What's preventing you from getting a Helix Stadium?

[Boudoir Guitar]

What a welcoming bunch we are

I wonder why Frank doesn’t offer me free stuff via PM over here?!?

 

[sashimi]

Truth.

And how Americans view Europeans commuting

 

[Orvillain]

How Americans go shopping.

 

[Dez]

How Americans go shopping.

You forgot our dogs.

 

[JiveTurkey]

You forgot our dogs.

doesthedogdie.com continues to be a godsend

 

[AlbertA]

Competition is good - Line6 is getting a lot of things right -

You forgot our dogs.

That's only in Texas though , yee haaaw!

 

[AlbertA]

Nobody is happy about the bugs, including L6 I’m sure. It’s not a huge issue for me as I kind of expect this stuff with a new flagship on a new platform, but totally get why it’s throwing some folks off.

There are some bugs that are concerning though. I loaded some IRs and next thing my switches don't work nor the scribble strips. I had to factory reset the thing.

Basically anything that corrupts state is concerning - all other bugs I can probably live with.

 

[sashimi]

How Americans go shopping.

Or if it’s black friday

 

[AlbertA]

Yep, so to be ‘honest,’ the poll should be “Would you rather bitch about an earlier release with a few hiccups, or a mostly ironed-out later release?”

The people chose “gimme gimme gimme,’ so here we are.

Sure, but I don't think people were expecting corruption bugs. I wasn't.

 

[EOengineer]

There are some bugs that are concerning though. I loaded some IRs and next thing my switches don't work nor the scribble strips. I had to factory reset the thing.

Basically anything that corrupts state is concerning - all other bugs I can probably live with.

I saw another instance of that scribble strip issue this morning elsewhere too. Not ideal.

Luckily I haven’t run into that one.

 

[sashimi]

Sure, but I don't think people were expecting corruption bugs. I wasn't.

I also don’t think it’s safe to assume that because the impatient forum people said ‘gimme NOW’ that there won’t be any backlash from early adopters that don’t spend time following DI on forums. You have to figure only a small percentage of early stadium owners even saw those polls.

 

[hippietim]

Common sense is preventing me

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

That's it. And I don't doubt for a second that Cliff meant it as he does enginewide tweaks all of the time, but it's undeniable that Fractal is held to a different standard.

One point of quibble on this is that all (or at least much) of the Fractal amp content is constantly being updated, so every amp in the last AxeFx II firmware was already pretty much on the bleeding edge of Fractal amp modeling.

An aaaaaaawful lot of the legacy Helix content is pretty seriously long in the tooth at this point. I know they say they are "constantly improving and never telling anyone about our constant improvements" but...I just don't buy it. The Rt. 66 amp model (among many others) in a new flagship is

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

View attachment 59077

 

[AlbertA]

Common sense is preventing me

In that case, why get any gear?

 

[mikah912]

One point of quibble on this is that all (or at least much) of the Fractal amp content is constantly being updated, so every amp in the last AxeFx II firmware was already pretty much on the bleeding edge of Fractal amp modeling.

An aaaaaaawful lot of the legacy Helix content is pretty seriously long in the tooth at this point. I know they say they are "constantly improving and never telling anyone about our constant improvements" but...I just don't buy it. The Rt. 66 amp model (among many others) in a new flagship is

So quick question about that: Cliff does indeed make tweaks to Fractal engines all of the time, but how do you quantify to what degree?

For example, can you tell me how he changed the Soldano X99 from the Axe-FX II to the one that currently appears in the latest Axe-FX III firmware? Or the exact differences between the Twin reverb of old and the current one? The Recto?

That being said, you can't really compare anyone to Fractal - much less Line 6 - on that front, unfortunately.

@Digital Igloo will be the first to tell you they don't have a Cliff. No competitor does.

