Kilrahi

Sounds like a pretty cool setup. I hadn't heard of the Bray 4550 but after looking it up it seems pretty cool. I'm trying to make sure I understand your signal chain. I think I do, but the dark delay is baffling enough that I feel I'm missing something. The part that has my brain wondering if it's an issue is the input vs. FX return part you mention. Typically, if you're running HX for purely wet stuff then you want that in the FX return, not the guitar in because if you put it in the guitar in it gets colored by the preamp which would lead to a darker tone. Honestly though, based on the setup you describe I'd almost say skip messing with your amp, either guitar in OR FX, and instead go straight to the Matrix 800 dual power amp and see if you like how that sounds (So it would be guitar > pedalboard > amp input > dummy load > branch off to speaker/dry & Stomp > Stomp in to Matrix 800 FX). You wondered about it too. I'd at least try it before moving on to another area.

My understanding is if the cuts are on the effects block then they impact only the delay's signal, not the dry part. I've never had to get that nitty gritty though. Did you try tweaking the mix setting? It's possible the delays you're used to had a different mix between the wet and dry signal. Stomp chains aren't incredibly complex, but it still might be helpful if you could upload it and share it with us. I can fiddle around with my Stomp tonight and see if it gives me any brainstorms to your problem . . . I use the delays all the time and think they're great. To me, hell . . . I've never run into what I'd call a "dark" delay. To me all the delays I've ever used are just an amalgamation of the original signal - if it's dark the delay is dark - if it's bright the delay is bright.

It won't harm your Helix, and isn't a safety warning. The quality of the sound allegedly drops with phantom power. Keep in mind, I only say allegedly because personally I've yet to connect it to a phantom power supply. There's been many people posting here who complained about bad sound, and after troubleshooting it with the group they realized that they'd had it connected to phantom power. Once they shielded it from the phantom power their awesome sound came back. Hey, whatever works for you though.

I read the HX Stomp manual many times. There's still crap I missed. I get annoyed too when people don't even try, but this idea that one read through, or even two, just solves all your problems is complete hogwash.

Okay, just to be specific, yes, that's normal. Helix tries to model what real pedals do while still giving you even better control. So in the case of a real pedal, when you stomp on it to activate it it's engaged and begins coloring the sound. Very few pedals in the real world (though it's becoming more common) allow you to adjust the mix between the original dry guitar signal and the wet effect. The Helix does which is great, but you should not think of the mix button at zero as a way to bypass the block. Think of it more as a way to reduce the pedal's most obvious purpose while still retaining some of its influence. Just like in the real world, the only way to completely remove its influence in your signal chain is to turn it off - that's true bypass. Also, as long as it exists on your signal chain, on or off, your Helix will keep DSP reserved for it because it assumes you might want to engage it at some point in time. Also, as codamedia pointed out, you actually have a TON of DSP still available through the second processor. Something us Stomp users can only dream of. Considering you love what the pedal does to the sound, I'd consider it a wonderful brilliant accident.

To clarify, when block is turned off the tone change is lost?

With the Helix trying to be the $1500 swiss army knife jack of all trades it feels like a huge oversight to me. It's even weirder the later HX products didn't correct for it. What's more, you'll get musicians who won't know about the problem, plug it in, and think the age old complaint that even the most expensive modelers sound thin is true. Again, it's a great device and in my opinion far better than any other, but this is one particular area that just seems like a sad oversight, and it clearly reduces the value of the XLR outs.

I would never suggest this as a go to approach, but doesn't the HX Effect have the same main out section of the signal chain that the HX Stomp had where you can adjust the decibals higher or lower? It'd be a "gotta fix this shiz fast" approach for sure. It also only works preset by preset.

Try logging out of your account and then logging back in.

If you're dealing with a system that has phantom power and it can't be switched off, what's the best recommendation for how to deal with it? Any specific product someone recommends?

Seriously? I just figured they had uniformity in official Helix products. That seems nuts . . .

Yeah I wasted a good 30 minutes of my life wading through the first 10 pages trying to find it. It looks like I'm just going to have to wait and be surprised. Hopefully by June we've got our update . . .

1) Can I use a double FootSwtich + the Expression pedal? For exapmple, let's say a Boss FS-6 (that I own) and an Exp pedal . I ask that because on the manual I see only the connection example of two Exp pedals, but not a combo of FootSwitch + Pedal...would it be possible? If I understand you right, no. Yes, you could potentially connect them, but the port only sends two signals - using an expression pedal AND two footswitches is three signals. You can connect them, but only one of the dual foot switches will function. 2) The Exp 1/2 FS 4/5 jack on the rear panel has a TRS connection, so two signalscan be feed,as shown on the page 42 of the manual . In the same page I'm looking to the " One Expression Pedal" it uses only the tip, my question: by using an Y cable inserted into the HX Stomp can I have the TIP connected to the Exp Pedal and the RING to a single Boss FS-5U ? Yes you can. 3) Does the Line6 FBV2 work with Hx Stomp? Nope. The FBV2 uses a cat 5 cable, which is not compatible with the HX Stomp. 4) I have a Line 6 EX-1 Expression pedal, does it work with HX Stomp? Honestly, it should. However, there are some reports of expression pedals not working, nevertheless, if I had to bet money on it Line 6's own expression pedal works in this case.

I think you'll be fine, but there is a small risk you opened a dimensional portal into another realm. If Gozer the Gozarian appears run like hell, if she asks you if you're a God, say, "YES!"

