marmatkat

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!

I'll give a listen, thanks. I'm just doing the percussion (our other guitar's doing the chords), so I'll have to think about it.

Thanks! I hadn't thought about compression.

Hi All, I'm slowly diving into my Helix LT and loving it. (I've gigged once with it, which was a success. I stuck to tweaked factory presets until now, to prevent my getting too overwhelmed - so many choices!) Anyway, I hope it's OK to ask how to get a particular sound. I'd like to recreate the "ghost notes" that one guitar is playing in this song's intro (first 4 seconds) and then longer at 2:19: Shut Up and Dance . I'm coming from a non-stomp background, so my first thought is some kind of multiple echo while I chicka-chicka on muted strings. But I've played with that, and it doesn't sound as rich as the recording. Or maybe it's something I could layer with a looper (which I've never tried)? I'd love to hear your thoughts on how to wire this up. Much obliged!

Hi all. Liking my LT a lot after 4 weeks. I've babied it and only taken it to practices a handful of times, and noticed tonight that the ground lift switch was loose. In fact, it pulled right out! Anyone else had this happen? Kind of a bummer for an expensive unit that's touted s being sturdy :-/

(Just a thought here - encouragement/comments welcome.) I'm a new LT owner coming from non-pedalboard tube combo land, and I'm struggling a bit to climb the Helix learning curve. For starters I just want a few general tones from a handful of categories like clean, breaking up, distorted, and saturated (and I got generous help on this topic on another thread) so I can get out and play. I've tried the "bake it from scratch" approach with no luck so far. There is simply too much to learn right now - basic amp settings (to say nothing about sag and etc!) stock cab vs. IR, mic selection, mic distance, which EQ/boost/distortion to add to the chain, etc. Plus of course a ton of amp choices (which is awesome of course, but overwhelming). That's why I'm having the most luck getting usable tones by starting with factory presets. I realize they receive criticism, but as when learning nearly anything, examples are super helpful. They do two things: 1) Give me workable tones, and 2) help me learn how chains are (typically?) assembled. I'll eventually get to the roll your own level, but for now, I just need to play! (On top of that, I'm currently focusing on getting rid of some low freq boominess in my QSC K10, so I'm learning global EQ vs. cab low cut vs. parametric EQ at end of chain vs. cab choice vs. mic choice and placement). I'm confident that the Helix will do what I want, and I'm really excited about my switch to modeling. Thanks for listening!

Makes total sense. Thank you. Cab/mic/mic distance: I played with the mic that's the defaults for various factory presets, and it makes a *huge* difference. I totally see what you mean. Overwhelming as hell, but I'll get it :) K10 ext sub switch: Yes, in fact I tried it and thought it improved things, so it's helpful to know that it's legit. Thanks a ton.

Update: I went to a Guitar Center and A/B'd my B112D with a QSC K10 and a JBL EON 10 that they had. I told myself beforehand that I wouldn't buy anything unless there was a big wow factor. Well, the QSC got me excited, so I brought one home yesterday :-) It's not magic re: eq (I'm not too surprised) - the high end seems fine, but there are two low end freqs that I need to get rid of. I'm going to download a spectrum analyzer app ($4!) but there's a boomy low one plus (on some presets) one around the D string. I did some tinkering with both the global and a parametric EQ in the preset, and I found it a little difficult to get the numbers dialed in to cut those frequencies to taste. My approach was to set the Low Q as low as possible, ditto for the Low Gain, and then explore with the Low Freq to pinpoint. I'll keep playing.

Much obliged, DunedinDragon. I'm still very early on the learning curve. I think part of it is that I have no pedal background, and so thinking of working with blocks in this way is new. Also, I'm learning basics like the fact that cabs have EQ!

That's a very cool guitar! What is it?

Thanks a ton, everyone. Much appreciated! I'll look at the alternatives you listed - ALTO, Eon, DBR. My replies are inline: That's really helpful. I'll give it a try. jbuhajla: I hear you. Re: generation behind: I didn't know that. Good to know. Re: 10 vs 12: Also helpful. I was wondering about 10s. Re: clarity and getting lost in the mix: YES! I couldn't articulate it before, but there were points where my little fills were literally getting lost. I thought, "These usually stand out more." That right there is a major selling point for my upgrading. I'm putting it upright and elevated about a foot or two. I was told that that will disperse horizontally due to the horn's orientation so that we can all hear it. Good question.

