Lotta_Gear

Read the manual and figured it out. I hadn't seen that you could PRESS the Presets knob. Also didn't realize the joystick was the navigation tool for the lists. Simple, really!

Yeah, this is where I'm at currently. For the first while all I did was explore one preset (01A US Double Nrm). It was like I'd bought a vintage Twin Reverb and was playing with it and getting used to it. I've only ever owned a couple of amps in my life (one of which is a '65 SR). Suddenly having dozens of amps and effects at my disposal was somewhat daunting at first, but now I'm starting to explore. Created a preset last night and tried at least 10 or so amps before settling on one (for the song "Hurts So Good" by Mellencamp). I've played guitar for over 40 years, and have always loved rocking out, and now it's just become SO much better! I think it'll be a while before the "kid in a candy store" feeling starts to fade...

I owned a '71 Strat (original, before the 3-bolt neck mods), and currently own a MIM Strat (limited-edition David Lozeau "Rose Tattoo") and an American Vintage '56 (re-issue) - both 2015 models, and for my money the '56 re-issue is the best of the 3. However, in my experience, tone like that has as much to do with the amp/effects as the guitar.

I'm a relative newbie myself, but I think I can provide at least some help. Having just been through the learning curve myself, I can definitely give you a few pointers that may be helpful. First thing is that I'd recommend you download the manual and read it: http://line6.com/support/manuals/helixlt Until you actually PLAY with the unit, some of the stuff will be hard to wrap your head around (trust me on this one), but this should at least give you a head start. I would also recommend searching YouTube for things like "Helix Snapshots" and "helix presets" etc. There are lots of great videos out there, and many of them give great tips on getting the best sound. Here's a couple of links that may give you food for thought about 3rd-party IR's... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8Qrt-Q79U4&t=850s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX8dLRb_9FM

Just load the latest.

So finally today I was able to spend some real quality time with the LT, and I am SO stoked!! I'm camping this weekend, so I brought it along with an electric guitar and a pair of headphones, and worked mainly on discovering settings I'd want for a few songs, like some early Beatles songs, Mellencamp's "Hurts So Good", the Doobies' "Listen to the Music", and the Stones' "Honky Tonk Women". Along the way I also started working on a new original song, my first in ages. To be honest, I found Snapshot 01A US Double Nrm entirely satisfactory for all of that. I know, headphones don't tell the whole story, but I suspect this will be my "go to" snapshot for a lot of things, at least until I get some more experience with this rig. I suspect the amp on this snapshot is modelled after a Fender Twin Reverb... sure sounds like one. Gotta say, I am SO impressed with this thing!!

Prior to getting the LT, my last major purchase was a Boss RC-300 Loopstation. A more recent, but less major, purchase was an Electro-Harmonix Key-9. In hindsight, this seems very fortuitous. I'm thinking that these two devices can form the basis for a very powerful combination with the LT. Of course, my plan at the moment is to concentrate on learning the LT, getting familiar with it, and dialing in the tones I want for the music I want to play. But I'm thinking that the RC-300 will give me additional inputs beyond what the LT has, as well as giving me the ability to create very intricate backing tracks. The Key-9 gives me sounds that the LT isn't (yet?) capable of - the ability to make my guitar sound like a keyboard or steel drum. Just wondering, has anyone tried using an external looper hooked into one of the send/return loops, in addition to a looper block (i.e. can you use both at once in a preset)? I'm thinking having the Key-9 between the guitar and the LT, with the RC-300 on one of the send/return loops, could be a very powerful combination. I also very much covet the EH Superego+... (someday)

Got the editor installed and the firmware updated, now running 2.21. Explored the editor a bit. One question: How do you move between the preset banks using the LT (i.e. switch between Factory1 and Factory2, or User1, etc.)? I tried holding down FS1/FS7, and I then see the 8 presets, but clicking on a footswitch (for instance FS3) doesn't seem to change the bank I'm in - if I use FS1 or FS7 (up/down) it just cycles through the same 32 presets (starting with "US DBL NRM"). I'm sure I'll figure it out, it's late, and I didn't spend that much time looking at it. Tired, probably. I did find the Litigator. Wow, what a sweet amp THAT is!!

