MGW-Alberta

If it continues to serve your purpose and sounds good and you're happy with it, does it really matter if something newer comes out? For some people the answer to that question is definitely yes. The question you have to ask yourself is whether or not you are one of them. I derive my enjoyment from playing guitar and sounding good while doing it so as long as Helix continues to work properly I couldn't care less what new gadget comes along. I'm not interested in spending a bunch of money on a new unit and then having to spend months dealing with a new interface and a new learning curve just so I can find out the new unit is mostly just different but not necessarily all that much better sounding. I'd rather spend that time and effort playing guitar and avoid the frequent hits to my wallet trying to keep up with the Joneses. One man's perspective.

I will add one more thing. If one (or preferably all) of you do figure out what's triggering it, please come back here and report your findings. It will be of help to other owners who might be searching for the same answers.

I had the same issue in an earlier version of the firmware. Possibly 2.6 or so but can't remember for sure. It lasted through several firmware updates until 3.0 when it went away. In my case it took me a long time to recognise what might be triggering it. I started paying closer attention and it turned out whenever I hit the Amp button to shortcut to the amp block it froze. No amount of button or knob touching would do anything at all. It still made sound in the last snapshot it was in before it froze. Rebooting the unit always unfroze it until I hit the button again. Once I figured that out I started navigating manually with the joystick to the amp block and it never crashed on me again after that ... unless I absentmindedly hit the amp button again that is. With each update I tried it again but it persisted. As I mentioned it went away after updating to 3.0. I did start a support ticket at the time but I was already off warranty and they wanted me to ship it to an authorised repair depot at my expense and of course the repair would have been at my expense as well, which is all understandable being off warranty. I chose to save the money and just use my work-around solution. I'm glad I did since it went away for free and I was not without my Helix for however many weeks or months it might have taken. I suggest you guys who are having the issue try to pay attention to what your action(s) might be immediately preceding the freeze. Even if this particular bug isn't related to the amp button, knowing what triggers it will definitely be helpful when communicating with L6 about your support ticket.

This is a user forum. You are not talking to Line 6 here. You are talking to users of Line 6 products. Go to the idea scale page to post your request.

I don't know if this applies to your situation or not but for some people the length of the cable matters. I cannot use the cable that came with Helix. It's too long for my situation. I have 6 or 7 "Printer" cables and the only one that lets me connect is the 3 foot one. I don't know why. It makes little sense to me. I only know two things: a shorter cable fixed it for me ... and I'm not the only one who solved the problem with a short cable. There have been others with the same problem. Try it.

Well, it's 8 years old now and that's a long time in the electronics game so who really knows. There's lots of speculation about what the next generation Helix might be like or when it will come but with Line 6 still coming out with firmware updates that include new models pretty regularly I'm hoping that indicates they won't be giving up on Helix just yet. Even if they do offer a new and improved device I likely won't switch over. I can't envision there being much incentive to justify the expense. Helix is so versatile already I just don't see myself needing anything more in terms of the hardware. I do have some items on a wish list but they are all models I wish they'd create, not hardware upgrades.

You no longer have to use Monkey or L6 Updater or anything like that with Helix. Everything now is done through HX-Edit. As long as you follow the instructions listed on the L6 software downloads page you should not have any issues. Make sure you actually read the instructions and don't just quickly gloss over them and make assumptions about what you think it means. Read it and understand it. When people run into problems (and some people do) it's almost always because they skipped a step or did things in the wrong order or in some other kind of way failed to follow instructions. Often it has to do with failure to do the backups and factory resets. Like you, I also have an older computer. Mine is 2013. I didn't have any issues running HX-Edit under Mojave before and I don't have any issues running it under Catalina now. I have a new Mac coming to me some time this week. I hope there are no bugs running under whatever the newest MacOS is called now. I guess I'll see.

Go to the preset you want to edit. Then go to each snapshot one at a time. In each snapshot, change to stomp mode and set the amp channel how you want it: clean or dirty. Then switch back to snapshot view and save. Do this for each snapshot one at a time. It should work. It works on the Helix Floor so I don't see why it shouldn't work on Hx Effects. Come back here after you've tried it and report your results because I'm kind of curious myself if the two units behave differently.

Sorry man. People on this forum can sometimes be a little unsympathetic to newbies, even if they generally mean well. You'll get used to it. I had to. Your request makes perfect sense to me. I always rename my stomp switches to simplify the name. It just makes sense. I don't need to be reminded every time I look down while on stage of which particular delay model I chose. I just call it Delay, exactly as you want to do. It makes life on stage faster and easier when you don't have to think about it and decipher the anti-trademark infringing names that don't always make a lot of sense until you stop for a moment and think about it .... not the best thing to have to do in the middle of a performance. Simplifying the name is a no-brainer for me. That ability is an invaluable tool for stage work as far as I'm concerned. I do it every single time with every single block I assigned to a switch on every single preset I create .... but I have the Helix Floor with scribble strips. That's kind of the thing when you buy a lower cost version of the hardware. Sure, it generally has the same basic operating system and the models are essentially the same but the capacities and the usability features and user options get reduced more and more the further down the price-point you go. That's just how it works. If the lower priced versions could do everything the higher priced versions could do there'd be no point in buying the higher version. All the modelling companies that offer more than one line do the same thing. You're just going to have to accept it as one of the limitations of your device.

