SaschaFranck

Oh yeah, my bad, that does in fact work - once you customize the color, the global dim option is working, too. A bit strange, though, as for plain switches the color cutomizing step isn't required, they're dimmed automatically once you switch that option on. I also missed that the OP was talking about presets. Dimming doesn't seem to work at all with presets. But given my success rate in this thread so far, I might as well be wrong.

Well, then Line 6 got that sort of wrong (or interpretes things differently or has simply transfered that modeling part to the preamp section). Usually "sag" is refering to the effect when a power amp is hit hard.

That's what I'd try at first. In case you have doubts about the validity of the direct out, you could as well insert a DI box between speaker out and cab (the latter saving you a load box). On my MkIV, the signal coming from the DI out was pretty much identical to what I got from a DI box. Likely. Can't tell you about the proper procedure as I've always been using the Impuls Response Utility coming with Logic, but people all over the world use REW to generate IRs, so I'm sure there's several tutorials about the how-to. You will however miss out on any dynamic information about the power amp behaviour - and from my experience, even the cleanest power amps with the largest headroom still add some bits of compression. You could check that by sending a dynamic signal through your power amp, rerecording it and comparing the two. No idea how you'd measure "ripple" and such ("hum" is just static hum - and fwiw, I turn both of them all the way to zero in all my HX patches anyway, as IMO they serve no purpose others than indicating the amp needs some servicing - at least that's what I'd do in case my real amps would hum around). Apart from all that, I'd simply compare how things sound when A/B-ing preamp vs. full amp models. Personally, I'd likely go for the full amp models, simply because using their master volume as an additional gain stage is a pretty neat tool here and there. Yeah, I know, there's impedance curves baked into the power amp models of the Helix, so you'd double those, but then, in the end the most they're doing is some EQ-ing, which can be dialed out in case it's getting in the way.

As has been said, total number of expression pedals/switches is 3. And yeah, it's not all that luxurious. The GT-1000 has twice as much options. And while external MIDI controllers might be an option, in many situations they're not even remotely as useful as their settings have to be sent again per each patch whereas the status of an expression pedal will be read out automatically/globally.

You could simply check it out for yourself. Compare some fixed impedance settings to auto impedance.

Please describe the entire routing. Quite obviously, when you deactivate the loop, you'll still hear the part of the sound running through the Stomp - just without whatever might be happening in the loop.

Whoops! Sorry, my bad, just tried, this only works for "normal" switches but not for snapshots.

I just looked into the LT manual, it has the same settings. Go to your global settings and then "Displays".

On the Floor, there's a setting for "Dim/Bright". Would really make me wonder in case this doesn't exist on the LT as the rings themselves are identical.

The guy who wrote the review on TGP is using an HXFX in front of the Simplifier, too. So that's every bit the same as what the OP here is doing.

Why would you even use a stereo return for the Simplifier in case you don't use the reverb? Not that I could think of anything. You'd have to utilize another loop on the Helix as well that way, hence add another DAAD conversion and some latency coming along with it.

That's what I started doing, too (at least usually). Got a phantom power blocker as well, but, not only that the thing is slightly bulkier than the DI box I'm using, no it does require phantom power to work, go figure (at first I even thought it was broken because that fact isn't mentioned anywhere on the package or elsewhere)! I thought about permanently mounting it on my board, with a hidden cable feeding it, but no cigar that way.

Sure. It's exactly as I'm doing it. XLR goes FOH, 1/4 to my personal monitor (or vice versa, on some occasions...). Still, just to make sure nothing is wonky on your Helix, you should try it out. In case it sounds the same, just go back to XLR.

So, have you tried the 1/4 outs? Usually it shouldn't matter that they're unbalanced - you really only need balanced outs for pretty long cable runs, so for a testrun 1/4 should just be fine. You really need to set them to flat for a testride, though. Otherwise you'll never know the cause of the problem. I would decouple the volume knob from the outs you're sending the FOH way (can be done in the global settings). Set XLR to mic level for "easy to handle" levels and set "Volume Knob Controls" to something else but XLR.

