Andertons Helix Vid

    I spent some quality time with the Helix last night. There are pluses and minus compared to the Kemper. Here's what I found (all of this is obviously IMHO, to my ears, through my headphones, etc.):

    • Overall, the quality of the basic amp tones is equivalent to the Kemper. The models I focused on last night were the Dr. Z Route 66, AC30 Fawn and Roland JC120. I didn't feel I was giving up anything with the Helix (you can hear for yourself at http://www.soundcloud.com/burningyen). And for me, the process of turning an idea into a finished patch is faster with the Helix than it is with the Kemper. Of course, a lot of that is due to the incredible variety of profiles available for the Kemper. With the Kemper, if you want a JTM 45 sound, you first have to figure out which JTM 45 profile to use. With the Helix, the choice is already made for you. The Helix does require some effort in terms of testing different mics (16) and distances (1"-12", there's no parameter for on/off axis), and I find that significant high cut is needed for almost every model. But that process is faster than finding profiles. I will say, though, that there are a few extra-special-to-me profiles from TAF and MBritt that I don't think I'm going to be able to replicate on the Helix. And there is no Pure Cab. I was happy with my tones through my headphones but will have to wait to see whether that holds up at band volume.
    • The quality of the FX is mixed. The wahs, distortions, delays and modulations are equivalent to the Kemper's to my ears. (I haven't dug into the fuzzes yet.) The Pitch Whammy (transpose) effect is glitchier than the Kemper's (as you can hear in the U2 clips on my soundcloud). The Twin Harmony effect in the Helix pales in comparison to the Kemper's Harmonic Pitch. No user scales, no Pure Tuning. The compression and reverb sound quality is equivalent, but I like the subcategories on the Helix a lot better than the presets on the Kemper.
    • It's probably unfair to compare workflow when I've spent 3 years with my Kemper and only a few hours with the Helix. I found the Helix UI easy to navigate (lightyears better than the POD HD500 UI!) but still not quite as easy as the Kemper's. For example, to add or swap an effect on a Kemper, you click the FX slot button, turn the Type knob to the effect you want, and (with Autoload on) you can go straight to tweaking. On the Helix, you need to push the joystick knob (JK) a few times to move the cursor to the desired slot, press to select the slot, push or spin the JK to scroll down the menu of FX categories (Distortion, Dynamics, EQ, Delay, etc.), push the JK right to go to the Mono/Stereo submenu, push or spin the JK to choose Mono or Stereo, push it right again to go to the FX submenu (Digital Delay, Multitap 3, etc.), push or spin the JK to scroll to the effect you want, push the JK to select it, and then you can start tweaking. On the other hand, selecting amp models on the Helix is a little easier since the selection is clearly much more limited compared to the Kemper, and there aren't any submenus to navigate. With both units getting to the deeper dive parameters is simple, so no difference there. And with both units, with more power comes more complexity.
    • The capacitative footswitches are awesome. Setting up the switches for FX is super easy.
    • Somehow the Helix' 14.6 lbs feels a lot heavier than the Kemper lunchbox' 11 lbs, maybe because of the larger size. The size of it was kind of daunting at first. But it's well-designed. The curved sides make it very easy to pick up. And when you take into account the weight of the expression pedal and footswitch I use with my Kemper, the weight difference is only about a pound.

    So there you have it. Biggest question marks right now are whether I can dial up Gilmourish sounds I can live with, how everything sounds at band volume, and whether reliability issues get resolved. I've seen some reports of freezing up and don't think I'll be gigging with the Helix just yet.


    Hope that helps.

    Quote from burningyen

    Mine arrived yesterday, but it was my wife's birthday, so the Helix had to wait. Spent literally 10 minutes with it this morning just to make sure it was working. Noodled into Preset #1 (Hiwatt), added a Big Muff, twiddled some knobs. 1st impressions:
    -…


    Yes please keep me updated. I am very curious on your thoughts since you have a Kemper. I am still weighing out my options right now.

    Curious to see how it fares for high gain. I thought the pod hd was pretty good for clean and crunch, but only so so at high gain, and required massive tweaking to get anywhere close to a quality tone.


    I have absolutely no desire to switch, regardless. I like the idea of profiling too much, and the availability of so many different quality rigs that other platforms cannot offer. Im not waiting 5 years for line 6 to develop a mark iv model. If they add the 15 or so amps i now consider essential, then ill take a peek. Still, thanks for the review. Im glad L6 is getting their act together (hopefully)

    Yes, thank you Ben.


    I was surprised to read that you thought the amps were on a par with the Kemper, because the latter's amp quality depends entirely upon the profile being used, and if the profile's accurate, it may as well be a real amp. Logically therefore, you're saying that the Helix sounds like a real amp.


    Call me a cynic or a wet blanket, but I was burned so badly during the last 7 or 8 years of my 20-year L6 journey that my default position is one of scepticism. I'm therefore keen to hear what you think once you've listened closely to the other amps on offer and tested it, as you suggested, at "band volume".

    To my ears the Helix models do sound like real amps (miked, of course). I don't think we've ever heard the actual real-life specimens in L6's collection, so we'll probably never know for sure how closely the models mimic those specific amps. But that's kinda irrelevant to me when the Helix has already passed the threshold of what I need to hear and feel in order to be happy with the basic tone and response.


    I can understand feeling gunshy after products fail on you. I'll post an update once I've given the Helix a loud workout.

    Quote from burningyen

    To my ears the Helix models do sound like real amps (miked, of course). I don't think we've ever heard the actual real-life specimens in L6's collection, so we'll probably never know for sure how closely the models mimic those specific amps. But that's kinda irrelevant to me when the Helix has already passed the threshold of what I need to hear and feel in order to be happy with the basic tone and response.


    I can understand feeling gunshy after products fail on you. I'll post an update once I've given the Helix a loud workout.


    Can you do some samples without FX's - only the amps - compared to their respective profiles or originals?

    To me the Helix looks (and sounds) like a great unit.


    Any competition should be welcome because that pushes other company's to present unique features to their products(to get that sell edge).



    Im hoping in some feature firmware Kemper delivers another game changer ;)

    Quote from Monkey_Man

    Yay! Thank you, Ben.


    I understand your rationale now and appreciate the explanation, mate.


    This is a much better and informed review than the 'other' one. I also had some scepticism but really, it sounds pretty good.


    I really can only reiterate, that it's obviously a very capable unit. It's obviously not garbage.


    But, I'm happy with my Kemper and will stick with this.