theElevators

I will repeat myself: firmware 3.11 has no such issues. Everything after it, e.g. 3.6 has such bugs, which I suspect are mainly with HX Edit, not the Helix itself. Things do not get copied correctly.... editing one preset affects the other one. If you want stability, downgrade to 3.11. If you have to have the new dual cabs and a handful of effects, then unfortunately you're stuck with this, until Line 6 fixes these bugs... at some point... But first you need to convince them that this is a bug, because people will say "I don't have such issues, works fine for me".

You can assign effects to the expression pedal 1/2. Bypass/un-bypass blocks either immediately or after up to 1 second.

take a preset you like, take screenshots of all the components, re-create it from scratch. that's how you can learn.

Take a look at factory presets, and find a preset that sounds like what you are trying to accomplish... swap out one piece at a time until you build your desired signal chain. Hissing usually means way too much gain, output signal too hot, too much high frequencies in your overall sound. According to Steve Sterlacci, your preset should be about as loud as a completely empty blank preset. A lot of people really max out their presets and make them too loud. This introduces unwanted hissing (that you will also find in real-world amps as well if you dime them like that).

If you want to have the expression pedal position to remain unchanged between snapshots, then go to global settings/expression pedal 1/2 and have them be set per preset rather than snapshot. That's the setting I personally use--my expression pedal 2 remains where I leave it even when I change between snapshots. But if you want the selection (whether it's expression 1 or expression 2) to remain when you change snapshots, then the bug I explained accomplishes that for me :)... not that I would ever need to do this....

I discovered a bug a long time ago, and it will accomplish what you want. You want the Expression 1/2 selection to persist between your snapshots. What you do is as follows: 1. Plug a regular 1/4" cable into your external expression pedal jack and short-circuit the other end of the cable. You can accomplish that by plugging the other end of the cable into your free jacks, such as send/return/1/2/, etc. Or you can wrap the other cable in a piece of aluminum foil. Or you can plug in an external expression pedal. All we need is to trick the Helix into thinking we have an external pedal plugged in. 2. Go through all of your snapshots, and change something in them (enable a block, save... then disable a block, save). It needs to be flagged as a legitimate change to your snapshot. 3. Congratulations! You now have a preset where if you engage the toe switch, that selection will remain when you change your snapshots. EDIT: now unplug the cable explained in #1, and you can switch between EXP 1/2, but when you change your snapshots, the selection remains.

Sorry to contribute to this heated discussion... I want to share what I do in my approach to gain staging. I'll repeat what I've posted before perhaps. In short, rather than using gain pedals that I turn on/turn off, I limit the signal coming into the Helix to allow the sound to clean up. This may be old school, but I don't care. It works for me. Maybe it's the type of a guitar that I play, but my sound currently is obtained by running a Classic Distortion pedal + Mail Order Twin amp. Before I transitioned to the Helix, this was similar to my regular setup: DS-1 + Fender-type amp. Before I started doing this, there was that dreaded volume jump that had to be really dialed in, and dialed in for specific guitar. I had to always A/B my sound during soundcheck to have correct clean/distortion balance.. E.g. a sound that I dialed in for my Strat would not work the same way on another single-coil guitar, due to its inherent differences. Also, without any sort of gain, my sound was completely lifeless. Adding a compressor would not help, it was always lacking that sustain/compression/sizzle that was important to me. So instead of stepping on a distortion pedal, I have been using my volume knob / volume pedal in the beginning of the chain to clean up my sound as needed. When I put my guitar volume on "10", it is very saturated, but never completely unmanageable. When I put my volume knob on "5", then it would be my clean sound with a slight hint of breakup. When I use the Helix and if I have time to do so, I turn down my volume knob, as I explained. When I don't have time to reach for the volume knob, I put a fixed volume pedal that does not have any percentage assignment, and leave it fixed at certain percentages. For example, on "5%", I get my clean sound. "40%" gives me an overdrive sound, and then completely bypassed gives me the full-on distortion. My videos illustrate what I'm talking about:

Well, mine still switches, but I created all my presets around EXP 2. I re-assigned all my wahs to use EXP 2. So worst case scenario, you can do the same... I'm not kidding when I say, I wish there was a way to disable the switching on mine... That way both internal and external pedals are always on EXP 2. It sucks, I wish Helix was built better. It looks like it's built like a tank, but it isn't. You are not alone with all these issues, trust me.

When it comes to playing through headphones, I practice with my Bose noise-canceling headphones. To me they don't need any global EQ tweaks. But I can imagine if I were playing through very shrill headphones for example, I'd need to remove treble and add bass--Global EQ to the rescue! Always set up your sound with Global EQ disabled (mixing monitors are great for dialing in your sound). Only use global EQ as a last resort if you show up to a gig and the amp/wedge does not sound like your usual sound. The purpose of Global EQ is to change your sound back to the usual sound in unforeseen circumstances. I only use Global EQ when we are playing in a small space and the amp on stage can be heard in the venue... then the sound guy may occasionally make me tweak some frequencies. I go to FOH via 2 XLR cables, and run my personal monitor via 1/4" to power amp to 12" speaker. Since my power amp has no EQ whatsoever, Global EQ allows me to dial out some problematic frequencies in those rare cases. But I emphasize: all other sounds produced by my Helix are with Global EQ disabled.

if you copy a preset, all the command center settings get copied along with it.

