Line 6 HX Effects

[gregmon79]

View attachment 2939362 Traded in the HX for an LT today. The HX is an amazing piece of gear but for my setup the added block capacity and amp/cab sims on the LT is what I need. It took selling a couple pieces of gear which I was on the fence for but think it’s gonna work out perfect. Now time to open the box and update and dig in. \m/

Hell yeah, also looking forward to your feedback on it. Those LCD screens look so cool. I really would like to see if you’re going to miss the scribble strips. So the only difference from the Floor to the LT is no scribble strips and a little less send and returns? Nothing else?

 

[Challanger2]

Hell yeah, also looking forward to your feedback on it. Those LCD screens look so cool. I really would like to see if you’re going to miss the scribble strips. So the only difference from the Floor to the LT is no scribble strips and a little less send and returns? Nothing else?

The summery of the differences are less I/O in general, not just sends/returns, and steel instead of aluminum. On the Floor, due to scribble strips, you can use the bank up/down buttons as additional stomps, where on the LT they are hard wired to bank up/down.

Full differences here: Helix LT FAQ - Helix - Line 6 Community

 

[SirMoak]

A bit more on expression pedals. Took apart the Bespeco, will be able to rewire it to work with HX. By the way, the build quality is shocking. Looks like a monkey assembled it. Looked up some pictures about the Mission pedals, looks like the same low quality asssembly, so I'm sure I won't be spending $130 on those. Just out of curiosity I checked inside the Moog as well, because maybe I could swap the pots. Another shocker, but at the other end of the scale. I haven't seen this much precision and attention to detail in a long time. At the end I decided to leave the Moog alone and I'll modify the cheap Italian pedal instead.

 

[gumtown]

I modified my Moog to use with Roland gear.
Works great now, but the difficult part was to find a 10K pot with the right cut away on the shaft.
I ended up with a round shaft type and had to take it to a bench grinder to get the right flat cut away.

But they are quite well made.

 

[gumtown]

So the only difference from the Floor to the LT is no scribble strips and a little less send and returns? Nothing else?

The LT gives you about 3 x more effects than the HX from what I understand, plus the amp/cab modelling.

Or you could go the full Helix with it all and the scribble strips.

 

[Seanbassplayer]

Hell yeah, also looking forward to your feedback on it. Those LCD screens look so cool. I really would like to see if you’re going to miss the scribble strips. So the only difference from the Floor to the LT is no scribble strips and a little less send and returns? Nothing else?

As noted by @Challanger2 the UI is a bit different but will be easy once I’ve navigated a bit more. Not gonna miss the scribble strips as the colour coding is easy enough not to mention you can put it in performance view and can see clearly which effect is associated with each footswitch. The large screen in signal flow view is amazing and really easy to setup chain order and routing. Now the sounds.... I’m super super impressed so far with the guitar amp and cab sims for my crunchy octave up signal that alone is paying off for the upgrade. The bass amp and cabs I didn’t have time to dial one in yet but quickly skimmed through and def will find something to suite. I did notice after having comp-2x simple pitch-eq-drive-noise gate and guitar amp on path A and comp- obsidian- bass amp and cab on path B. I was starting to run out of dsp as reverbs and some modulation and delays weren’t available when I went to add another block but amps and cabs and pitch shifting take up allot of dsp. I’ll likely run just a cab or an IR after obsidian and 1 instead of 2 pitch shifter to free up some dsp and create snapshots to make it all work. I still have allot to mess around with and 100% sure I’ll get a preset with everything I need for the royal blood thing. After that’s setup I’ll work on a killer bass only preset then I really wanna dive into some synth stuff.. So far though I’m really glad I snagged an LT. I’ll post more updates once I really dig in. Cheers

 

[dannybuoy]

My verdict as my trial of Helix Native draws to a close:

- Some truly amazing dirty bass sounds, mainly due to the Darkglass clone and the ability to blend guitar amps in parallel. Such a shame the HX doesn't offer the amp models.

