Thark

Just to avoid confusion, the Helix warranty is two years in the US only. For the rest of the planet it’s one year (sigh).

I’m no midi guru but I’d try putting the Stomp at the end of the chain.

Ahhh! Fooled again. That was it. Amazing that the unamplified string sound is loud enough to hear. Cheers Keith

Not sure if this is a problem with the Variax or the Helix. I suspect the latter since the problem is popping on both of my JTV-59s. What is happening is that I have a Helix preset in which I change the Variax tuning to open G however it occasionally seems to mix standard tuning in with the altered tuning. So, for example, on the high e string it will sound both a D and an E ... very disconcerting. Is there some setting in the Helix perhaps that I've missed? Keith

Hi all. Here’s a cool way to audition IRs. First, put a looper at the *beginning* of your blocks in the Helix, rather than at the end. This way you can play a phrase and loop it continuously while you listen to and change IRs. This isn’t my idea ... read it somewhere in a Line 6 forum. However, my twist to this technique is to program the tone control on my Variax to select IRs. You do this by editing the IR block, right-clicking on the IR select line and picking something to control the IR selection ... I used the Variax tone control but you could use the expression pedal if you’re not using a Variax. It’s a great way to rapidly work through lots of IRs in a short time and pick the ones that you are interested in and want to focus on a bit more. Keith

Hi Tdawgg. I’m using the Helix with a Powercab Plus. At first I was a bit disappointed but after fiddling and tweaking it’s turned out to be quite nice. I’ve imported a few IRs into the Powercab and use a few in the Helix as well. I think that when setting it up, patience is the key. If you’re new to the Helix family it is worth it to have a look at some of Jason Sadites videos on Youtube. Lots of information and tips to be had. Keith

Here's a cool way to demo a lot of IRs in the Helix very easily and quickly. Set up a preset with a six-switch looper at the beginning (instead of the end, as is usual) and, if you're using a Variax guitar, set the tone control to increment/decrement. You do this by going into the IR editor and right-clicking on the "IR Select" bar. I used the guitar's tone control but you could use the volume control or the expression pedal as well. Record a short riff in the looper and set it to repeat. Now select IRs with the tone control (or whatever you have it set up for) and audition them. They will be selected one by one as you go through the list of IRs on the Helix. I have a full complement of 128 IRs and was able to go through them all very quickly and easily. You might want to season with EQ to taste. I've included a copy of the preset I used for this on my Helix. A very Happy New Year to you as well. Keith IR test.hlx

I found rather early on that you need 1) the interface VDI/ethernet cable plugged in 2) a regular guitar cable plugged in and 3) a charged battery in the guitar. If any one of these is missing ... no connection.

Like specracer said, you need a VDI cable. You can get away with a regular ethernet cable in a pinch but they’re not very robust IMHO. Once you have the cable then plug in to the VDI port on your Helix and connect your Helix to your computer via a usb cable and fire up Helix Edit. In edit mode (that’s what I call it ... the mode in which you can select blocks for your Helix) you should see “Variax” on the right side of the program. Click to open and you will see a host of options appear, one of which will be the Variax model (it might say “don’t force” to begin with ... change it). Save the preset and you’re done. An added benefit to using the VDI cable plugged into the Helix is that you don’t need to have the battery in the guitar ... the Helix supplies the powerr for the onboard electronics. I’ve been playing with just this situation for the past couple of weeks. It’s pretty slick. Edit: You'll have to highlight the input block before you will be able to see the "Variax" pulldown on the right side.

Hi Steve. I did my first homebrew IR using Voxengo Deconvolver and the instructions in Pretty easy actually. For the cab I used a Mesa 2x12 compact rectifier cab miked with an SM57 off-axis. Then I put the IR in place of a cab in my preset and set the PC+ to flat. Sounds not bad to my ears and reasonably close to the original. You might also want to watch Jason Sadites' video for some tips: Here's the IR: Mesa Tone_dc.wav Edit: Forgot to say what amp ... Cali IV Rhythm 2

Hey, Slaughlin. I’m having exactly the same problems. My clean presets sound great through my PC+ but anything with a bit of dirt to it doesn’t sound right to my ears. As you say, harsh and fuzzy. I’m currently playing with it, trying to get it to match my Mesa TC50 as closely as possible. Going to try making my own IR using the Mesa today. I’ll let you know what happens and please, do let me know how yours works out.

