Helix Talk

[James Freeman]

I am interested to see what Line 6 is cooking for NAMM, might be their "non guitar/bass oriented" product.
Are we the target audience?

Has Line 6 ever done non-guitar related stuff?
The furthest I can think of is their audio interfaces from the 00's.

As with Fractal stuff, the missing piece is an 'official' power amp to minimise randomness and guarantee accuracy.

 

[I S]

As with Fractal stuff, the missing piece is an 'official' power amp to minimise randomness and guarantee accuracy.

Isn’t the missing piece just a PowerCab? It’s so underrated as a product, especially in speaker emulation mode rather than "FRFR".

 

[bikescene]

I am interested to see what Line 6 is cooking for NAMM, might be their "non guitar/bass oriented" product.
Are we the target audience?

Has Line 6 ever done non-guitar related stuff?
The furthest I can think of is their audio interfaces from the 00's.

As with Fractal stuff, the missing piece is an 'official' power amp to minimise randomness and guarantee accuracy.

Anything to push the modeling forward is welcome.

They had an all-in-one MIDI Keyboard Audio Interface, the KB37, in the PODxt days. That and all those different Toneport audio interfaces. I got into Line 6 via the Toneport DI, so those ancillary products are helpful to get some users into their ecosystem.

They also had the Soundscape M20d mixer in the POD HD era.

I always wondered if they would integrate the Yamaha/Steinberg audio interface stuff because Yamaha packaged their D-Pre mic preamps in multiple mixer and audio interface lines over the years

 

[pipelineaudio]

The KB37 was instrumental to me in so many trade shows and demos. Absolutely EPIC piece of gear. Open Labs Neko was kind of like the super uber version of it, but the KB37 still won for the guitar stuff

 

[laxu]

I am interested to see what Line 6 is cooking for NAMM, might be their "non guitar/bass oriented" product.
Are we the target audience?

Has Line 6 ever done non-guitar related stuff?
The furthest I can think of is their audio interfaces from the 00's.

As with Fractal stuff, the missing piece is an 'official' power amp to minimise randomness and guarantee accuracy.

Line 6 had the StageSource PA speakers.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

 

[Lysander]

Has Line 6 ever done non-guitar related stuff?

Back in the day, Stagescape was to mixers what Helix was to guitar modelers.

 

[Sascha Franck]

They had an all-in-one MIDI Keyboard Audio Interface, the KB37, in the PODxt days. That and all those different Toneport audio interfaces.

Well, while these were quite nice from a functional POV, the hardware was as cheap as it gets (which, unfortunately, has been true for some other things as well). I had a Toneport UX2 and it just stopped working for no apparent reason. Was about to purchase the KB37 but didn't because of the Toneport affair.

Over the years I also had:
- A POD 2. That was fine.
- A POD XT. Broke in the middle of a musical show. Top safe enviroment (orchestra pit), device hadn't been moved like for weeks. Repair attempts led nowhere.
- An FBV Shortboard. Rendered useless when the POD XT broke as it's not functional on its own.
- An M13. Two switches broke. Has been incredibly tough to get replacements back then - but hey, at least L6 can't be accused of using standard parts that you could easily replace by simply visiting the next electronic retailer. PSU got roasted at one point in time too. Not too tough to replace, but why in the world would the M13 need an AC outlet, so I had to order one instead of just using one I have hanging around in spades?
- A Helix Floor. Tune/Tap switch broke with the previous owner. A home dweller who never played a gig and had the unit sitting on a music stand pretty much all the time.

As you can see, all in all, my personal track record regarding L6 hardware is extremly bad. It almost couldn't get worse. Much of these events happened to other folks, too, especially regarding the M13 and Helix switches.
And no, I'm not treating my hardware in a particularly rough manner. My GT-5 and GT-10 (plus several other devices, but these are the ones that got stepped on like mad) are still working pretty much as on day one, only had to open them up once or twice to clean them. No technical issues, though.
I think that's something where L6 should up their game. Yeah, I know, I know, anecdotal evidence, "I'm using my unit XYZ since decades without issues!" and all that - but when you look around, you will find several folks who had to have their HX series devices serviced. IMO too many to just ignore these issues.

 

[ian_dissonance]

Back in the day, Stagescape was to mixers what Helix was to guitar modelers.

View attachment 29106

Except I saw HD stuff everywhere, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an m20D outside of the Full Compass showroom.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Back in the day, Stagescape was to mixers what Helix was to guitar modelers.

TBH, I haven't seen one of those even just once.

 

[Lysander]

Except I saw HD stuff everywhere, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an m20D outside of the Full Compass showroom.

Yeah, sadly, it was not a successful product. IIRC much of its DNA carried over to Helix - the DSP platform is allegedly the same.

