Line 6 Helix Stadium Pre-Launch Discussion

[Orvillain]

I like the Revv Generator. I think it's a great sounding amp and wouldn't mind having one tbh.

Yeah same. It is my favourite "complete" amp in both Fractal land and Helix land.

 

[Whizzinby]

I will go to bat for the REVV amps and their inclusion, tho. They are basically line 6 partners at this point, and they are being used by a lot of guitarists who I respect (Most recently, in the rig rundown for Will Putney and Jordan Buckley of Better Lovers). They deserve their slot.

But over a Dual Rec or Mark?

 

[JiveTurkey]

Note to future modeler manufacturers:

The Revv Gen should be the 57th amp you model, not the 7th.



The Bogner Ecstasy clips…

Dumb amp. Get The House of Mark in order >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>than this dumb turd.

 

[Orvillain]

But over a Dual Rec or Mark?

You can get very Rec-ish or 5150-ish tones from the Revv. I think it is a solid choice.

https://reverb.com/uk/item/85229126-revv-generator-120-mkiii-4-channel-120-watt-guitar-amp-head-2020-present-black

I'd love to take a punt on this, but .. see afforementioned buttertwats flying out of my wallet right now.

Personally I'd rather have one of these than anything Bogner.

 

[EOengineer]

I'm going to say that they could do more specific demos that speak to the iconic nature of the heads/cabs/etc. they're modeling.

People have already noted it, but we've heard the Plexi multiple times, but never in cranked "Kerrang!" Mode. Instead, a lot of single-coil and volume knob/playing dynamic variations. That's important TOO, but we wanna hear "the thing".

Same for the 5150 III first impression being a Satriani knockoff. That's not what people are using that amp for. It's a benchmark metal amp, so a metal player should carry that banner.

Pretty sure every version of the POD had an eruption and Cliffs of Dover preset in the first bank or two, presumably to give guitarists a benchmark they could look to for something familiar.

The FX haven’t changed. Show us the amps. That’s why we’re all here…because they have a new amp modeling engine. Give us a couple EVH, Hetfield, SRV, whoever impersonations and call it a day.

I don’t love some of the stuff I’m hearing, it does nothing to influence my buying decision.

 

[mikah912]

But over a Dual Rec or Mark?

The flip side of that as if it the first 16 were only iconic amps, people would say that there's nothing new in there and they're modeling the same old sounds that everyone uses.

I will say that it's a little strange to me to model an amp with as many channels and functions as a Generator 120, but then leave off half of them. The Peavey Invective gets modeled in full, but half the REVV channels are nowhere to be found. All of the Mark IV channels, but only half of the VH4 and so on and so forth....

There's some sort of strategy there, but I have no idea what it is.

 

[Whizzinby]

You can get very Rec-ish or 5150-ish tones from the Revv. I think it is a solid choice.

https://reverb.com/uk/item/85229126-revv-generator-120-mkiii-4-channel-120-watt-guitar-amp-head-2020-present-black

I'd love to take a punt on this, but .. see afforementioned buttertwats flying out of my wallet right now.

Yeah I love an Aaron Marshall patch that’s using a Revv, so I definitely don’t dislike it. It just seems like an odd amp to launch with over a couple genre/era defining amps.

 

[banned]

Anyone notice that all the high-gain amps have parametric EQ on them?

I think this is someone dialing in their 'secret sauce'. They all have a consistent sound / eq profile. It's not too bad - I kinda like these sounds as well.

I'd like to hear the amps without any EQ in the future - hopefully soon.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

You can get very Rec-ish or 5150-ish tones from the Revv. I think it is a solid choice.

That’s exactly what makes the real amp appealing, and exactly why i’m indifferent about amps like this in modellers. For live use it’s really useful to have that variety, and even if it doesn’t totally nail each amp it covers all the ground without having to rely on taking 4 different amps on the road.

in a modellers you can just use an actual rectifier or 5150 model.

