Line 6 Helix Reviews Are Starting to Appear...

Don't make me pull this car over...

FWIW, there are better stock IRs in the Axe-Fx IMO. Factory cab #15 sounds better to me. That Morgan IR is too short IMO (approx. 256 samples) due to memory and CPU limitations in the device from which it was captured. You really need at least 20 ms (1024 samples) to fully capture the response of a guitar speaker.
 
ethomas1013 said:
I disagree. I'm interested to see what each unit has to offer out of the box.

Personally, I don't get Into purchasing IR's. I use the AxeFX out of the box and I have chosen not to go down the IR rabbit hole.

And I didn't say anything about providing clips.
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You are correct, testing a unit with what it has to offer out of the box specially if you pay that much money for it should have killer tones and cabs, spending additional money too soon in IRs will make you feel like you bought something that didn't deliver the goods.

Once the honeymoon phase is over and you may have recover from the financial hit its fun to try and explore new things.

Trying different modelers thru the same IRs should be for testing how each manufacturer approach modeling and do blind tests so people could have an unbiased opinion.

IMO.
 
ethomas1013 said:
Buy one and do your own comparison if you don't like the way we're going to do it. ;)
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Nah.....I'm too lazy for that! I'd rather you do it the way I want! lol

I own 2 Axe-XL+'s, a KPA & I have a Helix finally arriving on Tuesday......a 20% off pre-order from WWBW for $1199 shipped.

I don't really care if a modeler has the greatest IRs or not, as long as it can load 3rd party IRs.

I have plenty of stellar 3rd party IRs to cover the amp tones I want.
I wasn't really thrilled with the AxeFx's IRs until they came out with the famous TV cab.
Fractal, ML Sound Lab & Ownhammer have released some great IRs over the last year or so.

The amp modeling & effects I obviously care about. These cannot be swapped out for something better. There's no 3rd party amp/effects loader! lol

When I get the Helix I will load up a handful of what I consider to be my go to IRs & demo the Helix. I will know in short order if it's a keeper or not. If it is I'll sell one of my XL+'s.......I'm gonna sell one anyway because I'm on the waiting list for an AX8.

My Friedman ASM-12 cabs should be arriving on Monday, so I'll have some fun this week!

I look forward to your & David's thoughts regardless of how you decide to evaluate the Axe vs Helix!
 
Mine arrived from WWBW today. Just saw the box when I got home from a hig. Not sure if Ill get time with it tomorrow (really today). Maybe Sunday
 
I'd like to hear an informed, as levelheaded as possible review for a change... Even though I decided to cancel my order, that's mostly because of the size of the thing and the whole travel issue I'm having shortly.

I kinda liked a couple of the video's I've seen. Then again I sort of think the banter between Chappers and the Captain is moderately entertaining as well, while many it seems can't stand them.
 
willowdale said:
Nah.....I'm too lazy for that! I'd rather you do it the way I want! lol

I own 2 Axe-XL+'s, a KPA & I have a Helix finally arriving on Tuesday......a 20% off pre-order from WWBW for $1199 shipped.
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Good deal. Have fun checking it out.

I have tentative plans to finally get a Kemper later this year. I've played one, once. I would like to spend more time with one and play around making profiles for myself. I have a friend with lots of rare boutique amps. I think it would be fun to try profiling them to see if I can get some good results. But that's another topic...

willowdale said:
I don't really care if a modeler has the greatest IRs or not, as long as it can load 3rd party IRs.

I have plenty of stellar 3rd party IRs to cover the amp tones I want.
I wasn't really thrilled with the AxeFx's IRs until they came out with the famous TV cab.
Fractal, ML Sound Lab & Ownhammer have released some great IRs over the last year or so.
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Yes, I'm aware that the last few Cab Packs have been very well received and are considered an upgrade from what was previously available from Fractal. I guess I've just been lazy about it... I really should look into it a little further. But I have the original AxeFX II Mark I and don't really have a lot of user IR space. I'm on the AX8 wait list and will be buying one. When I get that with the 512 user IR slots I'll definitely start looking into 3rd party IR's again.