It's a shame that Helix didn't inherit a touchscreen, thou...

 

[bikescene]

Well, while these were quite nice from a functional POV, the hardware was as cheap as it gets (which, unfortunately, has been true for some other things as well). I had a Toneport UX2 and it just stopped working for no apparent reason. Was about to purchase the KB37 but didn't because of the Toneport affair.

Over the years I also had:
- A POD 2. That was fine.
- A POD XT. Broke in the middle of a musical show. Top safe enviroment (orchestra pit), device hadn't been moved like for weeks. Repair attempts led nowhere.
- An FBV Shortboard. Rendered useless when the POD XT broke as it's not functional on its own.
- An M13. Two switches broke. Has been incredibly tough to get replacements back then - but hey, at least L6 can't be accused of using standard parts that you could easily replace by simply visiting the next electronic retailer. PSU got roasted at one point in time too. Not too tough to replace, but why in the world would the M13 need an AC outlet, so I had to order one instead of just using one I have hanging around in spades?
- A Helix Floor. Tune/Tap switch broke with the previous owner. A home dweller who never played a gig and had the unit sitting on a music stand pretty much all the time.

As you can see, all in all, my personal track record regarding L6 hardware is extremly bad. It almost couldn't get worse. Much of these events happened to other folks, too, especially regarding the M13 and Helix switches.
And no, I'm not treating my hardware in a particularly rough manner. My GT-5 and GT-10 (plus several other devices, but these are the ones that got stepped on like mad) are still working pretty much as on day one, only had to open them up once or twice to clean them. No technical issues, though.
I think that's something where L6 should up their game. Yeah, I know, I know, anecdotal evidence, "I'm using my unit XYZ since decades without issues!" and all that - but when you look around, you will find several folks who had to have their HX series devices serviced. IMO too many to just ignore these issues.

I don't have much experience too much of Line 6 hardware with too going on mechanically. Toneport DI -> POD HD Desktop -> HX Stomp. Having to deal with servicing and replacing is indeed a headache to deal with. I didn't want to deal with their DL4 and M-series foot switch issues when those were at the forefront of their offerings.

I'm still curious to see what the next concept is, even if I might not be the target demographic.

 

[SpaceMan]

Is it just me, or are there almost no used Helix Floors or LTs on reverb? Are they just so good that no one ever bothers to sell them?

 

[Foxmeister]

Is it just me, or are there almost no used Helix Floors or LTs on reverb? Are they just so good that no one ever bothers to sell them?

I recently sold my Helix to a friend of a friend, but you do see them on Facebook marketplace from time to time.

P.S. I only sold my Helix because I found myself using HX Stomp and HX Stomp XL far more frequently than my Helix, and I can do whatever I need to do with the Stomps so the Helix was overkill - having an HX One for the very rare occasion when I need a little bit more (e.g. for a poly effect) helped with that decision.

 

[spawnofthesith]

Accidentally found myself playing the modeling aspects of the stomp tonight…

Have it set up in 4CM and found if I make a new preset without a send block then I’m bypassing the preamp of my amp entirely so was trying out all kinds of different preamps with the power section of my 5153 + 2x12 while still being able to easily switch back to the actual amp preamp. Pretty neat!

 

[dbagchee]

 

[spawnofthesith]

Really kinda brings about a whole dynamic I hadn’t even really thought about previously. I was viewing it in a somewhat binary sense as either just FX for my amp or all in on modelling but that really opens up a whole bunch of tonal options. I’m mostly just two main tone guy - a nice clean and brootz high gain and I have multiple amps that give me pretty much exactly what I want in those categories but nice to know there’s now an infinite world of different palates I can easily slide in -if- I so desired

 

[dbagchee]

Glad you are digging it! The HX Stomp really is an incredible pedal. You get all the Helix models in such a compact device with a ton of utility.

 

[spawnofthesith]

Have first rehearsal with a different band for a fill in gig tonight. I'm going to be using my '76 deluxe reverb for this. Last time I filled in for them I think I was using one of the Rat models on the HX one for dirt and leads. I'm kind of curious about trying some preamp models into the front of the DR though. I woke up at 5am and started trying to setup the skeleton of a preset at least. At whisper volumes I was kind of digging the SLO lead preamp model, but at those volumes hard to tell if anything actually good or not. Should be able to crank up a little more on my lunch break, just want to be vaguely prepared as I pretty much have to head up there straight after work.

Any thoughts on using preamp vs full amp model like this? Is this a dumb idea entirely and I should just stick to dirt pedal models?

 

[Sascha Franck]

Any thoughts on using preamp vs full amp model like this? Is this a dumb idea entirely and I should just stick to dirt pedal models?

I'm not saying it'd never work, but from my personal experiences, preamp into full amp doesn't work well too often.