timeblock
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I have just received an email from my reseller in Italy; shipping in 5-7 working days… i have enough time to watch videos and reading the manual!
Meanwhile in Europe...
Line 6 Helix Stadium Pre-Launch Discussion
- Thread starter Lysander
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laxu
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In case you missed it, here's the thread for discussing the functionality etc of the HX Stadium: https://thegearforum.com/threads/line6-hx-stadium-talk.10275/
This can be left for...nonsense I guess. Maybe could be renamed to "HX Stadium Pre-release thread" or something.
This can be left for...nonsense I guess. Maybe could be renamed to "HX Stadium Pre-release thread" or something.
Well let's do another 137 replies and call it a day...
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Hey! This is a high class bureau de change!!
Mooselake
Roadie
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Everyone will be happy to know there will be no more hand wringing from me in this thread. Things updated for me overnight and my GC preorder is now reflecting UPS status with an estimated delivery date tomorrow. Guess I better make sure I export my setlists.
I didn't watch the entire glut of vids that dropped yesterday, but I did watch a few. Nothing struck me as a negative about the unit. I guess I'll know more tomorrow.
I didn't watch the entire glut of vids that dropped yesterday, but I did watch a few. Nothing struck me as a negative about the unit. I guess I'll know more tomorrow.
MirrorProfiles
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Checked a few video demos last night (purely focussing on tones rather than features/useability). Thought I’d check again on studio monitors and headphones again today on fresh ears just to really give things a fair shot.
I really had high hopes, and full expectation that the high gain guys tones would sell me on it. And complete faith that Line 6’s modelling would be the new benchmark for others to catch.
So far I don’t think I’ve heard a single tone that I even partially like and I’m feeling kind of gutted now. There’s a character in the distortion that reminds me of Line 6, and it’s in every gainy clip I’ve heard. It’s there regardless of using onboard IR’s or 3rd party ones. I’m not getting the dynamic heft/bloom, or fuzzy snarl I was hoping for - too often it’s bloated/fuzzy/stuffy/papery. The one caveat is Agoura amps don’t feature any of my favourite amp models yet (Uberschall, Peavey 5150, Recto, Mark, Friedman).
It’s really odd for me to have this view because I’m pretty platform agnostic and have enjoyed modelling from basically all companies. Been a Helix user for years and while I think it had a bit of a “Helix sound”, I didn’t expect to be hearing it still here.
I’m still going to try and give the benefit of doubt that when more users spend time with their units and get to grips with new parameters and getting things dialled in, the tones will get better. Likewise when more amps get added (although I’d have still thought I’d have heard tones I liked from the amps that are there).
One other issue I have, is that it still seems far too easy to get bad tones. Initial settings and cab pairings just sound wonky, so you’re almost fixing tones from the get go. The showcase stuff just looks like it’s dragging tones in 5 different directions all at once without a clear direction (I can see the use for this if you choose the settings and behaviours yourself though).
No slight intended to anyone involved, just kind of bummed that it’s so far from what I was expecting. Hoping some demos will come along that have me eating my words, and at the very least, I’m sure Proxy will scratch the itch if the modelling doesn’t.
FWIW heard several Plexi tones that sounded great, and all the lower gain stuff doesn’t bother me. It’s when the gain gets higher, or stacks up that is where I’m having issues.
I really had high hopes, and full expectation that the high gain guys tones would sell me on it. And complete faith that Line 6’s modelling would be the new benchmark for others to catch.
So far I don’t think I’ve heard a single tone that I even partially like and I’m feeling kind of gutted now. There’s a character in the distortion that reminds me of Line 6, and it’s in every gainy clip I’ve heard. It’s there regardless of using onboard IR’s or 3rd party ones. I’m not getting the dynamic heft/bloom, or fuzzy snarl I was hoping for - too often it’s bloated/fuzzy/stuffy/papery. The one caveat is Agoura amps don’t feature any of my favourite amp models yet (Uberschall, Peavey 5150, Recto, Mark, Friedman).
It’s really odd for me to have this view because I’m pretty platform agnostic and have enjoyed modelling from basically all companies. Been a Helix user for years and while I think it had a bit of a “Helix sound”, I didn’t expect to be hearing it still here.
I’m still going to try and give the benefit of doubt that when more users spend time with their units and get to grips with new parameters and getting things dialled in, the tones will get better. Likewise when more amps get added (although I’d have still thought I’d have heard tones I liked from the amps that are there).
One other issue I have, is that it still seems far too easy to get bad tones. Initial settings and cab pairings just sound wonky, so you’re almost fixing tones from the get go. The showcase stuff just looks like it’s dragging tones in 5 different directions all at once without a clear direction (I can see the use for this if you choose the settings and behaviours yourself though).
No slight intended to anyone involved, just kind of bummed that it’s so far from what I was expecting. Hoping some demos will come along that have me eating my words, and at the very least, I’m sure Proxy will scratch the itch if the modelling doesn’t.
FWIW heard several Plexi tones that sounded great, and all the lower gain stuff doesn’t bother me. It’s when the gain gets higher, or stacks up that is where I’m having issues.