This is the one I recommend. It's sturdy, built like a tank, and has a dual switch. I love the thing. Well, as much as you can love a pedal. It's kind of a head scratcher that other pedals suffer. Line 6 doesn't indicate any special pedal is needed at all which is frustrating. https://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifiers-effects/mission-engineering-helix-rack-expression-pedal-black

Arggghhh I don't want to hunt through that. Just give a spoiler alert warning and tell us what it is!

That's too bad, but I'm confident they're delaying it to implement my favorite pet feature. A metal can opener. Or maybe even a true tone smoothie maker? Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm............

It's kind of hidden. To copy a preset, select it. Then click the "view" and "action" buttons to save it, but before you actually click the final step to save it, twist the knob and it will let you select a new location, thereby copying the preset. The only way I know of to delete a preset on the Stomp is to highlight a blank preset, and repeat the steps above to save that blank preset over an existing one.

I thought he did a pretty solid version, though I have to stress I'm with Peter Hamm on this - if you're not going to use an IR or a split cabinet setup, I see absolutely no reason to not use the amp/cab combos that Line 6 provides in the Stomp. You're using one block instead of two, and I don't hear a single sound difference between them. I get that if you prefer IRs or are doing complex routing that isn't a choice, but for the guy's setup in the video, it works just fine. Yeah I was trying to be pretty cautious about how I said it because if I'm not careful it'll sound like I'm arguing there's no point in a Helix. Fact of the matter is, there is, and there are numerous examples of both the creativity it gives you such as you described by you, and of people creating really complex signal chains that just couldn't be done anywhere else. There is of course also the Variax element that exists there too. I still sometimes ponder an LT purchase precisely because of how cool it is - that's why at the end of the day I hope Line 6 really didn't cripple the Stomp as a way to keep it from encroaching on the full Helix line because that just isn't necessary. There is still a number of advantages that naturally exist in the full Helix hardware that will keep it valuable, but there's no reason you can't make the Stomp even more attractive. The careful balance I'm trying to describe is for those who claim the Stomp is unusable, that's hyperbole. Amazing great music can be done with it and it's a tool people could only dream about as little as five years ago, but at the end of the day the Stomp still becomes a better product the closer it gets to the functionality of a full Helix.

Yes it's possible and works great. I'm away from my stomp and by now it's habit so hopefully I'm explaining this right, but when you highlight a block and pick it up to move it, if you look at the screen the far left knob has a default path listed as "A." Twist the knob and it will drop it to B. Now you have your second path. There will be a Y break where the two paths split. If you highlight that break and hit action you can change it from a Y to an A/B, or even a crossover, and you can drag it further left if you want. At the other end you'll see a merge spot where the two chains go back together. If you highlight that and hit action the far left knob, similar to what was done with the block, if twisted, changes the path of path B to be out the effects send on the Stomp allowing you to have path B exit an entirely different port. Finally for your second question . . . yes.

First, you're absolutely right the processor could do more. They intentionally limited it without specifically saying why. That doesn't mean they don't have a good reason - but I'm with you, until they actually say what that reason is I'm stuck thinking that an AMAZING piece of tech could easily, with a small programming tweak, become the most freaking amazing thing ever (and that's taking into account pizza and flushing toilets). Still, to be fair - it's totally true that people will use what you give them. In the days of 40 mb hard drives, nobody could imagine needing much more. Today consumers fill 2 terabytes . . . or 20. So thinking about music for a bit, I mean . . . PART (and I mean that with a caveat because I'm not saying people don't do amazing stuff with long signal chains that can ONLY be done with long chains) of the reason that people use long signal chains is because they can. My brother is a computer programmer, and one thing he always points out is if you give them tons of firepower they often write lazy code - give them very narrow specifications and they write brilliant simple code that wouldn't have happened without those restrictions. Most of the greatest songs of all time only had a handful of effects used - six covers just about everything well known in human history. The Stomp does bring out a certain level of creativity. So I'm with you. I WANT to open the Stomp's full potential. I'm baffled Line 6, who is selling gangbusters with this thing, doesn't seem to stop and wonder how much MORE they'd do if they allowed 16 blocks. I personally think the Stomp would go from amazing to legendary gear. Still, they claim a year from its release it will all make more sense, and I guess as much as I want 16 blocks I'm stuck waiting to see if they will convince me. I really don't have a choice in the matter, other than vote in Ideascale. Whatever that tends to be worth. All in all though, it's still the most amazing piece of guitar gear I've ever owned, and I recommend it to all sorts of people. I do know a few though who would have got the Stomp if it could even just do 10 blocks, and instead went the Gigboard route because the Helix was just too far outside what they wanted to spend. I suspect there are actually quite a few people out there like that. Afterthought: We also must remember their primary target audience were pedalboard users. Their thinking was they already had beloved effects they wouldn't want to lose and so the DSP/block issues were far less relevant. That's the market share they're driving for. Of course, the moment you point that out you think, "Well, yeah, but wouldn't you rather wow them so amazingly that you wean them off those other pedals OR grab market share from an entirely different group who want an all in one?" Be that as it may, I rarely have problems with the 6 block limit precisely because I'm simple AND I was in that first target market as if I need more than 6 blocks I either share it with my Firehawk 1500 or my small and simple collection of existing pedals.

Everyone is different, for sure. Works great for me though.

Nah. Just means I personally try to be pretty chill. You don't have to like me. Only my mother hangs out in that category, and she feels ripped off.

Just to kind of weigh in from the original point now with the new information, yes, I'd send it back too if it was as you described. As to who in these threads is the smarter one, there are still times, albeit rare these days, where, despite my own better judgment, I take a deep whiff of a shockingly bad fart I passed. So whoever it is, it clearly isn't me.

I don't own one, nor had I heard of one until today, but based on the fact it has a standard 1/4 out, yes, you should be able to use it in any traditional amp, including the Spider V.