Line 6 Helix

siremoon

Before this little rantette I want to say that I've had no big problems with my Helix other than finding certain bits of the UI to be not quite as intuitive as everybody else seems to (either that or I'm the only who'll admit it).

Anyway I have to say I'm getting a little nervous about support for Helix. 

In the US I'm reading stories of free shipping back for faulty units and Line 6 expediting the shipping of replacement units.  Elsewhere, albeit based on a much smaller sample size, it seems to be much less customer friendly.

Another niggle I have is that I found a bug and raised a support ticket.  The email I got said "A Line 6 representative will respond within 3 business days".  Allowing for the public holiday in the US on Monday those 3 business days have come and gone and I've heard nothing.  The bug is not in any sense a show stopper but if you say you're going to contact me in 3 business days then contact me in 3 business days. 

I worked in software long enough to know the bug probably won't be fixed in a hurry, if at all, so I have no expectations of the problem being resolved any time soon but setting an arbitrary initial response time metric and then not achieving it is not a good way to inspire confidence in the process.

It also seems to me that posting details of a problem on TGP gives you more chance of getting it fixed than posting it on the Line 6 forum or raising a ticket.  For instance a problem was raised on the Line 6 forum and a Line 6 employee basically said that sorting it out was not in any way a high priority.  The same problem was raised by someone else on TGP and a different Line 6 employee said he had development looking at it. 

I shall now stand back and wait for official repudiation 

Sporky

Andertons have offered me a returned Helix; chap apparently had it for two hours before deciding it wasn't for him, and I'm top of the waiting list. I'm going to pop in to check it's in good condition are there any other things I need to be sure of for warranty and such?

Cabicular

I would check the mic input based on mine being fried
But if you get a receipt from Andertons then your warranty should be fine despite the unit being pre-owned

Sporky

Wilco - ta.

Cabicular

Btw I'm not surprised
The presets that it ship with don't do the unt a lot of favours in my opinion
Quantity over quality and also would it kill someone to go through them with a level meter and even them all before they ship?
Also if you jump straight into studio volume you will get a massive Bassy fizzy mush
You have to carve A LOT of the top and bottom end and potentially boost the mids to get it sounding right at volume
But persevere and the rewards are there. There isn't a more flexible unit on the market just now in my opinion (despite my recent support experiences which have soured my perception a bit)

Paul_C

Cabicular said:

Btw I'm not surprised
The presets that it ship with don't do the unt a lot of favours in my opinion
Quantity over quality and also would it kill someone to go through them with a level meter and even them all before they ship?

it's tradition !

I've never owned a L6 multi-fx unit that hasn't made me jump by having a quiet patch followed by a REALLY LOUD ONE

Cabicular

Does no one there have a VU meter and an hour?

handsomerik

With the latest update the factory patches have been levelled. Prior to the update they were all over the place!

Sporky

Now I think I'd rather wait a few more weeks and have a brand-spanker unsullied by the touch of the great unwashed.

Also I can't decide on amp(s). I was going to go L3M but I think that might be disproportionate to the room and task at hand.

Pair of L2Ms?
Pair of Eris 8Es?
Pair of Tannoy QFlex 48s with a VNET 218DR?

rossyamaha

Sporky said:

Now I think I'd rather wait a few more weeks and have a brand-spanker unsullied by the touch of the great unwashed.

Also I can't decide on amp(s). I was going to go L3M but I think that might be disproportionate to the room and task at hand.

Pair of L2Ms?
Pair of Eris 8Es?
Pair of Tannoy QFlex 48s with a VNET 218DR?

Obviously the Line 6's will give you more versatility but you could also look at DXR or DSR speakers. I know, I'm such a company man. 

Cabicular

No Peavy suggestions Ross?

Sporky

Any suggestions for electric cello amplification? It is a Yamaha, don't worry.

rossyamaha

Cabicular said:

No Peavy suggestions Ross?

