Helix 2.3 tips

[PeterHamm]

1. Cartographer. PLEASE play a LOT with the controls. They are interactive in a weird way I can’t explain.

2. Victoria. Good god that’s fun.

3. Trainwreck. No. Really. It’s amazing, too. Go all over the map with Drive. It’s serious.

4. Space Echo. DO IT NOW! New favorite delay.

5. Xotic pedals are both really awesome. Really. As in, every single patch awesome.

6. The new Plexi Trem. YEAH!

 

BEST update yet.

[NerdOfTheYear]

What? No love for the Thrifter? I did a quick 5 minute run of all the things they added and it was the thing that caught my attention the most. It's the first fuzz on the Helix that had the sound I was looking for :D

[tedulrich]

Hell, so far I'm happy with the new editor.  Everything else is icing at this point.  :lol:

[specracer986]

My plan was to sit back and wait till the dust settled. You guys are making that VERY difficult. :)

[FlyingsCool]

Do it Do it Do it Do it

(I can't give advice, I'm updating now.... well, other than the above... well, I suppose that's just poking you ;)  )

[blutac]

The amps are good and the Space Echo is nice but the Kinky stuff gets my biggest thumbs up, the comp is great for adding sustain and it seems to level out the volumes between snapshots really well. I've tried it before and after full amp models and amps with IR's, really liking what its done to my gigging set up.

[phil_m]

Ben Adrian's notes on the new "Cartographer" model: https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?posts/25282322/

 

Cartographer Amp Information and Instructions

The Cartographer amp in Helix is a model of an amp that I built for myself to use in my band "Cartographer." The amp started its life as a 1977 Traynor YBA-1. When it came into my possession, it had been poorly modded as was not working very well. I decided to take the amp and mod it myself into the amp that would work best for my band's sound, and my unique guitar (an Electrical Guitar Company C500).

The first step was to get it working. I took out all the old modifications. I cascaded the bright and normal channels, making it a single channel amp. I began with a circuit very close to the JMP MkII amp. This included adding a master volume. The output transformer (OT) was not performing well, and was on the small side for a 50 watt amp. I replaced it with a larger OT. The amp was a bit bright for me (my guitar has a lot of highs), so I nudged the tone stack component values a bit, and I removed the two high-shelf circuits in the preamp.

Of course, I couldn't leave the amp alone. As time went on I changed some resistor values to add more gain. I added the second gain knob, which adjusts the volume between the second and the third gain stages. This allows the preamp's distortion voicing to be varied by adjusting where the most distortion is being generated in the preamp. Around this time I began my job at Line 6. Every month I had a different amplifier on my bench. Any time I discovered a clever or particularly good sounding bit of circuit, I would try it out in my personal amp to see if it pushed it into a more pleasing direction. I also began using other guitars and realized that I needed those high shelf circuits for darker pickups. I added presence and depth controls. People around the office played the amp and lobbied to get it put into Helix. I was happy to oblige.

Since the amp model is unique and slightly complicated, I wanted to give a rundown of the amp parameters.

Drive 1, Drive 2

Drive 1 is the traditional gain knob in a high gain, master volume amp. This is located between the first tube gain stage and the second tube gain stage. Drive 2 controls the amount of gain between the second tube gain stage and the third tube gain stage. The character of the amp can change drastically based on where these knobs are in relation to one another.

Drive 2 at max is the default position for high gain tones. then Drive 1 is the traditional gain knob. Of course, watch out for the Master knob being too high or things can get mushy.

If Drive 1 is set low (say about 3) and the Master is set high, then the amp will get a plexi normal channel vibe with Drive 2 acting as the gain knob.

With Drive 2 set low (2-3), and the Master volume at full, the amp can get big and clean, with Drive 1 bringing in just a bit of grit as it is turned up.

There are lots of textures available. Please experiment with the interactivity between Drive 1, Drive 2, and the Master volume.


Bass, Middle, Treble
These behave line a regular amp tone stack; located between the preamp and the power amp. Of course the values are slightly different than the big name amps. Use your ears and turn until it sounds good.

Channel Volume
Like on every other amp in Helix, this is a volume control at the end of the model used to adjust the overall level of the preset without changing the tone or distortion amount.

Master
This knob behaves like the Master Volume on the actual amp. It's located after the preamp, but before the power amp. When it's turned up high it will cause power amp distortion and saturation. At lower levels it will add less of its non-linearity and the tone and distortion of the preamp will come through more clearly.

Presence, Depth
These are similar to other amp models that have these controls. Presence and Depth are treble and bass boosts respectively. They occur after the preamp but before the power amp. They can affect overall tone of the amp model, or help define the character of the power amp clipping. They can also be said to affect the damping in the power amp.

