marmatkat

Had a gig on Saturday, with no feedback. I had my K10 about 10' behind me, and the PA cab about the same distance as before, but there was a metal shed wall between it and me. (Our stage was just inside the door of a large garage/barn, with the PA out front!) I'll just keep playing and see if it happens again.

Thanks for the tips everyone. I'll look into lowering the neck pu. Not ready to buy new pickups :-/

Hi Everyone. I finally got serious about exploring setting cabinet high cuts in my four working presets (I'm starting simple), along with trying input pad on, and non-auto "Guitar-Z" impedance settings. With my '93 Hamer Special with Lollar P90s going into my Helix LT and then into a QSC K10, and the The Amp-Cabs I use (US Double Vib, US Deluxe Vib, WhoWatt 100, Matchstick Ch2) I found: - Adding 3-3.5kHz high cuts to the default cabs made a big improvement in the sound of all amps, mainly resulting in less harsh ("ice pick") highs - much more natural sounding. I experimented with 9kHz on down (I've seen recommendations on this forum from 9.5 all the way down to 3). I adjusted by ear. - Turning on the input pad didn't make the guitar sound much different to my ears, other than the expected ~6dB gain drop. I decided to leave it off. - Using a non-Auto setting for input impedance definitely changed the guitar's tone and gain, with 90k ohm sounding nice to me - it cut the harsh highs. I played with different combinations of cab high cut and impedance and decided to leave the latter on auto. (Changing from auto felt like a big step so decided to defer messing with it until later :-) I also tried replacing the input block's noise gate (those P90s!) with the noise gate block, which did add a tiny bit of gain (to my ears). I decided to keep the input block one. I tried out these changes at a gig this weekend, and I was really pleased with the results. Thankfully, I did not experience the http://line6.com/support/topic/28659-terrible-squeal-feedback-through-frfr/ I encountered before. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts. Thanks -- matt

Thanks for the comments!

I didn't see any LT-specific details about how to remove the cover, so to do it I had to unscrew all the screws on the bottom of the unit and then remove the two plastic side panels, plus two screws on the back of the unit. Once I did, I applied some lithium grease after first loosening the large axle bolt on the outside of the pedal so that some space was made between the internal plastic washer and the metal. I was careful not to touch any circuitry. I applied using a toothpick, and then cleaned up excess with a Q-tip before closing it all up. It worked really well. The only issue i found was one partially stripped screw from factory assembly, plus the bone dry axle.

Hi All. I have a '93 Hamer Special with Lollar P90s, and I wonder how you've adapted your Helix tones to P90s. I've found two main issues: noise (except in humbucker mode) and a bridge pickup that's weaker than the neck one. For the noise I always enable the input block's gate (with default settings). I haven't tried using the gate block instead (at different points in the chain). For the weaker pickup, maybe that's a question for a guitar forum, but it would help if you could comment on if this is something you've had to account for in your presets. For example, do you have a gain block or compressor that you punch in when using that pickup? Also, do you have the input pad ON? And how has this affected your amps' gain settings? Thanks! -- matt

I'm still new to Helix, and the most I've done with Amps is mostly tweak channel gains and masters. I suspect it's possible to really explore an amp like one might do with an actual amp in a room. Someone suggested an hour with it at a minimum with no fx. I'd be very curious to hear from folks who have gotten super friendly with a particular model. Do you think controls are as rich as a "real" amp? Thanks!

FYI I started with simply adjusting output volumes by ear, then checked the smart phone db app. I was pretty close, though I found the Matchless pretty hot IIRC. Amazing number of models. I have played a little with individual ones, and I suspect one could dive pretty deep into each. (Has anyone done this with particular models? If the modeling is component-based as they say, then some (most?) models must have complex interactions between controls.)

Wow - thanks for the detail. Question: If your Helix volume is at 100%, then how do you up the volume without going over to your speaker? Isn't that more inconvenient than turning up the Helix?

