Helix – Reliable for LIVE use ???

[ncockerill]

Having a great time programming patches for my cover/original project.  The Helix sounds fantastic.

 

That said, I’m a bit anxious about taking this live.  I am trying to get some feedback from braver early adopters who have gigged with the Helix.  

 

I’ve done a bit of reading on the forums, and have seen posts where some people are experiencing complete volume drops when accessing the WAH pedal, and requiring full reboots to reset the device.  I’ve also read of others having complete lockups.  Obviously these can be pretty disastrous to a performance.

 

I have not experienced the WAH issue (yet) –  but I’ve only had the unit for a week and haven’t gotten to program many patches that require a WAH.  I have experienced an occasional lockup, but this is more common when I am editing an advanced setting of an effect block, etc.

 

Currently running version 1.03 – not quite ready to upgrade to v1.04 until some of upgrade kinks are worked out.  Again, I am a bit conservative.  But I didn’t see any fixes in v1.04 that addressed the volume drop.

 

So – anyone care to provide some LIVE EXPERIENCE use of their new Helix??  Great, good, average, bad, indifferent --- all feedback welcome.

 

Thanks!

[oehman]

I've done 2 shows solo - acoustic JTV. Everything went really well with 42 presets used (one per song). Used the Helix looper for about half the songs. No issues that were not my own fault - I'm still a little new to looping and stepping on 2 footswitches at once can throw a wrench in things.

 

Played a show with my band Friday. Helix was perfect. I only use a wah on 2 presets, but they were fine. About 40 different presets (one per song). No glitches.

 

Helix is running guitar and vocals to the Mains and to my L2t floor monitor. It's the best, clearest, most inspiring sound I've had.

[gtrman100]

The wah volume drop problem is user error, not a software bug. I discovered it myself- if you use a mono wah, in a stereo path, you'll get a complete volume drop when returning to volume pedal mode. Use a stereo version of the wah, and you're good to go.

[ncockerill]

The wah volume drop problem is user error, not a software bug. I discovered it myself- if you use a mono wah, in a stereo path, you'll get a complete volume drop when returning to volume pedal mode. Use a stereo version of the wah, and you're good to go.

 

Thx, gtrman100 .  Very interesting, and not something I would have likely discovered myself. Why I love this forum -- people are so helpful.

 

 I'll test this for myself of course, but are you saying this is an absolutely consistent misconfiguration issue?  That is, it is not an intermittent experience where sometimes it cuts out and sometimes it doesn't?  If its a consistent result based on misconfiguration of stereo vs mono WAH, I will discover it in rehearsal long before hitting stage, and rectify with this simple change.   If this is the case, I am feeling 99% better about gigging right away with the Helix.

[gtrman100]

It's consistent. I use an extra expression pedal and it did it every time until I changed to a stereo wah pedal.

[kensington]

What do you guys mean? I use mono wah....as for all effects in front of the amp, then a stereo delay and reverb at the end of the chain, and I have the "volume drop" every now and then on gigs. Not sure what's going on, but the Helix turns dead and I have to restart it. Usually in solos when playing the wah (it really makes me shine on stage btw).

Are you saying I should use a stereo wah at the beginning of the chain? Sounds weird to me...

[HonestOpinion]

The wah volume drop problem is user error, not a software bug. I discovered it myself- if you use a mono wah, in a stereo path, you'll get a complete volume drop when returning to volume pedal mode. Use a stereo version of the wah, and you're good to go.

 

Are you also having to reset the Helix after the volume drops as some other users have reported or can you get the volume back?

 

 

What do you guys mean? I use mono wah....as for all effects in front of the amp, then a stereo delay and reverb at the end of the chain, and I have the "volume drop" every now and then on gigs. Not sure what's going on, but the Helix turns dead and I have to restart it. Usually in solos when playing the wah (it really makes me shine on stage btw).

Are you saying I should use a stereo wah at the beginning of the chain? Sounds weird to me...

 

Sounds weird to me too.  I thought the paths on the Helix were only available in stereo by default. Even if you select mono effects/blocks you are still always on a stereo path as I understand it. Is this correct? Running out of only the left XLR or 1/4 automatically sums to mono. Are you running out of the Helix in mono or stereo? I output from the Helix in mono from my XLR (Left) output to the mixing board. Does this volume drop also occur when using only one, summed to mono, output; or, is this problem limited to stereo operation of the Helix? 

 

This might be a bug and not a user related routing/stereo vs. mono effect issue. Selecting a specific routing and mono effect selection may cause the bug. The fact that it only happens sometimes, and can actually cause the Helix to "lock up" and not allow volume pedal operation without a hard reset sounds much more like a bug.