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One of my kids has a cheap Squire strat. I've played it through some of my favorite presets. Guess what... it sounds like a strat. You don't have to spend money for the sound. What you are spending money on is instrument build quality and components.

Yes, you would have to have a click activated.

The OP would like some tips on making use of the Helix as is for his specific purposes. Philosophical discussion on gapless switching/spillover and hardware/firmware design may not help him out much. There are currently two ways of doing this within one preset: 1. Snapshots 2. Stomps and expression pedals programmed to control multiple parameters

Here is a video from Ben Vesco showing setting up a very processing intensive preset with two amps. This one is very thorough.

Hmmm, since you are experiencing the same thing with two different pedals, there may be an issue with your unit. Did you power on the Helix with the external expression plugged into the unit? I use a couple Line 6 EXP-1s and they have full throw right out of the box. There may be an issue with your Helix and you may want to open a support ticket.

Scott at the Helix Channel demonstrates having an amp and cab/IR on each signal path (1a, 2a) with a volume pedal sending the guitar signal pre-fuzz to path 2a. So everything on path 1 is processed by processor 1, and everything on path 2 is being processed on processor #2.

The switch is for different clipping settings. If I remember correctly I believe I have my set for v2 with the clipping switch in the middle.

How many different amps, cabinet/IRs, effects would you ideally want in a single preset?

Hmm, I guess I'll have to give that a try.

The Timmy has become my favorite OD in the Helix. It is very versatile. 3-5 gain for some push/crunch on the front end of the Litigator is my favorite. The tone adjustment get get you anywhere from edgy to buttery. You can also cut out some bass if you need it to. I tend to only use the Timmy, Minotaur, and TS808 models.

What kind of music will you be playing? Seems like only high gain players mention "the fizz". I am not a high gain player and I found that just dropping in an amp/cab model and a parallel reverb/delay sounded glorious to my ears. If you already have experience with a few real life amps and effects, Helix works the same way. It is just "virtual". Don't try to make it too complicated.

That would be my concern. They are there for a reason, as well as the feet creating an air gap. If mounted on a PedalTrain frame, you still have airflow though.

I use it for two scenarios: 1. When playing a very clean tone and there is not a whole lot going on in the song, I want it to fill out the space a bit, but I don't want to hear any delay repeats. Probably no more than 30% mix. Keeps everything clean but with a little "elbow room" 2. To smooth out delays. I use them in combination with a delay in front of it to kind of smooth out the repeats of the delay making it a little more subtle, but without having to turn the mix down. I do this especially with more ambient sounds. I like how the delay will keep hitting the reverb, but the verb just kind of coats it all with butter.

That is an excellent point on why a lot of players get disappointed with presets that are supposed to sound like their favorite rock star. I couldn't sound like EVH even if I took the guitar off of his neck and played through his rig. "Man, I downloaded this EVH patch, but it doesn't sound like EVH at all. This patch is crap"

The key that you mention is "they sit well in the mix". What you set up at home that may sound great, may sound totally different when at rehearsal. There is no single reverb or delay settings that will work in every song, especially considering the range of music you are playing. In my personal taste, I have found that reverb does not help me stand out in the mix unless the song is dynamically low volume wise, and the guitar is clean. Otherwise it does quite the opposite. What I have done is set up my presets as a wet/dry system where I control the wet with the expression pedal. I control what pedals are active in the wet path, and control the mix with the expression. What helps your sound stand out is the constant amount of dry (overdrives>distortions>amp/cab)

What are your current favorite amp models that you use? Also, what you consider "good" may be different than mine, so your question is kind of impossible to answer. You don't have to be "good at creating a drive pedal sound going into a cleanish amp". There are generally only three things to adjust on an overdrive: drive, tone, level. Generally on clean amps that don't really break up (Fender Twin, Hiwatt, etc) you want your overdrive/distortion to come from the pedal so you will crank the drive up and the level down, tone to taste. On an amp that does break up, you can use the overdrive to push the amp a little harder into distortion by setting the pedal drive low, but the level higher, tone to taste. I generally use two overdrives in front of the amp, and will use one or the other or both at times. My current favorite combination is the Minotaur>Timmy>Litigator. There are no hard and fast rules...

If you are playing along with a DAW project, then you can lay down a MIDI automation track in the DAW that would send out MIDI commands wherever you put them in the project. So yes, you can automate changing effects mid song. You could do this currently with Helix LT/Floor/Rack. I don't think Native will take MIDI commands yet for preset/FS changes.

Very authentic tone recreation from a ground breaking studio album from 1978. All stock effect/amp models with very minor tweaks. This is what the Helix is capable of in the hands of someone that does their research. Nice job.

Yes, that is what 4CM on Helix is for. Effects in front of your amp, in your loop, or bypass the 5150 preamp and insert a preamp model from the Helix.

The tone is coming from the preset, not so much the particular strat. Even then, 95% of the tone difference between strats is in the pickups and not the particular guitar.

If the H9 is expecting to see an expression pedal pot, I would not connect the Helix CV (control voltage) out to it. Expression pedal is a potentiometer (variable resistor), CV out is an analog voltage (0-5vdc). They are not the same thing. You should be able to control the H9 via midi from the Helix.

I am confused. If you are using 4CM, why would you want to just run Helix in front of the amp? With 4CM you have Helix in front and in the loop of your amp. If you don't want anything in the loop, bypass the models you have sitting in the loop, then you have just items in front.

I have found that the digital dimmers I have on some of my dimmable LED lighting at home creates the most EMI of everything in my home. Even my "noiseless" single coils pick it up a LOT. Some of the worst spots in my house, I can stand there where it is worse, face my body(and my guitar) 90 degrees to the left or right, and the noise goes almost to zero. If you experience that, then you have an EMI issue. You may also try rotating the guitar from where you normally hold it, to having the pickups face the ceiling (90 degrees from vertical). If your noise goes away or diminishes a lot, then you have EMI.

I recommend doing this. Don't mess around with the factory presets. Blank user preset that will just send your dry guitar signal to your amp through the left 1/4" output set on instrument level. Should not be any different sounding then guitar straight into your amp. Also try the ground lift switch on the Helix. You didn't mention what amp you are connecting to.

I don't believe you can change LED ring color for those. You can for stomps and snaps.