silverhead

I suspect the answer is that you won’t be able to simulate an acoustic guitar to your liking using the Pocket POD, but if you want to try…. Select the Tube Preamp as the modeled amp; do not use a typical guitar amp. Set the Cabinet Tuning Mode to Direct. Add some Reverb and also some Chorus and/or Delay if desired.

A preset is loaded in the state in which it was last saved. To force a preset to open in the state you want simply put the preset in that state (i. e. the desired snapshot is active) and then Save the preset.

His amp does not have an FX Loop. 4CM is impossible.

Make sure the HX Edit program is not running. The Helix device recognizes only one of the two programs HX Edit or Line 6 Updater.

The MIDI PC commands to select any preset are described on pg 50 of the manual. It will be loaded in its active state, but you can immediately use the footswitch to bypass it as described on pg 10.

The Variax guitar has no midi capabilities. It can communicate with a Line 6 device that has a VDI connection, or with a computer running Workbench with a compatible hardware interface. You’re not talking about the latter in this context so, yes, you would need a VDI-equipped Helix device (Rack, Floor, LT).

No need to progress through the individual updates. A single update will suffice. Just make sure you follow the update instructions especially when updating from such an old version.

While in Edit View select the Vol FX. Its parameters will appear. Move the pedal and observe the parameter value change.

The DSP engine runs when the device is powered on. That’s what the device is designed to do; that’s pretty much its purpose. I can’t imagine that there would be any ability to turn it off or any energy saving if it could. In fact, the DSP engine has to be running in order to determine whether the USB audio input should be processed (the preset’s Input block setting). I think the energy difference between the DSP engine being turned off vs. it being on and doing no processing is something very close to zero. Would you turn a radio on and then want to turn off its antenna reception? Or a vinyl record turntable and want to disable its needle? Poor examples perhaps, but DSP is the reason the Helix exists. I can’t see any advantage, really, in using an empty preset. Your desire seems well intentioned but quite superfluous. To further add to the irrelevance you could set the input on your empty preset to an unused hardware input (e.g.Aux). That might set your mind at additional ease. But really, let it go…..

Unless your preset has the Input set to a USB channel there is no audio processing being done by the preset. The PC’s audio is passed directly to the Helix outputs without any processing. Are you noticing something in the audio that makes you think processing is occurring? If so please elaborate.

There are a couple of considerations here. 1. You can assign a footswitch to Bypass the VOL FX block. This means you can turn the VOL FX on and off using a footswitch rather than having to use the built in toe switch on the pedal to activate the Wah FX. However, turning the VOL FX off means the VOL level is set to 100%, not 0%. 2. As you rock the pedal the display shows a percentage value. When you rock it completely to the heel position the level should read 0% and there should be no sound. Does your pedal show 0%? If not, that’s the issue. Let us know and we can move on to help you fix that if necessary.

The LT represents a doubling of DSP capacity as well as more I/O and other hardware features. Seems to me that an extra cost of 33% might be worth a more than 50% potential future expansion of your ‘needs’.

I expect there’s some misunderstanding of what exactly your question is. Can you be more explicit? Are you talking about little teeny pieces of paper or something that you would afix to the knobs that would hide the fixed labels and still allow the backlight to shine through so that only the custom labels are visible? Or are you asking about the labels on the physical knobs (model/tuning), and whether someone is making knobs that have transparent labels that can somehow be made to display the custom names for models and tunings that can be modified in Workbench? In either case I am not aware of it. In the latter case it seems to me that would require more than knob replacement. The knobs themselves would have to have to have LED ‘scribble strips’ capable of receiving and displaying variable text information. It would require an associated firmware update to cause the custom model/tuning names to be sent to the LED knobs for display purposes. I can’t see this change happening. Workbench HD permits you to define custom model names (I can’t recall if it’s possible to name custom tunings) and have them displayed within the Workbench program. The model names are also displayed in a Variax parameter field of a VDI-compatible device like Helix and the HX Edit program. I believe that’s what psarkissian was referring to. There is no Workbench menu item for Print, or Photoshop export, or anything else like that.

