Helix 3.7: The Freeman Update

[dk_ace]

Since 3.7 is confirmed, I have a few VERY sparse/random asks I’d love to see - but I’m admittedly reaching here…and some of these are obviously very opinionated and potentially divisive asks.

1. Stock JCM 800 2204/2203 with an option to defeat the bright cap
2. Mesa 2 ch Dual or Triple Rectifier (rev G or earlier) with bright cap - orange and red channels. The clean is largely useless on these, don’t bother. The existing one is a 3 channel, is missing the bright cap, and frankly I’m not sure who made this call but they did not have a solid handle on Mesa Rectifiers. The 2000s 3 channel rectifier is fizzier, more compressed, and THE REASON why some people dismiss rectos.
3. Mesa Mark IV updated with some of the additional switches to allow closer replication of older Mark tones - again…sort of a questionable oversight here. In general a IIC+ would be preferable but a properly configured IV gets very close.
4. Freqout
5. Bogner Ecstacy Blue Pedal - one of my rigs utilizes this pedal through a 70s SFDR and I can’t get ANYTHING in HX land that replicates it. It’s the most amp-like drive pedal I’ve ever used and the only thing keeping me from retiring my pedalboard when using that rig. Plus it would drive all the chads drooling for an Ecstacy amp absolutely insane to get the pedal and not the amp.

EDIT: rereading this and realized it sounds perhaps overly negative. Just to be clear, IMO L6 is killing it with HX and I’m totally appreciative of their dedication to the craft and their customers. My feedback here is given with the most positive of intentions.
The Mesa situation is kinda screwy overall in HX. We have Recto and Mark amps, but both are very opinionated takes that keep them from delivering their best for the situations we would typically see them used. I’m sure L6 consults with people before modeling their amps. I’d recommend maybe choosing a different pool of players before taking on your next Mesa - whether in HX or beyond.

Again, no offense intended.

Huge +1 on recto channel 2 orange and red!

I’d like a stock 800 too and a freqout style thing. Plus an HX tone bender.

D

 

[EOengineer]

Huge +1 on recto channel 2 orange and red!

I’d like a stock 800 too and a freqout style thing. Plus an HX tone bender.

D

+1 on the tonebender. Good call. I think there is one in the legacy stomps somewhere but let’s be real - it’s a landmark in the fuzz.

It feels a little weird when you see the other usual suspects (TS, Rat, FuzzFace, DS-1, etc) represented…and in some cases even nearly duplicated by other recent additions that are more or less variations of other boxes (pillars being very TS like, for example).

 

[dronerstone]

+1 on the tonebender. Good call. I think there is one in the legacy stomps somewhere but let’s be real - it’s a landmark in the fuzz.

It feels a little weird when you see the other usual suspects (TS, Rat, FuzzFace, DS-1, etc) represented…and in some cases even nearly duplicated by other recent additions that are more or less variations of other boxes (pillars being very TS like, for example).

I got the Legacy Jumbo Fuzz to sound pretty close to how I set my Ramble FX Twin Bender, but a re-imagined "new" mkII Bender would be more than welcome. :)

 

[JiveTurkey]

Huge +1 on recto channel 2 orange and red!

I’d like a stock 800 too and a freqout style thing. Plus an HX tone bender.

D

The weirdo, boutique, here's a Tweed thing is covered tenfold in HX line, imo. I know you could say "but the high gain thing is more than covered tenfold" and be right as well. I just prefer that track considerably over the other.

 

[James Freeman]

I have an interesting question for everyone.
Do you think that more advanced features are not often implemented because Line 6 sees their customers as average Joe's?

edit:
And do you see yourself as an average Joe that is less likely to touch the advanced features?

 

[Stone]

I have an interesting question for everyone.
Do you think that more advanced features are not often implemented because Line 6 sees their customers as average Joe's?

edit:
And do you see yourself as an average Joe that is less likely to touch the advanced features?

