Line 6 Helix

John_A

Interesting note about the Kemper sounding loads better, I've heard a Kemper and been very impressed and was hoping the Helix would be as good. Hopefully it's just early days and with a bit of fiddling the Helix will get there, if not that's a worry

fretmeister

How many firmware updates have the respective units had?

Fiftyshadesofjay

To be fair I'm due to update the firmware tomorrow and add some IR's as I said. Does the new firmware sound a lot different to the older one?

Cabicular

The modelled amps are all about the cabs
If you can't get there with a dual cab block then there is no hope
Quick tip
If you edit hands free it's very easy to flick through the mic choices and cab choices while playing until you hit something you like
Also I would always recommend seperating the cabs from the amps

siremoon

Fiftyshadesofjay said:

To be fair I'm due to update the firmware tomorrow and add some IR's as I said. Does the new firmware sound a lot different to the older one?

I don't think so although it depends where you are starting from.  One of the earlier firmware versions (1.03.1 iirc) fixed some bugs in the cabs which did make a big difference.  I think the last firmware version (on the floor unit) which had changes to effects/amps etc was 1.06.5.  Everything since then has been focussed on creating a common firmware build for both rack and floor variants and providing unit support for the pc editor. 

I believe the editor is still officially a beta and that a couple of its key features are still to be released (copy & paste and scribble script/footswitch led colour editing iirc).  Once those are done and any other major editor related bugs are fixed then a new Helix feature release is expected.  The speculation (aka froth) is that this will contain a bumper pack of goodies and improvements but we'll just have to wait and see.

Fiftyshadesofjay

Okay, here's a highly unscientific comparison.

I used my Telecaster for this and did it in a rush. I used Profiles I normally like and set the Helix to a tone I liked, all using similar amps.

We've got clean, crunch and heavy.  I won't tell you which one is which, just let me know if you like the first or second in each clip.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/x584kl3rijwx8ho/Helix Kemper Test.mp3?dl=0

hugbot

first two are very close with b having a more low end woofiness that's kind of pleasant and lively. 3rd sounds so different it's hard to compare, but B again sounds more alive compared to As "polished" - Are they with the same IRs?

Fiftyshadesofjay

Not the same IR's. I loaded profiles I liked then (very quickly) built some patches in the Helix for a similar sound. I wasn't particularly trying to match tones but the first two did come out quite close.

matt1973

Anyone experiencing unwanted high frequencies? Im having to be quite brutal with high cuts to keep the upper frequecies from giving me too much of a hi-fi effect. I'm killing everything above 3k in the cab block and to a lesser extent, loading down the post cab fx. Its not just my own patches, the factory preset and some professional patches seem to demonstrate this issue.

Not entirely convinced that its my headphones but when I listen to online Helix patches on YouTube with them, all seems ok with them.

Sooo, either my Shure Se425's have an impedance issue, or may it a global setting in/out issue with the Helix or maybe Im just quite sensitive..

matt1973

Fiftyshadesofjay said:

Okay, here's a highly unscientific comparison.

I used my Telecaster for this and did it in a rush. I used Profiles I normally like and set the Helix to a tone I liked, all using similar amps.

We've got clean, crunch and heavy.  I won't tell you which one is which, just let me know if you like the first or second in each clip.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/x584kl3rijwx8ho/Helix Kemper Test.mp3?dl=0

Helix first, Kemper second on each of the three tone types?

hugbot

YouTube compression?

Sporky

matt1973 said:

Anyone experiencing unwanted high frequencies? Im having to be quite brutal with high cuts to keep the upper frequecies from giving me too much of a hi-fi effect.

Nope - not to the same extent at least. I usually set the high frequency cut to about 4.5k in the cabs 'cos that's what a guitar speaker typically tops out at. Then again, I like bright sounds.

Cabicular

remember you can take a lot out of the cab models too and save the global eq for tuning the room ...

Drew_TNBD

Fiftyshadesofjay said:

So my Helix arrived today, first impressions...

It's a really rugged, classy bit of kit. Love the design, it makes all the other modellers look proper naff in comparison. I also think the effects are really great, looking forward to testing it with my EVH head this weekend.

However, running direct my initial impression is my Kemper absolutely destroys it for amp tones. Now admittedly I've only briefly played around with creating my own presets and I've used the Kemper for ages but there's no denying it at the moment.

Will hopefully load some new IR's this weekend as well and see if that improves matters.

That was my experience comparing my valve amps to the Kemper and Axe FX also. I don't really expect the Helix to be any different. But the Helix looks bloody great as a live multi-fx unit.

Cabicular

It's more or less how I'm using it Drew except for a couple of feeds to FOH with emulation

fretmeister

Fiftyshadesofjay said:

To be fair I'm due to update the firmware tomorrow and add some IR's as I said. Does the new firmware sound a lot different to the older one?

I was mentioning it for the fact that one is a new product and one has had a few years of in the field development.

When the Kemper was new the same comments were made in comparison with the Fractal units.

Now with similar development it comes down to preference. Hopefully Line 6 will throw those millions at it, that they have and the others don't.

Ideally with a shit load of bass fx!

Fiftyshadesofjay

Fiftyshadesofjay said:

Okay, here's a highly unscientific comparison.

I used my Telecaster for this and did it in a rush. I used Profiles I normally like and set the Helix to a tone I liked, all using similar amps.

We've got clean, crunch and heavy.  I won't tell you which one is which, just let me know if you like the first or second in each clip.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/x584kl3rijwx8ho/Helix Kemper Test.mp3?dl=0

Okay, so it's Kemper first and Helix second in the clips. I will admit my heavy Helix clip is pretty poor to be fair.

Had another play around today and got an awesome high gain sound using the Soldano model with the Mesa 4x12 cab that I'm really happy with. Getting a great chunky rhythm tone and you can add a TS in front to get that more modern tone.

I also tried blending amps which is pretty interesting. One thing is I tried adding the Plexi and a cab on path A2 and all the other effects became unavailable, I assume this means I ran out of DSP? A little disappointing as I only had two amps and two cabs running but of course moving one amp/cab to path B solved this.

hugbot

I'm surprised by that to be honest, I expected B to be the kemper.

Sporky

You do need to be very careful posting comparison clips - if you're more than about 0.2dB louder with one rig than the other then the louder rig will always sound "better" - more dynamic, punchier and so on - and provided you're less than about 1dB different it won't sound louder, just better.

Not that I've ever abused that to win audio shootouts. I have certainly called out manufacturers doing it.

Cabicular

Fiftyshadesofjay;1033048" said:

Fiftyshadesofjay said:

Okay, here's a highly unscientific comparison.



I used my Telecaster for this and did it in a rush. I used Profiles I normally like and set the Helix to a tone I liked, all using similar amps.



We've got clean, crunch and heavy.  I won't tell you which one is which, just let me know if you like the first or second in each clip.



https://www.dropbox.com/s/x584kl3rijwx8ho/Helix Kemper Test.mp3?dl=0












Okay, so it's Kemper first and Helix second in the clips. I will admit my heavy Helix clip is pretty poor to be fair.

Had another play around today and got an awesome high gain sound using the Soldano model with the Mesa 4x12 cab that I'm really happy with. Getting a great chunky rhythm tone and you can add a TS in front to get that more modern tone.

I also tried blending amps which is pretty interesting. One thing is I tried adding the Plexi and a cab on path A2 and all the other effects became unavailable, I assume this means I ran out of DSP? A little disappointing as I only had two amps and two cabs running but of course moving one amp/cab to path B solved this.

One DSP isn't really enough. I can for most stuff on 1A 1B and 2A leaving 2B for vocals or other stuff