silverhead

Not sure I understand. Helix does not perform any guitar modeling, it just stores some Variax information in its presets and passes associated commands to the Variax guitar when the preset is recalled. The Variax guitar continues to do all the guitar processing. Although both the Variax and the Gibson use a CAT5 cable I strongly doubt that the data protocol between the two is compatible. The Variax uses a proprietary data protocol over the CAT5 cable, not standard IP protocol. For one thing, the Variax VDI cable carries power. If the Gibson is not expecting to receive power on that connector pin it could cause damage.

I would open a support ticket. Sounds like hardware. not firmware. Perhaps some component is starting to fail and taking a while to warm up to proper operating temperature.

I’ve heard many reports that people prefer the pre-HD Variax models, and there’s no refuting personal preference. I wonder… in your A/B comparisons and testing did you ever try importing an old Variax Workbench preset/model into Workbench HD? If that works and sounds good then you could ‘upgrade’ to the new features and still retain the old models. I’ve no idea whether it does work but might be worth a try.

Yes, I would position the Drop pedal before the POD Go. I expect that the detuning done by the Drop pedal will be more accurate with a raw signal than with a processed signal.

There is a feature of the X3 called Lock Tone 2. This feature does result in Tone 2 carrying over to all presets. It is intentional and very convenient for a singing guitarist who wants to use the same vocal tone across all guitar tones. It is easily unlocked to restore full Tone 2 functionality. I don’t know if that’s what’s happening to you but it’s worth investigating.

No. The HX units lack the VDI input, essential for digital communication between any Line 6 device and the Variax guitars.

Good to know. Just curious…. Why do you need/want to give up the benefits of JTV firmware v2.x in order to stay on the original Workbench?

Yes, you can do that. But watch out for latency. Depending on the DAW, the computer’s resources, and the amp sim there can be a noticeable delay between the dry signal being recorded and the sound of the sim in your headphones. You will tend to adjust your playing so that the processed track you hear is in sync/tempo with the backing tracks, which means the recorded dry track is slightly out of sync. Not a big problem though as you can generally ‘nudge’ the recorded track appropriately to re-sync it if required.

Yes there are quite a few bass amps in the Pod Go. They are listed in the manual, following the listed Line 6 Original amps. Also listed is a Studio Preamp. That is useful for acoustic tones which typically do not use a guitar amp.

It could still be useful to offload some processing from the HX Stomp, allowing you to maximize your total DSP. You could use your DL4 for the delay FX and use the Stomp for all non-delay processing. My advice would be to keep the DL4 until after you’ve gained some experience with the Stomp. Then you can make the right decision for yourself.

No. The JTV models will simply not work with the original Workbench software.

No, this is not possible in the POD Go. You need to manually change the amp in Edit View.

The dry tone is mono, of course. I’m talking about the processed tone which could include some stereo FX in the X3.

You can make backups of individual presets by drag/dropping them from the HX Exit window to a folder on your computer. Creating a full system backup is an issue that needs resolving but in the meantime you can backup individual presets.

Glad it worked. A couple of observations….. When selecting the inputs for your Reaper track, make sure you select a stereo, not mono, input. All the options you are seeing are mono inputs, so II suspect the reason you are not seeing “1+2” as an input is that you have previously selected for a mono input, or have added a mono rather than stereo track. You’re right that a dry is a dry is a dry. But they can still sound different because the signal undergoes an analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion as it passes from the analog guitar signal to the digital USB signal. Hence, the ‘dry’ signal is actually processed by the A/D converter of the specific device, X3 or POD Pro. That’s all the processing that happens to it but the quality difference in the converters between the devices can account for some tonal difference. Not saying that’s what’s happening in your case but it’s possible.

Just a warning about ASIO4ALL. It’s not fully compliant with the technical specs of the ASIO protocol. It will work in some cases but is known to cause problems with compliant ASIO devices such as the POD Go.