No I think its just their way of implementing their eco system
For a lot even the Helix is perceived as complicated
Fractal on the other hand, sky is the limit as to what you can do, for myself i love diving deep and seeing what this does what that does
but that's not everyone, i can say this the Fractal can be as easy as anything and even most or all the presets are just that damn good
YMMV

 

[Orvillain]

I have an interesting question for everyone.
Do you think that more advanced features are not often implemented because Line 6 sees their customers as average Joe's?

edit:
And do you see yourself as an average Joe that is less likely to touch the advanced features?

Yes.

No.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

I have an interesting question for everyone.
Do you think that more advanced features are not often implemented because Line 6 sees their customers as average Joe's?

edit:
And do you see yourself as an average Joe that is less likely to touch the advanced features?

I'm gonna say yes because it's super easy to make the Helix sound bad if you don't know what you're doing.

And no I like playing with the different options to see what affect every option has.

 

[dronerstone]

For a lot even the Helix is perceived as complicated

Good point, imho.

Some people get completely overwhelmed when you tell them "just think of a signal chain that you'd wire up if you had the real-life pedals in front of you".

No idea why, but some folks can't seem to translate between screen and floor. LOL

"IT'S THE SAME THING!!!"

 

[Mooselake]

I have an interesting question for everyone.
Do you think that more advanced features are not often implemented because Line 6 sees their customers as average Joe's?

edit:
And do you see yourself as an average Joe that is less likely to touch the advanced features?

First question: No, I think Line 6 has very high regard for their customers. I don't really know what specific advanced features in what model you're talking about, but my guess would be that such compromises would most often arise as a trade between DSP/resource utilization and fullness of bell and whistle modeling. And they add adjustment parameters the real amps don't have (short of opening the thing up and fooling around at the component level) among said amps's basic or advanced features (e.g., sag, bias, channel volume, etc.)

Second question: With some substantial elevation of my Joe-ness I might ascend to the average category. Right now I'm far enough below average that I'll adjust about anything I'm allowed to adjust to see if I like how it sounds and only worry about how it sounds to me. But I don't own a single amp modeled in Helix, nor have I ever, meaning I don't have a basis to feel cheated if the range of adjustments in one of the models isn't precisely 1:1 with the hardware. In other words, I don't think of amp models as surrogates of a physical thing I can go out and buy, but rather as sound-shaping tools.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Do you think that more advanced features are not often implemented because Line 6 sees their customers as average Joe's?

Yes, that'd be one way to put it.
In the end, there's only a certain amount of human resources (aka man power) available for development.
And in case 99% of your users are asking for more amps, more pedals, more FX and such, in case all these "demands" are already eating up more than 100% of your human resources, so you have to skip quite some of them already, it's very unlikely that esoteric wishes such as global blocks, modulators and what not, hence all the things only requested by 1% of your user base are pretty much worth nothing in the big picture anymore. In the end, you rather lose 1% of your customers than 99%.

Obviously, all this only works to a certain extent, because at one point in time you do need to at least care about some more advanced things, otherwise you might risk losing some high profile users.
But then, on the contrary, these days, you may not need high profile users anymore. It's quite sufficient in case you're satisfying some gearfluencers, which very often are just pimped versions of average Joe.

 

[Foxmeister]

I have an interesting question for everyone.
Do you think that more advanced features are not often implemented because Line 6 sees their customers as average Joe's?

edit:
And do you see yourself as an average Joe that is less likely to touch the advanced features?

To be fair, Helix does have some advanced features - nowhere near as many as Fractal, but more than NDSP and Headrush, to pick just a couple.

Before I got a Fractal unit, I really thought I'd be interested in deep diving into the myriad options you have for changing tubes and capacitor values etc, but when push came to shove, the effect of this was often very subtle and I ended up not bothering.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Before I got a Fractal unit, I really thought I'd be interested in deep diving into the myriad options you have for changing tubes and capacitor values etc, but when push came to shove, the effect of this was often very subtle and I ended up not bothering.

I was like this when I started building pedals and used to add every mod via toggle switches I could think of.