If you plan to go straight to FOH regularly, IMO there's little ways (if any) aside from testing the Helix at higher volumes through a PA. Could as well be a wedge FRFR monitor, but you need to check things at volume. Apart from super cheap things it could pretty much be anything, these days even most affordable PAs and/or FRFR monitors deliver at least sort of useful results. Also, make sure to check both the XLR and the 1/4 outs (when using the XLR out, it's absolutely mandatory there's no phantom power running!), just to see whether it makes a difference. As far as mic vs. line level goes, I usually use mic level as most consoles have no issues with that whereas line level could potentially cause some trouble when using comparatively "hot" patches. I do occasionally switch to line level, though (depending on what the soundguys are asking for). Along these lines: Make 100% sure there's no input clipping on the console. Also make sure to have anything set completely flat on whatever console you're running into. No cuts, no boosts, just flat through the channel. If you can, connect some MP3 player (well, usually a smartphone these days) to the console and listen to some music you're familiar with. In case that sounds like @$$, you can't expect the Helix to sound great. Then start with one of your most used patches/sounds and check whether it sounds the way you like it. During that session, insert a looper as the very first thing in your signal chain, so the looper will do the playing while you can adjust the sound. Personally, ever since I switched to modeling, my issues with my sounds through FOH stuff have completely vanished. But I've been spending plenty of time to adjust my patches beforehand, I even created my own custom IRs (in fact, I'm using almost only one or a slight variation of it, I could post these, if you wanted). So far, everybody involved (myself, bandmates. FOH dudes and the audience) seems to be quite happy.

I'm doing it pretty much the same. One preset per gig (I'm a "one guitar per gig" person as well, unless something special is required, such as acoustics - and obviously I always have a spare backup guitar with me, too) and that's it. So, in a nutshell, this very problem doesn't even bother me. But uhm - in fact, it *does* bother me. But not so much because of input levels (I could possibly adress that by using an analog boost/cut, even if I usually prefer the 230kOhm setting on the Helix, but I could get a booster with the same input impedance) but because of the general lack of any global adjustment options. Yeah, I know, I'm sounding like a broken record on repeat - but having a "global blocks" functionality would solve this and all related issues in a heartbeat. I mean, I went for the one-patch-per-gig thing just because there's no global blocks (and yes, I knew this prior to purchasing the Helix). I would happily use more than one patch, simply because it'd keep individual patches less complexed, I'd have more switching options inside a single patch (yes, I'm often running out of switches) and I could possibly even use the preset spillover feature as my patches could be less complexed. But then, by now I'd almost take any bet that the Helix will never see any such a feature (even if it'd be almost trivial to implement, at least in a certain way - I can almost "hack" it, using an external MIDI knob box, will possibly explain the how-to in a dedicated thread...). Which is the very reason (or at least one of the several reasons) why I see myself using a GT-1000 somewhen next year, once the gig situation is halfway back to normal. Until then, I don't really break a sweat over adjustable input volumes - I was just taking part in this thread because I can perfectly understand why people are asking for such a feature.

Precisely. In fact, they just had one backliner for the entire band and Ford was doing everything himself. Guitars were all on stage and he also tuned them himself. Another completely arrogant statement. But by now I have seen more than enough of such and similar statements coming from you. Do you have any of your great performances online to listen to? Just would like to know whether your playing justifies the high horse you're trying to sit on.

Btw, a global block functionality would easily fix the problem, too. And things would be switcheable. The only issue being the loss of the auto-impedance feature (in case you were using a gain block as the first thing in your signal chain), but that could possibly be fixed by an "ignored by auto impedance" checkbox on that block. None of that will ever happen, though. It's more important to supply yet some more amp models.

That's quite some arrogant nonsense right there - accusing people asking for a most trivial feature in the analog world of not planning well. Apart from that, it's utter bogus. Unless you want to accuse, say, Robben Ford of not planning well and failing. I've seen him swap guitars live more than once. And he certainly didn't use any special preprogrammed patches to suit each guitar.

Right. As a guitar amp with a pedal board going along with it. And on those very pedal boards I owned for the last 20-30 years, I have usually been able to globally adjust my input level by using a switchable booster in front of it. Nothing like this is possible on the Helix (unless I would in fact use an external booster).

Pretty interesting, thanks. But seriously, in case I buy a flagship modeler from whatever company, I don't want to deal with things like that. Line 6 could at least do it like Boss, their units offer freely adjustable global input trims (in 1 dB steps from -20dB to +20dB) and you can save up to 10 input level presets. Unfortunately it seems that they're still not switchable, that would possibly be a nice idea.

Fwiw, compare it to adjusting the input level of an audio interface. You wouldn't accept too low levels just because you're using a Strat and you would as well not accept input clipping just because you're using a Les Paul.

Why would they sound the same just because you adjust their levels? If that was the only difference, I'd never buy another guitar but a booster and call it a day.

Have you tried that? Apart from the auto/manual impedance feature (that I'm regularly using), I don't think things will sound too great. I mean, typical dynamic mics come with an impedance somewhere between 150 and 300 Ohm, so I'd suspect the Mic in to support those. A typical PAF pickup has an impedance of 7.5k(!)Ohm.

I'd simply love to see a global input volume trim (with way finer adjusting options than the Input Pad), accessible through a footswitch, preferably with 2-3 different "slots". But we will never see anything like that on the Helix.