edstar1960

Thanks very much datacommando - I will try those actions.

I am a new HELIX LT owner, but long time Line 6 user with Variax, POD HD500X etc. Got the HELIX LT this weekend and have switched it on and tried out the factory loaded sounds. I have also connected to my PC and upgraded the firmware to the latest 2.82. Tonight I decided it was about time I learnt how to build a preset from scatch. Chose USER 1 setlist and 01A New Preset. The screen very helpfully tells me to "Press joystick to open model list" However, when I press the joystick, nothing happens. Is my brand new HELIX LT broken - or am I doing something wrong? Many thanks in advance for your help.

Thanks psarkissian. I haven't changed the bridge pickup height or changed the strings and it wasn't a major issue before - maybe a slight metallic overtone but not too much. When I noticed it had got more prominent, I fiddled with the top 3 strings, detuning them so they were slack and then wiggling them around in the saddle groove and then retuning to pitch and it definitely made the problem far worse, as if I had dislodged the strings from their worn in groove and now they won't slot back in that groove. I will give the Iospropyl and cotton swab a try to see if it makes any difference.

Yes - if I wiggle the top 3 strings across the piezo saddles I can feel them pinging in and out of a tiny groove but it's almost imperceptible to see it. Can I use something to smooth each of the saddles out?

It's the same sound that can be caused by a string not being snug at the nut slot, often with the 3rd string, it can just be a bit loose in the nut slot and rattle when played open, causing the ringing and overtones, it can also be caused by the nut slot being a ting bit too deep or the action a tiny bit too low causing the string to hit the frets in front of the fretted note, and it can be caused by a string loose in the saddle slot allowing movement when it's struck, and finally it can be caused by the strings between the nut and the tuners, or the strings behind the saddle and before the stop bar. My JTV59 originally didn't have this problem - so I don't think it's a problem with the nut slot or action or the strings between the nut and the tuners. However, it started to appear as a metallic overtone most noticeable when playing a Variax model so I originally thought that was down to the saddles moving around in their slots in the bridge and I managed to temper that by using insulation tape on the string tails and then adding a bit of shrink wrap to minimize any extraneous vibration behind the saddles. But that metallic clanging has morphed into the overtones ringing on the top 3 strings to a point where they cannot be ignored as they are almost as loud as the note being played. The only thing left to check out seems to be the ting groove that the strings have cut themselves in the piezo saddles, or the tiny groove in the saddle housing that they pass through after the saddle, or the height of the string as it passes the front of the bridge just before the bridge pickup. I don't think there is enough movement in the string at the last two points to hit the side of the groove or the top of the front of the bridge, however, I think the tiny groove on top of the piezo could allow the string to rattle around right on top of the saddle and cause the metallic ringing overtones on those 3 unwound strings. But the million dollar question is how to fix it?

No - it's not - it is happening all the time in standard tuning, with the mags or with the models. When playing the guitar acoustically I can just about detect it but it's negligible - however, amplified via the mags or the piezo's it is over powering on the 3rd, very noticeable on the 2nd and noticeable on the 1st.

My JTV 59 has started playing really pronounced ghost notes over the 3rd string, when it's open or when I fret anywhere along it, it does a very similar thing for the 2nd string but not so pronounced, and again for the 1st string but again less pronounced. Each of these strings appear to have made a tiny groove for themselves in the piezo saddles and I am wondering if it's these grooves that are causing the ghost notes ringing out? If I rest my palm in front of the saddles and partially mute the strings when I play then I can significantly reduce the sound of the ghost ringing notes but not completely eliminate them. If I play the guitar without amplifying it then I hardly notice any ghost notes or ringing on these strings, but through an amp or an HD500X or HELIX LT, the ghost note ringing really stand out and ruins the overall sound. Has anyone else had this problem? And if so, has anyone found a way to fix it? It's currently making my JTV 59 unusable for gigs or recordings or playing through any type of amp - it's only bearable using it unplugged. :(

I have an original Variax 700 but I also have a JTV59 and a JTV69 which are my main workhorse guitars. Thanks for highlighting this issue though, as I wasn’t aware there were issues with Helix and older Variax models.

Thanks for the advice codamedia and foxmeister. I am leaning towards getting a Helix LT as Helix Floor provides way more functionality then I will ever need, so although it would be great to have, I can't justify the extra expense. Even a used Helix Floor costs more than a new Helix LT over here. :)

Thanks for the reply bluebirdrad. I am thinking of using the HX stomp connected to my HD500X. That way I keep the Variax functionality of the HD500X which I need, also get to keep the expression pedal, plus have a mic input, and have more foot switch options plus have access to the all the HX level amps, cabs and effects. Just wondered if anyone else has tried this and if so was it easy to set up, were the end results worth the effort, and are there any gotchas to be aware of? Thanks in advance for replies.

Just wondering if anyone has actually tried using the HX STOMP with the HD500X? And if so, was it easy enough to set up? Were the results good? Any problems or gotchas that we need to be aware of? Thanks in advance.

I plugged the external cab and the internal speaker into the pair of outputs labelled for " a pair of 8ohm speakers" on the back of the DT25.

Thank you for your answer psarkissian. Always very helpful, useful and interesting. Last night at band rehearsal I tried out the DT25 with an external Marshall 1922 cab - using the mono input at 8ohms - in conjunction with the onboard 8ohms speaker - and it sounds a new level of awesome! Wish I had thought of using it with the external cab ages ago! I was keeping up with the other guitarist who has a Marshal TSL 60 Watt amp, with 2x12, plus a 2x12 extension cab. My little DT25 with it's 1x12, plus a 2x12 extension, running the Marshall models, sounded almost identical to his. :)

Thanks psarkissian. Any idea why it was shipped with the speaker plug in the 16ohm output?

