stubish Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 Hey all,about to pick up a Helix, it's over a year old so out of warranty.Can anybody speak to any reliability issues? The good thing is I've not seen any giant 'problem' threads... I guess this bodes well.Anything I'm missing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taylorbeats Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 Have not seen much, outside of the occasional volume pedal squeaking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterHamm Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 I've had Rack/Control for 16 months. For the first 13 of those, used it almost every weekend, moved it in and out often. No reliability issues whatsoever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DunedinDragon Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 No downtime or issues in the 16 months I've owned mine. Not even when I was upgrading software. But that's because I can follow instructions.... ;) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HonestOpinion Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 If you have found a used Helix at a reasonable price I would jump on it, but with my eyes open. It is a great device! You may eventually require a repair or you many not. Even though I baby this thing I am on my second Helix because of a failing footswitch on the first and now I have a scribble strip with a line through it on this one. Not as lucky as some of the other posters here. I would have to report mixed results regarding reliability. On the plus side I have used it for many gigs and had no operational failures during a performance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spikey Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 There is no magic involved in keeping electronic items from breaking. There are only false accusations and wishful bias involved in predicting the future of a product we buy, minus the 1-year warranty, of course. ;) That said, I've had mine for over a year now and turn it one at least 4 or 5 times a week for over several hours with no issues. Will mine break tomorrow? Only a fool would say they knew that answer. My answer is, I hope not... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stubish Posted April 18, 2017 Author Share Posted April 18, 2017 Thank you all, I posted the same on a much more prone to criticism than this one and I received only glowing reviews... I'm off to pick it up tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zooey Posted April 19, 2017 Share Posted April 19, 2017 Mine is back at the factory with a dead left 1/4" output, after a weird power event at an unofficial Helix meetup. It's already been fixed, and is on its way back to me. Have to say, wish this hasn't happened, but Line 6 did so right by me, Frank Richotte in particular, pretty amazing. Details don't matter, not a repeatable situation, but seriously, noted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricstudioc Posted April 19, 2017 Share Posted April 19, 2017 A year+ on mine, probably 100 or more gigs - absolutely rock solid. That said - it IS an electronic device, with it's core operations based in software - so "ya pays yer nickle and ya takes yer chances". But one reason I bought in in the first place was, after waiting six months or so from release, I was amazed at how few problem reports I was seeing. L6 really seems to have gone the extra mile on Helix - and it seems to have paid off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leadtooth Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 I have had my Helix since March 9th. The only issue I have had is the vintage delay bug causing popping but that is a software issue and global. The unit has been stellar for me but I do have a tendency to really take care of things I own as well. I always use surge protection when operating, clean it often, and Glenn DeLaune makes a real nice display cover you can purchase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil_m Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 I have had my Helix since March 9th. The only issue I have had is the vintage delay bug causing popping but that is a software issue and global. The unit has been stellar for me but I do have a tendency to really take care of things I own as well. I always use surge protection when operating, clean it often, and Glenn DeLaune makes a real nice display cover you can purchase. FYI, the issue with the Vintage Delay was dealt with in firmware 2.10, in case you didn't know. They added a headroom parameter, so if you increase that, that should get rid of any clipping. If you have a Vintage Delay block in an existing preset from before that update, you'd have to delete and re-insert the block for the headroom parameter to show up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZGuitar Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 Pre order and First Run from Sweetwater for me, No issues ever. My rotation is with 2 other great players both using toasters. Our very experienced sound tech loves the tone I am getting. My.02... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbojamz Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 Hate to bust the bubbles here but I'm on my third Helix. One had a bad touch capacitance switch - it went back. The next one I got - the volume wouldn't go to zero 100% of the time when I would heel down on it. I received the third one yesterday and so far looks as if it's a good one. I did notice that the pedal on this one gets to zero an 1/8 inch or so before the heel down travel is stopped. The defective one would get to zero at exactly the same time i reached the end of travel on the pedal, so i think it's why it sometimes would only go to 2% or 1% (to zero it I would have to heel down again with more force) I will say I love the Helix and will be selling off a bunch of my pedals and amps soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbuhajla Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 Floor model 9 months, zero issues. Play out once a week. Adjusted the on board expression pedal tightness once. Sold all of my pedals and almost all my amps. Keep in mind that most of the people posting on the forum are experiencing an "issue" so the number of posts concerning issues are not a true representation of the ratio of sold units that are good versus ones that have an actual issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbojamz Posted April 21, 2017 Share Posted April 21, 2017 I wonder how many Helix units Line 6 has sold?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stubish Posted April 21, 2017 Author Share Posted April 21, 2017 I recon they have sold enough that if there was a systemic problem, we would know about it! Loving it so far... only found one minor gripe and that is no ability to do multiple paralell path routes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PierM Posted April 21, 2017 Share Posted April 21, 2017 There are possible issues with soldering quality and stability on the back panels. The joystick/rotary it's one of the weak spots. Also the screen, on the floorboard, is easy to be kicked as there are not protections to prevent that. Since day one I've been complaining on that and in my humble opinion the unit it's more studio oriented than tour grade. I'm quite stressed when I'm playing live with this thing, since my style needs needs some realtime editing and tweaking straight on the board, and a failure could be pretty much pathetic to manage. I've sent the unit back for a repair on the joystick, which stopped working because of a soldering issue, now it's back with another issue where I need to push like crazy to make it click on the right selection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicLaw Posted April 21, 2017 Share Posted April 21, 2017 At Line 6's late August 2016 Open House Event, they were proudly asserting that Helix sales had already exceeded 10,000 units! I forgot to ask the same question at Winter NAMM in January. I would only be guessing as to what the unit sales figure would be today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocco_Crocco Posted April 21, 2017 Share Posted April 21, 2017 Mine has been fine for over a year, only very rare software glitches but other than that no problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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