- A solid Octabass octave down which is great for blended purposes, but no classic soloed OC-2 sound. Octave ups are ok but are far behind the POG or Whammy in terms of tone and tracking. I wouldn't be satisfied trying to pull off a Royal Blood style sound with the Helix alone.

- One decent filter, but I still prefer my existing filter pedals.

- I didn't find a phaser that I liked as much as the MXR Phase 90 or Small Stone.

- I didn't like any of the bass amps at all. I tried to get a decent lightly overdriven B15 kind of sound, but found I could get much better results out of my VTDI or Tonehammer pedals, or Tonestack or Bias apps on my iPad.

- I didn't bother much with the rest of the effects!

 

[Challanger2]

View attachment 2939680
As noted by @Challanger2 the UI is a bit different but will be easy once I’ve navigated a bit more. Not gonna miss the scribble strips as the colour coding is easy enough not to mention you can put it in performance view and can see clearly which effect is associated with each footswitch. The large screen in signal flow view is amazing and really easy to setup chain order and routing. Now the sounds.... I’m super super impressed so far with the guitar amp and cab sims for my crunchy octave up signal that alone is paying off for the upgrade. The bass amp and cabs I didn’t have time to dial one in yet but quickly skimmed through and def will find something to suite. I did notice after having comp-2x simple pitch-eq-drive-noise gate and guitar amp on path A and comp- obsidian- bass amp and cab on path B. I was starting to run out of dsp as reverbs and some modulation and delays weren’t available when I went to add another block but amps and cabs and pitch shifting take up allot of dsp. I’ll likely run just a cab or an IR after obsidian and 1 instead of 2 pitch shifter to free up some dsp and create snapshots to make it all work. I still have allot to mess around with and 100% sure I’ll get a preset with everything I need for the royal blood thing. After that’s setup I’ll work on a killer bass only preset then I really wanna dive into some synth stuff.. So far though I’m really glad I snagged an LT. I’ll post more updates once I really dig in. Cheers

Not sure what genre's you play, but one amp model that has surprised me has been the flip top model. I play mainly hard rock/metal, so I was expecting to be using mainly the SVT/Cali 400, but the flip model really took me by surprise. Set the drive to 9-10, master, bass and treble to 5, hi/lo mids to 6-7 and it just sings. It's not super driven, more of a mid gain drive sound. I've been liking the 8x10 with 112 mic or cali 2x15 with the 4038 mic with it. The pearce is also a favorite of mine, definitely spend some time to get familiar with it if you regularly use any kind of drive.

 

[Seanbassplayer]

Not sure what genre's you play, but one amp model that has surprised me has been the flip top model. I play mainly hard rock/metal, so I was expecting to be using mainly the SVT/Cali 400, but the flip model really took me by surprise. Set the drive to 9-10, master, bass and treble to 5, hi/lo mids to 6-7 and it just sings. It's not super driven, more of a mid gain drive sound. I've been liking the 8x10 with 112 mic or cali 2x15 with the 4038 mic with it. The pearce is also a favorite of mine, definitely spend some time to get familiar with it if you regularly use any kind of drive.

Thanks man!! Yeah I’m into hard rock and metal too. I’ll set that up and check it out.

 

[Seanbassplayer]

My verdict as my trial of Helix Native draws to a close:

- Some truly amazing dirty bass sounds, mainly due to the Darkglass clone and the ability to blend guitar amps in parallel. Such a shame the HX doesn't offer the amp models.

- A solid Octabass octave down which is great for blended purposes, but no classic soloed OC-2 sound. Octave ups are ok but are far behind the POG or Whammy in terms of tone and tracking. I wouldn't be satisfied trying to pull off a Royal Blood style sound with the Helix alone.

- One decent filter, but I still prefer my existing filter pedals.

- I didn't find a phaser that I liked as much as the MXR Phase 90 or Small Stone.

- I didn't like any of the bass amps at all. I tried to get a decent lightly overdriven B15 kind of sound, but found I could get much better results out of my VTDI or Tonehammer pedals, or Tonestack or Bias apps on my iPad.

- I didn't bother much with the rest of the effects!

