boynigel

like I said, I knew I had asked the question. and I DID search for it on the site and for whatever reason, it didn't come up. actually nothing did. I did try it again just now and it did. go figure, don't know what to tell you. obviously I never got a chance to dig into it back in September. my life has been a lollipopstorm for the last 6 months w/aging, ill parents moved into assisted living, dealing w/their finances, kids, dogs, 60 hour work weeks and more. didn't mean to set you off. things must be far worse for you if this is all it took. SO sorry. do me a favor- just block me or don't answer my questions. I think we've both had enough of each other. good night. hope this helps/makes sense.

you're right, and I KNEW I'd posted this before. but when I put in a search in the box w/the magnifying glass, NOTHING. CAME. UP. how did you find it???

I don't have the Ext Amp jack on my LT like the Helix floor does, but I've heard that the LT can indeed change an external amp's channels. is there a jack on the LT that does double duty in order to make this happen? any one have a link for a how-to?

i hear you. i'm actually in the same boat because i use my helix into the effects loop return of my amp...which means i don't use cabs. I could have sworn you mentioned in another post a while back that you like to wait a good while, as a general rule of precaution, before jumping on the update bandwagon. maybe i mixed you up with someone else.

the law of diminishing returns comes to mind

I was on the FM9 waiting list for a bit over a year. When i finally got my invite, 3.5 had just landed and i was really happy with it, even after watching all the FM9 videos. I decided to try it out. Got in my car to drive up to NH to pick it up, and was still conflicted when i hit a bunch of highway traffic. after about 5 minutes of sitting at a stand still on the hwy, i said, "screw this" and got off at the next exit to turn around and go home. No regrets.

i thought i recall you admitting in one of your posts that you jump around a lot, would the footswitch failures have anything to do w/you being more rough than the average user? and I thought I was overly paranoid/hesitant about updates. ;)

That's kinda what i thought too.

I've always been aware that the Helix LT can act as a controller to change channels in an amp, but what if the amp has 3 channels? doable?

Sorry for the confusion, as i haven't physically tried this yet. I've been doing 4cm for years, just never w/helix, which for me gets a little more confusing when you've got effects loops within an effects loop, but i know how to route correctly for 4cm. my statement that you quoted me on was based on an assumption i made based on past 4cm setups i had with different gear always had guitar hitting the front of the amp no matter what...so i guess i wrongly assumed that the guitar into the amp's pre would be a constant. Will try this tonight. thanks.

I'll give this a try when i get home. I typed this up before seeing this response. sending just in case there's any info that would change anything: So in the 4cm scenario of primarily using my amp’s preamp (LT for effects only), but occasionally swapping the actual amp’s preamp for a Helix amp model via a snapshot, the hurdle seems to be that, sure, I can simply activate the Helix amp model in the effects loop of the physical amp (post-preamp of course), BUT- the front of my amp (preamp) will still be getting a signal from my guitar in addition to the Helix amp model for that given snapshot. Unless, and I’m at work as I write this so I can’t test it, there’s a way to have a snapshot that re-routes my guitar input into the effects loop, thereby bypassing any guitar signal routing (within that snapshot) to the physical amp’s preamp. I’ve never had any reason to try to move my guitar input block to anywhere besides the default front of the chain, and I’m guessing its position is fixed. Plus, if I remember correctly, snapshots don’t allow you to change the order of blocks, so maybe I’m asking too much of the Helix. Everything has its limits. this is why in a perfect world it would be nice if L6 modeled some AIAB pedals, like the Wampler Thirty-Something. of course it's pretty obvious why they wouldn't, and i couldn't blame them.

right. that's how i've been using the LT for the last few years- into the effects return of my amp, obviously w/speaker modeling bypassed. i somehow thought that i could maybe now run the LT via 4cm using my actual amp's preamp section, with hopes that if i wanted to occasionally insert a Helix model post-preamp on my amp...but now that i think about it, the front of my amp would still be receiving my guitar signal in addition to the amp model after the amp's preamp. so close, yet so far! not a big deal. this is all about switching things up for fun and the sake of something a little different for a little while

Right, i realize all of that. i probably could have worded the question better- i was looking to find out if the HX Effects was somehow better optimized than the LT to live in an amp's effects loop given that is what it was designed to do, where the LT was designed as more "stand-alone". Sure, they've always said you could do 4cm w/helix, but the HX came later making me think there was a chance that its ins/outs were better optimized (input pads?) for use in an amp effects loop. Especially in a case like mine where i have a very hot effects loop send level in my amp.

If you have a moment, what's the trick to ensure that any amp modeling happens after my real amp's preamp?

I’ve been using my LT exclusively for a few years now and I want to take a break and give my amps some love. i’m just wondering if the HX Effects would have any edge over the LT as far as how it would perform via 4CM with one of my tube amps. I would imagine my LT is just an oversized HX Effects (w/amp and cab modeling of course) but I just wanted to make sure the HX doesn’t edge it out in this application for some reason unknown to me.

I run my Helix in stereo into two bad cat amps' effects loop returns, bypassing speaker modeling of course. a lot of the time i find that i get the best sound results keeping the power amp modeling section in place (verses preamp only), even though i'm going into a real amp's power section. and yes, TOTAL amp in a room experience. None of that lifeless FRFR sound.

My fix for this was very carefully shaving equal amounts off of the two toe-most rubber bumpers under the expression pedal. worked very well, but then a few days later i learned of Helix's ability to auto-engage based on parameter based on the pedal's position.

Has a 4.0 thread already begun here or elsewhere? If so i wonder how many pages it's up to. don't wanna know, but then maybe i do?

Agreed, and I'm sorry but i wouldn't have a lot of faith in the reliability/longevity of those things.

I went down this rabbit hole when i got my Helix Floor back when they first came out, and wound up getting rid of it for the very reason you cite- no amp in a room experience. Tried it with the Friedman ASM, and QSC stuff, but still the same experience as you. years later i got the Pod Go for quiet, late night practicing. One day on a whim, i plugged the Go into the FX loop return of my Bad Cat. BAM! there it was. This was my gateway back to an LT and i haven't looked back. Unless your amp setup is a head and a huge 4x12 cab (mine's just a 112 combo), i would suggest giving it a try. You'd still be carrying an FRFR speaker to a rehearsal/gig, why not make it a combo amp instead? same footprint, and you can still feet a PA while you hear yourself through an actual amp...obviously just be sure to not have cab blocks going through to your amp. worth noting is that, at least with my amp, I get better sounds keeping the power amp modeling in place, versus using a preamp block only. YMMV

Hey, you tryin' to start something? ;)

good to know, thanks. As someone who likes to be PRO-active rather than Re-active, yes, I tend to overthink things. It's a double edged sword that's saved me lots of money over time, but surely wasted some of my time too!

I cover it up but fur still gets on it over time as it falls off the bottom of my feet onto it while in use

I've a dog in the house. at least weekly I have to dust fur off of my LT and it got me wondering how much hair has made it's way inside the unit, via the openings for the EXP pedal hinges. I consider myself pretty handy, as I've done many electronics repairs and mods to my pedals, guitars, and amps over the years. I'm just wondering how much of a "project" it would be to blow out any accumulated dust/fur inside my LT. Has anyone done this? I'm wondering if in order to do it properly, I'd need to remove multiple PCB's, and if there's any general words of caution from anyone who's done this before?

I would have except that the very first comment by phil_m makes it out to be mac-specific, and my friend is on a PC. I will now tell him to do it anyway. can't hurt. ty