theElevators

The tuner is actually pretty normal and reliable without any issues, if you use any tuner mode other than "Fine", which provides an unnecessary level of precision, making it unusable in most situations. First of all... It's physically impossible for your strings to be 100% in tune all the time as the tuning fluctuates with how hard you attack the string. It goes sharp, then flat. This gets even more noticeable if you really attack the string (think "Helter Skelter" low E string going 1/4 tone sharp). With guitars, one string can affect other strings' tuning due to neck flexing, floating bridge, etc. Then you start playing, your strings warm up and they go flat. AC kicks in, your strings go sharp. You play guitar guitar for a couple songs and crud/sweat/dead skin gets on the strings, they go sharp. When I first got the Helix, the "Fine" tuner was so jumpy, it was unusable for me. It was so erratic, chaotic that I would not be able to ever get my strings to show dead-center at all, no matter what I did. Well, had I spent a full minute tuning each string... and then once I tuned the other strings the first string would be out again. I thought I'd need to get a separate tuner, until I realized that I do not need this level of tuning precision -- hence "Coarse" mode. "Coarse" one is the same as "Fine" but without the 2nd row, so it's not as jumpy. So it shows you the usable ballpark of how in tune you are. Ballpark, meaning there's no surgical precision, which is again pretty useless when you don't have a full day to tune your guitar. It works very well for me in studio and live on stage when I play my 2.5 hour shows without breaks. There are several points in our set list when I have a few seconds to check my tuning, so I do that around 5-6 times.

Well, check the calibration. It's easy to knock it off 440 -- touch the knob and it's now 443...

I played around with the factory presets for about 10 minutes when I got the Helix, then cleared all of them. I started experimenting with my own signal chain from the very beginning. Every once in a while I will download a free preset from Custom Tones... and I have yet to find a preset that sounds good enough for me to keep. Too much noise, too much compression, without exaggeration.... I tried quite a lot. So I recommend just seeing what's possible with the factory presets, and then using your own stuff. The purpose of these factory presets is to show what's possible to jam into a preset without it sounding necessarily musical... or being usable at a gig. I think it's much more beneficial to learn how to set up a preset, and do your own thing. What works for me may not work for you and vice versa. I picked up a lot of info from YouTube mostly, as well as from reading the manual.

You are not alone. Not sure what exactly you have, but the first thing is to try to rearrange the blocks in a different order, if applicable. There are clicks/pops/thumps when things turn on/off between snapshots. For example, engaging a volume pedal that cuts the volume before a distortion is one of those things that creates a noise. Or Turning off the distortion/amp. In general, when there is a big difference in gain between the 2 snapshots is when you hear annoying noises. I get even more horrible noises if I change the impedance in 2 identical presets and switch between them. I found that out when experimenting with the impedance, and quickly settled on "auto" on all my presets to avoid this really loud "boing!". The only thing you can do to help with the popping noise is to build presets differently. For example, do not have 2 amps that get toggled on/off (one for clean, one for dirty). Instead use the A/B loop with both amps turned on. Same exact result, but no pop. There are some cases where the only thing I can do to fight the noise is to momentarily stop playing right before switching. To help have a smoother transition without audio interruptions, I use a delay spillover trick. This trick is to have a delay that is turned on but mixed at 0% in one snapshot, then in another snapshot, have it bypassed, with delay mixed at 30% for example. If you have trails enabled, then you have a smooth transition when you switch between these 2 snapshots. When you switch between snapshots, you hear the very ending of the phrase repeated. You don't need to mix it out completely in the first snapshot, you can have it at a sensible level, all we are trying to achieve is this "connection" between the 2 snapshots when you stop playing momentarily. Another trick is to use reverb similarly. Yet another variation to this method is to set the delay tempo slower in the 2nd snapshot, so you have a more exaggerated spillover that happens when you switch snapshots. All of these delay/reverb methods need to be fine-tuned while playing regarding the tempo and the delay/reverb mix. Depending on the song, I adjust mix/feedback/tempo and A/B the sounds until I'm happy with results. I like this trick a lot! It creates this polished studio-quality sound that very few guitarists use live. If you go in stereo, then even better -- stereo ping-pong can really dress up your sound.

