Line 6 vs Helix Floor vs Fractal Axe FX III

[Budda]

Just curious, do you/have you ever owned a Helix?

I had the helix LT before. It had nearly all the sounds I wanted, but I struggled with a fuzz tone I liked. After I saw Leon Todd's "9 minute doom tone" video I knew the III was probably the better choice for me. I was also used to the UI from my FX8 (line 6 editing was also good).

I wanted a different last 10% and Im happy I made the switch. Constant updates are just icing on the cake.

My brother has been using line 6 devices for over a decade, and he helped me with LT tones. I dont have his ear, so my tones aren't quite his level (we dont aim for the exact same high gain sound). He simply knows more about recorded tones and mixing than I do.

 

[Once was Gearzilla]

That's gotta be old, or his Fractal was, he's talking about x-y, that's not relevant any more, replaced by the much more powerful channels paradigm.

It appears to be a couple of years old.

To me it’s just easier to share the relevant information to see if he did use a Helix live at some point and to see what his thoughts were at the time than to take guesses.

People are going to try different things for various reasons at times, and often switch back and forth multiple times....

To this day I still prefer the Axe-Fx to Helix.

 

[Budda]

Bill has a sig friedman, Im not worried what he thinks about digital lol.

 

[brianv4]

Sweetwater carries Line6 but doesn't carry Fractal Audio. Which product do you think he's going to push?

My Sweetwater rep openly admits he prefers Fractal and uses an Axe 2 xl. Wishes Sweetwater carried the line as he's sure he'd sell a ton of product. Although he does say the other products (Line6 Boss etc) are very good too.

 

[wcfieldskx]

Bill and Brent from Mastodon are both using the Helix now

 

[Dave Merrill]

Its not old. Him and Brent Hinds both are using the Helix now.

Cool! I'm off to track down the x-y settings in my III

 

[steadystate]

All anyone needs to do is demo Helix Native to immediately expose its shortcomings. It might sound okay in isolation, but compared to an Axe III it's a dog in terms of sound and feel.

 

[Budda]

Bill and Brent from Mastodon are both using the Helix now

I assume for effects, given their Orange and Friedman deals. Actually I have no idea if Kelliher is still with Friedman, haha.

 

[Brian Atkinson]

I was fortunate to get a Helix Floor about a week after it was first released, and I've had my Axe3 since March of 2018. I still own both and use both frequently, often at the same time via a Lehle P-Split out of my wireless to drive both inputs simultaneously. Lots of fun!

The most significant advantage of the Fractal device IMHO is the way it "feels" and responds to my playing. Additionally, the amp block has a plethora of adjustable parameters to fine tune its response. Using the pitch follower modifier to alter the amps output eq is simply AWSOME!

I love my Helix, but the Axe-Fx III is my soul mate.

 

[steadystate]

Mastodon's Bill Kelliher Explains Why He Switched From Axe-FX to Helix

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/new...ins_why_he_switched_from_axe-fx_to_helix.html

The axe isn't necessarily for Luddites, or those unable or unwilling to comprehend a manual.

 

[wcfieldskx]

All anyone needs to do is demo Helix Native to immediately expose its shortcomings. It might sound okay in isolation, but compared to an Axe III it's a dog in terms of sound and feel.

Agreed. Dont like the amp modeling in the Helix at all. Effects were decent...but a Helix is not for me.

 

[jlynnb1]

That was what I assumed. However, I was quit surprised to learn from a sales person at Sweetwater who allegedly services Mastodon that they use the Helix live.....

sure...but if you want to name drop artists we can do this all day. What two guys from a band who's music I don't really vibe with and playing styles I don't really enjoy play has no bearing on whether a unit is as good as another.

 

[Once was Gearzilla]

The axe isn't necessarily for Luddites, or those unable or unwilling to comprehend a manual.

If you read the interview he hadn’t tried the III at that point. The Helix worked well for his particular use case. He’s not opposed to technology.

Some artists prefer Fractal. Some Kemper. Some Line 6.

Allan Holdsworth managed to get by with Yamaha.

Such is life.....

 

[luckymethod]

I've been a HUGE Fractal Axe FX III fan. That said, I've been surprised to keep hearing well known guitarists also recommend the Line 6 Helix Floor unit which supposedly has their flagship best modeling and effects. Am very curious to hearing from anyone here whose owned both. Which has the better amp emulation? Etc?

I just sold a Helix Floor for the Axe. I think the Axe sounds a little better, but the flexibility and control compared to the Helix is not even a contest. The Helix is TONS easier to use and for a quick wham bam make a preset and go it's so much faster it's not even funny. What you need kinda depends on what you value, I value control and being able to create crazy sounds with tons of modifiers so Axe is definitely the ticket. If you value something that's super easy to use and takes very little work to figure out, the Helix is for you.

 

[luckymethod]

And finally, there's the Helix forum, which is ruined by a handful of power users, who take any comment which is not a glowing endorsement, as a personal insult.

that forum is toxic as fuck, I agree.

 

[Doctor Wu]

The Helix is TONS easier to use and for a quick wham bam make a preset and go it's so much faster it's not even funny.

Funnily enough, I find exactly the opposite. I can drop in the amp, cab and reverb blocks on the Axe with almost instant satisfaction. Whereas on the Helix there would often need to be extensive tweaking of the amp/cab blocks before things started not to sound unpleasant. I would generally get there in the end, but it took more effort than with the Axe. I'd also say that the presets of the Axe are generally more usable and offer good starting points to work from.

All of which points to Budda's observation, if it works for ya....

 

[steadystate]

If you read the interview he hadn’t tried the III at that point. The Helix worked well for his particular use case. He’s not opposed to technology.

Some artists prefer Fractal. Some Kemper. Some Line 6.

Allan Holdsworth managed to get by with Yamaha.

Such is life.....

I agree that anyone who uses a modeler is not a Luddite. I would put him in the category of someone not suited to reading manuals or troubleshooting. From this interview, he obviously places top priority on simplicity rather than tone and power. In a touring band, that is understandable. If it makes his life easier and he's happy, great.

FIWI, I thought Holdsworth's best tones were with Boogies.

 

[Dave Merrill]

that forum is toxic as fuck, I agree.

I mostly hung out on TGP when I was more Helix-y, and I've said here elsewhere, at the time I didn't think it was too bad. The internet has people I don't want to talk with, news at 11.

Line 6 reps were there too, very helpful, and supportive of all modeling platforms.

The real Helix forum just wasn't that active at the time, much more going on on TGP.

 

[DiamondDaveL]

I own both. Purchased the Helix spring of 2019 and AxeFX III spring of this year. Helix has been turned on less than 10 times since, only to provide a rig for friends who come over and want to jam (which hasn't happened a lot this year, unfortunately) (and yeah I ain't sharing my processing power on the Axe!).

The Helix might be marginally more user-friendly, but in any other category, the Axe blows it out of the water. Initially, I bought one because of the extra IO.

 

[Dave Merrill]

Funnily enough, I find exactly the opposite. I can drop in the amp, cab and reverb blocks on the Axe with almost instant satisfaction. Whereas on the Helix there would often need to be extensive tweaking of the amp/cab blocks before things started not to sound unpleasant. I would generally get there in the end, but it took more effort than with the Axe. I'd also say that the presets of the Axe are generally more usable and offer good starting points to work from.

All of which points to Budda's observation, if it works for ya....

Must be me, or my monitoring, or my guitars (EJ strat mostly these days), but neither of these platforms is insta-joy for me, as in, add any amp, any cab, go. I'm quite happy with some of my Axe tones, but by the time I've got my usual 4-gain-levels worth of scenes together, they're not stock.