themetallikid

I'm sure this is probably not it, but I haven't seen it mentioned and I can't recall the specific parameters in the blocks.... but if it sounds distant, is it possible there is a wet/dry setting that is more on the wet and not allowing the direct signal through? LIke if a Reverb was seting to 80% wet, you'd only hear the reverbed sound and not so much the actual signal?

I can't answer several of your questions.... but what may help for setting the inputs for your presets is to create a blank 'template' set up the way you want, and then you can save that template to a new preset location when you create a new patch and all inputs would be as you saved them.

I heard its going to have Bluetooth to sync up to 'smart' toasters so you can dial in the appropriate amount of cooking time on your morning toast/bagel = under Amps - Brown Sound.

Thanks guys, I'll play with this tonight, seems like it'd be easier than trying to reach behind and under a powered wedge, lol. Will I need to alert the sound guy for any weird volume signal issue then with that change?

Where is that setting? I've been wanting to do this as I run the same way. I've been going to my powered wedge, and then using the 'link output' to go to the mains, but there is a balance of signal strength then. I'd rather run the other way.

That's how I would try to use it. I had that same issue with the Banshee Talkbox. If I ran it in front I was 'stuck' with the on board distortion model which I didn't care for. I would run it in the loop of my Fractal/Boss units and then insert it after the preamp block. I would then set the talkbox controls in a way that the gain was low enough to pass some signal, but not enough to really dirty it up. I would increase it as sort of a dirt pedal addition to the preamp coming from my main unit, but wouldn't ever get past 9'oclock on the dial. The level would need to be increased for the output usually to about 3'oclock to compensate, but that's expected with such low gain settings. This also allowed me to place the talkbox unit in a position that I didn't have to reach with my feet. I could just setup a preset/snapshot that would be a copy of my regular rhythm preset but with the FX Loop block engaged and the main output muted.

Lol....

I heard that Line 6 hired a new catering company for their lunchroom meals. Wondering if that will be something they implement into the next firmware release. I personally would love the ability to place a burrito on the expression pedal and turn the 'lunchbox amp' to 11 and have it nuked while I'm tweaking. Any help if this will be coming this year at all?

So with the talked about addition of a polyphonic team of experts....do you think they are only looking into tuner improvements, pitch block improvements....or do you think they are looking to add a fully 'drop' style effect? I dont get sucked into these kinda threads, but I'm considering the Digitech Drop pedal, but if I can save $X00 with a 'homegrown' effect built into my presets that would Plan A of course. Anyone have anything they'd be willing to share that I should splurge or wait it out? I understand I wont get a straight L6 answer, but maybe some reading between the lines info could persuade me one way or the other, hahaha....

That is fair, but the externals I was using were the standard Mission Engineering EP1 that worked flawlessly with my Fractal unit(s) as well as the Boss GT-100. However, in the cases of this scenario/post, i'm only using the on board EXP pedal. I'll roll with the concept that its 'fixed', for now.

Update from last night.....Everything seemed to work fine. There were a few times that I think one specific preset loaded with the heel down wah sound, but I was singing and couldnt tell if I just bumped the pedal by accident. I think setting the global setting to 'preset' instead of 'global' may have done the trick. Fingers crossed....thanks for the help and replies sorting this out. I've loved the Helix since I've had it, minus the struggles with the expression pedal stuff.

Update: Pre gig - ...got home, and tested each of the 8 core rhythm tones and lead versions of each and all sounded like they should. I started it up, moved pedal heel>toe then went through each preset and sounded fine. We'll see if it sticks for the show tonight. Typically everything has behaved at home and then at the show I have to adjust on the fly to whatever its choosing to do. Maybe that setting did change something with how it handles the autoengage setting....we'll see.

I'm not using snapshots though. I did use that previously, when I did a preset per song.....but for simplicity sake until I get core tones nailed down that I like, I'm just doing basic rhythm/lead tones of different gain stagings. So for now, I'm not doing snapshots, but I see where your example would cause issues. I'm picking up another guitar from my drummers house to use tonight that I normally leave at practice and picking up my Boss unit. I'll recheck when I get home how it reacts again with the 'per preset' setting vs. 'Global'.....

