Line 6 Helix Stadium Talk

[Chocol8]

who wants to play outdoors in November/December

Aussies!

 

[Gary_W]

Weird default settings and cab aside, when I dialed in the Agoura and Fractal IIC+ models the same with the same IR, I could not distinguish them.

What cab and mic are you going for?

 

[paisleywookiee]

Weird default settings and cab aside, when I dialed in the Agoura and Fractal IIC+ models the same with the same IR, I could not distinguish them.

I’m sure. It sounded fantastic. And I had a Mark IIC+ RI right next to me, and the Stadium sounds close.

Which footswitch rings are brighter?

 

[bucephalus]

I’m sure. It sounded fantastic. And I had a Mark IIC+ RI right next to me, and the Stadium sounds close.

Which footswitch rings are brighter?

They can't be, Sascha said so

 

[HotRats]

Which footswitch rings are brighter?

I don't understand why this makes people laugh

A led ring, screen or scribble strip that can't be seen under certain lighting conditions is an obvious practical problem for anyone using the device under those conditions.

A problem that makes those leds, screens or scribble strips useless.

Anyone buying or willing to buy a device, knowing that will be frequently exposed to those conditions, will give great importance to the characteristics of leds, screens and strips.

The importance of those characteristics can be easily greater than the quality of sound.

 

[Karl Houseknecht]

would love to hear clips!

Here you go. This is the IIC+ on the Stadium and Fractal FM3, both at current release firmware. Both run through the same York YA MES OS Mix 01 IR. No reverb or effects or post processing. Settings on both amps are identical. I alternate between the two units with an A/B switcher for each phrase of chords or chugs. I am not revealing which is which until tomorrow. Are there differences? Maybe? None that make any difference to me. I'll use either of those tones. Pick it apart all you want with golden ears, but there's nothing here that couldn't be tweaked into alignment if needed. Oh, and the "feel" is the same to me.

Channel: Lead
Drive: 8.4
Bass: 0
Mid: 0
Treble: 7.1
Presence: 0.6
Deep: On
Bass Shift: Off
TrebShift: On
Bright: Off
Lead Drive: 8.6
Lead Brite: Off
Lead Master: 3.5
Master: 2.3
Power: Simulclass
80 Hz: +4.2
240 Hz: 0
750 Hz: -8.7
2200 Hz: +1.0
6600 Hz: -1.2

Cab: York YA MES OS Mix 01, no high or low cuts

For the Fractal FM3, the model used was the: USA MK IIC+ Deep



The sequence in the above clip is: A - B - A - B - A - B - A - B

 

[Digital Igloo]

I believe the non-XL version will have a mode where the touchscreen shows what the buttons are assigned to.

I think the QC has something similar.

Same thing as Performance view on Helix LT. You can see the various footswitch modes starting here.

Yup. It’s super common with clicked music to automate small 1-3bpm tempo changes in choruses or bridges to help accentuate feel changes. I’d imagine there will be a significant quantity of commercially recorded music that will exhibit this behavior. I’ve definitely done it, I bet you have as well.

I haven’t bothered with showcase but I’d assume tempo changes are in the backlog somewhere if not already on the device. Showcase would be pretty limited in its applicable use cases if it can’t accommodate that.

1. From Song view, tap Add Flag.
2. Press PAGE > (or swipe the inspector left) and drag a Time flag onto the flag field where you want it to take place. Time flags can change tempo and/or time signature. Once tempo detection is added, Time flags will be automatically added, but there still may be some tweaking involved, especially with something like the weirder prog or Tool songs.

Always had my big volume knob set to only control 1/4” out, now it looks like that’s something I will need a change every time the unit gets booted up. Press and hold on the XLR button but I’m pretty sure that reverts back when the unit is powered off.

Stadium remembers which Matrix layer is active; you don't have to press 1/4" every time you turn it on. Pressing and holding the active output button disables the Volume knob for all outputs, but Volume disable is not remembered across power cycles; if it's important I can ask the team.

