It's not my favorite amp solution when using a helix, but it works well when I want to travel light.

I tried going this route several years ago and was surprised how poorly acoustic guitar amps worked. There are some good-to-great deals on used L2 and L3 stage source powered speakers out there - you will be much happier with a FRFR solution.

sorry, I truly had no idea

Glad to hear the bricks can be fixed without sending the units in for repair. I think sometimes the treads end (or start) when the unit is frozen and not responding to roll backs or additional attempts to update again. Thanks!

We see this differently. I meant if a gigging musician updated to 2.8 and he discovers like some did, that the la comp is causing loudness issues on his tones, he is going to have to upgrade asap to 2.81. Although you feel that dot releases are the ones we should update to with the least hesitation, there are some on this forum site that had their systems brick going from 2.8 to 2.81. So that's why I stated this thread asking if marginal updates are worth it to those of us who do not gig much with our helix. Then you ask why wouldn't I upgrade? I am just wondering if a possible bricked unit (yes I know the chances of this are low) and the headache of sending the machine in for repair are worth it? I'd like to hear what others think.

I don't care about this video or comparrision, but I'd like to just add that the EVH striped Helix cover is really cool!

Wait a minute - grand and a half for a unit with that screen??? Does it take floppy disks too?

I love the helix line - these free firware updates have been wonderful. With the updates, and the tone downloads available, my sound is getting better and better! With that said, I was quick to update to 2.8 and like most others, did not have an issue upgrading. But some did, and then when 2.81 came out, it seemed like it the new firware fixed some bugs, but not all; and perhaps added some new bugs too. For the first time, I was very hesitant about upgrading again to the latest firmware update (2.81). I have no upcoming gigs on the calendar, so if I discover a bug or a problem, it won't affect me much (playing out is another matter, and that's why I titled this thread with "hobbyists"). If I upgrade these small-incremental updates successfully (ie. going form 2.8 to 2.81, the improvement is marginal at best, and if I encounter a problem and my helix becomes a brick and unresponsive to rollbacks or repeated attempts to redo the upgrade, I have a headache that would probably require shipping the unit somewhere or driving 30 miles to a service center and who knows how long it will be out of commission. The good news is the chances that so many updates will work as they should is quite high. The bad news is that the downside of a failed update could be huge. And these secondary updates to fix some bugs are so marginal in improvements, I am wondering if it's worthwhile to keep up with the latest updates versus only doing them if my unit is affected with a bug. It seems like we're all playing Russian Roulette. One last thought: I believe as a frequent down-loader to the free helix tones, there's no need to jump from 2.8 to 2.81 - as the custom tones should all work with 2.8 and/or 2.81? Is that assumption correct? I'd like to hear from other "hobbyists" how they feel about this, since I totally understand the need to upgrade if you are a gigging musician with your Helix.

oh my - that lcd small screen reminds me of the days of the hd500 line!

I thought the integration was amazing, but I am far from a whiz with the DT amps and Helix. Are there issues or challenges with the integration of these two products that I and others might not be aware of?

I wish I could give you a specific link, but I don't have the time to search for it. Go to the variax section of the line 6 forums and search the first few pages (sorted by most recent). You are looking for a subject titled something like "plink" or "plinnking" or "low e string problems". The giveaway will be that there are many many more responses to that post than any others. That post was started a very long time ago. go to the last few pages of the post (the most recent activity) and you will see some specific mentions where the variax community either stated, or proved that Line 6 does not know how to fix the problem. If line 6 knows how to fix the problem, then why are so many people still unable to get their low e string to work after trying so many different remedies and replacement of parts?

My plank issue was with a JTF-89F guitar. Great guitar - I still can use it with the conventional pickups. I believe the plinking issue happens across most (if not all the newer models). Many have said some guitars never get the low e string plink, and some do, but no one is sure why. I have a friend that's a guitar tech and he tried to repair my variax (even getting parts from Line 6), to no avail. I have tried cleaning various things and put thicker strings (thicker strings worked for some). Nothing helped. Many other people found no fix and if you visit that part of the forum, it has been acknowledged that Line 6 has admitted they don't know how to fix this problem.

I don't want to appear too harsh on line 6. I love many of their products. Hopefully the people who have purchased amlifi amps have found a way to get them repaired. It's good to know Line 6 has not abandoned them. I had purchased a used HD50 2x12 amp and it never stopped working, but it turned out to have been built with one of those bad power supplies. Although used, Line 6 honored the original warranty and switched out the part(s) for no charge. No one is perfect and they have had some misses in their history and some big hits. I really like Line 6 company and many of their innovative products.

