Aged_Cheddar

I'm at work at the moment, once I get home tonight I'll try some of the things posted above, if they don't help, I'll try and post a sound sample.

OK, so admittedly I know nothing about gain staging, I just twist knobs all willy nilly until I find tone magic...Don't judge. :-) Now as far as output setup, I do the exact same as you, I send XLR to the house (set to "mic"), and the volume knob only controls my 1/4" output, as I'll sometimes be using an actual amp, I want to be able to control volume from my Helix. I get what your saying about channel volume...for example I really like the Ampeg SVT-4 amp model, but the drive is OFF THE CHARTS, so I dialed the drive to zero (where I prefer it, I put drive blocks before it), but then the output level drops so much that I had to max the channel volume to make up the difference...but I'll mess with that more this evening after work...However this still doesn't explain the noise on a brand new patch for example, where there is no amps or anything else. I have a question with this----> "I control my output levels within my patches primarily through my amp model channel volume (typically set between 4 and 5) and additionally through the output block on my patch".... As I mentioned above, I understand the channel volume, but is there a separate patch volume? If so I think I've missed it, where is it located? (sorry if that's a noob question). Looks like I have some homework this evening.

OK, so I'm in the final stages of getting setup for this coming springs round of shows...but I have an issue that's plaguing me, and I first thought it was me, but now I question my LT. Friggen white noise/hissing...it's really beginning to wear on me, especially between songs. I'm running the 3.50 patch, so I think I'm up to date as far as I can be. I've checked my outputs, both the XLR & 1/4” hiss, yet the headphone out doesn't. I get the hiss whether I'm plugged into my Mackie Mix8 mixer, or into my recording interface for my PC. (tried the 1/4” and XLR with both) It's not one particular patch, it hisses on every patch, even ones without a high gain amp sims. My volume knob is only set to control my 1/4” outs, the XLR's are obviously @ unity. I've obviously checked to make sure I'm not sending phantom power from the board into the Helix, I've tested the ground lift. I've tried the XLR outputs on both “Mic” and “line” the only difference is line has a louder hiss obviously. A gate is NOT the answer...If I leave my headphones plugged into the mixer, and turn off the Helix, the hiss stops, so I'm definitely not driving the board or headphone amp portion too hard...The hiss is (in my opinion) coming from the Helix itself. I've tried my Shure IEM buds, and 2 sets of headphones, they all had the same noise to varying degrees...The IEM's highlight it the most obvious though. I've tried multiple cables, all with the same result. I've tried multiple basses, both active and passive, so it isn't any one bass. I've even moved my setup to another entirely different room, on a different breaker, to rule out “dirty power”. The noise is basically inaudible while playing, but between songs, there is no getting around the hiss. I LOVE this unit, but I am so close to just tossing in the towel and going back to individual stomps, which I might add were dead silent on my last board. Does anyone have an idea I haven't thought of?? This can't actually be normal for a Helix LT can it?? Thanks in advance for any help or insights!

OK, so I'll give what tech info I have. Helix LT running 3.5 (purchased new 11/26/22) Powered by the factory cord. Couple of pedals in the loops, Digitech Drop out front. Currently using only the left XLR output to my mixing board. Soooo, the issue....I was messing around this morning trying to dial in something close to a Boss Slow gear sound (as yet unsuccessfully), when all of a sudden the audio just quit, I was bent over adjusting values, and it sounded "kinda" like I either unplugged the XLR or powered the unit down... The screen was still lit, and everything looked normal, and still worked e.g. I could still adjust parameters, change patches etc..., there was just no audio coming out of the XLR port (wasn't using the 1/4" jack, so I'm not sure if it dropped there too). I powered the unit down, and restarted it, everything seems normal now...It would be a colossal understatement to say this isn't very confidence inspiring with gigs just around the corner... Has anyone experienced anything similar? Thanks in advance!

