MusicLaw

Line 6's existing firmware update and preset backup, import, update methods have proven to be a mine field of frustration for many Helix users. Although we're still not yet there, this Spring's anticipated release of Helix Native and an updated/overhauled version of Helix Editor may be precursors to a modern state-of-the-art well integrated and intelligent Helix updater.

It will be quite welcome when the next iteration of the Helix User Guide PDF arrives coincident to Firmware 3.0 (whenever that may be)! Since 2.00, fw 2.10 brought some very nice addtions. Firmware 2.11 and 2.12 were minimal releases. Since July 2016, when 2.00 was released there have been numerous User Tips and Tricks and Line 6 informative posts suggested for inclusion in or as an appendix to the next Helix User Guide. And, with the already announced numerous features of Firmware 2.20 (expected to be released later this Month), whenever firmware 3.00 eventually arrives there will be plenty of new content for the 3.0 User Guide. For the time, being, it is up to the User collect the various Release Notes from Line 6's site, and follow the various threads on these Forums and on TGP, as well as the several Helix Wiki and Helix Line 6 Help sites, all in the effort to accumulate the information. A somewhat cumbersome task at best. My guess is that once this Spring's upcoming releases of Helix Native and the updated version of Helix Editor have been released, Helix firmware 3.0 will not be far behind to leverage the capabilities of Native and Editor. I remain confident and optimistic that if Line 6 does their preparation, drafting, and editing well, the new User Guides for these products should be exceptional! Moreover, in the interim, as the existing Helix User Guide PDF's Security Settings allow Highlighting and Comments, this is one method to aggregate all of your Helix infomation. I certainly do hope that Line 6 maintains this Security Settings permission through future User Manual releases.

The best thing to do is submit a Support Ticket to formally bring it to Line 6's attention and to document the symptom on the record! You are not likely to be the only one who has encountered such symptoms. In mid-December w/ firmware 2.10 on a new Helix, I encountered similar symptoms while turning the Joystick Knob's rotary encoder to scroll through the Amp+Cab or Amp Block items in the Block List. Every once in a while it seems that the Helix Floor's on-board firmware would simply skip a beat and ignore one of the rotary encoder's pulses. Either that or the knob's encoder may be at fault. The result is that the emboldened (highlighted) item does not advance to the next item in the list. The very next turn of the knob does work! The intermittent nature of the problem makes it seem far more like a a firmware hickup or momentary processor is busy issue than a faulty encoder knob. See: http://line6.com/support/topic/24561-amp-model-selection-skips-a-beat/ I submitted a Support Ticket with Line 6 to officially get the problem on the record. Line 6's response to the Support Ticket was that they were unaware of the problem and were unable to replicate the symptom. At that time firmware 2.11 had just been released, and was soon followed by 2.12. Neither of those releases contained meaningful improvements for my use, and neither specifically mentioned any correction of this issue. I opted to forgo installing them in favor of a more significant firmware release. 2.20 is expected this month. Although every firmware release includes a blanket general reference that overall stability improvements have been made (that are not otherwise specifically detailed nor itemized), as you mentioned that your Helix is running fw 2.12 and it is encountering this symptom, if it is a firmware issue, it has not been fixed! Even if the symptom were not get fixed in the forthcoming 2.20 fw (now expected in March), the more Support Tickets Line 6 gets the more they'll know. That same week, I also encountered another anomaly involving Joystick rotation and Amp model selection and reported it to Line 6 in mid-December. This one may have been corrected in fw 2.11, as a reply from another user suggests in the thread linked below. If you are encountering this also report it Line 6 on a separate Support Ticket. See: http://line6.com/support/topic/24499-joystick-rotation-model-selection-bug/

Try setting the Output Block to Multi. Try defining an FX Send Block assigned to any one of the four FX Sends and set the Global I/0 Level for that FX Send to Instrument Level.

The Ultimate Solution > > > > > > > > > A Faraday Cage! ;)

I'm a HAM Radio Guy! I've been involved with Amateur Radio (and CB Radio before that) for decades. I have a licensed station that transmits worldwide. Essentially, the interaction of strings and pickups on an electic guitar are acting as an antenna. Depending on the Effective Radiated Power (ERP) of the ambient Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) field strength, pickup design and wiring, orientation of guitar, and the polarization of the ambient electromagnetic interference (EMI) things can get noisy. All this in addition to any interference that may be entering elsewhere via the AC Mains or cabling. If humbucker style pickups, phase cancellation, power source filtration (conditioners, RF Chokes, etc.) and proper grounding are unable to resolve the problems, sometimes, the only solution can be increasing the distance from the interfering source(s). Doubling the distance will cut the interference by a factor of 4 (Coulomb's Law the Inverse Square Law).

Found the pre-existing ideascale post. Here it is to vote for, if desired. https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Save-block-parameters-independently-from-patch/753643-23508

Some sort of a Favorties system for Helix to remember a user's preferred configuration of parameter value settings for a Block would be very userful! This would be aside from using Snapshots or saving a Template Preset. Currently, when selected from the Block menu, a Block comes in to the Preset (being edited) with all of that Block's parameters set to Factory Default values. If Helix remembered a users last "Favorited" configuration of that Block's parameters, users would no longer be forced to always begin from scratch with every Block. Perhaps the memory capacity of one of the SetLists could be repurposed to more effectively provide a logical and practical method to save, contain, recall Block Favorites, (than otherwise going through the mechanism of saving (up to 128) single Block Template presets). Any implemented method should be fully suppored directly on-board HELIX w/o the need of using the Editor. I seem to recollect reading something akin to this on ideascale months ago. However, ideascale is difficult to search to finding a post. Perhaps some else has more specific recall. If this has not been posted, I can post this to ideascale to see how well it may be embraced.