You bought a used Helix. Somebody must have created those presets. People do that all the time -- create presets that fit their specific songs. Don't want to lose them? Just back up your Helix. When you create a backup, you are able to save your Global Settings, Folder presets, etc.

My Helix crashed a couple of times where there the buttons were not responsive and the sound was glitch-y. Both times HX Edit was running on the computer, connected to the Helix. Both times it was my own preset. What firmware version are you running? And does the same happen when not connected to the computer?

hello. I have a preset where I'm controlling a bunch of things with the expression pedal 2. Specifically: heel position: delay is on, vibrato is off, reverb is off. toe: delay is off, vibrato is on, reverb is on. This is pretty straight-forward. When the pedal is engaged past 5%, things get turned on/turned off. The problems start when I connected an external pedal. I wound up having all effects on: delay, vibrato and reverb. Re-entering the preset resolved the issue. Also I have not had the same issue when using the onboard expression pedal. So the bug is definitely with the external pedal. Pod Go gets overwhelmed, and things start working backwards. Any tips, besides not using the external pedal? That onboard pedal is so tiny and flimsy... oh well This sorta stuff works on the Helix, and I actively use this trick without any issues, btw.

Are you in stomp mode? Press the mode button, what happens?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Everybody on this forum says "step 1 is to upgrade". I disagree. To me, anything after 3.11 is unusable due to serious bugs that will break my presets. I downgraded and am happily gigging and recording on 3.11.

I honestly think that all of the speaker options can sound very similar by EQ’ing the amp or adding a separate EQ. I can conjure my sound out of nearly any amp / cab, if needed. In the Helix my choice amp is Mail Order Twin with a pretty clean sound. Stock cab settings. I run all of my sounds through it: surf/clean/distorted/feedback/metal. Back in the 1960s/70s MOST well known hits were recorded with small amps in the studio. So something with a 12” open back speaker was used most often, I believe. To replicate that sound live, I would also favor that configuration, virtually. Also from the various rig rundown videos, I’ve noticed that guitarists favor small cabs that are mic’es in the isolation box. They just sound more focused, more immediacy, and no nasty boominess that is hard to get rid of. So another argument towards a single 12”, open back. Also watch this, you’ll see what actually makes a difference in terms of cabs. https://youtu.be/-eeC1XyZxYs

Stomp is roughly 1/2 as powerful as the Helix. So you can take that preset, import it into your Helix, and then have an entire 2nd line of your signal path free to add stuff to it.

I have 2 power strips: one turns on the Helix, wireless, bass amp. Another one turns on mixing monitors and my studio sign. So if I want to mute my sound, I can simply turn off the 2nd power strip.

Single 12” for me over anything else! I play 1500+ seat venues. I’ve also played outdoor festivals. For me a single 12” is plenty loud. I love the focused crisp sound. For some reason in my experience, a 4x12” just rattles the stage, is not focused, and is very muddy. Nowadays, the cab onstage is to just hear yourself. If you are too loud, the sound guy will be upset. Keeping a single 12” allows me to hear myself. I can adjust how loud I hear myself by simply stepping away from the cab. There are some parts in the songs I play where hearing myself too loudly will actually throw me off. Unless you are Angus Young, and you need to hear yourself all around your ginormous stage that is .3 miles long…outdoors, a single 12” speaker powered by a 30W amp is perfectly legit loud. I usually put my amp on like 2/10. Plus sound guys don’t like when the stage volume is too loud.

More like how DAW replaced mountains of gear…and in 2023 allow people to create music that was not otherwise possible 25 years ago, unless you had access to a recording studio. Now somebody can create music that can be played on the radio on their laptop…e. g. Billie Eilish. So similarly, you can build a virtual rig that only millionaire guitarists could afford back in the day.

When I use the tap tempo to tap in my quarter notes, when the tempo is not ridiculously slow. Then depending on the desired effect, the delay will be 8th notes, or dotted 8ths, etc. It's easier to tap your foot to the song's tempo, which mostly happens to be quarter notes. 4/4, or 3/4, etc... But I also have a bunch of presets where the tempo is already pre-saved for individual snapshots. Since we have a backing track, the tempo obviously doesn't change. So for certain delays that are dotted 8ths "like Edge from U2" stuff, those are already pre-saved. Then for other stuff, like my leads, I found a tempo that works for all my leads--simply a subtle stereo ping-pong...

