MusicLaw

Correct, regarding the first assumption. I would not have expected the mere addition (presence) of an unplugged Return or FX Loop Block (either one defined using default values), to have caused HELIX to increase the noise floor as such, and, in differing amounts for the various Amps. BTW, when the Return or FX Loop Block was Bypassed, the Noise Floor returned to what it was otherwise on the HELIX without the Return or Loop Block in the Path. I did not meter the levels; I went by ear. It would be enlightening for Ben or DI to chime in on this, for those of us who are interested in the issue. As a practical matter, there are ways to deal with the scenario in actual use. So, unless this is a correctable abnormality in the firmware, I can work around it.

These seem to be good cost effective alternatives to the HELIX Backpack (especially, if you missed Line 6's Year End HELIX Backpack Promotion).

The only thought is: regardless if you live in a region with stable AC main power, it would be a good idea to always run the HELIX and all your expensive electronics from a conditioned surge supressing power strip at the very least. Even better would be a conditioning Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS). Not for the fact that you can continue operating for a while should the mains go out, but more for preventing damage when teh mains do down or they resume. Just a few weeks ago in portions of the West San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles there several fairly wide spread power outages lasting several hours. Many people I know sustained damage to the equipment (audio gear, computers, video gear, etc.)

I grabbed a pair of Sony MDR-V6 Headphones (63 Ohms 106dB/mW) with HELIX Headphone Knob at Max and Input Block, Output Block, and Global Settings all at Default to listen to each of HElIX's Amp+Cab Models. I defined a new Preset w/ only 1 Block; an Amp+Cab Block. Here's what I found: Mail Order Twin had noticable low end hum! Essex A30 had some noticable low end hum (less than Mail Order Twin)! A30 Fawn Nrm had noticable low end hum (same as Essex A30)! Matchstick Ch2 had noticable low end hum and increased noise floor (more than the Mail Order, A30, Fawn)! Matchstick Jump had some noticeable hum and increased noise floor! Brit Plexi Brt had some increased noise floor! Brit Plexi Jump had some increased noise floor (more than Plexi Brt)! Brit P75 Brt (about same as Plexi Jump)! German Ubersonic had some increased noise floor! Cali IV Lead had a minor increased noise floor! Archetype Lead had a slightly increased noise floor! ANGL Meteor had a significantly increased noise floor! Solo Lead OD had a noticably increased noise floor! PV Panama had a noticably increased noise floor! Line 6 Elektrik had a noticably increasd noise floor! Line 6 Doom had some noticeable hum and increased noise floor! Line 6 Epic had a noticably increased noise floor! With an FX Return Block (or an FX Loop Block), regardless if Mono or Stereo, added before the Amp+Cab Block, the noise floor increased perceptibly for all the Amp+Cab Blocks! Even the previously quietest Amps (WhoWatt100, Tweed Blues Nrm, Tweed Blues Brt, Interstate Zed, and others) now had a perceptible noise floor level. For those first listed above, that had already exhibited some degree of noise floor and/or hum, the addition of the FX Block, really caused them to exhibit an increased noise floor. Interestingly, for those exhibing any hum, the level of hum did not increase! The ANGL Meteor and Solo Lead OD were the loudest. The Panama, Elektrik, Doom, and Epic were right up there too. And, Yes. Inserting a Noise Gate or Hard Gate at their default values (regardless if, Mono or Stereo) effectively clamped the noise, nearly eliminating it on most of the amps. The Hum remained. Each Amp Profile obviously has it's own distinct characteristics. For those amps exhibiting any noise floor, each had a noticably distinct sound frequency response characteristic. These are just the ways the electronics of each of the amps (profiled and real world) respond. With a signal source, the Signal to Noise Ratio rendered the background noise floor levels imperceptible.

There are many of us who feel the sound of a Les Paul will forever remain as a foundational component of what a guitar should sound like. The same may be said of a Strat and of a 335 style guitar.

The Snapshots feature is covered in the current HELIX User Guide Rev D PDF, available for download from the HELIX support area on Line 6's website. The thumb drive included with your HELIX may contain an earlier version.