I’m starting to think that about the pitch shifting up compared to Pog sub n up etc. as well but as line 6 guy stated some new polyphonic effects should be added in the future. I think the octave ups track single notes no problem but doing a manual power chord or tri chords on octave up can glitch sometimes which my sub n up didn’t do but again correct me if I’m wrong but don’t think there’s any polyphonic pitch shifting in any of the Helix hence why line 6 polyphonic experts are on the payroll now. Let’s hope they release something soon and I’m ok with what the Helix has to offer for pitch shifting atm. If I was gigging with this setup I’d be back to sub n up with pitchfork though.

 

[Challanger2]

@Seanbassplayer another thing I've noticed is the amp models are particularly sensitive to input gain. I've noticed on some of my active basses, I have to set the drive lower to compensate for the hotter input signal. At first I hated the Cali 400 amp model because it always sounded like ass with my MM style active humbuckers, but when I swapped to an Ibanez with Bart MK1s, it sounded really nice.

 

[Seanbassplayer]

@Seanbassplayer another thing I've noticed is the amp models are particularly sensitive to input gain. I've noticed on some of my active basses, I have to set the drive lower to compensate for the hotter input signal. At first I hated the Cali 400 amp model because it always sounded like ass with my MM style active humbuckers, but when I swapped to an Ibanez with Bart MK1s, it sounded really nice.

Thanks I did notice that too between my p bass with quarter pounders and my jag bass.

 

[gregmon79]

A bit more on expression pedals. Took apart the Bespeco, will be able to rewire it to work with HX. By the way, the build quality is shocking. Looks like a monkey assembled it. Looked up some pictures about the Mission pedals, looks like the same low quality asssembly, so I'm sure I won't be spending $130 on those. Just out of curiosity I checked inside the Moog as well, because maybe I could swap the pots. Another shocker, but at the other end of the scale. I haven't seen this much precision and attention to detail in a long time. At the end I decided to leave the Moog alone and I'll modify the cheap Italian pedal instead.

Hey so you just have to change the pot in the moog to work better?

 

[gregmon79]

Hey so what do you guy think of this file sharing?? Who here thinks is the easiest way to go??

Google docs
Dropbox
Something else
Haha I’m not too familiar with file sharing

What do you guys think?

 

[smeet]

I like google drive.

 

[Seanbassplayer]

Hey so what do you guy think of this file sharing?? Who here thinks is the easiest way to go??

Google docs
Dropbox
Something else
Haha I’m not too familiar with file sharing

What do you guys think?

Great idea I’m in but I’ve no clue on the best site to share.

 

[been_effected]

Hey so what do you guy think of this file sharing?? Who here thinks is the easiest way to go??

Google docs
Dropbox
Something else
Haha I’m not too familiar with file sharing

What do you guys think?

I work in small business IT for work and have a fair bit to do with implementation of hybrid/cloud solutions for file sharing, so if you don't mind me brain dumping - before you dive into technical solutions, let's think about what we're looking to achieve:

- A sharing site where public access to files is required. Anyone who joins will need to be able to see files that others upload.
- Whoever creates it will need to acknowledge they're happy to be the moderator and handle invite requests etc. (so someone active on here)
- Probably would be nice to be able to verify who has uploaded the files from a security perspective (somehow being tied to TalkBass name, for example). This will likely be handled if it's an invite-only platform as it'll be tied to an email address. Just thinking we don't want anyone to be able to simply gain access and start uploading crap (or worse, viruses).

I can't imagine the patch files will take up much room (kilobytes, most likely?), so size limits on free accounts probably isn't going to be much of an issue.

I'd probably put Dropbox forward first as I think they handle the "sharing" and invitation process a little better. Google Sync (Drive) would be a close second. OneDrive a bit further behind as the sharing to others is still a bit painful.

 

[fivestringgecko]

Yeah... Catching up on this thread! Apologies for the long post.

- A solid Octabass octave down which is great for blended purposes, but no classic soloed OC-2 sound. Octave ups are ok but are far behind the POG or Whammy in terms of tone and tracking. I wouldn't be satisfied trying to pull off a Royal Blood style sound with the Helix alone.

