Line 6 Helix Stadium

Ya I mean from 2020 at least it’s mostly valid. I frequent other forums…don’t think for a second there aren’t 2000 post threads debating the difference in sound between hand soldered vs PCB amps, new vs NOS tubes, magic diodes…and don’t even get me started on the probably million posts on the differences between PAF style pickups…then the king of them all - Tonewood
And now the stadium will say oh my God it’s so great compared to the helix which will kill the helix sales so I’m sure they have to be careful about saying it’s good but it’s not that good because they don’t wanna take any sales away between now and Christmas from the helix that they’re going to discountimmensely
 
View attachment 46587
Helix Stadium non-XL sizing versus other modelers, if it is indeed 16x9.5".

Top: GX-10, GX-100, Helix Stadium, FM9, GT-1000, Kemper Stage
Right: Nano Cortex, HX Stomp, GT-1000 Core, Ampero 2 Stomp, Ampero 2 Stage, Helix Stadium

It's definitely in the "chunkier than many others" territory, but still smaller than the other flagship large floor units.
One thing we didn't mention in the keynote is that in the pursuit of cramming as much stuff as we could into smaller chassis, we purposely undercut the back panel so if you use 90° jacks, they barely stick proud of the top edge. So if you consider cables as part of your footprint, shave off half an inch from the depth.
 
And now the stadium will say oh my God it’s so great compared to the helix which will kill the helix sales so I’m sure they have to be careful about saying it’s good but it’s not that good because they don’t wanna take any sales away between now and Christmas from the helix that they’re going to discountimmensely
Guess I just get tired of the hype in the BS that we see in every unit that’s released commercially they all say the same thing better than the last one sounds just like a real amp. It’s gonna do this this this and that and then they invite, select people that love their products to begin with no matter whatand they go out on their platform and they start pouting. That’s amazing and it’s like oh my God sounds so much better than the last version. It’s a whole new thing it’s amazing blah blah blah blah blah blah.
 
And now the stadium will say oh my God it’s so great compared to the helix which will kill the helix sales so I’m sure they have to be careful about saying it’s good but it’s not that good because they don’t wanna take any sales away between now and Christmas from the helix that they’re going to discountimmensely
The point I don’t think isn’t immediate improvement with a new device. It’s buying a new device that Line 6 has the capability to upgrade and push again and again for the next decade. At the end of the day “this sounds as good as an amp on a recording” has been here for a long time. It’s down to the user’s interaction and experience that matters more now than anything else - especially for folks like me who use my amps and modelers for effects.
 
One thing we didn't mention in the keynote is that in the pursuit of cramming as much stuff as we could into smaller chassis, we purposely undercut the back panel so if you use 90° jacks, they barely stick proud of the top edge. So if you consider cables as part of your footprint, shave off half an inch from the depth.
This guy literally thought of EVERYTHING
 
Guess I just get tired of the hype in the BS that we see in every unit that’s released commercially they all say the same thing better than the last one sounds just like a real amp. It’s gonna do this this this and that and then they invite, select people that love their products to begin with no matter whatand they go out on their platform and they start pouting. That’s amazing and it’s like oh my God sounds so much better than the last version. It’s a whole new thing it’s amazing blah blah blah blah blah blah.
The silver lining is at least you never bought any of them 😂
 
I happen to agree with you that the Stadium features and tone is way (way way) more important that the quality of, or the existence of its capture tech.
This isn’t exactly what I’m saying, but I don’t entirely disagree with you either? In a perfect world, we’d have every amp with every control modeled, and the tone of all of them would be exactly what we were hoping for (some will say, “yeah dude, fractal”, but that’s a whole different can of worms), but in the real world it’s great to be able to supplement modeled amps and drives with captures. So bottom line, I prefer a good model over a capture, of course, but I really like having both options. Until now, that meant QC… but there’s a new sheriff in town.
 
I’ll admit that Proxy is one of the features I’m most excited for. If the captures are done through the Helix hardware, it solves a big translation problem for basically anyone using the L6 hardware. It will help with consistency.