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Same here. My tracking finally updated. Mine's supposed to come Saturday.
I think if you have the opportunity, you should order one and test yourself. You can always return it, if it doesn’t live up to your expectations.
I haven’t heard a demo with sounds that are exactly like what I’ll want to use, but I’m positive there in there, and what I’ve heard so far, doesn’t make me worried about the quality being there or not. Glass half full from my perspective
EOengineer
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I’m surprised Leon hasn’t put anything out. Is he too closely affiliated with the Fractal camp to get a test unit?
MirrorProfiles
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The plugin (and maybe Stomp) would be the products for me, I'm not gigging and a floorboard is not really what I'm after.
I think Stadium absolutely has TONS of merit based on features and workflow and I don't think me being unimpressed with high gain tones so far would have any negative bearing on someone else's uses for it. Helix modelling constantly evolved and improved, hopefully by the time my favourite amps get added they'll benefit from the same kinds of evolutionary improvements.
GLiDE-BPM
Newbie
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I would be shocked if he didn't at least get his hands on one to at a minimum do a review!
EOengineer
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Yeah I’m just surprised to not see anything from him. He’s one of those guys that I think creates genuinely useful content and dials in great tones. I sort of expected him to be amongst the others who shipped release day content yesterday.
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By now i think everyone thats ordered one and has been looking at all the demos and pretty much know what it's capable of, as for tones you will be the judge once it's in your environment with your guitar, your playback system/monitor, your hands and how "you" like to dial in your tones
I was really excited to get my tracking info from Musicians Friend. It will arrive Thursday afternoon! Then I started thinking about my weekend schedule, and my enthusiasm dimmed:
I have a work event about an hour away Thursday night, followed by dinner with my son in his first semester away at college.
Work all day Friday. Saturday, I'm helping my wife with a community meal she helps organize every year before I leave early to get ready for a Saturday night gig.
That leaves me very little time before Sunday to try things out, and nowhere near enough time to think about transferring the set list over and actually using the Stadium for the Saturday gig. Which I'd love to do — but would feel nervous about without having even ever used it at a rehearsal.
Oh, well. It will be waiting for me Sunday!
I have a work event about an hour away Thursday night, followed by dinner with my son in his first semester away at college.
Work all day Friday. Saturday, I'm helping my wife with a community meal she helps organize every year before I leave early to get ready for a Saturday night gig.
That leaves me very little time before Sunday to try things out, and nowhere near enough time to think about transferring the set list over and actually using the Stadium for the Saturday gig. Which I'd love to do — but would feel nervous about without having even ever used it at a rehearsal.
Oh, well. It will be waiting for me Sunday!
I'm not a high gain metal guy but I had the same observation and I hear almost exactly what you described. No issues up until Plexi (which sounds great...albeit slightly papery) but past that...it does have a bloated, fuzzy, dry quality.
In fact, on the high gain metal amps, I think Helix may sound better. But it's very, very early - I'm sure the models will continue to be refined. Plus, worse comes to worst, all they need to do is use this base tone as input into an AI model and bam, you're there.
To be fair, we are always more critical of the stuff we ourselves like the most.
MirrorProfiles
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I’ve been thinking this too actually. Hopefully Jon is able to include the legacy models side by side with the new ones in his next video.
The boosted tones where guys have way too much gain really exacerbates what I’m hearing, and it’s not something I associate with real amps. I hear it with less gain too, but the more that’s added the more it sticks out as weird. I think the older Helix modelling didn’t have that quality either.
Looking forward to some amp comparison videos too - I think even having a real amp to compare sonically can lead you to dial things in different to how we do it flying solo on a modeller. What concerns me is I’m hearing it in ALL of the high gain tones.
Mooselake
Roadie
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Especially with headphones the extra gainy stuff really didn't wow me either, but the huge caveat to that is I don't think I've ever heard an isolated really high gain guitar tone that I liked by itself, and it's not a tone space I would be inclined to dial up, although I admit to having had some guilty pleasure with the Badonk a time or two over the years. Fortunately for me the Marshall-on-down tones have all sounded really good insofar as I can discern through Youtube, so there's a high probability Stadium will scratch the itches I have. I had the opposite impression of one of your other observations--I thought it looked almost stupid easy to dial up a good sounding tone for my range of taste (clean to just a bit beyond crunch). It might take some doing to find a "perfect" tone for some application, but I often go the horseshoes and hand grenade route with tones. I can get so mired in endless tweaking that the perfect definitely becomes the enemy of the good. Hopefully in time Stadium will grow into something useful for everyone, but chances are it won't be perfect for everyone. I appreciate the honest thoughts though. There's understandably a lot of gushiness out there right now and it's hard to refrain from setting the bar impossibly high. I'll find out a lot more tomorrow.
mavrick102000
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Surely you're not referring to Fluff's demos.
. But I've heard it on others. Obvious chugging on a red channel is going to exaggerate the harshness, but yeah I'm hearing it on the vids as well.
A few have tweaked it down a little with some examples using the hype setting, but it's still sort of there - just less pokey for lack of a better description.
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