Kilrahi

*Sigh* I'm genuinely baffled at times that it's been 73 years and we still haven't nuked ourselves.

In the interests of full disclosure, I did once go on the Charmin TP forum and tell them that if they didn't soften up their 2 ply I was switching over to Angel Soft. I kind of feel like my actions were justified in that case though because it was my @SS was on the line.

I'd been waiting for my Boss dual footswitch to arrive (https://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifiers-effects/boss-fs-6-footswitch?rNtt=boss) and it finally did yesterday. However, I assume that the bug mentioned above largely renders it an inoperable mess. I'm hoping that's what it is because while I could get it to read ONE footswitch, it would never do two. It'll be cool when the update lands . . .

I loved my HD500x. It's totally respectable, and you can get it on deals for less than $550. However, it's also five year old tech. Since that time, even in UI I feel like they've grown in leaps and bounds. All budgets and scenarios are different, but if the Stomp really is affordable, AND if you can see yourself being satisfied with fewer switches, then I'd go Stomp for many reasons including a longer shelf life and better UI. If it really is affordable, an LT is awesome, obviously. That's a bit spendy for me though.

Obviously I'm always up for new amp models. I'm up for new ANYTHING because it's fun. I wouldn't describe myself as in danger of jumping ship though. Honestly, there's more amps, cabs, and effects than I know what to do with. Some nights I just sit down and pick a random one to figure out what the freak it does.

Well, lots of good ideas in this old thread. For me the stuff I most hope for, in order of importance, are: 1. A polyphonic pitch shifter (basically a model of Digitech's most recent polyphonic whammy drop tune pedal). The HX currently mimics the really old one, but this one is far more valuable and impressive. If it doesn't happen at some point I won't be able to hold off any longer and I'll just up and buy one. Not the worst thing possible, I'll grant you. 2. Freeze pedal (akin to either the Electro Harmonix Freeze pedal or the superior Plus Pedal by Gamechanger Audio). I own the Freeze pedal. I really like it. Thinking of getting the Plus Pedal ('SPENSIVE!). It seems like the HX could more than handle this, but only Line 6 knows for sure. 3. Original Effects - I really think the next step for modelers is to move BEYOND modeling - quit trying to be something of the past and be something new that can only be found in the digital realm. Line 6 has done this a few times and it's pretty cool when they do. 4. Copy some of the Electro Harmonix Mel9 effects. It has some small amount of this type of stuff, it would be cool (though not essential) to have more. 5. Drum machine practice pedals like the Digitech Trio. My guess is this is beyond the ability of the HX family, but hey, would still be cool. I'm sure all of this as been submitted to ideascale at some point so I hunt through it sometimes and try to vote.

