Line 6 Helix

rich75

Thanks for that @Seziertisch - good idea and got to be worth a try before chucking £150 at the problem. 

DrHankWangfordSnr

My  joystick crapped out on my Helix rack a couple of weeks ago - roughly 6 weeks out of warranty.   

The up/down/left/right  still worked - just the rotary encoder  had stopped working.     I was faced with £100-150 for a return courier / inspection at  the service centre.        Decided to fix it myself. 
 

The rotary encoder switch  is soldered to a small circuitboard, which is screwed to the actual joystick (the big black plate with the spring).   In the rack - this is really easy to take out -4x screws and a cable connector and its out.    With the floor -   you're on your own.


  
The issue is -  the 4x wires to the rotary encoder switch -  get their solder joints flexed when the hot glue holding them eventually  fatigues.     The encoder is screwed to a black plastic  joystick plate  with 2 really small screws -  which work loose and let the encoder move a little - flexing the hotglue, wires, and their solder joints.    On mine the hotglue was detached, and  some of the wires were loose.

A bit of soldering and more hotglue - and its as good as new. 

I mainly use my pc to edit the Helix - this joystick saw very little use.     I think - as the plastics age - this is going to become a more popular point of failure.

TTBZ

Any suggestions for a nice tidy looking stereo 1/8” to dual 1/4” jack cable to use as an aux in for backing tracks from a phone? Something with small right angle jacks would be nicer but I can’t seem to find anything. 

I’m actually pretty happy with the stock cabs now I’ve got used to them and best mic positioning. I’ll probably still get the Celestion Suhr pack when I have the money as it’ll free up blocks since the tilt or shelf EQ is pretty much required to help the cabs out, removing mush and adding presence and bite.

siremoon

TTBZ said:

Any suggestions for a nice tidy looking stereo 1/8” to dual 1/4” jack cable to use as an aux in for backing tracks from a phone? Something with small right angle jacks would be nicer but I can’t seem to find anything.

There are plenty on Amazon and ebay with straight jacks.   

rich75

@DrHankWangfordSnr - thanks for the detailed reply and pics re the joystick. Much appreciated.

PolarityMan

Anyone find the tap tempo a bit iffy....If I do multi-taps the tempo seems to jump all over the place instead of averaging the clicks. 

PC_Dave

Question around expression pedals - is possible to use one to control the speed of a rotary horn or tremolo effect? I have an expression pedal going into the MC6, and all I could do was get it to turn the rotary effect on or off........

IntoTheRough

PC_Dave said:

Question around expression pedals - is possible to use one to control the speed of a rotary horn or tremolo effect? I have an expression pedal going into the MC6, and all I could do was get it to turn the rotary effect on or off........

You can assign almost anything to it. I haven't actually done this, but one of the rotary presets I downloaded had it set up as you describe.

I've done the looper volume assignment to the expression pedal so it must be similar. Basically almost any param that you can tweak can be assigned to the expression pedal

FarleyUK

How the heck do I use a spring loaded mission EXP pedal with the HX stomp? I've set it as bypass controller for the wah, but it goes to 100% at half of it's travel, and then back down to 0% (so it starts at 0%, then 100% then 0% again at toe down).

Seziertisch

FarleyUK said:

How the heck do I use a spring loaded mission EXP pedal with the HX stomp? I've set it as bypass controller for the wah, but it goes to 100% at half of it's travel, and then back down to 0% (so it starts at 0%, then 100% then 0% again at toe down).

If I’m not greatly mistaken the Helix external expression jack uses just tip and sleeve so a volume pedal is all you need. I know Mission make a specific Helix expression pedal. You might need to rewire your expression pedal of get a special cable made up

FarleyUK

So I've been playing around more with the HX Stomp, to get it properly setup as my Kemper backup... and I'm afraid I have some more questions. Any answers are welcome!

1. Is there a carry case / travel case anyone can recommend for it?
2. Where's the best place to get decent patches for things like 'I Want to Break Free' etc.? Ideally without having to spend any money, as I remember getting very disappointed with Glenn DeLuane, Chad Boston etc. last time I had a Helix...!
3. With an expression pedal with a switch on it (and related to my earlier questions) - I'm guessing I cannot have the switch change to a different use for the expression pedal...? I'm thinking it needs to be a seperate switch on the Stomp that states if it's in volume or wah mode..?

