Line 6 Helix

guitargeek62

Yeah, I'd like a POG and a freeze option. Partivularly surprised that the latter wasn't in there at launch.

That reminds me, I need to play around with the IRs some more.

lewisjenkins

guitargeek62 said:

@Sweepy Hmm, I'm actually impressed that I haven't seen any on eBay yet.

It's actually a little tempting to chuck mine on there for £1500 and see if anyone's foolish enough to bite; I'd just pocket the difference and put another order in though.

I wouldn't sell mine even if offered £1500 cash. I actually think Line6 could charge more for these, considering that a single boutique pedal alone can cost £200 or more. Since owning my Helix for a few weeks, I sold all my other pedals for plenty more than what I paid for the Helix. And, so far it's also cured my GAS for pedals, which is saving me a fortune! Still buying guitars though

impmann

MtB;875036" said:

@impmann what was the other guitarist playing the Helix through - amp / monitor / straight into the house PA?

He had an L2T on stage for monitoring (via Line6 Link) and then straight to the desk for FOH via XLR cable.

Sounded awesome on stage and in the mix out front when I went to the bar.

johnny9fingers

rossyamaha said:

johnny9fingers said:

GuitarGuitar in Epsom have had my deposit since Oct 30th. I called them today to ask how things were progressing and they prevaricated. A trifle pissed off right now.

I understand you must be getting a little impatient. I just want to make sure you are aware it's nothing to do with GG. It's purely down to demand completely taking us by surprise. We knew it would be a good seller but nothing close to how well it's done. To give you an idea, I had an order from a dealer today. The next free stock will be March. We can't make them fast enough. Well, we probably could but then the quality would suffer which nobody wants.

I can't give any firm dates at the moment and certainly don't want to make any promises I couldn't keep. All I can ask is for you to sit tight. 

Thanks for that info. Well, here's hoping I can get one either before or soon after Christmas. Oh well.

johnny9fingers

I spoke to GG this morning... They have no information as to when the next delivery will be. Line 6 didn't have that information. I guess rossyamaha will know more than the rest of us. But it does seem as if Line 6 haven't anticipated the demand for the Helix. I may have to find an alternative as I am meant to be recording early in the New Year with an old band I was in, and from the sound of it, and its functionality, I was going to use the Helix as the main part of my rig. Oh well.

guitargeek62

@handsomerik - just booting it up now to grab those parameters!

guitargeek62

@handsomerik - here you go, it's the full list of parameters of all FX in the Helix. I'll do the same for the Amp & Cab models at some point, but they seem to be fairly static options so there's less to be gained from it.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fzgrleb04kxjt88/Helix FX Model Parameter Map.xlsx?dl=0

handsomerik

Thank you very much. That's really helpful and kind of you. I'll check it out tomorrow.

johnny9fingers

GuitarGuitar do appear to be good chaps. According to the most recent phone conversation, I may be able to get the Helix by the end of the month: but I'm not raising my hopes just yet.

siremoon

This email from Yamaha about UK availability was posted elsewhere earlier today

Thank you for your e-mail regarding Line 6 Helix.

I have spoken to one of my colleagues, who has been discussing this with our top management in Europe, and he has asked me to let you know that unfortunately, we have no current information regarding inventory; and are unable to confirm if and when stock will arrive.

We appreciate and share your frustration on the lack of information and will definitely update all dealers with stock eta as and when able.

Please accept our apologies for the status of this product and we hope to be in a position to supply this soon.

Thank you for contacting Yamaha Music Europe GmbH (UK).

Kind regards,

<Sender name redacted>, Yamaha Music Europe GmbH (UK), Sherbourne Drive, Tilbrook, Milton Keynes, MK7 8BL

Sounds from this that Yamaha don't know what's going on either.  Also I hope the "if" in "and are unable to confirm if and when stock will arrive" is just an unfortunate turn of phrase and not a suggestion that the UK might not get any more at all. :-S

johnny9fingers

siremoon said:

This email from Yamaha about UK availability was posted elsewhere earlier today

Thank you for your e-mail regarding Line 6 Helix.

I have spoken to one of my colleagues, who has been discussing this with our top management in Europe, and he has asked me to let you know that unfortunately, we have no current information regarding inventory; and are unable to confirm if and when stock will arrive.

We appreciate and share your frustration on the lack of information and will definitely update all dealers with stock eta as and when able.

Please accept our apologies for the status of this product and we hope to be in a position to supply this soon.

Thank you for contacting Yamaha Music Europe GmbH (UK).

Kind regards,

<Sender name redacted>, Yamaha Music Europe GmbH (UK), Sherbourne Drive, Tilbrook, Milton Keynes, MK7 8BL

Sounds from this that Yamaha don't know what's going on either.  Also I hope the "if" in "and are unable to confirm if and when stock will arrive" is just an unfortunate turn of phrase and not a suggestion that the UK might not get any more at all. :-S

Ye gods! This could be a FUBAR of epic proportions. I would imagine that the "if" was just an unfortunate turn of phrase. At least I hope so.

Strat_a_tat_tat

Use of 'if' is crazy... however, use of 'when' is a bit crazy too. Somewhere in L6/Yam, they must have some idea of lead times for the next few production batches ... plus info on global back orders - so they can see how many are allocated to dealers in each region etc.

mellowsun

'if and when'

bit unfortunate. Still a big gap in the market for a competing product then - surprised that Boss/Roland aren't stepping in to fill that gap.

guitargeek62

If you consider the supply chain involved in putting something like this together, it's not out of the question to expect delays from a single failure in the chain - particularly if Yamaha / Line 6 had been prepping in a build-to-market type fashion instead of the traditional out-dated manner of sitting on a lot of raw components at all times.

 

Teetonetal

It's crazy, I still have gas for one of these and yet really have zero need. But the thought of an all purpose giving board, that's also an amp backup is so appealing.

Happily they are not available in any Swiss stores yet, so I can't get tempted with a test

Si_

All this explains why I found it so easy to sell mine

uncletrev

Looks like my post christmas Helix delivery won't see the light of day until the new year - Andertons have put their "next delivery due" date back to 31st January...    It's only been on order since the end of October...

sweepy

It's worth the wait

handsomerik

Just seen that the date changed with andertons too. I ordered one last week with them and was assured they'd be getting a delivery of them on or around 31-12-15. 

Line 6 really seem to have dropped the ball with this situation. I've never seen a problem of this scale getting stock into stores with a new product. The popularity really seems to have taken line 6 by surprise, which is good for them but pretty disappointing for the hundreds left waiting, not just days or weeks but months! I would have hoped that early provision would have been put in place to get these manufactured and distributed promptly enough for the demand (whatever it may have been) but it seems that they really can't manufacture them anywhere near quickly enough. It must be costing them a lot of sales in people that are giving up and cancelling preorders or moving over to other products that are readily available. 

I will say that after watching loads of videos on the Helix i'm beyond impressed. If it really sounds as good as it seems and is as easy to use and flexible with it's options it will be worth the wait. Disappointing none the less though, and I imagine if I have to wait 2 or 3 months with constant set backs my enthusiasm will quickly pass.

Moltisanti

this is what happened to Fractal with the Axe FX II, they couldn't make enough units and the internet world was full of angry shoppers bemoaning the strategy of a small company. So it's funny to see a behemoth company do exactly the same thing. I can't imagine where the delays come in with a digital product production though - the actual physical labour wouldn't involve anything hard to source, so it must be a parts shortage. Those fancy looking expression pedals must be made of unicorn hair.