What's preventing you from getting a Helix Stadium?

[OneEng]

I'm more into Tonex modeling now lol. So I'm fine with using my Helix for effects and Tonex for amp modeling. In fact if Tonex does a proper full-sized multi-FX/modeler with parallel amp capabilities I'm jumping ship lol

I have been thinking the same thing. ToneX with a great efx chain in an all in one package would be compelling.

 

[mbenigni]

I sat down with one a few weeks ago my buddy has an XL and I brought over my AM4

The feel definitely is different from OG in a good way I don’t know if it’s exactly like a tube amp but it improved

We pulled up same amps and just
Went through them listening this is in no way scientific just what we heard through FRFR

Regarding the heavier tones with the exception of XTC and Revv
Which Cliff modelled completely different amps
I thought the AM4 had the better models

On the clean side of things it was a bit closer I would say maybe the line6 Agoura was little brighter

The Marshalls as other have said the plexi just didn’t wow me
The 2203 was good but so was the Fractal and FAS just had so many different models to get where you want ,

Fx was a different story delays and reverbs on the Fractal were just richer , and more transparent to my ears , Stadium were certainly serviceable to good but we both preferred Fractal

Overall Cole’s notes
Marshalls Fractal
Cleans. Close call
Modern hi gain stuff Fractal
Fx mostly Fractal

My buddy was actually blown away by the AM4 basically being 1/3 the cost of stadium and all that was packed in there
At the end of the day he is thinking of getting an AM4 as it represents terrific bang for the buck

He might keep the stadium for the backing tracks but of the time we spent it was mostly him playing the Fractal models and going Wow

Again this is not scientific at all this is my opinion of playing stadium for one afternoon and commenting on what we heard

He also had mentioned he had experienced a few bugs nothing catastrophic but annoying
1.2 fixed a few but some still popped up time to time

I should also add to discussion
Here in Canada
Helix XL my buddy paid $3275
AM4 cost me like $1100

For players who are just running one guitar path - with typical comp/od, amp/cab, delay/reverb - it's hard to imagine going with anything other than an AM4 right now. Corollary: it's hard for me to fathom why people buy these massively complex flagship mfx/modelers if they're not running parallel paths to process vocals, etc.

I keep thinking about grabbing an AM4 just to get at all those great amp models... and then I remember I'd have to run an entirely different rig for vocals, and it becomes less attractive. Totally a matter of personal needs, though. The AM4 is a great value right now.

 

[EOengineer]

For players who are just running one guitar path - with typical comp/od, amp/cab, delay/reverb - it's hard to imagine going with anything other than an AM4 right now. Corollary: it's hard for me to fathom why people buy these massively complex flagship mfx/modelers if they're not running parallel paths to process vocals, etc.

I keep thinking about grabbing an AM4 just to get at all those great amp models... and then I remember I'd have to run an entirely different rig for vocals, and it becomes less attractive. Totally a matter of personal needs, though. The AM4 is a great value right now.

The AM is great, I own one, but it has serious limitations. Like not having a true space echo, being limited if I happen to use a phaser, flanger, reverb, and delay simultaneously…etc.

The sheer number of Helix units sold tells us a lot about how people view their needs. Most weren’t maxing that thing out. Same for the FM9.

 

[mbenigni]

The AM is great, I own one, but it has serious limitations. Like not having a true space echo, being limited if I happen to use a phaser, flanger, reverb, and delay simultaneously…etc.

The sheer number of Helix units sold tells us a lot about how people view their needs. Most weren’t maxing that thing out. Same for the FM9.

You're right; it's really all about the versatility. I'd delete my previous post, but you already quoted it, so...

Sometimes I just have to own my own dopiness LOL.

 

[EOengineer]

You're right; it's really all about the versatility. I'd delete my previous post, but you already quoted it, so...

Sometimes I just have to own my own dopiness LOL.

FWIW I don’t think you’re wrong. That last part of my post acknowledges people often overestimate the resources they need. I can get away with the AM4 for like 70% of my use cases, and I bet other guitarists could get pretty close to 100.

Truth be told I think there are just a lot of us that like DI, we like L6, and are betting on them. Personally I’m also just a fan of modeling technology and an eager to experience the latest and greatest.

 

[Mooselake]

In their basements with headphones.

What if it's in my spare bedroom without headphones? Does that paint me as American?

