HonestOpinion

Quite kind of CraigGT. Was hoping someone would do that for the OP, I don't have a Stomp. If the OP can't get things straightened out with global reset or a firmware refresh maybe someone else with a stomp could upload him back a working exported version that might be more stable than the OP's; or if feeling particularly charitable with their time, a zipped export of the presets. My guess is that if the underlying issues are addressed though it won't be necessary. To the OP, I definitely think it is time to look into doing a global reset and potentially refreshing the firmware update. As others here have indicated make sure you upgrade to the latest 3.0.1 version of HX Edit. If you are able to export a healthy version of your setlist that is working on someone else's Stomp there is a good chance it is a global settings, global reset, or firmware issue on your end.

Absolutely you can place the RC500 after the Helix or you may want to place it in the Helix's FX loop for more control over what gets looped. Cabs/amps will work either way. You will definitely get more authentic sounding emulations of amps/cabs in 4CM but I don't believe your Mustang has an FX loop(?). To be frank that amp is a bit limited for what the Helix is capable of. You may want to turn off the cab and even the amp emulations when plugged in direct to the Mustang. An inexpensive and small FRFR like the Headrush FRFR-108 might be worth consideration and will definitely make it easier to preview presets for your church setup.

Dragging any block down in HX Edit or hitting 'Action' and then dragging down a block directly on the device will create that second path rd2rk referred to and as he indicated automatically create the split/merge.

All good points and for the scenario you lay out makes perfect sense.

Just thought I would mention that I have seen several topics regarding which MIDI pedal to get with the HX Stomp. Many here are trying to leverage functionality on an HX Stomp that they already own and I would probably be doing the same. I think it makes even more sense if you are controlling multiple devices(e.g. other effects, DAW, etc.) via MIDI. If you are adding a MIDI controller only for using with the HX Stomp I would probably opt for a small inexpensive MIDI controller that would not eat up too much pedalboard real estate or run up my overall expenditure on the HX Stomp. Feel like I am stating the obvious but if you have not purchased the HX Stomp yet though, and you think you will be wanting to add additional MIDI control to it, you should take a hard look instead at purchasing the HX Stomp XL or the Helix/LT. The additional pedalboard space required, expense, and programming hassle involved in adding an external MIDI pedal might not be your best option when you could just be using a single HX device with more available switches as your MIDI control center. Might cost a little more initially but be worth it to you in the long run and in particular the step up to the Helix or LT brings many other features and benefits(dual processors, more I/O, etc.). I'm sure all this has occurred to may other users here as well.

If the shop that fixed it originally(was it Line6?) won't fix it uder warranty I would reach out to Line6. They are pretty good about repairs(sometimes even out of warranty) and even if they won't do it for free they may be able to do it more inexpensively or recommend someone who can. Sorry you are having to deal with this, what a PITA.

This may not be what is causing your issue but I notice in your description of your sequence that you selected the clean channel on your 51050 after you put it in learn mode. That is correct according to the 5150's manual but the 5150's instructions for using learn mode seem to be indicating you are supposed to select the clean channel on the 5150 before you place the amp in learn mode as well. Pretty typical. Couldn't tell from your description if you did that first. That should put the clean channel on the amp in ready mode to learn whatever MIDI command you are sending from the HX FX for the currently selected channel. After you program the MIDI commands and click the footswitch on the HX FX then just follow the rest of the 5150's manual instructions for Learn mode. Repeat and rinse for the other 5150 channels. Might also be worth trying a different program number for the HX FX in case "1" is causing the problem. Also does not hurt to save your preset on the HX FX as you go to make sure you don't lose your MIDI setup.

Cruisinon2 is correct about general preferred placement for a wah and the potential benefits of not using the effects loop on the Stomp in this case if you don't have to. It might be worth figuring out why you are getting noise when placing the wah before the HX Stomp. Short of a defective wah pedal it could be a cable, battery, power supply or outlet, Input block level(Line, Instrument) on the HX Stomp, or even unshielded electronics on the guitar. Sounds like you have an alternative in place though should you need it.

Yep, sounds like a global reset and/or another run at the firmware update are in order. Rebuilding all presets every time the device is restarted is definitely not normal and requires remedial action.

Agree, I would definitely try to get them to repair it again under warranty unless the jack is showing gross mistreatment like having been stepped on and broken out. Btw, 389 Euros sounds excessive to me for a USB repair. That would be currently $463 in US dollars at which point I would have to laugh in the tech's face and promptly start my own repair service.

