If you play metal don’t buy the Helix

Purplestrats said:
Framing what I'm saying as a personal attack is a bit rich. I'm just laughing at the absurdity of it all.

Coming into a Fractal Audio forum to argue that the LINE 6 HELIX is on par with the Axe FX 3 is absurd. It's like coming into a Mesa Boogie forum to argue that a 10 year old Fender Mustang amp is of the same quality as a Boogie Mark V. Sure they can both do electric guitar tones, but to argue they are in the same league is laughable. Making the argument in this particular forum is downright insulting to the people working at Fractal.

Maybe I'll head over to the Ferrari forum, shoehorn in some threads about Honda Civics :)
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Yet you do the same thing you accuse others of. You are not the one who will judge if the discussion is absurd or not. You do not hold the universal truth, you are just another rando in the internet like i am too. You sound a bit arrogant, again when i just stated my opinion on facts. Also since when this is "shitting or trashing" someone else's opinion like @rossipedia is saying?? This is a strawman argument, and I think you need to provide a correct representation of what i said before you try to debate it.
 
mehegama said:
Yet you do the same thing you accuse others of. You are not the one who will judge if the discussion is absurd or not. You do not hold the universal truth, you are just another rando in the internet like i am too. You sound a bit arrogant, again when i just stated my opinion on facts. Also since when this is "shitting or trashing" someone else's opinion like @rossipedia is saying?? This is a strawman argument, and I think you need to provide a correct representation of what i said before you try to debate it.
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You are 100% correct, I should not have used that terminology. I let my emotions get the better of me, and I apologize.

However, I would just like to say that you are making my point for me: it's all subjective. It's opinion. Whether or not somebody else can hear a difference is not something for you to judge, it's for them. Again, sorry for getting so bothered by it, it's a pet peeve of mine, but that's no excuse for using the language I did.
 
I found Helix Muddy and FM3 not.
I plugged in a FRFR cab to my Helix and Hated it, I plugged a FRFR cab to FM3 and thought I was playing a real Metal amp, Just my experience, But the REV preset in Helix native sounds pretty good...
 
khordking said:
I am the kind of person who finds a piece of gear and sticks with it for a long time (The last pedal that I bought was a digitech rp250 back in 2008.) After weeks of research on different options between the helix, fm3, boss gt-1000, headrush, etc. I decided on the helix LT because every YouTube guitarist I saw couldn’t stop singing their praises for it.

The first day I got it I spent 7 hours on it. Not because I was enjoying it, but because it was taking that long for me to find a usable tone for the type of music that I enjoy; metalcore, death metal, slam. I was getting more and more frustrated that I couldn’t find a tone that would even match the free plugins that I had been playing with prior. I tried everything, EVERY amp/cab available, dozens of community made presets, and as many IR’s as I could download. There was a distinct buzzing noise with every single high gain sound that it could make, as well as the fact that when I plugged it into an amp it sounded like it gave a muffled sound like it was playing through a pillow, which I found unacceptable for a device that I had paid over $1200 for.

I had read online that many people found the fractal tones to be much better and more realistic without the buzzing or the muffled sounds. I had no way to test any of these devices in person but regardless i returned the helix LT and reluctantly ordered the FM3. After setting up I IMMEDIATELY heard a night and day difference. It felt like the $1000 device it was supposed to be! The tones felt so much more realistic, they had the low end which was completely absent from the helix. There was a life in even the factory presets that the helix didn’t have. Even with the hundreds of amps and cable available I was able to find a workable tone within minutes, and I was able to tweak the community presets into something I would consider perfect with minimum effort.

I’m not writing this to gush over the fm3 or to sound like a fanboy. I’m writing this because it’s exactly the thing that I needed to read when I was researching which to buy in the first place. If you play metalcore/death metal/djent/slam or any high gain music, you should know that fractal is used by all of the artists we listen to for a reason. Most devices just aren’t capable of creating the tones that we look for. I can’t speak for many other devices but the fact that it is difficult to find anybody on YouTube who demos other devices for anything heavier than ‘edge of breakup’ level tones speaks volumes. Metal guitarists thrive with fractal devices.
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Did u try to post this on a Helix forum, i am shure they would "help" you😁. Im still waiting for my first fractal device, the fm3 so i know noothing 😊
 
I used the helix and it was very solid for metal tones. Obviously a kemper or axe fx is gonna sound much better for alot alot of reasons, what ruins everything though is comparing modelers to other modelers or making it a competition and it sucks the fun out of things.
 
I just listened to a post on SSO from a guy wrote a Lamb of God-style metal song and the guitar tone was killer - turns out it was all Helix. I'm pretty sure with modeling these days good guitar tone is more about "the Indian not the arrow", so to speak.
 
Kruegmeister said:
But the Sounds from both were on par. The Revv, Mesa & Diezel sims should have gotten you a very pleasing Heavy Sound & the Mark IV should have achieved Metallica area quite easily???
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I actually can't stand the Helix Mark IV model. I had loads of trouble getting it to sound and feel right. It's one of their oldest models too, and is missing most of the switch functions (treble shift, harmonics, presence shift, etc). I eventually gave up on it. Their Placater (friedman) is fun, and the Badonk is not lacking in low end at all.
 
IronSean said:
I actually can't stand the Helix Mark IV model. I had loads of trouble getting it to sound and feel right. It's one of their oldest models too, and is missing most of the switch functions (treble shift, harmonics, presence shift, etc). I eventually gave up on it. Their Placater (friedman) is fun, and the Badonk is not lacking in low end at all.
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Placater and Badonk are its best models IMO. At least for hair metal guys like me lol.
I got decent result out of the Mark IV model for a Dream Theater solo cover I did, basically copied JP's settings from a video.
 
ben ifin said:
As a user of both an LT and an FM3 there is simply -no- night and day difference:-



This guy has numerous outstanding hard-rock / metal Helix tones as good as anything you will find in the FM3 - the FM3 has however -more- amps to pick from that is true - but if you cant find a great metal tone in the LT [ or the FM3 ] it is not, i.m.o the units fault.

On a great side note, Fractal are probably only weeks away from releasing Cygnus -and- Helix FW 3.1 is probably equally only a few weeks away and that is the first Helix FW ever where they have specifically said there will be audio engine improvements .... :) Very interesting time for both platforms.

Ben
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I have a Helix Floor, HX Stomp & FM3 and like them all, FM3 is way more flexible but both Helix devices are easy to use and pretty easy to get just about any tone I want out of them, BTW this guy has great demos, does an awesome job of demoing a wide range of sounds in all his video's.
 
Blix said:
Placater and Badonk are its best models IMO. At least for hair metal guys like me lol.
I got decent result out of the Mark IV model for a Dream Theater solo cover I did, basically copied JP's settings from a video.
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Not sure man, I have struggled with Helix MarkIV in the past and your tone is decent... but those chops are killer!! Gotta factor that in 😁.
 
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