Line 6 Helix Stadium

[Lysander]

I missed a few pages.... is there going to be a rack version?

Not at launch. In the future, who knows...

 

[Orvillain]

Fucksake. I'm getting one.

 

[Lysander]

Fucksake. I'm getting one.

 

[dws2384]

Going the NAM route is just inviting a race to the bottom. I wouldn't get near it with a ten foot pole. Let the cheap import brands own that space.

Not really. It will become a more universal standard just like IR’s are now. Not putting a player in for it is dumb if it’s possible. They can still have their own tech to go alongside with it.

 

[mbenigni]

K y’all I think I’m gonna list my QC for real. Reverb sucks but I think it’s my only route here lol, what would you suggest I price this shit?

When was the Stadium release date again?

I just called Sweetwater and "my guy" was out. I was just starting to leave a voice mail about ordering a product that doesn't exist yet, and realized I felt kind of stupid.

 

[Cactusprick]

sorry if someone had already asked... is new engine only exclusive to Stadium?

Or will the existing Helix get some spillover models from the FW upgrades?

 

[Orvillain]

BTW I'm standing by to flay anyone who previously said they didn't want a touchscreen.

 

[dws2384]

They knocked this out of the park, will be slapping down a preorder for sure, well done

Same

 

[Lysander]

sorry if someone had already asked... is new engine only exclusive to Stadium?

Agoura models are apparently too much for the "old" Helices to handle, but porting back FX is on the table.

 

[holoholo]

I hope they fixed the footswitch design tbh. I had to send in my stomp xl 2xs to get the footswitches replaced. There's also guys like @Alex Kenivel who have videos showing how to open it up to clean them which looks like a huge pain in the ass.

 

[LP59]

Holy shit.

They've just killed Headrush, Kemper MK2, and Quad whateverex, all in one fell swoop.

It's going to cause some real soul searching tomorrow, as it should. Those companies, and especially Fender and maybe even Fractal a little bit, have been selling products based on the assumption that there are enough customers coming from tubes that they don't need to produce anything significantly better than the competition. Those days are over.

 

[molul]

I hope they fixed the footswitch design tbh. I had to send in my stomp xl 2xs to get the footswitches replaced. There's also guys like @Alex Kenivel who have videos showing how to open it up to clean them which looks like a huge pain in the ass.

Same. My LT had problems on one of the footswitches. Fortunately I've always been able to fix it with contact cleaner from outside. It's not a permanent fix, but it gives it a few more months working fine.

 

[mbenigni]

Some comparisons

View attachment 46355

Looks like QC will remain my desktop unit of choice, but Stadium will replace my "mobile" QC. When I tried going QC + FM3 it was just so much "serving 2 masters", but QC and Stadium should both be intuitive enough to coexist peacefully.

 

[dws2384]

Wait did I see that there's automation? So if you are running tracks in stadium, you can program it to snapshot change on it's own? No more stomping required? That would be fn killer.

Yes that’s there. Also AI stem splitter for tracks very similar to Moises.

 

[mbenigni]

That's what people said about the $1500 Helix charged at launch, and uh....don't think you have anything to be worried about on that front.

It's worth it if you're interested at all in the product.

And didn't you hear? The Helix was a huge flop.

A decade later, new amps and a million new features, $300 more. Have they lost their minds??

 

[Orvillain]

That preset auditioning feature (with your own recorded clips!) is freaking genius.

Yeah I genuinely love that. It is really frickin' cool!

 

[mbenigni]

If I were interested in the legacy amps, I’d have a product. I’m not and I don’t. That’s like Fractal bragging they have Old axe amps.

If you think Helix and Fractal are equal… we have totally different ears.

Observing that you don't like HX amps (or speculating that you won't like Agoura amps) as much as FAS is perfectly reasonable. It's also completely different than asserting that the Stadium is overpriced at $1799.

 

[ChordInversion]

None of those 'cheap brands' are natively loading NAM models, instead they internally convert it again into their own format, or in other words it's a lossy clone of a NAM model.

If Line 6 wanted to, they could support NAM natively (depending on the processor in these new units), or they could do a similar trick as the other 'cheap brands' by running a script internally that then converts NAM models into their own new Proxy model format.

Kinda like saying ''Going the IR route is inviting a race to the bottom''.
That's complete nonsense.

Here's what I mean. These companies all need differentiators. IRs emerged in large part because cabinet modeling was...lacking. Third party IR support was an unambiguous plus, and since then, some of the top brands have elevated their cab sim game such that a pretty decent number prefer their built in stuff.

But amps sounds are themselves a big differentiator right now. If NAM actually is really good, you risk counterfeiting your core offering, the amp modeling. And if everyone converges on that standard, then the race to the bottom happens because everyone's delivering the same core product with different stuff wrapped around it.

I'll also admit my own bias. I like modeling, and I don't care for capturing or profiles, because I like maintaining the full set of amp controls. That works for me. One of my closest musician friends is all captures all the time. Was a Kemper guy, then a QC guy, then a Tonex guy, and loves NAM. He's not wrong, either. Anyway, my bias is that I want 100% of the dev resources from the manufacturer going into maximizing the modeling and associated functionality. I prefer they not establish a split mission and split interface. I admit to my bias there.

 

[yek]

The last 16 pages remind me of the launch of the QC.

 

[Lysander]

It's also completely different than asserting that the Stadium is overpriced at $1799.

Let's put it this way: it does WAY more than either the QC or TMP, today, and for the exact same price.