Line 6 Helix Stadium Talk

EOengineer said:
There are definitely noticeable differences in dynamics with Agoura. I notice more available range from low to high strength picking, but is also seems like there are more granular stages within that range. My bad analogy is comparing it to standard definition to high definition for feel.
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How's the volume knob rolloff? Do the marshalls go clean(ish) to mean with just the volume knob. The HX models do this "OK" but not as well as real amps IMO. I play alot of jammy stuff and its nice to just use your volume knob instead of tap dancing for every little gain change.
 
fr8_trane said:
How's the volume knob rolloff? Do the marshalls go clean(ish) to mean with just the volume knob. The HX models do this "OK" but not as well as real amps IMO. I play alot of jammy stuff and its nice to just use your volume knob instead of tap dancing for every little gain change.
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It works a treat! So much so I've raised the gain on my base patches to take advantage of it!
 
So I had the opportunity to try out a few stadium amp sims. Very good imo. Not better than what fractal offers, for myself ATM... But there's differences in feel even when you get a fractal sim sounding very close to a stadium sim. It's hard to know if this is due to source amp differences, different levels of accuracy or both.

But the main advantage for me on the fractal end is the wealth of sims available. There's so much more you can do, on that end.

And I know it's often said that people don't need as many sims. Most of the time, I don't use too many of them myself. That said, at times, different sims can also inspire me to play something fresh, and there's often a distinct feel between high gain amps. Fractal offers a lot on that front.

Also, a big difference I see between fractal fm3 (my main unit) and stadium is the hardware usability factor. These are not in the same dimension. It's a joy to work with the stadium, where as, even after years, I avoid any hardware tweeking on the fm3 whenever possible. There is absolutely no question I'd go for Stadium units on that basis, if space allowed. And I'm not confident at all fractal units will improve too much on the usability front come next gen.

Additionally, the stadium units will get proxy capturing. So even though the amp sim list is more limited, and may always be, helix will be able to shoot captures via the cloud. No current fractal unit can even load captures. And it seems that next gen fractal products won't offer a capturing process themselves, just a player. The helix approach would probably be a real plus for me, now that I got back into capturing amps more.

My post is written from the perspective of wondering whether my current unit (fm3) or helix stadium would best serve my needs. People may say that it's not a "fight" between which unit is better, but these are decisions people often make on the basis of financial ability. Moreover, folk are often very interested in comparisons, so there's definitely some evaluation going on.

So... all in all... Perhaps if line6 releases a stomp version that retains some of the great usability of the bigger units, I would strongly consider selling the fm3. Saving space matters a lot to me, so a stomp version is a must. Would need to see how usability transfers to smaller units.

Would I miss the wealth of fractal amp sims? To some extent. Could I bridge that gap somewhat with captures? Not the most convenient way to do that; I guess it depends on access to amps and my available spoons (neurodivergent energy levels).

(Even though some captures may kick many amp sim butts. I expect that perception from some people once they begin loading NAM captures in next gen fractal products. And the other way around too).

So it's a fairly mixed view I have of what way to go in the future. I'll see what a stomp version may offer and what developments there may be.
 
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GLiDE-BPM said:
However, I would NEVER take away from the serious major impact that Line 6 had from the original amp and the POD through Stadium!
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Oh, no one is here... except for Sascha.

When we were designing Helix's signal flow mapping and DSP allocation, there were probably 10-12 fully realized, very different designs—not just UI, GUI, and navigation, but entirely different methods of mapping blocks to paths and DSPs. We brainstormed another 50 methods or so, and the meetings, debates, designs, and iterations took many months. IIRC, we pivoted two or three times and still aren't convinced it's the best we could've come up with (although we improved a bunch of things with Stadium.) All told, there are hundreds of ways to accomplish this and hundreds of additional methods of representing it all graphically on a screen, many of which are better than where we landed.

And yet...




There are light years between a company releasing yet another metal box with switches, LEDs, and a display... and straight lifting many months of detailed design and DSP graph work out of pure laziness, especially after throwing shade at Helix in front of guests in our NAMM booth.

And then it's folllowed with "Hur dur! Line 6 copies too because they gots switches and a screen on the floor!"
 
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Digital Igloo said:
Oh, no one is here... except for Sascha.

When we were designing Helix's signal flow mapping and DSP allocation, there were probably 10-12 fully realized, very different designs—not just UI, GUI, and navigation, but entirely different methods of mapping blocks to paths and DSPs. We brainstormed another 50 methods or so, and the meetings, debates, designs, and iterations took many months. IIRC, we pivoted two or three times and still aren't convinced it's the best we could've come up with (although we improved a bunch of things with Stadium.) All told, there are hundreds of ways to accomplish this and hundreds of additional methods of representing it all graphically on a screen, many of which are better than where we landed.

And yet...




There are light years between a company releasing yet another metal box with switches, LEDs, and a display... and straight lifting many months of detailed design and DSP graph work out of pure laziness, especially after throwing shade at Helix in front of guests in our NAMM booth.

And then it's folllowed with "Hur dur! Line 6 copies too because they gots switches and a screen on the floor!"
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Eric, kudos to you guys for taking the high road! There are lots of companies that have been in this guitar processing market
over the years, but not all of them gave credit to the others. Can't blame you for getting torqued off and having to defend the turf
every so often, either! Stadium looks like it's going to be a fun ride for all of us owners and future owners!!! :headbang
 
Digital Igloo said:
All told, there are hundreds of ways to accomplish this and hundreds of additional methods of representing it all graphically on a screen, many of which are better than where we landed.

And yet...


There are light years between a company releasing yet another metal box with switches, LEDs, and a display... and straight lifting many months of detailed design and DSP graph work out of pure laziness, especially after throwing shade at Helix in front of guests in our NAMM booth.

And then it's folllowed with "Hur dur! Line 6 copies too because they gots switches and a screen on the floor!"
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It has a slight Wang to it....... :popcorn
 
HotRats said:
Ok, I'll join you in some memories....
(pictures are not mine)

when I was barley a teenager had one of these


View attachment 56417

And few years later, during the 90s, I bought this ART multi FX.

View attachment 56418

I used the ART for a long time and between 2000 and 2010 it was paired with the almighty POD 2.0 + Floorbord that served me so well in many occasions.
I used to send L pod out to the FOH and R to the ART for heavily eqing the marshall combo I used as personal stage monitor.

I used the pod so much for gigging that the red coating was missing in some parts. LOL
Loved that little bean.

View attachment 56420
Click to expand...

That POD 2.0 and floorboard brings back memories! I also spent a LOT of time gigging that combo.

I also had a Flextone II XL and I originally got the floorboard for that amp.
 
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