Andertons Helix Vid

  • I wouldn't get bogged down on the use of language, it's just a word. ;) How do you feel it sounds?


    It's a carefully chosen word with a marketing purpose, and it's repeated again and again with purpose. To think otherwise is naive IMO.


    As for the sound, it seems good, but I think you have to experience these things in person to get the real feel, just as with the Kemper. Competition is a good thing, and perhaps this will hasten a floorboard Kemper unit.

    Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. - Wayne Dyer

  • I want to like this unit but I keep hearing this slightly plastic tone that I have heard in the past with L6 products. I also think that the patches are focused on FX heavy high gain sounds which sound like cartoon guitar noises. Why not focus on the gritty clean and edge of breakup tones with a tasteful smattering of FX instead of these ridiculous heavily reverb and delay drenched sounds. Makes me feel like they are covering up the core tones.

  • To be honest none of the Helix videos takes my attention, since i hear the Line6 tone print in almost all of the sounds.
    Of course the ability to load IR's (i wonder how many of them can the processor stand) end multiple fx paths will help a lot in the final result.
    The question is: does it have the same response of all the pods?
    If it does, IMHO it cannot be tin the same league of the KPA.


    I'm really interested to the Atomic Amplifire as alternative to Bias FX on iPad (which has some pretty tones too).

  • It's very daft that they haven't isolated the sound coming from the Helix direct and that you can hear the acoustic string noise of the guitar! You can't judge the sound at all on those premises.

  • I thought that last video sounded good but i feel like high gain shouldnt sound like that if using a strat with single coils.


    Even if the tone is on par with kemper, which i am pretty sure it isnt, it doesnt offer some of my favorite amps like the mesa mark series or a friedman brown eye or an engl invader. Otoh, kemper has more amps available than i can count

  • Here is isolated guitar for the GuitarGuitar clip


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  • I agree that the Line 6 demos and clips tend to be way too effects-heavy, and they like to run the amps so hot (or with such hot pickups) that you can barely make out the character. They're pushing the fuzz factory and univibe stuff to the extent that most of the demos sound really phasey/ flangey. It's annoying, but if I really hunt around and read between the lines, I do find reasonable evidence that the Helix can produce tones that will meet my needs. Obviously, I won't know for sure until it arrives.


    Will it sound as good as a Kemper... Well, how can you sound as good as an amp that can sound like anything?? You can't. I'm not expecting as much, and I'm not overly worried about it. The form factor is the big draw for me right now - obviously personal, YMMV, etc.

  • I thought that last video sounded good but i feel like high gain shouldnt sound like that if using a strat with single coils.


    He does have a Hot Rails-style humbucker in the bridge position. That said, when he switches to the bridge position, the JTM45 promptly stops sounding like a JTM45 IMO. There's only so much you can conclude from a video recording of someone else's presets though... I also think the Fender Twin sounds really bizarre, but I'm pretty sure I could fix it by simply tweaking the tone controls.

  • Man, mbenigni, you're levelheaded almost to a fault. :D


    Apart from selling the Kemper (that one I can't rationalize 8| ), your posts on this and other forums pretty much mirror my thoughts on the matter.
    Keep it up, bud! I honestly can't wait to read your thoughts on Helix once you've had it for a few months. Don't you dare forget posting them here as well!

    I'm just trying to be as truthful to my experience and personal opinion that I'm clearly presenting only as a personal opinion no more no less in an honest and truthful discussion about equipment.

  • I can barely find time to play the damn guitar. :huh:


    You and me both, bud!
    Just one more reason to be interested in how the Helix fits into your music process.

    I'm just trying to be as truthful to my experience and personal opinion that I'm clearly presenting only as a personal opinion no more no less in an honest and truthful discussion about equipment.

  • Here is isolated guitar for the GuitarGuitar clip


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    The Helix has a beautifully thought-out design, layout and UI, IMHO.


    However, I still can't help but hear a distinctive Line 6 "fizz" that permeates all the MODELS that are demo'd in this direct audio capture from the video. It is even present on the cleaner model of the JTM45, beginning at 01:18. I don't know, perhaps I am hearing things that aren't there. However, I don't hear such artifacts when I listen to a soundclip from a comparable KPA profile.


    I can't help but wonder if the Line 6 engineers spent most of their time and resources developing the Helix's User Interface...rather than making a radical improvement to their modeling engine. I fully recognize this may prove to be an unfair assessment.

  • The Helix has a beautifully thought-out design, layout and UI, IMHO.


    However, I still can't help but hear a distinctive Line 6 "fizz" that permeates all the MODELS that are demo'd in this direct audio capture from the video. It is even present on the cleaner model of the JTM45, beginning at 01:18. I don't know, perhaps I am hearing things that aren't there. However, I don't hear such artifacts when I listen to a soundclip from a comparable KPA profile.


    I can't help but wonder if the Line 6 engineers spent most of their time and resources developing the Helix's User Interface...rather than making a radical improvement to their modeling engine. I fully recognize this may prove to be an unfair assessment.


    My guess, it's the speaker emulation.


    Regardless, I hear the potential in that clip and am buying one to try.


  • If you're right, the good news is it will be easily circumvented with user IR's.


    Or even changing mic or mic position in the speaker model.


    I previously didn't like IRs. They felt one dimensional and fake. Turns out that it was the specific IRs fault that I tried and not the technology. With the right IR I can get even the free amp sims to sound good. They still do not FEEL good when playing though. This is where I have hopes for the Helix.


    I don't think it will replace the Kemper but be an addition.

  • Some of the stuff he's playing there does sound awesome. They are all very effects laden though.


    It does sound quite like a lot of Kemper stuff I've heard, but personally, I've never been able to get some of the fancy Hendrix stuff out of it, because I don't know how! :D