Helix

[pjbelsch]

Do Any Dual wielders that play electric and acoustic use a helix to run both guitars out of? I want to get a helix and the option of running an acoustic guitar electric guitar and my mic through one unit to the sound system is very very tempting.

[ken.han]

i do that with Helix LT, which doesn’t the mic input. Even so it’s great. you will love using impulse response (IR) to fix the quack piezo sound, if you need to do that. i also control my beatbuddy via midi from Helix. works nicely together.

[AeroUSA]

The full Helix is an excellent choice! It can load and blend IR's, has all the effects you need and also a mic input for vocals. IF it was smaller I would be using one!

[ken.han]

plus, get a decent PA speaker to use as FRFR (full range full response) speaker and you get electric guitar amp, acoustic guitar amp, and vocal monitor all taken care of, for less money and ease than having three separate systems.

[MusicLaw]

The Helix sounds phenomenal with Acoustic Electric, Electric Guitars, Bass, Vocals, and more. Due to the I/Os and very extensive features, the Helix Floor and Rack are exceptionally versatile. All three Helix hardware units (Rack, Floor, LT) will yield identical sonic results. I do not find IRs are required to get great tones. Many opt to use IRs. You are free to use either or both. The depth of control parameters the Helix offers for the signal chain Block Types is vast. This is where you have easy access to the magic that lies in the unit. Many find that the vast majority of the factory default presets excessively demonstrate their respectivly enabled features.

The Helix Floor and Helix Rack units have a 1/4" AuxIn Input designed for use with Active Acoustic Guitars and Bass Guitars. This is in addition to the Mic XLR and supporting Preamp electronics for the Mic input. There are also Four (4) FX Loops, and more. The lower cost Helix LT does not have the above I/O features, nor does the LT have a dedicated Phones Volume knob. On Line6's website there is a feature comparison table distinguishing the units.


The Helix Native software plug-in shares the same core firmware engine, and will also yield identical sonic results, if you use a high quality D/A and USB Interface equivalent to that found in the Helix hardware units, and you properly set your levels for use with your VST host or DAW. If you have no need for Helix Native then you may not care that Helix Rack and Floor owners get a $300 discount on Helix Native, whereas Helix LT owners only get a $100 discount. This may only be available in the USA.

Also know that Line 6 is running a promotion for a free Helix Backpack with purchase of a Helix Floor unit. This is fulfilled by the reseller and may be only available in the USA.

Get one or two quality FRFR Monitors and you'll be able to do nearly anything sonically the Helix can handle. I use Yamaha DXR10 Monitors with mine and JBL LSR308 near field studio monitors. The Yamaha DBR10 also sound very good and are a bit less expensive and lighter weight due to fewer inputs and lower powered output.

Hope this helps.

[AeroUSA]

It actually wouldn’t be my first choice for electric guitar but I feel it’s an amazing unit for acoustic. I wish they would make a version aimed at acoustic singers and add the vocal harmony stuff.

[pjbelsch]

Thanks for the tips. Are there any good videos on how to set it up?

[AcouStickistNS]

There’s a couple threads on this, I run everything I’ve got through mine, Acoustic, electric, bass, Chapman Sticks, and synth through it. Recently I attended a Line 6 seminar and shared with the instructor what I’m doing with it with acoustic as Line 6 really doesn’t do enough to promote it for instruments outside of electric guitars in my opinion. Here’s some things to consider, some of which have to do with new upgrades:

You can make your own feedback zapper with the three band parametric eq. If you have a really problem guitar, just add another and you have six bands.

There’s now a multi band compressor. Huge deal for me, I own an NS Stick, which goes into bass range, In Logic I could do great things with the multipressor. Now I can do the same via this new effect they added. Makes this instrument more capable as a bass guitar.

They just added a doubler effect last week. I’m still playing around with this, but it sounds fantastic.

Hidden in the electric guitar algorithms is something titled like “Stray Cat” - grab the delay out of that for a good slap back echo for an acoustic. Granted you can make your own, but that one’s a good starting point.

The mic pre amp combined with the LA compressor makes a good amp for an acoustic, but depending what you have, you might not need it. My Emerald works well without it, the Martin needs it for my ears.

Bad thing is price, and it’s a little big to carry around. I got the backpack for it. I bought it on a discount coupon a local GC was offering. But considering all the amp models, I no longer own a bass amp. I use PAs. Watch for deals on these, as well as used. A number of people I know bought one, but sold theirs being overkill for what they need. For an acoustic-only player, you will not need all of the electric guitar amps and effects, but the effects routing and number or inputs and outputs may allow you to skip using a mixer. I don’t sing, but there’s a mic input and a mic pre amp in it as well. Keep in mind Helix is dual DSP, so there’s more you can add compared to a couple other mutieffects like this. I doubt many acoustic only players need all of that, and may find something smaller to work with a PA. But for using BOTH acoustic and electric, this is a huge deal if you want to get real creative, and makes it worth paying the high price tag. I got rid of a lot of gear after buying this. Some of which I’m still selling off.

Some complaints I’ve heard, and in my opinion I agree with, but are not show stoppers for me:

No hold/freeze effect

No dedicated boost. You can make one a couple of ways, but they don’t compete with some other multi effects out there, or a dedicated clean boost pedal. Sorry, I should know more about this, but I haven’t done enough with this issue to make good comparisons as to what works best.

Short Looper, only goes a minute. For the price one would expect longer loop times. You will need another loop pedal if you want loops going over a minute, or running multiple loops, and you cannot save loops either. I will say I like how the looper works, good clean transition each time the loop starts again. Great sounding playback, exceeds a couple of dedicated loopers I’ve once owned.

Synth effects not the greatest. Going outside the acoustic realm here, but the guitar synths do not compete with what EHX offers.

[AeroUSA]

There is a clean boost or you can use an eq pedal as a boost and have your boost reduce some bass and add some treble, I wish other pedals did this instead of just boosting everything. Also if you use the standard input you can select the impedance (great for K&K).

[pjbelsch]

Thanks for all this. I am getting mine Christmas from my wife i play acoustic and electric and sing so it seems perfect for me in this day. She also got the deal where i got the free backpack which is perfect. I know i am going to probobly get a styrmon big sky verb to run externally.

[Maximus93101]

Originally Posted by ken.han

Ii also control my beatbuddy via midi from Helix. works nicely together.

Hi Ken, I too have a BeatBuddy and was wondering if you could elaborate a bit more on this?