If you only need your Helix to record stuff, then as @datacommando mentioned, a sound interface is very affordable. You can get Helix Native, or you may already have some kind of a promotion to get it at a discount. You can load all your presets into it, and have an interim virtual Helix! Helix Native is pretty great. My band has recorded a bunch of stuff with Helix Native guitar/vocals/other instruments treatment!

Open up a ticket with Line 6, and send it to them, is what I would do. Back up your Helix, if it can do that; or if you already have been regularly backing it up, then even better. From my limited experience with the various repair shops that were listed in the Line 6 directory--the 3 places I found in New York area were horrible. I would never come back to them. When I was converting to using a Helix full time, I sold all my gear. I used that money towards buying a 2nd backup Helix (I have an LT and a Floor). I also own a power amp, speaker, and an FRFR. Everything else I got rid of. Line 6 Helix is a computer made in China with cheap components. I personally cannot fathom having to recreate my 70 presets on another modeller, it would take me 3 months at least ... so it's out of the question. So for the time being I am stuck with Line 6 technology... So, I don't know what your situation is, but to me just like I have backup guitars at home, I must have a second backup Helix. I simply do not have any other gear that will allow me to play my music, and I do have a lot of very specified presets. And btw, I've already had to send my Helix in for repair. Had I not had a backup Helix, I'd have been really screwed. Anyways, good luck!

I cannot do it, because my HX version is behind--I'm on 3.11. But somebody who is on the later version can easily do this for you in 10 minutes. To be clear: there is a setting "10 stomp mode", it needs to be enabled for OP. That setting is only configurable on Helix Floor. That setting, even though is not accessible on the Helix LT, still affects how the Command Center works.

No, You can ask somebody (here) to do that for you for example. Attach your backup and somebody can open it up on their Helix Floor....

You can disable FS's 1 and 7: You would need to create a global settings profile on Helix Floor with the 10-stomp mode. Within that profile, you simply do not assign anything to those footswitches. Then you can upload that global settings profile onto your LT. End-result: you can disable your up/down buttons from doing anything. Comes in handy, because of the proximity of the A-buttons to the up/down buttons. You cannot change the assignment of the Mode or Tap tempo buttons, however.

You can instead use snapshots with customizable names/ring colors.

On the Helix LT, the up/down preset buttons are NOT assignable. They can only repurposed on Helix Floor if you have the 10-stomp mode enabled.

Try ground lift

https://youtu.be/eF58yUQ16cQ I made a video recently, just last week. In it I show how to mimic the sound of a Hammond B3 drawbar organ with a Leslie spinning up. To answer your question, just an idea: you can come up with "compromise" chords. As you know I'm sure, 2 chords can share 1 or 2 notes between them. For example: C major: c, e, g E minor: e, g, b So you can come up with a "compromise" partial chord where you can have just g and e notes that will satisfy both C and Em. Or maybe just a single note in octaves: E, e, e that will cover C, Em, E, etc... That way you can have full-blown chords and partial chords, or sometimes single notes. It could actually be a nice arrangement to go from full chords to just single notes! Additionally you can use the expression pedal to control pitches... IMO, the tone generator thing is a neat trick for one/two different chords... But live it's so much of a pain in the lollipoppers to perform. Plus the footswitches have these flimsy micro switches.... so if you want to play your Helix like it's Taurus bass pedals, expect the footswitches to start malfunctioning soon....

If I were to guess, the OP is a doctor of a lawyer :) Doctors or lawyers can afford to buy 5000-dollar Les Pauls and 4000-dollar Mesa Boogie amps. So why... because they can, they're fun toys. No gigging musician I have come across will use an amp like that using 4-cable-method, and then run in stereo out of a power cab... Well unless they are way out of my league and play with world-famous acts, and have truck-loads of gear. Gigging musicians tend to simplify their setup, rather than complicate it... And that's why I settled for a Helix after 20+ years of having to have my "tube" "warm" "analogue" sound. BTW, analogue/digital/analogue conversion during the 4-cable method also diminishes the actual use for a real tube amp as the quality degrades. I remember a long time ago having noise issues when trying to run a distortion pedal inside a pedal board switcher, so the degradation of sound is definitely there.