Six Questions Somewhat Newbish

[Danny_Muse]

I have a bunch of Line 6 gear (namely the Helix Floor and HX Stomp but other stuff too) and I've owned lots of other line 6 gear (now long gone).  I have a few (what may well be) simplistic questions for those more informed with Helix than me, given I've not gotten around to doing much patch management / patch editing.

 

1. On the Helix Floor (latest updates) it seems that all the patch slots are already taken with factory patches (i.e. there are no unused patch slots) thus there is no place to load in more patches without deleting some of the factory patches.  I bought some M Britt packs that I would like to load, but I do not want to lose any of the factory patches (I do not want to be tethered to a computer) plus I would like to confine all the M Britt packs to one spot on the Helix Floor so I can get to all of them easily and recognizably and sequentially.  All doable or no?

 

2. How many patches can the Helix Floor hold?

 

3. What were they thinking when they made the Helix Floor expression pedal so stiff?  I know it can be lubed and adjusted etc. but OEM it's kind'a silly compared to any other expression pedal I have. True / false?

 

4. The factory patches seem to have the expression pedal default to a volume pedal, but I cannot see where in the effects chain display, the volume pedal is located. It seems the volume pedal is always before the preamp / distortion, at least from what I can tell by ear, and I generally prefer the volume pedal at the very end of the chain. Where the hell is the volume pedal in the effects chain display for the factory patches?

 

5.  It seems like all the factory patches have a noise gate and I hate noise gates as they reduce the subtlety of natural volume envelope decay.  I cannot find where and/or if the noise gate is on for any of the factory patches but I would like to turn it off globally, if at all possible. Doable or no?

 

6.  Why is it that none of the factory patches default to having the expression pedal enabled as a wah or other controller, but always as a volume pedal?  That seems rather odd for a factory patch set designed to demonstrate the Helix Floor's potential. True / false?

 

7. Given I bought the M Britt packs prior to the latest Helix Floor firmware, I am beginning to wonder about how sensible it was to buy the M Britt packs, as the Helix Floor firmware changes some of the core tones.  True / false?

 

8.  It seems like the latest Helix Floor firmware / factory patches have been fine tuned for higher output humbucking pickups, and not vintage voiced single coils, at least that's what my ear tells me.  True / false?

[phil_m]

1&2 - There are 1024 preset slots available on the Helix - 8 setlists with 128 presets each. It sounds like you’re only looking at the first setlist.

 

3 - I personally really like the feel of the Helix pedal. It sounds like you need to loosen the bolt. The Helix comes with the proper size Allen wrench for this very purpose.

 

4 - Not sure I understand this comment. You should very easily be able to see where the Volume block is in the signal chain. It’s a blue icon with a series of lines in ascending sizes.

 

5 - Some of the factory presets have noise gates blocks in them, and some don’t. There’s also a noise gate available in the Input Block, but I don’t think that most factory presets use that. I’m not sure if any do, tbh.

 

6 - Most factory presets have EXP1 assigned to the wah and EXP2 assigned to the volume. You switch between EXP1 and EXP2 by depressing the toe switch underneath the expression pedal (pushing the pedal all the way forward and pushing down).

[Danny_Muse]

Thank you phil_m,

 

As to 4. all the factory patches never show any more than one expression pedal icon and it's always at the very beginning of the signal chain.

 

As to 5.  If as you say "some of the factory presets have noise gates blocks in them, and some don’t" then why would it be that the noise gate icon never shows on any of the factory patches in the display? And also if there are some factory patches that do not have a noise gate at all, then why would it be that all the factory patches not only sound like there is a noise gate, but none fully decay naturally thus all shut off when the signal gets low enough?  Is there some easy and simple way to ensure that none of factory patches have any kind of noise gate anywhere at all the signal chain?

 

[phil_m]

2 hours ago, Danny_Muse said:

As to 4. all the factory patches never show any more than one expression pedal icon and it's always at the very beginning of the signal chain.

 

I think you need to familiarize yourself with the different icons and blocks and some of the other functionality.

 

The purple icon is the Wah block, and the blue icon is the Volume block. So the wah is set up to be controlled by EXP1 by default, and the volume is set to be controlled by EXP2 by default. But these control assignments can be made to be whatever you want them to be. It doesn't really matter what's in the factory presets.

 

 

2 hours ago, Danny_Muse said:

As to 5.  If as you say "some of the factory presets have noise gates blocks in them, and some don’t" then why would it be that the noise gate icon never shows on any of the factory patches in the display? And also if there are some factory patches that do not have a noise gate at all, then why would it be that all the factory patches not only sound like there is a noise gate, but none fully decay naturally thus all shut off when the signal gets low enough?  Is there some easy and simple way to ensure that none of factory patches have any kind of noise gate anywhere at all the signal chain?

 

As I mentioned, there's a noise gate available in the Input Block (the one that says "Multi" above). You have to go there to turn it off. I was just clicking around some of the factory presets, and it looks like it is on in a good number of them.

 

[HonestOpinion]

3 hours ago, phil_m said:

...

 

6 - Most factory presets have EXP1 assigned to the wah and EXP1 assigned to the volume. You switch between EXP1 and EXP2 by depressing the toe switch underneath the expression pedal (pushing the pedal all the way forward and pushing down).

 

Great advice as always phil_m but I think you have a typo and meant to say "...and 'EXP2' assigned to the volume."

[phil_m]

5 minutes ago, HonestOpinion said:

 

Great advice as always phil_m but I think you have a typo and meant to say "...and 'EXP2' assigned to the volume."

Indeed… I fixed it.

