Line 6 Helix Stadium Talk

[banned]

I get the sentiment but if I'm spending $2000+ on a device, I want it to be as accurate as possible. If I was just worried about good sounds, you can pull just about any digital unit off the shelf for much cheaper and be content with good tone.

100%

You can get good sounds out of the original Pod, Headrush, Zoom etc.

I personally am paying the big bucks for a solution that can hot swap the physical amp-out signal and not be able to tell the difference.

 

[MIJLOVER]

@mikah912 Thanks for the presets, enjoyed messing with them. The Mark preset inspired me to evolve a riff I’ve been working on

 

[mikah912]

@mikah912 Thanks for the presets, enjoyed messing with them. The Mark preset inspired me to evolve a riff I’ve been working on

That's awesome! Thanks for the shout-out.

Working on more too.

 

[Digital Igloo]

Jeez, another Fender employee is throwing shade at Helix Stadium on our own FB forums. What the hell is wrong with these people?

 

[mikah912]

It's an obvious concerted effort I see in the comments to pretty much every influencer video + amplifying every bug report on FB and forums and so on and so forth.

Just so blatant and bot-like.

 

[Mongillo19]

Idk, I also think it's dangerous to assume every negative comment is a bot

 

[mikah912]

Idk, I also think it's dangerous to assume every negative comment is a bot

100 percent agree, and there are plenty of legit bug reports and even quibbles with tones backed by empirical data.

That stuff matters, for sure.

It is suspicious, however, when new people to forums or FB groups take a very negative tone on the product right out of the gate with no photos, audio or video of their own unit.

And the cut and paste "It still sounds digital" nonsense is the most mindless and lazy trolling of them all.

 

[hblu22]

Jeez, another Fender employee is throwing shade at Helix Stadium on our own FB forums. What the hell is wrong with these people?

It’s sad. If they want to promote their products they should work on getting their iic+ and silver jubilee actually sounding like the much more accurate ones in the stadium.

 

[AZG]

But that’s not what those graphs say, and I actually think the people providing those graphs and other data points have been pretty clear that this is an accuracy issue, not that the current Stadium amps can’t sound great.

After having the Stadium for nearly a month, I’m pretty sure most if not all of the new Stadium amps have some EQ baked into the models. I think it is intended to make them sound better with little user effort at the risk of losing some accuracy. I have the Stadium setup with a ABY switch to instantly switch between it and my FM3. I’ve noticed that I often need to add a 24db slope low cut at about 75hz to the cab, and bump a few db around 2200 with a graphic eq to get the tones a lot closer. Not really an issue for me as it often sounds really good, but a noted difference if going for accuracy.

 

[mikah912]

After having the Stadium for nearly a month, I’m pretty sure most if not all of the new Stadium amps have some EQ baked into the models. I think it is intended to make them sound better with little user effort at the risk of losing some accuracy. I have the Stadium setup with a ABY switch to instantly switch between it and my FM3. I’ve noticed that I often need to add a 24db slope low cut at about 75hz to the cab, and bump a few db around 2200 with a graphic eq to get the tones a lot closer. Not really an issue for me as it often sounds really good, but a noted difference if going for accuracy.

Are you saying proximity to Fractal is the main determinant of whether it's accurate to the amp Line 6 modeled?

 

[AZG]

Are you saying proximity to Fractal is the main determinant of whether it's accurate to the amp Line 6 modeled?

No, more that many of the new Stadium models sound like an engineer has already added some cuts and eq to try and sweeten the sound compared to raw miked amp tones. At lease that's what it sounds like to me based on my experiences recording real amps.

 

[mikah912]

No, more that many of the new Stadium models sound like an engineer has already added some cuts and eq to try and sweeten the sound compared to raw miked amp tones. At lease that's what it sounds like to me based on my experiences recording real amps.

Right. Was just trying to figure where A/Bing against a FM3 played into that. It's all good.

 

[Karl Houseknecht]

I am about to throw my stadium through the wall, so I'm walking away for the evening. If it weren't for the tone, there would be a Stadium shaped hole in my studio wall right now.

I have a dual amp preset. Identical amps, identical cabs in stereo with stereo effects (sometimes) into the front of them. On boot, the stereo field is balanced. Switch to any other preset and switch back to this one and the stereo field becomes imbalanced. In the attached preset this is especially evident in snapshot 3, "Big". The only thing that fixes this is a reboot.

In addition, the room reverb on path 2 will not follow snapshot bypass no matter what I do. I feel like I'm going insane. So. Many. Bugs.

Give it a try with the attached preset and report back.

But the tone. It's just perfect. Blows away what I was getting with Fractal for this. If only the unit worked.

 

[privatezero]

@Digital Igloo

Will there be an ability in future updates to view and Edit the Showcase songs /setlists lists from the editor? Same with adjusting focus view from the editor? I love the large touch screen but it doesn't hold a candle against my 32 inch monitor and my eyes aren't what they used to be.

EDIT: NVM, I literally just found out where to do it I the librarian section. Focus view edit would be nice though. :)

 

[Mongillo19]

So. Many. Bugs.

I feel like waiting for the non XL may have been the move

 

[Richard_G]

Jeez, another Fender employee is throwing shade at Helix Stadium on our own FB forums. What the hell is wrong with these people?

Wow. You know for a fact that they are Fender employees?

 

[HotRats]

In other news, It's still sounding pretty good to me. Haven't noticed anything weird going on with Agoura, though I haven't gone for crazy high gain yet. Dirty sounds all work fine for me.

Did a quick test of the old and new 2203. The riff goes round four times, alternating between the old and new 2203 each time. Any idea if the Agoura is 1 & 3 or 2 & 4? Same settings on both amps, same IR used, all on the device.

For my money there are subtle differences but both sound good. I like the sound of one of them a bit better but the other one feels and reacts much better and is nicer to play.

Just listend with cheap pods: 2 & 4 have too much low-end and is gainer (or more compressed), hi end is slightly different.

They both sound very good and none seems inherently darker and middier, differences are small.

Thanks for posting it.

 

[fiftyshadesofslay]

Just listening on AirPods atm but I like 2 and 4 best. Sounds bigger in the low end and a bit gainier (almost like 1 and 3 were played softer by comparison).

Just listend with cheap pods: 2 & 4 have too much low-end and is gainer (or more compressed), hi end is slightly different.

They both sound very good and none seems inherently darker and middier, differences are small.

Thanks for posting it.

Thanks for the responses. 1 & 3 are Agoura, 2 & 4 are the OG Helix. Both sound good to me. I prefer 2 and 4 as I like the fatter sound, but Agoura is still good, just slightly different.

I thought it would be fun to do a quick comparison as the old 2203 is widely regarded as one of the best models in the Helix and I was curious if there was a big difference.

I haven’t analysed either but no weird mid push or high end roll off to my ears

I’ll try a direct comparison to the actual amp when I get a chance.

 

[HotRats]

@fiftyshadesofslay I've listend again in my studio and was about to post my guess but you preceded me!

Anyway I prefer 1 & 3: sounds more balanced to me and clearly much more dynamic.
My guess would have been that 1&3 it's the agoura based on the dynamic response only.

 

[fiftyshadesofslay]

@fiftyshadesofslay I've listend again in my studio and was about to post my guess but you preceded me!

Anyway I prefer 1 & 2: sounds more balanced to me and clearly much more dynamic.
My guess would have been that 1&2 it's the agoura based on the dynamic response only.

Sorry!

Even though I like the low mid push of the OG, Agoura is definitely much better to play. The old one is more compressed and flatter. Agoura is way more dynamic and feels like the real amp.