I have a Helix on order from Musicians Friend. I'm getting it pretty much solely on the recommendation of a friend who already has an Axe unit, and still wanted the Helix for it's ease of use. I've heard him live with both, but there are too many variables for me to be sure if the Helix equals the Axe sound quality. My first impression is that it doesn't sound quite as good.
I've been lurking here for a couple of weeks now, and I admit I'm somewhat concerned about all the difficulties and bugs I keep hearing about. I guess I'm naive, but I would have thought that the thing would be bulletproof and operate perfectly in all aspects before it was put up for sale for $1500 bucks. I once bought a Line 6 modeling amp, and loved the sound of it. I brought it out on a gig, and no sound would come out. Total disaster. I returned it and bought a Mesa tube amp and never looked back.
So my purchase is a little bit of a leap of faith - I hope Line 6 doesn't let me down here...
Anyway, to bring the post somewhat back on topic. I found it somewhat interesting that when I took the "Line 6 challenge," I got nearly every answer wrong. So much for my vaunted ears LOL. I took it twice more, and the results were completely opposite, these times I was only wrong twice.
Anyone know what to make of that? I don't.
My other comment re the challenge is that I would have liked to hear more straight power chords and single notes sustaining, maybe with some feedback. Most of the challenge stuff seems pretty busy.
