Line6 Helix Stadium

[sarge]

I do think that the smaller Helix Stadium is a direct hit at the Quad Cortex with, at least in paper, much better features. If the sound is what they preach, then, at this pace, the QC is taking a bit hit I'm sure.

Right!
You add capture tech to the plethra of great sounding effects L6 has compared to what the QC has and at similar pricepoints, I agree whole heartedly.

I owned a QC for a bit but it was never more then a back up to my FM9. It sounded really good, but certainly not better then the FM9, and from a features and configurability standpoint, the FM 9 blew it out of the water.

 

[fcs101]

After a quick check on Youtube, at least MF has not (yet?) done a Helix video. LOL. But the rest of them have. It goes to show that when they are telling us that Fractal is best and I take it in, they as well be selling toilet rolls. And you know where you can stick that.
I wear my heart on my sleeve. Fractal for me. And only Fractal.

I haven't seen anyone actually play the thing yet. There's a only a bunch of videos of people regurgitating (and heavily speculating on) L6's talking points. Apparently they allowed selected reviewers to play a unit, but it doesn't seem they were allowed to post any footage. So far it's only commentary on a launch announcement. Unless someone can direct me to an actual review?

 

[m4ssi]

The stadium without expression pedal looks like a modern AX8

Nowdays, high level modelers sounds good, but only fractal has all of that effects and amps and i don't think they will ever catch up. And Fractal does only this, other companies (except for Kemper) have other products and business to take care. That's why i really love FAS.

 

[MayPRS]

The stadium without expression pedal looks like a modern AX8

Indeed... even the "step" between the 2 rows of switches.

 

[baron55]

I haven't seen anyone actually play the thing yet. There's a only a bunch of videos of people regurgitating (and heavily speculating on) L6's talking points. Apparently they allowed selected reviewers to play a unit, but it doesn't seem they were allowed to post any footage. So far it's only commentary on a launch announcement. Unless someone can direct me to an actual review?

Correct, and all hype as of now. Line 6 has "preorders" With estimated availability in late 3 or 4th quarter. Line 6 is typically 3 to 4 months late on their estimated availability. Could be longer as things are going to hit hard one all he tariffs kick in and supply chain uncertainty.

The "Paid" YouTube shills will say it the second coming as they are paid to do.


I have owned all the Line 6 products over the years in modeling. (Helix, HX FX, FX Stomp, HD500X) there was never any real tonal upgrades between any of them. Just UI updates and feature sets.

I hear all the chatter about how Fractal UI is not good. When I got my FM9, I was really confused why people thought the UI was bad. I thought it was pretty good, and the computer editor is world class.

At the end of the day, it boils down to:

Line 6: Consumer Grade modeling
Fractal: Professional Grade Modeling and features.

 

[Tonedeaf]

if anyone hasn't mentioned it before, I think it's a stupid name.

 

[fcs101]

Correct, and all hype as of now. Line 6 has "preorders" With estimated availability in late 3 or 4th quarter. Line 6 is typically 3 to 4 months late on their estimated availability. Could be longer as things are going to hit hard one all he tariffs kick in and supply chain uncertainty.

The "Paid" YouTube shills will say it the second coming as they are paid to do.


I have owned all the Line 6 products over the years in modeling. (Helix, HX FX, FX Stomp, HD500X) there was never any real tonal upgrades between any of them. Just UI updates and feature sets.

I hear all the chatter about how Fractal UI is not good. When I got my FM9, I was really confused why people thought the UI was bad. I thought it was pretty good, and the computer editor is world class.

At the end of the day, it boils down to:

Line 6: Consumer Grade modeling
Fractal: Professional Grade Modeling and features.

Brilliant job of orchestrating a lot of free PR. (Not that I blame them.)

 

[Lolo-G]

Could not agree more! I'm 54 and it could have the best graphic UI on the planet, but I have no intention of getting on the floor to edit patches. Not saying the UI stuff isn't cool, it is. But I agree, having an iPad connected to the mic stand is way more usable to me.

But to be honest, if you see me editing patches at a gig, it means something has gone horribly wrong. That stuff is typically taken care of at home and at practice. Sure the acoustics of the room change, but that is generally taken care of at the board.

same vision for me and I'm 56 years old....l

 

[NY Guitarist]

...it could have the best graphic UI on the planet, but I have no intention of getting on the floor to edit patches. Not saying the UI stuff isn't cool, it is. But I agree, having an iPad connected to the mic stand is way more usable to me.

