Kilrahi

A volume pedal would work just fine. Another thing that MIGHT be useful depending on how you think in conjunction with a volume pedal is to go into the Stomp's global settings and disable the volume knob for the outputs. You can change this so that it only controls the headphone out instead of the main outs so that you don't accidentally futz up the FOH volume. Edit: Another creative idea I've seen people do is utilize the headphone output to run their monitors. Some experimenting will probably be in order, but where you're running mono only it should be doable, and this way you could use the volume knob to control the level on your monitor, while FOH gets the main out at a steady level. Try it, it's worked great for some.

Yes ... sorry to original OP for not noticing the X on the lower part. The perils of looking at a picture on a phone screen. Still, easy tweak though and then you'll be on the right "path" so to speak ...

That's one way to go - if it sounds good it's good. Here you're running parallel paths. My go to is usually one split path. Each has their strengths and weaknesses. There's usually several ways to accomplish what you want to with a Helix.

Same to what PierM said, I actually had my neck pickup not function last night. The Variax functionality was fine - even with the switch. But if I switched to the natural pickups the neck was a no go. Middle (combined) and bridge worked fine. I worked at it for about twenty minutes. I noticed if I put it to middile, played, and then flipped to neck only it would work - did that enough and then all functionality returned. Fluke? Dumb luck? Doomed to have it go out again in five days? No idea, but it fixed it for me last night and I thought I'd pass it on. Good luck, and may the guitar gods have mercy on our souls.

Anyone on here tried the mic preamp? I'm in the market for a few things - taking a tiny bit of DSP off my full size Helix, getting a longer looper than the full sized Helix, and buying a second mic preamp that is comparable to the Helix one. I don't need a crazy focused micophone preamp - just something on par with the Helix that allows me to amplify a voice aand add some slight effects on occasion (such as reverb). To my surprise - the new Delay SEEMS like it would do all three things VERY well. However, it's also possible the mic preamp option is limited enough that it only works in certain setups (such as adding a looped beat box effect vs. actually belting out a couple of choruses). Any thoughts on the quality of the mic preamp for this one?

Knowing what your signal chain is in the Helix can also help. Depending on your experience, if you're using a cab sim or IR in the Helix but also using the amp simulations on the Powercab then you're essentially doulbing up the cabs which can lead to a boom/muffle sound. You mentioned that there was no difference in FRFR mode, and assuming that's true, then the above is not your problem, but I still like to point it out to people as it's a mistake I see fairly often.

Powercab user. I like the emulations too so sue me. The "blanket" claim doesn't make sense to me. They have a perfectly fine frequency response in flat mode. Play music through it - that's always my test. If music needs a helluva lot of tweaking then the flat mode is crap. Powercab sounds great first try. I never had any problems with the L6 link either. I'm not denying other people's experiences - but it's always been fine for me. I have a 212 because I need beef. Edit: I should say for the way I understand Helix, I greatly reccomend a Powercab, or any flat response, over the Catalyst, but at the end of the day, you do you boo. I'm sure it wouldn't suck and it brings some things Helix currently doesn't (MOSTLY - but not only - the models that are within it, but that could change).

Just my take - To me the HX Stomp is basically what you're asking for. It's the exact size needed but with MORE, not less. If tomorrow they released a Stomp sized NOT Stomp with amps and IRs but no effects for $400 it would feel like an empty cash grab. At least to me.

It's just giving people more options. Sometimes I like one block that I control independently of all snapshots so that I can drop it in snapshot 1 or take it out, snapshot 2 or take it out, etc. Helix is all about a myriad of ways to do things.

Stomp works great for this. Just follow the 4 cable connection instructions in the manual. Use the fx and and return blocks. There are presets in the Stomp you can use to follow the format.

Absolutely. After a great deal of experimentation, as you can see above, in my opinion the best approach is: Helix signal path: 1. Set up a path 1 and path two signal. Path 1 is your dry effects. Set the exist for path 1 to be the 1/4 left main out. 2. After the cab block attach a path 1b split that feeds into path 2. 3. In path two, apply your various wet effects in stereo. Set path 2 to exit the Helix out the XLR sends. Firehawk: 1. Create an internal preset that's basically a big fat zero. No amp or cab, no EQ. Nothing. Save this as a core preset. Mine is titled "Helix W/D/W." 2. Attach a standard 1/4 cable from the Helix 1/4 left main out into the "guitar in" on the Firehawk. 3. Attach a left and right XLR cable from the Helix's XLR's out into the FIrehawk's monitor ins. Dial in your volumes to taste. The nice thing about this setup is you can, and probably should, do most of your balancing in the Helix. However, in a pinch you do have independent volume controls on the Firehawk that can also be used for adjusting your wet and dry paths. Also, YES, this approach does turn on all of Helix's speakers. The monitor ins have volume limiters to keep the smaller stereo speakers from blowing out, but this is OK. Wet effect sounds should be lower than the main dry. It works great and they're still capable of a great deal of oomph.

Alternatively there is, in my opinion, in "easier" way simply because the cable is more common. Edit: I realize you said you don't have the Spider V software, but that's available free online as a download. Alternatively, it looks like factory presets 32a - 32d were left blank. If they are truly blank, those should work. With the PC editor you can go into the Spider V and disable all effects and amps essentially creating a "blank" chain. Save this to a preset (in my 20 watt I saved it to the "bass" preset). Doing this basically puts the amp into flat response mode. You can then plug your guitar into your Stomp, and your Stomp's output directly into the guitar in of the Spider 5 without any problem. Doing it this way opens up other possibilities too, such as plugging an MP3 player into the auxiliary in on the Spider V.

