mileskb

Yes, I am always aware of those kinds of relationships. I don't recall all of the players in this circumstance, but there was a tube simulation effect pedal, a kareoke setup, a couple of the "demo" booths using them for actual PA's, someone else with "sampler" disks. It was pretty obvious there was no "connection" to QSC nor was there a "vendor deal" for participants either. At least not in this case. Most of the NAMM participants seem to be pretty self contained, and frankly some of them really SHOULD consider using better mediums to show off their wares. But yes... good to point out the possibility.

I have been holding off on getting a pair of QSC K12's. I like the idea that I can use them for PA or wedges if I want to as well. But it seems more and more folks are coming out with FRFR speakers (which they ALL should be in the first place) so I think I'll keep looking at this point. I was at NAMM a few weeks ago and I will say... SEVERAL vendors not related to QSC were using QSC K12's to show off their mic's, amps' and other widgets. That's one of my tried and true methods of making choices when possible. If people are using a particular product to show off their widget, that sais a lot about it.

I was at NAMM and stopped by the Line6 booth a couple of times, here are some random observations and Q&A's. Ver. 1.06 was running on the demo. I noodled mostly with the Matchless which sounded great. I asked about the editor, and they said it was almost ready. Maybe a couple of more weeks. It was running on the demo station but I didn't get a chance to play with it as I didn't realize until it was there until I handed off the guitar to the next person in line... but it was there. it exists. I asked about some better explanations of what exactly is Ripple or Sag and other more detailed params and how they interact. I actually asked this of two people, one was doing the demo and he agreed that the videos available for that aspect were a bit lacking and he'd try to do something about it. The demo itself was a little disappointing and I'm not sure who it was geared toward. The presenter was great, but as example the "display" that was on the screen was not the whole board, so as he was explaining some cool things like the swapping of buttons by touching both buttons you want to swap...... all you see is the screen, not him touching the buttons. I had brought someone to see the demo as I think he would love the Helix, but even the basics of "finger touch" vs "press" vs "stomp" weren't clear so he didn't really get anything out of the demo. At the same time, there was the neat trick of recording silence as a first step to looping, but even that... without seeing the buttons being pressed was a little odd. The demo station has a JTV89F hooked up, and that was a bit of fun to play with. Didn't do anything fancy cause I didn't have the time, and there was no one really available for assistance, but I may be getting one just based on noodling, Finally, I did overhear a sales rep discussing with a dealer about the delivery delays and it made sense and while you can file this under RUMOR it really does make the most sense. Essentially it seems marketing and sales did their thing and came up with initial production numbers. Generally these are inflated if anything because it doesn't cost anyone anything to say "yeah, I'll take a couple"... Then, when the time came for "actual" orders, they far exceeded the initial numbers that under normal circumstances would have been inflated already. While this was "overheard" I really makes the most sense of any of the excuses. Keep in mind, they have to pay for the units to be built so they can't just say "hey build twice as many" to the manufacturer, they actually have to send a check. I'm also guessing just based on how things normally go... everyone in the chain was like "yeah... sure they want that many." It was interesting to see how many people actually had units in hand. The guy I was talking to said we are the lucky ones as they are still playing catchup on the initial orders. All in all it was a nice visit at the booth. Remember, this event is tailored toward distribution, so those of us who are "end users" getting any time from them is appreciated. I was happy to see 1.06 and that the editor was not vaporware.

I saw it at NAMM but didn't get a chance to play with it. I asked, and they said it was just a couple of weeks out.

I assume you were asking me this? I'm not using ANY other model in the chain. For the sound I'm looking for it's not needed. After the Angle is a reverb, delay, eq, and chorus (not necessarily in that order). Output of Helix to my full range amp/speaker setup. Patches I set like this are for my sound. If I need to mimic someone else's sound, well this setup likely won't work.

I this point I'm not running into another amp model as I've always pretty much played through full range speakers. While eventually I'll probably get a pair of QSC12's currently I'm running into a custom Genz Benz cabinet that has 2 12's that are on a 7 degree angled baffle left and right, with 4 ports across the bottom. I've tried a few power amps, but they are all sounding about the same which is the goal. Currently I'm plugging into the AUX jack on my Rockman XP100 which is a kick'n little 100 watt full range amp pretty much designed for what I'm using it for. Remember that guy Tom Scholz had this whole FRFR thing going on 30 years ago... talk about ahead of his time... but I digress. Anyway... I'm not sure why a pre-amp model wouldn't work in front of an AMP model as that's how things are in real life. Guitar preamp, into power amp... sometimes combo amp.. My point was... ensure you are using your ears to guide you, not the names of the models and traditional paths. That may certainly work, and is certainly a starting point. Especially if you are going for a signature tone... The reason I chimed in is that a couple of times now... when I got close to what I was trying to create... just moving things around, or randomly trying things that seemed odd but "might" work... seemed to get me over the hump.