Well, I think I've kind of blabbed my head off about this one, but after testing all sorts of stuff my final conclusion is that connecting the HX Stomp, or the Helix, to the Firehawk 1500 is a piece of cake. The key is don't use the monitor ins - use the effects loop. That may be why so long ago so many seemed to struggle with it. What's my favorite method? Honestly it's using the Stomp as a DSP expander. Especially if you have a Variax, I think the far superior method is to just stick the Stomp in the effects loop. I noticed that where you position the FX loop in the Firehawk seems to have a slight sound impact (pre amp or post amp) even with the Firehawk's amp disengaged. I can't be sure why because I don't really know the routing of the device. However, either method was a plausible way to do it if you wanted the Stomp to do EVERYTHING (amp, effects, etc.) with the Firehawk effects as a backup. With the Stomp doing the heavy lifting for everything (distortions, compressors, amp, cab, delays, etc.) I preferred the FX loop in the Firehawk placed after the disengaged amp block. You can even set the wet/dry pass through on the Firehawk's effects loop to further tweak it. I didn't personally notice a huge superiority in the 4 cable method for the Firehawk. I tried comparing back and forth as best I could. Without knowing more about how the Firehawk routes signals, it's impossible for me to tell how much the signal gets changed. My favorite of the four cable approaches was to have the Stomp emulate the pre amp effects, the amp itself, and the post amp effects, and have the Firehawk amp disengaged but with the cab of choice active. I'd then use it for any extra effects I needed post amp. It sounded pretty cool to me, saved DSP in the Stomp, but it's a lot more work to set up and the payoff wasn't huge. Either way though, if you have a regular guitar, my recommendation would be to just plug it in to the Firehawk's guitar in, put the Stomp in the effects loop, choose what models you like either on the Firehawk, Stomp, or both, and call it a day. If you want to do the 4 cable method for the allegedly superior connection method, have at it. The difference is minimal in my opinion, but it still works extremely well. You might also consider saving on DSP in the Stomp by having the Firehawk emulate the cab, but not the amp. If you have a Variax, just ignore the four cable method. What you gain by going four cable isn't worth what you give up going directly by VDI into the Firehawk. Especially if you own the FBV3, the Firehawk + Variax + FBV3 was already pretty close to a dream rig for most guitar players. I'm sure the HX sounds are somehow more accurate to the originals, but they aren't actually more amazing sounds IMHO, and so if really all you're after is neat tones there's no reason to ditch the power of this setup. I think you'll have the best results if you let the Firehawk be your distortion and amp with the Stomp as your post amp effects, but you can reverse that order if you'd like, OR you can have the Stomp do all of the heavy lifting and let the Firehawk's extra effects kick in where needed. Either way, they're a wonderful combination.

A lot was said. What specifically are you wondering? If it's pressing on the pedal to switch between wah and volume, yes. Make sure wah is activated, then press hard with your toe on the front of the pedal and it will toggle.

Weird. I really thought the goat thing would get you some type of tone.

Didn't you say you got it to work once?

Uh, wait, can you show a screenshot or something? I've messed with the Stomp and done a bunch of dual paths, but it didn't seem like it was a good dual instrument machine. Do you use an FX block?

Ha ha, whoops. I bought this one below but it came in two sizes. I can't remember which I got. I do remember I measured the 500x and then chose the size that was slightly larger. https://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/gator-gk-2110-keyboard--fx-multi-effects-board-bag/544723000000000

Ultimately what will determine it is the market. I don't personally see a need for a new model right now (different industry, but cross compare it to Sony's Playstation or Microsoft's XBox One - they were originally released in 2013 and they're only just now starting about new models . . . in like 2021 or 2022), but the market will be a big determiner in what Line 6 does. I assume right now they still show positive year over year sales. As long as that is the case, there isn't a huge drive to put a new model out there because it would start to cannibalize the positive Helix sales, and they're still earning a return on that investment. I also believe that Line 6, when it reviews the competition, still feels like it can compete handily with the Headrush, Axe, Kemper, etc. One thing is certain, the market is heating up over the last few years. There are more and more competitors entering the market, and if the Helix starts to look like a lame duck (which I'm not saying it does - I just bought the Stomp after all and the thing blows my mind) then Line 6 will certainly get their butts moving on the successor.

Wait . . . if you're doing it correctly you shouldn't have to open anything other than the Line 6 Updater. Are you sure you did all the steps correctly? Follow along with the video below:

You're right. I should have been way more careful with what I was saying with the words "hardly." It was referring to the specific area of effects I was looking at next, not the whole box, which is an important distinction. Thanks for testing that out Phil and it's good to know. The unit I lived on before this was a Firehawk 1500 which largely forces you not to run into DSP issues, and before that the HD 500x, which I did sometimes run into DSP issues but it was too far back for me to remember how much or often. The Stomp is my first Helix and I'm admittedly comparing it to an imaginary perception of what a full Helix would be. It's also important to point out that the chain I tried to max it out with above is just a hypothetical chain, there are many DSP reduction things I could have done if I wanted something like that to keep the Stomp from hitting its limit. I bet the longer I use the Stomp the better I'll get at managing its resources and doing with it what I want.

Well, this won't hit the pedalboard requirement, but back when I had a HD 500X I bought this case and thought it was perfect. It's a snug fit - so if you hate that don't go with this one. It was nice and cheap though and kept it safe.