 

[SillyOctpuss]

What if it's in my spare bedroom without headphones? Does that paint me as American?

 

[GurthPeedler]

This community is unhinged lmao. I suppose I might like it here

 

[Dez]

This community is unhinged lmao. I suppose I might like it here

 

[GurthPeedler]

 

[EOengineer]

 

[Lysander]

This community is unhinged lmao. I suppose I might like it here

 

[ian_dissonance]

This community is unhinged lmao. I suppose I might like it here

Yeah but in like a fun way most of the time.

 

[Richard_G]

I seriously considered ordering a Stadium XL, but I was leaning toward waiting for the non-XL version, or perhaps even a Stomp equivalent. I was also thinking about waiting a bit anyway to see how things develop.

So I was very interested, but still on the fence.

Then the AM4 was released, which was an instant buy for me.

I’m still interested in the Stadium series and may very well get one somewhere down the road.

But with my AM4, VP4, Tonex Ones, nice pedals, Synergy gear, and a few tube amps - plus lots of great plugins to use when I’m on a computer - I’m in absolutely no rush.

So a Stadium purchase may end up being pretty far down the road - far enough that there will probably be even more options I might be even more interested in, like next-gen Fractal hardware.

 

[Lysander]

But with my AM4, VP4, Tonex Ones, nice pedals, Synergy gear, and a few tube amps - plus lots of great plugins to use when I’m on a computer - I’m in absolutely no rush.

I tell you man, this is the worst time to buy gear in the history of ever. Every single product out there goes to pretty good to excellent.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

I’m quite curious what stage Fractal’s plugin releases will be at by the time Stadium Native arrives. I’m also curious how much Stadium Native will bring to the table at launch.

We already know that Agoura amps aren’t planned to be added to HX Native. And I think until there is a lot of new content, Stadium Native is a tougher sell when HX shares total overlap with the fx and cab engine. So I imagine it might be a bit of a wait, unless Line6 plan to do things a bit differently this time around (maybe a seperate amp plugin to their fx).

 

[GTR37]

I’m quite curious what stage Fractal’s plugin releases will be at by the time Stadium Native arrives. I’m also curious how much Stadium Native will bring to the table at launch.

We already know that Agoura amps aren’t planned to be added to HX Native. And I think until there is a lot of new content, Stadium Native is a tougher sell when HX shares total overlap with the fx and cab engine. So I imagine it might be a bit of a wait, unless Line6 plan to do things a bit differently this time around (maybe a seperate amp plugin to their fx).

I could be wrong but I doubt Stadium Native will happen this year
Fractal I suspect will release New ICONS collections likely every couple or months and both bug fixes and enhancement more FX etc relatively frequently
Cliff has already said he wants more drives , delays , verbs

Line 6 I think has bigger fish to try wrapping up proxy , bug fixes
And improving and optimizing Agoura as well as adding more amps

 

[timbuck3]

Boy we sure are getting an interesting influx of negative sentiment from 1 day old accounts in this thread. Nothing fishy about that at all.


Please die in a fire immediately.


I see people who don’t own the hardware making a lot of claims about it. The one thing that you universally see from actual owners is that Agoura feels obviously more amp-like than Hx. It’s the most apparent change in the platform.

I frankly abandon feedback coming from non-owners at this point because that feel is such an important part of the experience.

Wow that’s pretty rude.

 

[timbuck3]

Well the title of the thread was "what's preventing you from buying the Stadium"...so it's pretty much a thread for non-owners.

I don't doubt that Stadium will be amazing in a couple of years. I'm pretty confident Line 6 will enhance and support it for close to a decade as they did with the original Helix.

The mantra that gets repeated is "don't buy a modeler for what it might be able to do, buy it for what it does today." Well the Stadium breaks that completely. There's features that were announced as planned and a limited amount of models at launch. So it very well may be the case that when they hit a tipping point of completion, more people jump to it.

It kind of reminds me of video game consoles. I went from NES to Super NES to Playstation and each generation was a massive leap forward. But going from the Switch to the Switch 2 was very minor. Some games had a bit quicker loading time and some games had slightly improved graphics with a new patch, but it's all very subtle.

Yea I remember qc fans spouting the mantra… buy it for what it is today not for what’s promised and it justified their purchase but for some reason when the opposite seems true about the stadium the fans are not applying that to this unit.. which is crazy

 

[EOengineer]

Wow that’s pretty rude.

I mean it with love. Never change.