Guess which two amps were #5 and #6, which I decided to exclude for now to keep it down to four? :)

Hi there. I've had my Helix LT for four months now, and have played out with it twice in a new cover band I recently joined. I've been climbing the Helix learning curve from a background of a guitar going straight into a tube combo with no pedals, so it's been a good challenge. After sticking with factory presets and experimenting, I recently made four presets that I think will cover 95% percent of our set list. My needs are pretty straightforward: clean, just-breaking-up, and two distorted tones, with just a few effects. I thought I'd share this just for FYI and comments. I'm running my LT into a QSC K10 on a stand. My guitar is a '93 Hamer Special with (noisy!) Loller P90s. I play rhythm and sing. All presets have the expression pedal controlling the output block's gain from 0dB to +7dB for any boost I might need (and to avoid reaching down to turn the volume during a song), and the input block's noise gate is on for all presets. Each preset has a final parametric EQ that cuts some of the the ~150Hz (IIRC) boominess of the K10. I also use cab low and high cuts. I use whatever cab and mic comes with the Amp+Cab defaults. I run the K10 at 100% and have the Helix output ~12 o'clock (we are not a loud band). I used a smart phone dB app to get the output volumes about the same, using either the master gain or the output block if master was tapped out. (I generally like masters at 10.) I have the foot switches set to four snapshots above and four stomps below. I have the global EQ disabled, taking the advise of others here to preserve it for adapting for room acoustics. US Double Vib: For rich clean tones. Chorus and tremolo stomps. No snapshots. US Deluxe Vib: Gives me a nice just-breaking up sound. Chorus and delay. Three snapshots for different channel gains. Who Watt 100: Delicious distortion. Phaser. No snapshots. Matchstick Ch2: "" I don't use any distortion pedals. I guess I prefer the "natural" distortion of the amps, rather than the pedals, which all sound kinda' harsh to me. Again, this is probably a bias from my non-pedal history. I suppose one could use the same amp as a pedal platform and just swap out different distortion pedals to get your sounds. Also, I don't have any fancy routing - no splitting into multiple amps or cabs. That seems advanced to me, but I can see the appeal. It was really hard to pick a small number of amps. The Paradox of Choice, I suppose. I just went through all models, ruling out those that were high gain or that didn't knock me out. Then I forced myself to pick four (fits in one bank). Hopefully this setup will work well for the time being. I'm excited to try this out at a gig this Saturday. Thanks! --matt

This is a good description of the problem. Re using the "> <" without looking at the bars, this is one of the first things I tried. Results were like those with a Snark - every strung slightly off depending on how consistent you tune each string - nearly impossible to get a good tuneup.

I hope it's ok to reach out here on the forum. I live in western MA and I'd like to know if ther are any fellow Helix owners out this way. I'm relatively new to Helix and would enjoy comparing tones and asking some questions. Just PM me if interested. P.S. I'm not a weirdo - just a family guy and weekend warrior in a cover band :-)

Thanks, Craig. That's one thing I did not try - moving away from the PA speaker. Good to know for next time it happens.

http://line6.com/support/topic/20276-inconsistent-and-inaccurate-tuner/page-4?do=findComment&comment=222650

I hear you, but I know how guitar strings work :-) The point is that there are excellent tuners available that manage to balance everything so that you get a very good tuneup with a stable but accurate indicator. The Korg the the video I pointed to, for example. So it *is* a solved problem with other tuners, so either L6 doesn't believe it's a problem, doesn't know how to solve the problem too (unlikely), or doesn't believe it's worth the effort to fix. But you cannot argue that the Helix tuner is as good as other tuners due to physics. I'm sorry if I'm mischaracterizing your points! No, it's like buying a >$1000 multieffects unit and complaining the tuner is on par with a low-performance $12 clip on tuner :-) Agreed! It's a problem that other tuners have solved, but Helix hasn't yet. See the video! I'm happy that some (or many) users are satisfied with the tuner, but a lot of us are not, and we'd like L6 to make the tuner work as well as top-performing stand-alone tuners. This shouldn't be controversial. Thanks!

Hi phil_m. Sorry if I pointed to the wrong ideas. It seems like the same idea covers multiple issues (granularity and jumpiness), plus different ideas cover the same problem. All I'm trying to do is let Line6 know that the tuner still doesn't work well enough for a number of users, and give some references that hopefully help motivate them to continue improving it. They're not there yet - check out this video which demonstrates how poorly it works: > Helix tuner VS Korg DTR 2000 - I know some people like the tuner, but not me and not others. (Chime in if you want to support me!) Here are some comments that sum it up: Thanks -- matt

Following up, if those three tuner ideas were combined, this would be the #2 issue for the Helix.