I just noticed that my DT25 combo has the onboard speaker plugged into the 16ohm output labelled C. It has been like this since NEW. However, on the back of the speaker I can clearly see it states 8 ohms. Which speaker output should the onboard speaker be plugged into? Should it be plugged into one of the 8 ohm outputs labelled B? Also - will having the speaker plugged into the 16ohm output when it is in fact an 8 ohm output damage either the speaker or the amp?

It is always worth backing up your patches and doing a factory reset as the first course of action to resolve a problem. Just guessing here but your problem could be caused by the D switch being permanently engaged - maybe the spring has become compressed and so it never disengages? I have seen posts on here describing how to disassemble the HD500 and to service the switches - so if yours is out of warranty and if the factory reset doesn't help - then perhaps you can look at the switches yourself. If none of that helps then contact raise a ticket with Line 6 and ask them for assistance - and if it's under warranty then definitely try this option if the factory reset doesn't resolve the issue. Good luck.

I guess it all depends on exactly how you have wired things up. For example I have a Sessionette 75 with an fx loop, and I can run the output of my HD500 into the RETURN of the fx loop and it bypasses all the tone and volume controls on the amp - instead I have to control the amp volume from the MASTER volume knob on the HD500. But I can also wire it up so I use the pre-amp controls by going from HD500 FX SEND to AMP INPUT then AMP FX SEND to HD500 FX RETURN then HD500 1/4 out to AMP FX RETURN. In this way, all the amp controls take effect. I think you should be able to set things up so you can use the volume and drive knobs on the DeVille - but I don't own one so I can't check out the correct set up. First try the wiring set up I have described for my Sessionette and see if that solves it for you. If not, report back with how you have things wired up and what results you get and we will try to help you out.

Are you using the fx loop out of the HD500 or the 1/4 outputs or both in your cabling? Both the fx loop and the 1/4 inch outputs can be set to two different levels. The fx loop can be set to STOMP or LINE (see small switch on back of unit). The STOMP setting gives a lower instrument level signal. The LINE will give a much louder signal. the 1/4 inch outs can be set to INST or LINE (see small switch on top of unit next to expression pedal). The INST setting gives a lower instrument level signal. The LINE will give a much louder signal. I am guessing that you are using the LINE level setting and are overdriving the input to your DeVille's fx loop - so use STOMP and INST instead.

This was a problem with the first versions of the JTV59 - caused by a poor switch design - they swapped all the switches out for a new improved design. It could very well be a short on the switch on your JTV69S - causing the guitar to continually cycle through models. Raise a ticket with Line 6 and get it sent back to be fixed.

Info posted here: http://line6.com/data/6/0a06439c1352b56c66c5bc03de/application/pdf/ The JTV59 scale length is 24 9/16 " and nut width is 1 11/16" - and I think it has different pickups than the 69. The JTV59 neck profile is very similar to a standard LP neck - maybe a tad chunkier - but not much in it. My main guitar is a JTV59 and I have a JTV69 as my backup.

I think your best bet is the 1/4 to EV and EV out/thru to PA/FOH.

As well as consider the Behringer Tube Ultragain Mic 100 to use as a pre-amp for the XLR signal, you can also consider using a Palmer PAN 01 DI box (or similar) - any DI box with a PAD or ATTENTIATION feature. This would allow you to take the 1/4 inch output signal, attenuate it by -30db to send to the FOH PA via the balanced XLR out from the DI box, and then take the LINK THRU 1/4 inch output from the DI box on to your EV speaker. So the 1/4 inch POD output can feed the FOH and the EV speaker at the same time.

Another option is to take the XLR output and run it through a Behringer Tube Ultragain Mic 100 pre-amp which will give you all the signal boost you need. It doubles as a DI box, not very big, not heavy, has it's own power supply. Again - there may be another equivalent that will work - essentially you just need a very small pre-amp to boost that mic level XLR output to LINE level signal strength and then feed that to your EV powered speaker.

As I mentioned above, you can boost the signal yourself by feeding it into a small mixer such as the Behringer Xenyx 802, you may be able to find a smaller cheaper unit, - but that will give you the ability to boost the mic level output signal up to suitable volume to drive your EV speaker. It won't cost much to get such a small portable mixer and it fixes the problem for you.

You can use an XLR 2-1 adapter or XLR Y cable to take both XLR L+R outputs and merge them into one signal - however - it is not a good idea to do this - there are very good technical reasons why but I can't find the links or references at the moment. If you want to merge two XLR signals into one it is best and safest to use a mini mixer liker a behringer xenyx 802 to mix the signals into one output, and it also has pre-amps on the mic channels which can be used to boost the mic input signals. The HD500 XLR outs are mic level - so they are very weak (quiet) and designed to go into a mixing desk channel that has a pre-amp (eg: mic input channel) which is used to boost the signal up to the required levels. The HD500 1/4 inch outs are LINE level - so they are very strong (loud) and designed to go into a desk channel without a pre-amp or a directly into a power amp or a powered speaker. You can set the HD500 to pan everything (both Path A and Path B ...) on to the L channel, you can also use the mixer block to add +12 db to the output, and that should give the L side XLR mic signal a lot more strength BUT it will still not be as loud as the signal you will get from the HD500 L side 1/4 inch output. I think default mic level signal strength can be -40db and the default 1/4 out on the POD is +4db, although you can change that down to -10db by moving the 1/4 out switch (next to the expression pedal on top of the unit) from LINE to AMP. Bottom line is that you really need the XLR signal to go to a mixer channel that has a pre-amp that can boost the signal to required strength to get anywhere near the level you will get from the 1/4 out by default. So short answer to your question is no.