Thanks!

kennedydream1980

FarleyUK said:

So I've been playing around more with the HX Stomp, to get it properly setup as my Kemper backup... and I'm afraid I have some more questions. Any answers are welcome!

1. Is there a carry case / travel case anyone can recommend for it?
2. Where's the best place to get decent patches for things like 'I Want to Break Free' etc.? Ideally without having to spend any money, as I remember getting very disappointed with Glenn DeLuane, Chad Boston etc. last time I had a Helix...!
3. With an expression pedal with a switch on it (and related to my earlier questions) - I'm guessing I cannot have the switch change to a different use for the expression pedal...? I'm thinking it needs to be a seperate switch on the Stomp that states if it's in volume or wah mode..?

Thanks!

With regards presets, Jason Sadites was always the main man for me when it came to Helix content. Most of his presets are free.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvhdK4-QIzo76Y_RIbxZctg

Brian May style tone here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKZmWmrW6Ag

Richie Castelleno is also great.
https://www.youtube.com/user/Richiesos

rich75

FarleyUK said:

3. With an expression pedal with a switch on it (and related to my earlier questions) - I'm guessing I cannot have the switch change to a different use for the expression pedal...? I'm thinking it needs to be a seperate switch on the Stomp that states if it's in volume or wah mode..?

Thanks!

I think you can set it to switch between 2 different uses. There is a section in the manual re the Mission Helix Expression Pedal (which I believe is basically an expression pedal with a toe switch) as follows:

"By default, the HX Stomp EXP 1/2 | FS4/5 jack is set up to accommodate the Mission Helix expression pedal, connected via an optional Y cable (sometimes called a TRS insert cable). The main advantage of this setup is that pressing the integrated toe switch will not only toggle the pedal's function between EXP 1 (Wah/Pitch Wham) and EXP 2 (Volume Pedal/Pan), but it will also toggle the appropriate blocks on and off."

I don't own an HX Stomp so haven't tried it, but have been researching it a bit lately. Hope that helps. 

rich75

Quick update re the joystick "failure" on my Helix Floor.

I got a response to my support ticket that included the following useful advice: "...the joystick button has a delay timer from 2.80 or above. So if the joystick is pressed rapidly sometimes it will not click, since another feature for the ‘press & twist’ option is activated. If you click the joystick button and completely take your finger off it should work. (so perform a short tap, don't keep it pressed longer) With 2.80 the joystick button features were added, and it can confuse if you don't know it ..."

So I'm relieved and slightly embarrassed to say it seems to have been a case of user error! Unfortunately I think I jumped to the wrong conclusion because the problem presented in pretty much the same way as when the joystick had actually gone wrong previously.

Anyway, having maybe been a bit negative in my comments a few days ago I thought it only fair to redress the balance, and to pass on the advice they gave me in case anyone else encounters it.. The Helix is working fine and the customer support has been very good.

Thanks again to those who offered suggestions to help with this.

Snags

Anyone else have problems (and ideally solve them) with HX Edit and "Create Backup"?

About to update my HX Effects to 2.81 and being a good boy with the backup, but … it does nothing.

I've not got masses of stuff on there, and nothing I'm desperate to keep/can't re-create easily, but ever since I got it, Create Backup … has done absolutely bugger all. Click the menu option and nothing happens - no dialogue, no file created, no nothing.

Looking online it doesn't seem to be a common problem, and the only thread I've found recommends trying different USB ports - not an option, I'm doing it from a Surface Pro, so there's only one USB port.

Everything else works, just not the backup routine (Win10 Pro, Surface Pro 4, HX Edit 2.71)

FarleyUK

Thanks all!

What cases are you all using for the HX Stomp?

TTBZ

Mines on a PT Metro 16 and in the soft case, fits nicely with a tuner and overdrive too. I’m looking for something bigger though so I can have all my practice rig set up ready to go - headphones, power plugged in etc as it gets annoying having to take it out, plug it all in each time. I’ll probably go back to my old board where I can lift the lid and go.

Jota

Mine is on a Metro 16 too but that's my whole pedalboard.

I carry 3 pedals I don't use with my band but I use them at home so I don't want to take them out for every gig.

ennspek

I could so with recommendations for a YouTube channel to help me learn about the Helix.

siremoon

ennspek said:

I could so with recommendations for a YouTube channel to help me learn about the Helix.

You could start with this lot:

https://line6.com/support/page/kb/effects-controllers/helix/helix-tutorials-by-jason-sadites-r891/