I like to capture my amps. I have some great ones. I’ll be excited to share them with you dumbasses. :rofl

This is why I don’t see NAM as a plus. It’s much better to control the method of capture within your own platform, to have a standard and some consistency. Outsourcing tone doesn’t seem like something a major player would want to do. I mean could you imagine Cliff saying “Yeah this is superior to anything I can offer” or would he just bust his ass until he got it right? And you can say well it’s just a value add to those that care, but what are L6 going to store NAM captures so when someone shares a preset with them, they pull down from the cloud? What if the NAM block sucks in translation, is L6 going to divert resources producing L6 stuff to troubleshoot this? What if the NAM standard changes? What if the L6 code changes? And once you formally support it, you’re kinda of stuck supporting forever. You cant remove it and alienate the people using it. They are far better off just getting their solution right. There may be some growing pains, but that’s ok.

My guess is they will only consider NAM if their Proxy method takes a major dump.
 
Guess I just get tired of the hype in the BS that we see in every unit that’s released commercially they all say the same thing better than the last one
The difference is that we have decades of examples of Line 6 following through. Ten years for the Helix alone. IMO, they’ve earned the right to make those claims.

Can’t say the same for others. Hell, one in particular still hasn’t fulfilled their promises made at the launch of their first device.
 
.Almost no one has complained about the footswitch spacing on HX Stomp (67mm). In fact, this might be the second or third time I've read something like this. Conversely, tens of thousands of people have complained about Helix's chassis size, which is largely dictated by footswitch spacing.
Yeah, and that's why I say that this is just my personal case.

Anyhow, I want to make clear that this seems like a wonderful work, and I have to congratulate you for it. Really impressive.

And in the same way, even when the chassis of the helix was too big (and I feel the same), in this case, with 400 mm long, there's no reason to waste all that space in the sides. With the same chassis, footswitches could perfectly have been 75 mm.

So, kudos to all the good (or great) design choices... And critic to this particular bad design choice.

You'll sell a ton of these units. Deserved, for sure. It's just that I'm not going to be one of the buyers. It's worse for me than for you... Nothing worrying for L6!
 
The silver lining is at least you never bought any of them 😂
What took you guys so long to come up with that? I’m shocked.
south park beat a dead horse GIF
 
The point I don’t think isn’t immediate improvement with a new device. It’s buying a new device that Line 6 has the capability to upgrade and push again and again for the next decade. At the end of the day “this sounds as good as an amp on a recording” has been here for a long time. It’s down to the user’s interaction and experience that matters more now than anything else - especially for folks like me who use my amps and modelers for effects.
Yep. I know they are sterile boxes of components, but a modeler/effects unit needs to fit the user in a way that's not completely dissimilar to the way the right guitar does.

I've used Line 6 stuff since the 90s. There was one product that came out pre-Helix I was disappointed with, but otherwise I've been a happy camper. And the way they have handled Helix with updates and support really makes them stand out to me. I'm going into Stadium with no cynicism towards YGG because they've earned trust from me. Sort of reading between the lines and splicing together many different things I've seen or read, one of the criticisms Helix gets compared specifically to Fractal is in the realm of transient response/"feel". Never played a Fractal so I'm going on hearsay. Again, reading between the lines I get the sense L6 feels they have closed that gap. So that's one area I'm hoping for enhanced experiences with Stadium. And maybe you meant the user experience writ large, including all the different tools and ways to employ them, which is all good too. But for me a lot will rest on Agoura's shoulders.
 
Guess I just get tired of the hype in the BS that we see in every unit that’s released commercially they all say the same thing better than the last one sounds just like a real amp. It’s gonna do this this this and that and then they invite, select people that love their products to begin with no matter whatand they go out on their platform and they start pouting. That’s amazing and it’s like oh my God sounds so much better than the last version. It’s a whole new thing it’s amazing blah blah blah blah blah blah.

Hmmm....looks like you're the perfect person to balance things out then as you only talk about buying and never actually do. 😉
 
Now I’m starting to wonder if any of the newer Hx amps are downsampled versions of the Agoura amps.
I had the same thought about the amps in the last two releases. Maybe not downsampled per se, but possibly incorporating some of what they learned creating Agoura. Be interesting to compare the inaugural Agoura 16 amps with the amps added in the last two updates to see how many appear in both Helix 3.7/3.8 and Stadium.
 
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