FlyingsCool

Welcome to the family!

I contacted the store, they tell me to 'expect at least (!) 2 to 3 weeks for reparation', nothing more specific, no mentioning of a replacement unit. I already know now, that my Helix will be gone for at least a month if I take it to them. These guys ('Key Music', they have 18 stores in Belgium and Holland) really don't seem to care. I just had a similar experience with them concerning a part I needed for my JTV 89 Variax. It is a big contrast with all the friendly, going-out-of-their-way-to-help-you' Line 6 people on these forums and on Facebook. The only thing I blame Line 6 for is not choosing their business partners more carefully. These people at Key Music really seem to hate Line 6 products, and only sell them because people want them. 

One of those companies that wishes they didn't have to have customers to stay in business?

Yeah, my bet for these lockups is a corrupt preset.  Several people have had this, deleted the preset in question, rebuilt it, and went on their merry way and haven't had a problem since.

Feedback could be related to the guitar (as I write this, I realize.. duh)... Unpotted pickups will feedback on pretty much on command, or all the time depending on stage volume... It's all about the volume and sympathetic vibration of the strings at natural frequencies.

No worries, the editor is going away soon for a new version based on the Native interface design....

You may want to consider doing a 9-10 reset and have it rebuild your presets.  Apparently Sweetwater, and other vendors, have been updating to the latest firmware, but not applying the last step, the reboot to rebuild the presets.  Make sure to back up your presets before you do this as it will reset it to factory presets.

The user interface is very intuitive. You don't need to be an engineer, you just need a solid understanding of what affects your guitar tone and how to get YOUR desired tone in terms of amp settings, effect settings, types of cabinets, and mic setup. Helix is a "guitar in the studio" modeler, not an amp/effect modeler. A lot of players don't have any experience mic'ing up a cab, so they are lost with their tone in the Helix, then blame the Helix for their woes.  

(repeating Duned's comment at the end of his post...)

To this end, and I don't understand why they don't do this and emphasize it... Given that training is important to using any tool effectively, even a hammer, why doesn't Line 6 spend some time and create some videos around the myriad ways to get tone?  Sean Halley did some of this before he moved on ( :(  sniff, sniff ).  There is certainly room for more of this; Paul Hindmarsh and others would definitely be up to the task.

Just a side note, 4CM is not necessarily for effects only....

You can also send shut off the Guitar In send... add an (pre)amp in the Helix and send that signal straight to the Power amp.

Just like you would in any file system. Hold left button for a second and name highlights. Or right click, rename.

He Meant the Setlists, not the Presets... It doesn't look like it from my end, not from the editor.  You can rename it in the Helix, however.  Just move the Joystick to the left when you are in the setlist view so you can select which setlist you want, and there's an option to rename it.

There is already a hidden power amp stage in the Helix. It's simple to activate! Just wire up a custom AC-mains-to-XLR plug, and attach it to L6 Link. With standard USA wiring, the connections are Green (safety ground) to Pin 1 / shield, Black (120V live) to pin 2 / hot, and White (neutral) to pin 3 / cold. Easy!

 

In the UK and other 240V regions, you may need to attach a Power Soak or similar to achieve the desired result.

 

Don't actually do this, or you will cause fire and explosion and be killed by electrocution. Worse, you will damage your Helix.

I so wish I could participate in this thread... Sadly, my talent booster is on the fizz :(

Thanks for all of the input. Very appreciative of your time.

 

I was not aware that adjusting the EQ on the stock preset matched Cabs (or on Global EQ) was pretty much a necessity to get a usable tone.

I did not think that this possibly could be the way that Line 6 or End Users actually used them without adjustments somehow- especially since I have seen so many great tones on Youtube videos, and the HELIX has gotten so many excellent reviews.

 

Am pretty familiar with modelers as noted.

Not a fanboy of any particular brand. Do like the Fractal AXE FX II. Also like real amps. Have a Carol Ann Triptik which I have settled on after trying out a ton of Marshalls, and Mesas, and Dumble clones, and Fenders.

 

I actually liked my POD XT as well as the early Axe FX Ultras to be honest.

I got some great tones out of my primitive Line 6 Ax212 almost 20 years ago.

 

From the comments above I think doing it per preset might be the way to go in the CAB blocks as each amp and CAB combination is unique.

