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Are any artists ACTUALLY using the Helix?


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Tight 4 man band. Shull's Helix tones were really great!  Speaks well of the Power Cab's abilities.  Definitely will check out some of his presets.  Guthrie's vocals are killer classic blues/rock and I thought it interesting the drummer also said he is using a Helix, assume to mic various parts of his kit (or was he BS'ing)?!?

 

 

 

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Considering how amazing Line6 customer service has been, the community, and the engineers... I wonder if they could get Vai to switch over.  I'm not taking anything away from Fractal hardware I had a AxeFxII...  but I dealt with their customer service, and execs were awful... so I returned it, and got the Helix.  Vai seems to be someone who works closely with the OEMs.  What a coup that would be!  Especially since Sheehan is using the Helix.  

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On 3/20/2019 at 7:44 AM, honeybearstudios said:

Considering how amazing Line6 customer service has been, the community, and the engineers... I wonder if they could get Vai to switch over.  I'm not taking anything away from Fractal hardware I had a AxeFxII...  but I dealt with their customer service, and execs were awful... so I returned it, and got the Helix.  Vai seems to be someone who works closely with the OEMs.  What a coup that would be!  Especially since Sheehan is using the Helix.  

 

I'm going to guess that Steve Vai is able to get excellent customer service from Fractal. Joe Blow? Maybe not so much.

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1 hour ago, brue58ski said:

 

I'm going to guess that Steve Vai is able to get excellent customer service from Fractal. Joe Blow? Maybe not so much.

 

In this article from 2017, Steve Vai says he doesn't even use modelers... So he probably doesn't need much customer service from Fractal... ;-)

 

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/articles/features/is_amp_modeling_as_good_as_tubes_heres_what_established_guitarists_think_of_it_today-69879

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Jakko Jakszyk (King Crimson) is using Helix.

 

 

And speaking of King Crimson, some friends recently saw Adrian Belew's new quartet and he was using a Helix.

 

Just for the record, it doesn't matter to me whether or not "big name" artists are using it; that has no bearing on how I feel about it, or any piece of gear I choose to use. But it is nice to know that several of these artists are coming around to Helix.

 

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On 3/22/2019 at 1:23 PM, phil_m said:

 

In this article from 2017, Steve Vai says he doesn't even use modelers... So he probably doesn't need much customer service from Fractal... ;-)

 

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/articles/features/is_amp_modeling_as_good_as_tubes_heres_what_established_guitarists_think_of_it_today-69879

 

I never said he NEEDED customer service. But if he were to ever contact them with an issue, I am pretty positive he would get great customer service. I have no idea whether he needed to or has ever, for that matter, contacted their customer service.

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  • 3 months later...
On 10/4/2016 at 1:13 AM, Bangha said:

As far as I know, and although they are not considered "tone guys", Garbage is using Helix's live. With Butch Vig on board, I guess that counts as respected pro's using it(even if he's not on guitar).

 

Slightly off topic, when speaking of gear selection you can never forget the bias most people have towards vintage gear. Even if you could scientifically prove that at some point digital emulations have fully cloned their analog counterparts in all ways, many people will prefer an original fuzz face for the validation, hip, realness, organic, better than thou, ears of gold, rock god qualities that are tied in with it. I'm not saying technology is quite there yet, but I feel it's getting close.

 

The other point worth mentioning is thatI find way too many musicians; guitarists being the worst offenders, blaming gear for their own technical and/or artistic deficiencies. The don't suck multi effects box still doesn't exist, and even if you could afford David Gilmour's full setup, with Eric Johnson's guitars, Ry Cooders Magic slide, and Jimi's wah, if you suck, it's best to spend time wood shedding on the guitar and not browsing through sweetwater for your next purchase that is bound to turn you into Buckethead.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvxTHJ_vl34  This guitar player for Blue Oyster Cult uses the Helix straight into the PA.      Rhett Shull a phenomenal player performs with the Helix on stage as well...  

 

I use and have both a Line 6 HD500x as well as some killer pedals like the OCD, MXR analog delay, etc.. Line 6 is particularly known for their exception effects.   Frankly TONE comes from your hands and not so much the particular gear you use.  A LOT of players keep searching for that special pedal or multi-effect that is going to give them that "killer sound"     Most of whom do not realize its your hands that do 90% of the work (of course that assumes you have your gear set up correctly.)

 

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  • 2 months later...

I recently saw Little River Band at an open air concert at Sea World in Orlando Florida. I asked Rick Herring, lead guitarist after the show at a meet and greet what kind of rig he  was using, his tone was amazing. He told me Line 6 Helix. I asked and what amp?  He said, no amp, straight into the board. That show sold me on the Helix, I now own one and love it.