After thinking on this a little longer, in dual mono the PC+ path could be set up so it operates somewhat like an amp in 4CM. It won't be perfect but it will be a little more like 4CM. You would run a preamp block after your wah, distortion, etc. blocks and then place your time based effect blocks after the preamp and then run a cab block after those. One both paths you could also use a splitter block, if you wish, to create a longer path to make room for more blocks but you'd need to change the splitter block settings so that the entire signal routs to the "B" path rather than using the default 50/50 split.

Danny, if you run the setup I showed you, your Mk VII preamp output will run into both the MK VII power section and the PC+ but they each will have their own left and right stereo time based effects; left to the amp and right to the PC+. The PC+ will receive your Mk VII preamp signal. If I am understanding you correctly, you may not actually want this kind of stereo rig but rather what we call a dual mono rig. That's where you have one guitar playing through two amplifiers, each with a different sound; sometimes slightly different, sometimes a lot different. SRV did this as a matter of habit in the recording studio. He'd play one guitar through multiple amps; each set to different settings. I have done this with a conventional guitar/pedal/amp setup using an A/B/Y switch and two amplifiers. It can be a very compelling tone when set up properly. If you do want to run dual mono then I suggest you create a preset using both paths; each path having the input block set to 1/4" and each path output set independently to left and right 1/4". You may have to pan the outputs left and right. I don't know. It's been a while since I tried that setup. You won't be able to use the down arrow at the end of path 1 to reroute to path 2 as each path will be discrete at the output but common at the input. You'll be able to use the amp's loop to run your time based effects on the path that outputs to your amp. Those effects should be mono, not stereo. The other path will have to be a straight path from input to output with no loop block, placing your blocks in conventional order and you will probably want to run an amp block in this path. If you want to get a wider sound image you can add a simple delay block at the very beginning of Path 2 (assuming that will be the path going to the PC+). You would set the mix to 100%, the repeats to zero and the delay time to 2 or 3 milliseconds. This will make it sound like there are two guitars playing at once with different tones rather than one guitar with one sound that is a blend of 2 tones. It should sound more stereo-like. You can go longer if you wish but anything over 3 milliseconds will progressively sound more and more like a chorus effect the more you increase the delay time and after about 25 milliseconds or so it will start to sound kind of bad. You could use snapshot mode to apply different delay times to different snapshots.

Yah, you kinda did. You posed a question on the internet.

Probably because that's the equipment that he has and he wants to try stereo without purchasing more gear. ______________________ Danny, use your Helix in normal 4CM mode. After the loop block, place your stereo effects block(s) and then send one Helix output (L) to the amp return and the other output (R) to the PC+. It will be a 5CM. Here is how you would normally set it up in 4CM. The difference in your setup will be the cable routing at the Helix output.

4CM = 4 cable "method". You said management.

1) Not sure what you mean by "switching to path 2". If path 1 and path 2 have different inputs, ie: Variax magnetics and Variax models then both paths will be summed at the output, assuming both paths are routed to the same output jack, as would most definitely be required when using one amp in 4CM. Switching between the two paths would require disabling one path on one preset or snapshot and then changing it up on another preset or snapshot. That would make no sense to me personally but if that makes sense to you then knock yourself out. Different people want to do different things. More importantly: 2) If you are using one amplifier in 4CM then you will be able to rout Helix effects blocks into the amp's loop from only one of the two paths. Helix does not allow using the same physical Helix loop more than once in a preset. I've tried it. It won't work. In the unlikely event your amp has more than one loop then I suppose that could be possible by using two of the Helix loops, a different one on each path but I've never heard of an amp with more than one loop. Personally, I think what you might need is a second amp and run a two amp rig. I too have encountered the same conundrum. I also own a JTV69 and dabbled with simultaneous magnetic and Variax modelled signals into a single amp and I tried a number of options but none provided me me anything acceptable to my ears. I came to the conclusion I needed two amps and that was cost-prohibitive for me so I did not take the matter any further. There are a number of musicians who run two amps while using Variax models and Variax magnetics in one preset or snapshot and it can be a very compelling sound, particularly when both paths are playing at once. If you choose to go that rout I suggest adding a simple delay block to one of the paths, delay mix set to 100% with zero repeats and the delay time set to less than 10ms. That should give you a very big wall of sound.

I've had the same experience. I just learned to use the full amp models. They use more DSP but they get me where I want to go.