I’m not overly fussed about the XTC but it’s a far more legendary amp and deserving of its place than a Revv IMO. Uberschall is more my taste, probably down to wearing baggy jeans as a kid, and arguably more unique/distinct than either of those. I am a bit miffed at the lack of a new (and complete) Rectifier model, although I’m sure it’ll be one of the newest ones to come. And I would always pick the original Peavey 5150 as the first 5150 to model, and the others can come once that’s locked down.

 

[Digital Igloo]

I could only get it to select each zone. I couldn't select anything in between the five zones.

That's just the site—5 clips per amp. To properly do Focus zones justice, we'd have to run the entire DSP engine on the site, which ain't happening.

The OLED scribble strips…. As they’re oled, how to they not burn in if you leave them sat there on the same preset for hours?

It must be the case that they don’t give because original helix floor had these and they’re doing it again. Just nervous from history because of an OLED tv back in the early days with that tech and also my (very nice) espresso machine display has an oled that does a screen saver thing.

HX One was a test platform for those scribble strips, which had to be approved by YCJ. By default, the main LCD and scribbles dim after 5 minutes of non-use or no audio, but this can be extended to 30 minutes.

Checking the Hype demo now and trying to have an open mind....

That's the thing—you actually know what real amps are supposed to sound like. Younger guitarists don't—they associate the sound of an amp with the latest Sleep Token or Five Finger Death Punch album or whatever.

Hype attempts to bridge the gap between products that embrace authenticity, perhaps to a fault (Line 6, Fractal, UA) and those that claim to be authentic, but instead, bake in multiple stages of filtering and dynamics that cannot be dialed out. It's totally fine to ignore Hype. (It's off by default for all Agoura amps.)

Note to future modeler manufacturers:

The Revv Gen should be the 57th amp you model, not the 7th.

Wrong. The Revv slays.

 

[mikah912]

Dumb amp. Get The House of Mark in order >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>than this dumb turd.

Damn, bro. I like 'em both. Complete guesswork on my part, but I am almost certain that the Mark IV will be in 1.2.

DI has confirmed that there is a three-channel amp in there, and I can't see any other one that makes sense besides that.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

The flip side of that as if it the first 16 were only iconic amps, people would say that there's nothing new in there and they're modeling the same old sounds that everyone uses.

I will say that it's a little strange to me to model an amp with as many channels and functions as a Generator 120, but then leave off half of them. The Peavey Invective gets modeled in full, but half the REVV channels are nowhere to be found. All of the Mark IV channels, but only half of the VH4 and so on and so forth....

There's some sort of strategy there, but I have no idea what it is.

Agree with all this, but also, the EVH and XTC and 2203 were only just released on Helix and probably stand to gain less with the newest modelling than revisiting some older helix models (which often don’t have all the modes and channels).

But yeah, they have their own path for it so i’m sure it’ll make sense in the end.

 

[Whizzinby]

The flip side of that as if it the first 16 were only iconic amps, people would say that there's nothing new in there and they're modeling the same old sounds that everyone uses.

I will say that it's a little strange to me to model an amp with as many channels and functions as a Generator 120, but then leave off half of them. The Peavey Invective gets modeled in full, but half the REVV channels are nowhere to be found. All of the Mark IV channels, but only half of the VH4 and so on and so forth....

There's some sort of strategy there, but I have no idea what it is.

I’m just bored at work and need another cup of coffee tbh.

I can appreciate that the juggling act for amps is probably tough. On one hand you want to make sure you cover your bases, on the other you don’t want to be too safe.

At the very least you have to know they aren’t going to ignore the Mesa duo for long.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

You can get very Rec-ish or 5150-ish tones from the Revv. I think it is a solid choice.

https://reverb.com/uk/item/85229126-revv-generator-120-mkiii-4-channel-120-watt-guitar-amp-head-2020-present-black

I'd love to take a punt on this, but .. see afforementioned buttertwats flying out of my wallet right now.

Personally I'd rather have one of these than anything Bogner.