I've taken a seemingly COMPLETELY different approach to getting good tone, especially distortion. Essentially I dumped all concepts of proper signal chain and let my ears guide me. As example.. I use the Angl PRE-AMP for my distortion. It has great drive, plenty of control and to add a little more gain I add a compressor in front of it. I then add my reverbs, chorus, delay what-have-you. I had the same problem in that I just didn't like the tone of the distortions against the modeled amps or by themselves. Now to be fair, I generally like Sustain and Overdrive rather than pure distortion, but I don't think that matters. I came about this method by going back to the roots of "distortion" pedals which was to either simulate an amps distortion, or drive an amp to distortion. With having these wonderful amps modeled, and the ability to set the overall volume to whatever we want, why use the "middle man" of a Distortion pedal when you can blitz a preamp with everything you got to get a more "true" distortion. I like the Angle pre-amp because it has lots of flexibility with regard to gain and eq and pretty fat sound.

I'm finding the lack of any metering to be the #1 drawback with any other drawbacks being so far down the chain they aren't worth mentioning. Maybe I'm picky, but I do pro sound. Pretty hard to setup anything with a threshold or specific frequency response without some sort of meter to know you're activating the threshold. No one's ears are that good.. although most of us can get close... With a unit that sounds this good.... "close" just isn't acceptable for me.

I'm liking the Angl Meteor the most. I play a lot of 80's 90's metal sounding stuff. BOC, Hagar, Riot, Fastway etc etc. I like the Angle (Engl) models not only for the tone, but the control. Especially using the just the pre-amp I can use the EQ of the model as the post-distortion EQ and just put a noise-gate, compressor and EQ in front of it and I'm about 80% on my way to replacing the Rockman Sustainer.

I am thinking this somehow must be how it happened, or some variation. I wasn't editing at the time it happened, I was playing. When it came time to shut down, the only interaction I "thought" I had with the unit was powering off. There was no reason to save as I hadn't been editing. But, those "touch" buttons are VERY sensitive, and who knows, maybe I brushed something. Glad to know it doesn't seem to be a problem in general with the unit. I do backups now, often.

Just verified, the only thing missing is the full Path #1 of 3-1C.

Thanks everyone. I need to head out, but I will check to see if the patch was saved to another preset. As someone else mentioned the pre-set name is still there, and the two blocks that were on Patch #2 are still there. It's just like the "CLEAR ALL BLOCKS" was used, but I just can't see how that would happen. The sequence of events from the last time everything was fine was yesterday I was playing/jamming along with some tunes. The Helix is not on the floor. When I was done, I set down the guitar on its stand, turned off the Helix first, then powered down my rack. So, unless the buttons work when its turned off... :) spooky. When I turned it on, the first thing I noticed was that it wasn't on the patch I was working on anymore. I was on 3-1A instead of 3-1C. I will double check that 3-1A wasn't overwritten. It should be pretty easy to find as it was the only patch I made where I actually got to the point of assigning foot switches.

As mentioned the options for Delay and Reverb are many even including an Echo that you can access in at least one of the Chorus effects. When I want reverb, I tend to want to use a spring. The one that's just called "Spring" you'll catch yourself smacking the cabinet to try and get the spring to rattle... it's that good. I mentioned this in another thread, but don't be fooled by the "model breakouts" that refer to how the effects were made and what the models were. As with other things, I found the identified Reverbs to really only work in their original specific configuration. I found the flexibility and parameters offered to really cover the bases and be adaptable to the sonic characteristics of the rest of the patch as needed. To say the controls on the delays are more than adequate is an understatement. As example, to emulate my Rockman Stereo Echo, I used two mono Bucket-Brigade Delays panned left and right with separate times and when I combined them into the stereo path, I inverted one side. You'd have to spend more than the cost of a Helix to find a dedicated stereo delay to do that especially when you consider all the other parameters.

