Line 6 Helix HX effects unit leaked....

John_A

I'd say do AB them, I did and actually preferred  the  modelled drives to the 'real thing'. Get someone else to switch them or do it your self without looking so you aren't biased.  I think you'll be surprised 

dindude

Of course compare if you have the luxury of not having to sell the pedals to fund the HX. Short span A/B’ing does drive me to distraction though, and is a path to insanity. What I’d do is spend a an hour or so playing just the drives on the HX, then plug your drives into the loops and spend a few more hours. Repeat if possible. Then go have a walk / dinner / beer. One of the options will be lodged in your ear-memory (I’ve made that up but you know what I mean) more than the other.

Sporky

jellybelly said:

So the logic is here... no sorry I can’t figure it out. Why wouldn’t I try both side by side to see if there’s a big difference and whether I have a preference? I’m not expecting them to be identical. 

What happens if the Helix is better for some drives and not others? What if it sounds better but you can't get on with the interface?

I think the important question is whether it works for you overall. It's easy to get mired in detail and tiny differences.

jellybelly

Sporky said:

jellybelly said:

So the logic is here... no sorry I can’t figure it out. Why wouldn’t I try both side by side to see if there’s a big difference and whether I have a preference? I’m not expecting them to be identical. 

What happens if the Helix is better for some drives and not others? What if it sounds better but you can't get on with the interface?

I think the important question is whether it works for you overall. It's easy to get mired in detail and tiny differences.

I know what you mean, I guess I’m confident it’s not going to be absolutely perfect, I think I can make a distinction between it working for me or not. But I’ve had it too many times before, thinking something sounded great in the shop then really paling next to other gear when I got it home...

meltedbuzzbox

Sporky said:

jellybelly said:

So the logic is here... no sorry I can’t figure it out. Why wouldn’t I try both side by side to see if there’s a big difference and whether I have a preference? I’m not expecting them to be identical. 

What happens if the Helix is better for some drives and not others? What if it sounds better but you can't get on with the interface?

I think the important question is whether it works for you overall. It's easy to get mired in detail and tiny differences.

To be honest I don't get that logic either.

What works for one person doesn't work for the next. 

digitalscream

meltedbuzzbox said:

Sporky said:

jellybelly said:

So the logic is here... no sorry I can’t figure it out. Why wouldn’t I try both side by side to see if there’s a big difference and whether I have a preference? I’m not expecting them to be identical. 

What happens if the Helix is better for some drives and not others? What if it sounds better but you can't get on with the interface?

I think the important question is whether it works for you overall. It's easy to get mired in detail and tiny differences.

To be honest I don't get that logic either.

What works for one person doesn't work for the next. 

Indeed. I don't rate the Helix as the best for me because of its faithful reproduction of each amp and pedal. I rate it as the best for me because the overall package means it can make me sound like the best version of me for any combination of amps, effects and inputs/outputs that I want, with extremely little effort.

BintyTwanger77

I would definitely consider a Helix LT or a GT1000 if I was currently gigging with the guitar... seeing as I haven't mastered MIDI. I couldn't get an ES5 to work and that's apparently one of the easier ones.

The Helix range is just so easy to use. Wonder how the GT1000 will stack up.

Sporky

meltedbuzzbox said:

To be honest I don't get that logic either.

What works for one person doesn't work for the next. 

You can use that sort of post to dismiss anything anyone says - it's boilerplate negativity.

But what I said was that the important thing is to see if the Helix works for you overall. Are you really disagreeing with that?

meltedbuzzbox

Sporky said:

meltedbuzzbox said:

To be honest I don't get that logic either.

What works for one person doesn't work for the next. 

You can use that sort of post to dismiss anything anyone says - it's boilerplate negativity.

But what I said was that the important thing is to see if the Helix works for you overall. Are you really disagreeing with that?




It was more in reference to you saying that he shouldn't A/B pedals and me agreeing with jellybelly.
Stop being so argumentative you miserable old sod :-p

menamestom

FWIW I think the Helix Timmy is great, sounds spot on.  Definitely the best digital drive I’ve ever used and light years ahead of anything else I’ve tried.  

Most off the others are usable, but as a core sound into a valve amp, I can get away with just the Timmy.

I’m just finishing off setting up our new studio, when it’s done in the next few weeks I’m going to get some good clips of the Helix into an amp, with some nice lower gain sounds.

Sporky

meltedbuzzbox said:

Stop being so argumentative you miserable old sod :-p

I already explained why I think that A/Bing isn't an approach that leads to happiness.

There is no need for you to call me names - this isn't a school playground.

rossyamaha

Personally, I’m for doing an a/b test. It will do one of 2 things. Give you more confidence in how good the fx actually are or make you realise that all fx are not made equally. At one time I had 3 Klons. They all sounded different. Not even slightly different. Something else I’ve found is that I can use an effect to get me to where I want to be better than the one I was using before. Case in point, I’m a big fan of the radial classic and trimode. After some testing, I found I preferred the tone on the sonic distortion model. That let me still use the tone bone but for something else it does well that I couldn’t find in Helix. 