Hi Everyone. I'm a new LT owner and liking it a lot. I'm wrapping my head around how to use it (single present vs. many, etc), but I wanted to ask about FRFRs. I'm using a Behringer Eurolive B112D that I had around for a practice space, and I'm wondering how much better (put that in quotes) an upgrade would sound. (I list some of the seemingly popular options below [1]) Currently I have a few things that I could see being improved: Output volume: I've only practiced once with my setup, but I was surprised I had to turn it up a good bit to be heard simply at practice volumes (not high). Behringer input 1 o'clock, Helix output about the same. They rate it at 1000 watts (!) but I suspect that other ones (e.g., Yamaha DXR10) might get more volume even with a smaller speaker. Bassy/trebly: The speaker sounds boomy plus a little brittle to my ears, so I back the two-channel EQs down almost all the way. So my question is basically, how much better sound quality (and volume) might I look forward to with an upgrade? I understand actually testing one out would be the way to go, but short of that. Thanks! [1] Powered speakers mentioned elsewhere: Yamaha DXR10 $600 QSC K10 $700 Line 6 StageSource L2t $850 Atomic CLR Active Wedge $1000 Mission Engineering Inc Gemini 1 $1100

Iknowathingortwo: Following up, how do you use pedal page? IIUC you're on the one preset most of the time, clicking various snapshots for each song. Also, I didn't see the Fender mentioned in your two rows of snapshots. Thanks!

Thanks a ton, Iknowathingortwo. That's super helpful. Update: I picked out 12 stock presets for variety and then tested them during practice on Sunday. Right away I noticed some things: I could use more variety in the models between clean and heavy distortion Some stock settings have a large relative volume difference The default volume pedal setting (linear? I have to check) does not have enough of a sweet spot in the lower and mid travel Switching presents resets the volume pedal - is this a feature or a bug? Keeping the same present and using stomp mode within a song is viable, but I haven't played with quickly switching to another preset during the song yet. I'm guessing that having the tube screamer accomplishes some of that (i.e., getting additional overdrive using stomps) Overall volume: Using my Behringer Eurolive B112D (which I had from before and decided to try), I was surprised I had to turn it up a good bit to be heard simply at practice volumes (not high). Behringer input 1 o'clock, Helix output about the same. They rate it at 1000 watts (!) but I suspect that other ones (e.g., Yamaha DXR10) might get more volume even with a smaller speaker.

Thanks all! Replies inline: I really appreciate the details. Gives me something to focus on. If you have a moment, could you say which models you use for these? Very cool. I love the idea of one preset. Sounds like you're using the Helix amp as a kind pedal platform. Question: What do you mean by "mic pre and litigator amp"?

Hi All. I'm new to modeling, and really enjoying my Helix LT, but I'm getting a little overwhelmed with all the models. I stepped back, looked at the songs in our sets, and decided that a handful of tones ranging from clean, dirty, raunchy, distorted, saturated (my terms) would be a great starting point. But even then I got wrapped around the axle, so I thought I'd ask: Does anyone perform using a small-ish set of presets that cover a wide range? Any tips would be awesome!

Thanks you two - I'll set up a couple A/B presets and try them out.

Hi folks. Brand new LT owner here, and really enjoying it so far. I'm evaluating performance options, and I have a question re: using the helix to drive the power amp and speaker of a guitar amplifier. I understand I'd run from the 1/4" out to the amp's fx return (or power amp in), and that I'd probably get best results with presets that only have a model's preamp, rather than a whole stack (preamp, power amp, and cab). What I'm wondering is how to create presets from my existing ones that only have preamps. I don't see a way to split a stack into separate preamp +. Does this mean I'd have to duplicate every preset, and then manually add the equivalent preamp, deleting the stack that it replaces? Thanks!

I welcome needing to adjust my thinking - I just hope I can pull it off :-) By disappointment do you mean that, on stage, the Helix + monitor will not sound like an amp + speaker? I guess my thinking is: 1) It needs to sound great to the audience, and 2) it needs to sound good enough to me so I can hear myself, and good enough (feel, etc) to inspire good playing. At this point I'm ready to pull the trigger on a Helix LT :-) My plan is to use the Eurolive B112D for practices and at home (when not using headphones) as I get to know the Helix, and figure out what I might want beyond that speaker. My first gig with my new band is a few months away, so I have some time. Exciting! Question: Does anyone ever offer discounts, or is it MAP? Thanks again for the help, all.

Thanks for all the great comments, everyone! Having a strong community is important for such a complex piece of gear, and it seems to me the helix community is strong. Question re a speaker: I have a Behringer Eurolive B112D I bought for basement practice, and I realize it's a lower-end unit and not FRFR (I could not find a frequency response curve, though I did find one for the DXR10). How "bad" would it be using this as a starting point? My application is small venues where only vocals go through a small PA, so I'd need something on stage for my guitar. For reference, some of the powered speakers I've seen mentioned WRT Helix: Yamaha DXR10 $600 SAX-12M-PW $625 QSC K10 $700 Line 6 StageSource L2t $850 Atomic CLR Active Wedge $1000 Mission Engineering Inc Gemini 1 $1100 I'm guessing the $250 B112D would be a get-what-you-paid-for situation. Thanks!