ColinM213

I own an Axe FX II so its been many years since I've looked at Line 6, or any other companies kit (I justified the purchase by telling myself I would never need to buy another fx unit or amp), yet after stumbling across the Helix, here I am reading up about it, feeling slight pangs of that old illness I thought the Axe had banished - G.A.S Is the Axe amazing? Yes. Is it perfect? For some, probably, but for me, no. Not that it has problems, but for how I use it, there are some things I wish were done differently, or in a different way, and I was really struck by the Helix video - Pretty much every little niggle I'd change on the Axe is addressed by the Helix, its like Line 6 custom designed it to my exact wish list. The Helix's feature set and philosophy is more aligned to my use though - Its all in one unit, no separate controller, scribble strip LCD's on switches, built in expression pedal, multi coloured footswitches, large LCD, multiple quick editing functions, dont have to take your hands off the guitar, XLR mic in, multiple fx loops, and the icing on the cake that grabbed me (and a smart move to start a video with a feature not present in the Axe FX), a good univibe model. The Axe is insanely powerful, but that naturally means its also very, very complex. I've owned one for 18 months and I'm still learning it. To get the most from it takes time, as its really not plug and play - As someone posted, often the Axe feels more like work than fun, but then again, it is a professional grade tool, so its meant to - you sure as hell don't read the quick start guide and chuck the manual away. If the Helix can even get into roughly the same ballpark as the Axe in terms of tone, I'd potentially sell my Axe for a Helix. But thats the six million dollar question though - As was posted, its ALL in the DSP code, and the Axe is so good because the guy who invented it is the Jimi Hendrix of DSP programming. If the Helix can at least do passable cover versions though, then its feature set looks enough to temp this Axe owner into switching. Oh, and another big plus would be Strymon, Lexicon, TC type effect as tweakable patches - The Axe will do all that, but you effectively have to program it all from scratch, so quick and easy access to lush ambient delays and reverbs would be another sterong plus for the Helix