Line 6 Helix Stadium Talk

[dean701]

I've found a bug with the new Orange amp.

On my preset I have 8 snapshots. 3 use the clean channel of the Orange, 5 use the Overdrive. Snapshot 3 (Overdrive) works fine, but the other 4 snapshots that have the overdrive channel set have no sound. If on that preset I switch to the clean channel it works fine. I tried to copy/paste the snapshot and rebooting the machine. Didn't work. I was able to copy/paste the snapshot and then readjust the other amp settings and that worked. Weird.

-------------------------------

That new Orange amp rocks though! Especially with the gain cranked. Since the Orange is so mid-focused, I usually turn down the mid and bass and the Stadium model rips with those settings, really cutting through.

I have the Rockerverb 50w Mark II and the clean channel is identical to the model. I can't dial in the dirty channel the same, but that has a different gain structure so it makes sense.

Here's the ticket url if you want it.

Line 6

Create, record and perform with guitar in new ways.

line6.com

 

[EOengineer]

He was pretty clear it was going to require the new website and backend updates before it was possible. He is also offering the updates for free, even though they are a lot of work on his side.

If he eventually follows through I will happily continue supporting him. It’s been a year. We’ll see.

 

[dean701]

If he eventually follows through I will happily continue supporting him. It’s been a year. We’ll see.

His work is very good for both QC and Tonex.
I like how he shares some free content on the Tonex cloud and if you want to dig deeper you can purchase the whole packs but it's not necessary. He has enough free content to get a good idea on his content.
Hoping that he will do the same somehow for L6.

 

[EOengineer]

His work is very good for both QC and Tonex.
I like how he shares some free content on the Tonex cloud and if you want to dig deeper you can purchase the whole packs but it's not necessary. He has enough free content to get a good idea on his content.
Hoping that he will do the same somehow for L6.

I agree, though I’ve sort of moved on from purchased packs to just capturing my own amps. Those packs are expensive to have to repurchase for multiple platforms. I think proxy will good enough and the community will get large enough that we will be able to get most things from whatever L6 sets up to eventually support that, whether it’s customtone or something else.

 

[dean701]

I agree, though I’ve sort of moved on from purchased packs to just capturing my own amps. Those packs are expensive to have to repurchase for multiple platforms. I think proxy will good enough and the community will get large enough that we will be able to get most things from whatever L6 sets up to eventually support that, whether it’s customtone or something else.

I do agree, however, I think it will be just like Kemper and Tonex where content sifting will be needed. It's nice to find free content from reliable people who know what they are doing. I can clone some amps but I like to try other amps that I have no intention of buying and I want those clones to be a good representation from reliable sources.

 

[mbenigni]

It came out 8 hours ago

 

[dws2384]

There are current gen effects, this has been confirmed many times.

Yes, Im aware of that. There are still plenty of new effects that could be added.

Also, the last effects added (other than a bass wah) were in 3.70 back in 2023

 

[fr8_trane]

Especially as someone who doesn't really care much about the modern high gain stuff 99% of the time, Proxy really sounds great and makes the Stadium tempting again. And I just watched the Signal Theory "Which digital amp platform responds to effects best?" video (thanks @brianwahl for the well-done vid!), and I was pretty impressed by the Stadium in that context.

That said, and I feel like it's annoying to even mention this at this point, it's still too bad there's no current-gen reverb (yet?). It would be cool if they even confirmed that they will do one, in which case I'd have faith haha.

What exactly is a current gen reverb? Shimmer? Super long decay? Helix has those. I'm super picky about standard reverb (plate, hall, room) and I think the Helix dynamic verbs sound great. Maybe not Valhalla great but close enough for rock and roll.

 

[Orvillain]

<bites tongue>

 

[fr8_trane]

I agree. I know many people will push for nonstop Agoura amps until they’re all converted, which is fine and they should do that, but with Proxy now and already 55 amp channels of Agoura, I don’t think it should be the main focus. Seems to be more of a digital realm thing where people need hundreds of amps. Most people I know using real amps use a handful, even if they own 30. Hell most people I know use one 90% of the time.

Some new effects would be appreciated. Proxy can now do drives too, a refresh/new algorithms on Reverbs and Modulations would help take it to the next level.

The Only Agoura amps I'm waiting for are the BE-100 and the Dumble. I prefer models because they respond to tweaking better than captures IMO.

I agree that some new Agoura level FX would be great... starting with an updated Rotary block. The envelop filter has sucked for a while as well.

 

[EOengineer]

The Only Agoura amps I'm waiting for are the BE-100 and the Dumble. I prefer models because they respond to tweaking better than captures IMO.

I agree that some new Agoura level FX would be great... starting with an updated Rotary block. The envelop filter has sucked for a while as well.

Calling @DG80 - might be time to unleash some BE captures.

 

[DG80]

Calling @DG80 - might be time to unleash some BE captures.

I've got loads of captures of my BE100 Deluxe, but they all have that annoying background fizz / distortion - so I'm waiting for Line 6 to fix it before re-capturing and sharing.

 

[mbenigni]

I prefer models because they respond to tweaking better than captures IMO.

I made this recommendation in the QC thread, and while I don't actually know what the Proxy UI looks like, I'll also drop this idea here in case Line 6 can make use of it: IMO the first parameter of any capture/ profile/ clone block should select between clones of the same amp (whether this is determined via a folder hierarchy or naming convention), so that you can easily dial in the broad strokes (channel, gain) of an amp before fine tuning within the boundaries at which clones tend to fall apart. This is the easiest first step to take in absence of mythical TINA-style parametric captures and potentiometer mapping.

