zooey

Clearly DI is right in principle, but it's simpler in my basement "studio" to turn my FRFRs on first, then Helix, then grab my guitar off its stand, and get it plugged in by the time Helix boots. Speakers are on the floor, and it's awkward to reach down and behind them to power them on with a guitar around my neck. Yes, I could wait for Helix to boot, turn on the tuner to mute the guitar cable, turn on the cabs, then pick up my guitar, plug it and unmute it, but speakers first is simpler and quicker. And FWIW, I don't hear any bad news sounds from the speakers when Helix goes on with the cabs already live, or when I shut Helix down with cabs on. It's possible I'm doing some sort of damage, but not that I'm aware. Still, if I were you, I'd listen to DI though, not me :)

Thanks Joe. Shipping is $21.99, so I'm going to call and see if I can pick them up instead, since I'm close enough to their Boston shop to do that. I've been wondering if that short height is actually a good idea, or if I'm just managing to point my FRFRs at the backs of my knees like a 4x12 cab. Gut level, seems like it'd feel odd to have PA-looking cabs higher, chest-to-head level or higher, like standard stands would do. But purely acoustically, I understand that FRFRs are generally designed for wide horizontal dispersion and much less vertical, so the short stands to seem like back of knees, maybe. You pic shows a floor monitor in front of you, with the stands for side fills. Is the wedge just vocals, or is your guitar in there too? I'm probably making way to much of all of this, most likely, anything will be fine. Can't help but wonder what's "the best", as if there's one answer, and it applies everywhere, to everyone. First world problems for sure.

The mode I'm definitely wishing for is 10 (foot-)switches, but when you go into presets mode and choose a preset, it immediately goes back to 10 switches. That would be really useful for me. (And that footswitch swap move is awesome, missed that in the manual (is it in there?), found out about it here a while ago, just great!)

It specifically says in the manual that the XLRs do the same thing, left one is mono if you use only that one. That's super handy if the PA's mono and you're stereo on stage, but I'm a little suspicious, since switching XLRs aren't super common, just because of their physical design. Can anyone confirm that that's real?

specracer986, do you have the part number or URL for those stands at AVALive? I'm not finding them. Some of the Yorkville items under speaker stands don't have a height spec, and the model number I thought I was looking for, SKS02B, isn't found on that page, and doesn't find anything searching Mfg Part #. They do have an office in Boston, relatively near me, which I guess means I get to trade sales tax for shipping.

Nice work bsd512, whether it's a solution or not. Probably the IRs you loaded were higher resolution than Helix supports internally, so it converted them. Which means that to do this up fully, there needs to be the extra step of loading them into Helix while keeping track of which file is in which slot, then eexporting them, still keeping track, then comparing the converted versions with the ones used in the OP's presets. Fair amount of hassle.

You don't need an audio-specific compare utility, anything that compare binary (non-text) files should work. I use Beyond Compare in my work, and it's awesome, but not free. WinDiff is free (if you're on Windows). But unless I don't understand something, any program, including the one you tried, has the same drawback, which that you'd have to compare each individual Helix file you're interested in with every RedWirez file. You can see which IR numbers are used by your presets, right? If you drag just those IRs out of the editor onto a file system window, then you'll have only those few files on the Helix side to deal with. You will have to compare each on with each RedWirez file, but it should work.

Well... If I'm understanding you right, you have the files you want in your helix now, and your presets use them, yes? If that's true, then export the IRs (to a different directly than the originals), and do a file compare with each RedWirez file. Cumbersome I know, each Helix file vs each Redwirez file. If there are tons of files, that would suck. (A programmer, which I am, could help with that, but I'm pretty overwhelmed with life at the moment. If you know someone else with those sorts of chops, ask them.)

Thanks. US link, if anyone's interested: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sound-Speaker-Stand-Carry-Bag-Small-/121846277296?hash=item1c5e9aa4b0:g:8nQAAOSwgY9XdOhz

Joe, you didn't find a bag to hold a pair of those short Yorkville stands, did you? I can't find pairs of them, or a bag, just singles. They're cheap enough that buying 2 is reasonable, but I would like something to transport them.

Thank you sir, you're a gentleman, much appreciated! Looking forward to checking these out,

Scary reviews on those Pyle ones. (Makes me wonder about their isolation box too...) The short Yorkville ones seem like a good idea, dn't need anything taller I think, $20.57 ea at Full Compass + shipping.

Don't see anything in the product specs specifically saying that it blocks phantom power. You're sure it does? I guess a 1:1 transformer inherently does, if done right. Have you heard a difference in sound with vs without it when phantom is on? HEADS-UP: If I remember right, some people have reported actual damage from applying phantom to the Helix XLR outs, so please don't go trying that on my account!!! No adverse effects on your tone from going through it in general? Seems very worthwhile for the price.

Are you saying that if you go first to the other guitarist's Helix, then thru to you, that works, but not if you go to yours first? That might indicate that your MIDI out/through jack isn't working. Can you verify that you can send MIDI from your Helix to anything -- not thru, just plain out?

