silverhead

Correct - no amp at all if you use headphones. All you need is a standard guitar jack cable and the headphones. You may need an adapter for the headphones to fit the 1/4" input. The required adapter is cheap and readily available at your local electronics store. Make sure you get a stereo (TRS) adapter.

There are some restrictions concerning devices - PODs and Variaxes - and the versions of Workbench that they support. Here's my understanding. I'm not 100% sure about this - please correct me if I am wrong. Pre-JTV Variax guitars will work with the original Workbench, and not with Workbench HD. JTV guitars running firmware v2.0 and later will work with Workbench HD and not the original Workbench. JTV guitars running firmware pre- v2.0 will work with the original Workbench and not with Workbench HD. If you are using the Workbench hardware interface note that it does not provide power to the Variax. You need to have fully charged batteries AND you need to have a jack cord in the 1/4" Variax jack with the Vol control at non-zero. That's the power switch for the batteries. VDI-equipped POD devices will work as a Workbench interface, and will provide power to the Variax. However, pre-POD HD devices (Pod xt, Pod X3) support the original Workbench, not Workbench HD. The original POD HD devices (the non-X versions) support both the original Workbench and Workbench HD. The X-series PODs (POD HD500X and HD ProX) support Workbench HD and not the original Workbench. Helix does not (yet) act as a Workbench interface. So, for instance, a JTV running v2.0 software or later will not work with Workbench HD when using a Pod X3 Live as the interface. Nor will it work with the original Workbench. Other combinations of Variax guitars and devices may or may not work according to the above.

I agree. The Variax 500 is still a great guitar and you can still enjoy it immensely without Workbench. Since you just bought it I would take some time to explore its capabilities by itself. After a few months if you think the added flexibility of Workbench would be worth it you can reconsider.

Ok, so after doing some checking...... The Varaiax 500 guitar does not seem to include the Workbench software for free. Since you don't have a VDI-equipped POD device you will need to purchase the Workbench software. This will give you the all-important piece of hardware called the Workbench Hardware interface. You can download and install the Workbench software from the Downloads section of this website. On the downloads page you won't have to specify a product; select Variax Workbench (NOT Workbench HD) as the software. To run Workbench you must connect your V500 to the Hardware Interface and the interface to your computer. Note that this hardware interface device is pretty simple, and on its own is certainly not worth the price. But recognize that this is how Line 6 controls licensing of Workbench. Anyone can download the software at any time, but the software is useless on its own. It won't run without required hardware. So by buying the hardware you are purchasing the software license.

Oops... My mistake... Sorry. Edit: My apologies to anyone who has been following my posts in this thread in real-time over the last few minutes. I haven't had enough coffee yet and I've made some mistakes with my information and guidance. I will post again shortly after checking my 'facts'.

No. You need a device that has a Variax VDI connection and support for whichever version of Workbench you want to use. The HD500 you just bought will work as an interface to the latest version of Workbench, called Workbench HD. You should not need a separate 'dongle'. You will need a Variax JTV guitar. If you have an older version of the Variax guitars you want to use the earlier version of Workbench. Your Hd500 will work as the Workbench interface for both versions of Workbench. The easiest Way to download and install the Workbench software is to use the Line 6 Monkey utility. Download this first from the Line 6 Downloads section of this website. Run the Monkey program with your HD500 connected to your computer and your Variax connected to the HD500 via VDI. In Monkey, use the Change Device button to select the Variax guitar. Monkey will then help you locate, download, and install the correct version of the Workbench program.

Ther's no 'right' answer. You can place them individually wherever you want in the signal chain relative to the other amp/fx placements. There are four options corresponding to the four cables: - at the very front of the chain, before the M13, as you describe with other fx - post initial M13 fx but pre amp: in the M13 fx loop but before your amp (between the M13 FX Send and the amp input) - post amp but pre M13 second stage fx (between the amp fx send and the M13 return) - at the very end of the chain (between the M13 output and the amp fx return)

Use your My Tones library as a temporary location. Save 7B to My Tones. Save 2A to 7B. Then load 7B from My Tones into 2A and save it.

