hideout

I think the Helix is a long lived product. It’s current needs, to me, are improvements in the its UI and usability tweaks. That’s it. 

I do wish they’d model the Fender Excelsior along with the Supersonic 22

21 hours ago, SaschaFranck said:

I'd simply add a mono gain block as the last one. That way you'll listen to the patch as it will run into the PA, regardless of how you connect the Helix. You can as well switch the compressor to mono.

Yes that’s a good work around but at this level, should it really be necessary to have to waste a block for something (Summing to mono) that should have been part of the effect parameter set from the beginning?

5 hours ago, Digital_Igloo said:

Once a preset's been created, I almost never use the joystick. Just touch the stomp switches (or press the AMP button). It won't get you to effects blocks not already assigned to switches, but it should get you within a click or two.

That seems like a kludge. Especially when you’re in Snap/Preset mode. 

3 hours ago, SaschaFranck said:

 

Just messed up a patch - again, I should say. Hadn't booted the computer and was fooling around with the joystick. Accidentally turned it one notch - *BLAM*, all the settings of the previously loaded block gone. Apart from the joystick making no sense at all anyway, this is probably the most annoying shortcoming, especially as - due to the thing being *far* away from military grade or anything - there's less and less resistance when turning it around, it's simply wearing out. I absolutely can't understand why that design was chosen - I mean, it involves forces being applied in 7 different directions, which is what you would probably do to losen a rotten screw. For any hardware to stand this over a longer period of time, that very hardware needed to be super heavy duty. Which the joystick isn't.

I should possibly open an Ideascale request for "no joystick in Helix V2 anymore".

 

Anyway, just placed the idea for customized knobs on Ideascale:

https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Customized-Knob-Parameters/970727-23508?submitted=1

 

 

This would possibly help to avoid using the joystick a whole lot.

I’ve trashed a relatively major edit because of the joystick so many times myself. It’s especially ridiculous when you’re hunched over with a guitar between your lap and your belly.  Gah!

2 hours ago, chasingMango said:

If I understand your idea correctly, I think its good... might require more details on the idea scale page though.  Plus you have a typo:

"This way if you ???? any of the six knobs"

 

Typo corrected.

Just now came up with a different approach. 
 

https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Speed-Select-mode-for-the-Multi-Select-button/970710-23508?submitted=1

Having to continually nudge that Multi Select knob probably leads to its premature failure AND it’s so tedious. 
I think I have a better idea. 
Allow us to assign a specific effects block to each of the 6 knobs under the screen. 
I already submitted the idea. 
https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Assign-specific-effects-blocks-to-each-knob-under-the-screen/970702-23508?submitted=1

2 minutes ago, rsvette12 said:

I think its tied to Our units believe it or not and thats why - only reason i can think of

By "units" do you mean devices?  Hmmm... could be.  It's particularly annoying on a phone.

Meh. I don’t give a rat’s patootie about that kind of accuracy. 

Yeah, me too. 

1 hour ago, hefonthefjords said:

This is a feature, not a bug. 

Amps hum.

Humbug!

48 minutes ago, im_helix said:

@hideout I guess it hasn't affected everyone lol. For me it was insanely annoying though.

I’m just surprised that I’m only noticing it since this latest upgrade. Especially since yes, it is highly annoying. 

On 10/8/2019 at 8:46 AM, Williamlavon said:

My Helix is getting what sounds like 60 cycle hum with some amp models, (US Small Tweed, US Deluxe, Fullertons) but not others.

The noise occurs even with nothing plugged into the input. It can be heard thru the 1/4" outputs or thru the headphones.

I've tried different cables, ground lifts, etc. but that's not the problem. 

The US Small Tweed is the worst. The hum gets louder when the Ch Vol is turned up but the drive level has no effect on the noise level.

Other models are dead quiet: US Double, Jazz Rivet 120,Cali IV, etc.

 

Strangely the Grammatico Jump also has a hum but it's about an octave lower than the other amps. Weird.

 

Has anybody else had this problem? Do you have a solution?

 

Thanks

Hey, quit copying my thread! lolol.

Seriously though, we're just noticing this now?  Seems a little odd.  i just cannot recall ever hearing this hum prior to 2.82.

1 hour ago, codamedia said:

I don't know if it has always been there or not... but you are right, it is certainly there.

