Line 6 Helix

Bidley

siremoon said:

Bidley said:

Just had my first electric guitar gig with the Helix straight into the PA. Took me all of 5 minutes to set up. Just chucked my Lt on the floor, gave the sound guy an XLR, he was well pleased. Sounded great out front. Bit of a revelation!

Like me I expect you'll really, really miss the authentic gig experience of having to carry an amp that weighs more than a small house.  Not . 

Until I got my Helix I didn't realise it was possible to play a gig without hurting my back.

Everything about it was better than a conventional setup! I was ready to go before the drummer had even got his stands set up! Annoyingly I had already lugged my LFR from the car upstairs, but it was great to be able to say I can happily just use the Helix as long as there is some kind of monitoring. Which incidentally was just a single 8 inch PA speaker on it's side at the side of the "stage".

robinbowes

Bidley said:

siremoon said:

Bidley said:

Just had my first electric guitar gig with the Helix straight into the PA. Took me all of 5 minutes to set up. Just chucked my Lt on the floor, gave the sound guy an XLR, he was well pleased. Sounded great out front. Bit of a revelation!

Like me I expect you'll really, really miss the authentic gig experience of having to carry an amp that weighs more than a small house.  Not . 

Until I got my Helix I didn't realise it was possible to play a gig without hurting my back.

Everything about it was better than a conventional setup! I was ready to go before the drummer had even got his stands set up! Annoyingly I had already lugged my LFR from the car upstairs, but it was great to be able to say I can happily just use the Helix as long as there is some kind of monitoring. Which incidentally was just a single 8 inch PA speaker on it's side at the side of the "stage".

This is why I love my Helix. I run the PA for our band too, so I don't get a lot of time to mess on with setting up my own gear. With the Helix, I just take the back off the rack, and patch it into the PA - done! (Well, technically, I have to run a cable to the floorboard too, but that takes only seconds!).

You can argue all you like about whether or not a real amp sounds better[1] but nothing beats the convenience of modelling.

[1] I don't personally think anyone in the audience could ever tell the difference

markslade07

robinbowes said:

[1] I don't personally think anyone in the audience could ever tell the difference

Or indeed care...

digitalscream

robinbowes said:

Bidley said:

siremoon said:

Bidley said:

Just had my first electric guitar gig with the Helix straight into the PA. Took me all of 5 minutes to set up. Just chucked my Lt on the floor, gave the sound guy an XLR, he was well pleased. Sounded great out front. Bit of a revelation!

Like me I expect you'll really, really miss the authentic gig experience of having to carry an amp that weighs more than a small house.  Not . 

Until I got my Helix I didn't realise it was possible to play a gig without hurting my back.

Everything about it was better than a conventional setup! I was ready to go before the drummer had even got his stands set up! Annoyingly I had already lugged my LFR from the car upstairs, but it was great to be able to say I can happily just use the Helix as long as there is some kind of monitoring. Which incidentally was just a single 8 inch PA speaker on it's side at the side of the "stage".

This is why I love my Helix. I run the PA for our band too, so I don't get a lot of time to mess on with setting up my own gear. With the Helix, I just take the back off the rack, and patch it into the PA - done! (Well, technically, I have to run a cable to the floorboard too, but that takes only seconds!).

You can argue all you like about whether or not a real amp sounds better[1] but nothing beats the convenience of modelling.

[1] I don't personally think anyone in the audience could ever tell the difference

Indeed. For me, I have the Stomp and a PS170 on my board, so I just plug in a guitar and a cab, and I'm done. That's about as convenient as it gets (I'm not a fan of full-range stuff, I'd much rather have a mic on a real speaker).

The thing is...it doesn't really matter if the guitar sounds amazing or crap; it's whether it fits well in the mix and adds to the sound of the band. With modern modellers, that's more a function of user skill than anything.

Bidley

It's probably the happiest I've been with my live sound. Previously it's always been about compromise but for this one (and it was a toilet venue in North London, so not a great setup by any stretch) I could hear myself perfectly and it sounded exactly how I wanted. It meant I spent precisely none of our set worrying about my sound and more about, you know, enjoying playing!

bloodandtears

Any advice on using the wah models?

I play a charvel with dimarzio tone zone pickup, into helix usually a recto amp with a tube screamer, verb and delay.. Piped out to FOH and a laney lfr112...

