SaschaFranck

Uhm. You are likely about to enter the biggest rabbit hole of the ultimate tone hunting crusade in the digital realm. For a start, check out Line 6's freebies, the "Allure Pack". They are available here: https://line6.com/allure/ Then there's a free Marshall 4x12 pack from Redwirez, you only need to sign up for the newsletter, I find these excellent for any kind of typical rock sounds: https://redwirez.com/ York Audio has a teaser pack for $1, a Mesa 2x12 with V30s, IMO they're quite nice, not just too much variety, but that might even be a good thing: https://www.yorkaudio.co/product-page/mes-212-v30-limited If you want the ultimate rabbit hole for free, look up Seacow Cabs (no, I don't post a link - because in case you're just starting out, these will be complete overkill, seriously!) And if you plan to spend some bucks, here's another list: http://dshowmusic.com/impulse-responses-for-line-6-helix/ Some of these sites offer free teasers, but again, I really don't recommend to jump onto too many of them in case you're new to this. There's also a plethora of threads about free cab IRs on pretty much any guitar oriented forum, but the same as above applies - it's just too easy to completely get lost. You might as well try out the two IRs attached, I created and mangled them myself, but they're nothing impressive, they're made to suit my live playing needs (I think they're good as an alround cab suitable for pretty much any amp - at least that was why I created them). Gen_01.wav Gen_01_bright.wav

Without going into details, in the case of the Helix (or other modelers), IRs are usually used to serve as a simulation for a mic'ed up cabinet. They are captured by sending s measurement signal (there's different signals that can be used) through an appropriate signal chain (in this case a mic'ed up cabinet) and then "analysed" to create a small sample of the sonic footprint of that very signal chain which can then be applied to your signal by loading it into an IR block (or an IR plugin, in case you're doing such things inside a DAW (digital audio workstation)). What this allows for is pretty much anybody to capture their favourite cab/mic combination (it's not all *that* trivial but let's stick with that for now). By now, there's several companies specialized in creating IRs under studio conditions and you can buy several packs. There's also a plethora of freebies around - unfortunately of pretty verying quality and - even more unfortunately - there's gazillions of them. So much for now, as far as "what they are" goes. Inside the Helix, you would usually use IRs to replace a cab block. And yes, you would usually only need any cab simulation (regardless whether it's the internal cab block or an IR) when running your signal into a fullrange monitoring system of some sorts.

@Hatman777 You could download the Helix Native plugin demo which should give you a good idea about what's possible. Doesn't have the switch assigment options, but then, without the hardware, they don't make much sense anyway. And in case you own a decent audio interface, you could even check out some sounds (the interface needs a good quality high impedance instrument input for that to work well).

Der HX Stomp zeigt die Firmware beim Booten an, kann man sich aber auch in den Global Settings angucken. 2.92 ist aktuell. Im HX Edit gibt's irgendein "About" Menü. Da steht die Versionsnummer.

Gucken, ob HX Edit und die Firmware vom HX Stomp die neuesten Versionen sind.

Yeah, I remember watching this before. It's really damn close.

I keep reading about different ways to deal with the Katana's return. From what it seems, Boss is slapping a speaker in there sitting somewhere between fullrange and guitar cab. At least with the first incarnation, I can confirm this (had a Mk1 50W combo borrowed for a testride and slapped a bunch of things into it). So, it might be worth to check all available options: Preamp only, as mentioned by codamedia (if possible with the POD Go), complete amp only and amp/cab. In case the speaker is in fact voiced between a real cab and a fullrange monitor, it might help to use a sort of brighter cab/mic combo, as otherwise the highs will be cut twice. As far as the Headrush 108 goes, this is known to be tending toward the boomy side of things. As a non-educated (but possibly not completely unlikely...) guess, I would suspect them to boost the low end artificially through the onboard DSP to get some more "Oomph" out of what is a pretty small and lightweight speaker. I would experiment with the lowcut of the global EQ to tame that boominess a bit. Doesn't directly affect the high end but possibly removes some mud and hence everything else will stand out a bit better. Anyway, I think it'd be the best idea to get the sound right through (quality) headphones. That way you'd only deal with one component at a time. Fwiw, I think your pickups should do the job just fine. As said, feel free to post a little DI snipplet.

I love both the plain 2204 and the Line 6 Mod. They're by far my most used models for anything in the ballpark of typical rock riff/lead sounds. And I think they work extremely well with almost every drive pedal. Personally, I don't care whether they sound like an original JCM 800, even if I owned one for a good while (don't exactly remember how similar - or not similar, for the matter - it was), I just like them a lot.

Ist zwar an sich ein englisches Forum, aber nun denn... Das liest sich für mich so, als ob Editor und Firmware nicht dieselbe Versionsnummer hätten. Das ist aber zwingend erforderlich um IRs zu verwalten (und für ein paar mehr Dinge ebenfalls).

Could you just record a small DI guitar snipplet? That way, others could give it a try.

Are you sure it's the patch and not your pickups? What are you using?

Ok, back to topic: I know there's those big foot buttons and such. I even own a set (but removed them because I like the plain switches better and the aluminium foil trick didn't work too well to trigger the capacitive switching). Whatever, is there any set of such buttons which might perhaps help to enhance the LEDs? I'm thinking along the lines of something sort of focusing/bundling the entire luminescence into one direction or so (kinda prism-alike). Also: Would you folks think it'd be a tough operation for a decent technician to replace the LED rings in favour of something brighter, assuming there's some brighter LED rings of the same size? Obviously without altering the switches, that is. If that was possible, I would at least give that a serious thought. And finally, I think I really need to promote the idea of the scribble strips to offer an "invert" mode on Ideascale. That would already help a lot when standing straight in front of the unit (not so much as soon as you move sideways, still better than nothing).