I have been working on a patch for several days. It's pretty complex. I just turned on the Helix and 99% of the patch is gone. In fact, the only thing that is left is an Input Block and Volume control on Path 2 that I was using to listen to my music that I was playing along with. Path 1 now has NO blocks and it was nearly FULL yesterday (and for the past few days). Scribble strips were labelled and it's all gone. HOURS of work. Has anyone else experienced this? How does one "backup" patch other than just copying it. I have other versions-ish of the patch as over time I saved versions of it in different patches, but this seriously sucks. I wouldn't know how to clear all the blocks from BOTH chains of a Path at once if I wanted to at this point other than to overwrite it, but that would have overwritten what was on Path #2. Insights anyone? Miles

I hope I can help those like me who are getting the Helix to replace other gear. Overall I'm very impressed but there are some nuances that if you are going to jump into the deep end of the pool, can be a little annoying. If anyone else has any tips and tricks, I hope they add on. 1. This is not just the random first tip, but it's what I think is the most important. Be VERY careful in choosing MONO or STEREO blocks of any sort. I'm not sure why the same options/effects appear on the same list. The Stereo ones can unnecessarily eat up DSP power especially when you AMP and CAB blocks 2. SAVE OFTEN !!!! Like every time you change a setting. It's only been a couple of days and I click SAVE/OK without even thinking about it anymore. It's too easy to be thinking of tweaking a parameter and turn a preset or the joystick instead. I know it sounds stupid, but after a few hours, when the lightbulb lights with "oh.. that's what I want" and you go to quick and muck up a bunch of stuff you already had dialed in. I also may have found a bug as I lost almost all of the patch I have been using for the past couple of days. I turned the unit and it was just gone. So I guess BACKUP as well, as soon as I figure out how. I'll post about this in another thread to get help. 3. Do not discount the Line 6 effects. Not saying that you would, but if you're looking as example for a Boss CE-1 like Chorus, the "70's Chorus" that is claimed to be modeled on that IS NOT it. It may be it tone wise, but not control wise so essentially it's not it. Not only is is not it, but the controls are all different and there's really no way to get that sweet CE-1 sound from that effect. However, the "Chorus" which is a Line 6 original, has the parameters to get a really decent CE-1 sound from. On the original CE-1 the "depth" and "rate" controls worked in "Chorus" mode. On this one, they are actually called Vib Depth and Vib Rate and have no affect so the only real control you have is "Intensity" and then there's other shelving and such that weren't on the CE-1. Anyway, I found in a couple of cases, what translated to a Line 6 Original, worked better than the supposed model. 4. When trying to reproduce a sound, once you pick a block, LOOK AT ALL OF THE PARAMETERS IN THE BLOCK BEFORE DOING ANYTHING. This will save you a lot of time. The common/important parameters are right up front, but some of the parameters that are buried on the 2nd or 3rd page, many of which you would not normally associate with that type of effect, can bite you in the butt. 5. Along with #4... when trying to get a particular tone or effect... Just follow your ears no matter how much your brain is saying things like "but how can you have a speaker before the amp". You may not end up leaving it there, but then again you may. 6. When using multiple paths, be sure to the check the parameters of the SPLIT and returning MIX points. It can really impact things that you split for the purposes of having something different hard left and right. In my case I had two bucket-brigade delays, one on each path. My output was favoring one side because I didn't hard pan the mix returns A and B to left and right. Also when using INSERTS and RETURNS, if you are routing to an effect you want completely in the chain, you need to remember to set the mix of the send to ZERO so the signal ONLY goes to the send and does not continue down the path. This is of course if that's what you want to do. In my case, I wanted my input signal to go to an external sustainer. I didn't want any of the original signal leaking by on the signal path. Finally (for now) at least two gripes that I see as oversights that seem rather odd. Maybe I missed something so please correct me if I did. A. Lack of level indicators. This is especially important for compression. Compression is a dark art on the best of days, but doing it blind is a near impossible task. To do it right in the blind IS an impossible task. B. Lack of effects loop points on applicable blocks such as an amp-cab or pre-amp block. If I want to stick an EQ or Reverb between the gain and EQ stage of an amp (even a model that would normally have an effects loop) I can't find a way to do it. Seems like it would be an obvious option. Well that's all for now. I hope this helps. Now I have to go figure out what went wrong with the patch I lost.