Set the input blocks for both paths to Variax. Place a Volume block at the beginning of each path immediately after the input. Set the output blocks for both paths to 1/4" or XLR or whatever jack you normally output through. Turn the volume block all the way down on the path you do not want to use for this snapshot and save. Switch to another snapshot and turn that volume back up but turn the other one all the way down to use the other path on that snapshot and save.

Personally I don't use Native it at all. Haven't even downloaded it; never saw the need. When I record, I do it with my Floor; I connect it to my interface and I am happy with the results. Love your work, though. I frequently print off a page of the big book explaining the parameters of a model and refer to it while I monkey around on the unit and listen. It has helped me greatly in my understanding of quite a few models that were previously unfamiliar to me.

Dead Variax battery.

Except for the first six months or so, back when I was trying to get good sounds from Helix using the same equipment most people use (FRFRs, monitors and such) my Helix has served as an elaborate pedal board using 4CM into my Boogie. Once in a while I try something different but I always go back to my Boogie and 4CM. I admit I do sometimes use amp blocks and preamp blocks before the loop block but those are used primarily as shortcuts to a type of sound my amp does not typically create naturally on its own. I like the results I get, once dialled in properly and it adds greatly to my versatility in terms of available tones. In this scenario I do not consider the amp/preamp blocks as real. I'm not actually running an amp into an amp because amp blocks on Helix are just digital models, just like the effects blocks are not real stomp boxes. Like all blocks, they take in the signal and modify it and send it on downstream. They aren't really amps. My amp sounds the way it sounds and it will take in that signal and modify it and send it along as well but if the signal it receives sounds like a Vox (just for example) then my output will sound like my Boogie is trying to sound like a Vox and that's almost always good enough for me. Better than good enough. Some presets are downright awesome. As a matter of fact, as time passes and I get better and better at dialling up amp and preamp blocks to work with my actual amp I find I am using those blocks more often and getting better results. When I first started doing it I had maybe 1 in 10 presets with an amp block. I'm probably up to 7 in 10 now. Cab blocks and IRs are a different story. I have not had much luck at all with cab blocks as they just seem to make mud, IMO. Some (not all) IRs have been useful tools but that's after I turn the mix level down considerably and only if they are the very last block before the output to the amp return.

Save your snapshot the way you want it. If you bypass a block in that snapshot and save the preset, then every time you go to that snapshot the block you bypassed will remain bypassed. That is, unless you turn it on. If you do turn it on it will stay on if you switch back and forth between snapshots unless you turn it off before switching to another snapshot. All snapshots behave this way. Any blocks (including those you have access to as stomps) stay as they were the last time you went to that snapshot. If you press bank and reload the preset it will revert to the settings from the last time you saved the preset. All blocks assigned to stomp switches will remain as you left them and that is on a per snapshot basis. Turning a block on or off in one snapshot does not turn it on or off in another snapshot.

I've never seen a standby switch on any of the amp models I've used on Helix. So, IMO, we can't really say the models accurately reflect the real amp. I'm joking, of course. It was just a funny thought that came to me and I thought some of you might chuckle.

Clearly there is a whole lot of misconception about playing live and that's probably because playing live has changed in the last two decades but it wasn't always so. When your amp is your stage monitor it doesn't matter if is mic'd up and going through the house mains or not. It's still the amp in the room for you as the guitar player. That still applies 100%. Amp in the room has nothing to do with the audience whatsoever so all of these comments about what the audience hears are pointless with respect to this particular issue. What the audience hears these days is you ... but it's you after the sound guy changes your precious gold tone to what he wants. Amp in the room on the other hand, that has to do with you alone, the guitarist, interacting with your amplifier at stage volume and FRFRs simply do not, cannot provide that. There is a personal and physical relationship between the amp and the guitarist that cannot be replicated with digital mastery. What your hands are doing and how the strings respond to the circuitry and the SPL coming from the amp have a very real and very direct connection through your ears and to your brain. When you hear and feel that interaction it affects how you play and that is the whole point of it. That is why some guitarist speak of amp in the room. It's got nothing to do with your sound through the house or into your DAW. It is of crucial importance for guitarists who play by feel, rather than by memorization, repetition or rote. Not all guitarists feel this interaction but for those who do the inescapable conclusion is that there is no substitute for an amplifier and Helix then becomes the coolest and most versatile pedal board in existence but it does not replace an amp. The reason I feel it is because I am old school. When I was coming up we only mic'd our amps for the big gigs. Most of the time your sound came from what we now refer to as stage spill and the vox were pretty much the only thing that got mic'd. You spend your youth playing in those conditions and then switch to digital because it is so damned versatile and has such a small stage footprint and the first thing you find lacking is the feel of your amp. You feel lost without it. You don't feel like a guitar hero any more. You feel like a wimp. It's about feel and if you did not cut your eye teeth the same way then I completely understand why you might think all this amp in the room business is a bunch of nonsense but for those of us who did come up that way I assure you it is VERY real.

You hit the nail right on the head. Guitar amplification isn't supposed to be flat ... or hi-fi ... or dynamically neutral.