Lol....ok, I may just have to cave and send this in for a look....I'll have to revert back to my Boss GT 100 (ew!) lol....maybe what I learned programming the Helix will help make that sound less like sterile cardboard. lol... I changed my global setting to 'Per Preset'. went back through, tested each of my 24 presets (most had gain block engaged already, wah block off...but when wah was rocked, its like the bypass states were reversed so had to resave the presets with both blocks off after a 'calibration' of the pedal). Even clicked back through them after resaving all of them and they sounded fine. I'll report after my gig tonight, but I dont have a lot of confidence at this point. Will probably spend my pre-show time now programming my boss just in case I can't deal with it.

Ok, just turned it on this morning....here is what I get....no settings have been altered from last night. I'll preface this by saying that after my post last night, I jammed to Metallica's Reload and for the most part used my Rock Clean preset, Rock Hard (as well as a Lead version), Rock Scoop Hard (as well as a Lead version). I use the same "template" on all my presets, just change amp/cab/Eq's. Was having the 'wah' issue on the Rock Hard preset. Literally just turned it on.... It booted up to my Rock Clean preset....sounded fine. I decided to check the Rock Hard preset - came up with the heel down Wah sound. Ok, I havent moved the pedal, maybe it needs to 'calibrate' when turned on at first. So I do so Heel>toe, wah turns off. I jump to Rock Scoop Hard - wah pedal almost half way cocked sound, without touching wah pedal, jump back to Rock Hard and wah is not not engaged at all (as it shouldnt be when recalling). I jump to the 4th sound I have in this bank, Rock Modern, and it also has a wah sound on it, I go to the Rock Clean and it also has wah. Jump back to Rock Hard and it now has the wah sound. I just dont get it. This is all using on board expression pedal. When I filled out a ticket, they told me that sometimes the frame can get bent during use if too much weight is put on it. I've only used the onboard expression pedal at one show, and most of my jamming is done at home sitting down so minimal weight is put on it anyway. I know I'm about 6'3" 230#, but I also dont lean on it when I use it, most my weight is on my left foot (non-wah), lol. I would have to think that I got it new out of box not bent, and they would have 'stress tested' the materials to support at least my usage/weight.

Jbuhajla - Yes, I use that is all I use the expression pedals for. I have not tested this behavior with any other style blocks. But the wah block is the only block I've ever had any issues with regarding the expression pedals (onboard and external). I do not have a PC that I can connect and upload a preset at the moment...I've got a laptop running Xp currently and no editor for us technologically behind folks...lol. Hopefully soon that will be upgraded.

OK to clarify....for Kylotan, I have a Gain and Wah block tied to auto engage when my expression pedal (heel down to start) reaches 5% of travel it engages the Gain/Wah blocks. What I was describing in my OP is the behavior I'm seeing with the Gain/Wah blocks. The Gain block seems to be only a visual issue on the Helix screen as I dont hear an additional 3db boost on the preset when I recall the preset and the Gain block is 'engaged', I think its just visually displaying it engaged, it isnt actually in the signal. I can tolerate this, as it doesnt affect the sound. My OCD wants it fixed, but I can live with it. However the wah pedal behavior has been something that i've been fighting for months now. There is nothing more distracting than trying to play sing a song, click to a patch and then have to look down to rock the pedal back/forth to turn off the wah. I do have global settings for my pedals set to 'Global'... So here is possibly a combination of things that could be adding up to it....I read in a thread awhile ago that the auto engage was designed to be heel down as off. If you wanted to use it as toe down off....then you had to reverse the polarity of the pedal in the global settings, and then also reverse the min/max settings so the auto engage would work correctly. I can try that again and use 'toe down' as my 'off' position, but then I run into the same issues I've had before where random reboots of the Helix would only read 0-97, 0-94, 0-98 on the pedal travel % so setting an auto engage % that consistently works is next to impossible..... ....both of these issues the OP one and the one I just described are a global issue, its not a preset specific issue....but it does seem to happen on certain presets more than others. ...Maybe that means those presets are corrupt in some way and need to be deleted and rebuilt.

