PaulTBaker

First, I'm venting... very sorry! I have a helix lt, with a PC 212+ and a PC 112+. I was going to use the 212 for bigger gigs and the 112 for smaller gigs and practice. I have had line 6 stuff since the pod 2.0 and have loved everything. played for years with a dt25 and HD500x. The Dt25 was flakey, but sounded great when it worked. I got a helix right before covid, so I have only used it out maybe 6 times. I just got the PC's a few months ago and have used them 3 or 4 times. I play a little bit of everything, but the really heavy stuff (that scares me :)) I will go back and forth between stacking the cabs, leaning both cabs back, or just using one of the two. I play (mainly fiddle with settings) for at least 2 to 3 hours everynight... really. I heard about the HF problem, so I saved a new patch on each PC called PTB Raw. I was using the LF Raw. I play a Les Paul, tele, and a yamaha ES 2??? (hollow body electric with soapboxes).... It was sounding great. I just got back from out of town, and it sounds like the speakers are blown, (I don't think they are)..... it sound horrible. I tried all 3 guitars, tried one or both of the PC's, tried using different speaker models on the PC, going back to LF Raw.... all sound very brittle and very harsh... especially with the cabs leaned back (I know I am getting a more direct hit from the speaker then) One other thing.... I have ALWAYS used the ampeg 1x15 cab..... even going into the LF Raw. That was sounding nice and smooth last week. This is probably a different discussion, but the 1x15 cab is the only way I could smooth out the helix. I tried all the cabs, and they all sounded too brittle. Ok, so some one tell which button to press to make it sound good again :) .... as I said, I'm venting :0 thanks for getting this far!

be careful with output of the asparagus model!

sorry if stupid question. I have the 112+ and then got a 212+ and use them both. either stacked or leaned back. I use the helix 1x15 ampeg cab for EVERYTHING.... always have, even when I had the dt25 ... and when going straight to FOH. when playing out, I use go from the helix to FOH and digital to the 212+ then digital from the 212+ to the 112+. The PC in helix is set to global, lf raw. Both PC's are on preset 000? (flat). Does this mean the HF driver is on in the 212 but not in the 112? How can I tell if the HF driver is on? is there that big of a difference in the sound .... if you are using the helix cab? Thanks... just trying to better understand if/how this affects me.

I love the way it sounds stacked. I go back and forth between stacked and both back on their kick stands. I believe stacked is best.

I have a PC112+ and a 212+. I stack the 112 on the 212 and yes, the 212 volume knob is hard to get to. When playing at home, I will get the initial volume matched by manually turning both knobs... but after that, if I need to turn it down, I will use the master knob on the Helix. this controls both the 112 and the 212. Yes, it does decrease the signal a bit, so you might not see yellow, but for playing from home, this lets me turn down if my wife yells at me :) (she really never yells and is a good sport). so that may be one option for you.

I would like to do two things in command center: 1. have the bank up button (#1) actually go up to the next bank whenever I select it. Now, when I select it, it shows the current bank of presets for me to select a preset. I would like to to go to the next two banks (i.e. I am on banks 1&2 ... I step on the bank up button and I want to see banks 3&4). 2. I would like it to mimic the behavior of clicking the bank up and down buttons at the same time. Now, it will temporarily change from stomp to snapshot mode... when I select a snapshot, it activates what's in the snapshot AND goes back to stomp mode. This is different than the mode button. The mode button will stay in stomp or snapshot mode until you hit the mode button again. I usually am in stomp mode. I have snapshots to set different delay settings and/or reverb settings. I use the snapshot bypass on to keep the snapshot from changing blocks I do not want changed. This way, in stomp mode I have 8 buttons for stuff, then can hit both the up and down buttons and temporarily have access to the 8 snapshots, then it goes back to the stomps. I hope that is not confusing the way I wrote it :). So my wish is to have a button that goes into what I call "temporary snapshot" mode that lets me select a snapshot and then go back to stomps. I can do this now, but I have to hit two buttons at once. I am not that talented :) I am open to suggestions... or a different way to approach this. I have the Helix lt and I really could use those two extra buttons in stomp mode that the Helix has.

Ok, are we saying the Master volume is the BIG knob on the helix or the Master volume on the amp block? The big knob does not change the tone... just the volume going out. The Master Volume (maybe called something else?) on the amp block does change the tone.

I believe you are incorrect. If I am reading what you are saying. The Master volume for the amp controls how much distortion from the power amp vs the preamp... at 10, more from the amp, lower is more from the preamp. I may be doing it wrong, but I use the Master volume to set the sound, and the channel volume to match volume levels between patches.