Depends on your needs. The Helix LT has more I/O options and dual DSP chips supporting more complex presets that can use more amp, cab, and FX blocks. Both support recording similarly- you can record a dry guitar track and reamp it using the hardware or plugins like Helix Native. I suggest you download the manuals for both and compare the I/O and dual path capabilities. If your needs are not too demanding (e.g. no need for dual amps or many FX blocks, and no need for heavy DSP elements like polyphonic pitch shifting) then the Stomp XL should suffice. It will easily handle a single amp with a cab/IR and a reasonable number of FX blocks and parallel routing. They both handle IRs and both include the recent firmware upgrade re: cabs that make IRs redundant for many users. Both are identical in terms of sound quality and modeling. In other words, a simple Helix LT preset that uses the same elements as the Stomp XL will sound the same. Sound quality is not a reason to choose the LT. The Helix LT has two completely independent processing paths, making it effectively twice as powerful as the Stomp XL. It is compatible with Variax guitars, has XLR outputs, and has two Send/Return pairs. It also has a digital output. The Stomp. XL does not have these. Do you want/need these?

Are you using external delay/chorus physical pedals or are you trying to use Stomp FX models ‘in the loop’? The Stomp FX Loop combines the Send and Return functions at a single point in the signal chain. This means that you can’t actually place a Stomp FX model ‘in the loop’ because there’s no internal Stomp signal chain in the FX Loop block. The signal leaves and returns at the same point in the Stomp signal chain. Note that you want the FX Loop block to always be ON; otherwise the signal will not be routed to your amp. The FX Loop block is actually designed for using external pedals, not internal Stomp FX blocks. If you are using those you should place them in the amp’s FX Loop and control them with the amp, not the Stomp. Does your amp provide On/Off control of its FX Loop? If so, you can use that. If not you can use the Stomp’s Snapshots feature to control your Stomp Chorus/Delay models. Place them in the signal chain after the Stomp’s FX Loop block. Create a Snapshot with those pedals ON and another Snapshot with them OFF. Then you can turn them both On/Off on demand using a Stomp Snapshot footswitch, not the FX Loop or it’s settings. No need to worry about Mix or Dry Thru parameters. And you’re right… it can get confusing. I find it always helps to think of the actual signal flow, starting with your guitar. It comes into the Stomp at the Guitar input, leaves and returns at the FX Loop block, and then completes the rest of the Stomp signal chain before it hits the Output block.

Have you tried simply turning the FX Loop block off instead of the mix to 0? The normal operation of the 4CM is to create your presets to use either the Stomp's amp modeling or the physical amp, not both. If you want to use a Stomp amp model, turn the FX Loop off which bypasses the physical amp's preamp section. When you want to use the physical amp's preamp section turn off (or do not include) a Stomp amp model and turn the FX Loop on.

Sorry - yes, you are correct. I thought was describing the signal flow while you are describing the physical left-to-right setup per the diagram. My initial editing of your routing was incorrect. We are both saying (or at least I was trying to say) the same thing.

The manual image is correct. It shows the connections I mentioned, with the Stomp Send routed to the Guitar In. Your setup has the Stomp Send routed to the Amp Return, which is incorrect. You mentioned you had the Stomp so I assumed it was the basic Stomp. Seems you have the Stomp XL, so it’s pg 37. Whatever the page, I’m referring to the part of the manual that describes the Send/Return (FX Loop) feature. When the manual refers to ‘the effect’ it is referring to the FX Loop effect block itself, not any preceding FX blocks in the signal chain.

Your cabling is incorrect. 4CM is: Guitar -> L Mono in; L Mono Out -> Amp In; Amp Send -> Return L Mono; Send -> Amp Return Also, your understanding of the Send parameters is incorrect. See HX Stomp manual pg 34. The default, and normal, setting for Dry Thru is 0.

It might just be a failing power supply. Not sure how you can test that without buying one. Perhaps there’s a retail store near you that carries Line 6 stuff and would let you test one?

You can still create and modify presets directly on the XT Live, but I agree an editing program is more convenient. Some people buy an affordable old computer that will run XT-compatible software and dedicate it to this purpose.

Make sure your Helix firmware and HX Edit programs are up to date.

No, tones are generally not compatible between products. You can’t import Spider tones into the POD Go. As a starting point I would examine your favourite Spider tones, take detailed notes on the amp/FX models, and manually create POD Go tones using the same or closest amp/FX models. Then adjust the parameters to taste. The same parameter settings for the same models will not sound identical due to differences in the underlying modeling technology.

I suggest you open a support ticket.

See Global Settings. -> Switches/Pedals -> Page 2 knobs 4 and 5. From the manual: Determines whether the POD Go expression pedal positions are recalled per snapshot, per preset, or applied globally. If you want a Volume Pedal or Wah to maintain its position when switching presets, set this to “Global.” Lots of useful info in the manual. It’s worth reading.