silverhead

Yes, that will probably help. Use the amp Drive, Channel and Master levels to balance the gain structure.

That’s not unusual when there are significant changes in gain between snapshots. It mimics exactly what would happen using real-world physical amps if such changes were applied instantaneously. I expect the only way to make a smoother transition is to reduce the severity of the gain changes. I don’t think it has anything to do with impedance.

You can avoid this by setting Global Setting -> Preferences -> Snapshot Edits to Recall. With this setting your snapshot edits will be retained while you navigate among different snapshots. You will need to Save the preset when you're finished not after each Snapshot edit.

Yes I think your understanding is correct. Now you’ll just need to experiment with the options and see what you like best. Regarding definitive information, you are assuming that there’s a ‘best’ approach to this. There isn’t. What’s ‘best’ is whatever sounds best to you, including downstream overloading of FX if you like how it sounds. The sound of a good overdrive pedal is often desirable, even though by definition something is being ‘over’driven. The only thing you really want to avoid is digital clipping which I don’t think sounds good to anybody anywhere. And you’ll know it when you hear it. But I’m sure there’s someone who will disagree with that. “Nothin’ I likes better in me mix than a good whack of digital clipping!”

Yes, I think adjusting the amp levels directly would generally have the same effect as adjusting the mix in the merge block. However it’s still possible that adjusting an amp level could have negative effects on the tone (e.g. unwanted distortion/clipping at the input of a downstream FX block). Those would then be present in the final mono mix, whereas you could keep the amp level lower to avoid those effects and still emphasize one path over the other in the merge Pan control. This all relates to ‘gain staging’ and it can get complicated.

Then I think the only difference would be how you choose to pan at the Merge block. You could emphasize one or the other of the A/B paths in the mono output signal.

I think it depends on whether the signal at the split point is actually stereo or simply dual mono. If it’s stereo with different L/R components (e.g. a ping pong delay FX block immediately before the split) then the resulting blended mono output tone could be different than if the split signal was dual mono.

In the Templates setlist check out presets 2C, 2D, and 4A. Inspect their setups and choose the one that most closely matches your copy your preference. Copy it to you destination and start editing. For simple stereo use 4A, change Input 2 to Guitar, edit the blocks as desired, then use the Pan control in each Output block to define the stereo separation of each Path.

Helix Rack/Floor/Lt, HXStomp/XL, HXFX, HX One.

You can set the input level for the Returns to instrument which will match your guitar pickup output levels. However, unless your guitar has different physical outputs for each pickup you will need an adapter to split your single guitar output to two duplicate signals. That won’t separate the individual pickups on your guitar to L and R. It will simply give you the same guitar signal into different Returns so that you can process the same signal differently within your Helix.

Not directly. If you're talking about creating new presets you can set up a preset that contains only your preferred amp model and settings. Save it and then copy it every time you want to set up a new preset. If you're talking about changing parameter values in existing presets you can create a Favorites model for the amp with the preferred settings. You will still have to edit each existing preset to replace the mp model with your new Favorite model.

Open a support ticket.

The most important factor in choosing an FRFR solution is its intended use. If you primarily want a stage monitor for gigging then something like the PowerCab would be best. Understand that if you are sending the cab sim signal from Helix direct to FOH the stage monitor is only for you; perhaps a regular stage monitor with your own mix would suffice. However if your primary use will be in a home studio for practice and recording then I would suggest a good pair of studio monitors, minimum 6” but preferably 8” or even 10”. As mentioned the occasional gig could be handled by a dedicated stage monitor, whether your personal device or provided by the house. In terms of balanced cables, it depends on cable length. For 20’ or less I don’t think there’s any appreciable signal loss. If longer than that go XLR.

The decision of whether to switch to FRFR and cab sims boils down, imho, to the decision of whether you want the so-called ‘amp in the room’ sound of live play or the mic’d amp in the studio of recordings. The latter gives you much more variety in terms of tonal possibilities. That’s what I’ve always used so I can’t personally compare it to amp in the room but some people try FRFR for a while and then go back to a physical amp/cab. If you play gigs in places that mic your stage amp then the difference is between what you hear on stage vs. what your audience hears thru the PA. There are other considerations but I think that’s the most significant in terms of tone.

I think Customtone can be a helpful starting point for getting good sounds. Many others suggest you avoid it entirely. In either case. a tone uploaded by any user can only consider the Helix device; it cannot consider the many differences between your other equipment and your listening environment. The guitar, strings, pickups, and - most importantly - your monitoring equipment has a huge impact on the tone you hear. It's also possible that the tone includes an IR on the Helix, whose absence on your device is very noticeable. I suggest starting with the cab and using lo/hi cuts. If the preset includes an IR, replace it with a cab.

No, controller assignments are not limited by DSP. DSP is allocated whenever a block (amp, cab, FX, ...) is added to a preset. Every block has a distinct DSP requirement whether it is on or off and regardless of what controllers are assigned to it. Each new block adds to the preset DSP load. When there is insufficient remaining DSP for a specific block to be added that block is greyed out in the block selection list.

From the Helix manual pg 60: HX Preset The HX Preset command allows you to configure a Stomp mode footswitch to imme- diately “jump to” any other preset within the current setlist. 1. From the Command Center page, select a footswitch and turn Knob 1 (Command) to “HX Preset.” 2. Turn Knob 2 (Preset) to “Next,” “Previous,” or choose a specific preset number (01A~32D). HX Preset Knob Parameter Description 2 Preset Sets the preset to be selected by the command: Next, Previ- ous, or a preset’s number (01A~32D), which resides within the current setlist. Use this in every preset other than your vocal preset to use a footswitch to invoke the vocal preset. Not sure how you get back to the preset you were previously on. (Note: The reference to Previous above means the previous number of the presets in the bank arrangement, not the last preset).

https://mediadl.musictribe.com/media/sys_master/h96/he0/8849962401822.pdf It's all in there....

By ‘FX Send function’ I mean the assignment of the mixer input channel to the physical Send output. Typically each mixer channel CAN be assigned to the Send function but by default it is not. You have to do something that is specific to your mixer to make that assignment. From the rest of your description it seems that is exactly what’s missing. Your guitar signal is not being sent to the mixer’s Send output and hence the POD Go is receiving nothing. Your signal is passing through the mixer but not passing through the POD Go. Consult your mixer’s manual. If your mixer does not have that per-channel capability then nothing I have said applies, except for the first thing I said: it depends on your mixer.

The MIDI section of the manual doesn’t say anything about this so I would say the answer is No.

Depends on your mixer I think. If your mixer has an FX Loop that allows you to send and receive the signal from assigned channels to an external FX processor then the answer is yes. Assign the two guitar channels in your mixer to its FX Send function. Connect the mixer’s Send output to one of the POD Go inputs, Guitar or Aux, (check that the signal levels match) and connect the Pod Go output to the mixer’s Receive input.

The latest version of the Helix firmware includes a Feedback FX block. Add the block to your preset. Tweak the parameters to taste. Assign the block to a footswitch. There’s your feedback switch.

With Snapshot Edits -> Discard any change you make to a snapshot will be discarded if you switch to another snapshot without saving the preset. With Snapshot Edits -> Recall any change you make to a snapshot will be retained if you switch to another snapshot; you don’t need to save the preset until you are finished edits to all snapshots. This behaviour hasn’t changed, and yes, it affects parameter changes as well as block bypass states.

There’s no such thing as a ‘click and release’ as a single identifiable action. All functions start with the click which is critical to get the timing right on the loop start/stop functions. The release is meaningless unless it’s after a hold of sufficient duration.