Line 6 Helix Stadium Pre-Launch Discussion

Didn't love those tones. They all sound somehow too lean. Like the Essex model with the Pacifica bridge humbucker somehow manages to sound almost like a Tele bridge single coil? And the Revv sound seems to have plenty of bass dialed in but still sounds pretty thin too.

I’ve now had a listen with more volume….. guessing his personal taste takes him that way. The bass player will surely like him as he’s staying completely out of that lane :)
 
I’ve now had a listen with more volume….. guessing his personal taste takes him that way. The bass player will surely like him as he’s staying completely out of that lane :)
Might be. That Vox sound seems to have treble almost maxed but bass still at 3.5 which should have some beef to it. I wonder if some output EQ is at play.
 
Didn't love those tones. They all sound somehow too lean. Like the Essex model with the Pacifica bridge humbucker somehow manages to sound almost like a Tele bridge single coil? And the Revv sound seems to have plenty of bass dialed in but still sounds pretty thin too.

I have to say, much as I love Line 6 (I own a Helix and some Variaxes), those tones weren't groundbreaking. Not much better than the Helix amps, and certainly no better than my Axe FX III's amp tones. Hoping some better demos come about soon.
 
I have to say, much as I love Line 6 (I own a Helix and some Variaxes), those tones weren't groundbreaking. Not much better than the Helix amps, and certainly no better than my Axe FX III's amp tones. Hoping some better demos come about soon.
Line6's own demos have sounded a lot better to me.

The reality is that amp modeling from a lot of companies is really good and we are firmly in incremental improvements territory rather than drastic improvements.
 
Yeah, not a fan of those tones. I'm guessing he's dialled the cabs in to be quite dark sounding.

Pretty much in line of him saying he's mainly a live player. For live, any excessive low or high end will not be too great, so you get used to dial in rather mid-rangey tones.
 
There’s a lot more than just Agoura in those clips. Could be the cab, the mic, the guitar, who knows.

None of us will really know until we plug in for ourselves.
 
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Fantastic guitar player - he's top notch. But I did not like the way that he had those tones dialed in. Many of the tones sounded like from 2 generations ago.

Need to wait for more vids. I really like that guitar though! What a beauty!

Also, cool T-Shirt - I can has? :p
 
I have to say, much as I love Line 6 (I own a Helix and some Variaxes), those tones weren't groundbreaking. Not much better than the Helix amps, and certainly no better than my Axe FX III's amp tones. Hoping some better demos come about soon.
With modeling being as mature as it is today, I find it unlikely anyone will be able to put out something new that is truly groundbreaking. Maybe slightly better, but probably splitting hairs.

With that said, I didn’t love those tones. But as someone else mentioned, they might sound great in the mix.
 
Most people know how the Helix sounds currently and the latest amps that were added were more of a true representation of the real hardware.
Through the life of the Helix, things only got better. I can only assume the same will occur over the life of Stadium.
The bigger sell for me is the expanded feature set.

Forums and YT are riddled with purchase bias, subjective tones, and remarks from people stating that their older devices "sound just as good". I like to categorize them as either people without ears, people who don't know how to mix and to those who have never played the real hardware.
 
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The biggest problem with modelers is that they put a job of a mixing engineer on the hands of the guitar player. Personally I hate it. My job should stop at the speaker. I have made plenty of bad decisions tone wise in a recording environment while I don't really have that problem working with just an amp.

I wish that for once a modeler had an extensive review by someone like Eric Valentine. I want presets done not by a great guitar player, I want some by a great actual mixing engineer.
 

Hell Yeah Nod GIF by Bounce

Proud The Karate Kid GIF
 
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Most people know how the Helix sounds currently and the latest amps that were added were more of a true representation of the real hardware.
Kinda? Lots of research was done and great care was taken to understand what people believe "accurate" means—perhaps on a subconscious level—and it may not always mean measurable via test equipment. When another popular product's amp models quite literally cannot be dialed in to sound anywhere close to the real thing has sycophants who repeatedly parrot that their box is "the most accurate," we knew we had to dig in.
Forums and YT are riddled with purchase bias, subjective tones, and remarks that think their older devices "sound just as good".
And chuckleheads. Don't forget chuckleheads.

The YouTube comment section is a vat of boiling diarrhea personified, even without the obvious [you know what company] bots and trolls.
 
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makes me want to buy a Stingray.

The buckeye burl one looks extra sweet, but Fluyff's tones were my least favorite of the bunch - no surprise, as I feel that way about how he dials real amps and cabs as well. I did dig his REVV Purple, but that's a hard amp to screw up.

Pete Thorn did a great job representing hard rock with his 2203, Solo 100 and German Xtra Red clips. His Plexi was also really good.

I do not play 127-string guitar like Javier Reyes, but his REVV clips were very good, and his EV Panama Red was fantastic.
 
The biggest problem with modelers is that they put a job of a mixing engineer on the hands of the guitar player. Personally I hate it. My job should stop at the speaker. I have made plenty of bad decisions tone wise in a recording environment while I don't really have that problem working with just an amp.

I wish that for once a modeler had an extensive review by someone like Eric Valentine. I want presets done not by a great guitar player, I want some by a great actual mixing engineer.
But you can stop at the speaker by plugging into a cab? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
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