Agree, first swap out all cables and guitar and monitor as well if possible to isolate the problem to the HX Stomp. Could be your monitor starting to fail. Particularly if this does not happen with the headphones.

If you go back to your first/original post in this topic and hit 'Edit' you can change the name of your topic.

This ^^^^! Also make sure you leave all the checkboxes checked when you install HX Edit 3.01 to ensure you get the drivers necessary to recognize your hardware. I got one of the earliest Helices also, that will not be an issue with the upgrade.

As long as you do backups/exports you should not have to worry about losing your presets. The early versions of the editor did not include the full "Create Backup" option that exists now under HX Edit's 'File' selection on the menu. "Bundle" backups did come along at some point in the early versions of the editor. Good on ya for backing up your setlists and presets though. With 'Create Backup; and 'Restore from Backup' you will now have full and more extensive backup options that along with your setlists will also include your global settings as well as 'Favorites'(a recent feature addition you may find quite useful). If wah assignment is working properly with either factory or newly created presets you can compare your old presets assignments and probably figure out what is wrong. Just restoring your old presets though might be easier and faster if it fixes the issue. Make sure you have uninstalled the old version of the editor, downloaded and installed the latest version of HX Edit 3.0.1 and that the firmware version matches it. You can check that by looking at the top and bottom of HX Edit's 'Help' --> 'About HX Edit' screen. Roughly how many presets are rebuilding each time you restart? Are they always the same ones? If so, I would back them up with the latest version of HX Edit and try restoring them to force a final rebuild. If you are getting a rebuild after five restarts as you indicated you are either moving/copying/importing presets each time you bring up the Helix or something is wrong, especially if all your presets are rebuilding. If the rebuilds persist I would start with a global reset and restore. If that does not work move on to another backup and repeating the firmware update and restore. Btw, make sure you export a bundle in Native before you update it as well if you have not already.

It is totally normal after an update for the presets to rebuild. You should restart the Helix and let that complete. They will only rebuild once with some exceptions. If you copy any of them to other preset locations or import backups, setlists, or presets, those will rebuild upon the next restart as well. Not all of your presets will rebuild however as they do after a firmware update. Until the rebuilds are complete don't bother expecting normal operation. Not sure what is going on with your wah operation unless you are not fully engaging the toe switch or unless you have presets where you changed the wah's default assignment to something other than 'EXP 1'. Hopefully you made a backup before upgrading and you can try restoring that to see if normal operation is restored. Also be aware that your global settings have been set to their defaults so you probably want to review them. If you had for example Global Settings --> 'EXP Pedals' --> 'EXP1 Pedal Position' and 'EXP 2 Pedal Position' = "Global" before in your global settings you should restore that setting. Global settings from your last firmware can also can be restored from a backup. Not sure why you are looking at 2.8 bugs. Maybe you are referring to the known issue with the expression pedal reported in the 2.8.2 release notes. If you updated hopefully you are on HX Edit 3.01, the 3.01.0 firmware, and Native 3.01. Btw, to each their own but I would recommend not waiting so long in between updates in the future. You have missed out on an incredible number of improvements, new pedals, amps, features and bugfixes. On the plus side this dramatic an upgrade should be like getting a brand new and improved 2nd Gen Helix. You can always try a backup, global reset, and restore if the problems continue. If that doesn't work I might try updating the firmware again. Btw, does this problem with the wah occur only with your presets from your prior firmware or does it happen with the new firmware's Factory presets and/or new presets you create?

Although it wouldn't open up the core functionality of a device like open source would, really when you think about it there are so many freeware or even paid VST/AU plugins available. All it would take is one of the current modeling companies enabling them to be run efficiently, relatively crash-free, and agnostically(e.g. any VST/AU from any company or developer that satisfied a general set of requirements or standard) and we would be halfway there. Obsolescence could definitely be delayed if you were able to just add plugins which are improving all the time. You could potentially encourage existing industry leaders like Neural, Fractal, or Line6 to provide the equivalent of a Quad Cortex, Axe-FX, and Native plugin available to you to use simultaneously on your "open" floor or rack hardware. And again, there are mountains of freeware plugins available. Might take an optimized and powerful hardware/firmware platform but the technology seems to be getting there quickly. Some devices appear to be moving in this direction already. It could be interesting to have an open source modeling platform at some point. Simple devices like the Behringer FCB1010 have had their capabilities enhanced by swapping out EPROMs/firmware. Phones, tablets, and video streaming devices have been rooted; the same with operating systems on other devices. I suppose it could be done. That or just develop a modeler with open source from jump. The usual open source challenges would still exist. Security, support, code quality or lack there of, "curated" programming to maintain feature quality, etc.. Not to speak of the level of expertise both technical and musical required to pull this off and the willingness to give it away. Still, I suppose it could happen. No saying how satisfactory the results would be and separating the wheat from the chaff would be a monumental task. I personally am offering for a minimal fee a firmware chip mod that will convert your Helix from an impressive and capable modeler into nothing but an A/B switcher. Ah, simplicity. So far no takers.