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1 hour ago, StevieRayFan said:

I recently saw Little River Band at an open air concert at Sea World in Orlando Florida. I asked Rick Herring, lead guitarist after the show at a meet and greet what kind of rig he  was using, his tone was amazing. He told me Line 6 Helix. I asked and what amp?  He said, no amp, straight into the board. That show sold me on the Helix, I now own one and love it.

 

A little off topic, but LRB sounds amazing live. When I saw them here in Winnipeg about 10 - 12 years ago (before the Helix) they played a night club notorious for bad sound. With the house PA... the sound quality could rival the recordings. I've never heard a better sounding show. That's a combination of a great tech... and great musicians/singers.  Although the members come and go with only one "psuedo original" remaining, they maintain a quality level and genuine respect for the original band and concept.  

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  • 3 months later...

Jeff Schroeder (smashing pumpkins) said he recorded his entire side project “NightDreamer” 

with the helix. 

Video interview of him saying this on Guitar World (youtube)

 

I just rented a helix lt from Long Mcquade...wanted to spend some time with it before buying

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  • 5 months later...
11 hours ago, TimDonnelly said:

I saw The Doobie Brothers a few years ago here in Adelaide, Australia, and was front row. Lead guitarist John McFee was using a Helix and sounded fantastic.

 

Check this out from 16:30.

 

https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/26003-rig-rundown-the-doobie-brothers

 

That's been mentioned earlier in the thread.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Tosin Abasi had a Helix in a secret live video posted few weeks ago on their instagram (that is not available anymore - the video is moved to private- it was a for-fans event).

But I don't think it's his main rig, it's probably lighter than his normal pedalboard (which is massive, even after he made it smaller by the "pedalboard doctor").

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  • 4 months later...
2 hours ago, HonestOpinion said:

Jen Majura of Evanescence uses a Helix. Don't know if this one has been posted already, too many posts to go through.

 

 

 

 

 

Well folks - that there is an example of the detune thing going on.  I heard the glitch several times through her playing and was thinking to myself, wth is she running through a weird effect?  Tone sounded great (I suspect it's just amp tone), but yea a few little glitches.  But she played the whole thing with helix detuning by a semi-tone.  On purpose (to fit tuning with teh other girl's guitar).

 

I mean, that's not a poly tune thing - that's the old helix detuner effect.  And it's plenty good enough for a highly paid successful pro touring guitarist.  I bet she's blown away now with 3.0, assuming she's had a moment to update it. This video is from 2018!!

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Just now, donkelley said:

 

A way better video of Jen with her helix.  She was totally being outshone by the blond chick in the previous video and didn't really get to show her stuff being limited to ACDC rhythm parts to demo...

 

That "blonde chick" is Nita Strauss and she is rippingly good. Had the pleasure of seeing her playing with Alice Cooper when they toured with Deep Purple. She was phenomenal and if she outshone Jen Majura in that video it is because she is an excellent player and a great performer.

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57 minutes ago, HonestOpinion said:

 

That "blonde chick" is Nita Strauss and she is rippingly good. Had the pleasure of seeing her playing with Alice Cooper when they toured with Deep Purple. She was phenomenal and if she outshone Jen Majura in that video it is because she is an excellent player and a great performer.

 

I saw Strauss at a Guitar Center clinic in NYC and few years back, she is an incredible player. She was promoting her new Ibanez signature guitar and the Boss GT1000. The Boss unit didn't sound too good imo. During Q&A I asked her if she ever used that Boss GT1000 live and she said no lol. I believe she uses the Marshall JVM live.

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12 hours ago, HonestOpinion said:

 

That "blonde chick" is Nita Strauss and she is rippingly good. Had the pleasure of seeing her playing with Alice Cooper when they toured with Deep Purple. She was phenomenal and if she outshone Jen Majura in that video it is because she is an excellent player and a great performer.

Yea Nita's amazing.  I'm not good with names, so I figured the obvious differentiator for most of us who haven't seen either before was blonde vs brunette.  I was blown away by Nita's playing for sure, and Jen didn't even try to play anything of consequence after Nita demoed her guitar for 30 seconds of very impressive speed playing and pinched harmonic whammying.

 

The boss unit can sound amazing I'm sure - I used to use roland/boss modelers for a while and learned that the world of people who use them professionally is amazing.  They're all just tools.  On youtube both of their tones were acceptable.

 

I'm pretty sure that Jen gets much of her tone from her amps.... and it sounded in the video that Nita does too.

 

And just in case anyone was wondering, calling her a blonde chick wasn't diminishing Nita - it was sufficient to differentiate her from the brunette chick, and the host whom I've seen many times on youtube but would be referred to as a dude (a very lucky one), not a chick. 

 

LoL :-)

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