No need to appologize for jumping in. It is always good to see a quality thread revived! The Yamaha DXR are a very good choice. I opted for a pair of the DXR10's for their sound, light weight, size, and price.

I love the LPs. I have Two Customs, a PlusTop Pro, and a partially hollow LP Florentine. Also have a Custom Strat w/ vintage noiseless pups, and a Sheraton II Pro. The Florentine is a blast to play -- even unplugged. It shares traits of the LP Customs in a lighter partially hollow body and has a good bit of the bell like chime and ring of the Sheration II Pro, in a smaller comfortable size. With the Helix, the nuances of each of these are right there at my fingertips! :)

For those of us who like using HELIX Stock Cabs see: https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/A-Route-To-Blend-Parameter-in-a-Dual-Cab-Block/865971-23508?submitted=1 and, the video:

Congratulations! A Les Paul sounds great with a HELIX!

Phil and Duncann, Thanks! Line 6: These sort of Tips should be included in future revisions the HELIX User Docs! It is unfortunate that this great info is only here in the Forums for those who discover it. I would imagine many HELIX owners would benefit from this info and that they'll never find it here!

Great Question!! The revised Helix Editor and new Helix Native progams are anticipated this Spring. From what I saw last week at NAMM, the vastly improved Graphic User Interfaces they will share are far superior to the existing Helix software. Once those have been released, I'll be looking for a touchscreen device (tablets, 2 in 1, laptops). I used a friend's Surface Pro 4 several weeks ago to update my Helix's firmware, and although we got through the process in about 5 minutes without any problems, the Helix software on the Surface Pro 4's display did not make good use of the screen size nor scale properly. For the past 2.5 years, I've been using a Samsung 12.2 Android Tablet, and it works very well for a great many tasks, including USB OTG (On The Go) for a variety of appliations and external devices. There is no reason why this could not accomplish handling updating of the HELIX Firmare and other file management tasks with the Helix. The tablet accepts very large capacity memory cards and works fine with flash drives, etc. It would merely take Line 6 to enable the Updater to run under Android. Granted a bit of OS Platform programming, but they do have Android software for many of their other contemporary product lines (Amplifi, Spider V, etc.) And, I'm not even expecting the HELIX Editor to be ported to Android tablets, but it certainly would be nice! :)

The RavPower units are amongst the best ones out there! Their design, manufacturing tolerances and materials are exceptional! I recently grabbed another one (larger capacity 26,800 mAh) when it was on sale a few weeks ago. It is also very nice that they include a cushioned storage pouch and a short and a long cable.

The Polytune Clip works great! I have two. I use them (and leave them set) in the more accurate strobe mode. I do not find the polyphonic mode as useful. HELIX's Tuner works okay for me. I would not be surprised to see Line 6 improve the stability/dampening and perhaps offer alternative display modes.

I've often connect my Helix to my Yamaha THR10C Amp and it sounds fantastic! The Yamaha THR10C is certainly not going to get loud. However, positioned near field it's Stereo FRFR does a great job on a desk, cocktail table, end table, etc. Route the Helix to the Yamaha's AuxIn and the signal bypasses all the DSP in the Yamaha, and the batteries last hours longer! Route the signal to the Yamaha's Instrument In, and it runs through the Yamaha's DSP. I also A/B'd the Yamaha against a set of JBL LSR305 monitors (each fed from the Helix). I was amazed at how well the Yamaha compared! Only at higher SPLs did the LSR305 clearly prevail, and, of course, the JBL's had a fuller bottom end. Helix to Yamaha THR10c is certainly not a conventional configuration, but I had the amp anyway, and was delighted how well it worked as a battery powered stereo FRFR monitor for the Helix.

The L3 adds another 10" speaker with crossover specifically for Bass Freqs.

I would not be suprised to see this happen.