Hi Everyone. I went ahead and submitted a ticket and got the below anonymous response [2]. My detailed response to them with supporting links is below [1]. I agree with the above suggestions that, if we want progress to be made, we vote on the idea and also create a ticket - http://line6.com/support/tickets/ . I really do think this tuner needs some serious work to a product that is otherwise pretty amazing! -- matt [1] My followup reply: [2] Original Helix ticket reply:

Hi Everyone. I went ahead and submitted a ticket and got the below anonymous response [2]. My detailed response to them with supporting links is below [1]. I agree with the above suggestions that, if we want progress to be made, we vote on the idea and also create a ticket - http://line6.com/support/tickets/ . I really do think this tuner needs some serious work to a product that is otherwise pretty amazing! -- matt [1] My followup reply: [2] Original Helix ticket reply:

Hi Folks. I've had my LT for a few months now, and I've noticed (even with the latest firmware) that the tuner is not very accurate/precise (I haven't studied the above discussions re: definitions). Like others have experienced, it's about as accurate as my $12 Snark, which is to say, not good. I've found that to get a good tuneup, I have to creep up on the green from below (start flat) and go until I *just* hit the bar. And then try to do the same for the other strings. This always requires one more round, plus then some tweaking by ear. Not good. And the manual's statement about being perfectly in tune when the "< >" are both white - not true. However, I think I saw a response from a Line 6 employee who said it was fixed? I tried to check the feature vote site, but it required registration, and then said I wasn't approved by the moderator. Would someone from Line 6 please comment on the status of improving the tuner? Thank you!

That's interesting. I was also on a small stage, within touching distance of one of the PA cabinets, which is about shoulder height. I was half blocked from the audience by it, and my powered speaker was always pointed toward that PA speaker's back. I didn't think to change places with the bass player next to me. (Whose bass was resonating loud as hell.) Thanks foe sharing!

Thanks very much for the replies. My comments: An update: I set up my rig on my back deck outside yesterday, and was not able to reproduce the feedback at the same volume, etc. as the gig. Also, I talked to our sound guy (our other guitarist) who remembers turning off the hotspot monitors to do the test, which had no impact - I still got the feedback. Pickups: I bought the guitar used, and the seller said that the pickups are Lollers, which are supposed to be potted. However, I have not taken the pickups out to verify any of this. As far as trying humbuckers, I'd be surprised if that didn't fix the problem, but I don't have two guitars. Plus, I like the sound of mine - unless I'm getting this horrible feedback regularly in the future. I guess I next steps will be to: try it in the practice space, which has a concrete floor, as does our next gig in three weeks. In the meantime, I'll download the spectrum analyzer, get used to it, and play with the parametric equalizer.

Hi Folks. I played my second gig last night, and found my rig was producing a nasty squealing type of feedback on even moderate gain presets. The squeal was a microphone-type high frequency one that varied depending on the guitar's angle relative to my powered speaker. The presets were the same as my first gig, but the stage volume was higher and the venue was different. The upshot for the gig was that I had to forego the moderate gain presets, and it made my experience more stressful that necessary. What I'd love to hear from you are ideas about: 1) what was causing the squeal, and 2) how I can eliminate it in the future. Following are the details. Thanks! Rig: P90 Hamer guitar, Helix LT, and a QSC K10 on a stand. The K10 settings were the same as before: XLR input from Helix, LF: EXT SUB, HF: FLAT, MIC/LINE IN A: LINE, GAIN A: +10dB (100%). The Helix output was around 11 or 12 o'clock (~50%). Stage setup: stage left to right (all with mics): Guitar 2, singer, Bass, me. Traditional amp backline, with the base of my K10 ~4' up. PA: Hotspot monitors close to each mic, mains in front of the band. Venue: Outdoor concrete deck, connected to a building, open on ~3 sides, with a wooden roof angled downward to the front. Unfortunately the event had people out front during setup and teardown, so I didn't get to experiment much without irritating the audience. Also, I was nervous and wasn't at my best trying to debug. I played around with global EQ's high parametric setting, and its high cut, but without any luck (but it was my first try at the global EQ, so I didn't do a good job using it). I also tried raising and lowering the K10, angling it differently, and moving it around behind me. My thoughts: I can think of two possible causes: The stage setup was bouncing high frequencies around, or/and the Hotspots were somehow feeding back. I didn't have the wherewithal to simply turn off all the monitors (time was tight, plus I'm embarrassed to say I wasn't thinking very straight). What I'd try next time is tune in the global parametric EQ the way http://line6.com/support/user/1928801-digital-igloo/ suggests at http://line6.com/support/topic/18372-eq-setting-experiment/?p=136736 : I might download a spectrum analyzer for my phone to help pinpoint the nasty frequency. I'm not ready to give up on the Helix - I really like it for the most part - but this shook me up. Thanks in advance!

Brilliant! Exactly what I was looking for. Prior to reading this, I used a stomp footswitch bypassing/controlling a +4.0db gain block. Copy/paste made it relatively easy to update my patches presets (I only have 8 right now). And now I've freed up one of the four precious stomp footswitches (I'm using the snap/stomp global configuration). Thanks!