Ok, I promise to stop after this, but seriously: Do you *really* think they "designed" the XLR outs to cause hiss and crackle once there's phantom power running? Seriously? Ok, must be a weird design idea then...

Ok, perhaps a language issue in this case. "Attenuated" IMO means a level drop but nothing else. But the sound is severely degraded beyond being lower in volume. Whatever, perhaps just a mis-communication.

And fwiw, can we please stop the XLR out discussion? It's absolutely pointless! If you think it's ok that a 1.5k bucks unit comes with an XLR out not being able to deal with phantom power, be it so. Don't expect me to agree but please stop derailing the thread further. Yeah, I have made a tiny side remark about a certain lack of QA, but that doesn't justify you folks to be all over it endlessly. But heck, again, be it so. I hope you've had your fun. But I would now vastly prefer to return to your fine solutions regarding LED and what not visibility under bright lightning conditions.

No. The sound itself is changed, too - beyond being attenuated. Sometimes it's just a bit of hiss, sometimes it's crackling a lot.

You seem to have very little of an idea of certain jobs. Most small consoles used for small gigs don't have individual phantom power per channel (I could happily point you to some of the ones I'm regularly having to deal with). Besides, that's a totally moot point. An XLR out not being able to deal with phantom power is a bad thing.

I explained the situation already. What's so tough to understand? In case you only have a small console with global phantom power and someone is using a mic requiring it, then it will be switched on, period. And the last thing you would want to deal with is to care about the guitarist just because his/her XLR out is acting up - because that's just nothing to usually happen.

This is looking cool - but the Helix will be lifted up WAY too much for my likings, couldn't properly operate the EXP pedal. Now, one might be able to modify this guy, but it might become a lot of work or as expensive as a custom case. Fwiw, here's one of my custom cases (I'm using this since 25+ years already, will possibly survive a nuclear war), as you can see, I took great care to get the front edge as low as possible, the design is pretty much as an L-rack (in the L-portion of the lid there's some space for cables and such, pretty handy): Quite unfortunately, it's not wide enough to fit an additional EXP pedal and a little patchbay kinda thing that I defenitely want to have (to never plug directly in and out of the Helix anymore), so I will likely have to build a new one. And depending on whatever possible solutions for the daylight dilemma, I may alter the design a bit...

It's not about what I will do, it's about what the guy running the console will do. I have been running into this situation twice so far: Small mixer, sound done from stage. Those small mixers usually only allow for global phantom power on/off. And once there's some mic requiring an 48V feed, it'll be on, so you're out of luck with the Helix XLR outs. Fortunately, I have been aware of the issue beforehand and brought a phantom power blocker, but I rather wouldn't have to do that - and the Helix is the only device I ever owned requiring such things. It's almost an oxymoron to have a nice balanced (and independent!) onboard XLR out just to see it crap out once there's a phantom power feed. I'd rather be off with two independent 1/4" outs. In fact, as my phantom power blocker started to act up for unknown reasons, this is what I'm doing now, sending the 1/4 to FOH via a DI box while feeding my monitor (or IEM mixer) with the XLR out. Still requires an additional piece of kit for no good reason.

No, the signal will as well be degraded, you can check it out for yourself.

I've been thinking about abusing something like the top of these old-fashioned music stands and slap some nylon stuff around it, the good thing being that you can fold these things up by default already, the downside being that most of them aren't wide enough and it also wouldn't protect much from top- or side-lights. But I might just give that a testrun and see how much it helps. Fwiw, the main issue I noticed was that it's not so much direct sunlight (which I usually can avoid) but diffuse light. The only way to successfully deal with that would be a kind of shield not leaving much else but the switches uncovered.

Weren't you the one talking about "childish"? You should check your posts... An XLR output not being able to deal with phantom power properly is substandard. Absolutely no way around that. Arguing against it is just comical.

Well, thing is, it *has* to do with using substandard materials. Not on the jacks themselves but on the XLR circuits. And unfortunately, that's as well true for some other components. And no, I am defenitely not expecting military grade quality from a complexed product coming in at roughly 1.5k bucks (it'd possibly cost 5 times as much otherwise). But I am expecting some things to work properly or - if you will - "averagely well". This, quite clearly, isn't the case with some Helix components. And yet I'm almost butchered for even mentioning it by quite some people (not meaning you, fwiw). It also doesn't matter whether there's workarounds. There should be no workaround required for something as stupidly simple as using an XLR output, regardless whether there's phantom power supplied or not. And the workaround for the worst latencies of all modelers (as datacommando was so friendly to take that discussion into this thread...) shouldn't have to be purchasing another interface. Again, I don't expect world class performance. But at that price tag, I do at least expect average performance - which the Helix driver for the audio interface portion clearly isn't delivering. Anyway, I meant this topic to be about solutions to the LED dilemma.

Oh, we could happily go there. Besides, owning the Zoom doesn't mean it's also a modeler I used under sunlight conditions... Yes, it does. Every bit. An XLR out crapping out once there's phantom power running into it is poor quality, absolutely no way around it. They should perhaps have done that in fact. But unfortunately they apparently hired hooray-sayers such as you (or the rest of the Line 6 defense squad). I am absolutely aware of that. That doesn't mean I shouldn't criticize things. Yeah, been thinking about something like that already. So far, I'm likely to build a new case somewhen (post-Corona, doesn't make sense right now) and will consider to use the lid as a sort of shield. But it'll look quite bulky, so I'm still searching for better solutions. The jacks themselves are fine - but I was explicitely saying "XLR outs". And at least for me, these contain both the jack and the "functionalitly". The latter being severely crippled.