How does the Helix react to external drive pedals ?

[josegermain]

I remember and old thread about the noise levels on the fx loop making the use of external pedals very difficult. Is that something that was resolved on later firmware updates?

Oddly enough , by searching the same subject i landed on other forums prasing the way pedals react with the Helix. So , what's the deal ?  

Thanks!

[rvroberts]

The Deal is that it was never a problem for the majority of users.  One problem with forums is that the problems of a few often get blown out of proportion - like the comment you just made - it was never a fact.

Most problems come from power loops, bad cables etc.  And can therefore be fixed - and might need the same attention on a conventional pedal board.

This can be exaggerated if some source that is already noisy is plugged into a very high gain amp - it's probably going to lift the noise floor to somewhere unbearable no matter what.  So dealing with the quality of what you feed into the signal chain and how you handle it is a real concern - nothing to do with the Helix - watch "That Pedal Show"

It's why Dan has a business building big boards.

There are pedals that don't play well with others - like a Fuzz Face - it needs to be first in a chain - it just is as it is - nothing to do with Helix.

[mbtainton]

I run silicon fuzz pedals in the loops of my LT and a DAM hybrid fuzz in front of it. Both work great. I’ve also run drives in the loops without issue. The Helix reacts nicely. 

 

I had the issue with noisy loops on my HX but that was one of the first batch and Line6 replaced it with one that worked perfectly. 

[tjbassoon]

They'll sound different, since they'll be in a very buffered signal path. Just don't expect them to sound like Guitar > Fuzz (or whatever) > Amp, if you put them in the effects loop. They'll work, and you'll get good sounds out of them, but they won't sound like they're inside a fully true-bypass pedalboard setup.

[josegermain]

 

Good enough. To be honest,  the Helix packs such a great overdrive collection  that i highly doubt that i'm going to really need external pedals., but sometimes is fun to experiment.

My Helix arrives tomorrow , can't wait.

 

[Verne-Bunsen]

1 hour ago, tjbassoon said:

They'll sound different, since they'll be in a very buffered signal path. Just don't expect them to sound like Guitar > Fuzz (or whatever) > Amp, if you put them in the effects loop. They'll work, and you'll get good sounds out of them, but they won't sound like they're inside a fully true-bypass pedalboard setup.

This. I run my fuzzes in front of Helix instead of in loops for this reason. Works just fine that way too.

[spikey]

I have a "Lagrange" pedal I use in one of the send/return jacks and use it all the time in "front" of the amp. It sounds great!

[MikeDV1]

I use a variety of pedals in a loop, changing them on a whim.  They sound great, and never have a problem.  Never tried them in front of the Helix.  Since I do have those pedals, I haven't tried to reproduce them with the Helix models.    EWS Brute Drive, Kollmanation, MI Audio Super Crunch Drive, Xotic BB Preamp - some that aren't in there that have their own personalties, but I think with some of the existing models, and some EQ I could get pretty close.