If you set Output Mode to Studio/Direct - meaning your output device is a PA, mixer, or computer - you should use the full version of the amp model and also choose a cab and mic. If you set Output mode to one of the Live modes - meaning your output device is a physical amp - you should use the Pre version of the modeled amp and choose no mic or cab. However, these are just guidelines. In the end let your ears tell you which setup sounds the best to you.

Actually, Pre means only the preamp portion of the physical amp is modeled; there is no Post. The terminology has nothing to do with where the amp is positioned in the signal chain relative to the mixing stuff. The alternative to using the Pre amp is to use the full version of the amp which includes cab and mic modeling. Normally you select the Pre version of the amp when your output signal is being routed to a physical external guitar amp/cab, preferably to the power amp portion - bypassing the physical amp's preamp and using only the Cab section of the physical amp. The full (i.e. non-pre) version of the amp is used when your output signal is being routed to a PA/mixer or computer recording setup.

Use the Line 6 Edit program instead of Gearbox.

The file extension *.h3e indicates that the file is for a POD HD300 device. The POD HD file formats are not compatible with Helix. What you could do is download the h3e file, download the POD HD300 Edit program, run the edit program and load the h3e file. That will allow you to view all the preset/tone information. You could use that as a starting point to manually recreate the tone in Helix. But that's just a starting point. It won't initially sound the same in Helix because of the differences in the underlying modelling technology.

Yes - you are missing the fact that delay trails do not carry over when switching presets. The Delay Trails setting applies only within a given preset, specifying whether or not the trails continue when you switch the FX off while remaining in the preset.

No it's not possible to route the iOS streaming audio into the Firehawk FX processing. Yes the FX Loop block can be moved in the signal chain. It is not fixed.

I use both the Beyerdynamic 770 Pro and a set of low impedance phones. The Beyerdynamic are far superior IMHO, although the low impedance phones also perform well.

In the FX parameters there is a Tempo setting that allows you to specify whether the tempo of the FX is fixed (a number of ms) or will respond to the Tap Tempo switch (a note value). Make sure that is set to a note value.

I have no particular expectation about that. We'll have to wait and see.

Or you could use the Workbench Interface hardware device. I know it used to be packaged with every JTV. Do you have one? They may have stopped that practice after upgrading the POPD HD500X devices to support Workbench HD. I know it's not ideal, but it is an option.

I don't think it's absurd; rather it's a good business decision to get Helix to market earlier. Helix as is targets potentially every guitar player. Adding the Variax Workbench interface capability improves Helix for a rather small minority of guitar players - namely, Variax owners. They would have lost some degree of market share and revenue by holding back the product for everyone to add a bit of extra value for a few. I expect it's coming. You'll recall they made the same business decision with the POD HD series. Workbench interface capability was added in a firmware update months after initial release.

There's been no such announcement, so you should assume it's not happening anytime soon. If you're anxious to get a better plugin than Pod Farm in the near term you should purchase whatever you feel is the best value on the market right now. Of course, like any electronic/software product you can expect there to be something better in several months. So you can wait indefinitely in a futile effort chasing 'the best widget ever', or you can buy what you think is best at any given time.

I don't expect you will ever get good results with that setup. You should consider getting a proper audio interface that supports ASIO, something like one of these: http://line6.com/podstudiogx/ http://line6.com/podstudioux1/ http://line6.com/podstudioux2/ Of course, other manufacturers also make audio interfaces. But depending on your Pod Farm license (do you actually have one?) you may be restricted to these Line 6 devices.

This sounds like an electrical interference problem, maybe related to the power in your home/studio. You say you've tried a different power socket. Try another power socket that you know is on a different circuit in your local power panel. If that doesn't work, try experimenting with the same equipment and setup in your friend's house/location. Since he/she is not having an issue, by testing your equipment there you can determine whether it's a problem with your equipment or with your local power supply.

The ASIO driver comes with a hardware device, not with Pod Farm software. Again, what audio interface (hardware device) are you using? In other words, what device are you connecting your guitar to when recording/playing with Pod Farm?

You should be able to connect the outputs of the M9 to the inputs of whatever audio interface you use for recording and then simply record the playback of the loop.

Try reinstalling the previous version of the app and using that to backup your current presets. Then update both app and firmware as per documented procedures.