silverhead

Yes to all questions. You can download the manual and read it to get a head start on using Firehawk. The answers to you questions here can be found in the Save Tones description.

That's normal behaviour. Moving the expression pedal is considered changing the patch.

I suggest you open a support ticket. Line 6 tech support will respond and help you determine whether a repair is required.

Firmware 2.01 and JTV-59 with latest firmware; editor not running: Rapidly rotating the Variax Tone knob repeatedly for several seconds causes Helix to freeze. I was doing this to hopefully clean up a dirty Tone knob contact that was giving me some static when moving the knob normally. I am able to replicate this in my environment on several different presets - that's all I've tried so far. Can anyone else replicate this? EDIT: After further testing it seems that this was resolved after a few minutes when I had rotated the knob sufficiently that there was no more static. Once a consistently clean signal was restored the freezing stopped. So probably not exactly a Helix bug although I will leave this post here in case it might help others to diagnose a similar freezing problem. Lesson: keep the pots/contacts clean.

If you're speaking about the M20d multi-band Global EQ I believe it resides in the mixer. It doesn't really matter where it resides, I guess, since it only works with the L6 Link connections. But for efficiency I think it must be implemented in the mixer rather than in each connected speaker.

In the Pod preset, make sure you set Input1 or Input2 to Mic.

Anyone can post any tone file they want, and name it whatever they want. So here you have a bunch of different people posting their own version of a tone that they have created which they think is a good tone for the song Black Magic Woman. Some people have posted a file with the same name multiple times, probably updated versions of an initial posting. There is no moderation of the Customtone site - there's nobody doing any testing of the posted files, or checking whether there are duplicates. It's an open user-populated tone library.

Screen display issues are sometimes related to a failing power supply. Try testing with a different but exactly compatible power adapter.

I think the AES/EBU terminology applies to the cable type, not the signal carried by the cable. So I don't know what you mean by a 'plain, ordinary AES/EBU digital signal'. The L6 Link connection carries data/signal that conforms to a proprietary Line 6 protocol. Whatever a plain ordinary AES/EBU signal is, devices using L6 Link won't be able to understand it unless it conforms to the protocol. It's like asking whether a Variax guitar will understand a plain ordinary RJ-45 signal. There's no such thing. An RJ-45 connection/cable carries digital data. What matters is the structure (protocol) imposed on that data by the sending/receiving devices, and their mutual understanding of and conformance to that structure. Normally it is used between computers using the ITP protocol. But Variax guitars don't use that protocol - they use, again, a proprietary Line 6 protocol. The cable merely carries the data which is interpreted by the communicating devices.

To backup presets (or setlists) to your PC you use the Save command in the Edit program, under the File menu. For individual presets you can also simply drag/drop them from the edit window into a folder window, just like moving/copying files normally on your computer.

The toe switch turns the Wah FX on/off like a toggle switch with each depression. Make sure that the Wah FX is actually ON when the pedal is in the EXP1 position. You may need to do that manually the first time, then when it's working properly Save the preset.

The VOL block has limited moveability in the signal chain. It can be positioned after the amp and the other fixed blocks (COMP and EQ) but not at the very end of the chain.

To do this you need to select the Save to Device (or to 'Hardware'?) when using the Save operation. You will then be presented with the list of presets on the Firehawk device and you select your desired destination for the Save operation in the user banks.

Which EXP pedal (1 or 2) is assigned as the Wah controller? Note that each time you use the toe switch it also toggles the active pedal, changing it from 1 to 2 or vice versa. So you need to make sure that your assignments are compatible. For instance, if you want EXP1 to control the Wah, and you use the toe switch to activate it, you need to save the preset in one of two states: with the Wah FX ON and the active pedal being EXP1, or with the Wah FX OFF and the active pedal being EXP2.

Make sure when you post your tones that you include all relevant information, like the guitar you use, its pickups and the pickup selector position, and whether you used/created it while listening with headphones, an amp (which amp? 4CM or not?), direct to PA (what speakers?), or studio monitors (which ones?). Every one of these things affects the tone you hear, and differences in these highly variable non-AMPLIFi factors are the most common reason that downloaded tones often sound very different to the downloader than they did to the tone creator and uploader.

That is normal. The Save Bundle operation does not include the IRs because there is presumably no need to back them up - you already have them on your computer because that's how they got into Helix in the first place. Arguably, Helix should export/save the IRs in order to retain the IR slot information and be able to restore them accordingly. Right now you have to manually manage the restoration of IRs into their correct slots/locations.

The Editor is a separate download. You'll find it by selecting Helix in the Software (not Products) filed on the Downloads page. How exactly did you update the Helix? If you followed the installation instructions the Editor should have been the first download you made. After downloading run the Helix app/editor installer and also install the driver and the latest version of Line 6 Updater. Then run Line 6 Updater to update the firmware.

Power can't be provided wirelessly. That technology does not yet exist. You will need to use the Variax battery.

No. The Firehawk app/editor is only available for iOS and Android devices. The USB connection on the Firehawk device is used for firmware updates. There is no PC/Mac based editor.

Actually, FRFR is full range, flat response. I think full range means it covers the full range of human audio, roughly 20hz to 20MHz. while Flat response means no EQ is built into the speaker design. Please correct me, anyone, if this is not accurate.

In my experience this happens with almost every patch that uses an external EXP pedal as a controller. Even without moving the pedal Helix often detects some slight jitter in the signal and registers it as a pedal movement, meaning the preset has been modified. You can see the pedal position display fluctuating from 0% to 1% or something equally minuscule, perhaps a result of simply foot-tapping in time to the tempo beside the pedal while playing. The slight floor/carpet movement translates to the pedal and Helix detects it.

Don't worry - you'll have plenty of opportunity to lament the fact that Line 6 continues to develop and release new products, meaning that scarce resources are being redirected from the next-to-latest product updates and enhancements. In my many years around these forums I have never failed to see it happen. A new product is released and the owners of the previously newest product are aghast and feeling that they have been abandoned. You can still see it occasionally in the Firehawk and POD HD forums although it was louder when Helix was first released. And it will appear in the Helix forums when Line 6 next releases new technology, as opposed to the inclusion of some older technology in Spider V. Your time will come but this isn't it.

No - as long as it doesn't clip the Cubase input raising the level is tone-neutral as far as the digital signal goes. Of course, any increase in volume level can affect the human ear's perception of tone per the Fletcher-Munson effect.

I used to have a Pod X3 Live and used it with both a Variax 300 and a piezo-equipped Martin D28. I recall using both of the above amp models with those guitars and managed to get reasonable acoustic tones. However, using the same guitars (well, a JTV rather than V300) I am able to get much more realistic acoustic tones out of Helix using no amp. The availability of IRs also makes a great difference in my Helix acoustic tones. I am pretty sure that if Helix had this 'Variax Acoustic Technology' very few if any Helix owners would actually use it. What we already have is way better imho.

Yes, advertising Line 6 products for sale is fine in this forum. Sorry to hear of your illness. Good luck with it.