baron55

My Stomp XL randomly also does this. It's pretty inconsistent. But sometimes touch doesn't work n some of the footswitches at times.

Guys guess what. The HX effects guys have the same exact issue and Line 6 found that those units had "parts" that were out of spec. Here is the official statement. Hi, Thanks for your patience while we sorted this out. In extremely rare cases (roughly 0.5%, or 1 out of every 200 HX Effects units sold), certain specific combinations of HX Effects units populated with out-of-spec parts and amplifiers and/or hookup configurations can manifest notable noise and/or other unsavory audio artifacts. Since your particular setup happens to exhibit this behavior, we will have the unit shipped here and have the fix implemented repair it. We have also updated our manufacturing and testing process to ensure no future units exhibit this behavior, regardless of configuration. Please update or confirm your accountâÂÂs shipping address and we can start the repair process.

According to the manual, you can save MIDI CC commands, Instant Commands from the Control center per snap shot. Does this mean I could assign a different instant command per snapshot? Because I have found that I cannot do that. Only effect status and parameters seem to be able to be saved per snapshot. If I change a CC valve and or instant MIDI CC, that same valve is applied to all snapshots. From the manual On the "Command Center" page, adjust the values of any Instant messages or press a footswitch assigned to CC Toggle or Ext Amp. Snapshots remember the values of any instant MIDI CC, Bank/Prog and MMC messages, plus the state (dim or lit) of any CC Toggle and Ext Amp messages.

Agreed, it is easier to find posts about the HX if it had it's own sub forum

I would just put the Ebtech on the effects send and return cables that go to the amp.

For those new to 4 cable method, in most instances you will develop a ground loop (nasty hum). This is not a Line 6 issue but a normal issue in the audio world when ground from multiple audio signals meet up. There are several ways to fix this: 1. But a Ebtech Hum Eliminator, they use isolation transformers to cancel out the hum. 2. The easy way! On the cables used for the effects send and return that plug into the amp, disconnect the ground (shield) from one side only. Plug the grounded side into the amp and the non grounded side into the HX Effects unit. Remember only 2 cables! This is perfectly safe, because you still have one of the cables connecting to the amp that is fully grounded both ways and that allows the guitar to be also grounded. The cables with ground disconnected from one side are still grounded for shielding purposes.

I think the answer is you can't access the additional 3 effects in Stompbox mode, yes you can in Pedal Edit mode and Signal flow mode, but those are editing modes and not necessarily performance modes. Of course you could do it via a MIDI controller but.................. Basically you only have access to 6 effects during live playing without having to go to an Edit mode/Signal Flow. One way to make this work is if you are using a FX Loop noise gate or an effect that you never really need to see or edit live. Load all 6 effects you wish to use and turn On/Off live first. Then use signal flow to add the other effects, if all 6 blocks are full these will not show up in stompbox mode but are there and can be edited in signal flow mode. The manual was written as if the user had previous Helix Experience, which is a mistake. Many will buy the HX Effects as their first Line 6 product or product in the Helix series.

In Stombox mode you can see 6 effects although you can have 9 per preset. Is their anyway to access the other three effects not shown? I can go into signal flow and add and edit these but is there any other way. Thanks!

Being owned by another company doesn't nessesarily mean that things will change that much. Many companies like Yamaha want to diversify their offerings (Like Yamaha doesn't have enough Diversity) and buy companies, but are pretty much hands off unless the financials are suffering or there are issues with management. But Line 6 really blew it IMO with the lack of availible units over the holiday season which in retail is the biggest shopping quarter of the year. Ther are definitley sales they will loose since many on the fence buyers will look elsewhere for Christmas presents. They probbaly were hoping to get these units out before the Holiday season and were rushing to do so. The fact they had to go to wherehouses and update the firmware tells me they were still not ready and still were working on many bugs. But every day I see Helix units up for sale on eBay (rediculous prices) and Sweetwater always seems to have a few every day of open box ones that people have returned, although they go pretty fast.

Just as an FYI, Guitar Center and Musicians friend ship form the same Wherehouse! Which is located in Kansas City, MO. I have ordered things from both, and it all comes from the same wherehouse. So dont be fooled by one saying they have stock and the other not. Either they both have it or they don't.

I will wait until the youtube videos and real user reviews come in. That will be the real test. The price doesn't scare me, and I seriously doubt it will drop like a lot of people are hoping for. The Helix unit is in a different product market. Thus the quality and price. People are shelling out up to 3 grand for Axe FX units Lne 6 may be counting on getting a great product out for slightly less but with good enough sound quality. For many years Line 6 has soild low cost packed FX units that relly catred to entry level musicians, like the Spyder and POD series. They have done well, but that also has given them a "low cost for kiddies" reputation deserved or not. The Helix hopefully will put them a new market and get the more respect with the higher end tone snob crowd.

Push/Pull tube amps use a phase inverter that splits the signal wave in half so that each side of the poweramp is amplifying each phase. That being said, the Phase inverter circuit in the Marshall is your standard Long Tail Phase inverter, which will also amplify your input signal quaite a bit. So this should work fine. As a side note. Line Level signal is +4 dB and instrument Level is -10 dB

Ther Helix sounds more real. The thing that I always hated about modeling is the model always lacked air, meaning a wide dynamic range. The Helix sounds more like an amp, where the POD sounds like a model of the amp.

Alright. True Bypass comes from then pedal world due to the fact that some of the older vintage pedals did not have good op amp buffers causing them to suck tone. The cry baby way comes to mind. A quality buffered in/out which in many high quality pedals have today, does not suck tone but actually improves it by keeping the signal from degrading as the signal path gets longer. If you had a bunch of pedals that were true bypass in series, they would suck tone causing highs to be lost. Even so many pedal builders offer true bypass because it is harder to convince the masses than to give in and give it. With all multi effects processors, the thing I look for is Analog pass through. This means the input signal is not altered and digitized but simply buffered and sent through. Most of the rack gear in the late 80's and mid 90's all had this. With high gain tube amps the AD/DA conversion that many multi effects have today, even the high end stuff, screws with the signal and slightly effects the phase. It is most noticeable on high gain settings due to all the harmonic overtones that have to be digitized and then undigitized. Now with the POD Helix, etc, these units were designed to be used as standalone solutions, amp plus effects etc. so it makes sense everything is digital. They can be used as the 4 channel method, but that is more of yes you can than a design idea. I rarely have ever seen amp modelers/FX processors that had Analog Pass through. Now many effects only processors do have analog pass through which makes sense since there is no amp modeling involved. The exception is the G Major, which is a disappointment. The Rack Helix I am very interested in. Digital effects are fine because they are effects not the base tone.