Kilrahi

You'll have to show us pictures of your new baby once you get her up and running. First impressions, etc.

To me they were all solid respectable sounds. Anyone with skill at the guitar could do wondrous things with any one of them. What's more, while I could hear the differences, I could immediately think of controls I could use on the Axe to make it sound more like the Helix if I wanted, or the Thermionik if I wanted to make it sound like the Helix. The differences were so subtle that it's just impossible for me to believe that with some minor tweaking you couldn't get there. That's where I think we are in the modern world. Processors long ago crossed the threshold needed to do superb modelling. The question with the top tier units now is which one best suits your needs as a player. For me, I can not fathom anything that would make me want me to spend another $1700 bucks to hit Axe level. That doesn't mean another player doesn't have a need met by the Fractal. It just means I don't and I'm a happy Sixer, and that's OKAY. In a world where we're about ready to go at each others throats over national emergencies, do we really need to bring that level of a fight to guitar gear? What's next? Baby wipes?

Yes, you ought to be able to jury-rig a wet/dry/wet setup if you utilize an ABY pedal and the Firehawk FX's FX send ports. The ABY would then send your dry signal to the amp, and the other part of the split back into your Firehawk for additional processing. If you utilized the Bluetooth abilities I believe it would send the signal to the PA and not the amp unless you changed the global settings and asked the Firehawk to process ALL the signals. At that point it places the bluetooth stream in the signal chain, and I believe it would then go to all the outputs, but you would probably not like the result.

It will allow you to do that, but I think Phil's larger point should be carefully considered. The Helix Rack Control was specifically designed and programmed for this and largely operates like a dream in contrast to the HX Effects which would take a great deal of time and programming and probably will never work as smoothly.

I find the strobe tuner to be extremely accurate and reliable. If you haven't tried that already, try it before you commit to using more real estate with another pedal. You might love it. With that said, if you decide to use the TC Electronics tuner I think the easiest method is: Guitar >>>> TC Electronics >>>> HX Effects. Your comments about 3 cable vs. 4 is a bit confusing, though you said you were new at this and I have to admit 4 cable is very confusing when you're just starting. To be clear though, you said you wanted MORE than just hitting the front of the amp, and the only way to do that is the four cable method. There is a VERY good picture of that in the HX Effects manual that I would recommend over me explaining it here. Nevertheless, here is the method: Guitar plugged in to HX Effects left mono input port >>>> 1/4 cable out HX Effects Send port in to amp guitar in port >>>> 1/4 cable out amp FX send port in to HX Effects FX return port >>> 1/4 cable out HX Effects output port in to FX return port on amp. Below is the link to the FX Effects manual. The page for the 4 cable approach is page 9: https://line6.com/data/6/0a020a3d3f4a5a6a1897ecdf6/application/pdf/HX Effects 2.50 Owners Manual - English .pdf

It does seem like this might be possible. I don't own the Helix Rack, and I don't own the HX Effects. From a quick glance it looks like the HX Effects is a more limited midi controller. I found this nice video by Line 6 and towards the last half of the video it discusses what midi commands HX Effects can send. I would compare that with the type of commands you need the Helix Rack to receive, and if they overlap well, you''re probably golden. Reviewing the HX Effects manual for the available midi commands would probably be a good place to check too.

Great idea. Voted!

What about that thread was confusing? It answers your question right within it.

It's an older model, but based on everything I see it should be able to work. Have you checked YouTube videos and followed what they did? Anytime you have used stuff there's always the risk it is broken. Do you get any functionality from it?

Honestly this forum has already had one of what you're trying to bring today (see below). It's exhausting and I don't think anyone is in the mood. Come back in six months.

That was my experience testing the AxeFX, Kemper, and the Helix. My personal opinion was there was no significant difference in any of the sounds (by significant I mean I could never get one to sound EXACTLY like the other, but I never felt any of those differences were the result of a superior distinction one had over the other, and I felt like any of those three could easily create whatever tone I needed. BUT The cost of the Helix, especially with the LT as an option, was FAR less, and its routing power seemed far and away more advanced. To me the choice was no contest. So I decided when I had enough money I'd buy one. Then the HX Stomp came out right around the time I was halfway saved up - and well - I pulled the switch and haven't looked back. I have no doubt that my bias to save money if I could helped lean me to the Helix, but there's no way in hell I think it's worth spending $1,000, or in my case, nearly $2,000. I would have buyer's remorse 24/7.

Here is the original thread with that link posted and analyzed by you. The bigger question is why, if this clip that bothered you enough to RETURN your Helix before, and STILL bothers you enough to ask now ... why you spent $1,000 again.