You would certainly still be able to use your Peavy Classic 30 with the Helix. You could do so in 4 Cable Method or simply feed Helix's FX Send to your amp's FX Return. You'll find Helix's signal routing to be a breeze to decide what suits you best. Only you can decide what sounds good. And, you can certainly feed the FOH from your Helix. Whether you opt to add a FRFR (or two) would be up to you. Many have chosen to do so, but it is by no means essential.

For low to moderate SPLs at near field, my HELIX to Yamaha THR10c AuxIn sounds great! I then tried pairs of JBL LSR305's, LSR308's and Yamaha HS8's. I wanted higher SPL capable near field monitors for a wide variety of material - not just for electric guitar. I was amazed how well the THR10c compared to these monitors at lower SPLs, notwithstanding the Monitors' clearly superior bottom ends. I opted to keep the JBL LSR308s for their price/performance, wide sweet spot and superior sonic character. My full HELIX system is a pair of Yamaha DXR10 monitors, I often run WDW with my Fender Mustang IV v.2 configured as a Powered Cab (bypassing the Mustang's Presets and EQ Stack). Once I got familiar with how the JBL LSR 308s and Yamaha DXR10s fit into the spectrum of my existing listening references (also Snell main monitors, and other JBL Studio Monitors), tweaks are minimal adjustments and not problematic. The HELIX makes the entire process down right fun! Rock on!

Floating internal grounds can also be a real headache to correct. Not unheard of (no pun intended) in some gear. This could be contributing to the relay switching issue if on the amp. Or, possibly on the Helix's side.

Brue58ski and PeterHamm, a derivative SetList version of your respective efforts on these amp demo Presets would be a great candidate for inclusion in Line 6's Helix fw factory build. Should you be in agreement with the prospect, do let Line 6 know they're free to do so.

It is still remarkably disappointing that simply using the Line 6 Website's Search Tool, fails to yield a direct hit for any of the following strings: "Helix Release Notes" "Helix Firmware Release Notes" "Helix Firmware Update" "Helix Updates" "Helix Firmware" Line 6 has spent considerable effort updating the website, yet the KnowledgeBase and Search Tools are inadequate.

It certainly would be helpful if Line 6 were to publish (more of) their specs.

Seems the Terms and Provisions are clear that fulfillment will indeed be via U.S. Mail of the pedal subsequent to registering the units. The Line 6 registration will ask for your purchase date, so simply use your in Februray purchase date. It simply wouldn't make any sense in the shortest month of the year, for Line 6 to construe the Terms such that you would need to have acutal possession of the Serial Numbers prior to Month's end. That would disqualify anyone who ordered the units during the final few days of the month where shipping were required. Line 6 is not devious, and I do not expect they would be seeking to avoid honoring the Promotion.

After growing accustomed to (i.e. learning) the subtle yet distinct characteristics of each of my playback listening systems, (Main Studio Monitors, Near Field Monitors, FRFR Monitors, Headphones, IEMs, etc) I've gotten very good results by switching between and amongst them to cross check levels, mixes, EQ settings, etc. The several pair of Sony MDR-V6 I have, have been incredibly reliable and never let me down.

Those ProLine (and equivalent) Amp stands with the dual reversable L-bracket arms work great to support the Helix! I have a buddy using his Helix Floor on an On Stage Stands SM7211B Heavy Duty Music Stand (under $40). He's got a bit of velcro to secure it the Helix in place. He's lossened the treadle so he can use it with his hand, and also uses a Mission Exp Pedal on the floor. For a bit more agility, the On Stage Stands MX400 Rolling Mixer/AutoLocator Stand (about $83 from B&H) is another alternative:

Let's hope this is corrected in fw 2.20.

Another advantage of having Guitar Center ship to your nearest GC store, is that if anything is damaged in transit, you can simply refuse to accept it or have them order a replacement. Sweetwater is also a great firm to purchase from and doing so will get you an additional year of warranty coverage for a full duration of 2 years. If Sweetwater meets the GC 15% discount price that would be great deal too! Worth giving them a call.

I'm do not work for Line 6. Nonetheless, their recent year end Helix backpack promtion was fulfilled by the dealers who furnished the Helix backpacks directly to the purchasers. If the February promotion is being handled similarly, it would be Guitar Center that would be providing you the Mission Expression Pedal in conjunction with your Helix Rack purhcase. Read the fine print on the Helix promotional announcement on the Line 6 website to see if this is the case. If you purchase date with Guitar Center is within February, you should be able to get confirmation from Guitar Center that your purchase date qualifies. Even though Line 6's offices may be closed in observance of today's Presidents Day Holiday, Guitar Center is open for business. Give them a call and speak to one of their Customer Service Managers/Team Leaders for confirmation of your qualifying order. Regardless of the ship date.

Great choice on the speaker! All the foregoing EQ suggestions are dependent on your signal source, instrument, pickups, etc. For passive pickup electric guitar there's not much below 100Hz nor above 4kHz you'll likely want to send to the Yamaha's. For Bass, Acoustic, Keys, Vocals, guitars, etc. ignore the previous sentence. If you're only running a single Yamaha DXR10, be sure its Link switch remains set to MONO. Other than that, go with what your ears tell you. I have mine set for Line Level with their Level controls at 12 o'clock position. To avoid any Ground Loop noise, be sure to power the Yamaha and Helix from the same AC feed.

Awesome Mod!!

Same here w/ Sony MDR-V6 and Shure SE-530 IEMs.

Symptoms are that of an insidious Ground Loop (different gound potentials) amongst the devices.

Is phantom power enabled on your interface? Do you hear the tone when the Transmitter is not transmitting?