So I think I've come to terms that my Helix is just schizophrenic when saving presets. I've pretty much fixed the issues I had with the expression pedal not reading 0-100% by switching the auto engage from toe down to heel down...havent had the same issues since then. However...(again tied to the expression pedal bypass).....I have a Gain Block/Wah block attached to the auto-engage expression pedal (i've tried external and onboard pedal). The gain block has a 3db boost that kicks in to give the wah pedal a bit more 'character'. However, no matter how I have those blocks saved (either using the bypass button or using the expression pedal to make sure they are off....they will not be saved and recall in an off position. And its random which block is affected. Here is what I just went through, on the same preset... Recall 1 - Gain Block engaged/Wah block bypassed - Audio sounds like the Gain block is not affecting, but it disturbs me that it recalls and on the screen it has the Gain block lit. So I rock Expression pedal to engage/disengage the blocks. Save - click down a preset, and back to the preset in question - Recall 2 - preset engages with Gain block visually/audibly off/Wah block engaged in heel down position audibly, but visually its not 'on'.....I check status of the expression pedal it is reading as 0%. So its reading the pedal correct but its still pulling the preset I just saved in the off position....on and in the Heel position -manually highlight wah, press bypass this time, resave preset, click down a preset and back up- Recall 3 - it pulls up with the blocks not engaged audibly, but visually the wah block is on. Being that its not affecting the audio, I leave it alone - move preset down, and come back up again Recall 4 - repeat the results from Step 1, repeat the step to disengage the Gain block with the bypass button not the epression pedal this time - move preset down and come back up again Recall 5 - Comes back up with the wah pedal engaged audibly in heel down position. I really like the Helix, but I dont know how to react to something that is making that error and not even doing it consistently. TO have to focus on what will be f'd up everytime I pull up a preset that I know I have saved with wah/gain blocks off and pedal in heel down postion across 24 presets is getting old. I've had this for a year and I've used workarounds for other issues regarding the expression pedals and I'm ok with those, its just a different approach than what I like.... Any ideas? am I missing something here?

I would tend to think maybe part of the cost is an 'insurance' that if something goes wrong during the mod that they have something to contribute to a replacement Helix if it is bricked in their error.

Right so you could run from -3db to +3db from heel to toe. or whatever range you wanna create.

why not just use a gain block, and have it go from Heel 0% (0db) to Toe 100% (Xdb, as much db boost as you need) that you want it to add for gain

I don't have the Ownhammer pack, I'd like to get it eventually when I get a laptop that will allow me to intall Edit again......but do you know what cab/speakers/mic/mix that IR is based on that is your goto?

I dont use a Focusrite, and the only difference in my 'chain' is that instead of speakers I have headphones plugged into the Helix. I've never had to configure anything on my pc. Did the same thing with the Boss GT100 when I had that as well. Plugged USB in, headphones in...jammed away.

I do the same thing you do with Spotify, I plug usb into m y Helix/Laptop....pull up the Spotify playlist and headphones into the Helix. Jam away......I get no latency/echo thing, I agree the pc has to be accepting usb audio for some reason.

Not to hi-jack the thread, but the input pad has captured some of my thoughts as well. I play through a Sennheiser EW172 (?) wireless. At a previous show I noticed that for years I've had the output set to +18db (it goes in 6db increments) and this attributed to a lot of my signal/noise issues I'm guessing. I knocked it back to 0 for the sake of recalibrating. I'm playing with EMG's and it seemed like with it at 0, I was not getting the same signal strength as with a cable direct....so between sets I bumped it to +6db. This got me closer, but it still seems to be lacking in some signal punch reaching the Helix compared to cable. I'm afraid to go to +12 and it being overkill.... with that in mind, would the input pad help balance going up to +12? or am I reaching for a solution in the wrong area?