JimDiGritz

All true!! Although I do miss an easy to reach central volume mixer - I'm constantly tweaking the PC/App/Helix volumes!!

Hi mate, yeah that would work however I use my PC for Video Editing, YouTube, Gaming etc so having another set of speakers just doesn't make sense. I also use headphones for both PC use and guitar so I'd also need two sets of headphones...

Welcome! I've had a Helix for a couple of years and I'm still slightly confused as to how to optimally setup the Helix and PC for home practice (with Monitors and Headphones)!! I've got my Helix USB connected to my PC for Helix Edit functionality and the rare times I want to record into a DAW. This also means that I use my Helix as the soundcard, so that I can jam with YouTube/backing tracks. The downside is that my Helix has been powered on 16+hrs a day for the past 18 months.... and my £200 audio card is gathering dust in the PC chassis.... I tried a more complex/flexible option, whereby I had the Helix 1/4" Out and the PC soundcard stereo Out go into a mixing board (Behringer Xenyx502) and I was able to mix volumes of both sources (eg match Helix/guitar to YouTube without constantly messing with volume sliders on the screen). This seemed a perfect solution since I was able to leave my Helix off until I wanted to play (maybe a few half our jams a day) however I noticed that the Helix/Guitar audio was muddy compared to the headphones being plugged straight into the Headphones Out on the Helix and I couldn't live with it so I took the mixer out of the loop entirely... The Helix is a fantastic tool for home/bedroom players since you can achieve any tone at any volume, however I'm still wary of using it as an external soundcard given the power consumption and possible long term wear/tear on the device.

Or you could use both DSP channels separately and have top for clean and bottom for distorted etc. A snapshot could toggle all of the units on each DSP. No major benefit except it might be more logical to troubleshoot/tweak.

Cheers guys, since I'm only using studio monitors and headphones I'll continue to experiment with pre-amps as essentially just another selection of drives!

I've spent the last few years using Helix, but have never played a real amp (unless you count a few minutes at a Guitar Center). Whilst I conceptually understand the various physical stages in an amp (signal, pre amp and power amp) I'm not sure what a Pre-amp as a separate block in Helix can actually do. I've used them as an alternative to a drive pedal in front of the Amp block with mixed results - am I missing some interesting? Cheers

Without warning my 5 way blade switch on my Standard no longer switches the Variax model. It works perfectly switching the magnetics, however the selector doesn't no change the Variax model. I've opened Workbench HD and can see that it doesn't recognise the switch position. I can change the model in the interface. Anyone else had this? I found reference to a similar sounding issue in the JTV59 forum, but nothing on the Standard. Jim

Thanks guys, I think that on reflection I'm gonna stick with my setup as is, but when I get more than a 5 min session I'll swap headphones to the output and use the Helix as a soundcard. rd2rk is right, the XLR in is for a Mono mic on my 502 - I naively assumed that the 3/4" jacks wouldn't color the sound, but it's very noticeable. I am using decent quality short (1m) cables. Thanks anyway!

Thanks Dunedin, sadly my job and use of PC means I'm using Audio on it 12+ hours a day (from Video Editing, Conference calls to a little evening Gaming)... the Helix is a very expensive soundcard... I'm torn between either having 100% quality sound from my Helix or the Zero hassle of the Mixer...

Thanks Silverhead. I bought the mixer because I really don't want to have to leave my Helix on 20hrs a day to function as my Soundcard when I only play guitar for an hour or so... I was trying to avoid lot's of switching given that I play in 10 mins chunks throughout the day!

I've been using the Helix (Floor) for a good 18 months and am loving it. However today I had a bit of a revelation that made me reconsider my signal chain, however it's also left me needing some help. Firstly let me explain the use case: I work from home on my PC, and have a decent Studio Monitor and Monitor Headphones. My requirement is purely to play at 'bedroom' levels, particularly with backing tracks (eg YouTube). I get an hour or so a day between work to jump into a jam track or practice. Most of my use is on headphones however if I get some family free time I'll crank up the Monitors. My setup for the past year or so has been: Helix 3/4" out Stereo (2 x Mono) into BEHRINGER XENYX 502 Mixer PC Audio out Stereo to (2 x Mono) 3/4" into BEHRINGER XENYX 502 Mixer BEHRINGER out #1 3/4" Stereo (2 x MONO) into Mackie Stereo Monitors BEHRINGER out #2 3/4" Stereo into Headphones This allows me to switch and Mix volume between PC Audio and Helix on either (or both!) Monitors and Headphones. Works perfectly... EXCEPT I've had the nagging feeling that my HELIX is a little muddy compared to the examples online (I appreciate nothing is exactly comparable, but...), so I plugged my Headphones DIRECTLY into the HELIX Headphones Out and... WOW! Crystal clear and bright. Now what? I can't achieve the above flexibility if I use the Headphone Out, but there must be a way to do this... Can anyone offer any suggestions... how are you managing PC audio and Helix audio??

