pfocas

I just installed a Maple vintage finished Mighty Mite neck from Stewmac on my JTV69S - fitted perfectly - not pre-drilled. The machine heads fitted with a small twist from a reamer - just to sand off some finish I think. The result is fantastic now, would highly recommend this. I didn't like the original neck which was too chunky and flat for me.

You could add the Helix into the Katana Return jack - just disable the cabinet block on Helix first otherwise you get cabinet through cabinet...You would set the 1/4 out at Line level for that setup. Also - I use to do that (with anotehr amp) and would just use the Helix preamp block rather than the full amp, but it didn't really matter that much apart from volume differences - of course this is using Helix as the effects bypassing the Katana effects which sort of defeats the purpose of having a Katana in the first place!

It happened to me too, although the unit was in the sun for a few hours before I started the gig, it then decided to pack up and stop working. I eventually got it going after about 30 minutes of mucking about, and my unit has been OK since then about a year ago.

I had an outdoor gig with my Helix LT last week, firmware 2.51. It was sunny, but we were under a shade cloth, sun peeking through. I couldn't see the LCD screen well at all, a brightness control would be good (a feature I see has been requested). Anyway - before we even started, the unit had been outside for maybe 2 hours, was not hot to the touch, but my output going to a mixer was intermittently failing. I tried 3 different guitar cables, tried re-assigning input to the "Return 1" jack and still failed, so not cable or input jack.... Tried adding an additional output (quarter inch) to another mixer channel and both the XLR and 1/4 inch channels on the mixer failed, so I'm left with the impression that there is an electrical/electronic fault. This has never happened to me before and I practice all the time attached via XLR to a PA speaker and at home use a FRFR connected via 1/4 inch or headphones. The tuner still worked. Has this happened to anyone else? As I said, the sound was intermittent so it just cut in, then cut out again a few seconds later. I eventually re-started the unit and about the 4th time, it worked OK, now I am very nervous about using it at a gig. I can't recreate this in the last few days, but will keep testing

Hi - I'm doing this as well (into an Amp return jack) and have found a few things useful. I set up a template which has a Pre-amp of some variety followed by an Amp of the same variety. On the second path (or first if you have the DSP available) set up the cabinet that you want. Lastly, add a Gain block. Set the Pre-amp on and the Amp/Cab off - assign all to a footswitch (or a snapshot). This setting is to go direct into the Return and if the resultant sound is too quiet add gain in the gain block. If you hit the footswitch that will toggle the pre-amp off, and full amp and the cabinet on. That's the setting for listening at home through headphones (or an FRFR feed), adjust the gain block accordingly. I am running the Pre-amp only patch into the back of one of 3 amps - a Blackstar HT5R which does not produce great volume but OK for bedroom levels. A Marshall DSL40C which provides plenty of volume and a Laney 50W Hi Gain amp which provides more or less the same as the Marshall. In all cases, the sound of the Pre-amp only into the Amp Returns is really good. If I put the amp model (rather than pre-amp) into the return jack (no cabinet block on) the volume is huge and doesn't quite have the bite that just the pre-amp does. When I get my presets down, I level them all in a first-pass by firing up Garageband, open a project and open the EQ Analyzer and play through the presets (with a riff recordrd on a looper pedal) to get them all balanced. It's worked for me with final tweaks on the gain blocks at band practice with Gig volumes Also - for line/instrument level question, the Laney has a setting for Instrument/Line and I use the Instrument level setting, same with the blackstar. The Marshall doesn't and I use instrument level and it's good. If you have problems even after adding the gain, then use Line Level from the Helix and see what happens One last thing! If you just have a pre-amp and a cab for monitoring via headphones it will sound awful, you have to have the full amp model I found anyway...

Thanks, Ive bought locally for the warranty issue you mentioned.

Hi, will a Helix LT from the US (AC power 115V I think) work on a 240V AC Power? I have seen a post in the support FAQs that say that the Helix Floor/Rack and Firehawk 1500 take power all the way from 115-240V, but no mention of the Helix LT, Does anyone know?

Thanks for the input, I better get down there and trial it!

Hi All I'm conscious that these sorts of questions start to get all religious, but I wanted to look at the difference between the tones (nothing else) between the Firehawk FX and Helix. I live in New Zealand and here the Firehawk can be purchased for 700 dollars and the Helix is 2,900 from the same authorised retailer. At that price differential I am thinking the unit must have a mind-blowing difference in tone (and also the routing capabilities etc). Is that true? I have seen side by side reviews of Helix and Fractal AX8/Kemper etc but nothing between Helix and its baby brother Firehawk FX. The amp models are supposed to be "HD" and that is shared with Pod HD500X I believe but are the amp and stomp models on Helix way better? In order to do a true comparison at the retailer I'd have to go through FRFR speakers to remove that from the equation so I might go through that pain barrier if people think it is worth the extra 2,200 dollars! I cant look at Fractal because they don't have any competent reseller with stock in this side of the world, their Australian reseller is permanently out of stock but that looks like a cool unit. anyway - Helix versus Firehawk tone thoughts? Thanks in advance

Hi, Ive just bought a Firehawk FX and am using a Marshall AS100D Acoustic Amplifier with it. I'm plugging the output of the FW into the Return jack of the Marshall so I am just using the Power Amp section of the amp. I have set the FW to "Line Out" mode and it seems OK. If I put it into "Amp Out" mode the sound level drops quite dramatically. Is this the correct way to plug the FW into my amp? and would I only ever use "Amp Out" if I was going into an amplifiers 'normal' input jack? Sorry for the basic question, I don't understand the manual that well... Thanks!