[datacommando]

15 hours ago, Danny_Muse said:

I bought some M Britt packs that I would like to load, but I do not want to lose any of the factory patches (I do not want to be tethered to a computer) plus I would like to confine all the M Britt packs to one spot on the Helix Floor so I can get to all of them easily and recognizably and sequentially.  All doable or no?

 

I have MBritt Helix Preset Pack 1 and just loaded them into the Setlist "USER 2" and they occupy slots 01A (MB 13 Cleanish) through to 08D (MB Wanged).  The Impulse Response files for each preset are loaded into the first 30 IR Slots. All the info for loading the IRs is supplied in the pdf documentation that ships with the preset pack.

 

You also say that you "do not want to be tethered to a computer". Mmm... well if you want to load third party preset packs, you have to be connected to a computer. HX Edit is the software librarian and editor for all the HX family of products, so if you really want to organise, and edit your presets you will need to become familiar with how it works.

 

You ask - "Given I bought the M Britt packs prior to the latest Helix Floor firmware, I am beginning to wonder about how sensible it was to buy the M Britt packs, as the Helix Floor firmware changes some of the core tones.  True / false?"

 

Why would you think that? If anything in the Helix is modified in the firmware it's usually to make improvements. I cannot comprehend why you think that Line 6 would change the firmware to make some thing sound worse. I have been using the MBritt pack regularly since early 2018 and have never had any issues - they are preset patches, they just work like any other - it's simply computer code.

 

Also you comment - It seems like the latest Helix Floor firmware / factory patches have been fine tuned for higher output humbucking pickups, and not vintage voiced single coils, at least that's what my ear tells me.  True / false?

 

You do realise that the guitar inputs on Helix not only have a built in Noise Gate (which you say that you hate) they also have an additional impedance circuit on them that can affect the "tone and feel" of your pickups. This can be modified to suit the loading from 10k Ohms up to 1M Ohm or Auto setting which can be changed in the Global preferences. (See manual)

 

Therefore, you possibly just need to fire up HX Edit, and back up all the factory presets for safe keeping, then load up your MBritt Pack preset to wherever you think you may need them and away you go. It might be advisable to spend some time with the manual and get used to the various icons used for each type of effect block that are used in the Helix. It makes it easier to navigate what exactly is what.

 

Hope this helps/makes sense.

[phil_m]

16 hours ago, Danny_Muse said:

 

7. Given I bought the M Britt packs prior to the latest Helix Floor firmware, I am beginning to wonder about how sensible it was to buy the M Britt packs, as the Helix Floor firmware changes some of the core tones.  True / false?

 What’s false is your post title now… You can’t just keep on adding questions willie-nillie…

 

Also, are you a lawyer… This post feels like a cross-examination.

 

Actually, the firmware changes rarely change the core tones. The 3.10 update added increased oversampling, which changes the way the model algorithms are processed, and the amount to which it changes the overall tone is up for debate, I suppose. I’ve certainly not heard anyone say it made things sound worse. 
 

16 hours ago, Danny_Muse said:

 

8.  It seems like the latest Helix Floor firmware / factory patches have been fine tuned for higher output humbucking pickups, and not vintage voiced single coils, at least that's what my ear tells me.  True / false?

They haven’t been fine tuned to anything, I’d say, other than perhaps whatever guitars the people were using to make them. Really, the factory presets are just there because people expect them. I wouldn’t spend much time analyzing them.
 

 

[datacommando]

18 hours ago, phil_m said:

Also, are you a lawyer… This post feels like a cross-examination.

True / false? Who knows?

 

But, it does seem as if someone has bought into the Helix idea of modelling without doing any research whatsoever. Although, he says that he owns a Helix floor and a Stomp - yet only one registered product in the profile.

 

Why would anyone not know how many setlists and preset slots are available in the unit, then think that all the available slots are filled up with factory presets. Plus also go an buy a bunch of third party presets and then doubt that they would sound right, because the firmware had been updated since they were made.

I think this fish is more than a little bit off.

[codamedia]

On 6/16/2021 at 5:23 PM, Danny_Muse said:

I am beginning to wonder about how sensible it was to buy the M Britt packs, as the Helix Floor firmware changes some of the core tones.  True / false?

 

FALSE: Line 6 is known to add a new variant rather than overwrite the core tone of an amp/effect that already exists. They are well aware that some people depend on those staying consistent. 

 

Example: People have complained for years that the RAT had to be modelled from a "unhealthy" pedal because it didn't respond like a real RAT.  Line 6 did not "fix" the existing RAT because some people were using it, instead they added a new RAT variant that was more authentic.

 

The only time I know of a "core sound" changing was the REVERB depth increase in 2.6 or 2.7. Even then the sound didn't change, the amount of reverb you could attain did. Line 6 warned everyone that their presets would be wetter and require the blend to be turned down on each preset. 

 

On 6/16/2021 at 5:23 PM, Danny_Muse said:

8.  It seems like the latest Helix Floor firmware / factory patches have been fine tuned for higher output humbucking pickups, and not vintage voiced single coils, at least that's what my ear tells me.  True / false?

 

I'd call "false" on this one as well. I find the gain structure on stock presets and default settings to be rather "hot".... as if they were prepared with low output pickups - but that's just most of the stuff I use... which is likely different from the stuff you use. 

 

In reality, the stock presets and default settings were likely set by different people at Line 6 over time - each using different instruments. Now they added some "artist presets" which expands the possibility of instruments used.

 

IMO... this is why PRESETS SUCK! It's not because they actually do (well, sometimes - LOL)... it's because none were made with MY GUITARS! You need to roll your own if you truly want to be happy with the Helix. 

 

Just my 2 cents.

[codamedia]

15 hours ago, datacommando said:

True / false? Who knows?

 

Yeah.... good point. Rather than "True/False?" I'd just call these "odd assumptions" :)