somebodyelse

Hurrah! Makes a change from reading complaints all the time. Yeah, the mic positioning thing is something I've had in my 'amp sim' plugin for about a decade, so I was made-up when it came to the Helix. They just need to get it on all the mic models, now. ;)

I'm by no means an electronics expert, but it sounds to me like a faulty/dead capacitor - gut feeling based on what capacitors do in amps. I'm confident that no amount of factory resetting, re-installing firmware, consulting the forum etc is going to fix it. It's a job for an electronics bod who's familiar with the Helix.

Depends on whether you can impedance match the amp and speaker. Of course, you'd have to open the PC up to try it.

As I understand it, the 'Way Huge Overrated Special' is a Klon clone. Use the 'Minotaur' model.

Hmm? I've recently (over the past six months), been writing presets that emulate the sound of a guitarist well known for using a Strat and an AC30/15 over his career ;). A couple of months ago, I bought my Dad an AC15 (C1) for his 80th birthday, which (naturally) I 'tested' here before presenting it to him. I found the Helix, through my Powercabs' speaker modelling, was more capable of matching those (AC15) tones than the (modern) AC15 is. That said, it took me quite a long time when I was initially writing the presets to get the Helix models sounding anywhere like they should.

My gut reaction is 'turn the reverb down/off' on the guitar. Record the guitar either without reverb or with a subtle room reverb - just enough that you can hardly hear it in the preset. As far as using reverb in the track goes, that comes under 'learning to be a sound engineer'.

With regard to getting it updated, try the Line 6 Updater - when HX Edit gives up trying, the next 'place' to go is the Updater... ... but yeah, I'd get the power issue sorted out, as well.

I bought a Helix back in Jan '21. My computer crashed during the first firmware update - I set it going, went for a smoke, came back to a rebooted computer and the Helix being unresponsive. First instinct was, 'okay, switch the Helix off and back on again, see what happens - worst case, I box it up and send it back to the shop.' Reboot came up with some error code, IIRC, so I opened the Line 6 updater, plugged in and crossed my fingers. Twenty minutes later, the Helix was fully updated. Experience has shown since then, it's important to read the instructions when doing firmware updates, and it's not easy to turn a Helix in to a 'paperweight' without a hammer. The (W10) computer update/crash in some first update scenarios, suggests (to me) that the Line 6 Edit software requires some 'Windows 10 add-on' that those of us who 'manage' our W10 updates ourselves missed out on - I'm speculating, since it doesn't happen to everyone. When 'we' turn off automatic updating, it's a bit rich to go blaming Microsoft for the computer misbehaving. Some peeps need to get a grip - not aimed at you, by the way. I'd hate to be in an actual life or death situation with some of these forum members.

LMAO. I don't know what's going on, maybe it's haunted? Since I last posted, I've used the Helix, whilst connected to HX Edit, and all is present and correct, AFAIK. Unless it bursts in to flames, I'll assume all is good, and leave it at that. Witha bit of luck, 3.7 won't be too far away and this will just be a funny story for the grandkids.

FWIW. I'm now missing the 'Dual Legacy' cabs. Not bothered, but just wondering if that's supposed to be the case, or is it an indication of bigger headaches to come?

Thanks for the reply. After I posted, I tried taking the firmware back to v3.15, then updated to 3.5 - both through the L6 Updater - and then updated to 3.60 via HX Edit, without doing the full reset. That seems to have fixed it. Hope this helps anyone else if they're in the same situation. Cheers.

Hey, Updated Helix Floor - followed the usual process - HX Edit update>Backup>Helix Update>Factory reset (9+10). Lost all the new cabs, including the 3.50 cabs. I suspect the factory reset wiped them? So, ran firmware update again, through the Line 6 updater. Still no new cabs. Anyone got any suggestions to get the cabs - I know, I'll still have the 3.50s in the backup. It's the new ones I'm scratching my head about. Thanks.

Shame I couldn't access the clip, nevertheless, the idea sounds really cool. I actually own a B Bender Tele, so the title caught my attention. Don't really know much about the Variax, but seems like a fascinating bit of kit.

Bought a PC212 a couple of weeks back, registered it with Line 6, then a couple of days ago, I received an email with reference to taking a survey of registered Powercab owners. This is my second PC+, and as far as I remember, I haven't been 'surveyed' before. Just wondering if this was 'just me', because I'd registered a new one, did all registered owners get the same email on the same day, and do you think Line 6 has accepted that while the PC+ is a brilliant concept, they haven't executed it as well as they could have done, and are now thinking about taking it seriously and either doing a proper software update, or maybe getting back to the drawing board and doing a proper job with a Powercab 2? Just thinking out loud.

