HonestOpinion

Yep, my favorite videos are definitely the "teach a man to fish" variety, knowing that there is little chance that the preset someone is playing through will sound the same on my setup. I do find it useful sometimes when they provide the preset so I can reference what they were doing but ultimately always find it more useful when the preset is accompanied with a video that focuses on what, how, and why they set up their preset and hopefully imparts some new technique, clever trick, or detail as to why certain parameters were set the way they were, blocks positioned a certain way, custom routes and split/merges, etc. . Chris Beaver does get some amazing sounds out of relatively simple presets though, they are among my favorites of what I have heard on video and he is kind enough to share them.

This may have nothing to do with this issue but I thought I would share it anyway as it caught me when the 2.0 (same in 2.01) version of the firmware came out. I use my volume pedal a lot so I set my expression pedal setting to "Global" in the old versions of the firmware which only had the one global setting for setting the EXP1/EXP2 to "Global" or "Preset". The volume in any preset would reflect wherever the pedal was positioned at that moment. When the new firmware came out and gave us the choice (very cool) of setting each expression pedal to "Preset" or "Global", I set EXP 1 to "Global" but neglected to set EXP 2 to "Global". For a while there when I was switching snapshots or presets I would get unpredictable volume changes. Finally I found my oversight, set both EXP1 & EXP2 to "Global" and all was good. Moral of the story, check the EXP settings for all your expression pedals internal and external if you are getting unpredictable volume or similar issues with the expression pedal. It may be resetting because you have "Preset" instead of "Global" set on the global settings for one of your expression pedals where you did not think you did, causing it to jump back to whatever value was saved with that preset.

I have never seen the Helix "discard the prefix from the name" on any IR. My IRs always maintain their numerical prefix no matter how many times I import or export them. Numerical prefixes work fine, at least on my Helix. This is the first I have heard of someone reporting the prefix being stripped from the filename. The names do get shortened at the tail end if they are too long. What makes you think the Helix "is supposed" to discard the prefix number? Is that documented somewhere? Now that I think about it, is this the same behavior zooey saw with Roscoe's IRs? If so I wonder if there is some character in the filename or something peculiar about certain IRs that causes the Helix to strip the prefix upon import. I have never witnessed this with any of the presets I have used and they have come from a multitude of sources.

Sounds like perhaps the prefixing on the computer did not take for Roscoe5's filenames. When you looked at his IRs on your computer did they have a numerical prefix? Without that there is no way to reliably bulk load them in the same order every time. If necessary I would just manually prefix them. The reply to Duncann above describes the IR bulk load behavior on the Helix and as far as I know it has been the same since the Helix was first released. http://line6.com/support/topic/21950-lost-all-irs-snapshot-settings-updating-to-201/?p=167449

Exactly! Just make sure to order the IRs by filename on the computer first so that they go in sequence from say 1 to 100. Remember, whatever order they are in the computer's directory is the order they will bulk import into Helix. If you have gaps in your numbering sequence you will have to do multiple loads. The Helix does not care what number you used as a prefix, it is just loading the presets one after the other in contiguous IR slots, if there is a gap in your numbering, Helix will simply load that IR in the next available slot, not a slot that necessarily matches the IR name's prefix number.

Helix ALWAYS ignores the IRs filename during the import process. You are not relying on Helix to match up the IR slot and the filename. You are simply relying on it to load the IRs in the order they appear in your computer's directory. If the IR names are prefixed numerically from say, 1 to 100, then you can sort them that way on the computer and bulk load them into the Helix, starting at IR slot 1. They will successively load in whatever order they appear in your computer's directory. As long as your numbering scheme matches your slot numbers, the order is easy to check after loading. I find prefixing the IRs numerically works perfectly. Just make sure you sort the IRs by number in the file directory on your PC before the import and when you are finished importing check that for instance "01_Marshall4x12Green" matches IR slot 1, "02_VoxBlue" matches IR slot 2 and so on. You can visually inspect your IRs to make sure their prefix numbers match their slot numbers after the import. I have never had an issue doing it this way and have always been able to bulk import them after numbering in the correct order. Until L6 delivers a superior method to manage large numbers of IRs the only dependable method I know of to ensure your IRs go back to the same slots when being restored is to prefix their names numerically on your computer, sort them accordingly and then load them to the corresponding IR slots on the Helix.