Bright 1, Bright 2
The Cartographer amp has two bright switches. Both of these switches are high shelf boosts. Bright 1 adds a high boost after the first tube preamp stage. Bright 2 adds a high boost after the second tube preamp stage. They can be subtle, especially at higher gain setting. The usually affect the character and the harmonics of the preamp gain rather than provide a distinctive level boost in the high frequencies. Try turning them on for darker guitars. try experimenting by turning on each one individually and then both at the same time to discover how each one modifies the sound.

Sag, Hum, Ripple, Bias, Bias eXcursion
These behave the same as on other amp models.

Have fun, experiment with knobs, and enjoy.

[jbuhajla]

Backup and restore is a piece of cake!

 

Install new software first

Make a backup with HX Edit 2.3

Update firmware

Restore backup

Done!

 

did cycle power after restoring so it would rebuild presets again.

 

BRILLIANT! It even backs up and restores IRs.

[glideman]

Easiest update ever since release!!!

[pilottes]

Yep! Pretty cool indeed. Love the Cartographer.

 

Upgrade went smootly except for a couple of glitches.

 

Streaming Audio stop working. Had to go in Globals and put the USB 1,2 to multi. and the 10 stomps stopped as well, had to flip flop to 8 and 10.

 

Fuzz is more in line with my définition of a Fuzz.

 

Happy!

[AlexKenivel]

I was really excited for the new editor and hoped that it would solve my USB connection issues. Sadly this is not the case and I'm still experiencing dropouts left and right. Otherwise, I still don't get to play with anything because I have a very sick two year old throwing up everywhere. I'm looking forward to the long weekend

[shanecgriffo]

hi is there a release notes?? be really great if they posted one on here with everything included .. i'm just on my phone currently and when i go to check the "read more" on the downloads area it wont go anywhere.. i'd like to check out what got released

[AlexKenivel]

http://line6.com/support/topic/18284-latest-helix-firmware-230—nov-21-2017/#entry234679

 

Click and scroll up

[shanecgriffo]

oh ok!! oops and thanks.. when it loaded before i only saw the end posts .. great thanks :)

[pinoy1]

LOL... This is got to be the easiest update ever!!!  

I have not even played around with the new amps and effects but I feel like I owe it to the men and women responsible on bringing this new Helix Editor to life.  

 

I am a developer myself and I can appreciate a good software when I see one.  The create backup and restore backup capabilities alone is enough for admissions ladies and gents!  

The GUI is very responsive and the redesign is intuitive!  

 

I have not even used the other editors from the competition, heck one of them does not even have one, but I'm willing to bet that this Helix Editor will kick their @$$!  

 

Kudos to the whole team.  Whoever you are.  Big Thank You!!!  

 

Now back to playing... :D

[j_hotch]

I'm also loving these updates.  The new GUI is great, the backup/restore worked like a champ for me and the new models are icing on the top.  Thanks!

[soblivion]

I installed the new FW and HX Edit to my LT without a hitch. Everything went smooth and is working as expected.

 

What I didn't do it install the new HX Edit first and do a backup... but all my presets seem to be intact and working fine. I read the forum instructions after the fact. Neither the download site nor the updater mention using HX Edit to backup before installing the firmware update.

Been playing with it for several hours now and no problems to speak of.

 

The update was pretty much painless and so far I've only noticed improvements.

[requietus666]

Update went smooth, as always. The new backing up global settings and IRS is excellent time saving and convenience feature !

 

And... Cartographer !!! What a brilliant and flexible model this is !! thx L6 ! I just can't get past it to try other new features !!! :-D

[Charvel2]

The Plexi Trem Brt is the only amp I've messed with so far, but it might be the best vintage Marshall sim I've ever heard. It's got all the drive and balls you'd want, but there's a lovely chime to it as well that's very AC/DC. Add in the Kinky Boost for a not-far-off approximation of the Schaffer wireless used on Back in Black.

 

Oddly, I did the backup to HX Edit, but didn't do a restore, but everything's there anyway, including my IRs. Should I do a restore anyway, or leave well enough alone?

[shanecgriffo]

ohh that cosmos echo.. can get lost in that one, set the feed back just on the edge of self oscilatting and let it take you away 😉ðŸ‘

[bsd512]

Cartographer! Thank you, Line 6!

[dalton_louzada]

Yep! Pretty cool indeed. Love the Cartographer.

 

Upgrade went smootly except for a couple of glitches.

 

Streaming Audio stop working. Had to go in Globals and put the USB 1,2 to multi. and the 10 stomps stopped as well, had to flip flop to 8 and 10.

 

Fuzz is more in line with my définition of a Fuzz.

 

Happy!

[troy]

subscribed, many thanks for the explanation!