PierM

I'm fine with that but still; I've stuff in the Helix that I don't know how to use properly (the synths), and judging by what I see over here, I'm not alone.

Also, should not be mandatory for a musician to come over here and spend hours of his time to search for information. That's why someone invented the operational manuals.

No, there is not.

I do also think would be the time for a manual update, considered the huge amount of changes.

Same boat as you with OSC stuff. Would really like to see some proper advice about that stuff which I never used before. I hate to feel a noob!!  :lol:  :lol:

Hard to tell from the picture, as this is just the output section.

BTW, I just uploaded the preset I'm using, to make the FH1500 a FRFR monitor with the minimum amount of extra noise coming from the built-in processor.

You can go to Tone Cloud, using your app, and search for "Blank FRFR". You'll find my preset. Just save it either on your local tones or in your FH1500, better if in a empty preset. With this one you'll be setting your amp as it should to be used just as Monitor. Just be sure to load this every time you turn on the amp and want to use it as FRFR.

As for the levels you are using, unless you don't need to mix different sources, you could keep your guitar input at 70/100% and then just use the Overall to control the final output. 50% is a bit weak and could force you to use high overall volumes, introducing extra hiss because of the Signal To Noise floor. Ok for the wide stereo if you like. Speaker Mode set to WALL is good if you really have the amp close to a wall, but in general would be better to keep a bit of air around, and set it just as FLOOR.

Let me know if this helps. :)

C'mon it's not rocket science! :)

In that page you linked, you have 3 rolldown choices in the top. There put Helix on the first, ALL SOFTWARE on the second, and Windows 10 (or your OS) on the third.

You'll be redirect to a page with ALL software you need; Editor, Workbench and Updater.

;)

I'd also try to roll back to a previous firmware. I've seen people solving that way.

In general; I would invest 40 or 50 bucks in a 300Watt UPS (APC or similar). You'll get a stabilized and filtered line, voltage stabilization, power protection and spike leveling, plus a good battery backup which give you a good 20/30 minutes of energy to (hopefully) conclude the process.

Not sure what would happen if Helix stay awake but you drop the internet connection. Probably nothing, as the Helix start updating once the update has been cached.

Update seems working great!

Few things; Seems the MIDI clock sync does skip some bit and it does not sync back. I just had few sessions using RC300 mastering the Helix, but after few minutes I saw the Helix was not blinking same tempo. Then I tried to test my theory assigning the tempo to a delay with 100% feedback, and I've seen that was changing along time (was like speeding up, very slowly). Odd stuff.

Second thing; I'm not sure I got how the OSC are working. I heard they are working through momentary switches but how? Can we have some procedure to make it working?

Love the autoswell!!!  ;)

You can connect your Axe L/R output to the FH1500 monitor input, and set gain pot to zero (middle position). This scheme is already bypassing the effect/modeling chain in the amp, but it's better to create a FH1500 preset with all OFF, so you don't get extra noise produced by blocks running in the preset, despite the fact you are not running through that route.

To do so you can use the Firehawk app, create a preset with all blocks off, and in the amp section you can load a NO AMP model from the "clean" amp list. Save this as "BLANK PRESET" and put it in your Tones, or store it in the Amp. Just remember to load this preset every time you use your AXE.

In alternative, you can connect your AXE L/R to the L/R Returns in the FH1500. In both cases check both units are running at same Line or Instrument level.

According to the forums (Line 6's alternative to destroying rainforests to create manuals) there's the following entry:

:lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

Sigh.

Helix came back just now. Rotary is now working, but the right selection is sluggish as hell. You need to push really hard to make it working, and it does not make the typical "click".

What a pain in the butt. Really tempted to throw the thing out of the window.

Would be definitely good too have a large text render of the snapshot/preset numbers on the top and name on the bottom. Very cool idea.

I have zero issues with people asking money for their work. My personal experience is that they probably won't work as teased because of all Non-Helix variables. Guitar, pickup, speakers, style, room/ambient and sometimes, firmware version which does f--k up the entire patch.

I tried once, buying a jazz tone pack from Scott, and none of them was barely usable for me, while they were sounding nice on the tease video. Was also an odd routing style which does not work for me. Also, the patch creation is one of the best parts of creating a tone. A pleasure with the Helix interface.

Mine is 2 weeks in the lab, and I think it's another 2 weeks to come back. That is a pain really.

EDIT; just got the great news the Helix is coming back from Germany! And guess what? Was a soldering issue....... .... ...

Problem with Helix reverbs is trails are too harsh and, as for basically everything else, they needs to be cut properly through the low/high cuts you have in the reverb block... but I've to say, if you manage to try a BigSky, there is no competition, probably because they have lot of post modulation options to "detach" the trails from the main dry, producing a round tone without flooding the signal as the Helix does. I also find the Helix reverbs are lacking dynamics, they tends to be flat and clamped. I'm confident they'll be improved soon or later.