Just not smitten with any of the wah models tbh.. Tried reducing the mix...

Doesn't sound too bad at home with m-audio monitors, even with 100% mix.

But in a live situation with drummer etc, just lacks.. Not sure if it's my technique or if I should boost the level... 

Ideas? 

Bod

I don't have any experience with the Helix wahs, but maybe set up an EQ to kick-in or modulate at the same time as the wah activates?

Jota

I use the wah on my Stomp, not much but it gets used. 
Can't remember what model I've been using but it sounds good to me and I always lower the volume, something I can't do with my regular wah, and that's why I prefer the Helix. 

bloodandtears

Jota said:

I use the wah on my Stomp, not much but it gets used. 
Can't remember what model I've been using but it sounds good to me and I always lower the volume, something I can't do with my regular wah, and that's why I prefer the Helix. 

Lower the volume? Or the mix level? 

abw1989

bloodandtears said:

Any advice on using the wah models?

Try a few different wah settings. Here's a few different ranges to roughly match up against the various Cry Baby models

guitargeek62

abw1989 said:

bloodandtears said:

Any advice on using the wah models?

Try a few different wah settings. Here's a few different ranges to roughly match up against the various Cry Baby models

Ooh, that's a really cool comparison! I'm a little puzzled at the range of some of those values though, is that supposed to indicate the component/circuit variation in production models, as it seems pretty variable on many of them!

Jota

bloodandtears said:

Jota said:

I use the wah on my Stomp, not much but it gets used. 
Can't remember what model I've been using but it sounds good to me and I always lower the volume, something I can't do with my regular wah, and that's why I prefer the Helix. 

Lower the volume? Or the mix level? 

The level control.

bloodandtears

Jota said:

bloodandtears said:

Jota said:

I use the wah on my Stomp, not much but it gets used. 
Can't remember what model I've been using but it sounds good to me and I always lower the volume, something I can't do with my regular wah, and that's why I prefer the Helix. 

Lower the volume? Or the mix level? 

The level control.

wow... why would you make it quieter??  I will try it of course but it seems odd..

Jota

bloodandtears said:

Jota said:

bloodandtears said:

Jota said:

I use the wah on my Stomp, not much but it gets used. 
Can't remember what model I've been using but it sounds good to me and I always lower the volume, something I can't do with my regular wah, and that's why I prefer the Helix. 

Lower the volume? Or the mix level? 

The level control.

wow... why would you make it quieter??  I will try it of course but it seems odd..

The added mid range pushes my amps a bit too much.

It's probably very amp specific but, in my case, I like to take a few dB off.

hubobulous

Does anyone have details of who I might be able to contact re. my Helix pedal losing its resistance. Everything works electronically, but at rehearsal the pedal is now floppy!!

Bod

There's a hex bolt in the hinge of the pedal.  Just needs a tighten...

hubobulous

Bod said:

There's a hex bolt in the hinge of the pedal.  Just needs a tighten...

Ah yes, thanks. Good news and bad news. 

Good news - you've identified the source of the problem
Bad news - the bolt appears to have fallen out

Anyone have any idea where I can get a spare?

Bod

hubobulous said:

Bod said:

There's a hex bolt in the hinge of the pedal.  Just needs a tighten...

Ah yes, thanks. Good news and bad news. 

Good news - you've identified the source of the problem
Bad news - the bolt appears to have fallen out

Anyone have any idea where I can get a spare?

Ouch.  I only have the LT, so not sure if they're the same.  If nobody else can advise, open a ticket to L6 - they should be able to help. 

Edit - here's a useful post - https://line6.com/support/page/kb/effects-controllers/helix/helix-pedal-maintenance-procedure-r861/

hubobulous

Thanks. I've never really had an issue with the unit so completely forgot this process. Interestingly, it shows that I registered my unit 4.5 years ago. I didn't realise its been that long, but I guess COVID/lockdown has messed with my concept of time in many other ways too!!

Hopefully Line 6 will be able to help and thanks again for your assistance

hubobulous

Just so I know I'm doing the right thing......

I am on contact with the people who provide spares for the Helix, but they say they are not in a position to determine the right part that I need. Here's a photo of my Helix



Is it the bolt that's missing?