 

Immediately I reached for the amps "hum" control and that did nothing, then I realized it seems to be attached to the "ripple" control. Turning that down gets rid of it although I don't really know what effect that may have on the tone. With just a few strums of the guitar (not a full test) I don't notice any difference with ripple up or down, but YMMV. 

Ah.  Thank you, Codamedia! Will try that as soon as I can. 

Is it my imagination? Has it always been there? I don’t remember this amp model having this low frequency hum. 

I did it a couple of nights ago for the first time.  Had to use the Global EQ but that was fine. That little QSC CP8 sounds great!

On 11/20/2019 at 6:15 PM, willjrock said:

 Ive got tones that are built without using any amps at all that i like just fine.

Oooh,  gonna have to try that!!  I love being able to do the physically impossible on the Helix!  I've successfully put an overdrive after the amp model myself and use that patch quite a lot.  Now if we could just  get an amp model that allows us to only distort the virtual power section. This could be accomplished in several of ways; 1) They could include a clean boost circuit after the tone stack. 2) Create a virtual effects loop within each amp model so that we can add an effects block between the preamp and power amp (I've proposed this in Ideascale). 3) Give us a few separate preamp and power amp models. 4) Give us a "Blank Slate" amp model that allows us to configure it as we please. We choose virtual preamp tube types and their gain staging, same with the power section.

So, I recently got an Ibanez ARZ200FM in Grey Burst.  Beautiful guitar and lovely to play but when my fingers accidentally touched  either pickup, it would buzz. Hmmm...

So I opened her up and sure enough, the pickups were wired in backwards.  Since I was planning on replacing the neck pickup anyway - Love the way Ibanez guitars play but hate their neck pickups. Too muddy and no character. The bridge pickup was fine. Nothing special but I could work with it so I decided to live with it for a while before replacing it.  It sounded like a typical bridge humbucker.

So when the SD Antiquity Neck arrived I did that installation and corrected the wiring on the bridge pickup. Here's where the total surprise came in. The bridge now sounded bright, jangly, it lost some of its low end but not too much.  It was now a very lively yet not ice picky bridge pickup. Sounds almost like a really FAT tele pickup. What I don't understand is how a mere change in its wiring polarity could so dramatically change the tone of this pickup.  I changed and experimented with lots of pickups before and had reversed wires intentionally lots of times and have never had a tonal change such as this ever.  How is this happenning?  Anyone have any ideas?

On 11/9/2019 at 1:53 PM, es345tds said:

 

I was wondering why no one was talking about the aux input. Is there something about the aux that I'm missing?

I think it’s just something that’s easily ignored. 

On 10/26/2019 at 10:52 AM, lungho said:

A forum and/or YouTube alone should never be used to decide which piece of gear to buy.  Everyone has different needs, expectations, ears, etc.  Best thing to do is go to your local music store, spend some time with each unit and then purchase the one that sounds best to you.  Don't be swayed by fanboys on either side of the line.  Choose what's best for you.

I don’t disagree but it’s pretty difficult to go to a store to check out a Fractal. And actually, because of that, I automatically disqualify the Fractal. No try, no buy. 

3 hours ago, rd2rk said:

 

So many ways to skin this cat......

And therein lies the beauty of the Helix. 
oh and don’t forget about the Helix’s Aux Input. Plug the acoustic guitar there. 

27 minutes ago, rd2rk said:

 

Having re-read your OP, your idea is better. I just tried it with my amp.

I've attached two sample presets to demo how I set it up.

The acoustic preset has the Input Block set to MIC (unused, Variax would also work) to prevent any possible noise from the electric bleeding in.

Since you're not plugging anything into the XLR or 1/4" Outputs there's no need to do anything to the Output Blocks.

AcoustaFish.hlx

Electrafish.hlx

Or you could go,

Acoustic Guitar > Helix Input

Helix FX Send > Fishman Input

Fishman FX Send > Helix FX Return

Helix Ouput > Fishman FX Return.

In this way, you can place the Fishman's preamp anywhere in the Helix's signal chain.

1 hour ago, s_popov said:

 

What were your issues?

 

I'm about to update my Helix LT from 2.7 to 2.82, and would like to know about every potential issue.

The only issue I had was some errors when selecting Snapshots but that’s about it. Just be sure you follow the instructions to the letter. Go Slowly and Pay Attention!