Or finding some good IR's which are already EQ'd.

I will experiment with Mic placments also.

 

I downloaded a couple USER presets from Customtone and looked deeper at a couple that I really liked and their CAB block settings and noticed that they had done a High Cut.

 

As for the AXE FX II. It is a great unit. I just use the stock CABs settings and tweak the amp EQ settings when needed.

It tends to have a slightly darker bassier character on many of the the clean amps.They have improved them in recent FW upgrades.

The midgain and higher gain amps are really very very good with the unique character of the amp modeled. It's how ended up with a CA Triptik.

The tone is spot on. I like having one real Amp around though and I do go out through my real CAB sometimes (versus FRFR monitors) for an Amp in the room feel.

 

I think I like some of the HELIX Clean amps better in some ways.They handle guitar Volume roll off better.

A little easier to get clean shimmer.

I do like the SHIVA on the HELIX better and hope to get the Marshalls dialed in now.

Love the Klon,Tube Screamer, and Timmy pedals.

 

My guitars are all passive humbuckers and I have basic moderate PAF type pickups. Nothing unusual.

 

Will work with it some more tonight.

 

Thanks for your help.

Perhaps the reason you like the cleans is that Line 6 chose to model the amps as they are and let users eq them, whereas it seems Axe has their cabs eq'd already?

(IOW, the cleans kind of depend on those high frequencies to get through)

And you are correct, even the Line 6 staff have talked about how they apply cuts to their tone (yes, they are users of their own products).  Overall, Line 6 tends to err on giving users the raw sound and letting users create their tones from that, instead of trying to think for them.

Agree, and not just mics, low and high filters especially. You want to compare the SPEAKERS, not their default settings.

 

Ideally maybe, there should be a global setting for this. Sometimes you might actually want to hear what Line 6 thought was "recommended", if the defaults should be interpreted that way.

Another reason I control my cuts with an EQ instead of in the cab (not to mention the steeper cut of an EQ cut versus a cut in a cab, which allows "looser" cuts).

You can do that with a stomp. You can control quite a few parameters with a momentary stomp switch. 

Of course, the only issue, and it may not matter... You only get one shot wiith Stomp switches, so you can't control those parameters with other stomps.  So you can't individually control the effects that are controlled by the momentary switch.

I have both Stagesource L2t/m and Alto TS210.  It may be the Stagesource sound a little better and they can a teensy bit louder (128 dB SPL max vs 125 for the Alto I think (can you even tell the difference between that?)), but I'm finding myself using the Alto much more because it's so much lighter.  And in a band context it kinda all goes away, anyway.  And the Alto is plenty loud.  I used it recently with a band with another guitar (marshall) and bass and drums playing basically 80's post punk in a two car garage.  It was all I had (and my Helix) and it easily kept up.

I have the JBL LSR305 and I'm very happy with them.  I'm no expert myself, but I did a lot of research, and, for the price these were among the best bang for the buck.  In general, most people who comment say thumbs down on the KRK, too much coloration, but I haven't tried them myself.  I'm not familiar with the Aldo (they are more prevalent in Europe I think?)

I've got StageSource L2t/L2m (love the flexibility of the L2t), one Alto TS210 (I love the portability of it, but only need that if you're moving around and jamming).  They all are comparable to my ears.  Alto sounds a little plasticy if you will, but, overall, I've been using it the most lately because of its portability. (half the weight of the L2's.)

Short answer... Yes.

Question:  It seems you only want to go to the effects loop of the Power Amp/Cab?  So you don't need 4CM?  Or do you want some effects to the front of the amp, and the rest to the effects loop?  Or is it all just to the front of the amp from your effects? Or is the Power Amp/Cab exactly that, just a power amp and cab?

Guys, he said right at the top and through that he upgraded to Helix Floor... He's all set.  Based on the feedback I am seeing, my bet is Line 6 is looking to find a way to upgrade the pedal support design on the LT... At least I hope so... I certainly see lots of pics of LT on stage.

Dude, if you break your Helix Floor, you are one STRONG MF ;)

Sorry you had such issues.

