phil_m

The point of the Catalyst isn't really to be an all-in-one modeling amp... It's primarily meant to be a boutique style 2-channel amp. The effects are kind of there as a bonus, in a way. Or you might think of them in the same sense like a Fender amp has built-in tremolo along with spring reverb. I think they wanted something that people could use with their pedalboards, not necessarily replace them. Line 6 has other solutions for that sort of thing.

If you have the wireless channel set to Auto under Global Settings (which it is by default), plugging the transmitter into the Guitar In jack will cause the POD to search for the best available wireless channel, and it will set to the transmitter to that channel. You just have to leave the transmitter plugged in for about 15 seconds for this process to complete. It doesn’t guarantee that that wifi sources won’t cause problems, though. But it can help. It’s best to keep wifi sources at least 10 feet away from the receiver.

If you click the beta box, it will only search for beta versions of the firmware, and those are really not ever available to the general public. And as far as know, there’s not very much that is actually archived. So you want to leave those unchecked. HX Edit should be the only piece of software you need to download, as it brings the drivers along with it. If you’re having problem with the update, you may need to go the Line 6 Update route as explained in these instructions (from the Knowledge Base section of this site). IMPORTANT! In the unlikely event that your update fails, please follow the steps below: Unplug the USB cable from both the back of your Helix and the computer. Turn your Helix/HX device off and on. Reconnect the USB cable to your Helix/HX device and the computer. Download, install, and launch the latest version of Line 6 Updater. In a failure state, the device will not connect to HX Edit. Line 6 Updater for macOS: https://line6.com/software/readeula.html?rid=9831 Line 6 Updater for Windows: https://line6.com/software/readeula.html?rid=9832 Select your device and try updating to the latest firmware again. If the device does not show up in Line 6 Updater after these steps, try a different USB cable and/or USB port. If it still doesn't show up, try a different computer.

What is the make and model of the FOH mixer?

It doesn’t sound like the 1/4” outs are to blame if you’re saying they sound fine going into the XR18. It sounds like something is happening with the FOH mixer. Are you sure you’re not clipping its inputs? If the mixer isn’t set up for line level inputs, it’s pretty easy to clip those channels. Even if they are, the LT is capable of outputting a pretty hot signal.

The Placater isn't a Marshall model (it's a Friedman BE100), but it is very much in Marshall territory as well. I'd venture that more people may be using it for Marshall-esque tones than the actual Marshall models.

You just need to download and install HX Edit. That’s the updater and editor combined. It’s the only software you need, really.

You actually don’t need the driver to use the Stomp with your Mac. The Stomp is class compliant, so it works with the built-in Core Audio drivers. The Max drivers you can download are for if you want to use sample rates other than 48kHz, but I don’t believe they’ve been updated to work with the M1 Macs yet.

Make sure you have the Return Type parameter under Global Settings>Ins/Outs set to Return.

Are you saying you’re using the FX returns as an Aux In? Do you have the Return Type parameter under Global Settings>Ins/Outs set to Aux In? If so, that input won’t be sent through the looper block and it’s not sent to the USB out, either. It’s just sent straight to the main outs.

No. USB B ports are unpowered per the USB standards.

This is because there a few delays on the Helix/HX stuff that have a smaller maximum delay time. The Bucket Brigade is one of them. I believe its max delay time is 300ms. If you have the delay time set to a note value and tap in a tempo that would set the delay time at a value greater than that max, it will select the next highest note value setting that will work within the max delay time and the tempo you tapped in (1/4 notes at 120 BPM is 500ms, fwiw). This isn’t anything new, though. It’s always been the case.

I use the Strymon Ojai to power both of my G10S receivers (two separate Ojai’s to be exact - one on a pedalboard, the other in my Helix rack case), and I’ve never had any issues with noise. Both Ojai’s are powering other pedals as well.

Yes, it’s possible. That capability was added in the 3.10 update. It’s easiest to do it in HX Edit, but it can be done in the hardware itself, too. Is your XL running the latest firmware? (Which would be 3.15 now).

It's best if you can keep the transmitter and receiver within the line of sight of each other, as it mentions in the manual, but certain obstructions shouldn't be a huge issue. I'm more puzzled with the distortion comment. There shouldn't be any additional noise with a distorted amp or pedal. I use mine with high gain sounds all the time... What sort of guitar are you using? Does it have active pickups?

You need to download and install the latest version of Native.

It all just comes down to a matter of cost (and probably the actual physical space for another jack on the hardware). Personally, I have multiple G10 transmitters, and if I were playing a gig, I'd definitely bring more than one. Then I'd just charge them overnight or something.

The input pad has been available the whole time. It was always just a global setting. It’s still a global setting, technically, but you can choose to have individual presets override the global setting now.

What’s happening to the LED on the transmitter when you plug it into the Guitar In jack?

When you say it doesn’t save correctly, what do you mean, exactly? My Mission Engineering pedal’s toe switch is working fine with my Rack still. The toe switch on the Rack has never switched between EXP1 and EXP2, fwiw. That’s never been a feature that’s existed for the Rack.

The MIDI map for the fixed MIDI items is in the manual. As far as parameters and blocks, those can be assigned to whatever CC you want.

The only other way to do it is with MIDI. You can emulate the EXP toe switch with CC#59.

You can set the input block for the preset to be Wireless, Guitar or Guitar + Wireless. Guitar + Wireless should be the default, but if you downloaded a preset made for the non-wireless version, it may just be set to Guitar.

The control assignments are all per preset.

Fractal has supported one SKU for most of its existence, and when they had other floor products like the AX8 and FX8 that actually saw a lot fewer updates. The FM3 and FM9 haven’t received the nearly the same amount of updates the Axe FX III have either. Cliff is constantly updating the Axe FX III because it’s a passion project that he has managed to monetize. And good for him. But it’s not realistic to expect that sort of update pace for most products. In fact, I’d wager that most people don’t want to update once a month or whatever.