I always want presets on the top row of foot switches and snapshots on the bottom. Now it appears that can only be done by selecting the combo option then that goes away once you change to a different preset.

If you're in Combo mode, changing presets stays in Combo mode. Are you manually assigning them from the Command Center? If so, yeah, that's per preset—Don't do that, just choose Combo mode, or better yet, hold MORE > COMBO to swap out a less-used mode on FS6 so it's always a single press away.

Also the fact that you can’t select single or dual cab/IR is kind of weird. If you only want one you always have to select the no cab option in the second slot.

Correct. Cabs take up relatively little DSP and it's much more common for someone to want to add a second cab (or a second mic to the same cab) without having to waste and manage a second cab block.

One thing I recall DI mentioning somewhere is that it's not uncommon for the global settings of the floor demos to get wonky from streams of random people messing around with them. IIRC he mentioned at one time they were even considering special for-merchant firmware variants for such situations that has the unit do a factory reset every time it boots up so the next person to check it out isn't left with whatever state the last person to check it out left it in. Maybe it was just something like that.

We have that for OG Helix units on the retail floor. Every time it's booted, it does a reset of factory settings and presets.

 

[EOengineer]

1. From Song view, tap Add Flag.
2. Press PAGE > (or swipe the inspector left) and drag a Time flag onto the flag field where you want it to take place. Time flags can change tempo and/or time signature. Once tempo detection is added, Time flags will be automatically added, but there still may be some tweaking involved, especially with something like the weirder prog or Tool songs.

This is so cool.

 

[Richard_G]

I don't understand why this makes people laugh

A led ring, screen or scribble strip that can't be seen under certain lighting conditions is an obvious practical problem for anyone using the device under those conditions.

A problem that makes those leds, screens or scribble strips useless.

Anyone buying or willing to buy a device, knowing that will be frequently exposed to those conditions, will give great importance to the characteristics of leds, screens and strips.

The importance of those characteristics can be easily greater than the quality of sound.

I don’t think anyone dismisses those things as potentially important issues. But when a forum member or potential buyer goes on and on about them — and almost seems to put them above everything else — without trying the unit or knowing whether those things are actually better than on the previous generation, and while being rude along the way, it’s not surprising that this creates some friction.

Edit: and just to be clear, I’m not referring to you, @HotRats

 

[Elf]

.. Pick it apart all you want with golden ears...

Self appointed Golden ears club member here.. I hear the differences but yeah I agree with you. So in theory I could get these amp tones with a $700 USD FAS AM4, what a time to be alive!

 

[Karl Houseknecht]

So in theory I could get these amp tones with a $700 USD FAS AM4, what a time to be alive!

Yep, you could. Or if you need more horsepower, an FM3, FM9, Axe-III, or Stadium.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Here you go. This is the IIC+ on the Stadium and Fractal FM3, both at current release firmware. Both run through the same York YA MES OS Mix 01 IR. No reverb or effects or post processing. Settings on both amps are identical. I alternate between the two units with an A/B switcher for each phrase of chords or chugs. I am not revealing which is which until tomorrow. Are there differences? Maybe? None that make any difference to me. I'll use either of those tones. Pick it apart all you want with golden ears, but there's nothing here that couldn't be tweaked into alignment if needed. Oh, and the "feel" is the same to me.