They exist, they really do. I placed my order with GC on the November 2nd. I picked up the unit today. First impressions are great. It is well packaged and a sturdy unit. Due to concerns of DOA devices or parts such as switches, I had them grab a QSC K12 and grabbed a Schecter guitar. Hooked it up, fired it up and well I was impressed to say the least. I'll write up an "unboxing" maybe later, but in short, I ran through the presets. That's really all I had time for. Some of the names hint at what the patch was designed for so that helped. Two things I noticed right away. QUIET !!!! Even on the most heavy metal of patches like Evil, there was no noise whatsoever when I wasn't playing and while I can only assume a noise gate was involved, I didn't hear it. The other thing I noticed is what they have been touting that the models act like the actual amps. I brought up one of the tweeds which is infamous for sounding really nice, full and clean with the vol on the guitar low, then just cranking the volume it gets nasty... That's exactly what it did. Actually after only about 15 minutes it kinda sank in that I wasn't playing though a tube amp, cause it sure sounded and played like a tube amp. I wish I could remember the patch, but one of the Stadium ones, and it may have been me playing the exp pedal, I played a chord and held it and the texture changed and I got feedback, but from the patch, not the actual speaker. It sounded and felt real enough and was just as inconsistent in that it wasn't predictable or forced like some of the pedals that have the "feedback" feature if you hold the pedal down. Anyway, just wanted to post that I'm not sure some of the waiting and supply issues are not due to the retailers themselves. My GC is small, and they themselves don't know when they will see a model for the store. Their ordering is done from a regional office that orders for them based on what they think will sell etc... My Helix is the first one they have seen. I was originally told I would receive it "maybe" by December 22nd. So technically, I got it faster than predicted. I didn't do anything special. I sold some gear to GC and placed the order and in 6 weeks almost to the day, it's here. I'm a happy camper.

Just an update... There is indeed a package tracking via UPS from Salt Lake City, UTAH. I should have it Thursday... I'd love to say it's definitely on its way but after reading the stories all I can say is they are shipping me something. :)

As I noticed a lot of folks like myself are selling assorted pieces of gear to fund their Helix, I thought I would share what I did with Guitar Center. They Buy used gear. Now of course they are not paying top dollar, but considering listing and selling and shipping and frankly just taking all the pictures for ebay, they did right by me and of course were more willing to buy as I was open about using the money to fund a new piece of gear. Additionally, and I'm not sure this is all GC's, but they give an additional discount if you are using the money they are giving you for your old gear, toward another purchase. That was the tipping factor for me to go this route. I got rid of a bunch of rack gear that individually would have garnered an average of $50 each. While that was probably about 10-20% less than I could have gotten for those items sold on ebay, it saved me the hassle and earned me an additional 10% off the price of the Helix. Sorry, no big bargains to be had or anything like that, but if you have a bunch of gear laying around as I did in the category of "not really worth the hassle of listing it and dealing with the whole process" this was a nice way to save a little on the Helix and clean out a couple of racks. -Miles

Just got an email from GC that my order has been shipped !!! So the order was placed at a local Guitar Center on November 2nd, and it's now shipping. I have a UPS tracking number and everything. I knew it was going to be a wait and I don't consider 6 weeks to be that bad. I'm mainly updating to let those who ordered from Guitar Center and are having 2nd thoughts about ever seeing their Helix, the units do exist and are shipping.

Well I may have some good news. I placed my order in the first week of November. Yesterday I got an email as there was a issue with "processing" my order with a number to call. I called the number and they ran the card. She didn't have an actual shipping date because that wasn't her department, but she said if they are processing the order, they are fulfilling it shortly. I'm not going to get too excited as they have put a "hold" on the money twice since it was ordered, but this time around I just looked and it's an actual charge NOT and authorization !!! I'll keep posted, but if this is legit, we're at the 5 week mark. If It comes next week I don't think that's so terrible as the old "four to six weeks" thing is pretty common with new items being pushed. We shall see.

If I don't have it by NAMM ya'll should start to feel sorry for them... cause they'll likely have to deal with me at their booth for 4 days and my wife will attest... NO ONE should have to put up with me for four days straight when I'm grumpy..... even when when I'm not grumpy that's a bit much..

Well I got excited earlier this week when GC put a hold on the funds in my bank account... but then... a couple of days later.. they released again, just like they did at the beginning of the month. Seems like a bit of odd practice, but the money is sitting there so I guess it doesn't matter. Would really like to have this unit before NAMM.

Thanks.. I only check in every few days myself. I have done FOH for a band that uses L1 model II's as well. I really like what I can do with them. They moved to In-Ear Monitors, but used to have a set of L1 Model II's for side fills. That was my favorite setup although I noticed when they had guest artists on stage some had to get used to being able to hear themselves to clearly everywhere... a strange experience for most. I figured they would be good, but it's better to actually hear someone that has used them. I have only mixed them, and the guitarist uses some software on his laptop so I'm not really sure what he sends me... but I can usually make it sound pretty darn good. thanks

Bazinga... that is all

I contacted my guy at GC today and he tried to figure out where in line my order was. While he couldn't get a specific answer he did say that " It seems that there will be about 3-5 shipments coming within the next month or so." so unless they weren't feeding him a line, it seems they are ramping up to meet demand.