Nope. ;-)

rossyamaha

Sporky said:

Any suggestions for electric cello amplification? It is a Yamaha, don't worry.

Plenty of suggestions but it would all depend on what you were needing to do. You would certainly want something loud and clear but capable of producing some pretty low frequencies. Obviously money would come into it as well. I would again say DXR or DSR and probably the 12's. There is more than enough volume and they can get pretty low on the frequency too. 

kjdowd

Sporky said:

Now I think I'd rather wait a few more weeks and have a brand-spanker unsullied by the touch of the great unwashed.

Also I can't decide on amp(s). I was going to go L3M but I think that might be disproportionate to the room and task at hand.

Pair of L2Ms?
Pair of Eris 8Es?
Pair of Tannoy QFlex 48s with a VNET 218DR?

I've got an L2T and it sounds great. Bit more flexibility to use on other stuff as well.

Sporky

rossyamaha said:

Sporky said:

Any suggestions for electric cello amplification? It is a Yamaha, don't worry.

Plenty of suggestions but it would all depend on what you were needing to do. You would certainly want something loud and clear but capable of producing some pretty low frequencies. Obviously money would come into it as well. I would again say DXR or DSR and probably the 12's. There is more than enough volume and they can get pretty low on the frequency too. 

D'you have -3dB frequency responses? On the website they're all -10dB which isn't a lot of use.

Cabicular

The L2ts are good
I have to say I have returned 3 of them (out of 4) for warranty repairs so they are not without issues (early design issues with rattle) one had a failing tweeter and one just completely died. I've got a rattle on the sub but no redundancy so I can't get it away to be looked at
The L3s have been good apart from smelling of weed
The M20 mixing desk has been mostly ok although there is a grounding issue with the case that can cause the mic inputs to drop out
It's a pity Line6 support isn't better. The products are great but every time u have to deal with the something there is a real culture of denial.
Take the XLR out phantom power issue
Massive hiss if your input has phantom power applied. Now while on most mixing desks it's easy to switch phantom off on many (including line 6s own M20) phantom power is applied to 8 inputs at a time which can make it a problem
Instead of just coming out with it they are tap dancing around it. I'm pretty sure my mic input was fried by having Phantom power on when I replugged the mic
Whilst it's not recommended practice it's buried in menus and easy to forget. Instead of having a switch or a light next to the input
I do sympathise with them on the one hand. On the other hand they don't do themselves any favours sometimes

Strat_a_tat_tat

@Sporky. Would something like this do the job?  I recently bought a couple for use as stage monitors for our PA... and I'm mighty impressed for something so reasonably priced. Can't speak for their reliability yet... as I've only gigged them a few times.

http://www.andertons.co.uk/active-pa-speakers/pid28017/cid627/electro-voice-ev-zlx12p-12inch-active-pa-speaker.asp

hugbot

Cabicular;958904" said:

Btw I'm not surprised
The presets that it ship with don't do the unt a lot of favours in my opinion
Quantity over quality and also would it kill someone to go through them with a level meter and even them all before they ship?
Also if you jump straight into studio volume you will get a massive Bassy fizzy mush
You have to carve A LOT of the top and bottom end and potentially boost the mids to get it sounding right at volume
But persevere and the rewards are there.

Every time I've recorded an amp I've always put a hi and low cut EQ on the bus so it could be representative mush.

Sporky

Strat_a_tat_tat said:

@Sporky. Would something like this do the job?  I recently bought a couple for use as stage monitors for our PA... and I'm mighty impressed for something so reasonably priced. Can't speak for their reliability yet... as I've only gigged them a few times.

http://www.andertons.co.uk/active-pa-speakers/pid28017/cid627/electro-voice-ev-zlx12p-12inch-active-pa-speaker.asp

It might - I've used ZLXs before, and they're not bad sounding things. I do wonder if they're a bit over the top though; I play at home at sensible volume levels so a pair of monitors might be a more sensible approach. I can always get something gruntier if/when I need it.