Channel: Lead
Drive: 8.4
Bass: 0
Mid: 0
Treble: 7.1
Presence: 0.6
Deep: On
Bass Shift: Off
TrebShift: On
Bright: Off
Lead Drive: 8.6
Lead Brite: Off
Lead Master: 3.5
Master: 2.3
Power: Simulclass
80 Hz: +4.2
240 Hz: 0
750 Hz: -8.7
2200 Hz: +1.0
6600 Hz: -1.2

Cab: York YA MES OS Mix 01, no high or low cuts

For the Fractal FM3, the model used was the: USA MK IIC+ Deep

Nice! Appreciate you doing this and cool to hear at equivalent settings like this. Not too different sounding (not sure what’s with the defensive “golden ears” remarks but I think the differences in this stuff are more interesting than the similarities). I’m just on headphones (will check studio monitors tomorrow. On airpods, and on one listen the main difference I’m hearing is that darker/farty/mushy thing that I’m hearing in a lot of other Agoura clips. If the 2nd clip is Fractal, then that’s cool that it can be dialled out of the Stadium. I’d imagine Fractal is the brighter 1st one of the two examples.

Totally accept that the tonal difference might be a preference/non issue for many. Will listen on monitors, will be interesting if those differences are any more apparent there.

 

[Sascha Franck]

But when a forum member or potential buyer goes on and on about them — and almost seems to put them above everything else

I don't do that.
And again: What about all the folks endlessly entering uber-anal-mode when it comes to whatever amp model requests and discussions about whatever minutiae of modeling accuracy? I don't see you to EVER complain about them and they VERY CERTAINLY use up tons more of lines in this very forum than my complaints about whatever UI issues.

And fwiw: What triggered this very reincarnation of the LED discussion was a tiny snarky side comment, nothing else. Just a handful of posts later and I was called an insufferable dickhead and an asshole. And not for the first time. But hey, that's all absolutely fine for you I guess.

 

[Karl Houseknecht]

not sure what’s with the defensive “golden ears” remarks

Because I know how this goes when folks ask for clips. People will hear differences (real or not), make assumptions, and then perhaps be dead wrong in their conclusions despite their confident pronouncements. It's not defensive. It's more an eye roll because I've been here before. We all have.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Because I know how this goes when folks ask for clips. People will hear differences (real or not), make assumptions, and then perhaps be dead wrong in their conclusions despite their confident pronouncements. It's not defensive. It's more an eye roll because I've been here before. We all have.

That’s fair. It’s a big part of the reason I enjoy doing blind tests and trying to be objective/removing bias. It can be quite hard to hear things objectively

 

[Karl Houseknecht]

I guarantee about 50% of folks are going to get this wrong, and probably most people will cite the wrong reason they "know" which one is which. Just to be clear, the sequence in the clip is:

A - B - A - B - A - B - A - B

When I was playing around with it before recording the clip, I literally lost my place and had to look down to be sure which was which.

 

[paisleywookiee]

I don't understand why this makes people laugh

A led ring, screen or scribble strip that can't be seen under certain lighting conditions is an obvious practical problem for anyone using the device under those conditions.

A problem that makes those leds, screens or scribble strips useless.

Anyone buying or willing to buy a device, knowing that will be frequently exposed to those conditions, will give great importance to the characteristics of leds, screens and strips.

The importance of those characteristics can be easily greater than the quality of sound.

It’s not the concern over ring brightness, or any other kind of brightness. It’s the going on about it ad nauseum about topics over and over again, and being a generally disagreeable ass about it.

Also, I think commenting on a UI/UX with any sense of authority before ever even using it is a bit ridiculous.

 

[Sascha Franck]

It’s the going on about it ad nauseum about topics over and over again

Just as you are going on about the same amp models over and over again. Besides, the topic of LEDs has come up exactly once in this 153-page thread so far. I didn't make it a big deal, either.
If that qualifies as "ad nauseum", well, I dunno what's up with you. But I don't know that anyway, as you permanently decide to be an utterly rude guy calling me names to no end over and over again.

 

[ian_dissonance]

But guys, why didn’t Stadium get Flux? Why does Line 6 hate nu-core momentary FX?

Sorry, I just wanted to repeat myself repeat myself too.

 

[paisleywookiee]

But guys, why didn’t Stadium get Flux? Why does Line 6 hate nu-core momentary FX?

Sorry, I just wanted to repeat myself repeat myself too.

I don’t know what that shit is, but it sounds AMAZING!!