I posted something kind of like this several weeks ago. about what to set you output level on the helix. I downloaded one of the loudness meters JS talks about and I set my patches so they peak around 12 and stay around 23. I have my big knob set to digital, so that means it is only controlling my powercab or my dt25. the xlr and 1/4 outputs are at max output level. I normally have the big knob also maxed out and adjust the "loudness" on the powercab. The xlr and 1/4 outputs get set by the trim on the board. There used to be a thing where to get the best signal to noise ratio, you wanted as much signal going into the power amp as you could. Otherwise, if you had a weak signal into the amp, turned the amp louder, whatever noise coming from your guitar, etc. would be amplified when you turned the amp up. I don't know if that is as true as it used to be in the digital world, but I am pretending that it is :). The thing that has really worked the best for me was downloading that loudness meter and using that to set my patches. The meters on the helix are about 65% to 85%.

Wow.... you must be smart. You use big words AND Numbers! :) Just kidding, seriously wish I understood more of that. My question on the 212 vs 112 is weight. I know it must be heavier, but how does it compare to a dt25 (which I am replacing because it is so fragile, but so nice)? Hopefully I will be gigging again and play small bars and when lucky enough, mid to small theaters. I think the 212 would be too much for the small bars but would be perfect for the other.

nice! what a great look! I also love the DT25. I have two of them. One bricked trying to upgrade to 2.0 to use with the helix. I did change the tubes (correct tubes!) and set the bias a few times. Very Very Carefully! My problem was the DT25, at least in my case, was/is so fragile. I bought a PC 112+ and used it this past weekend. I am really happy with that for gigging. It is much lighter and feels more sturdy.

I have been using a helix lt and dt25 connected by the l6link. Just bought a PC112+. can I connect that to the dt25 using l6link? If not, what is the best way to connect these three so I can get stereo? Also, I have been reading where the pc112+ input light needs to be yellow for optimal input. I know I can boost the input using the helix on each patch (under the settings for the powercab), but is there a global setting for the powercab so i don't have to change each patch (preset)? thanks.

Would like to know if anyone has done a comparison. For my setup at home I have the Helix Lt hooked to a DT25 using the l6link (this is my stage setup for monitoring my stage sound). I run XLR L an R cables to a berringer XR18 mixer which has two EV ZLX 12P's hooked to it (this simulates the FOH for shows). This gives me a beautiful full sound! I have the helix set so the big knob controls digital only. This sends a full signal out of the XLR's to the board and lets me control my stage volume (dt25) with the big knob. Again, this works great. I love the DT25 and have two of them. I have two of them because they are (at least in my case) very fragile. One DT25 died when I was trying to upgrade it to 2.0 to be able to use it with the Helix. Because the DT25 is fragile, I've been thinking about using powercabs (either two cab pluses or one 212) for gigs. Then today, I thought... hey, why not just use the EV ZLX's instead. If I am not mistaken, wouldn't that be the same as using the FRFR part of the powercabs? So my question (I know, finally:O) is has anyone done a comparison between the powercabs and using the EV ZLX's for live gigs. Mainly for on stage monitoring. I used to use the zlx sometimes with the HD500x for gigs when the DT25 was in the shop and that sounded pretty good. Did not quite cut through though. Thanks everyone, I look forward to seeing what you guys think!

Thank you guys. So the way I have been doing things seems to be ok. I have my xlr's at mic level, my patches around 60% on the helix meters. I have the big knob just going to digital. That lets me use that to control my DT25 (l6 link connection) volume for my stage monitor. It also means the output is at 100% for the xlr's. thanks again.

Ok, back to leveling patches again..... This question has to do with the meter level on the output block for patches. Should you set your patches so the meter level is at 50%, 75%, or higher (or lower)? Or does it matter? Is there an optimum level for the meter? (sorry, trying to find the best way to ask this question). Or since it's digital, it really doesn't matter. I know I can adjust the loudness of the helix based on what I have the trim set to if going to a FOH or what I have the amp or FSFR speaker volume set to if using those. Should we try and set the patch meters to somewhere around 75% to get the best signal to noise ratio? Does the patch set to 75% sound "meatier" than the same patch set to 25% meter level? I know I can make both patches as loud as I want, just wondering if it affects tone. If there is a difference, what is the optimum meter level? Thanks! Looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts!

make sure you set the bias on the tubes (carefully) and use only the EH tubes. Lot's of threads on how the amp is spec'd specifically for those tubes.