I like the Powercab too ... so much so that I just went out and got another one to run in stereo. Nice rig. Lots of cabling though (with two, that is).

Wow! Great tips ... lots of detail. I know what I’ll be working on this evening. :)

I was a little disappointed in the “flat” speaker option in the PC+ until I added a compressor to the end of the chain. Without the compressor the clean sounds were harsh no matter what I did with the amp setting on the Helix. The compressor seemed to clean it up very nicely, to my ears anyway.

Just to stir up things a bit, I just got a L6 Powercab Plus which sounds absolutely fabulous to my ears. The speaker sims are very realistic ... sounds like a real amp or rather, amps since my Helix is set up with an array of different amp models. I tried a set of FRFR speakers but they really didn't sound all that good to me.

They appear to be available in Canada at Long and McQuade. Have a look at their website. Perhaps you could order from them? Edit: I took another look on the L&M website ... no more covers in stock. Same with Sweetwater. Bummer.

I’ve been a Linux user for many years now (Slackware only) and would agree that for the new user it’s pretty daunting. Most folks want their computer to “just work” and rightly so. However, being the computer nerd that I am, I really love tinkering with software right down to rewriting some of the OS code. That said, I agree that Linux is seriously lacking support for most major audio devices and I can understand why, based on the arguements above concerning user base. What Linux *is* good for is networking. I have my household network set up using couple of Linux boxes for various networking purposes. You just set them up and let them go. Can’t beat it. I have a Windows machine because sooner or later you need one for one reason or another but my main audio machine is an iMac. I’ve not had it for long and I’d have to say that it’s performance is good but it’s a bit quirky. Icons keep moving on the desktop and default programs (or is it “apps” in the Mac world) keep changing. I might change over to the Windows computer at some point but that could be a chore and a half since there’s a lot of licensed audio related software on the Mac that would have migrate.

Thanks everyone, for the replies. Very helpful. I’ll be looking for a AES/EBU cable to do a comparison and get back to the forum with my take on the difference, if any.

I just purchased a Line 6 Powercab Plus to mate up with my Helix and reading the manual I find that for the L6 Link digital connection between the two the recommended cable is 110 ohm XLR. This implies to me that there are other XLR cables with differing impedance ratings which I did not know until now. I've got lots of XLR cables in my studio but have no idea what their impedance ratings are or even how to find out (easily, that is). Is this recommended impedance really that important or can I just use any cable lying around?

Oops. My bad. The Dark Terror does have an effects loop. It should be straighforward to do a 4cm setup. Lots of info on the interweb about setup.

Hi Tsig. I have an Orange. Tiny Terror which is probably very similar to the Dark Terror amp. Unfortunately, the 4cm requires an effects send/return loop on the amp, which my Tiny Terror doesn’t have. I would expect the same is the case with the Dark Terror as well.

Cool! Thanks for all the great info. And ... as I said in my original post, I did miss the information on page 10 of the manual. Unfortunately, RTFM doesn't always work for me but forums like this do. Thanks again.

I'm looking for the (probably simple) way to switch setlists while playing live. Haven't been able to find any mention of this in the forum and scanning the manual hasn't produced anything (although it's entirely possible that I missed it).

I’ve used Cubase for many years and through several versions now. The current version (9.5) does everything I want and probably lots more ... I’m still exploring. It includes a virtual synth/keyboard called Halion, which I have yet to look at although it sounds pretty good in the demos I’ve seen. I prefer using a hands-on keyboard and have four in my studio for a wide palette of sounds. For drums I use Superior Drummer 3.0 and I have to agree with the above assesments that it is a really good product and worth the investment (Side note: if you have any EzDrummer add-ons, they will also work with Superior Drummer). My mixer is a Behringer X32 Compact and, like Cubase, I’m still exploring its potential after a year or so of having it ... very pleased so far.

Hi Iamgeorge. I have to agree with most of the comments so far. Although I’ve been recording on and off for 50 years now, I’ve not done much reamping but with the Helix it looks to be super easy to do. Jason Sadites does a great video on Youtube about setting this up in one of his “getting great tone” efforts. He also goes into a lot of detail about how he gets the tones he likes from the Helix ... ie. getting the sound right at the source. I like to try to get it right at recording time rather than in post processing. Just seems to sound better to my ears.