Thanks Ben, now I can screw up the chorus on both guitars at the same time...

You should also consider getting a small mixer and running the Helix alongside your PC audio (if you have that setup) - nothing more fun than dialing in a tone (Even Parfitt!) and playing along with a track or finding a cool backing track on YouTube and just noodling. Plus, stereo! Other than the volume issue (I rarely get my monitors above 30% volume), that's the main reason I'm sticking with 4" monitors. If I ran a FRFR cab or traditional amp I'd still have run monitors for my PC (and would have to manually adjust 2 volumes).

Uninstalled RS a while back but this thread made me install it again. Works with Helix however apart from the guitar, the entire game volume is super low - I have to put -40db on the Helix Global EQ and crank my mixer volume up to 100%..

Thanks soundog - this is as close as I can get https://uk.line6.com/customtone/tone/3849005/ I'll have a play with some other early 70s patches! Jim

I'm pretty inexperienced with making Presets on the Helix and am struggling with the Leslie West / Mountain Tone as in Mississippi Queen. I've had a go but just can't get the tone dialled in.... According to most sources (eg: https://www.guitarplayer.com/players/leslie-west-decodes-his-mississippi-queen-tone and https://uk.line6.com/data/6/0a0643392bdc57b744bb9359f/application/pdf) Leslie used a Sunn Coliseum P.A. head and four 4x12 cabinets - the Sunn is Solid State and as I understand it it wasn't designed as a guitar amp.. I'm struggling to figure out a good Helix patch for this - and quite surprisingly my search for a pre-made tone to reverse engineer has come up blank! My real world knowledge of amps is very limited and I'm not sure any of the amps in the Helix are even solid state! Any tips or thoughts appreciated! James PS I'm willing to shell out a few $'s on a commercial patch if I have to.....

Hey Thibault, I bought your Big Preset pack last year and I was wondering how I update with your new presets? I've downloaded the zip file again today from the email confirmation and I can see that the Bonus Pink Floyd folder has been modified on 2nd Jan 2018 - do I have the latest version? Thanks and great work! Jim

Not sure if the two pin layout is the same, but Schaller locking tuners have two pins 'above' the hole. Worth finding a spec online with dimensions and checking

I'd be grateful if Line 6 or maybe even one of you could upload the new presets.. always interested in the LIne 6 teams ideas!!

So I play my Variax 99% of the time thru the Variax cable into my Helix. I just leave it connected with the Battery in. I sometimes go over to friends to Jam and will just play with the standard guitar lead, often using the Variax features. Firstly I've noticed that my battery is not charging when connected to the Helix by the Variax cable (I can't find in the manual whether this is normal or not), so I now charge the battery in the cradle until the charger light blinks red every few seconds. The problem I've got is this (fully charged battery is in): The LEDs on the back of the guitar show all 4 lights when the guitar is plugged in to the Helix via Variax, stays at 4 LEDs regardless of whether the Helix is on or off. If I remove the Variax cable (so no connections) and don't turn on any Variax features on the guitar, then it shows 3 LEDs, however if I connect the 1/4 cable it immediately drops to 2 LEDs. What's going on?? Jim

Thanks everyone. I'll have a look at this setup, however I do need to quickly switch between Speakers and Headphones for BOTH guitar and PC and having the Helix as the Soundcard for one or both could be an issue.... I'm already getting slightly concerned that my Helix is on (being used!) for 2+ hours a day as it is!!!

Interesting, can you still jam along to YouTube with this setup?

Thanks for the input. The only downside of the above setup is that my Helix would have to be on to use my PC for other things... unless I've missed something!

Hi, I'm still getting to grips with my Helix after a few months, so this might not be the right question! I mostly use my Helix with Headphones once the kids are in bed. I've got an entry level set of Audio-Technica ATH-M40X Headphones, which seem to have a reasonably flat response compared to my old entry level Sennheisers. I also have a pair of Mackie 4" monitors. I also use both for my PC. In terms of setup, I'm sending the Helix signal to the Speakers/Headphones via the 1/4" out, through a small Behringer mixer. I'm also mixing the PC sound through the mixer. This way I can jam to backing tracks on my PC, which is 90% of my usage. I've got a bunch of presets including paid for ones from Glenn DeLaune, Fremen, Marco Fanton and Ben Vesco (I recommend them all btw!) Some sound great on Headphones, others just don't work as well. I appreciate that headphones aren't moving as much air as a speaker, but interestingly, most sound better when I connect the headphones to the Headphone Out on the Helix. Does anyone have any suggestions to experiment with, in the preset EQ/settings? Thanks