Line 6 Helix

sgosden

Vaiai said:

Got to our gig on Saturday - ready to play 1st dance and the other guitarist said he had lost all his snapshots!
My LT was fine and his had been fine at rehearsal - we quickly assigned his main pedals to the bottom row after checking global parameters for Stomp/Snap mode, did the whole gig with only a few sounds (he is mainly rhythm guitar) and made it through the night...

"That's it, I've lost all faith in the Helix, it's going in the morning...can't trust it! Etc, etc...

Next morning I get a msg - pic of the Helix and all snapshots etc back to normal - "So did you reload it?"

Long pause... an hour later - a pic of the Mode button comes through...

That sounds as fun as when I pushed the "preset down" button instead of snap 1. complete silence for the first few bars of a guitar heavy intro and very confused band... luckily was a pub gig with about 10 people in the crowd, so we laughed it off and started again.

Those switches are now used for snap up/down.

benvall

So, I stopped playing live about 3 years ago and sold my amps and most of my pedals. The previous band was gigging a lot and I had other work and family commitments. 
However, some friends have asked me to join their covers band, mainly guitar based rock covers. I am thinking of the Helix. It's likely that i'll be playing small pubs without in ear monitors, so would need to run into the PA and prob into some sort of FRFR cab so the rest of the band can hear.

I've had a read through the last few posts, there seems to be a lot of positive and negative points about the Helix. @gibsongretschfan @kennedydream1980 @Vaiai, I think you guys play covers. what are your thoughts? Helix, or should I just wimp out and buy a Fender HRD and an OD pedal?

kennedydream1980

benvall said:

So, I stopped playing live about 3 years ago and sold my amps and most of my pedals. The previous band was gigging a lot and I had other work and family commitments. 
However, some friends have asked me to join their covers band, mainly guitar based rock covers. I am thinking of the Helix. It's likely that i'll be playing small pubs without in ear monitors, so would need to run into the PA and prob into some sort of FRFR cab so the rest of the band can hear.

I've had a read through the last few posts, there seems to be a lot of positive and negative points about the Helix. @gibsongretschfan @kennedydream1980 @Vaiai, I think you guys play covers. what are your thoughts? Helix, or should I just wimp out and buy a Fender HRD and an OD pedal?

I for one really don’t think I could go back to an amp, partly for the weight factor but mainly down to consistency of sound. It’s taken me a while but I now have my Helix dialled in sweet.

If there is no option for in-ears then you will need a cab of some sort on stage. That could be an frfr cab or a regular guitar cab with a power amp of some sort.

Remember though, what you would be hearing out of an frfr speaker is the sound of a mic’d up cab, which is not the same as hearing an amp in a room or on stage behind you. This is the one thing that a lot of people struggle to get their heads around. They are two very different things both in sound and feel.

So you may feel more comfortable having a regular guitar cab and power amp setup. That way you can bypass the cab/mic sims in the Helix and get that more familiar sound and feel of a regular guitar amp on stage.

Having a cab of any sort on stage was not an option for me, as my whole reason for switching to a Helix was to get rid of my heavy amp/cab and have a much more easy/portable setup.

So there are a lot of things to factor into your decision. It’s what you feel comfortable with at the end of the day.

benvall

@kennedydream1980 thanks, I think the biggest issue for me would be not having an amp behind me and understanding what the difference is between an amp and FRFR cab set up.

sgosden

benvall said:

@kennedydream1980 thanks, I think the biggest issue for me would be not having an amp behind me and understanding what the difference is between an amp and FRFR cab set up.

Using an amp model from helix, into a (flat response, flat EQ so no colouring) power amp, into a normal cab would be the same as a "traditional" rig. This gives the "amp in the room" that most people are used to hearing.

If you were then to mic the cab for the PA you get a whole extra level of variables on top of the "amp in the room sound". 
By adding an impulse responce or helix cab block, you are emulating the mic'd cab.
The frfr plays the sound of the mic'd cabinet, as it would be heard in the PA. 

rossyamaha

So for anyone on the fence about Helix or needs a little push, there will be some events coming up over the next few months featuring yours truly. I'll post dates as they are confirmed but for now, you can come and have a chat at the following...

