Line 6 Helix

Jota

@boogieman why not try the HX Stomp first to see if you like the sounds? You can probably keep most of your gear and return it or sell if you don't like it. If you do, you can probably sell it easily and the rest of the gear too and get the floor or LT model. 

boogieman

Jota said:

@boogieman why not try the HX Stomp first to see if you like the sounds? You can probably keep most of your gear and return it or sell if you don't like it. If you do, you can probably sell it easily and the rest of the gear too and get the floor or LT model. 

Interesting idea, hadn’t thought of that. Ta! 

UnclePsychosis

@boogieman do you have an audio interface?

You can download HX Native for free and use the free trial to try out the sounds. The hardware units sound identical to Native.

Also, you can set Native to "hardware compatibility" mode which will let you see which of the hardware boxes will or won't work for you. 

UnclePsychosis

For what its worth, i am a big of of my Stomp (and Native). I did buy new headphones though, some Beyerdynamic DT 990 that work much better with Helix than my AKG K92 (which I rate very highly) do. 

boogieman

UnclePsychosis said:

For what its worth, i am a big of of my Stomp (and Native). I did buy new headphones though, some Beyerdynamic DT 990 that work much better with Helix than my AKG K92 (which I rate very highly) do. 

No, I don’t have an interface. Might be worth getting one to try out Native if it’s free though (I didn’t realise it was a freebie, cool!). I’ve got headphones but they’re not much cop so I probably need to invest in some better ones. I’ve noticed various posts saying that some types work better than others so it’s good to have a recommendation. Thanks @UnclePsychosis ;

UnclePsychosis

Native isn't free. There is a free trial (two weeks?) 

boogieman

UnclePsychosis said:

Native isn't free. There is a free trial (two weeks?) 

Oh, right. 

duotone

@boogieman ;
 It’s a 15 day free trial scroll down to the bottom. https://uk.line6.com/helix/helixnative.html

Musicwolf

UnclePsychosis said:

You can download HX Native for free and use the free trial to try out the sounds. The hardware units sound identical to Native.

This is what I did.  The trial is time limited (2 weeks?) but it only took 1 day.  With my setup at the time I was struggling to achieve low latency but even so I was convinced and bought a full-fat Helix (and I already had a Kemper).  The Kemper still sounds more 'real' but the Helix, with all of its effects, is so flexible that I much prefer it for live work (when live used to be a thing).

shuikit

One thing that you won't get with Native is the variable impedance circuit thing on Helix.  It makes a big difference if you run a fuzz model first in the chain but I think it makes a difference generally also, Helix sounds/feels a bit more dynamic than when I run Native with a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4.  

I've never tried a BigSky so can't make a comparison, though there are a few YT videos comparing the two.  I've seen some people run a parallel path with a reverb and a chorus or two reverbs etc and blend that in with the dry signal.  

Voxman

Huge thread folks, so this may have been asked before. I'm going to buy a Pod Go which has the same amp models currently* as Helix (*albeit it's unlikely to get new ones that Helix will get).  For nearly all the amp models you can select the full amp or a preamp version. 

Apologies for what may be a daft question, but what exactly is the difference between e.g. a Brit Plexi full amp model and a Brit Plexi preamp model, and would these be used differently in a patch signal chain?

WiresDreamDisasters

Voxman said:

Huge thread folks, so this may have been asked before. I'm going to buy a Pod Go which has the same amp models currently* as Helix (*albeit it's unlikely to get new ones that Helix will get).  For nearly all the amp models you can select the full amp or a preamp version. 

Apologies for what may be a daft question, but what exactly is the difference between e.g. a Brit Plexi full amp model and a Brit Plexi preamp model, and would these be used differently in a patch signal chain?

The preamp models are sans-poweramp section. They're meant to be used into a real amplifier, typically a valve one, but doesn't have to be.

Can also be good on vocals or anything where you want a little bit of grit, but don't want the full amp experience.

As ever with these things - experiment!

TTBZ

Voxman said:

I'm going to buy a Pod Go which has the same amp models currently* as Helix (*albeit it's unlikely to get new ones that Helix will get).