Excellent advice and a great primer on how to safely and thoroughly execute an update! Now let's hope Line6 continues to perfect the process so most or all of these caveats and additional actions become unnecessary.

If I hack my Helix, write my own update, and turn it into a $1500 brick does that void the warranty?

This is a well established bug from the last update. I have to believe it will be addressed in the 3.1.0 firmware release. Actually shocked they didn't roll out a quickfix for it earlier. One of the benefits I am hoping the new more streamlined firmware/HX Edit update process yields is the ability to release those kinds of fixes rapidly without subsequent pushback from users who then have upgrade problems. Update: Looks like Silverhead hit the buzzer first.

The release of the new firmware 3.1.0(notice NOT 3.01.0) appears to be imminent(rumor has it being released as soon as March 17th, please don't hold Line6 or me to that) and along with it I assume probably a new version of HX Edit to accompany it. This would be the time to upgrade to version 3.01.0 of HX Edit if you have not already so you can witness for yourself the modern marvel of HX Edit forcing an update of itself before updating the firmware. That should prevent a whole lot of newer users from ending up with their version of HX Edit and firmware being out of sync. Yahoo! For anyone who missed it, this was in the release notes for the 3.01.0 version of HX Edit. "HX Edit 3.01 HX Edit 3.01 includes bug fixes and an improved firmware updating procedure, and is strongly recommended for all Helix and HX owners. Doesn't matter what version of HX Edit you're currently running; you can go straight to 3.01. New Features AFTER installing HX Edit 3.01, updating firmware for Helix and HX products is now more consistent and seamless. For example, the update process now forces you to update HX Edit before your Helix/HX hardware. (Imagine that.) Even if the bugs below don’t apply to you, we strongly recommend updating HX Edit to 3.01 so you’ll be ready to go for our next release."

Just wanted to mention that often with pitch shifting or harmony blocks people hear the actual sound coming off of their guitar strings in addition to the generated sound from their device output. This can lead to you hearing out of pitch sounds that your audience or recording won't. Other than that, next stop, "poly auto-tune" block being added to correct Poly Capo pitch drift(just kidding) :-)

Yes. .hxb are the backup files created by the "Create Backup" command from HX Edit's 'File' menu or as you mention when you do a firmware update.

^^^^This if you haven't checked it yet! Should have been the first thing mentioned. Many a user has run into this issue when using the FX loop.

Yep, as schmalle responded levels would be one of the first issues I would look to. Not sure the extra D/A conversion when routing through the Stomp's FX loop could be responsible for the level of signal degradation you are describing. You still have D/A conversion even when you plug your stomp pedals directly into the stomp. I wonder if this could be at least partially impacted by impedance issues as zappazapper alluded to. Have you tried changing the order of which of your external stomps gets plugged in first in your FX loop? Maybe the first pedal you have connected to the HX Stomp's send doesn't like the input level it is receiving. Might not be your ideal pedal sequence but is is one more thing you can test. I suspect it is more likely a settings or impedance issue but another thing to check is if you are using different cables to plug in via the loop rather than directly, I would try some others. Never hurts to start testing by swapping out some hardware. Might try swapping out the stomp pedals also. Are you getting the same excessive sound degradation no matter which stomps you try in the FX loop? Another thing to pay attention to in your testing is what sequence you have the pedals in when using the HX Stomp's loop versus plugging them in directly. Is everything still in the same order in your signal chain when plugged in via the HX Stomp's loop? If not you might just prefer the pedal order when run in directly.

Great point and doubtless true but I would still be curious to hear it. You could lose some modeling accuracy/authenticity but as you point out the result might still be worth it. It would be interesting if Line6 released a PowerCab down the line that had the F12-X200 speaker stock. Not that I want to see the one I already own devalued ;-)