It seems like you are still saying that the 12th fret location for fretting the harmonic gives you an exact octave regardless of the length of the string between the nut and fret (in or out of intonation) and that still seems intuitively wrong to me. I am going to duck out of the conversation until some other folks weigh in because I am either missing your point or just don't agree with it. You may be absolutely correct though.

I agree for the most part with the fellow in this video, tune by hitting the string as hard as you will be playing on most songs, granted there will be variations between a soft ballad and digging in when ripping some riffs so you may have to pick an average pluck. I also use the same logic when setting my intonation. I have seen some instructions that tell you to lightly fret the string at the 12th fret when setting intonation. This makes no sense to me, you should fret the string at the 12th fret with the same pressure you will be using when you play. I suppose you could argue that if you are playing a lot of long legato phrases with lots of sustain and soft picking then it is more important to have the duration of the sound and decay of the string immediately following when it is picked be in tune than the initial pluck but for most guitar work I think his advice is sound. Also, as he recommends I ALWAYS stretch the string when tuning, otherwise it can stick on the nut or saddle and then release as soon as pressure or a bend is applied to the string while playing, immediately causing it to go out of tune.

I also think his videos and the patches he shares are great! Btw, you said Chris Beavers "soured" a surge in sales when in fact you are clearly trying to applaud his efforts and show that they supported a surge in sales. Damn that auto spell correction! ;)

I would agree the leaner the system the less chance of having failures with firmware upgrades due to driver conflicts, conflicting devices, poorly behaved software, firewall or antivirus programs, etc. but I have to say I have a Windows 10 box that has been around forever with everything under the sun loaded on it and it still has no issues with upgrades, even with the firewall and antivirus software running. Sometimes it just seems to be the luck of the draw, which particular hardware and USB connections you have and what software you have loaded. Mac users seem to have encountered more issues than Windows users too from what I can tell from postings on the forum.

The best method at the moment for importing IRs to the Helix is to prefix each IR with ascending numbers (01, 02, 03, etc.). This will ensure you can always restore them to the same IR slot so your presets will always point to the correct IR. There are several freeware programs that can number them for you and they are listed in another topic on the forum. Next time you upgrade your Helix make sure you first export your IRs separately from the presets and then restore the IRs to the corresponding slots. Once they are numbered properly you can import/restore them all at one time. Link to topic containing freeware numbering apps and utilities: http://line6.com/support/topic/19864-numbered-prefix-script-and-utilities-to-help-with-ir-backups/?hl=numbering&do=findComment&comment=149767

Interesting post, kind of renders the whole intonation required for proper harmonic tuning debate moot! Btw, I have been lusting after one of those TrueTemper guitars or necks for a while now.

Yes but my point is that you are no longer fretting the harmonic at the halfway point when the string is not intonated. You are fretting it slightly off the halfway point and perhaps enough to still get a harmonic but perhaps not one that is an exact octave. But again, I defer to the experts on this as I am just not sure of the mechanics on this.

This is a long standing bug on the CustomTone page and seems to be login related. I have two logins, on one the download works from list view and on the other login it does not.

Thanks for the input on this. I wouldn't have blamed anyone for chiming in with "the obvious answer to this debate is intonate your damn guitar". I was just thinking out loud that tuning to the 12th fret harmonic might yield some unreliable results, particularly for chords and notes played closer to the nut, on a guitar that is out of intonation.

Even though a fret is not involved, as I understand it, imperfect intonation will still effect trying to tune with a 12th fret harmonic. The 12th fret is now in a different place relative to the string, depending on how much longer or shorter the string is from nut to bridge as caused by the out of whack intonation. That means the harmonic you hit is actually subdividing the string in a different spot depending on intonation. A perfectly intonated guitar gives you the same tuning for both an open string pluck and a 12th fret harmonic. If the guitar is not intonated (string length between bridge and nut is not correct) you can tune the open string perfectly, hit the 12th fret harmonic, and it will not be in exactly the same as the open string tuning, at least that is how I think it works. In other words, the 12th fret you are using as a guide to where to hit the harmonic, even though you are not pushing down and fretting, is delivering a harmonic that is not positioned at the half way mark of the string because you are out of intonation (discounting the fact that string length from nut to fret is usuaully slightly longer than twice the length from the nut to the 12th fret to "compensate" for proper saddle positioning) It seems that the more out of intonation the guitar is, the more out of whack the 2 to 1 ratio at the 12th fret gets, even if you are simply using the 12th fret to guide where you touch for a harmonic. Maybe I am incorrect, not willing to take my guitar out of intonation to test that theory. You could be right on this, I can't remember although I usually intonate my guitars by hitting an open string and perhaps a 12 fret harmonic as well as fretting at the 12th fret. Any pro luthiers or setup guys who can weigh in on this? I could be totally off base on this one. Somewhat related Stew-Mac article on scale length http://www.stewmac.com/How-To/Online_Resources/Learn_About_Guitar_and_Instrument_Fretting_and_Fretw/Scale_Length_Explained.html

