hideout

I’ve read great things about the mods these folks do on audio interfaces. Anyone heard of anybody having it done to the Helix?  I’m really intrigued!

https://www.blacklionaudio.com/store/modifications/line-6-helix-mods/

As an ex GT-8 user, the idea of a new GT held some allure, but it faded fast when I remembered how little I’m having to tweak the Helix these days. 

I'd love to see some more usability and control improvements like the OP's suggestion of an off-axis mic option and in the next update. Other than that I'm pretty happy with what I've got.

23 hours ago, codamedia said:

 

The GT-8 did have a great log curve IIRC...

The L6 curve is still a little too linear for my liking, but it is much better than the linear setting for volume and wah. There is always room for improvement :) 

My sentiments exactly. The one we have now is unwieldy .

I personally don’t care line6’s choice in log curve on the Helix. Hence I have submitted an idea in Ideascale for variable log curves.  In this department, I miss the GT-8’s log curve. 

On 3/17/2016 at 8:26 PM, ScottAyers said:

 

In summation:

-The Helix has a thicker, muddier, sound than what I wanted. It's not really bad. But it lacked a cutting edge to my ears.

-My old GNX4 has a thinner, cheaper, sound than what I want. But I love the way the pedal works (even if it's inaccurate).

-The Helix removes some of the GNX4 behaviors that I love and use all of the time.

-The selection of amps was a bit limited compared to other pedals

Just goes to show ya. We all hear things differently.  I find that the Helix can be both bottom heavy and too bright and fizzy - if you don’t make good use of the low and hi cuts. The EQ is quite capable also and I have no issues with either excessive lows or highs.  

As for the Helix not behaving like the GNX4 to your guitar’s volume control, well... it’s a Helix, not a GNX4. 

21 hours ago, ddmilne said:

 Most of the units I have tried, Headrush included, seem to have a process envelope that comes out the speaker that makes it sound like your listening from the inside of a box. 

This sounds suspiciously like you had the Cab Sims turned on while playing the modeler through an amp. 

Have you tried a combination of slap back echo and a room verb? 

On 4/12/2018 at 9:21 AM, phil_m said:

The bar has been fixed, and you people are still whining... Honestly, the little circle isn't a big deal. I like it. It's cute.

The little circle is superfluous and an annoyance at best. 

On 4/11/2018 at 9:17 AM, cruisinon2 said:

 

Fair enough...to each, their own. We're all entitled to our opinions. 

 

I do have one question though: If reverb+modulation= "good feeling reverberation", what's the recipe for a "$h*tty, repressive, weight of the world on my shoulders" reverb? It would be perfect for covering "Dust In The Wind" ;)

A claustrophobic room sound?

Speaking of FRFR, has anyone tried the me Bose S1 Pro?

23 minutes ago, spikey said:

Most do. My H&K GrandMeister 40 Dlx tube amp doesnt need a speaker, and you could also buy a Torpedo "Captor" and run "any" tube amp thru this then...

Ok, I’ll give you that but bringing in yet another device like a Torpedo... nah.  I’m still waiting for a lightweight stereo powered FRFR. 

Then I’m in. 

On 4/11/2018 at 7:22 AM, cruisinon2 said:

 

We'll you can't feed it power, but I don't see why you couldn't come out of a head's FX send/preamp out,  and then use the cab sims or IR's. I suspect that would be an attractive option for those guys who don't want to give up their beloved tube amps. 

Well, except that a tube amp absolutely positively needs a load (a speaker) connected to its output. No ifs ands or buts about this. Thus, you’d have to bring your regular cab as well as the Power Cab. Not solving anything there. 

Well, they’ve managed to get rid of the annoying black bar but in its place is a somewhat less annoying yet still irritating black circle with a question mark. Guys, it doesn’t need to always be visible to be useful!

1 hour ago, cruisinon2 said:

 

Hard to say... according to the spec sheet it's 250W peak, not RMS. If your drummer's an animal, or the whole band just enjoys trying to set off the seismographs at Cal Tech, it might be a little underpowered...;)

It all depends on how efficient the speaker is.  The 1000 watts from any powered speaker doesn't guarantee that it will be four times louder than the 250 watt unit. 