For all I know, Stadium is already doing this? QC is a bit more of a PITA than it needs to be when it's time to start swapping amp model or capture blocks (IMO). Just throwing it out there.

 

[dbfretz]

I've got loads of captures of my BE100 Deluxe, but they all have that annoying background fizz / distortion - so I'm waiting for Line 6 to fix it before re-capturing and sharing.

Even on 1.3.1? Annoying.

 

[DG80]

Even on 1.3.1? Annoying.

Unfortunately, yes. It's not as bad as it was on 1.3, but it's still really obvious when rolling the volume down. Line 6 are aware, so I'm assuming they're working on it.

 

[dean701]

I made this recommendation in the QC thread, and while I don't actually know what the Proxy UI looks like, I'll also drop this idea here in case Line 6 can make use of it: IMO the first parameter of any capture/ profile/ clone block should select between clones of the same amp (whether this is determined via a folder hierarchy or naming convention), so that you can easily dial in the broad strokes (channel, gain) of an amp before fine tuning within the boundaries at which clones tend to fall apart. This is the easiest first step to take in absence of mythical TINA-style parametric captures and potentiometer mapping.

For all I know, Stadium is already doing this? QC is a bit more of a PITA than it needs to be when it's time to start swapping amp model or capture blocks (IMO). Just throwing it out there.

As it stands it's still a work in progress.
I was being comical with my previous Clone Focus shot but it was truth in jest.

as it stands this is what I see on the computer client when showing focus view for a clone (although focus on the unit actually shows text info of the clone like author, channel, volume, bmt)

My recommendation, like you, would be for clones to have a selectable field to choose an amp type that closely represents your amp choice and adjust amp parameters similar to that. It wouldn't be anything totally accurate but you might as well have something as the focus feature is amazing.

 

[EOengineer]

I've got loads of captures of my BE100 Deluxe, but they all have that annoying background fizz / distortion - so I'm waiting for Line 6 to fix it before re-capturing and sharing.

Kind of in the same boat. I sat down to do a couple more caps last night and realized I might as well just wait for the dust to settle a bit now that they are getting more training data.

 

[dean701]

Unfortunately, yes. It's not as bad as it was on 1.3, but it's still really obvious when rolling the volume down. Line 6 are aware, so I'm assuming they're working on it.

Cordy posted a video that compares a real amp to the Stadium capture and I agree with him stating that at full volume it's really close, but differences with clean up happen as the volume is rolled off.

Hopefully more accuracy is quick to come although I know they have a lot to work on.
-client fix for usb
-client fix for missing data
-fix favorite limit
-fix gapless preset switching
-I heard about a bluetooth phone client in the works
-more amps
...

 

[synthpenguin]

There are current gen effects, this has been confirmed many times.

Let’s put it this way then: current gen reverbs that take advantage of the newer hardware.

I’m talking about the quality of the reverbs themselves, by the way, and not special fx type reverbs (which I’m not personally super interested in, at least not the types that multifx usually offer)

It’s true that a few years back Helix reverbs got better than they were, and I think it was a huge upgrade, but I also think they were still worse than what their direct competitors (QC, Fractal) offered at the time—let alone what many of the standalone reverb pedals (UA, Source Audio, many of the Strymon algos, etc) offered—and since the last Helix reverb update in 2023 [EDIT: sorry, it was 2021], those competitors have gotten new and improved reverbs, and a whole new competitor with very nice reverbs (the TMP) launched. The QC, which the Stadium is most closely competing with as far as feature set, just added a few more, excellent new ones with their last updates too.

And the Dynamic reverbs and newer spring reverb might be current gen in the sense that they were designed alongside Stadium, and they can sound good, but I don’t think they’re current gen in the context of the market, and the ones aiming for realism often have a pretty limited range within which they sound convincing imo.

There have been tonsss of conversations about this here and elsewhere on the internet though. What it comes down to for me is that if I bought a Stadium, I’d have to grab a Golden or Ventris or something to stick in an FX loop, which is the same place I was at with the previous gen. For me personally, that’s a dealbreaker when the unit itself costs 1800+ USD, and it’s not something I have to say about the other units. So in practice, for me, the reverb is still “last gen”.

It’s not as important to other people though, or they’re happy with what’s built-in, which is cool. I still think the platform deserves a competitive reverb that takes advantage of the new processing power though. That would be awesome, and I’m sure Line 6 will do that eventually, though from what I’ve seen they haven’t hinted at it being a near possibility as of yet (which doesn’t mean anything, of course)

As far as other effects, I think Stadium could have a lot more in the digital stereo delay department, and some better mod effects, but it’s hard for me to criticize that when their biggest competitors besides Fractal have even fewer options there—and of course many of the Helix delays are excellent, and offer things the other platforms don’t like the awesome Glitch Delay.

I think the Line 6 team is great, and I know they’re busy with a lot of other stuff. It’s okay to still wish for improvements in these other areas while recognizing that :)

 

[dean701]

Amalgam have said they would but I've not had any news on any of my packs being updated yet. Anyone else?

I know that Amalgam has talked with DI about doing clones for Stadium. So that is on his plate too.