I don't gig anymore but I have my AxeIII below desk height in a side rack and never use the front panel to edit. I'm very grateful for Axe-Edit.

I'll reiterate what I said in a different post here; I think it's great to see companies working hard to bring products out for guitarist and musicians in general. Musicians have have it good in terms of the tech available that would have been complete unobtanium not long ago.

 

[Rublalup]

The Line 6 Bean was the first modeler I ever used. I really liked the concept of modeling and committed to it early on—went through the POD, POD 2.0, XT, HD... I honestly can't even remember all the versions. Eventually, the main board on my POD HD500X gave out after a couple of years, so I switched to the Eleven Rack.


Then I discovered Fractal, and that was definitely a whole different league.


The Stadium looks like a cool product, but I’m holding out for the next-gen FM3. I love its form factor, and I really value Fractal’s customer support, regular updates, and commitment to excellence.

 

[kplooksafterme]

On another froum, I mentioned that this seems to be more in the order of a reimagined modern workstation like the old Digitech GNX4 and the torches and pitchforks came for me.
So hypersensitive that bunch.
No common sense to the fact that 30 years later a similar product would have all the advances that came along the way. Even Digital Igloo, which I believe is a LINE6 dev guy, got bent out of shape.
So in the spirit of things, I antagonized the hell out of them.

Cool story bro. What a badass you are

 

[NeoSound]

same vision for me and I'm 56 years old....l

I just turned 60 and looking forward to doing a triple back flip while landing in a low-to-the-floor 3-point spiderman stance ready tweak that shiny new fractal touch screen with my free hand... that is if my bad back, aching knee, arthritis and reading glasses are cooperating that day! Life is wonderful

 

[dws2384]

I still wear my Fractal t-shirt with pride. It is a "If you know, you know" type of statement t-shirts, should that make any sense.
Can you imagine how silly you would feel wearing a Line 6 t-shirt.

Can you image how silly it is to make a guitar modelling company part of your personality.

 

[xarkon]

if anyone hasn't mentioned it before, I think it's a stupid name.

I had the same reaction.

"Now you can play the really big gigs!"

 

[jetdriver1775]

Surprisingly, my biggest Takeaway from the demo was the fact that they included the documentation in the UI. I thought that was pretty clever.

I added that to the wish list in Axe Edit years ago... thought it would be cool to have explanations for what various controls do baked into the UI of the editor while creating tones.

 

[TheRedDevil]

I remember ordering a Line6 Pod Go before the AXE FX III. A test with cab and hi-fi system (at that time I had nothing else) has already shown me that the crunch heights are missing. I sent the thing back, but later it turned out that all Pod Go inputs were affected and a capacitor had to come in or out. Something like this must not happen, that was it for me with Line6.

 

[axl-fx]

Can you imagine how silly you would feel wearing a Line 6 t-shirt.

I remember someone posting a similar statement like this in the past and when they posted a clip they didn’t even have the cab block on.

I have to give credit though!!! I’ve never seen such fever type inducing over any other piece of gear.

 

[mr_fender]

I agree about the name. Big stadiums often have terrible sound since the acoustic space is so large and your speakers end up so far apart and there's so much crowd noise. It's the medium and smaller halls and venues that can really be dialed in to sound great.

 

[OrganicZed]

if anyone hasn't mentioned it before, I think it's a stupid name.

Apparently the name was handled by the marketing team (and not the design team). Line6 Helix Stadium XL Floor is an absurd name. When words that are meant to imply professional grade or big league use are used in a product name it tends to signify that the product is actually not what a professional would choose. I doubt the end users will care all that much.

Is it really all that much worse of a name than the Fractal Audio Axe-FX II XL+ or the Fractal Audio Axe-FX III Mark II Turbo? Coming up with a good naming scheme is harder than it seems.

 

[Dr.Lee]

Apparently the name was handled by the marketing team (and not the design team). Line6 Helix Stadium XL Floor is an absurd name. When words that are meant to imply professional grade or big league use are used in a product name it tends to signify that the product is actually not what a professional would choose. I doubt the end users will care all that much.

Is it really all that much worse of a name than the Fractal Audio Axe-FX II XL+ or the Fractal Audio Axe-FX III Mark II Turbo? Coming up with a good naming scheme is harder than it seems.

I mean, it COULD be used in a stadium....