On 4/9/2018 at 7:43 PM, MojoAxe said:

Helix Mexican jumping bean tuner. 

The most perfect description of the Helix’s tuner to date!

13 hours ago, silverhead said:

 

About what? The possibility that you weren't the very first person to unwrap it? It's working fine, there are no visible cosmetic imperfections, you have full warranty, ......  Relax.

I am simpatico with the OP here for 2 reasons. 1) smelling that new electronics smell when you first open the box and remove the plastic covers is part of the experience - especially when you’re opening something as significant and expensive as the Helix. 

2) It was sold as a new sealed item by the retailer. If the protective plastic strips and the smell of new electronics were both gone then to me it means that it had spent an inordinate amount of time outside the original packaging and been been used by someone. Carefully yes, but still used. It should have been sold as “B-Stock” at a small discount as a matter of principle. 

48 minutes ago, marmatkat said:

The black bar - wth!? Testing the feature out with a phone would have told you in 10 seconds that it's a UI disaster.

It’s a disaster caused by stupidity or at least, inatentiveness. 

On 4/1/2018 at 8:05 PM, robbieb61 said:

Here is the official vid. Sounds good on this one.

 

 

Hmmm... They featured its "whammy" effect on this video. Single note only but if it can do polyphonic pitch shifting better than the Helix, that's a very attractive feature for some folks.

2 hours ago, jbuhajla said:

Naw, ain't nobody got time for that. 

And sometimes, ain't nobody got a choice but that.

5 minutes ago, amsdenj said:

Maybe a way to put this to rest is to assume 5 is a good starting point on a parameter that goes from 1 to 10. Then eperiment to see what the control does. One effective way to do this is to start with the control (any control) all the way down and then play, running the control up to various points and back down again quickly until you can find the point at which the control just starts to “do its thing”. If you can’t hear any difference on the control playing at various levels, speeds and dynamic ranges, move on - its not worth worrying about. If you can fined the point where a control just starts to make a difference, you might often find that going beyond that doesn’t change things that much. The point at which the control just starts to make a difference is often the point at which the amp response is the most dynamic. You might find that useful.

 

Hmmm... but... that's a reasonable approach... what's the point in that?

Then he can't fret about whether or not those default values are accurate or not.

That black bar off to the right on my phone is highly annoying!  I can’t make it go away! WTF?!

On 4/2/2018 at 3:19 AM, kylotan said:

 But even back then, at least on the high gain amps, I would have chosen the XTL over the GT-10. Maybe not on blues and crunch but I don't use those amps so can't comment.

Yup. The low to medium gain sounds and response on the XT-Live were at best, sub-par compared to the GT-8. 

On 4/1/2018 at 12:13 PM, LutherDeLorme said:

all I see are those Namm vids and they are not good. How is the screen interface in the GT 1000? I want to see a vid about that. And some good vids about tone building. How it works, how it sounds. I am just curious. I am thinking that perhaps the vids so far don’t do the thing justice. Waiting for a quality review. 

I agree. I was a GT-8 user and love the Helix. The feel and response as well as its sonics are what really tipped me towards keeping it. That said, I had no trouble shaping the amp models to get sounds I wanted in the GT. No they weren’t as good as the Helix but they weren’t horrible. The feel and response however, and although they were far superior to the XT-Live, was still not like the Helix.

A long time has passed since the GT-8. I don’t believe that nothing has changed or improved in Boss’s modeling technology.  I’m gonna reserve judgement until I actually play with one. 

On 3/30/2018 at 8:52 PM, zachhodges said:

I feel like its been pretty quiet since 2.5 launched in regards to the new reverbs.  Personally, I think they're an upgrade from the legacy reverbs but still not enough to replace a Big Sky. Ganymede and glitz are the only ones I find useful. But I'll admit that I haven't had as much time with them as I'd like. How are you all getting along with the new reverbs?

I don't think I would ever expect the Helix to be able to compete with a dedicated reverb like the Big Sky.  The Helix's processors are busy... very busy, I think.

I think it's going to take the next generation of the Helix before we could even hope to get the reverb to that vaunted level.