There are are no rights or wrongs with this. You may do an a/b with a rat and a model and prefer one or the other. The greatest thing about Helix is that if that’s the case, you have the option to use one or the other. Or both for different things. 

guitarfishbay

I think some people are inclined to A/B test and some aren't.

I used to do it a lot, then decided to go on instinct more.

However, A/Bing worked out for me recently. I had a Darkglass B3K, bought a B7KU and didn’t AB for ages as I just assumed they'd sound the same but the Ultra would have more options.

Decided I’d sell the B3K but was in no rush. Eventually I plugged it in to test and thought it sounded better - more aggressive.

I A/B’d the Helix B7KU and real B7KU and did prefer the real pedal, but given I thought the B3K was actually the best sounding of the bunch, plus the Helix Native plugin had a load of other great stuff in it, I decided to sell the B7KU instead and buy Native.  That's worked out well because I really like a bunch of the delays in there as well as the bass models I initially bought it for, and given the upcoming update it'll be the biggest expansion of plugin effects I've had.

Teetonetal

I don't need to do an a/b test. I find it pretty clear cut as to what works and what doesn't I don't feel the need to hammer down a sound to the nth degree. 

gibsongretschfan

I have my full drive section on my board with Helix. However, that’s because Helix doesn’t have any of those pedals present inside.

I did recently ditch my SP compressor though. I tried the new Helix model and within about 20 seconds knew it would work. The last thing I wanted to do was start A/B’ing then because it would probably melt my ears then break my heart a little.

A/B’ing for fun is fun. That’s cool of you want to do that but my advice is give it a play and if it works then it works. Does it matter that you slightly prefer your own TS808 to the modelled one when you play them side by side as long as the modelled one still hits the spot?

i suppose for this to work you already need to know what you’re looking for sound wise before you begin

Cabicular

I know what tone works for me and what I need it to feel like
i know what components get me in the ball park
if I’m using the Minotaur instead of the Tubescreamer or using an Eq instead of a treble boost it doesn’t matter to me.
as long as I get to the time I need I just keep trying things until I get there
i have a Kemper, an Axe FX 2 and Helix as well as a bunch of boutique pedals
I bet if I posted up clips, you couldn’t tell which was which.
So for me it doesn’t matter if the Helix Tubescreamer is identical to my own or if the Placator sounds like my BE
It’s the whole picture not the authenticity of the paints.

gibsongretschfan

meltedbuzzbox said:

Sporky said:

meltedbuzzbox said:

I don't think the effects are as amazing as some people make them out to be (and judging from the amount of people that utilise the fx loops I might not be the only one), but that's my opinion and I am entitled to it. 

The individual blocks are fine. For me it's how you can combine them with the multiple paths that elevates the Helix above much of the competition (full fat AxeFX aside, for example).

It's flexibility is brilliant. Fudging the fx loop has been handy for dry/wet recordings.

The thing is I still have my pedals/pedalboard as I was wary about getting a helix again. I do have the luxury of comparison and unsurprisingly I do prefer my pedals over the helix effects. But that's expected after years of flipping and experimenting etc. And as mentioned above they come in handy with the loop.

I'm not knocking all the inbuilt effects but equally I do think a few are sub par. Particularly drives, but drives seem to be a very personal thing. Hence why everyone has a different drive pedal in the show us your pedal board thread.

I've not used an axefx so I can't comment on that.

Sorry I thought you punted your Helix. Slag away!

meltedbuzzbox

gibsongretschfan said:

meltedbuzzbox said:

Sporky said:

meltedbuzzbox said:

I don't think the effects are as amazing as some people make them out to be (and judging from the amount of people that utilise the fx loops I might not be the only one), but that's my opinion and I am entitled to it. 

The individual blocks are fine. For me it's how you can combine them with the multiple paths that elevates the Helix above much of the competition (full fat AxeFX aside, for example).

It's flexibility is brilliant. Fudging the fx loop has been handy for dry/wet recordings.

The thing is I still have my pedals/pedalboard as I was wary about getting a helix again. I do have the luxury of comparison and unsurprisingly I do prefer my pedals over the helix effects. But that's expected after years of flipping and experimenting etc. And as mentioned above they come in handy with the loop.

I'm not knocking all the inbuilt effects but equally I do think a few are sub par. Particularly drives, but drives seem to be a very personal thing. Hence why everyone has a different drive pedal in the show us your pedal board thread.

I've not used an axefx so I can't comment on that.

Sorry I thought you punted your Helix. Slag away!

Thanking you :-P

rossyamaha

FYI, HXFX is now on pedal playground. Been planning my new boards. 

Do all for anyone board..
https://i.imgur.com/dvZzYQN.png

Mini space saver board..
https://i.imgur.com/f7ByPZ2.png

ThePrettyDamned

Bloody hell this looks good. Might need to get one.

Exciting times.