Thark

Either I'm missing something here or everyone else is. You want to tweak settings as you're playing, right? Why go to the trouble of using a midi device? Why not just use the Helix's on-th-fly edit facility? On my LT I just push the MODE button and hold to edit the preset. It will enter the edit mode and then you edit each of the blocks in your preset by simply tapping on a footswitch and perhaps using the expression pedal to adjust a setting. Easy-peasy and great when playing live.

The Powercab 212 is way too heavy for me to lift on a regular basis. I use two Powercab 112s linked together via L6 Link. Sounds really good to my ears. I don’t know the Firehawk but if, as gunpointmetal says, it is purely FRFFR then you won’t have all of the sound options that come with the Powercab such as FRFR, LFRAW etc. ... not to mention the built-in speaker emulations and ir capabilities that can reduce the processing load in your Helix.

I’ve updated to 2.81 for my Helixes and 2.00.1 for my Powercabs. Sounds fine ... better than fine actually. This is an odd problem that I’ve not heard of before. You could try going back to 2.71 (which I assume you came from) and see if that fixes it.

Agreed. There are always bugs in software, especially in radical rewrites such as 2.8. However, what you are descibing can’t be one of them otherwise absolutely everyone would be experiencing the same thing because the bug would necessarily be built in to everyone’s download. For me, the upgrade went perfectly ... on two Helix’s. No problems at all, both during and afterwards. All of my previous v2.71 presets work fine in v2.81. HXEdit works properly, again no problems that I have noticed (and I use it every day). Have you tried going from v2.6 to v2.71 rather than to v2.81? If so, does that work?

I seem to recall something mentioned somewhere about the selector switch. The thing was that when pushed extra hard the knob moves down the shaft a bit and then won't work properly. The fix, as I recall, is to pull the selector knob off and put a shim in it to raise it up enough so that it engages the switch mechanism. Sorry, I can't remember where I saw this but it may be worth a try in your case.

Hope you're young and muscular. The 212's weight is pretty hefty. It's a game killer for an old git like me ... and will be for you when you get to a ripe old age. :)

I found this confusing at first but then realized that when I'm playing with the band I don't ever look at what preset is loaded on my Powercab +. It's awkward to lean back and check the preset readout and almost impossible if the cabinet is tilted back. I don't really even look at what colour the ring is. I just listen to what it sounds like ... it's either great and doesn't need tweaking, or it isn't and needs looking at,

I did the update on my Mac and as with the op, mine went fine. I also went on to load the new factory presets and, yes, all of my old presets were erased, as expected. Of course, I had backed up everything and it was easy to go and grab my old setlists and rebuild all of the presets.

I lost the fight. Here’s a sampling: French: DUH German: DUH Estonian: DUH Swedish: DUH etc. etc. etc.

Ya, I’ve noticed that too. I’m also a Mac user and haven’t had any troubles at all with upgrading nor can I recall hearing of any other Mac users having problems. Could it be that most “bugs” are actually Windows problems? Like you, I’m not trying to put Windows down ... I write multiplatform programs and have a Windows machine in my arsenal. Don’t used it for much else though.

Where are you reading the version number from? I ask because the number shown at the bottom of HXEdit is the current firmware version. If you haven't installed v2.81 yet then it will show v2 80.

I was right! Powercab 2x12 is too heavy at 47lb. My limit is about 35lb. Too bad. It would have been nice to play in stereo all the time. Take note all you young players. This is what is coming down the pipe. You're not going to want to lift heavy speakers when you get to a certain age.

I don't have HXEdit in front of me at the moment so take what I say with a grain of salt. As I recall, in HXEdit you highlight the output block and you will see a tab marked "Powecab". Open it and you will be able to set speakers etc. via L6link.

Keeping my Strymon pedals: Mobius Timeline Big Sky Lester K They sound better to me than the corresponding built-in effects in the Helix. Also: TS9 Freqout

Another thing ... using the Line 6 link means not having to convert from digital to analog at the Helix and then back again at the Powercab. I swear it sounds cleaner that way than using a 1/4” cable.

I have a Yamaha MD-BT01 bluetooth midi receiver. Takes its power from the midi out of whatever it is plugged in to so no batteries needed, unlike the midibeam. I have yet to try it out but when I get around to it I’ll be using an Ipad, Yamaha’s bluetooth connection software and Ed Saxman's Midi controller for IOS.

Yes, this is a good way to look at it.

I believe the new Macbooks don’’t have USB-A but rather have USB-C/Thunderbolt so you will need an adapter to get to your Helix.

I have a Helix floor and Helix Native but I don’t use the floor for recording, since my studio interface is in my digital mixer. What I do is record guitar direct using a Radial J48 phantom powered DI (not sure about the model, not in the studio at the moment). Works really well with Native and reamping is supremely easy ... not need to configure hardware in the studio (although I have it if I need to go old school)

It is hard to believe, isn’t it? If you google “electron drift velocity” and look at the wikipedia article, there is a worked example with real numbers. You will be amazed at the result. This is the calculation that I included in my book. Yes optical cables are different although I suspect that the speed of light in these cables is significantly less than in a vacuum. I had a quick look at the link and immediately saw a problem: in answer 1, electricity and light are both lumped into electromagnetic radiation whereas this is so only for light. Electricity is the motion of electrons through an conductor and does not involve em radiation directly. Answer 2 also says that light and electricity are the same thing. They aren’t. Answer 3 isn’t bad except for the 1/100th the speed of light. As the wikipedia article shows it’s considerably less. Answer 4 is a bit confused but the part about Maxwell is pretty much right. Maxwell’s equations are magnificent, if somewhat obtuse. Here I am ranting again. :)

Since electrons have mass they cannot travel at the speed of light. Only massless particles can do so. In another life I was a magnetic resonance spectroscopist for many, many years. So many, in fact that I wrote a book about it. One of the things in the book was a calculation of the average speed of electrons through a wire. It turns out to be *really* slow, so much so that you could easily walk faster than the current in a wire. It seems counterintuitive because when you turn on a light it comes on more or less instantly. I didn’t believe it at first so I checked and rechecked the calculation and sure enough, it’s that slow. Also, electromagnetism is fantastically powerful, far more so than gravity. Since a moving current of electrons produces a magnetic field (a relativistic effect BTW) the strength of which is dependent on its speed a current moving at the speed of light would produce a magnetic field of gigantic proportions. Sorry for the rant but I’m still in lecture mode after only a year or so of retirement.

Better yet, use a Line 6 Powercab + and hook up via the Line 6 digital cable ... no signal loss.

If you’re in Canada, Yorkville makes good cables.

If by fill the room you mean are they loud enough together the answer is yes. Of course, this will depend on the volume that your bandmates are playing at but they would have to be playing pretty loud to drown out two PCs. Also, they sound great in stereo, even though the audience may not be able to hear it.

Actually, I’m so lazy that I have one at home and one at a bandmate’s house where we rehearse. Don’t use them for stereo very often. :)