Currently it's the first effect in the chain, I used the same mentality that I used with the Digitech, I figured first was going to be the "cleanest/purest" signal I could feed it. I did mess around with some of the parameters, I think I found the best usable tone with it set to "Fast". For me, the biggest issue is the note tracking, and some overall muddiness added to the tone, neither are as obvious with the Drop. Now, full disclosure, I could attribute some of this to a "less than clean playing technique", if I play slow deliberate notes, it's tracks fine, but if there are passages where I need to pick up the pace a bit, it falls short...In these cases the Drop is the clear winner, hands down. I'm playing finger style, with a P-bass w/Flatwounds, volume & tone dimed. Despite the use of flatwounds, I would describe my tone as bright & clear. The thing is, if I grab my Strat and play, the Poly Capo is perfect, every bit as good as the Drop...So it seems (to me) that the Poly Capo struggles a little with the low strings of a bass? I'm certainly not giving up, I'm going to try Poly Shift tonight and see what I come up with.

Well, I can confirm, IMHO the Poly Capo isn't quite as good as the Digitech Drop, and I'm only using them to drop 1/2 step, never lower...And I'm using them with bass, so that's even more of a tall order. I was REALLY hoping to ditch the Pedaltrain and just have the Helix LT (with the backpack) at gigs, and now I find myself with a Pedaltrain JRMax in the cart so I have room for both the LT & Drop on the board (current board isn't large enough for both). I'm not bummed about the Helix LT, quite the contrary actually, this unit is amazing, and if the only shortcoming I have is the Poly Capo, I got nothing to complain about. Now to sort out how to mount the LT, I don't want to remove the feet, so I need to find a creative solution....Google search didn't really net much.

Yeah I updated it right away, I had been pretty slow at work today, so I plenty of time to read about it LOL! However I thought that promo was only for Sweetwater, I'll have to go look into it! I don't need Cubase (I run Studio One), but the other stuff looks really interesting, especially Native...

Also, a thing happened today...I brought home a new Helix LT! With the Guitar Center 15% off sale, combined with a forgotten gift card from last Christmas, I managed to get this well under a grand...Pretty stoked...Also pretty overwhelmed by how much this thing can actually do, I'm currently suffering from options paralysis...

Yeah my bass isn't super effects laden usually, I'll probably be using an amp & cab, several flavors of drive, a comp, a chorus, a phase, a pitch shifter (hopefully), and probably some kind of octave....Obviously not all at once, those mentioned effects are the ones I typically use for our setlist across all the songs...I have to assume the DSP is robust enough. Ultimately I'm hoping I can use all of the above along with some kind of split output...if you can picture a string of effects before the amp/cab block, then right at the amp/cab block split the output, so all the effects go through the amp/cab, but also out of the other path. Basically so I could send the signal with effects & amp/cab to FOH via the XLR, and then send a signal with effects only to my stage amp...in the event I ever need one, which I'm hoping I won't.

Yeah the latency is an issue, but it's there with the Digitech pedal too, you can't get around it, like you said, it comes with the territory. You and I (and pretty much any other musician) can probably hear it, but I doubt the crowd even notices. We don't really play entire sets in one tuning, we'll play a few in E standard, then one or two in drop D (thank you Hipshot Xtender), then we'll play some in E standard again, then go to Eb standard etc...We're all over the place, so swapping guitars isn't really practical for keeping the crowd going. The Drop pedals we use really do keep the show momentum going, and I'm hoping I can accomplish it with the LT, because being able to ditch the whole board in favor of one completely self contained "do it all" solution would be HUGE for me...Walking into a gig with a dual bass gigbag, and a Helix backpack would be a DREAM. I'll have to check your video out after work, I just found out my company blocks YT, so I can't load it here....

OK, so I have a question for the Helix hive mind. I’m a bassist in a cover band, and we work with multiple tunings, but predominantly E standard, and then standard but everything tuned ½ step down (I’m sure there’s a name for it, like Eb Standard??) Anyway, I’m looking at buying a Helix LT so I can run ampless, and have a LOT more tonal options, in this band we’re all currently running Digitech Drop pedals for the Eb stuff, but I was hoping on ditching the pedalboard entirely if the Line 6 pitch shifting is good. I’ve done enough research to know that the LT can check all of my other bass boxes. Can anyone tell be how they stack up? Better yet, has anyone ditched their Drop pedal in favor of the built in Helix pitch shifter?? Thanks in advance!!