Hi All,
Just thought I'd share my solution to what appears to be a common complaint about the helix...
I've just got an HX effects and initially I had the same problem. So I had a think about the levels and realised the solution is you need to change some of the outputs from "instrument" to line level.
If you think about how an amp work you have:
GUITAR -> pre amp -> power amp
When using 4CM wiring with a helix you have:
GUITAR -> (IN) HELIX (FX LOOP SEND) -> PRE AMP -> (FX LOOP RETURN) HELIX (OUTPUT) -> POWER AMP
(that's send and return on the helix, not the amp!).
Now after a "pre-amp" I would assume signals would be line level, as such the bit between the pre-amp and power amp needs to be line level. What this means on the Helix is you need to set the (FX LOOP RETURN) and (OUTPUT) to be line level. Unfortunately the FX LOOP RETURN is linked to the FX LOOP SEND so you have to set both to LINE, this means the signal going into your pre amp will now be a "little hot" but shouldn't be any worse than a guitar with a pre-amp in it, if you are really bothered by it you could always use one of the FX loop sends set to INSTRUMENT and the other fx loop return set to LINE level :) - but you'd need two blocks in your signal chain which is a faff.
When I changed these outputs to line-level the tone improved dramatically on my setup and I would say the helix is basically transparent now.