Yes you can. You can set it to turn on amp off and the other amp on. Sorry, can't remember how, but yes you can do it. I do that in a few of my presets.

ok, that explains things. I have the same (sort of) problem. On some presets, I have amp vol and drive parameters tied to a stomp button(not snapshot). The amp has the snapshot bypass = off. When I change snapshots, the amp drive/vol change back to whatever they were the last time I was in the snapshot. That does explain things, however, I don't like it :)

Is it possible to have the mode set where I have it in stomp mode, if I then hit the mode button, it will go to snap mode, but then after picking a snap, have it go back to stomp mode? So what I would like is the mode button to temporarily go to snap mode, then switch to stomp mode (like it does when you hit bank up/down at the same time) I like to stay in stomp mode, but use snapshots to change delay or reverb settings, or turn on a stomp because I'm out of buttons.

thanks all for the feed back... no pun intended :) question for rd2rk. siince i am using the xr18 for sound, how would i level the patches without using the xr18? I do keep my blocks as close to unity gain as possible. Amsdenj are you suggesting I start with a preset with no blocks and 1M imp. and use that to set the trim on the XR18? When I do that, I need to set the XR18 trim on +20. It was on +15. That makes me lower my channel volumes to 2 and below. Or is it better to start with the trim at 0 as Kid suggested. doing that I have to bring up the channel vol to 5 from 2. and it sounds more distorted??? interesting experiment. With the XR18, is there the thing about giving it a stronger signal vs a weaker signal because of the noise ratio? Thanks ALL!

Question about levels... I have a Helix LT. The digital out goes to DT25 (big knob set to control only this). The xlr's (set a mic level and max output since the big knob is digital only) go left and right to a berhinger XR18. The XR18 is my interface to Reaper on a mac. I've had the helix over a year now and have spent hours upon glorious hours tweaking etc. I really love the results! I use the XR18 software to monitor my levels when when doing preset leveling to make sure things are close, then I play some music, play a lead over the same piece to finish the levels. This has worked great. I try to have my levels set so the XR18 software channel level meter hovers around -15. again this works great for getting the presets t match. It dawned on me the other day that the level in the XR18 is also going to be dependent on the trim I have set for that channel. Since once the trim is set, it doesn't change so all my presets will still be level matched, however, the level of my trim will have a direct correlation with the channel volume in the Helix. If the trim is set high, the helix channel volume will be set lower to get to -15. If the trim is set low, the helix channel volume will have to be set higher to get the XR18 channel level to -15. Several questions come to mind: 1) The helix channel volume is not supposed to change the tone, so it should not matter (tone wise) if it is set to 2 or 8. Is this thought correct? 2) would the sound be different (coming out of the XR18) if I had a higher channel volume and lower trim, or does that matter? 3) does anyone else have this scenario now and what do you do? 4) the trim now is around 12. should I change this to zero and redo my patches? Or am I (as usual) over thinking things? :) Would love to hear your comments. Thanks!

either of the above would work. Just remember to set the output of the 1/4" to instrument instead of line in the global settings if you are going into the front of the amp.... don't think it would matter if you are going into the effects return of the amp, but the front of the amp will need the "lower" instrument feed. I have the helix lt running through a DT25 using the l6 link (which is the digital out on the helix). For context, I use clean to crunch to some od but no metal stuff. I went to a jam the other night and had to lug the amp (I know it's not that heavy, but I'm old and fat:)) upstairs to his jam room. He had some amps, but they didn't have an effects return. To keep from having to take the DT25 next time, I thought I would set up some patches where I could go straight into the front of an amp. The first thing I did was to get a good clean sound just plugging the guitar straight into the DT25 and using the B setting on the amp. Then I changed the global 1/4" setting on the helix to instrument and plugged it into the DT25. I copied one of my presets that uses a pre amp to a new preset and turned the preamp and the speaker on the helix off. Played some and all the other effects on the preset sounded good. Then I turned on the preamp block... .and that sounded good.... then for the heck of it, I turned on the cab block (1X15 ampeg) and that sounded even better (at least to me)... So I played around with preamps and full amps and speakers and such and the main thing I found out was that I just needed to make sure the 1/4" was on instrument and the preamps took over drive better that the full amps. Sorry for the long read, I just thought it was interesting. I thought I would have to come up with a bunch of different presets for plugging straight into an amp, but it turns out I can use what I have.

Actually I liked the flowers... meant something to me, so thank you! a list of what the parameters do would be nice as well.... and yes, I use my ears! but now I have flowery descriptions to put with what my ears are hearing :)

Ok, so I see what you are talking about. The up down buttons could be set to either the next bank or to the next set of stomps.

Couldn't you use one of your snapshots to change the parameter of the output block