Line 6 Helix Stadium Pre-Launch Discussion

TBH I am seriously very excited for the little amps too. Mesa is my bread and butter but there’s mad respect for what a champ does on 10 with a mic in front of it in a good sounding room. Hoping hard for some brown Fenders too.

My gigging amp (when I used to) was a Matamp C7. Only 7 watts but I had to go steady to risk not drowning out the (admittedly very polite) drummer. That is one angry little amp. Still have it, don’t really use it as its master volume only and it terrifies the cat. Modelling is my friend for many reasons and this is one of them!

I tried to steal the C7’s soul with my Kemper but either I’m crap at profiling or it’s just ‘one of those amps ’ that is difficult to capture. Probably a bit of both. It’d be nice if an Matamp ever made it in as they are deeply weird but also (imo) wonderful.

Why should this be considered? Everyone has heard of Marshall and Vox. Those guys would tell you they’re the forgotten Brit amp of old. Some shared heritage with Orange but Matamp are still going. You never, ever see them in modelling amps - there were a couple of Kemper profiles a while back and there’s a 1224 Neural capture I think but that’s about it afaik. I hold out hope.

https://www.matamp.co.uk/about-matamp/?v=7885444af42e
 
My gigging amp (when I used to) was a Matamp C7. Only 7 watts but I had to go steady to risk not drowning out the (admittedly very polite) drummer. That is one angry little amp. Still have it, don’t really use it as its master volume only and it terrifies the cat. Modelling is my friend for many reasons and this is one of them!

I tried to steal the C7’s soul with my Kemper but either I’m crap at profiling or it’s just ‘one of those amps ’ that is difficult to capture. Probably a bit of both. It’d be nice if an Matamp ever made it in as they are deeply weird but also (imo) wonderful.

Why should this be considered? Everyone has heard of Marshall and Vox. Those guys would tell you they’re the forgotten Brit amp of old. Some shared heritage with Orange but Matamp are still going. You never, ever see them in modelling amps - there were a couple of Kemper profiles a while back and there’s a 1224 Neural capture I think but that’s about it afaik. I hold out hope.

https://www.matamp.co.uk/about-matamp/?v=7885444af42e
I forget if I’ve seen you over in the Tonex thread, but if Kemper couldn’t nail your amp there’s a good chance Tonex would.

I’d definitely be into Matamp in Helix.
 
I forget if I’ve seen you over in the Tonex thread, but if Kemper couldn’t nail your amp there’s a good chance Tonex would.

I’d definitely be into Matamp in Helix.

If I hadn’t got a stadium on pre order I’d be grabbing that ToneX 49 bits of software in a heartbeat. It’s still calling to me but I bought a guitar today and am not going to do a Tim with my preorder so being silly with something that I probably won’t use in a few weeks isn’t sensible. I keep telling myself that and it mostly works.

Funnily enough I’ve just watched the video posted elsewhere here comparing the ToneX, nam, neural DSP and Kemper. It mentions in that how amps that rely on power amp gain are a struggle for the Kemper and that’s really what the C7 does - it does a lovely swirly ringing thing. Never had that in the Kemper (much as I’ve enjoyed it). Weirdly enough, the Bognor Shiva model in Helix nods in that general direction (I really liked it) but didn’t quite go all the way to what the C7 does. IMO anyway!
 
I’d definitely be into Matamp in Helix.
One of the real amps I plan to buy one day.

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In preparation for some Stadium XL orders coming to fulfillment in the next couple weeks, both my Helix w/ backpack and HXFX were listed on FB marketplace today. In a way it kinda feels like the end of an era, except I’m not really giving anything up.

My only dumb gripe is that I REALLY want to order the new backpack but have to wait 45 days after the Stadium XL charge goes through before I can use the $150 in MF points. First world problems.

So pumped to start putting this next iteration to use. hopefully there’s some back patting going on at L6 HQ these days.
 
Really? Y'all didn't take a breath after the 1.1 firmware went gold and the hardware left whatever Asian manufacturing facility? You have until December to get 1.2 fully tested, and it sounds like the new amps are already done.
I'm sure it's still stressful until customers get hands on the units and confirm they didn't miss someone whether it be firmware or hardware.
 
It actually is pretty logical. Very little people will likely use the HP out when the unit is sitting on the floor. So they may already have it up on their desks, a stand or whatever. And you will as well kinda naturally tilt the unit a bit, so it's sorta facing you similar to a rack unit. Now, where would you put the HP out on a rack unit? See?

I do it all the time with my FM9. It's a floor unit, so I use it on the floor because them are foot switches, not finger switches. And I have two women living in my house, so they aren't agenerally keen on listening to me playing the same thing over and over when I'm practicing. So the headphones get used. With the floor unit. That is on the floor. Otherwise they would call it a desk unit.

:hmm
 
I do it all the time with my FM9. It's a floor unit, so I use it on the floor because them are foot switches, not finger switches. And I have two women living in my house, so they aren't agenerally keen on listening to me playing the same thing over and over when I'm practicing. So the headphones get used. With the floor unit. That is on the floor. Otherwise they would call it a desk unit.

:hmm
Everyone is wants the gear to make sense in every configuration. Footswitches = on the floor. Like I can’t imagine practicing songs at home and needing an effect for a bridge or something and having to basically stop, press a button with my hand, then play again. Lame.
 
Everyone is wants the gear to make sense in every configuration. Footswitches = on the floor. Like I can’t imagine practicing songs at home and needing an effect for a bridge or something and having to basically stop, press a button with my hand, then play again. Lame.

There always needs to be compromises when it comes to this stuff. You simply cannot make one product that universally checks every box for every person.

Add to that manufacturing considerations- with the FM9, the HP jack is clustered with the other jacks on one sub board. Move that single jack to a different location by itself and now you just added components and a bit of extra assembly work. Now if 70%+ wanted that jack relocated it might be a reasonable expenditure to accommodate the majority of your customers, but it isn't really worth it for a handful of requests.
 
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