What's preventing you from getting a Helix Stadium (if you really want to buy it eventually)?

[AlbertA]

Just spent 350$ at costco

Was that 2 or 3 bottles of supplements?

 

[nightlight]

I just saw one come up on sale at Rig-Talk, so I guess the honeymoon period is over for some people.

 

[bucephalus]

H

On hot tubs and the shittiness of Landman, we agree.

Hotubs

 

[bucephalus]

What the hell is a "banana stand gif"?

I don't know, but I'll bet there's money in it.

 

[Chocol8]

We aren’t quite there yet. There’s an interesting canary in the coal mine if you start looking into the number and rate of recruiting and staffing firm insolvencies over the last year or so though. That’s going to escalate dramatically as the rate of iteration increases on these newer LLM models.

The staffing industry has been in sharp decline since 2022 and actually saw their first monthly year over year growth in November. I think it has softened again since then but we don't have January data yet.

 

[bucephalus]

Lack of global blocks.

 

[EOengineer]

Lack of global blocks.

 

[GTR37]

Speaking of Igloo
I don’t think I have seen him here or on the board since NAMM
I am sure they are busy but hopefully we did not scare him off
His input and feedback is always a bonus to have here

 

[mikah912]

Speaking of Igloo
I don’t think I have seen him here or on the board since NAMM
I am sure they are busy but hopefully we did not scare him off
His input and feedback is always a bonus to have here

He just answered a Stadium question in his AMA thread on Tuesday.

Besides, the snipes and whining here pale in comparison to the FB group, and he hasn't written them off yet.

We should be okay.

 

[laxu]

I think AM4 pretty much beats the crap out of everything below the very top of the food chain, and maybe even a couple of those in many respects. I was never a fan of the FM3 (too small to gig with), but AM4 seems to be quite the little device. In fact, I can't imagine AM4 will not pull quite a few potential FM3 sales as well. It will also pull sales from the top end as it really is just that capable (for most users).

The AM4 honestly has very few shortcomings for the basic user. IMO its biggest issue is the lack of 4CM capability followed by missing pitch and multitap delay fx. But if you use it as an all-in-one, then those shortcomings become less of an issue.

What the basic user needs is something that replicates their typical pedalboard + amp signal chain in the virtual realm and is relatively easy to use. Part of the HX Stomps popularity besides its small form factor and lower cost has to be that it does just enough for most people.

FM3 to me is pretty much dead as a product after the AM4 release because it's bulky, and doesn't offer enough over the AM4. The main reason to go for the FM9 is the dual amp/cab features and more complex effects chains. But in Europe it costs over twice what the AM4 costs and you could buy a VP4 + AM4 or dual AM4 for less. Remember, the G66 pricing really sucks for us Europeans. We pay about 160 € / ~$189 more for the AM4 vs US retail price, and that's before VAT.

The AM4 has been a bit of a rugpull over new modelers because even though it has a more dated user interface, it's still streamlined enough that it's not annoying to work with. When it came out I wasn't convinced but now owning it, I have to admit I was wrong. It does just enough to take out the most annoying parts of the Fractal onboard UI experience that I no longer reach for the editor software.

While Helix Stadium is going to be even easier to use, it does come with a much bigger price tag (about 2x AM4 in EU) and is a less mature, and a bit larger product.

 

[ispunk]

Speaking of Igloo
I don’t think I have seen him here or on the board since NAMM
I am sure they are busy but hopefully we did not scare him off
His input and feedback is always a bonus to have here

I noticed that the other day. He posted a couple times here last week. Hasn't posted at TOP since the end of January.

 

[Rock Chalk]

I have been binge watching the TV show landman as of late. To me, that show is freaking fabulous.

Amen bruh......can't wait for season 3 to start.

 

[timbuck3]

Was that 2 or 3 bottles of supplements?

None. Just food

 

[Axe]

How many here have a Helix Rack and have compared it to a Stadium? How did that turn out?

 

[GTR37]

None. Just food

Pacific wild caught Salmon and Wagu for the grill ?

 

[PorcinePicker]

FM3 to me is pretty much dead as a product after the AM4 release because it's bulky, and doesn't offer enough over the AM4.

If I were in the market for a compact all-in-one today, I’d still pick FM3 over AM4. I don’t do wall warts, and AM4 won’t be so compact after adding a pedalboard and power supply. Being able to set up a full effects chain on FM3 is is pretty significant too. I checked over the AM4 very carefully when in dropped, and there’s too much missing for me. YMMV.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

If I were in the market for a compact all-in-one today, I’d still pick FM3 over AM4. I don’t do wall warts, and AM4 won’t be so compact after adding a pedalboard and power supply. Being able to set up a full effects chain on FM3 is is pretty significant too. I checked over the AM4 very carefully when in dropped, and there’s too much missing for me. YMMV.

I've got no beef with wall warts and love my AM4, but, I also don't really consider it an "all-in-one". Its much more of a "UAFX amp style pedal where I actually get to pick the amp, reverb and boost from big ol' lists and still have a slot for one other effect.".

 

[laxu]

If I were in the market for a compact all-in-one today, I’d still pick FM3 over AM4. I don’t do wall warts, and AM4 won’t be so compact after adding a pedalboard and power supply. Being able to set up a full effects chain on FM3 is is pretty significant too. I checked over the AM4 very carefully when in dropped, and there’s too much missing for me. YMMV.

While I also prefer IEC jacks, the smaller the box the less possible this becomes. I'd rather have more portable over easier to power. Power supplies can always be crammed under a board and you can have the IEC jack for the PSU.

To me the FM3 is an annoying box to put together with anything other than an expression pedal or two. It needs to be at the edge of a board or on a 2nd tier to access the footswitches, you can't really cram anything behind it, it doesn't comfortably fit many pedalboard form factors.

YMMV indeed. I've found over the years that it's a rare case where I would have more than 1-3 fx on at once. I don't do the "drive A into drive B" stacking thing, hell I don't even use drive pedals most of the time since my amps are very capable.

That didn't stop me from building "do it all" presets on modelers just because I could, but it often ended up being unnecessary. Gapless switching also made that less relevant.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

To me the FM3 is an annoying box to put together with anything other than an expression pedal or two. It needs to be at the edge of a board or on a 2nd tier to access the footswitches, you can't really cram anything behind it, it doesn't comfortably fit many pedalboard form factors.

What do you need to use it with aside from expression pedal and/or FC6/12?

 

[laxu]

What do you need to use it with aside from expression pedal and/or FC6/12?

I wanted to make it work with the pedals I had. It's been a lot of years since I owned them and it has had CPU optimizations and gapless switching that make it better to use.

I'd never pair it with a FC, would be better off buying a FM9 at that point.