Same.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Let me elaborate now that I've had my enchilada

Tried some Rev D20 turd in GC randomly one day. It had nowhere near enough gain for anything worthwhile and was running on 6v6s. BUT I CAN RUN IT DIRECT? Who would want to run this anemic absolute dog turd direct to house? Barf. Gee; wonder why I hated it and lump all their amps in this same category?

I think I need another enchilada

 

[GTR37]

Damn, bro. I like 'em both. Complete guesswork on my part, but I am almost certain that the Mark IV will be in 1.2.

DI has confirmed that there is a three-channel amp in there, and I can't see any other one that makes sense besides that.

he did ?

well Badlander is clean/crunch/crush so that is 3 technically

 

[Gary_W]

HX One was a test platform for those scribble strips, which had to be approved by YCJ. By default, the main LCD and scribbles dim after 5 minutes of non-use or no audio, but this can be extended to 30 minutes.

That's the thing—you actually know what real amps are supposed to sound like. Younger guitarists don't—they associate the sound of an amp with the latest Sleep Token or Five Finger Death Punch album or whatever.

Hype attempts to bridge the gap between products that embrace authenticity, perhaps to a fault (Line 6, Fractal, UA) and those that claim to be authentic, but instead, bake in multiple stages of filtering and dynamics that cannot be dialed out. It's totally fine to ignore Hype. (It's off by default for all Agoura amps.)

Thanks for the scribble strip info - much appreciated.

Your pint about what we think they sound like? That’s not just young guitarists. I made (or tried to make) a similar point earlier in the thread today. I’m getting on a bit and, although I’ve got a couple of valve amps, I have zero experience of the real versions of *any* of the Agoura amps. My perception of what I think they sound like is based on years of modeller use and hearing things on records. Which of course is rather different.

 

[mikah912]

he did ?

well Badlander is clean/crunch/crush so that is 3 technically

Just math supposition. He said there are three amps, but seven channels. At least one of them has to be a three-channel amp (there could be two, of course, along with a single-channel amp of some sort).

Also, the Badlander has TWO channels, but three modes. He said two of the amps have never appeared in a Helix product before, and I believe (hope) that the Badlander 100 is one of them. It checks a LOT of boxes.

 

[banned]

HX One was a test platform for those scribble strips, which had to be approved by YCJ. By default, the main LCD and scribbles dim after 5 minutes of non-use or no audio, but this can be extended to 30 minutes.

Hype attempts to bridge the gap between products that embrace authenticity, perhaps to a fault (Line 6, Fractal, UA) and those that claim to be authentic, but instead, bake in multiple stages of filtering and dynamics that cannot be dialed out. It's totally fine to ignore Hype. (It's off by default for all Agoura amps.)

Ok, and assuming no issues experienced with HX One units on warranty - good to know - OLEDs can be tricky business.

Regarding Hype, I think your approach is on track - that's how I'd implement. Thank you for striving for accuracy - that's very important to folks like me that have done away with amps now and are reliant on the modeler to accurately capture the amp out signal to speaker cab. Glad you set it on zero as default.

And finally, THANK YOU for putting the Bogner XTC FIRST. That is a legendary amp, and it took forever to get to the Helix. Judging from the clips, I think you did it justice. I've got the Stadium ordered so looking forward to that amp!

Reg. the Rev120 - it doesn't really matter to me one way or the other - but I can't say I agree with some of the unwanted language earlier in the thread. Needlessly crude...

 

[Orvillain]

Let me elaborate now that I've had my enchilada

Tried some Rev D20 turd in GC randomly one day. It had nowhere near enough gain for anything worthwhile and was running on 6v6s. BUT I CAN RUN IT DIRECT? Who would want to run this anemic absolute dog turd direct to house? Barf. Gee; wonder why I hated it and lump all their amps in this same category?

I think I need another enchilada

Yeah but those lunchbox thingo's aren't really representative of good amps nor good tone IMO. They're just stocking fillers. It'd be like rejecting Orange coz they did the Tiny Terror, when the Rockerverb and Thunderverb are dickpunchers.