Verne-Bunsen

When I first got Helix, I immediately loaded Ownhammer IRs, having been convinced by my reading and researching that the stock cabs were inferior. Initially I loved them, but eventually my ears started being acutely aware of the really dramatic EQ'd qualities of the different IRs. I heard exactly what you describe. After working with one for a while and dialing it in, I'd switch to another and it would sound like I was playing in a tin can. Over time my ears would acclimate, then switching would again would put me back in the tin can. It was the recent discovery that you could have IRs change with snapshots that really drove it home: I'd dial in one good sound, switch IRs and whatever else for the next snapshot and dial in another good sound, but in use switching back and forth left them both sounding hollow and "off" all the time. So, long story short, I've gone back to the stock cab sims and haven't looked back. I've been using variations on this guys approach, which has me getting really nice results. I've posted this video a few times recently, but I think it's worth watching. It was a real game-changer for me. I recently did a full factory reset of my Helix due to troubleshooting some other stuff and haven't bothered to re-load any of my IRs. Don't know that I will.

Check out this thread for a discussion of that subject: http://line6.com/support/topic/22663-easiest-way-to-assign-snapshots-to-footswitches/?do=findComment&comment=172550 I've started an Ideascale topic for this very thing, give it a vote! http://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Option-to-assign-Snapshots-to-switches-in-10-Switch-Stomp-Mode/833058-23508

That's what I was going to say, the Whizzer! Gotta love Neil.

As well as any settings in the input/output blocks!

I've migrated to 4 Stomps/4 Snaps as well, stomps on top, snaps on bottom. It is certainly adequate, especially when you incorporate a few things on switches accessible in Stomp mode just one click away. The thing that leaves it lacking for me is the wasted real estate. Most of my patches have just two or three snaps, the rest is handled with the stomps. That leaves one or two footswitches wasted as they are allocated to snaps that I don't have. I think the ability to assign snaps to footswitches in Stomp mode would be the ultimate. I started an Ideascale topic on it, vote it on up if you're of like-mind! http://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Option-to-assign-Snapshots-to-switches-in-10-Switch-Stomp-Mode/833058-23508

Mine still looks the same as it has, no zooming and no off-screen columns. Perhaps you have inadvertently switched to the full version of the website? Scroll down to the bottom and see if there is a link in the left corner, just above all of the social media icons, that says "Use Mobile Version". If so, that link will bring you back.

It is not as clear as it should be, I'll give you that. After selecting "Helix" from the "All Software" field as silverhead said, click "Go" and you'll be taken to a set of release notes that look kind of like a forum post. At the bottom of the top-most entry is a link that says "Get Download". That's the one.

So I performed the 2.01 update, did the FS 9&10 Global Reset, then did a FS 8, 9 & 12 reset, and really I'm not noticing that anything much has changed. I can still dial in nice cleans, but if I dig in to something or push an amp, I get a fizzy unnatural distortion. Not what registers to me as natural amp break up. So I'm kind of at a head scratching place. My ears and my brain are telling me something is amiss, something is happening that wasn't happening before, a month ago I was blown away by the tones I was getting and now I'm not so much. But other than "It ain't right!" I can't actually quantify a malfunction. So, until such time as a new data point emerges or I get something I can pursue, I'm going to roll with what I've got. Troubleshooting my rig has kind of taken over as my hobby for the last couple of weeks and I'm ready to get back to playing. I've learned a lot in the process, so that's always a good thing. I've got the Input Pad on, I'll play with the global and cab-specific hi and low cuts, and I'll make it the best I can. Thanks very much for all of the input on this thread, I'll keep it all in mind. VB

On the upside of all of this, I've been playing my acoustic again... :D

Duly noted, thank you for your thorough feedback! Of course the ham-fisted notes and chords on the clips are just intended to showcase the phenomenon in question. The sound on your clip (great playing by the way!) is exactly what I'm looking for on that amp. And, rather ironically, Autum Leaves is what I've been playing with recently and it has been killing me as every time I chord I get the static/noise, which sounds to my ear not like natural amp break up. That I can get behind. But, all that said, I'm going to perform a reset of the device and see if it lingers and, pending any other revelations, if it is still there I guess I'll just have to refine my expectations and approach. Re-calibrate myself as it were.

Interesting! Software bug is my hope too. I think I've done all of the troubleshooting and diagnosing that I can, so my next move will be to update (I'm on 2.00.0, never saw a reason to update to the last release but it now seems more and more prudent) and perform a full factory reset. I'll report back.