And Cliff - even with the inaugural Icons, AM4 and VP4 - isn't supporting the same wide swath of SKUs Line 6 does, nor is he supporting such a wide range of UIs. So with finite engineering muscle from mere mortals, Line 6 has to decide on what new amp models to add, make fixes if an existing model is objectively wrong, and also develop new features like Showcase that no one is doing (plus you know they're working on stuff they have yet to announce).

Subsequently, we have to get over the mistaken assumption that "old" models are outdated or no longer usable. 90 percent of the FAS Originals are from the AX8/II-era and they kick absolute ass even now in 2026. Lots of older Helix models still rock as well.

 

[GTR37]

In that case, why get any gear?

Let’s ask our resident expert on this
Timbuck3 What’s your take?

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

So quick question about that: Cliff does indeed make tweaks to Fractal engines all of the time, but how do you quantify to what degree?

For example, can you tell me how he changed the Soldano X99 from the Axe-FX II to the one that currently appears in the latest Axe-FX III firmware? Or the exact differences between the Twin reverb of old and the current one? The Recto?

This is...a pretty moronic question that matters none. It could be that we've all been conned for ages and the algorithms in the Ultra and the HD500 are the same ones we're playing today.

Subsequently, we have to get over the mistaken assumption that "old" models are outdated or no longer usable. 90 percent of the FAS Originals are from the AX8/II-era and they kick absolute ass even now in 2026. Lots of older Helix models still rock as well.

If that's the point you wanted to make, then make it. But its not the point I was replying to.

I've been a looooooooong proponent for "older amp models ain't as bad as we make them out to be" followed by posting for the 99th time the Soundcloud clip below that I keep around as reminder for myself. But when we get to a point of "actually, we're totally fine with the content of our modeling platform so we've kept it the same", mountains will need to be moved elsewhere for me to not just buy the old unit with the same content given the prices that flagship modelers are demanding these days.

 

[AlbertA]

Subsequently, we have to get over the mistaken assumption that "old" models are outdated or no longer usable. 90 percent of the FAS Originals are from the AX8/II-era and they kick absolute ass even now in 2026. Lots of older Helix models still rock as well.

Those are bit different no?

In FAS land, they have been doing component modeling for a while. So any improvement to the core component modeling engine ends up affecting all amp models. They went with a strategy of just improving the modeling engine and not kept older version of the engine for backwards compatibility.

In Helix land, before Agoura, I don't believe it was component based modeling and their approach seems to be more like, whatever engine/DSP tools they used to model those amps, they leave those as is, hence their sounds doesn't change when they introduce Agoura.

I wonder though, what option Line6 will choose to go for when they inevitably add improvements to the Agoura engine.

BTW, this is the Axe-Fx I v 2.x firmware circa 2007 - not too shabby:

 

[AlbertA]

What's preventing you from getting a Helix Stadium?​

Nothing, I got one.

Showcase is cool - I have a bunch of backtracks that I like to play against. Automating that with patch/snapshot changes is pretty pedestrian use of the feature but it's just cool - I missed this sort of feature since the Digitech GNX4.

The computer Editor is functional and does almost everything I need for it to do (importing IRs, tracks, importing/exporting presets, etc).
Can it be improved? Heck yes - that color scheme is just awful - "all knobs or All sliders" needs to go - more UI elements would be welcome (can we have a proper mesa EQ UI element?)

I have wishes and complaints but nothing yet to make me want to sell it.

I do feel like Agoura needs more time to cook - I have to "fight" it kinda similar to how it was in Fractal land years ago.
A revised cab engine would be welcomed - seem to prefer how DynaCabs sounds on the AM4/Fractal land -

Still I can get pretty good results with it.

The H/W is good and once Proxy arrives, I think it'll be a more compelling package. That and throw in upgraded FX and more flexibility on the grid and I think I can start justifying its MSRP.

One thing no-one else has though is the modifier system in Fractal land. I wish for something in Line6 land that enables those kinda soundscape possibilities in whatever form Line6 cooks up. That's one thing I do find lacking today in the Stadium.