I don’t think that’s unusual, at least not in the purely analog world. Sometimes two different units of the exact same tube amp make/model sound different. In the PowerCab units there are at least subtle physical differences in the materials and resonance of the cab and speaker even though their specs are the same. I know that in some cases Line 6 compares specific instances of a particular tube amp make/model/year to select the ‘best’ one as the basis for modeling.

To back up individual presets simp0le drag/drop them to a folder on your computer. to back up a setlist or bundle use the Export Setlist/Bundle commands. (see manual pages 24/25)

No such documentation as far as I know. Although unproductive the deconstruction approach seems to be the only option. I find I consult the Templates presets only when I have a specific need/goal and then the preset names seem to provide a hint.

You can’t do this with the POD Go as the audio interface. It’s a technical limitation of the ASIO protocol, in addition to the fact that the POD Go will not accept a USB mic as an input. To record the two signal simultaneously you will need to use a different audio interface, one that accepts your USB mic as an input. Then connect your POD Go audio outputs to appropriate inputs on your audio interface.

Sorry if I confused you in an earlier post. The X3 ASIO driver does not provide any automatic processing. Rather, it offers signal selection options. The ASIO driver supports 8 different SEND options over the USB connection to a DAW such as Reaper. You MUST configure Reaper to use the X3 AND its ASIO driver in the audio device settings. Two of these options, USB 7 and USB 8, send the dry unprocessed signal that appears at the Inputs of Tone 1 and Tone 2 respectively. You don’t need to have any processing blocks in either Tone’s path but you DO need to specify the Input(s) for the Tone, e.g. Guitar. For instance if you set the Tone 2 Input to Guitar and connect a physical guitar to the Guitar input jack then USB 8 will send the input signal directly from the Guitar input jack (before it is processed by the X3 Tone) to your DAW where you can record it by arming the track and selecting USB 8 as the record input. Same thing for Tone 1 and USB 7. So, to record a dry and wet signal simultaneously you only need to use one Tone path on the X3. As an example, let’s use Tone 1. To begin, set the Input of the Tone to Guitar, assuming you are recording a guitar tone (see manual page 6.1). This ensures that the dry unprocessed signal that appears at the physical guitar input jack of the X3 will be sent directly to your DAW over USB 7. Now add whatever processing blocks you want in Tone 1. The stereo output of the wet processed Tone 1 will be sent to your DAW over USB 1+2 (1 is the L side of the stereo signal and R is the right side). Now arm two tracks for recording in Reaper. For the dry track select USB 7 as the record input, and for the wet track select USB 1+2 (this will appear as an option in Reaper if it is configured to use the X3 and it’s ASIO driver as the audio device). I hope this makes things more clear.

You are correct to use USB 8 to record the dry, unprocessed signal for Tone 2, assuming you have a Tone 2. From your comment above you may not have created a Tone 2. USB 7 sends the same dry, unprocessed signal for Tone 1. USB Sends 1 through 6 are different versions of the processed signals for Tone 1 and Tone 2. Not sure exactly what Mix L is but I suspect it’s the L channel of the blended Tone 1 and Tone 2 stereo mix. See manual page 8.2.

Glad to hear the sound is better. I wasn’t asking about using the X3 and the Pro X simultaneously. Just asking whether you used their ability to tap the unprocessed signal directly from their physical inputs rather than sending the signal through an empty processing path before going to the DAW.

How exactly are you recording the unprocessed track in both cases? Are you using the X3 and Pro X as the audio interface in both cases and selecting the appropriate USB channel with their respective ASIO drivers as the Record Source/Input in Reaper? And, of course, you’re using the same guitar with same pickup selector switch position in both cases? Just checking the basics…. I would consider using an EQ plugin to brighten the track rather than recording a processed signal (which then requires A/D and D/A conversion along the way). Then feed the EQ’d signal into your amp sim.

Every class action lawsuit needs a first claimant. Seems you’re very confident about the outcome. Why don’t you start the ball rolling? For a few hundred dollars you could probably hire a lawyer to file the first claim. Seems like a good investment. As you say, you could end up with millions!