I appreciate that perspective, "sanity check" was one goal of this thread. It is possible to get so lost in the minutia with these devices that the bigger picture gets obscured. So, with that, I'll ask this with 0% snark and 100% genuine curiosity: If you listen to the clips that I've posted, particularly the P90s into the Stone Age and the Humbuckers into the Twin (I think those two best display what I'm looking at), do you hear the expected sounds of a mic'd amp or do you hear something different? For my part, I hear something problematic. Most of what I play these days is rooted in jazz and blues and find this additional noise/distortion/artifacting/ whathaveyou to be very distracting and unpleasant. Nothing akin to the usual warts of mic'ing an amp. I'm good with genuine, good with over-accurate, but I'm experiencing something else I think. Thank you for your input! I'll re-post those clips here for convenience if you'd like to listen to them: P-90s into Stone Age https://www.dropbox.com/s/j3bj7ay7otad2sn/P90%20-%20EH185.mp3?dl=0 Humbuckers into Twin (Input Pad OFF) https://www.dropbox.com/s/n7p4205wt8i18lh/HB%20-%20Twin.mp3?dl=0 (Input Pad ON) https://www.dropbox.com/s/dav5xla5v12yla9/HB%20-%20Twin%20-Pad-.mp3?dl=0

I went back to the original post and entered the parameters for the blocks involved. I set up a similarly simple patch for my Les Paul into a Fender Twin, as proposed by DunedinDragon and found that I was getting the same noise on that. Single coils didn't do it in this instance, but the HBs sure did. The Input Pad actually brought the noise out more, like decreasing the signal/noise ratio or something, which I found interesting. Not so much in the single notes, although it's there, but very distinct in the chords. There's a clip with it off, then a clip with it on. Global Low cut: 63 Hz Global Hi cut: 10 kHz Input: Multi Impedance: Auto Les Paul with Humbuckers US Double Vib (D 4.0, B 3.8, M 7.0, T 5.8, P 2.5, CV 8.2, M 10, S 5.0, H 5.0, R 3.3, B 6.0, BX 5.0) 2x12 Double C12N (57 Dyn, 3", LC Off, HC Off, ER 0%, L 0.0) Input Pad OFF https://www.dropbox.com/s/n7p4205wt8i18lh/HB%20-%20Twin.mp3?dl=0 Input Pad ON (Output block level +3dB to make up) https://www.dropbox.com/s/dav5xla5v12yla9/HB%20-%20Twin%20-Pad-.mp3?dl=0 I could clean the noise up completely by reducing the amp drive to 2.0, but it's just the same behaviour I'm getting in other amps: clean can be clean, but pushing the amp even a little comes with this noise. A few data points that I found worth capturing and reporting: Straight through the Helix, no blocks, input pad OFF, the pickups are hitting my DAW as follows: Humbuckers: -12db P90s: -16db Strat: -20db The pad drops the signal by about 6db. All of the patches in these clips, and all of my patches in general, are set to come in between -12 and -10db. The signal doesn't get much hotter than that anywhere in the signal path. For grins, I loaded a blank preset and started adding gain blocks until I could hear Helix begin to clip. It clipped right about the same time that my DAW input meter hit 0db. Since I don't ever approach that in my patches, I'm led to believe that's not what's going on. However, the clipping did sound similar to what I'm hearing. I took the patch with the P90 Paul into the Stone Age (from the original post) and set out to see how much gain I had to drop to clean up the noise. I turned the pad on and used an EQ block to start dropping level in front of the amp and it took the pad combined with -10db to do it. Bringing the amp drive up a bit to get the character back brought the noise right back in. So, I haven't figured anything out, but I have done some fairly solid fact-finding and now I'm going to go to bed and see if I can dream up the answer.

I totally missed this post earlier, interesting to know that you're getting this too! Not sure if it's good to know or bad to know, but certainly it's interesting. I've been thinking about investing in a G10 wireless system, perhaps now is the time...

Yeah, I've been following that thread too. I was hoping to see an audio sample pop up there so I could compare noises. Hard saying not knowing, but I think I'm up against something different here. It really seems like something has changed in the sounds that I'm getting.

I'll post the parameters in those patches a little later. If someone were inclined to dial them up I'd be interested to know what their results were...

Credit goes to DI, I believe it was his clever proposition initially, but glad to share it!

In these samples I've used the stock cab associated with the amp. So the 1x12 Field Coil with the EH185, the Jensen loaded 4x10 with the Bassman, and a 4x12 with 25w Greenbacks for the JCM800. I had previously been using Ownhammer and Red Wirez IRs, but I decided to eliminate them when I started troubleshooting these issues.

Input is on "Multi" and impedance is on "Auto". I will sometimes set impedance to 136k for humbuckers into a clean Fender-y amp, because that sounds nice, but generally speaking it's on auto. It's on auto for all of the clips attached to the first post. Sparkly clean it does without a problem. As soon as I introduce any dirt, whether by changing amp parameters or by putting a boost upstream, the bad distortion (?) comes in with the good. I use the input meter of my DAW as a reference and when I crank something for gain, I lower something else to keep the overall signal level consistent. So no run-away accumulation of gain throughout the patch. The fact that it can do clean without generating this noise is what makes me think the input is solid: if that was the root, the noise would be all over everything, clean, dirty, raw. At least in my mind that's how it would work. I'll try to get an opportunity to record a couple of clean sounds as reference points tonight.

