External Pedal routing

[Ratch99]

Hi all.

 

I'm so new I haven't even taken delivery of my HX Stomp yet!

 

But one thing I'd like to be able to do right away is use some existing pedals. I'll be running it straight into active monitors at home. The additional pedals I want to use are:

 

A Looper

Freeze Pedal

EQ

 

I'm happy to ditch these if the Helix can do this already (all about less stuff at home) but I do like the idea of having these particular pedals as instant options outside of the Helix. 

 

Do I route them inline before the Helix or add them into the chain via the send / return? If I add them in via presets, I would have to do that for every preset?

 

Patience appreciated!

 

R

[DunedinDragon]

Other than EQ, Helix has limited capabilities for Freeze and Looping.  They might be sufficient for your needs, but you'll have to figure that out once you get the unit and start learning it.  EQ on the other hand is probably much more comprehensive than your separate unit because there's a wide range of different EQ tools.

 

As far as routing external pedals, most often people tend to just go into them before the Helix, but you can route them inline if you want to place them more appropriately in your signal chain pre or post amp.  In the case of the Looper and Freeze pedal those would certainly be candidates for that.  But you would need to add send/returns in any preset that might use them, so it depends on how you organize your presets.  For example, I use a preset for each song in order to allow me to customize the amp/cab/mic and other aspects I want to tailor to the song so there's a number of presets I probably wouldn't need to account for those external pedals.  How you approach it may be different so the answer is.....it depends.

[theElevators]

Helix has all of these.  Ditch the pedals.  The only thing is that depending on your signal chain, you may run out of DSP...

 

When it comes to where to place the pedals:

 

1. looper -- most likely add this at the very very end of your chain, followed by delay/reverb

2. Freeze pedal -- same as above: don't add it in the beginning of the chain, otherwise, if you have the distortion block it will distort things and make playing frozen and regular parts a giant mess

3. EQ -- there are many ways to place it.  I personally add EQ right before the amp block to have a more piercing lead sound.  But you may place it anywhere you want. 

 

 

[Ratch99]

Thank you chaps. I’ll let you know how I get on.

[Ratch99]

Well, I got the thing and set it all up. Downloaded the latest HX Edit for Mac which prompted me to update the Stomp to firmware 3.5.

 

i did so and about 5 mins in got an error. It asked me to switch it off and on and try again. I did - and now I have a messed up screen and no sound whatsoever.

 

 

 

As it’s firmware, I assume there’s no way to go back?

 

 What now?

[datacommando]

On 3/2/2023 at 7:53 PM, Ratch99 said:

i did so and about 5 mins in got an error. It asked me to switch it off and on and try again. I did - and now I have a messed up screen and no sound whatsoever.

Hi,

 

You’re not going to like this, but this sort of thing happens when you don’t follow the installation instructions to the letter. 
 

You have only just got your new HX Stomp, and tried to update to the latest firmware, but you didn’t say what version of the firmware was installed on your device when you plugged it in.

 

I mention this because v.2.80 made a major change to the Core of the Helix engine. When updating to that version the update would appear to fail about 50% of the way through. This is mentioned in the Release notes for the firmware. This “Boot Failure” message was very upsetting for many users who failed to follow the instructions and screwed up the installation. Luckily, for most this was recoverable - it’s only software after all.

 

IIRC, the update to 3.50 also had this if you were updating from prior to 2.80 the update would produce the “Boot Failure - Entered Update Mode”. Do not panic -this is normal!

 

Anyhow, I seriously suggest you go here and follow the instructions - do not deviate from the instructions.
 

 

if you need them - find the reset options for your unit here.

 

https://helixhelp.com/tips-and-guides/universal/reset-options

 

 

Hope this helps/makes sense.

 

[Ratch99]

 

On 3/3/2023 at 12:28 AM, datacommando said:

You’re not going to like this, but this sort of thing happens when you don’t follow the installation instructions to the letter. 

So for the third time, I followed the instructions to the letter. I read the notes. The firmware was something like 3.0.1 on first power up and I followed the prompts on HX Edit exactly.

 

I can see you’re all clearly bored of this issue but this looks like something Line6 should’ve sorted a while ago, rather than put users through unnecessary aggro.

[PierM]

On 3/3/2023 at 9:12 AM, Ratch99 said:

 

So for the third time, I followed the instructions to the letter. I read the notes. The firmware was something like 3.0.1 on first power up and I followed the prompts on HX Edit exactly.

 

I can see you’re all clearly bored of this issue but this looks like something Line6 should’ve sorted a while ago, rather than put users through unnecessary aggro.

 

Many updates ago I also had that corrupted LCD after an Helix update, but I quickly and easily solved following those same advices.

 

If you tried all the suggestions above, there is nothing more you can do.

 

Contact support through a ticket.

 

 

[Ratch99]

Got this sorted in the end. Although the updater still stops and fails with full error messages every time, it appears to be working and updated to 3.50.

 

 Thanks all.

[datacommando]

On 3/3/2023 at 8:12 AM, Ratch99 said:

So for the third time, I followed the instructions to the letter. I read the notes. The firmware was something like 3.0.1 on first power up and I followed the prompts on HX Edit exactly.

 

I can see you’re all clearly bored of this issue but this looks like something Line6 should’ve sorted a while ago, rather than put users through unnecessary aggro.

Oh, not so much bored by the issues, more bored by the constant steam of whiny “update bricked my Helix” posts.
 

The vast majority of these are a result of people failing to follow the instructions, and/or a flakey USB connection. Most of these situations can be avoided by taking a little more time and paying attention to what is happening.

 

The “unnecessary aggro” you mention is generally self inflicted! Bet you were really elated to get your brand new Stomp and update it immediately - in your excitement you may have overlooked some minor detail. But, hey! It’s not the end of the world - it’s only software and it can be reinstalled, and as you have discovered - now everything works.

Enjoy your new toy!

 

Hope this helps/makes sense