Line 6 Helix Stadium

[molul]

Clips? Meh. I know what the Helix sounds like today and I love and use it. It's apparently going to sound and feel better than that. I don't need clips. This isn't uncharted territory.

Same thing for when the Axe-Fx II and III came out. I had the Axe-Fx Ultra and II and those sounded great. Clips were meaningless. Were the new ones going to suck?

Actually, I just remembered about Boss GT10 "cocked wah" sound. That was an example on how a new unit sounded worse than its precessor.

 

[paisleywookiee]

And today you can get Helix love for as little as $179

And by this we can assume there will soon be a $199(?) POD Express Turbo with Stadium tones?

 

[LP59]

Oh, I get it. "Blues Lawyer," "Blues Dentist," "Blues State Senator"... There's definitely a type that can afford to fill their den with expensive gear.

And a cynic might look at Helix Stadium and go "Oh, they're catering to this niche group of wealthy people and leaving the rest of us out in the cold."

EXCEPT:

1. We certainly didn't land that way with Helix/HX, which if you remember started out THREE TIMES the cost of our previous flagship, POD HD500X. And today you can get Helix love for as little as $179.
2. When building a new platform, it's much easier to start at the top and then scale down.

I think that's the single greatest innovation that came from Fractal Audio. They discovered that there's a significant market out there for a guitar amp sim/multifx in the >$1500 range. It's not just rich hobbieists who are willing to pay that much for a high quality product.

 

[Frodebro]

I guess we are cut from very different cloth. I default to proof over promises. I would apply the same standard to any other company.

We already know what HX modeling sounds like, and this is a refinement of that. If there was no established history for sound quality, sound clips would be extremely important.

 

[Dom Mcsweeney]

I wonder if some new fuzzes will be added with Agoura modelling?
Fingers firmly crossed =)

 

[Karl Houseknecht]

Actually, I just remembered about Boss GT10 "cocked wah" sound. That was an example on how a new unit sounded worse than its precessor.

For sure. But that was in the before times. And it was Boss.

 

[paisleywookiee]

We already know what HX modeling sounds like, and this is a refinement of that. If there was no established history for sound quality, sound clips would be extremely important.

Yeah I don’t really need to hear clips; I like the Helix already, and this is better.
Helix Backyard BBQ Stomp is a day one purchase for me.

 

[banned]

Looks like there's no mention of improved OD modeling with Agoura? Any updates on the OD/Dist. pedal modeling front?

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

Looks like there's no mention of improved OD modeling with Agoura? Any updates on the OD/Dist. pedal modeling front?

I know I‘ve said this before… the SD-1 and TS models - at least to me - are the weak points of the current Helix firmware. I would definitely be delighted if they were completely overhauled. But Eric already stated that Helix Stadium 1.0 doesn‘t have new FX.

 

[Lysander]

Oh, YouTube.
Never change

 

[ian_dissonance]

Oh, YouTube.
Never change

View attachment 47043

I’m glad that’s the only time I’ve ever seen that particular guy. Yeesh.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Actually, I just remembered about Boss GT10 "cocked wah" sound.

And it's not even true. Run it through a better cab sim and it's pretty decent. What has been really bad with the GT-10 is its converters (or maybe the op amps, no idea). Tried to use it in 4CM with my Laney LC50 (pretty nice sounding amp IMO, even got it modded a bit) and I couldn't even remotely manage to keep the amp sound the same as without the GT. I actually suspect the input stage to be the culprit as the DIs I recorded (hence nothing bit the input was in the signal chain) didn't sound great, either.
But on its own, it's really not too bad. Heck, I used it for a run of gigs last year because it was the most practical solution (the big board was in another van for some days). Sounded absolutely decent through an AMT Pangaea (working as a cab IR loader).

 

[Mikael Dez]

Now I’ve ordered another!