Mysterious volume pedal issue

[Williamlavon]

Yesterday I was playing an outside gig and it was quite hot (possibly important). Just as we were doing sound check my volume was starting to fade way. I looked down and although the volume pedal was all the way down, the display that shows the volume level as a percentage was changing from 100 to 90 to 80 etc all the way down to 10. It was like a ghost was turning my volume down. I tried different patches and the same thing would happen. I powered if off, then back on and got the same thing. Finally it stopped doing it  and I played the gig with no trouble. So I don’t know why or what happened and more importantly if it will happen again. Any one have any ideas? Thanks

[codamedia]

 

 

On 7/5/2022 at 5:38 PM, Williamlavon said:

Finally it stopped doing it  and I played the gig with no trouble. So I don’t know why or what happened and more importantly if it will happen again. Any one have any ideas?

 

Absolutely.... it was the Sun! It's not the heat of the sun, it's the light of the sun.

 

When the sun hits the Helix at the perfect (should I say worst) angle it interferers with the optical sensor that controls the expression pedal. The sun likely changed it's position (or went down) when the problem mysteriously went away, just as quickly as it mysteriously appeared. The angle has to be just right and the problem only lasts about an hour at most - but I guess that is dependent on where you live, and stage directions. 

 

I have to built a temporary sun blocker around my Helix (LT) on "some" sunny outdoor gigs. My old POD X3 Live used to have the same problem, my HD500 did not. 

 

By chance, do you own an LT? I think it is more susceptible to this problem than the Helix Floor is.... but I don't think the Floor model is immune completely.