You are assuming everybody's intonation is perfect when you ask people to tune at the 12th fret harmonic. Granted the intonation should be set correctly, but unfortunately that is not always the case. You should be able to tune from a variety of positions. I am not saying you can't now, the tuner has taken a giant step forward, I just don't think tuning from the 12th fret is going to work for everyone.

I don't know if this will be any help to you but if any of the firmware versions you are rolling back to will allow you to get into the Helix long enough you can use the Excel sheet I created in the following post to identify which preset is failing and fix it. Of course, if you do manage to get past the firmware upgrade process I would immediately do the FS 9&10 preset to get rid of all the presets including those that are causing the failure. As always, make sure you first uninstall all Helix software and then install the version of the Helix application that has the Updater, Firmware, and Editor that matches the firmware version you are trying to roll back to. You have probably already tried that as you said you followed the instructions to the letter but I thought I would mention it just in case. http://line6.com/support/topic/20454-grid-for-getting-rid-of-the-preset-rebuild-messages-on-boot-in-latest-firmware-1120/?p=154331 You can also use the FS 11&12 reset combination to delete the current preset, perhaps that might get you closer to a successful update. If the "Rebuilding #..." message changes then rinse and repeat until hopefully the Helix boots normally. Good luck with this! http://helixhelp.com/pmwiki.php?n=Main.ResetOptions

They had those included in the Rev. C version as well but for anyone who did not already have that version those would definitely be the highlights of Rev. D.

Two other easy things to check that don't require modding the guitar, assuming the issue is not that the neck relief needs adjusting and the strings are touching the frets. You would probably hear buzzing if this was the case though: Make sure the pickups are not too high. They are ultimately just magnets and if they get too close to the string they can kill the sustain. Lowering the pickups can improve sustain. Too far away from the strings and you will lose some punch though. Check the angle of the bridge when you press down on the strings. If it is tilting forward too much this can also affect the sustain. If so tighten up the springs on the tremolo block just a bit. Note: The problem with the sustain could be below the 12th fret as well but less audible. The shorter the string length that is vibrating, e.g. fretted above the 12 fret, the more noticeable the loss of sustain becomes. Update: Looks like rewolf48 already mentioned the issue of pickup height so you already probably investigated that.

Nope, not sure what the changes are.

Thanks! I'll give it a try.

As Phil_m pointed out, I think saving a bundle in the event I end up with a bad Setlist save and also saving setlists and individual presets is a good idea before every upgrade. The bundle is my emergency backup. Just keep in mind even if you don't care about the factory presets and load over them with your own setlists a bundle will also blow away any new or modified Templates that L6 provides as well.

For anyone like myself who did not realize there is a "Rev. D" version of the Helix manual out now, here is the link: http://line6.com/data/6/0a06439c975d5787c3e351aa0/application/pdf/Helix%202.0%20Owners%20Manual%20-%20Rev%20D%20-%20English%20.pdf

The "Helix" application includes the Editor but is not equal to the Editor. The Helix application includes the Editor, Updater, and drivers. The "Helix" 2.01 application now displays with the heading "Helix" in the dark grey bar on the L6 download page. In earlier versions the "Helix" app was called the "Helix Editor" which was a bit confusing as it actually included as mentioned, the Editor, Updater, and drivers. It is generally not a good idea to restore a bundle as this will overwrite any new or modified Factory or Templates list presets in the new firmware. Remember, a bundle overwrites everything including the Factory and Templates lists. It is better to restore Setlists or individual presets. If you are going to modify your Factory presets either copy them to a new User list location first and modify them there, or if you modify them in a Factory list, be sure to copy them out individually or as a setlist that you can restore after your next firmware upgrade without overwriting new/modified Factory presets that may come with the new firmware.