Understandable. As suggested above, if you search custom tone there are various user's attempts at mimicking an EHX Freeze Pedal. I would recommend you give some of them a try. However, between you and me, while I found some of them impressive, I was never satisfied with them, and the EHX Freeze remains one of the remaining pedals I still own. I dream of Line 6 one day adding one as an option, but until they do, I will keep using the trusty Freeze pedal.

There's nothing wrong with "complaining" about a product you bought. Human history is proof that doing so often improves products. Clearly the car analogy is not really applicable here - this is something that can be changed with software. Hardware changes (like cruise control) are always prohibitively expensive for free, but in this case, the hardware is powerful enough to do it. The costs involved are not going to be exceptionally high (because software just isn't guys - that's why the biz is so profitable and why companies like Microsoft, Apple, Android, Sony, Line 6, and on and on are always rolling out software updates with new improved features because it takes the same product and for a relatively small investment makes it retain or gain relevance!) ESPECIALLY if said software tweak actually makes your product more desirable (which in this case, you have to be proud of being full of lollipop if you honestly argue a Stomp that has more blocks isn't a better buy). There IS a point where if you are angry and mad enough about stuff that was made crystal clear to you when you bought it that it makes you look . . . whiny at best? I am NOT saying that's what I think delok25 looks like, but I have personally been annoyed by how much people complain about some things that they knowingly went into. So I get to some degree telling Stomp users that are foaming at the mouth over 6 blocks to take a chill pill. Besides, the proof is in the result! Eight blocks is coming! Is it as good as what I envisioned? Hell no. Will it cover and solve most of the issues I ever ran into with the Stomp . . .absolutely, because the number one problem was FX blocks eating up the damn available blocks. At the end of the day I went on and got a full Helix and haven't looked back . . . much . . . but still, this is a win I say. The Stomp will be a lot better with 8 blocks than 6. Clearly it was doable.

I'm kind of confused about what you're running into here. So are you trying to plug your guitar straight into the Firehawk, and then the Firehawk straight into an amp? You wouldn't generally want to use an amp block for that. Some questions I have: 1. What is your setup? Is it like I described above? 2. What did you do to remove the amp/cab block in the Firehawk?

It's VERY close. Technically a Helix LT can have technically have up to 32 blocks as long as you have the DSP for it. The HX Effects and HX Stomp can have a total of 12. Helix LT can have four discrete paths. HX Effects and Stomp pretty much have two (though you can stick the Stomp inside an HX Effects path, and due to its internal routing create a unique signal chain that really the LT couldn't do - not sure if it would be better, but it is definitely different). Your rig is more travel friendly (not that the LT is bad). It all just depends on what you want to do. I've never come anywhere close to needing 32 blocks. Bottom line, you will have a powerful rig.

Which breaks my greasy heart. MP3s did a real number on our culture. Convinced us digital was inferior (when actually, it's that inferior digital is inferior). CDs blow the sound of vinyl out of the water. Always have and always will, but the story about the Emperor having no clothes is as true today as it was when first told.

No, they're not. The Y is creating a hard right channel and another separate hard left. The other is creating two seperate paths of left AND right. They are not the same thing.

It can seem that way, but after thinking about it not really. Isn't the A/B creating exact duplicate signals, while the other is hard panning them to the left and right?

Additionally, it depends on how your acoustic instrument is amplified. A lot of people's acoustics have piezo pickups, which for some sound too duck like for them to enjoy. If you find yourself in that situation, then applying an acoustic IR (recorded in a studio setting with a microphone, not a piezo output) can reduce some of that quacking feel. It's all subjective though. I have a few instruments that I think their plugged in output is perfectly fine (granted they aren't piezo) and I never add IRs to those.

Very true . . . and that would be hard for me to wrap my head around. I just meant in terms of the Helix application, it's pretty easy peasy.

It used to for me too, but it's really not that complex. It's basically a process of knowing what command your Stomp wants, and sending THAT. So in your case you'd be buying a midi controller that can do CC values (Morningstar, DMC Micro) and assigning a value to each button. In your case, your midi controller would need to send the following to the Stomp: 1. CC #71, Value 2 (This would put your Stomp in preset mode). 2. CC #71, Value 3 (This would put your Stomp in snapshot mode). Simple as that.

Random tidbit into my personal life here, but I'd never messed around with the Boss CS-1. Tonight I decided to mess around with both Helix models of it and holy lollipop. I get what people talk about when they say it colors it some, but I don't care - it sounded like it colored it in a good way to me. Thumbs up to this thread for causing me to explore new options, and in the legacy section no less.

Yeah when I used the Stomp I never touched putting real pedals in the FX loop unless they were delay, modulation, or reverb. Distortion/compression pedals happily sat in front of it.

There are a couple of bass amps modeled in the unit. My small 20 watt even came with a bass preset. I don't get the impression you should be trying to blow the doors off the walls with one of these things while connecting a bass, so if you were to use it with bass it should probably be for quieter bedroom scenarios.