As another data point, I've never been a fan of the Expression pedal switch... first thing I did was add my volume pedal to my floor so I could dedicate the onboard pedal to whatever function I'm using it for and not have to deal with switching back and forth with that pedal switch. (Not to mention I hate having to wrap my head around a pedal having two functions, last thing I want to do on stage is have to think... I have enough to worry about than to have to use my brain during a performance... Eek!)

Man, I think I'd prefer it not to magically fix itself! I always feel like those sorts of things are just waiting to rear their head again at a less opportune time. And probably after the warranty period expires, haha! This is my second Helix as it is, my first was replaced after the main joystick/rotary dial failed. I'm a big fan of identifying problems while the warranty is still in effect....

 

I don't suspect the USB is at the root of the problem, only observing that whatever is going on is affecting the standard guitar input the same as it is the USB input from the DAW. I don't have the USB cable connected unless I am recording, and it wasn't connected when this issue appeared.

 

There is nothing very fancy going on for this tone, just the guitar (the DI track is from the middle pickup of a Nashville Telecaster), tremolo, Deluxe Reverb, spring reverb and two cab IRs in parallel. It was my go-to patch for that guitar so I know it well, and now without anything changing it is suddenly different. All of them are. Probably I could go back in and re-kajigger all of my patches to sound ok again, but something has happened that has affected everything and I want to fix it there.

 

It was late last night that I submitted the ticket so I'm not sure if it's even landed on anyones desk yet. The automated reply to my submission said I should hear within three days. I'll report back on whatever they have to say. 

Did your global EQ get modified somehow?  I imagine you checked, but it sounds like something got changed globally?

(I know for me, I keep getting caught with my guitar volume knob down... "Why's my patch so quiet all of a sudden?"... (face palm) )

Thanks Dragon...

What I'd like to hear more about is how bands with multiple guitars set up their sound individually along the lines of this... Where does each instrument sit in the mix, and what kind of tones do you use so each person, guitars, vocals, bass, drums, etc., carves their own space in the mix, if that makes any sense.... i.e. how do you handle like maybe Fender clean rhythm so it sits back in the mix but still adds... what do two distorted guitars do so they don't muck each other up... etc.

I kind of had a worry with the speaker just from it's name... B-Hype doesn't engender thoughts of flat response.

I'm not sure that's always the case.  Part of the problem you have in sharing the PA monitor system is you're sharing it with other things like vocals.  That's a pretty significant difference from having a dedicated monitor with nothing in it but your guitar.  Especially if your vocalist is depending on the same monitor.  That's one of the reasons so many of us tend to use dedicated monitors so we're not having to compete with other things in the monitor mix.

I was referring to the fact that he was sharing the PA with the vocals and everyone else is using dedicated amps. I run two 12" Mackie PA speakers just for guitar at rehearsal to have it "feel" like an amp along with the live drums and bass. A dedicated speaker for guitar is what I was suggesting to get the "feel" back in the room.

Ah, I misunderstood.  Yes, I agree, a dedicated monitor is important.

And in my experience, in the garage, that dedicated monitor was all I needed for me and everyone else.

Is everyone else going direct and coming through the monitors as well? I ask because there's no way you're going to feel like you're keeping up with everyone, even if your tone is spot on, if you're monitoring through a wedge and everyone else has amps blasting (or even not blasting) in the room. I prefer to have a dedicated speaker for myself for rehearsal because I can turn up/down to match the drums and other amps and I can face it into the room like the other amps. Just another part of the equation to consider.

I totally disagree that you can't keep up with a monitor and direct with drums if everyone else is on amps.  My Alto 210 can easily keep up with a Marshall 4x12 and drums and bass in a garage.  And it was loud.

I totally agree the problem was the tone.  It was mentioned right away that cutting through a mix is a general tone issue.  Sad it took more than halfway through the thread to finally suggest WHAT a good tone for cutting through a mix is. (less bass, more mids, etc.)  Using high and low cuts is only a first step to cutting "harshness" and "boom".  But it has nothing to do with setting up a tone to cut through a mix.

I think you have to switch to the snapshot in Helix, save it like that, then upload it to Native.... Not sure though, I haven't tried it myself yet.

i didn't update last time so will get a bundle's worth when the next one rolls up. the multiband compressor was the only thing that piqued my interest in that lot but i do have to say i'm getting a bit sick of the bug that effects the pedal when saving wahs and other parameters ( they never seem to save properly) -that got fixed didn't it?

Yes