AX8 and Helix are on shipped!

Hattrick17

Inspired
Hello everyone,
Yep I ordered both the Helix and the AX8. I only can keep one and was curious if anyone has done the same and what was the key point of keeping either? My two key reason for wanting either of these is for the following.

Hopefully a replacement to my rack and pedal board rig to a compact FRFR performing Rig.

Tool for recording guitar

I will be playing this through two Xitone 12" Matrix powered guitar wedges for performing and sending a signal to front of house.

DAW is Studio One Pro 3.
 
slightly to much better tones and fx on the Ax8, arguably better live interface on the Helix, miles better computer editor for the Ax8, Built in expression pedal on the Helix.

it's a not brainer for me and most that have tried both....Ax8 all the way.
 
Agree with the previous answer, but would add that the AX8 has astonishing capabilities in a live setting with scenes, scene controllers, and control switch blocks.
 
I'm not sure how the Helix is on recording interfaces, as you mentioned that. The AX8 doesn't have the same USB interface capability the Axe Fx has. This is a big deal to some and may be to you. I would be more concerned with tone (which is what actually ends up on the track, right?). I have not tried both, but can attest to great sound from the AX8.

I also have Presonus Studio One Pro 3... I like it a lot.
 
slightly to much better tones and fx on the Ax8, arguably better live interface on the Helix, miles better computer editor for the Ax8, Built in expression pedal on the Helix.

it's a not brainer for me and most that have tried both....Ax8 all the way.
Thank you. Curious is there Bluetooth connectivity for either? I have a pair of H9's and love the wireless BT editing I can do. If it didn't have that I wouldn't own the H9's mainly because the screen interface is so dated.
 
Thank you. Curious is there Bluetooth connectivity for either? I have a pair of H9's and love the wireless BT editing I can do. If it didn't have that I wouldn't own the H9's mainly because the screen interface is so dated.
Negative on the BT for both units.......
 
I have an outdated tube amp friend that bought the Helix, brought it to my place and compared it to my axe xl( I had not received the ax- 8 yet) and returned it. Then he bought a kemper, compared it to the AX-8 when I received it and returned the kemper. he is now on the waiting list for the FX-8 II.
 
I have not played the Helix, but I have heard the Reverb is terrible compared to Fractal. It is just the same old reverb from their "M Series" stompboxes. Not horrible reverb, but extremely dated and thin sounding compared to Fractal. The reverb in my FX8 is astonishingly good.. the Reverb in my M13 is.... useable, I guess.
 
I have not played the Helix, but I have heard the Reverb is terrible compared to Fractal. It is just the same old reverb from their "M Series" stompboxes. Not horrible reverb, but extremely dated and thin sounding compared to Fractal. The reverb in my FX8 is astonishingly good.. the Reverb in my M13 is.... useable, I guess.

Thank you for the heads up. I will be comparing effects probably in default setting at first. It will be interesting to see how both compare modulation to my pair of H9's.
 
I demoed the Helix extensively yesterday and actually took to a gig and used it. Out of the box it was easy and the UI was outstanding. Sounds were great going FRFR and I had positive responses from other band mates per the tone. I not sure if the reverb thing was that big of a deal for me being I slightly use reverb.
 
Had both at the same time, AX8 stayed - had difficulty dialing in tones i really liked on the Helix, not so the ax8 + to me the ax8 effects are generally much better and as effects only in 4cm using either real amps or... ehem.. a kemper... the ax8 was considerably better. All in all easy decision which one to keep for me.
 
I started out with the Helix, and had been a long time Line 6 user of multi-FX. I was underwhelmed with the Helix as far as pure amp tone. It's kind of subjective and plenty of people will disagree with me and they do get what they consider great sounds out of the Helix, but I found the amp tone to have a grainy edgy raspy kind of quality to it (and not in a good way), on most all of the amps I tried to use. I just wasn’t able to get past this quality (or lack thereof) to the tone on a unit that cost me well over a grand. I might live with it at $300-$400, but not at that price point.

This has been talked about and argued about endlessly on a number of forums with the Line 6 supporters saying it wasn't there, many others saying oh yes it is there. It was definitely there for me and I ended up sending it back and replacing it with my AX8, and I am happy with the decision.

I really did like a lot of the features that the Helix has, some of which the AX8 does not (USB audio, slick interface, etc…), but I’m living without them just fine. If you decide you want top quality amp tone and effects in a modeler, you won’t go wrong with Fractal products. If that’s not that important to you, the Helix will be fine and it does have some good features.
 
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This has been talked about and argued about endlessly on a number of forums with the Line 6 supporters saying it wasn't there, many others saying oh yes it is there. It was definitely there for me .[/QUOTE]

I was one of those suffering this also - i liked some of the bells and whisltes also but ultimately for me it was about tone, didn't need those other things so much so my decision was based off that (also i found the helix to be v BIG and prefer a seperate volume\wah control to the inbuilt one...)
 
I know Cliff said priority was sound, and I agree with that (otherwise I wouldn't be here), but how many of us would have paid $50 extra to have a USB sound interface? Make it 100, and we'd still buy it! :)
 
I know Cliff said priority was sound, and I agree with that (otherwise I wouldn't be here), but how many of us would have paid $50 extra to have a USB sound interface? Make it 100, and we'd still buy it! :)

Just a guess, but the constraint is probably the available processing power rather the the cost of the additional parts.
 
Congratulations with the purchase :)

Can some explain why Line 6 needs a microphone pre amp built into the helix? I understand the Variax thing, but a pre amp for a microphone? All in all it seemed they were focused doing some kind of a Swiss Army knive?
 
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