Thanks, that makes a lot of sense.

Many thanks! Just spent about a half hour checking out the factory presets (just a selection of them, it's rather late), and WOW!! I can feel the power and potential of this thing! It'll take me a while to learn to "ride it", but I'll have a lot of fun getting there. Together with my Boss RC-300 loop station, I think I'll be able to do pretty much anything. Even the looper block in the LT is quite powerful and easy to use.

Okay. Just downloaded Driver v1.86, Updater v1.11, Helix LT 2.21.0 bundle (firmware), and Editor 2.21. Given that I haven't created any presets, loaded any IR's, in fact just un-boxed it yesterday, I know that I don't have to back anything up. Questions: 1. What do I need to install first? The updater? Then use it to update the firmware on the LT? 2. What's the Driver 1.86 for? Does it get loaded using the updater, or is it a driver for the computer? 3. Installing the Editor would be the last step? Thanks for any help.

Thanks, I will! And... that brings up another question. One of the things at the top of my mind when I bought it was that I can use it on stage and in my home studio, and get the same sound into my DAW as I use on stage (not that I'm doing a great deal of either, at the moment, lol). So I'm wondering... if I have the hardware, and I can connect it right to my DAW, why would I want a plugin (Helix Native)? And assuming I did buy that, can it import settings directly from the LT, or would I be faced with doing setups in two places? Inquiring minds want to know! :P

My kids were raised on classic rock, blues, and jazz. They already own a lot of Fender gear (amps and guitars). My '71 Strat (4-bolt neck) was kind of legendary as they were growing up. The younger one is the lead guitarist, he cut his eye teeth on Hendrix, Vaughan and others. Yeah, I think they know what they're getting...

Just trying to figure out what to download first. For instance, since I'm downloading everything from scratch, I assume I should download the latest version of the editor to start with? Does the version of the updater depend on the firmware version on my unit, or is that independent? That sort of stuff. I've seen a number of similar posts, so I know I'm not the first to experience this.

Well, not selling any guitars, and DEFINITELY not selling the '65 SR!! No, that will go to my younger son (the two boys have a great band together). Just selling some "extra" stuff I don't use, like a Vox VT-20+, an extra snare drum, extra hi-hats, stuff like that. I will say, I've had a couple looks at the download page, and I am stumped! Gonna do a bit of searching in the forums to figure out what I need to download first, but first thing will be to boot up and see what version is on the LT itself...

Thanks! Looking forward to a deeper dive. I absolutely LOVE that the interface is so amp-like, with real knobs to tweak the various parameters like gain, bass and treble, etc. From what I've heard, the tweed and Twin Reverb sounds are to DIE for! Even just right out of the box. I financed the purchase over a year, and I'm selling excess gear (amps are excess gear now, lol) to help pay it down. I have to admit, I haven't been as excited about a purchase since I took possession of my special-order American Vintage '56!

First became aware of the Helix late last week, went to see it at my local music store, and then spent the weekend obsessing over it. I'm an "old-school" musician, still have the Fender Super Reverb I bought used in '73, gave my '71 strat to my older son last year. I've been on LONG hiatus while dealing with raising family and career, but lately getting back into doing open mic stuff and hoping to get into gigging soon. I was wondering what I would do for amplification and tone. I bought a decent PA recently that consists of two powered speakers (350w) and a mixer, and I've been mostly sticking to acoustic stuff so far, but wanted to get back into some good old R&B, Rock 'n Roll, etc. Jazz, too. Was hoping for a solution that would give me lots of tone without having to lug huge amps around (my SR is way too heavy for me now). So I picked up the Helix LT on Monday, but had a late appointment, so I couldn't actually play with it till last evening, and even then only had time and energy to fire it up and play with a few presets. WOW!! It's everything I hoped for, and more!! Looking forward to getting deeper into it, but from what I've seen so far, this is exactly what I was hoping for. Can't wait to show up at an open mic with it and totally blow everyone away!