silverhead

Also, there’s a lot of outboard non-Helix gear between your fingers and your ears that contributes a LOT to the sonic quality of the tone you hear. From the style of play, the pick (or not), the guitar strings, the guitar body, the external PA speakers, headphones, studio monitors, guitar amp…. All of those individual items add up to flavour the preset itself. It’s a fool’s game to try to create factory presets that will sound good to everyone in any environment. For instance, take a tour through CustomTone sometime. There are many presets that are described with a song title, songs with which you are familiar. Rest assured that the preset creator, when posting that preset, truly believed that the tone of the song was closely matched. And it probably was - in their environment. Download and test some and judge for yourself in your environment.

Not to be a party pooper, but all your questions can be answered by scrolling through the product descriptions in this website (see Products tab at top of this page). That way you’ll get a complete and accurate answer more quickly than waiting for respondents here to provide partial and perhaps inaccurate information.

Try the CustomTone link at the top of this page. Be aware, though, that the sound you hear through the non-HX Stomp equipment in your environment will affect the sound greatly. The biggest variables are the guitar and the monitoring system used. The creator of the tone you download will probably have used a different guitar and a different system of speakers/amp. This can cause you to say WTF when you play the preset in your environment. At best a CustomTone preset serves as a reasonable starting point for you to tweak. Don’t expect an immediate good result.

Any Helix device with a VDI interface can do that too.

There is no longer a Private Message capability in this forum.

If you use 4CM properly the knobs on your Marshall will be relevant only when you are NOT using a Helix amp model. In that case the knobs affect the signal produced only by selected Helix FX blocks that precede the FX Loop block in the Helix preset. This is exactly analogous to a typical pedalboard setup, where the signal from your guitar passes through physical pedals before hitting the amp. Treat the amp knobs exactly as you would in that situation to ‘color or reshape’ what is coming in from your physical pedals. When you use a Helix amp in your preset, you turn the FX Loop off which means the knobs of your Marshall are completely bypassed. The signal from Helix does not enter your amp’s preamp to be affected by the knobs. There is no signal present at the Input jack of your Marshall amp. The cable is connected there but it’s carrying nothing. The knobs can be ignored. There is nothing coming from the Helix to be coloured or reshaped by the knobs. (I’ve intentionally just said the same thing many different ways/times. It’s important to understand this. It’s the whole concept of 4CM). The Master Volume knob on your Marshall controls the level of the power amp section, and that remains in play at all times when using 4CM, whether you are using a Helix preamp model or your Marshall preamp section. If your Helix preset includes a full amp (not preamp) model then you have an additional Master volume knob to consider: the one in the Helix model. That’s what I was referring to earlier when I said that you’ll need to be careful about levels when doubling up on the power amps (one in the Helix full amp model, the other being your physical Marshall amp).

I’m in Canada. I haven’t had one repaired but I can confirm that Yorkville is indeed the authorized Canadian Line 6 service company, and that L&M handles the reception and return of the equipment. Try calling the Yorkville Audio head office, or the largest L&M location you can think of. If that fails open a support ticket with Line 6.

It’s not a DSP issue since the Looper exists in the preset. I expect it’s greyed out because the Looper can’t be bypassed/modified on a snapshot basis. You’re correct that it takes some foot tapping. Looper controls are only available in Stomp mode when the Looper block is selected and it’s controls are visible. To switch to another preset you need to leave Stomp mode, switch presets, then go back to Stomp mode in the new preset and select the Looper block to control it. You might be able to control things more easily using an external MIDI controller and sending the appropriate MIDI commands to the POD Go over USB. Details can be found in the USB/MIDI chapter of the Pod Go manual. I haven’t experimented with it but you might want to.

It’s not a DSP issue since the Looper exists in the preset. I expect it’s greyed out because the Looper can’t be bypassed/modified on a snapshot basis. You’re correct that it takes some foot tapping. Looper controls are only available in Stomp mode when the Looper block is selected and it’s controls are visible. To switch to another preset you need to leave Stomp mode, switch presets, then go back to Stomp mode in the new preset and select the Looper block to control it.

Clearly depends on the size of the chipmunks. Are we talking nursery school or a swingers club?

By not using 4CM you will be missing out on the ability to use the amp modeling in Helix. Using both a Helix amp model as well as your Marshall preamp simultaneously will sound horrible. Also you will lose the ability to position your FX blocks either before or after the preamp section of your Marshall. You will be restricted to using your Helix as an FX only device, with all FX blocks positioned before your Marshall in the signal chain. Frankly, you’d save some $$ by getting the HX FX device which has no amp modeling. Using 4CM allows you to use either your Marshall preamp section or a Helix preamp model - not both - in any preset. You will also be able to position your FX blocks before or after the Marshall/Helix preamp. Be aware that your Marshall power amp section, and it’s cab/speaker, are used in 4CM. Hence your Helix preset will probably sound best with a Helix preamp model and no cab or IR block in the preset. There are no strict rules about all this. Whatever sounds best to you is what you should use. But in general doubling up on either preamps or cab/IRs does not sound good. Doubling up on the power amp section (I.e. using a full amp rather than preamp model in Helix) may sound good but be careful with the signal level going into the Marshall power amp.