Not so much a brand recommendation. I got one from a local (UK) cable supplier. You'll probably get lots of suggestions that a standard XLR cable will do. Maybe it will... I dunno, but I wasn't going to risk the best part of three grands worth of Helix/PC212, just for the sake of saving a few quid on a cable. An AES-EBU cable has a 110 ohm impedance/resistance. A mic cable doesn't. There's a good reason why they specify AES-EBU.

All I saw/heard was a Bad Monkey CASING on a PEDAL MAKER'S youtube video with some expensive pedals sounding the same. Just saying...

Hiya Neil, Best place to try is https://charliehall.proboards.com/ I'm a member there, as well, and have seen a couple of threads there with good advice. Also, try the Matchless models. Assuming you've got the latest updates, in the cab setting, use a U47/67/87 condenser mic, set 12" away towards the edge of the speaker. Fine tune to suit. Set the Low cut to around 100Hz and High Cut to around 5-8kHz. Amp models set as you'd set the real thing, as a starting point. Fine tune from there. Cheers. EDIT: I've attached a zip with a couple of presets to have a look at. I did these on a Helix, with a '54 reissue (A3 pickups), so they may need a little tweek for your guitar. Also, because I used a Helix, they may be a bit too... elaborate for your unit? Any problems or questions... anything... send me a PM and we can take it from there. I've assumed you're already a HBM expert, perhaps not so familiar with the Helix 'ways', yet? HBM Presets.zip

Haven't listened, because at my age, I probably couldn't hear it anyway. What you describe sounds like a digital thing where the dsp is 'rounding off' the maths. Used to be a common thing back when we were using gear with lower bitrates. I'd be amazed if you were actually hearing it happen at 48kHz, though. If you've got a noisegate going on, switch it off. Perhaps, try a low pass filter?

'People' are idiots. It's a tuner. It either works or it doesn't. The weak point of the Helix is it doesn't come with a sun roof.

Tuner, bottom of screen, third knob.

Powercab 112+ here. It does what it says on the tin, as they say. The reason people can't get the 'amp in the room sound' is that modellers, whether Helix or otherwise model their cabs with a mic after the event. What you get is a model of how that setup sounds after it's been recorded, regardless of the amp/monitor you use. With the Helix/Powercab combo, when you (or me at least) use the speaker models in the PC112+, the output from the PC speaker has the mic etc modelled in to it bypassed - just the speaker. To get the real effect, you need to remove the cab block from your Helix preset, then you get the 'amp in the room' sound. Be aware, the speaker models are supposed to sound how the real thing would sound if it was screwed in to the PC112 cabinet - eg. my old rig uses a couple of 1 x 12 V30 cabs. The PC112 sounds very near to how they sound. It doesn't sound how a 4 x 12 with four V30s would. You aren't getting 'amp in the room' if you use FRFR, third party IRs etc, etc. Helix through a real guitar amp? You're hearing how your presets sound with the inherent sound of your amp colouring them.

I use Reaper, too. To get the same result as your real world recording, I'd pan the mics - as you suggested - and record a stereo output to two mono tracks - recording left (input 1) to one and right (input 2) to the other. Your recording will be 'up the middle' mono, which you can then process as you did previously. I've done this many times via the XLR outputs, but I don't see any reason why it couldn't be done via USB.

Based on a guitar I bought a few years back, and what the lads in my local guitar shop laugh about, many out there need to learn how to put strings on 'em, first.

I've got the S/PDIF cables, now and I'll be trying it out later, however something that has occurred to me is that whether using L6 Link or S/PDIF, it's one stereo output. You can control what gets sent down either channel of it - panning - but the level, regardless of how many paths you send to that output is controlled at the output by an overall level - you're not controlling the volume level of the path, you're controlling the digital signal level of the output section, to avoid digital signal dropout in long S/PDIF cables. You can either control the individual path levels before they get to the output, or control the speaker model levels at Powercab 1/2 section. With the way you intend to use it, I would probably get my PC+ speaker models balanced for output (using a direct signal through an empty Helix preset) and then level match the presets as I wrote them.

I don't disagree with you - whatever the reason is, they're different. The reason doesn't matter. However, pots are a lot more inconsistent than they've ever been, today. Pickups are not as consistent as you believe, especially wire and magnets, and when all said and done, wood is the most inconsistent part of the equation - no two pieces from the same log are the same, let alone from an entire species. You can have two seemingly 'identical' (in every single respect) guitars that sound different. The same is true of analogue amplifiers and pedals - there is an inconsistency in all the components they're made from AKA manufacturing tolerance, which in most cases is quite a wide tolerance. At the end of the day, unless you have unlimited pots of money to swap and change things around, your gear sounds how it sounds.