Okay, if you're interested, I would be VERY interested in testing the following because my Stomp gagged on a hairball at 4 blocks which is way earlier than I thought it would. Here's the chain: Obsidian 7000 (Stereo) >>>> Cali IV Rhythm 2 (Amp + Cab) >>>> Multipass Delay (Stereo) >>>>> Harmonic Flanger At this level there were hardly any 5th blocks it would let me add, and six blocks were dead in the water. I'd be very interested in finding out if this challenges the first DSP of the Helix.

It was designed to be used in a loop. So my opinion is it's awesome. Without more information, I can't really diagnose what your problem is. It definitely shouldn't "suck" your tone. Is it possible when you were unplugging your G Major 2, and intending to plug in your HX Effects, you accidentally plugged in a quantum singularity instead?

Okay you lost me at "Kemper." We're talking about the Firehawk FX right? You use that sucker with a Kemper?! Because with the Firehawk all you do to switch is step on the toe switch. That's it. No extra special settings required, and it toggles back and forth. I can't in my right mind though imagining using one with a Kemper. What can it do that the Kemper can't?

I would see if you can compare it to another Stomp first. I mean, it's hard for me to imagine, but maybe you just prefer the older Line 6 sounds. Have you tried making a legacy sounds only preset based on a preset you used to use? That might be something to at least give you a better idea if it's just the device itself that you don't like.

This has been my take on it as well. If you're playing solo or something and just need a short few bar rhythm backing track, either the Firehawk or the Helix's short looper works just fine (including live play). If you need complex looper functions like the serious live playing looper geeks pull off, you'll have to drop money on a full blown looper. Personally, I wouldn't choose the Helix over the Firehawk solely over the looper differences, because the differences just aren't that significant.

Are you 100% positive that there weren't some processor compromises? Because my understanding is the full Helix can have at least double the number of blocks on one signal chain without even going into the second path. I realize this could mean it was tapping into the second DSP, but I thought I'd heard of dual signal paths with 20 or more blocks (I don't own a Helix so I could be completely off base here). The idea that the Stomp hit a brick wall at 6 with some pretty simple choices seems crazy if it's half the processor of the full unit.

To be fair though, this is the kind of thing that is nearly impossible to the adoption users to find out unless the company explicitly states it, and in this case Line 6 didn't say that. I was under the same impression that you were. In fact, based on some of what they said, my assumption was that Line 6 chose such a small amount of blocks in order to ENSURE that you could always use all 6 in almost any situation. In my case, I was specifically comparing the Stomp to the Headrush Gigboard. Now, first, the Gigboard is still fairly larger than the Stomp AND it is $50 more expensive. I also feel like Line 6's Helix sounds are better. To its advantage though, it has the exact same processor as the full blown Head rush and as far as I know can play every block the bigger brother can. I made the conscientious decision as a consumer to choose the smaller block numbers because I preferred the Line 6 environment, but finding out that in many cases 6 blocks was not going to happen . . .when six already felt like a compromise, was one of the few letdowns I've had with the device. I still think I would have chosen it when compared to the Gigboard, but I'm not as confident. Anyway, I don't blame you for being a bit miffed. I'm using it primarily for DSP expansion so it still does that. If you're using it for a full rig it's harder to deal with.

Sure. Twenty seconds.

This is a freaking old post, but I just had to weigh in and say I voted for both idea scale links here. To me it's just a no brainer. I mean, I don't build the things so if there really is some deep dark corner of a Variax that if you were to do this it would blow them up and cause killer bees to attack the planet - well then stay away. Otherwise though, why not take advantage of every software tweak you can that makes the guitar THAT MUCH more enjoyable and useful compared to competitors? I'd like to be able to have the piezos only in order to try some of the acoustic IRs out there. See if I like them better than the in built acoustic models. I can only assume it never went anywhere because they largely view the Varaix as a finished product, which is too bad (unless, again, it's more that it's for some reason technically impossible, though I can't imagine why).