Whether or not a surge protector is the solution to the OP's original problem, sammycraig is certainly right that having one for gear in Helix's price range is a good idea. Anyone care to comment on the differences between these? - Furman SS6B - Tripp Lite 7 Outlet Surge Protector Power Strip - Tripp Lite ISOBAR8ULTRA There's a significant price range, even leaving aside cord length. (Not interested in rack mount, have Helix floor, no rack planned.)

Dang that's cheap for a 2-channel line level iso box that isn't awful. Looks like it can convert 1/4" unbalanced in to XLR balanced out, yes?

Love the Minotaur, and somewhat to my surprise, lately the OCD. Also Hedgehog and KWB, Teemah!, Tycoctavia (w post EQ) for some ok-we're-bent stuff. Lots of my patches have a kind of clean base, and at least two levels of OD on footswitches, plus sometimes others not on switches that I'm messing with to see if I want them in too. Guess I'm an OD lollipop :)

OK that's tall (:-) Thanks for the rec.

(D@mn, stuff like this is expensive. Never looked before, think I'll try not to...)

I'm thinking about getting a pair of pole stands for my 12" FRFRs. I've seen some brands I don't know (Rockville, NavePoint...) on eBay for $40-$60, some with a carry bag, which i'd actually like, and Ultimate Support for twice that. No idea how much difference those extra dollars would make. Does anyone have any recommendations? I'm cheap, but I want to buy something and then actually have it to use, not have it die, or be hateful in use.

Cool, apologies for my misreading, seemed unlikely, but... anyway... Think DI summed it up pretty well. Onward!

Miles, you've reduced all of amp design to the few factors you've called out, as if it's all just unimportant variations nobody would ever consider wasting their time on. Seriously? I bet there are a bunch of amp makers and players who would dispute that. And DunedinDragon, someone whose priorities are different from yours isn't necessarily a prima donna or otherwise invalid. I don't mean to call out you two specifically, I just was reading those posts, and feeling like we really need to allow everyone space to ask about and say what they're interested in. Obviously, Line 6 has to decide what to do first and what to do later, out of their enormous list of possible enhancements. Everyone here knows that. When someone says they really wish feature x or y would happen yesterday, I take it for granted that they mean it's important to them, nothing more. The flip side of that is that when someone says they feel cheated because they bought a Helix thinking that soon it would have features x and y that didn't exist at that time, and haven't been announced as even planned, I just move on. They also mean it's important to them, and we can talk about those features as features, but those expectation fantasies are clearly unwarranted, and aren't my concern, or Line 6's.

Crossover in a 2-way system is usually higher than 1k I think. My Alesis Alpha 112s for instance cross at 1.6k. They are biamped (350 W LF + 150 W HF Continuous RMS, they say), so that's different, but still I wouldn't expect a compression tweeter to perform well as low as 1k. All due respect to Mr Dragon here, but I doubt very much that the tweeter in any passive system gets a full range signal, down into bass frequencies. It would die pretty instantly, too much power, too much excursion, just not designed for that. An inexpensive passive system may not have anything more sophisticated than a single capacitor keeping lows out of the horn, which doesn't produce a very sharp roll-off, but I'd be very surprised if there wasn't anything. They might let high end in the woofer just roll of naturally, since it won't cause any physical harm, but lows in the tweet, don't think so.

Just guessing, but it's possible some of the problem was the tilted-back angle. You were pointing over the audience's head, but were close enough that they hit you more than people further out. That said, in a band I played in long ago, both the other guitar player and I had cabs on both sides of the stage, mostly so we could hear each other, but with the side effect of better dispersion in the room. (We were also mic'd.) One of the huge benefits I imagIne you get with wireless (never used one) is the ability to get out into the room and listen from anywhere.

I've thought about this a fair amount, though I haven't done the RTA thing yet. When I first tried Helix through my new and first FRFRs, I was kind of paralyzed, thinking I shouldn't make any presets until I'd made a well-reasoned decision about what global EQ to listen to them through. I thought about EQ-ing them by ear so I liked commercial recordings, and about trying IK's ARC System 2, which I have but haven't ever used, but probably should. In the end, I decided that the PA isn't going to be flat, it's going to have local bumps lessened (if you're lucky), and a general curve the sound guy likes working with. The mics typically used for guitars aren't typically flat either, so what they typically get from guitars gets filtered through that, which affects their idea of a nice overall curve, and so on. Short version: There are lots of moving parts I can't reasonably compensate for or know ahead of time (though some of that I could if it's always my own PA). So for now I'm doing what I and countless other players have done forever -- making my self happy with the sounds that are in my face from my rig. If it's too bright or too dull to fit in the mix, the FOH person will deal, like they always have. I don't really think there's anything I can do to get myself some ultimate vantage point where I can reliably make that decision for every future PA and room. Ironing out narrow peaks and valleys is probably still useful, but overall response has so many layers to it, I'm not sure that's a target worth chasing. By which I don't mean to diss anyone else's approach or invalidate their results, it's just where I am now, FWIW.