30th April/ 1st May - Peach Guitars. This is predominantly a staff training event but happy to break off and spend time with anyone that needs/ wants it who happens to be in the store.

14th May - Guitar Guitar Glasgow. This is to be announced but as a heads up, we will be doing an evening sessions all based around Helix/ Powercab. It will naturally include HX Effects/ HX Stomp. 

13th June - PMT Nottingham. Again to be officially announced but it will be a Helix/ Powercab evening. 

Most of what is coming up will be based around a program they have in the US called Tone Made Easy and Tone Made Pro. It's essentially a course that goes from as basic as where to start through to artist tones to incorporating it into your existing rig through to sending a midi message to Abelton that will send a message to a DMX program that triggers the strobe, smoke machine and fan as well as turning on a volume boost, gain block and delay for your rock star moment. When you see my Helix, thats the footswitch labelled "f*&k off". 

steveb

@rossyamaha  are these going to be public events? Are you coming to pmt manchester at all?? 

rossyamaha

steveb said:

@rossyamaha  are these going to be public events? Are you coming to pmt manchester at all?? 

Some of them are public but even the ones that are just in store training, I'm always happy to have a chat if you're there. 

That said, I will be at PMT Manchester. Not sure when but most likely be in June or July. Most dates are still to be confirmed. 

gibsongretschfan

benvall said:

So, I stopped playing live about 3 years ago and sold my amps and most of my pedals. The previous band was gigging a lot and I had other work and family commitments. 
However, some friends have asked me to join their covers band, mainly guitar based rock covers. I am thinking of the Helix. It's likely that i'll be playing small pubs without in ear monitors, so would need to run into the PA and prob into some sort of FRFR cab so the rest of the band can hear.

I've had a read through the last few posts, there seems to be a lot of positive and negative points about the Helix. @gibsongretschfan @kennedydream1980 @Vaiai, I think you guys play covers. what are your thoughts? Helix, or should I just wimp out and buy a Fender HRD and an OD pedal?

The best thing about Helix is that it is so versatile.

Say you get Helix and an FRFR monitor but decide that isn't for you. Well then you could get a HRD, use the Helix as a pedalboard but also send a direct out to FOH via a Deluxe amp model. Want to add IEM's at a later date? Helix has you covered. What about if you fancy going stereo, buying a power amp like the Harley Benton one and a 2x12 cab wired for stereo. Helix is at the centre of that as well. Fancy adding your favourite drive pedal? Helix has loops for that. Got a gala day type gig or some other shared stage gig with your covers band and have to use backline? Well now you can just take Helix and either go direct FOH and get a monitor mix, use the backline and Helix as a pedalboard, use the backline effects return just as a power amp for Helix models. Got some late night practice and want to use the same sounds youre going to use at your gig? Need to record a demo for the band? Got the sack and have no need to play out live? Sell the HRD and the IEM's but now Helix is the centre of your home recording setup.

I honestly dont think anyone could really go wrong getting a Helix, you'll find your own way to use it and the way in which you will use it might change over time. Go get one!

benvall

@gibsongretschfan thanks for a great reply. I guess I need to sort some funds and bite the bullet. 

welshboyo

I know this has been discussed in the past but how are you guys setting your input impedance and Pad?

Reason I ask is that whilst fiddling around last night I accidentally set my impedance back to Auto and hey presto got a whole load of gain and tone back (it was set to the 10k setting which was actually loading the front end down and cutting a lot of signal and presence) - I'm also convinced that the volumes on my Les Paul are working better...

I also had a fiddle with the Pad and ended up turning it off!!

This is all in 4CM into Bogner.

I know the answer is "whatever suits you" but I would like to understand how much of bearing this input impedance has over the overall sound (Pad I'm OK with)

sgosden

welshboyo said:

I know this has been discussed in the past but how are you guys setting your input impedance and Pad?