After a while you realise that out of a bunch of options I quickly pick the one I liked the best and never touch the toggles ever again e.g. I added a charge pump, a bass cut and different clipping options to an OCD clone then quickly realised it always sounds better at 18v, with some bass cut and the germanium diodes I added were a waste of time.

These days I breadboard circuits to work out what I want and then just stick with that.

 

[Stone]

To be fair, Helix does have some advanced features - nowhere near as many as Fractal, but more than NDSP and Headrush, to pick just a couple.

Before I got a Fractal unit, I really thought I'd be interested in deep diving into the myriad options you have for changing tubes and capacitor values etc, but when push came to shove, the effect of this was often very subtle and I ended up not bothering.

Some are and some not but in the end its the sum of the parameters
and if your happy with the results
YMMV

 

[Sascha Franck]

And fwiw:

And do you see yourself as an average Joe that is less likely to touch the advanced features?

Sometimes I'm even more average than Joe. But sometimes I just need my fair share of bleeding edge technology.

 

[EOengineer]

Obviously, all this only works to a certain extent, because at one point in time you do need to at least care about some more advanced things, otherwise you might risk losing some high profile users.
But then, on the contrary, these days, you may not need high profile users anymore. It's quite sufficient in case you're satisfying some gearfluencers, which very often are just pimped versions of average Joe.

Judging by the number of pros touring with Kempers or actual tube amps, I’m not sure high profile == requiring complex features, but to your point, I do think there would be some attrition of touring pros if Helix didn’t have solid, flexible MIDI/switching/routing/IO functionality etc.

I wouldn’t say I’m a power user, but I’m using Helix Floor or HXFX in 4 different rigs in 4 different contexts and am amazed how effectively Helix performs in all those scenarios.

If I could only make one request for additional flexibility in Helix it would be the ability to swap out amp impedance curves. One of my usage cases is amp models into a power amp & guitar cab, and I’ve found there are several amps I cannot use in this context because the embedded impedance curves sound unnatural through my specific guitar cabs. Being able to toggle through some alternate curves would go a long way towards making Helix more flexible for those looking for more “traditional” guitar amp experience.

 

[ragingplatypi]

I have an interesting question for everyone.
Do you think that more advanced features are not often implemented because Line 6 sees their customers as average Joe's?

edit:
And do you see yourself as an average Joe that is less likely to touch the advanced features?

I definitely would like to hear what you mean regarding advanced, because you are way way way more advanced than I am. And I am definitely more advanced than many of my guitar playing friends just because I play a modeler and utilize snapshots.

However, I think Line 6 does an amazing job with an impossible task of capturing the widest net possible of users.

 

[EOengineer]

I was like this when I started building pedals and used to add every mod via toggle switches I could think of.

After a while you realise that out of a bunch of options I quickly pick the one I liked the best and never touch the toggles ever again e.g. I added a charge pump, a bass cut and different clipping options to an OCD clone then quickly realised it always sounds better at 18v, with some bass cut and the germanium diodes I added were a waste of time.

These days I breadboard circuits to work out what I want and then just stick with that.

Big same. I spent a couple years in the 2010s building my own fx. At one I remember having half a dozen FuzzFace builds laying around with different input caps, transistor types, volume pot values and tapers, etc. there was an eventual moment of sanity where I realized nobody cared whether my fuzz was perfectly biased or had perfectly ranged transistor gains. I had to force myself away from that time sink so I could get back to focusing on making music.

That’s not to say that the details don’t matter, but it’s a sliding scale for sure.

 

[Stone]

embedded impedance curves sound unnatural through my specific guitar cabs

This i Find to be a very powerful tone shaper in the Fractal

 

[EOengineer]

This i Find to be a very powerful tone shaper in the Fractal

View attachment 6850

Yeah this would be a wonderful addition to HX but I have some doubts about the feasibility of it at this (assumed) late stage of the game for L6 given what they’ve divulged about their modeling process.

In Fractal world, is this just a static EQ or is there more going on that actually replicates all the impedance characteristics?