ozbadman

Thanks for your replies everyone. Hopefully I'll get a chance to try it myself next weekend!

Anyone tried it yet? I'd love to hear your opinions. A modelled Treble Booster has been missing from Line 6 for years.

Yes. See Digital_Igloos (Line6 product manager) comment at the top of this thread: http://line6.com/support/topic/16050-helix-cab-vs-third-party-ir-cabs/ I'm not sure how they do the mic and distance thing. It could be an I.R. at each point, and with each mic, or it could be modelling manipulation on top of the I.R., or some combination.

Can you select the models from the HELIX?

Just to be clear, the stock cabs ARE IRs. This discussion should be "I prefer the stock cab IRs to third-party IRs".

One of the retailers here that used to sell Line 6 gear has been told they cannot get on the distribution list now Yamaha is the distributor. No reason given, just that they were no longer able to sell Line 6 gear.

Yep, here in Oz Yamaha has become the distributor. It used to be music express, and Line 6 products were comparable to US prices, even after the Yamaha buyout. The Helix was priced at $AUD2399 until a few months ago, when all imports stopped for a while while Yamaha became the distributor. After stock was available again, the HELIX price had jumped to AUD$2799. So, if you are watching Yamaha Australia, I was going to get a HELIX until you bumped the price. I bought a Kemper PA instread, also for AUD$2799, That's right, the HELIX is now the same price as the Kemper PA in Australia. If Yamaha stops the price-gouging that happens sometimes here, and goes back to AUD$2399, or even better, AUD$2299, I will buy one, but not until. For what it's worth, the Variax Standard is still at a comparable price to the USA price, so I bought one of those at AUD$1399. Hopefully, everyone in Oz will refuse to buy the HELIX until the price is not a rip-off. I certainly will not be buying one with the screw-me-over-for-being-Australian markup.

Except by that logic, we would never have had clocks on phones. "Really, a phone manufacturer should put a clock on their phones so that customers have to take it out of their pocket to read it, instead of just glancing at their watch". I actually thought is was a sensible idea, but if the hardware isn't there to do it, so be it.

Wow. Flabbergasted. Gobsmacked. Talk about rewriting history. What you said was the EXACT opposite of what DI wrote. DI is saying EXACTLY what I was saying: There is no financial penalty for not delivering a product on a particular date, which was your initial post, and what this whole thing has been about. Everything else is a side issue. Let me repeat the only important point: There is no financial penalty for not delivering a product on a particular date (other than lost business).

Ummm, no. If I meant that, I would have written that. Yes, but they didn't. That's the point. Nope. Yep. Of course the dates are not pulled from thin air. There are simply no penalties for being wrong. We're not talking about real estate here. Yes, some building contracts have penalty clauses for running late. This is not real estate, and any penalties must be defined in the contract (gratuitous underlining and bolding added).

I won't bother responding to the other stuff, but: Extremely unlikely. Yes, they've signed contracts about prices, etc., but usually not with specific delivery schedules, or related penalties. Evidence: the constant changing of delivery dates from retailers. You really think Line 6 is paying a penalty to retailers for that?

I'm not sure what your point is. The Helix is principally a guitar amp and effects modeller, and can be used as an audio interface. But, if you want a device whose primary function is a USB audio interface then yes, you would normally be better off getting something designed specifically for that purpose. And Line 6 managers sometimes read these threads, but it's mostly a user forum, so they certainly may not read this. If you really want to send a message to a Line 6 manager, you need to contact Line 6 directly.

Since we're talking about apples and oranges, AX8 is single cab only, and a lot uglier. Less inputs. Lots more effects and amps, and similar price point, but very different beast to the Helix. And it has an editor. :)

What? A contract between who and whom? A contract requires at least two parties to sign to be legal. Who signed what? L6 and the General Public? So no. No such contract existed, and there are no legal ramifications for late delivery of a product, unless some contract was signed between the supplier and the customer, and either fines were included, or financial loss resulted. Having said that, it's often bad for business to not manage customer expectations well, but there are (usually) no legal implications. Again, without a contract, there is no 'contractual release date'. Just a proposed release date, that they may or may not hit. They probably have no obligations, just desires.

They were mostly bugfixes, with a few new amps, and some additional product integration. Relative to the X3, yes it was well below what I expected. They wrote the entire Helix from scratch in 5 years.

Except that is largely what happened on the HD500. It was the flagship modelling product, until Helix came along. And nothing happened for a long time. After the initial release, L6 got busy releasing the l2m group, stagescape, firehawk, amplifi, etc. All interesting products in their own right, but the HD500 (except for HD500X) release essentially stopped for about 3 years, then the model packs and global EQ came out. Many things in ideascale have not been addressed, and probably never will be. So, buy the Helix for what it does now, because the next release, will be an Acoustic Variax. :) (I know nothing of the sort, I am just making a point. Although a new acoustic variax would be cool).

Except I expected a lot more development on the HD500, and apart from the model packs, and the global EQ, not too much has happened over 4+ years. For me it was OK, since the HD500 did most things I wanted, it still falls a long way short of a lot of the features on the X3. But, it has better quality effects and amps for the ones it does have. I have no idea if they are still doing any HD500 development, and perhaps the same thing will happen with Helix: just some initial bugfixes and then the next gee-whiz mixer or something else. Time will tell.

You are posting in the wrong place. This area is for the Helix users. Go here, and select "start new topic". http://line6.com/support/forum/18-pod-hd/

What about hiring a high-end P.A. for the weekend from your local music shop? That would at least give you some idea of what it would be like.

What is the difference between dual cabs and cab + IR? An IR is just a cabinet sampled with a specific mic in a specific position.

L6 has said it will look exactly the same as the Helix screen, so if you want to see it, look at your Helix.

I don't have a Helix yet, so can't check the sounds, but here are some guesses based on the names: Beat Prudence - Beatles, Dear Prudence? Black Hole - Soundgarden, Black Hole Sun? Cold Shot - Stevie Ray Vaughan? Come As You Are - Nirvana? Dark Uncle Floyd - Pink Floyd. Not sure what the uncle means though. Even Betta Than - U2, better than the real thing? Fast Lane - Eagles. Life in the fast lane? Fire Woman - The Doors. Light My Fire/LA Woman? Mad House - Madness. Our house? Raining Princess - Prince. Purple Rain? Sweet Home - lynyrd skynyrd sweet home alabama?

It could have been worse. The Helix might have been on the roof.

BTW, Apologies, but I don't regard any of this as a hijacking. The answer to the original question is "the editor will be here when it will be here". Somebody with knowledge may tell us something more specific at some point, but I wouldn't hold my breath. The rest of this thread is just general discussion while we wait for the editor.