Good luck there, I think his personality has as much to do with his sound as his gear does! I'm a fan of his as well, he reminds me that playing guitar is supposed to be fun. REALLY fun.

Thanks for taking the time to chime in, Glenn! I have tried the input pad, it's actually what prompted the thread I started a few days ago asking questions about it. Initially it seemed that it helped, but it was just the weaker input signal "cleaning up" the amp, as rolling the guitar volume off would. If I adjust the amp parameters to get the amount of drive back where I want it, the noise is right back with it. Going straight through the Helix, no blocks, there is no noise/distortion on the signal. This is true with the pad "OFF" or "ON", with low output Strat singles or with humbuckers. Between those two things, I'm thinking that is a good indication that input clipping is not the culprit?

Global low/hi cuts are at 60Hz and 10kHz, eq is orherwise flat. I can bring the hi cut all the way down without it cleaning the sound up any. I haven't messed with the moving the low cut to extremes, that'll be something to check out. Thanks for the input!

Hello all, I kind of feel like I'm going batty, but I've had some other ears on this and all seem to agree it ain't quite right. I'm interested in your thoughts. I finding that, regardless of what guitar/pickups/amp/cab I'm using, any tone with any amount of gain has this nasty buzzy sound that I just can't get away from. I'd almost liken it to having a blown speaker, but I'm hearing it in my Atomic CLR (via mono XLR out), in my headphones, and in recordings. If I use the input pad without altering other parameters, the noise is diminished by virtue of the weaker signal cleaning things up. If I tweak things to get the tone back were it was then the noise is right back. I've listened to recordings I made a few months ago and I didn't hear this, but now it's all I hear. I take great care to prevent clipping within a patch, but without any onboard monitoring it's tough to know for sure. **Unfounded speculation alert** A couple of weeks ago I was editing a few patches on the computer and the Helix locked up solid. I had to cycle the power to get it back, and when it re-started it went through the "Re-building presets" sequence. Nothing was instantly evident, but it seems like my troubles started popping up about then and things haven't been quite right since. I dunno, just throwing it out there. **End unfounded speculation** By way of troubleshooting I've reset the Globals (footswitch 5&6), re-built all presets (footswitch 10&11), and evaluated the levels of every block in my patches using the input meter of my DAW to ensure there wasn't a bunch of gain accumulating. A full factory reset is probably my next move, although I'm not sure how to go about it. Is that footswitch 9&10? I've changed guitars and I've changed cables, I hear it in all of my output devices, so that leaves me looking at the machine. The machine, or my own sanity. For your consideration, I've recorded a few samples of it. I set up super simple patches for this purpose, just amp and cab (using the stock cabs), save for the Strat -> Bassman which has a Tube Screamer with the gain on 0 and the level on 10. In all cases, Helix was hitting the input of my DAW (Logic Pro X) at about -10 db. Global low/hi cuts at 63Hz and 10kHz. Firmware 2.0. Nothing fancy, a couple of single notes and a couple of chords allowed to ring. Global Low cut:63 Hz Global Hi cut: 10 kHz Input Pad: OFF Input: Multi Impedance: Auto Les Paul with P90s Stone Age 185 (D 3.4, B 5.0, M 5.2, T 5.1, P 3.0, CV 8.5, M 10, S 5.0, H 5.0, R 5.0, B 7.0, BX 5.0) 1X12 Field Coil (57 Dyn, 1", LC Off, HC Off, ER 0%, Level 0) https://www.dropbox.com/s/j3bj7ay7otad2sn/P90%20-%20EH185.mp3?dl=0 Les Paul with HBs Brit 2204 (D 2.2, B 1.7, M 8.9, T 8.7, P 6.0, CV 8.0, M 7.0, S 5.0, H 5.0, R 5.0, B 7.0, BX 5.0) 4x12 Greenback 25 (57 Dyn, 1", LC Off, HC Off, ER 0%, Level 0) https://www.dropbox.com/s/hqo3x5ijp6p2iov/HB%20-%20JCM800.mp3?dl=0 Strat with Singles Scream 808 (G 0.0, T 6.5, L 10) Tweed Blues Brt (D 5.9, B 5.1, M 6.0, T 5.7, P 3.4, CV 7.6, M 10, S 5.0, Hum 5.0, R 5.0, B 7.3, BX 5.0) 4x10 Tweed P10R (160 Rib, 2", LC Off, HC Off, ER 0%, L 0.0) https://www.dropbox.com/s/wti11vm1w5jg6cw/Strat%20-%20TS%20-%20Bassman.mp3?dl=0 For what it's worth, I hear it on the stock presets and even on the Fremen presets now, can't recall that being the case when I loaded them. I'd be really interested to hear any ideas you folks might have. Thanks for taking the time to listen!

Another option is to jump MIDI out to MIDI in and assign a footswitch in Stomp mode to send the proper command to activate the snapshot you want. Not perfect, the footswitch doesn't stay illuminated to show that it's active, but it's workable.

Well there just isn't anything wrong with any of that, sounds great!