Helix Floor Headphone Hiss

[Zlarson91]

Hey everyone, 

 

My Helix Floor just acquired a new issue and I wanted to bring it by you all here to see if anyone has had a similar issue, before taking it in or opening a ticket. 

 

I have been using my Helix for a few years, but after returning from a gig a new problem has developed. When using the Headphone output, the Left Monitor has an audible hiss that occurs whenever I play through the Guitar or Aux input. It is especially prominent on lower frequencies. If I use the USB as the input (ex. for a track), there is no hiss. I have swapped out guitars, cables, and headphones, and eliminated each one of them as the hiss culprit. So the problem seems to be with something in the Helix. I did a factory reset and updated to the most recent firmware, but the hiss remains the same. As mentioned above, this started happening after returning from a gig. I would not be surprised if the travel damaged the Helix, despite being in a reinforced Gator Road Case (Seen Here), but there's no physical damage on the Helix or case so I can't totally point the finger in that direction. 

 

I have attached a short video below. I couldn't capture the sound from the actual headphones, as my phone wouldn't pick up the sound. So, I plugged a little Powerwerks 50 PA Speaker into the headphone jack, and captured the sound that way. For the video I used the standard Helix presets for the US Double NRM and Essex A30, with a front noise gate (my tele has a hum), and no effects. 

 

Any suggestions are welcome. Also, if any of you are in NYC and have a recommended Helix tech, throw their name my way just in case I do need to take it in! 

 

Thanks - Zac 

 

 

Youtube Video: 

 

[MusicLaw]

My immediate first impression is that the "hiss" is concurrent only with the audible signal from your guitar. Between string strikes when the sting is muted, I did not hear any hiss whatsoever.

 

You might want to try triggering the internal oscillator synth in the Helix, without any guitar connected to see if you still hear any hiss via the headphones out. 

 

With the Input Block set to Guitar and the headphone knob at full clockwise position with no other blocks assigned on the signal path (aside from the Output Block) do you hear any hiss from the headphone jack aside from any quiescent hiss that you may also be hearing from the Main Outputs?

[Zlarson91]

On 5/24/2022 at 4:53 PM, MusicLaw said:

My immediate first impression is that the "hiss" is concurrent only with the audible signal from your guitar. Between string strikes when the sting is muted, I did not hear any hiss whatsoever.

 

You might want to try triggering the internal oscillator synth in the Helix, without any guitar connected to see if you still hear any hiss via the headphones out. 

 

With the Input Block set to Guitar and the headphone knob at full clockwise position with no other blocks assigned on the signal path (aside from the Output Block) do you hear any hiss from the headphone jack aside from any quiescent hiss that you may also be hearing from the Main Outputs?

 

Hi MusicLaw, 

 

I just tried the internal oscillator synth (thanks for the suggestion) and, Yes the hiss is still present in the headphones as it was before (Left Monitor Only). 

 

I tried putting the Input Block to Guitar with Headphone Knob at full clockwise with no extra blocks, as you suggested, and get the hiss only when I strike a string. This also happens if I use the Aux input. 

 

 

[MusicLaw]

The next thing I would suggest is that you do a full Factory Reset of the hardware. Then I would entirely uninstall all Helix software and drivers from your computer, but first use HX Edit to backup any Presets you may wish to preserve. Then to assure a clean non corrupted set of software and drivers, download and reinstall to your computer the entire HX Edit package. This will handle reinstalling all of your drivers, etc. to your computer. Then connect your Helix to your computer and allow HX Edit to recognize the Helix and reinstall all the software. Then, with a known clean install see if the problem persists. If not, use HX Edit to restore any Presets you may have backed up earlier. After the restore of any such Presets, do the Power On Press and Hold FS 10 & 11 to rebuild the Presets. See HelixHelp.com > Reset Optons for all the Power Up options.

 

If the above does not resolve the hiss problem, Open a Support Ticket with Line 6 so they can get you sorted out.