Return to Helix (every time)

[jpstephens225]

For some reason, I keep jumping ship to try other things, but then i start to miss Helix and I can't figure out why.  I'm currently using a Fractal FM9 Turbo, grabbed it when my name came up on the wait list.  It sounds incredible, and i've learned how to program it.  But for some reason, I start looking at Helix again.  I think it's partially the community around the Helix, and also that I begin to see I can use the Helix and save money over the Turbo, all while still getting great sounds.  Maybe I have commitment issues..lol  Either way, here I am Helix shopping again..lol

[theElevators]

If you want to get a Helix again, the LT is really cheap nowadays, IMO the Floor doesn't really offer you anything worth spending an additional $600 dollars over.  Check eBay, the LT goes for like $900 open box. 

 

All modern processors IMO are equally capable of creating great sounds.  To me, I wish I had researched this before, the Helix suffers from low quality hardware in a big way.  Just now, I did a quick Google search and did not found a single hit for "foot switch intermittent failure" or "LED failure" on anything made by Fractal, or Headrush, or Boss.  Now do the same for the Line 6 stuff. 

 

Other pieces of gear have a complete foot switch you can swap out, for example this.  The Helix has micro-switches.  So if you want reliability and ruggedness on the road, the Helix is not it.

 

This is how normal pieces of gear are assembled: FS failed?  Open it up, unscrew the old one, put in the new one, plug it into the plug of the PCB.  Imagine that.  

 

[codamedia]

 

On 12/8/2022 at 10:15 AM, theElevators said:

The Helix has micro-switches.  So if you want reliability and ruggedness on the road, the Helix is not it.

 

IMO... I have no problem with the road worthiness of a Helix - and I use the lightweight LT. I'm 4+ years in with my Helix and I use it all the time (100+ shows per year). Yes, I do have a couple footswitches that need attention but after a few years I consider that general maintenance, not a catastrophe. My amps (when I used them) required service far more often than this. 

 

You gave BOSS a pass earlier in your post but FWIW, I have never owned a BOSS product that didn't use micro-switches for foot switches. Maybe the GT-1000 is different, but any product prior certainly has. I've got bags of different (Boss/Roland) microswitches in my parts bin... you can't tell me they don't fail. That's OK, I expect to do maintenance on the parts I stomp on thousands of times! 

 

 

[theElevators]

On 12/10/2022 at 9:53 AM, codamedia said:

 

 

IMO... I have no problem with the road worthiness of a Helix - and I use the lightweight LT. I'm 4+ years in with my Helix and I use it all the time (100+ shows per year). Yes, I do have a couple footswitches that need attention but after a few years I consider that general maintenance, not a catastrophe. My amps (when I used them) required service far more often than this. 

 

You gave BOSS a pass earlier in your post but FWIW, I have never owned a BOSS product that didn't use micro-switches for foot switches. Maybe the GT-1000 is different, but any product prior certainly has. I've got bags of different (Boss/Roland) microswitches in my parts bin... you can't tell me they don't fail. That's OK, I expect to do maintenance on the parts I stomp on thousands of times! 

 

 

I own an LT that I bought used -- after 3.5 years of heavy use, no issues whatsoever, except some buttons stopped being as reliable as before, but still completely usable.  Also the plastic ring around the LED cracked into 2 pieces, not an issue at all just cosmetic if at all-- fixed it with plastic glue.  Also cleaned out all the micro switches myself and now it has 0 issues. The Floor is another story. 

 

I bought the special edition Space Gray Helix Floor (maybe the special edition was the problem).  I bought it to use at shows and dress rehearsals only.  After a year and a half of very very very light use (about 12 shows in total), the Helix developed:

• Crooked expression pedal --the claw screws inside were not tightened properly, so the pedal started grinding against the side.  The fix was very simple, but still.
• 2 footswitches stopped being reliable.  Much worse than what the LT had. 
• 1/2 LED on one of the buttons stopped working. 

 

So the Floor was a lemon, the LT was fine.  Like I said, I feel that the "special edition Space Gray" had something to do with the lower quality. 

 

Maybe you don't switch your sounds as much as I do, I don't know.  My set has fairly frequent sound changes throughout the songs.  But this is unacceptable.  I repeat, I barely barely used the Floor, and it developed so many issue in such a short amount of time.

 

Plus, read my other posts about the horrendous service centers that break your things.  Some things are easy to fix, like cleaning the switches, greasing the pedal, the little stuff... other things like re-soldering microswitches or god forbid LEDs is impossible unless you have the necessary equipment.  Plus you always read all these posts here about things like:

• Helix not booting
• no sound
• blank screens

Imagine you are playing in Madison Square Garden.  Would you rely on this thing to be your only piece of equipment with no backup?  I sure wouldn't. 

[codamedia]

On 12/10/2022 at 9:27 AM, theElevators said:

Imagine you are playing in Madison Square Garden.  Would you rely on this thing to be your only piece of equipment with no backup?  I sure wouldn't. 

 

Well... I don't do any shows without a backup, never have, never will. Even a $50 fill in gig. I've always carried two amps, at least two guitars and several cables. I could care less if I lost an effect or two on a gig. These days two modelers instead of amps... Knock on wood, I've never needed the backup. 

 

On 12/10/2022 at 9:27 AM, theElevators said:

Plus you always read all these posts here about things like:

• Helix not booting
• no sound
• blank screens

 

You read about it here because this is where people come when there is a problem. What you don't read here are the thousands of views of users happily chugging along with no reason to lodge a complaint. 

 

On 12/10/2022 at 9:27 AM, theElevators said:

Read my other posts about the horrendous service centers that break your things. 

 

I have read your posts about the service techs and I feel for you. That's not right, especially handing something back in worse shape than when you took it there (stripped screws and such). I also keep loading your backup whenever I can to see if I can ever duplicate that bizarre "mono/stereo" bug you are encountering. I don't disregard it... I just can't seem to repeat it - probably because I can't let my Helix sit long enough with your settings loaded. 

 

I also get your point about buying a "lemon". It's never fun when you end up with one but we have the term "lemon" because it inflicts any product and product line. You have a lemon Helix Floor...  I have a lemon of a car, and a lemon of a dishwasher - both makes/models that normally get great ratings. I give the 1 star when everyone else is giving 4's and 5's. 

 

Don't get me wrong, I have my own list of dislikes with the Helix... I just don't believe it's any better or any worse than other major products in terms of reliability. The grass is not always greener on the other side. 

[PierM]

I had a floor; 2 scribble strips broken, joystick fail, rotary fail. Repaired all by myself and sold.

Then I had the rack; joystick fail, repaired under warranty. Joystick fail again, Helix Control with tap tempo microswitch misfire.... repaired by myself and sold after some time.

Now I only own the HX Stomp, patch rotary encoder starting misfiring.

 

As a loyal HX owner, fanboy and daily user, I can confirm hardware is subpar (at least in my own little statistic). :)