I would put in the competition the Friedman ASM12, which is same price range as the L2m, and in my opinion the best in the pack. If I manage to sell my FH1500 and the L2M I'm gonna grab a pair of those and be probably happy for the next 10 years! :)

Overtones indeed. I've this problem with a seven strings guitar which for some reason does not tune with Helix, especially on low B and G strings, but instead reading wrong notes it does not read any note, at all. Only using harmonics "solve" the issue. I didn't try the "tone down" trick, I'll give it a try!

No rush, my Helix is out for repair. Take your time. /SELFISH MODE OFF

Using 3 cables for W/D/W is limiting the block routing capabilities by a good 70/80% and it also force you to have multiple version of the same patch to be used with 2 cables, live and studio. Would work much better with 3 cables and few stomp box on the ground. Helix is to much power wasted for the scheme.

Anyone own both and compare them properly? :-) 

They are all great, but RedWire are very hardcore productions, with average 800 iRs per cab, subdivided by average 18 mics each. A single cab has average 7000 IRs, for different frequencies, different hardware etc. It's pro material but probably more studio oriented than guitar player. At least that what I feel myself, as too much stuff to play with, for me, it's not always a good thing. It's really a massive amount of material that sometimes may make you feeling sick of tweaking and trying and comparing etc etc.

I've all of them, but now I do prefer 3Sigma. They are great quality, but just a bunch of variations per cab, so I don't have to go crazy with things and more important, I don't feel like I still have a million of iRs to test before find the right one. :)

Helix should imho use way less "open" low/high cuts, out of the box, as this is most of the time just introducing fizz, boomy tones and unpleasant high frequency noises. This is especially true when using IRs. It's really suggested to set low cuts and high cuts to play around realistic guitar speaker ranges, so something around 70Hz for Lows and 5KHz for highs.

I have an original Freeze pedal but man, I love that Z-CAT! On my list for sure!

Thanks for sharing...:)

(Btw no, the Helix can't do the same. BigSky from Strymon does this pretty good)

When you send your stereo signal into the FH1500 you have a DSP wich has no clue about the signal composition. So for that stage you have just a composite signal (helix amps plus effexts) to be processed just at amplitude and frequency domain, through a digital compressor (which is part of DSP). That is then passing various frequencies to the different speakers. Limiters there are kicking to protect coaxial to be overloaded, and this is muffling the incoming signal. When you use the amp alone, DSP does know what every block is doing, it does recognize dry from wet, amp simulation from a reverb etc. Signal is not a composite as it happens when using the stereo inputs. Distribution here is then optimized for wet/dry/wet and the output its way more open and clear, and because of that you get no crazy limiters muffling the output.

I did several side to side comparisons between the Helix amps and HD amps in the FH1500. Compared amps which are in both the units, using exactly same settings and mics.

They are the same tone. Helix has more mics and more options to tweak things, but using available settings on both, they are the same tone, bit by bit. I wouldn't be surprised to discover it's same algo running in both DSPs, with the Helix version using more branches to work inside the Helix patch structure. 

Problem is, as already said several times over here, the FH1500 sounds muffled when you use an external stereo source entering the amp (does not matter which stereo input you use), as it has pretty aggressive limiter section which is capping the dynamic as soon as you push on the source. Even if you make all speakers working, it's the crossover operation which is different, so you have different pass and different limits between the two usage (FRFR or standalone).

So yes, the amp alone does sounds better but doesn't have same range of amps and effects as Helix has.

You should try yourself if you can, because along forums you'll find people saying lot of things and sometimes protecting their investment with a bit wishful thinking, but really, I would not ever suggest a FH1500 for a guy who needs a FRFR for its helix. StageSources are working way better if you want to stay in the L6 family.

Said that, I now have the Helix out for repair, and I'm using the FH1500 as backup and believe me, the sound it's stellar. The presence in the room and the clarity of the tone it's top notch. All things I never get pairing it with my Helix.

Good luck. :)

Thomann, where I bought my own, has 3 years of full warranty but I would not want a unit replace. Would mean getting another unit with probably same issue ready to pop up, soon or later. I do prefer mine to be fixed as it should have been from the factory.

My point is does not matter telling other people where we bought our units, as the problem happens on various stores and stocks, from all around the world. Would just mean scaring people about specific stores, which never been a valid variable. Just for example, I'm from Italy and in that same thread you have people from the other side of the globe.

In theory a device using processors, and operative systems, has a back end shutdown cycle, which is engaged as soon as you turn off the unit on the back and this means you should not turn off the device BEFORE the unit built in on/off switch, as this should be pretty much like an abrupt power off.

Yeah. Problem is when you have people who can barely use an hammer, doing soldering for a product which does cost 1500$.

As for the floorboard, I use it on a stand. The only day touched the floor was when arrived home, first day (the avatar).