ncockerill

You might want to think about giving a used (or new) L2t/L2m or L3t/L3m an audition. Definitely less $$ than the Mission Gemini's and they sound great. I've heard really good things about the Friedman ASM-12 as well, though I can't speak to that personally.

Totally agree with the Honest Opinion. I'd feel pretty lost without my Helix live now. I haven't even done the 2.01 update because of that fear. I too kept my HD500 as a backup, and have it setup as a midi controller to my 11Rack which is always in the mixer rack. It would get me through a gig for sure --- and I used to LOVE my 11Rack -- but now it would be like kissing my sister.........

On my primary, go-to patch, I use 4 snapshots (bottom row) and 4 stomps (top row). Each of the four snapshots represent a "core" sound --- that is, Clean, Crunch, Drive, and Lead. The 4 stomps on top are really "accent" stomps --- that is, stomps like Phaser, Clean Boost, Delay, etc. I rarely change presets during a song -- I can get everything I need for any song within a single preset. For specialty tones, like Hendrix, U2, SRV -- I just have a separate preset for these and hit the mode button to see 10 stomps on those presets. I run Bank Up/Down -- so there is an additional press to change presets mid-song, but again, I rarely do that.

+1 to this. I had about 25 different patches on my HD500 that I used for live performance, and I was dreading the rebuild onto Helix. It really was pretty painless -- it was actually fun because everything just sounded so much better, and the workflow of Helix is much quicker to work in. Now, I have about 6 total presets live, and 5 of those are specialty patches for things like Hendrix, Gilmour, U2, etc. But like glideman, I could really run on one "main" patch all night if I had to. With snapshots, I was able to create a single preset to go from sparkling clean to nasty lead (and everything in between).

I am not unhappy with the M20d, but at firmware v1.2, there are still many bugs as yet unaddressed. And sure, some new features here and there couldn't hurt. For one, the ability to copy/paste mixes to/from various outputs would be great. The $500 Mackie DL1608 does this beautifully ---- get a great FOH mix? Just copy/paste it to the monitors and IEM aux sends........ I don't think it's unreasonable for loyal customers to ask a company for a product update. Or even some acknowledgment that we've asked. Repeatedly.

Come on, Line 6. I am as faithful a consumer as you will find, having owned every Pod since the bean, an M13, M9, several Flextones, and now a Helix. I currently run my band setup with a Stagescape M20d, (2) stagesource L3s subs and (2) stagesource L3t's. I've probably spent close to $10k on Line 6 products over the past 12 years. Can you at least update your faithful customers on the current status of development of the very expensive M20d? Even if the news is bad -- like development has ceased and there will be no updates past v1.20.......sure seems that way. We invested in a $1500 mixer. Doesn't our loyalty and support warrant some kind of acknowledgement or response???

Guessing not........... when is Scott going to let us off the hook? :)

robbieb61 --- perhaps you are stopping too soon with a couple of beers. Chase the dragon, rip some rails, and chug some JD. You could be the next Page! :D

I second that. Love Glenn's stuff.

I think I would be more worried about the LCD screen over time. Helix doesn't have a "sleep mode" or "screen saver" that prolongs the life of the LCD. Nothing lasts forever --- why shorten its life?

"It's just OK and it isn't any better than the HD500x"..........said no one ever. :-)

Worth every penny..........

I've had a very good experience with the JBL LSR305's. Totally affordable at ~$300/pair and they sound great for monitoring in my 11' x 12' studio. Lots of other great choices as you climb the price ladder, of course.

I second this recommendation. I have found that using a low cut/high cut on the cab block(s) works very well. How your patches are constructed and your choice of guitar will determine the amount of low cut/high cut that's necessary. I use the global EQ as a means to tweak for live settings, based on the dynamics of the room.

If u would like a fantastic sounding patch, based on Gilmour's tone, WITH a sound on sound effect, check out Glenn Delaune's David Gilmour patch. It's available on his website for $4, along with many other great collections of patches. I've bought just about everything he's built and his stuff is top notch.

What Glenn says is absolutely true. The patches I initially created sounded GREAT alone, but were getting totally lost in the band mix. The more I tweaked my sound to fit better in the mix, the less "attractive" it sounded alone. I ended up with a bit more mid/highs than you might imagine, and definitely more than you would dial in if just listening solely to the guitar. Isolating the guitar track from some of our favorite, most popular tracks may surprise you......their sounds aren't necessarily EQ'ed perfectly.......but they are perfect for the song and the mix.

Voted up!

Awesome. Thanks Line 6!! Now who is going to be the first brave soul to try it? Not it.

Thanks for these IRs!!! I ended up replacing several of the stock cabs on my patches with these. Great results!!

Couldn't agree more re: Glenn's patches and his willingness to help. Super responsive and the patches he produces are top notch. And at just a couple of bucks per patch, you can't beat the price. Killer tone for the price of a cup of coffee !!! (Not including the $1500 bones for a Helix....... :-)

+1 for Glenn's patches and his efforts. Great guy and very accessible. I have all of his patches -- minus these snapshot patches, because I am too chicken to do the FW 2.0 update with upcoming gigs. Sounds like a few people have bricked their Helix and need to send it back to Line 6. The band is taking the month of August off -- I'll do the update then and grab Glenn's snapshot patches. I am very hopeful that snapshots will enable me to run on a single preset for the whole show, except for some "specialty patches" like U2, SRV.

+1 to this. The first couple of weeks with a new Helix is bittersweet. You know awesome tones are in there -- look (listen) no further than YouTube or Glenn DeLaune's stuff -- but coaxing these out of your own rig takes time and patience. Personally, I would start with one patch and really play around with the various cabs and all their parameters -- particularly the hi cut/low cut. The tonal flexibility this provides is powerful. Cruisinon2 is totally correct -- some growing pains -- some educating yourself to the Helix is required. Well worth it.

Agreed on the Minotaur -- it's great. If the OP simply has to have an authentic TS808 -- no reason not to procure one and use in the FX loop of the Helix.

For sure re: the onboard tuner. It's not very good at all. I nearly pulled the trigger on an EHX Freeze just yesterday. Going to wait for at least one more firmware update before I do. Pretty sure the Freeze effect was high up on the IdeaScale list.........

Pretty much liquidated the entire arsenal of single pedals. While you could definitely argue that some were slightly better than those modeled in the Helix -- I am going for a more streamlined approach these days. Don't feel like I've really sacrificed tone or tonal options much (if at all), and besides, do you think Billy Belly-O'Beers in the back of the club can tell if I am using the actual EVH Phaser or its onboard model?? I did keep my POD HD500 --- as I programmed this to be a MIDI controller for my ElevenRack -- used as a backup rig which I keep under the Stagescape M20d in the rack.