You already engaged in a thread including this link a year ago. What more are you hoping to learn?

Well it's not all bad news. At least now you know which unit you want. You'll be able to recoup some of the Helix loss if you sell it soon. Those tend to go for a pretty solid amount on the used market. I'd make sure you check the Kemper at least once before you buy an Axe only because it is also significantly cheaper than the Axe FX. Still, if you have ANY doubts at all between which of those two are better then you should just save up and pull the trigger on the Fractal. Compromising on something this expensive will just lead to ulcers later. Well, that and a post on the Kemper fan forums called, "Kemper vs AXFX 3, seriously..."

That's kind of always been my opinion with Line 6. My opinion is they kind of default all of their settings to middle of the road just "okay." Rather than push it in one particular direction (which is only good for specific people loving that sound) they leave it at a midway jumping off point where a user has a huge number of directions that they can go, so that after tweaking a user ends up where they want to be. Now, to be clear I've never heard Line 6 say that. It's possible that if they read this they'd say I'm full of crap. Still, to me Line 6 has always been a tweaker's paradise. Learn the box, and you WILL get there. In fact, you'll get there better than you ever thought possible.

LoL, whoops. Yeah, those are after the compression. It's a pretty powerful little compressor!

Logic is logic my friend. You're just wanting to set me up for a game where I post something and no matter how hard I work on it you say, "I hate that." I didn't fall for those games in 3rd grade when a friend of mine preferred Caddyshack to Ghostbusters, and I'm not dumb enough to fall for it now. Find someone else to hurt on the teeter totter.

People wanting to be superior have existed since the days of time. However, logic is more powerful than human emotion - even if we choose to ignore it most of the time. Who sounded better? Prince or Michael Jackson? Beethoven or Bach? Is sirloin better than T-Bone? Time and time again under A/B testing corksniffers show that the only thing they really were were elitists in their own minds. Is it possible that Axe FX III is legitimately closer to the amps they're modelling? Sure it's possible. Is the sound they're mimicking BETTER than the sound Helix is mimicking . . . sorry, but once again you're just arguing subjectivity. There is no truth to be had there.

Ah, but you see, you leapt to a conclusion with me. I DO LIKE HAWAIIAN PIZZA. Adore it even. Subjectivity is such a funny thing.

The Ownhammer ones are next on my list to try at some point. Gear money is what it always comes down to, and curiosity, because I feel like I largely get sounds I love now so there isn't a huge rush. At Black Friday there were a bunch of sales so I'm kind of waiting to see what the next year brings. Also, to be clear, I didn't hate the ones I purchased - they were high quality (I don't want to say whose 'cause I'm really not out to tear a group down, as I said, others swear by them) - I just found I used the free ones more. That realization one day just made me laugh. Yeah, in terms of upgrading, other than Firmware updates, the only thing you can tweak is 3rd party IRs. Which is a near infinite rabbit hole though so it can be fun!

Cool story bro. Sounds like you know what you should buy for yourself. Just curious, but do you like Hawaiian pizza?

It seems like most of the multi band compressors I see utilize "makeup gain" which is, of course, after the compression. Still, I don't think I'd ever advise someone to just guess since they lead to very different results. As a general rule I think you should always double check the gain type by reading up on the specific compressor you are wanting to use.

I think I didn't like it as much so I didn't buy it.

Here's another two helpful videos from Max Carton Guitar. Now, I actually didn't agree with him on everything. For example, he feels strongly that you should adjust the input impedance right from the start. I actually think "auto" works great 99% of the time. Now, I like KNOWING about it, because it does impact tone and there are times when I know what I'm going for, I haven't been able to do it any other way, and I adjust that and BOOM . . . I'm there. I wouldn't agree though that you always must do it. Still, check them out they have good information:

You're not going to find something like this because you are now entering the realm of almost complete subjectivity. Perfect example. Line 6 offered some free IRs a few years back. I downloaded that and purchased some well reviewed costly IRs. You know what I preferred? The Line 6 ones. I was frickin' shocked but I really shouldn't have been. Others would for sure swear by the ones I paid for. You know what else? Most of the time I prefer the stock cabs. Go figure. There's still a bunch of people out there like me on that one. There's a whole army that says stock cabs are a complete joke and a waste of time. I think the best you can get is to ask specific questions you'd like help on. In this case, "What are some free IRs that are pretty decent?" That's probably where I'd start. Oh, and if you don't have them yet, check them out: https://line6.com/allure/ https://www.redwirez.com/free1960g12m25s.jsp