All presets that you plan to use within the same Looper session must have the same Looper FX block (1-switch or 6-switch) in the preset. If you record a loop in one preset, then switch to a preset that has no (or a different) Looper block then the Looper stops working. If the preset you switch to has the appropriate Looper block then the Looper should continue to operate.

I suggest you open a support ticket.

I think what’s confusing me is your reference to A and B, which means parallel paths. I think you might mean L and R outputs instead. It’s important to realize that both parallel paths A and B are stereo; they do not correspond to L and R outputs. Connect your physical L and R outputs to DI and amp as I think you’ve already done. When constructing your presets you may or may not want to use parallel paths; it’s irrelevant. What’s important is that you make sure that the signal is mono when it reaches the Output block, and then pan it fully L or R depending on the desired output device (DI or amp). The easiest way to make sure you’ve got a mono signal is to avoid using stereo FX blocks. That will save DSP as well as keep things simpler.

With one cable I presume you will be physically swapping it between your acoustic and electric guitars, having only one of them connected at a time to the L/MONO input? If so I don’t understand the question. You simply create your different presets, with or without parallel paths, to suit the guitar being used. Then route the output as desired after forcing the signal to mono and panning it appropriately. Please provide more details about your question.

Just to make sure, you’re talking about different presets rather than different snapshots within the same preset - right? You can connect both guitars simultaneously using the L and R inputs. You won’t need to change any physical connections when switching presets; leave both guitars connected. The challenge then is to configure your presets so that only one input at a time is processed in one of the parallel paths, and then force it to a summed-mono signal panned fully to the desired output. You’ll need to use two presets (and copies thereof) for this. Each preset will use parallel paths with the path split occurring immediately in the preset. The preset that processes the L input will pan the incoming signal in the Split Path block fully L (see manual pg 37). Both paths are stereo, so use a mono block at the end of each path to force a summed-mono signal. Then pan the Output block of the path to full L. Do the reverse panning in the other preset for the incoming R signal.

I presume that’s your personal opinion as opposed to you having some supporting data? Even if it’s true, there are still many people who prefer the simplicity of the POD Go, and aren’t bothered by it’s restrictions (imho). No. Like me Phil carries the ‘Expert’ tag. It’s significance is explained in the pinned ‘Welcome…’ topic at the top of this page. As forum moderators we are in regular contact with some Line 6 employees and sometimes find things out that are not public knowledge. Our NDA restricts us in what we can share here but some things we can disclose.

Have you tried experimenting with the pedal’s Min and Max values? Perhaps you can find a sweep range for the pedal that provides a comfortable mid-range level but a less-than-100% level at the toe position sufficient to provide the small boost you are seeking . Alternatively you could use a Gain block and assign it to a footswitch. Turn it on when you want the boost.

Can you lower the track’s input level in your DAW?

Use the original Variax Workbench software, not Workbench HD. It’s available on the Downloads page; scroll down to the bottom of the middle (software) field to find it. You will need the Variax Workbench interface device to connect your guitar to your computer. https://shop.line6.com/accessories/guitar-accessories/variax-vdi-usb-interface-kit.html

I agree that it’s very practical, right now, to use a Helix preset viewer and manually create the corresponding POD Go preset, within the limitations of the POD Go. Here’s another Helix preset viewer that includes some additional info…. https://hxview.netlify.app

Based on @amsdenj’s info, seems the workaround might be to Save your presets in Snapshot mode. So every time you are presented at startup with Preset mode, immediately switch to Snapshot mode and Save the preset. After a short time all your frequently used presets should appear as you wish.

You can’t download Helix presets onto your HX FX. The link I gave you is a website that allows you to upload any Helix preset and view/inspect it. That allows you to see all FX blocks that are used in the Helix preset as well as their parameter settings. Then you manually add those FX blocks and parameter values in your HX FX preset. That way you can produce the exact same sound of the Helix FX block in your HX FX device.

The above statement suggests you will not benefit from either the POD Go or the Stomp. Your HX Effects already has everything you would plan to use in either of the others. I think you would be better off developing some skills in building tone with your HX Effects. Yes, you might find more song-based offerings in Customtone but I think you will find their value diminishes once you turn off the amp/cab/IR in the downloaded presets. One suggestion: download song-based Helix presets and use this online preset viewer to inspect the FX and their settings: https://hxview.netlify.app

Not sure if this will help, but… https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=21957.0