Sure! Tape, Putty, a right angle micro usb plug dongle with rubberbands, or one of the magnetic insert micro USB connectors (as well as a variety of other methods) could be used successfully to add to what's already there. For me, I'm just far more careful when plugging and unplugging it. If it fails again, back it will go to Line 6. Once you're used finely engineered components with well fitting tolerances, everything else pales by comparison. If you've ever used a RavPower rechargeable battery pack, or nearly any leading tablet or smatphone with a micro usb jack, they all have design and manufacturing tolerances such that the cord fits snugly and flush to the unit. There is no play. No wobble. No gap. No flex. Unfortuantely, this is not what we find on the Line 6 nor Xvive USB jacks.

Feb is just a few days away, and it is also the shortest month of the year. Worst case scenario is a mere 5 weeks (absent a delay pushing fw 2.20 into March). Then, another 5 weeks later, we're already a week into April and HELIX Native could be upon us.

At least we know the pre-announcement of Firmware 2.20 is slated for February. Hopefully, this persisting bug will be resolved with the arrival of 2.20. If not, HELIX NATIVE's rollout was pre-announced for April. And, it is possible that a successor firmware release to 2.20 could occur after February and before April. It is already shaping up to be a feature rich 2017 for HELIX!!

From what saw at NAMM of Helix Native's new UI (to be shared by the new version of Helix Editor) the more inclined I am to let a top tier Windows 10 device handle all the touchscreen tasks on a generously sized laptop/tablet or desktop display. HELIX hardware can provide its dedicated and optimized appliance like functionality while the new software (running on an easily expandable platform) can handle all the rest without taxing the Helix's DSP and CPU clock cycles. It will be fascinating to see how this rolls out and discover what combined capabilities we will be able to enjoy when both HELIX hardware and the new HELIX Native software are running together.

Only when Line 6 were to decline repairing the jack at no charge (even if after the Warranty) would I fuss with opening the unit. I do have the technical skills to do so and make the repair or modification, but I have far too many other things drawing my attention than fussing with such a modification. I hope I don't have to deal with it. If it fails again (already happened on 2 units), it will go back to Line 6. I've never had a micro usb jack fail on any other device!

I'm optimistic and confident that these sort of Helix connected to computer interruption issues will be a thing of the past once the new Helix Native and Helix Editor programs arrive this April. Although Line 6 may be aware of these issues, their progammers are likely focusing on the new software. Absent a widespread mission critical issue presenting in the existing Helix Editor and occurring on a massive user base scale, it is more likely the existing Helix Editor may never get sufficent corrective patching. Rather, it will be replaced by the new Helix Editor and Helix Native. I know this doesn't make existing users suffering through these interim problems any happier.

Many of today's PA Monitors and Studio Monitors are designed with internal Amps and DSP to provide improved and consistent performance and flexible multi-channel capabilities. Even so, there are excellent non-powered monitors and separate amps that can deliver fantastic results. Go with what suits your ears, logistics, and budget.

Every one of the numerous G10 Receiver Base Charger units I have seen, used or held in my hand have the same issue with the USB jack mounted in the base receiver housing. None of these were sufficiently recessed to allow the shoulder of the micro USB cord's plug to rest flush against the housing of the base receiver. When he cord was inserted as far as it could go, at least a millimeter or two of the silver micro usb plug remained visible outside of the jack. The first two units I received also suffered from the USB jack flexing vertically internally. These quickly failed, as did most of the others of friends, etc. The jacks of the replacement units I received are more secured regarding the flexing, yet still are not sufficiently recessed to allow the plug to be inserted fully flush against the housing! Compared to the majority of other micro USB devices (smartphones, tablets, rechargeable battery packs, lights, etc.) this is an immediately noticable difference. Almost all of these other devices allow the cord to insert flush to the casing, which also reduces the opportunity for vertical flexing. At NAMM, I saw many more G10 units and they still had the same issue. Also at NAMM, I closely examined several of the Xvive wireless transmitter and receiver units. Every one of those units also shared the identical non-flush insertion problem. The principal difference, however, it that the Xvive units only need their micro USB jacks connected during charging. During use, both the Transmitter and Receiver units are battery powered.