Line 6 Helix - next gen guitarist's wet dream..?

    Quote from Quitty

    Herr Haas, Your gear is needlessly pricey.


    That's totally wrong, quality is more expensive than non-quality and handmade/custom made stuff is not comparable to mass production. I'm sorry, but your "needlessly" is just not the truth. If you want high-quality stuff -especially if you are a pro with your own recording studio- you have to invest a little bit more.


    BTT: In this case the Helix will cost the same like the KPA, so there's no price-discussion.


    By the way: I received a warning because my post would be OT, so I stop here and I will not post in this thread anymore.

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    first name: Guenter / family name: Haas / www.guenterhaas.de

    Edited once, last by guenterhaas ().

    There might be one big arrow Line 6 has to shoot towards Kemper and Fractal; the Variax. AFAIK no other modeler or amp (aside from Line 6 products) have any real integration with the Variax. To have a guitar that changes tones as easily as the Helix changes amp models would be a powerful thing, and the Variax has already been accepted by many guitarists. But Line 6 has not been able to really latch on to a direction with the manufacturing of the Variax guitars (first generic guitars made in Asia, then the partnership with Tyler). But most likely the purchase of Line 6 by Yamaha will change all of that.


    Yamaha is an instrument company that is very forward looking, and has many times invested in a new technology and stuck with it for many years until it has matured (for example their pioneering use of FM synthesis; the early keyboards with FM were large and expensive and unreliable, but after a decade or so they took over the industry with the DX7). Yamaha has developed their own line of semi-successful modelers, used by several famous musicians (Phil Keaggy and Alan Holdsworth come to mind). So why do they need Line 6?


    I'm curious if Yamaha's purchase of Line 6 was not for their modelers or mixers or other pro gear, but for the Variax technology. Line 6 is clearly the industry leader in such guitar technology. I wonder if Yamaha plans to use their considerable funding and patience to develop the Variax/modeler system to a degree that will make it ubiquitous in the music world. The Helix would be a big step in that direction, at least from the modeler perspective.


    Maybe Yamaha/Line 6 isn't playing catch up at all; perhaps they are positioning themselves so far ahead of the curve we can't see it.

    It's kind of funny.
    The Line 6 distributor in my country has a Kemper sitting in front of him on his desk in his music store.
    Yesterday I mentioned the Helix to him while I was in the store, I thought we'd have a whole discussion about it...he shrugged his shoulders and said "it's not going to sound like the Kemper".


    Yet, here and on TGP the Helix discussions are as if the wheel has just been re-invented.


    Guitarists hate finding the final tone solution because it means 90% of their gear searching activity stops, they prefer the chase to the solution. :thumbup:

    Quote

    he shrugged his shoulders and said "it's not going to sound like the Kemper".


    Yet, here and on TGP the Helix discussions are as if the wheel has just been re-invented.


    Are you sure these two things are mutually exclusive? I have no expectation that the Helix will sound like the Kemper. At the same time, I expect it will bring some significant advances to the table.


    Different needs, different products.

    Quote from DamianGreda

    OT here - could anybody connect KPA out to the Variax guitar( instead of pickup) and pfofile it?:)


    Damian, I think this would be pretty challenging because the complete system impacting on output as a function of input includes a mechanical component, i.e. compression of a piezo element by a vibrating string. You could feasibly tap into the electrical input that the piezo feeds, but you'd have to make significant adjustments to amplitude etc. I'm guessing the results wouldn't be worth the effort.


    It's more realistic to take something like a Roland GP-10 or GR-55, and tap into that system with a breakout box at the GK input and at mono output - but even then you could only profile the I/O characteristics of one string, so the results won't be as convincing as just running that same processor into the front of your Kemper. I've experimented with this approach myself - profiling various COSM synths on the GR-55. The results are interesting, but never quite what you expect since time-domain DSP is not represented.

    Quote from burningyen

    I would pay $200 for an adapter that lets my KPA control Variax settings. Never going to happen, I know, but that's how valuable that feature is to me, at least.


    Reading this:
    http://www.vettaville.nl/pagmore.php?id=166
    I think that it would be somewhat doable.
    Assumig that the Variax understands usual midi program changes for switching it's internal presets...

    I am with Guenter, to buy a quality guitar is much better than to buy cheap stuff over and over again.


    L6 - I love this company for developing great stuff in the past - Pod, Vetta, Variax - I used to use a lot of L6 gear.


    Currently do I not own anything from them.
    Sold my Tylor Variax too.

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    Great Profiles --> soundside.de

    My needs from any digital device that seeks to replace an amp are that it:-


    1. Sounds as close to an actual amp as possible at any volume so that my guitars each have their own personality


    2. Has a reasonable range of effects that go-with


    3. Is easy enough to use that I don't disappear up my own arse with menu tweaking frenzy


    I already have the device the complies completely with point 1 and because the core sounds are constantly being designed by other people who usually have much better ears and mic skills than me capturing cool amps, it constantly evolves and remains cool / fresh.


    Point 2 is getting better all the time - the ever popular request of spring reverb / more reverbs / more delays and assignable to stomp are the things I think it lacks.


    Point 3 went a long way in the right direction with the librarian software and, because the core sound is so good, I rarely tweak. I just select a different profile. An actual editor to allow setup of presets in the floorboard etc would be the icing on the cake simply because it's easier on the PC (IMO anyway :) )


    For this reason, I've not even bothered clicking the link. I enjoyed my Pods and a Variax 500 back in the day but I've moved on to the point where the product I have exceeds my tone needs - I don't know how someone of my ability could sound any better no matter what you gave me. I know that everyone's needs are different of course but for my current wants and needs? I have almost everything I require and I'm happy to wait for the Kemper team to continue tweaking this superb product - I believe that eventually I'll be 100% happy without spending any more money and I'm well over 90% there already :)


    The only downside of the Kemper tone? It is so good at showing differences between guitars that it makes you want to buy more guitars. Which is another reason why Lance is so keen on the Kemper ;)