The Hx 3.9 fw thread

[Tito83]

Fractal sells a lot less units to beginners, older people, first time modeler users, instructors, and probably just the general guitar playing humans than Line 6, Boss, and probably even some of the Amazon specials. Fractal stuff is the balls, but they make serious tools that you can’t just walk into GC and plug into a bunch of shit. But also don’t see why L6 couldn’t just add another level to the amp modeling like they did the FX with the Legacy section. Call them Advanced models or something and put them in a different spot so you don’t wreck presets, but still have “fixed” models if somebody wants them.

Thinking like this was ok a few years back, today maybe in rare cases - if at all.

From my younger students, when they get their first modeler they've already seen so much videos on them that they become very familiar with it very quickly. Every player at their 60's I know are more than ok with everything digital.

Also updates are not mandatory. If it was the case an update was to change the tone of every amp, just add a big disclaimer before the update button. Make three screens with big ass letters "ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DO THIS?", make a joke and change the location of the confirm button in every screen, make a screen "you need to wait 30 seconds before confirming so you really think if that's what you want"... That would solve it, no?

Honestly, in the end I just don't really understand what the big deal is.

 

[Someoldqueenorother]

Amp model of the Peavey Bandit please. Fuck all this boutique high-end stuff. Dirty solid state filth please.

C'mon Line 6, Peavey have all these little pedals out now. It's time for the Bandit emulation.

 

[banned]

Am I a bad person if I like and gig with the helix recto? I would love the rest of the channels and switches though.

I like it too - I think it's great.

Mark series could be a lot better.

 

[pablo retamal]

April... May?

 

[EOengineer]

April... May?

Which year?

 

[Lele]

April... May?

Which year?

Come what May! I love my (current) Helix!

 

[Exluthier]

I like it too - I think it's great.

Mark series could be a lot better.

There really isn't an excuse to not have a Mk IIC+ in it at this point.

 

[EOengineer]

There really isn't an excuse to not have a Mk IIC+ in it at this point.

Man it would make my day if L6 could get both channels of a IIC+ and a Revision F or G Recto in before they close up shop on Helix but I think the ship has sailed on those amps in Helix land.

There are good sounds in their existing Mark IV and Rectifier models, but there are…let’s say…unusual configuration choices that make them not really useful for the contexts in which I typically use those amps.

I use my real Mesas and reactive load for those tones.

 

[Exluthier]

Man it would make my day if L6 could get both channels of a IIC+ and a Revision F or G Recto in before they close up shop on Helix but I think the ship has sailed on those amps in Helix land.

There are good sounds in their existing Mark IV and Rectifier models, but there are…let’s say…unusual configuration choices that make them not really useful for the contexts in which I typically use those amps.

I use my real Mesas and reactive load for those tones.

Unfortunately you're probably right.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Unfortunately you're probably right.

If the next gen Helix is a fresh start then it makes sense to hold back on amps like that. If whatever comes next is a continuation of the current platform with more DSP or I/O, or a different footprint or UI, then I think it’s not unreasonable to see these models trickle down.

In many ways, I can’t see L6 just drawing a line under all their current tech and products and starting fresh. I think everything they do is on their cutting edge and they prefer to have a unified engine underneath all of their products.

 

[laxu]

If the next gen Helix is a fresh start then it makes sense to hold back on amps like that. If whatever comes next is a continuation of the current platform with more DSP or I/O, or a different footprint or UI, then I think it’s not unreasonable to see these models trickle down.

In many ways, I can’t see L6 just drawing a line under all their current tech and products and starting fresh. I think everything they do is on their cutting edge and they prefer to have a unified engine underneath all of their products.

Yeah it would not make sense to completely rewrite everything from scratch. I'm sure they will use whatever extra horsepower they have from newer DSPs to enhance their simulation further.

I fully expect future Line6 and Fractal products will have a lot of current code underneath with a whole new UI/workflow layer.

Let's say a future Line6 product gives you a Mesa Lonestar model where you can swap between the channels, toggle the extra gain stage (Drive) on/off etc. Behind the scenes it could just swap between the Texas Star Ch1 and Ch2 models and the user would be none the wiser, to them it would "work just like the real amp".

 

[dronerstone]

Thing is, a next-gen L6 flagship could come crammed with Legacy models, both from HX and previous devices.

Backwards compatibility could even be a thing. Loading your favorite Helix presets and tweaking them with next-gen possibilities, adding "fresh" models where you want, etc.

The day is gonna come, and I'm sure it'll be awesome.

 

[molul]

I seriously expect backwards compatibility with Helix presets on new flagship device.

 

[Richard_G]

I can certainly understand users of the current Helix ecosystem wanting backwards compatibility etc. But I have a suspicion they will be disappointed (regarding this) when a new L6 platform/ecosystem arrives, whenever that will be.

 

[EOengineer]

I enjoy building presets from scratch. It’s part of my discovery process each time I adopt a new modeling platform. It’s fun to see the different takes on circuits I know well. Kind of like when a new gaming system comes out and we all scramble to gush over HOW REAL the next gen graphics look.

Totally get not wanting to lose presets though. I have some fairly complicated presets that are handling external MIDI. Those would suck to lose.

 

[dronerstone]

I can certainly understand users of the current Helix ecosystem wanting backwards compatibility etc. But I have a suspicion they will be disappointed (regarding this) when a new L6 platform/ecosystem arrives, whenever that will be.

Backwards compatibility would be the "right" move, imho.

Also due to the fact that there'll be shitloads of legit-sounding Legacy models it might be dumb not to include.

Count me in for #TeamBackwards.

Ugh, that name we'd might have to overthink, tho.

 

[Ricmac024]

Have I missed something? Why are we all of a sudden talking about a new flagship?

Last I heard of anything new from L6 was that it was guaranteed to be controversial, which I don't think a new flagship would really be.

 

[the-trooper]

Have I missed something?

Not really, period between updates got longer than it was couple of years ago so everybody assumed it's the EOL for Helix.

 

[ian_dissonance]

I don’t even want more models, gimme those sweet sweet parameters modulators and other wacky shit to make laser noises with. There’s plenty of software solutions for all the “missing” amps everyone seems to think they need. I want to hit one button and have it sweep a pitch shifter to an LFO and turn on the delay when it hits the top of sweep momentarily. Or use the input dynamics to control a tape-stop style pitch dive.

 

[Digital Igloo]

Not really, period between updates got longer than it was couple of years ago so everybody assumed it's the EOL for Helix.

We plan on selling Helix/HX boxes for many years still. If we ever get around to a new flagship, I imagine we'd want existing Helix/HX users to upgrade and the easiest path would be to support some amount of backwards compatibility. Personally, I think most of us would like to kick the old Hybrid cab engine to the curb so some tweaking might be necessary.