I agree. However, it was mentioned that line 6 is still promoting the ampli line. if you check out the amplifi area (an update has not been provided by line 6 in years, there have been posts that parts are not available for the amplifi models anymore, and there is no support for the models)... here is the link:

The Ampli Reading posts in the Amplifi area, it appears Line 6 has abandoned support and the amps they produced. There are some line 6 items like the amplifi amps, the g10 wireless (prior to the new g10s) that had design issues that were never corrected. On the variax front, some players found ways to fix their guitars, many didn't. and why would their style make the low e string not work, but allow the a string and the four others to work ok?

Line 6 certainly have had their successes - but also a lot of disasters (amplifi and Variax come to mind) I have a Variax with the dreaded low E plink string. I heard the helix firmware update gave some new options for Variax users. Has anyone been able to add volume to their low E string or change any parameters with the new firmware to improve this problem that Line 6 admitted they don't know how to fix?

I am such a novice with these things - I really just like "plug and play". But if you venture over to the helix forum and my original post, someone put a hx-edit screen shot of the new individual options you can make to your DT amp with the 2.8 update. I believe, the options you are looking for have just been added. The Pod hd 500 series sounded great with DT amps, but PDKTDK hit the nail on the head - Helix and dt amps are dream rigs, and I feel a substantially better sound than the jd 500 line. If you have a helix, get those used dt amps before demand (and prices) rise! If you have a dt amp and no helix, get one. PS - I also love the stomp, too bad the stomp does not have an l6 port!

I started a thread a few days ago on the forum area under the helix forum. My dt amp did not seem to be integrating well with the helix as it should have after the 2.8 update. Turns out I needed to purchase a special usb midi cable, and I probably was not using the correct L6 link cable (I probably just grabbed an xlr cable from my closet). Through various posts in that forum I corrected my errors and finally got my helix and dt amp to work. I was astonished last evening how great the dt amps I have sounded with the helix. Here is my post in the other forum. I wanted to come over to this forum area and share my experience, since I don't see much writing here about integrating the dt amps with the helix update: Here is what I wrote... My M audio cable finally arrived and worked like a charm! I actually have 3 dt amps - a dt25 1x12, a dt50 head, and a dt50 2x12 (all purchased used a few years ago, cheaply when the pods died out and demand was quite low for these amps). Much to my surprise 2 of the 3 had the latest update, the head did not. Monkey did a great job, although one time I had to reseed the usb plug in the computer to get Monkey and the amp communicating. All three amps sounded inedible. I want to stress that anyone who has not tried a dt amp with a helix will be blown away. I have not tried the new line 6 powered speakers, but the difference between the amps and my stagesource (also bought used) is night and day. There have been endless debates about amps in the room and powered speakers, but my helix never sounded better than last night with the dt amps! And man, no matter what tones I chose on the helix and sent to the amps, they sounded alive, magnificent, loud as hell, and definitely like a killer amp in the room. Yes, I was blown away. Looks like the helix and dt amps only work in channel A. Other than master volume on the amp, no other controls change the tone when using the L6 link cable directly from the helix to the amps (a good thing as the helix took full control and made everything sound superb). Thanks everyone for the advice and help!

My M audio cable finally arrived and worked like a charm! I actually have 3 dt amps - a dt25 1x12, a dt50 head, and a dt50 2x12 (all purchased used a few years ago, cheaply when the pods died out and demand was quite low for these amps). Much to my surprise 2 of the 3 had the latest update, the head did not. Monkey did a great job, although one time I had to reseed the usb plug in the computer to get Monkey and the amp communicating. All three amps sounded incredible. I want to stress that anyone who has not tried a dt amp with a helix will be blown away. I have not tried the new line 6 powered speakers, but the difference between the amps and my stagesource (also bought used) is night and day. There have been endless debates about amps in the room and powered speakers, but my helix never sounded better than last night with the dt amps! And man, no matter what tones I chose on the helix and sent to the amps, they sounded alive, magnificent, loud as hell, and definitely like a killer amp in the room. Yes, I was blown away. Looks like the helix and dt amps only work in channel A. Other than master volume on the amp, no other controls change the tone when using the L6 link cable directly from the helix to the amps (a good thing as the helix took full control and made everything sound superb). Thanks everyone for the advice and help!

thanks everyone, can't wait for my cable to arrive!!!!