An important thing to keep in mind that it's super easy to tell the difference when A/B/C comparing models to pedals on a microscopic scale. But those differences become less noticeable in a mix, and to Joe Public, those differences become non-existent. I agree 100%, I definitely wish there was a legit OC2 model in the Helix family, but I just gigged twice this weekend with only my HX and the band was surprised to learn I didn't have my "real" pedalboard. Several people in the group specifically said they didn't notice a difference in my sounds, including the guitar player who is a fellow gear wh*re. Don't get me wrong, I much prefer an OC2 for sub-only octaver work. But the Bass Octaver on -1 does pretty well when you dial the tone control down.

When I did my octaver comparison a few pages back, I really went into the weeds comparing the HX octaver to my OC2. I discovered that by adding just a small touch of detune after the Bass Octaver -1, it does come closer to an OC2. I'm working on a patch for it!

- One decent filter, but I still prefer my existing filter pedals.

As with any single pedal, no multi will please everyone and it also depends on personal taste, which is highly subjective and individual. I'm a total filter junkie/snob, and have found total pleasure with the Auto Filter model in the HX. I've continued to dial it in, and after owning/trying 36 envelope filters (the Mutant Filter and Auto Filter in the HX are #37 and #38 lol), I think my trusty Proton V2 (filter #32) is finally going to be dethroned. The Auto Filter just made me happy all night long at both gigs.

... but again correct me if I’m wrong but don’t think there’s any polyphonic pitch shifting in any of the Helix hence why line 6 polyphonic experts are on the payroll now. Let’s hope they release something soon and I’m ok with what the Helix has to offer for pitch shifting atm. If I was gigging with this setup I’d be back to sub n up with pitchfork though.

Correct. As previously discussed, there currently aren't any polyphonic pitch models in the Helix family, which is why you're having trouble with chords on the HX. @Digital Igloo confirmed that they have a polyphonic guy and looper guy now, but he also confirmed that Polyphonic and Looper Guy is working on a non-Helix project first.

The LT gives you about 3 x more effects than the HX from what I understand, plus the amp/cab modelling.

All models in the Helix family have all the same effects models. The amps & cabs are the only models the HX doesn't have.

Hey so what do you guy think of this file sharing?? Who here thinks is the easiest way to go??

What do you guys think?

- A sharing site where public access to files is required. Anyone who joins will need to be able to see files that others upload.
- Whoever creates it will need to acknowledge they're happy to be the moderator and handle invite requests etc. (so someone active on here)
- Probably would be nice to be able to verify who has uploaded the files from a security perspective (somehow being tied to TalkBass name, for example). This will likely be handled if it's an invite-only platform as it'll be tied to an email address. Just thinking we don't want anyone to be able to simply gain access and start uploading crap (or worse, viruses).

I can't imagine the patch files will take up much room (kilobytes, most likely?), so size limits on free accounts probably isn't going to be much of an issue.

I'd probably put Dropbox forward first as I think they handle the "sharing" and invitation process a little better. Google Sync (Drive) would be a close second. OneDrive a bit further behind as the sharing to others is still a bit painful.

This. I was thinking about this after seeing @gregmon79's post, but almost exactly the same points went through my head. Particularly about security and having Joe Internet having unrestricted access to a public folder.

I do suspect that this discussion may become moot in the near future... Line 6 will probably have an HX patch sharing page soon, much like they have with the Helix. Maybe when they get full HX Edit compatibility to the HX?

5sg.

 

[gumtown]

What about using guitarpatches.com site. You could ask the site mod to host a Line 6 Helix Bass patch section.

 

[been_effected]

*snip*
This. I was thinking about this after seeing @gregmon79's post, but almost exactly the same points went through my head. Particularly about security and having Joe Internet having unrestricted access to a public folder.

I do suspect that this discussion may become moot in the near future... Line 6 will probably have an HX patch sharing page soon, much like they have with the Helix. Maybe when they get full HX Edit compatibility to the HX?

5sg.

Yeah, agreed. I was thinking something similar to what TC do with their TonePrints too.

Cross fingers and wait and see I guess. Can always trade patches between ourselves on here.