I record with my stage presets, they contain reverb and delay. They are not too washy. I know you can record things separately, re-amp dry signal, etc... I tried all of it and realized I don't need to do it, because my sounds are already good enough. If needed, I'll add EQ in post-production, reverb/delay/panning.

If you switch between 2 paths, there will not be any audio interruption. If you want trails, you can always add a delay block (or 2 delay blocks) after your amps. I've used that trick in the past: Set up the delay with the desired time, feedback, etc. Set the delay trails to be "on". Assign the "mix" parameter to snapshots. Then save your snapshots: Snapshot 1: delay is mixed at 0%, delay is turned on Snapshot 2: delay is mixed at 15%, delay block is bypassed .. do the same thing with the other amp. End result, you catch the "trails".

A friend of mine is a keyboard player. He is a longtime user of the Kurzweil workstations. His was bought in 2008. He told me he went to try the new ones a few years ago, and they sounded sterile, compared to the "warm" sound of his old one. That brings me to my point of "warmth" actually being low definition and muddiness. There are countless live records from the late 60's / early 70's that sound great, huge, beefy! And in 2020s we have all this HD equipment, and it sounds so surgical, too many details, just lifeless. Could be one of those. As for the Helix... I don't know how people survived with the Pod HD 500 back in the day without snapshots. I would have to rethink my entire approach to switching sounds in some of my songs with doing pedalboard assignment... If not for the sounds, the routing and the switching on the Helix are so much more advanced.

If the Helix overwhelms you, I would recommend working your way up to the Helix... Pod Go is that slimmed-down simplified Helix, that you are asking about. I actually got it as a backup, as a slimmed down solution. It has literally everything. Heck, if Pod Go was around back in 2019, I would have gotten it for myself instead of the Helix. It has all the things that most people would need to play gigs, all the stuff is already laid out, and it actually forces you to use certain things in your signal chain, such as an EQ, Amp, Cab, volume, wah. I have a little side-project and we have a gig in a few weeks, so I made it a point to build all my presets on the Pod GO. As far as working your way up, I'm a pretty technical guy -- I'm a software developer by day. I started gradually incorporating the digital technology into my rig. First, I got a small Zoom digital box that gave me certain sounds. Then 4 years later I got Boss MS-3 effects processor (slightly more complicated, with more buttons). And finally 2.5 years later I went and switched over to the Helix as an all-in-one solution. It's just way too complicated, and difficult to wrap your brain around this thing right away. Or especially if people have never used real analog gear, those people really don't know what they are looking for. My friend got himself an HX Stomp and he created a preset that sounded really bad. Well, turned out he didn't realize he had to use an amp/cab block! When I was transitioning my sounds into the Helix, I took my rig and replaced one piece at a time. First the distortion, then my delays/EQ... and finally the amp. It is really helpful to do A/B comparison to see how your new gear sounds as compared to the old stuff. So I would run my sound like this: guitar->pedalboard->Helix->combo amp. I took each component and tried to find the best-sounding replacement, you get my point? Then when my sounds were all there, as I was reading the manual and watching videos, I realized there are lots of cool little tricks I can do on the Helix, which were not possible for me at any point in time in the past... well unless I got the Bradshaw rig. Cool things like spillover delay, harmonization, stereo sounds, pre-determined tempo for effects in my numerous presets. So that's my advice: start simple. Figure out what you need. Nobody uses every single bell and whistle in any piece of gear...

This is the wildest thing I've ever seen. Looks like hardware failure. I suggest opening a ticket, sending to Line 6 for repair.

Oh, so just touch the button with the capacitance enabled, with your finger. Damn. learn something new everyday! (not that I'd need this, as I'm 100% a snapshot user)

I Googled the amp and noticed that it has an "aux" input. This means you have an effects loop.... It just amplifies whatever you send into it: backing tracks, music from Spotify, or guitar processor output. That's what I would personally do--I'd use this amp as a powered speaker without the internal digital amp emulation, while using Helix amps (Marshall, Vox, etc). Champion amps are digital modelling amps... Helix is also a modeller with many many more amp options. So why be limited to a handful of Fender amp models, instead of using whatever Helix has? Hence my reasoning for using it as a powered speaker and letting Helix do the actual signal processing. All you'd need is a 1/4" female to 1/8" male adapter.

I understand... So you want the ring light to be on when something is disabled, and off when something is enabled. In stomp mode, you can assign multiple blocks to the same foot switch. When you press the foot switch, the bypass statuses of all the relevant blocks get toggled. So with one button press you can turn some things on and also turn some things off. Press it again and things get bypassed/un-bypassed. I'm pretty sure you can do what you are asking in Command Center... But here's a simple workaround instead: In this example we will be using foot switch 9. And using a block that does absolutely nothing whether or not it's enabled/disabled -- gain block with everything at the default settings; or an EQ block with everything at center.... or a send block.... just basically a dummy block. 1. add the dummy block and do bypass assign -- assigning it to FS 9 2. press the FS so that it is now off, and the dummy block is in fact off. 3. now assign whatever you want to control to the same FS 9. 4. end-result: the same FS 9 will have 2 states: a) dummy block is on, other thing is off (light is on) b) dummy block is off, other thing is on (light is off)

Umm... try the factory presets first, then try your own stuff. If none of the factory presets sound normal, then you either have a defective device, or your PA has a problem.

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?