But it seems that most of the cab packs have been aimed at 4x12 cabinets lately. I prefer 1x12 and 2x12 combos. I'm not much of a Marshall/4x12 guy.

willowdale said:
The amp modeling & effects I obviously care about. These cannot be swapped out for something better. There's no 3rd party amp/effects loader! lol

When I get the Helix I will load up a handful of what I consider to be my go to IRs & demo the Helix. I will know in short order if it's a keeper or not. If it is I'll sell one of my XL+'s.......I'm gonna sell one anyway because I'm on the waiting list for an AX8.
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Sounds like a good plan.

willowdale said:
My Friedman ASM-12 cabs should be arriving on Monday, so I'll have some fun this week!
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I almost pulled the trigger on one of those... Bought a CLR instead. Probably should have gone with the ASM-12 just to try something new since I have owned the CLR before.

willowdale said:
I look forward to your & David's thoughts regardless of how you decide to evaluate the Axe vs Helix!
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Same here. Dave is the one that's really interested in Helix since he has a Variax. I'm happy with Fractal Gear and really just want to check it out for the fun of it!
 
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Dutch said:
I'd like to hear an informed, as levelheaded as possible review for a change...
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Both Dave and I treat gear as, well, gear! It's a tool for making music, not a religion. Competing manufactures can actually make good products. Imagine that...
 
FractalAudio said:
Don't make me pull this car over...

FWIW, there are better stock IRs in the Axe-Fx IMO. Factory cab #15 sounds better to me. That Morgan IR is too short IMO (approx. 256 samples) due to memory and CPU limitations in the device from which it was captured. You really need at least 20 ms (1024 samples) to fully capture the response of a guitar speaker.
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Curious which post caused you to almost pull the car over.

Also, what are you doing reading forae whilst commanding a vehicle? You are aware that there is a whole guitaristkind of human beings dependant on your wellbeing for much needed shots of a substance called "update"!
 
Sounds to me like you have severe modeler GAS...

willowdale said:
Nah.....I'm too lazy for that! I'd rather you do it the way I want! lol

I own 2 Axe-XL+'s, a KPA & I have a Helix finally arriving on Tuesday......a 20% off pre-order from WWBW for $1199 shipped.

I don't really care if a modeler has the greatest IRs or not, as long as it can load 3rd party IRs.

I have plenty of stellar 3rd party IRs to cover the amp tones I want.
I wasn't really thrilled with the AxeFx's IRs until they came out with the famous TV cab.
Fractal, ML Sound Lab & Ownhammer have released some great IRs over the last year or so.

The amp modeling & effects I obviously care about. These cannot be swapped out for something better. There's no 3rd party amp/effects loader! lol

When I get the Helix I will load up a handful of what I consider to be my go to IRs & demo the Helix. I will know in short order if it's a keeper or not. If it is I'll sell one of my XL+'s.......I'm gonna sell one anyway because I'm on the waiting list for an AX8.

My Friedman ASM-12 cabs should be arriving on Monday, so I'll have some fun this week!

I look forward to your & David's thoughts regardless of how you decide to evaluate the Axe vs Helix!
Click to expand...
 
Solarfire said:
Sounds to me like you have severe modeler GAS...
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lol.........it harmless fun.

It's not just modelers though.....guitars.....tube amps......it's a fun hobby!

I'm not a collector though. If I find I'm not using something often enough, I'll sell it no problem.
 
ethomas1013 said:
Buy one and do own and do your own comparison if you don't like the way we're going to do it. ;)

Plus I'm using the stock IR's on the AxeII. Can't exactly pull those off and put them on the Helix. I suppose I could run the Helix through a loop in the AxeII to use a cab block that way. I don't know if we'll have time for that on the first get together since we'll be trying to figure out how the Helix works, but if we do I can give it a try.

I'm not going to use a generic IR for each. What good does that do? As you said, the IR is important to the amp tone and using the same IR on both units that is not a good match for a variety of amp models is not particularly useful in my estimation. I'd much rather hear the Helix AC30 with it's internal Celestion Blue speaker cab (assuming it has one) in comparison to the AxeII with it's internal Celestion Blue IR. The same for Fenders, Marshalls, etc...

This is just two friends having fun with gear (as it should be), not the evaluation to end all debate for all time.
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Wait, why won't we do this? I have an AC30 IR I want to try. :)
 
To me, the point of buying gear is to inspire one to write better and play better. When I'm going for electric music, I can't say I do well when the feeling of electric music is not present. If Helix can do 4 amps at once at their price, It stands to reason that the feeling component is not up to the level of the Axe Fx II, or close to it. But how close is close? To me it all depends on how inspired is inspired, and how much fun is fun.
 
The Helix may be the afterburner on the Line 6 scale but I doubt it on the high-end scale.
I’m having a tough time finding scenarios where I would ever need 4 amps, 95% of the time I use 1, sounds like quantity is compromising quality. None the less I’m looking forward to the incoming reviews.
 
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