What makes you say this, has it been hinted at by Line 6 somewhere or just speculation due to a possibly more limited DSP etc? I'm very interested in the Go but this would put me off a bit, part of the fun of the Stomp was updating to a new firmware to get new toys to play with!

Voxman

TTBZ said:

Voxman said:

I'm going to buy a Pod Go which has the same amp models currently* as Helix (*albeit it's unlikely to get new ones that Helix will get).

What makes you say this, has it been hinted at by Line 6 somewhere or just speculation due to a possibly more limited DSP etc? I'm very interested in the Go but this would put me off a bit, part of the fun of the Stomp was updating to a new firmware to get new toys to play with!

This question was asked on the Line 6 forum and although the response appeared to be a little cryptic, as I recall the suggestion was that Pod Go may not necessarily get the same amp upgrades as Helix which is of course their flagship. I'm unclear what the ultimate stance by Line 6 might be here and whether there are processing considerations here also. I'll try and find the thread and report back more accurately on exactly the question asked and the answer given. 

But there are so many amp models already in Pod Go that you arguably already have some option paralysis in a unit aimed at those who need a simpler solution!!  

hubobulous

I have the full Helix and if no more amps were ever added it would be fine. There's so much in there of excellent standard, I never find myself hankering after another amp. Get the pitch shifting fixed and its done from my perspective. Everything else is just a potential bonus

TTBZ

Yeah to be fair between the Placater Dirty, Badonk and Plexi most of the tones I'd want are covered anyway, just greedy and like messing about with new stuff haha.

guitargeek62

Yup, I'm pretty much using the Bogner Uberschall, Friedman BE100, and Fawn AC30 exclusively for guitar work, and the Mesa Cali400 for bass. I might dip into the other models one day but those four are more than enough currently!

Digital_Igloo

TTBZ said:

Voxman said:

I'm going to buy a Pod Go which has the same amp models currently* as Helix (*albeit it's unlikely to get new ones that Helix will get).

What makes you say this, has it been hinted at by Line 6 somewhere or just speculation due to a possibly more limited DSP etc? I'm very interested in the Go but this would put me off a bit, part of the fun of the Stomp was updating to a new firmware to get new toys to play with!

POD Go is currently missing four models found in Helix (Cosmos Echo, Tone Sovereign, Legendary Drive, and 3 Osc Synth), but some of the upcoming 3.0 models will also not fit. If you've never owned Helix, it won't be a big deal, but anyone who sells their Helix/HX for a POD Go assuming it'll get all the same updated features and models going forward is gonna have a bad time.

Voxman

Voxman said:

TTBZ said:

Voxman said:

I'm going to buy a Pod Go which has the same amp models currently* as Helix (*albeit it's unlikely to get new ones that Helix will get).

What makes you say this, has it been hinted at by Line 6 somewhere or just speculation due to a possibly more limited DSP etc? I'm very interested in the Go but this would put me off a bit, part of the fun of the Stomp was updating to a new firmware to get new toys to play with!

This question was asked on the Line 6 forum and although the response appeared to be a little cryptic, as I recall the suggestion was that Pod Go may not necessarily get the same amp upgrades as Helix which is of course their flagship. I'm unclear what the ultimate stance by Line 6 might be here and whether there are processing considerations here also. I'll try and find the thread and report back more accurately on exactly the question asked and the answer given. 

But there are so many amp models already in Pod Go that you arguably already have some option paralysis in a unit aimed at those who need a simpler solution!!  

OK, found the post. When asked about updates on Pod Go, Line 6 (Digital Igloo) said: 

"We can't talk about future plans, but I'll put it this way:

• If POD Go is your first Line 6 multieffects in a decade, you'll probably be happy
• If you've downgraded from Helix/HX or pay close attention to Helix/HX updates, you may be disappointed"

Which suggested Pod Go would be less likely to get upgrades that Helix would get. 

JohnCordy

- 3 little reasons that you might want to check out the "PREAMP" rather than the full amp blocks if you're a Stomp or Helix user!