Reason I ask is that whilst fiddling around last night I accidentally set my impedance back to Auto and hey presto got a whole load of gain and tone back (it was set to the 10k setting which was actually loading the front end down and cutting a lot of signal and presence) - I'm also convinced that the volumes on my Les Paul are working better...

I also had a fiddle with the Pad and ended up turning it off!!

This is all in 4CM into Bogner.

I know the answer is "whatever suits you" but I would like to understand how much of bearing this input impedance has over the overall sound (Pad I'm OK with)

I messed with the impedance a little bit, but in the end found that 'auto' produced much better results.

I tend to run a buffed pedal before the helix when playing out the house, which In theory should keep the impedance constant (happy to be called wrong on this). But at home going direct in and switching guitars the auto seems to get the best out of different guitars (ie going from a low output strat to a high output humbucker)

Turned the pad on a while back to dial back the madness of previously mentioned BKPs, which I think helped with digital clipping and getting a more 'real' reaction out the amps, as opposed to smashing them with crazy high signal and making them compress too much.

This is all for using internal amps, rather than 4CM.

Clecko

rossyamaha said:

So for anyone on the fence about Helix or needs a little push, there will be some events coming up over the next few months featuring yours truly. I'll post dates as they are confirmed but for now, you can come and have a chat at the following...

Hola. Anything coming up in London?

gibsongretschfan

changing the input impedance and the input pad were concerns of the age of The Squirrels. 

Honestly dont find need to tinker with Helix that much anymore. All the default settings on the amps are pretty much usable now

welshboyo

gibsongretschfan said:

changing the input impedance and the input pad were concerns of the age of The Squirrels. 

Honestly dont find need to tinker with Helix that much anymore. All the default settings on the amps are pretty much usable now

I'm talking 4CM here, not using the onboard amp sims...

sweepy

Unless Line 6 do their normal thing and fuck with your input impedance settings on new firmware updates

Musicwolf

So, on Friday I took the plunge and bought a 'full-fat' Helix (refurb from Sound Affects Premier.  It's one that's been used for shows then checked over by Yamaha and sold with full warranty - the thing is like new).

The reason for the switch:  I went over to modelling several years ago.  Sansamp>Marshall JMP-1>ToneLab>HD500>Kemper.  I absolutely love the Kemper for studio, and it's seen a fair bit of live use, but a couple of times now it has exhibited a fault with digital noise on both main and DI outputs.  It's never let me down on either a gig or an important recording session but I have lost a little confidence.  If it does become a problem then it'll mean shipping it off to Germany.  Anyway, it was all the excuse that I needed to get the Helix.

Practice with the band tomorrow night and a gig on Friday, so that will be the real test, but first impressions are very favourable.  The editor is very simple to use (plus I was familiar with the HD500 editor) but tweaking on the unit itself is also very easy (this thing is well thought out).  With the HD and the Kemper I used to use the expression pedal to either pan between signal paths or morph settings.  The big advantage being that I didn't have to look down whilst singing.  Now that I'm sparing the audience from my lead vocals I thought that I'd give snapshots a go.

The only thing that was not so straight forward was getting the Helix to communicate with my VoiceLive over Midi (just Programme Change messages) but, with some help from YouTube, I got there.

John_A

Quick Heix question, only had it 3 years so still learning . You know if in snapshot mode if you press a parameter knob you can set a different value for that parameter for each snapshot, how do you reset it so it’s global across all snapshots again?

welshboyo

John_A said:

Quick Heix question, only had it 3 years so still learning . You know if in snapshot mode if you press a parameter knob you can set a different value for that parameter for each snapshot, how do you reset it so it’s global across all snapshots again?

I set the parameter (normally far left knob) back to none...push it first (as the parameter you are changing with SS's should be in brackets)

I think...

rossyamaha

John_A said:

Quick Heix question, only had it 3 years so still learning . You know if in snapshot mode if you press a parameter knob you can set a different value for that parameter for each snapshot, how do you reset it so it’s global across all snapshots again?

If you go to the block, press the button with 3 lines, then controller assign, select the parameter you have snapshotted, then turn the controller knob all the way left to none. You're all set.