Helix verdict ???

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Norton666

Norton666

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My cover band is going to start gigging again , and I have always went direct in the past. I have had a Kemper and an Axe II , both of which I thought sounded killer! I preferred the Kemper, only because of ease of use. I had the powered head and it was stupid easy to get a great tone. The Helix has recently came on to my radar, and I was just curious to get everyone's opinion on it. I'm talking straight up amp tones. Both the Axe and Kemper were awesome for straight , realistic amp tones , and I am wondering if this can hang with the big dogs. Also , with the Helix , can I run a direct signal to the PA with a cab sim and a separate signal to a power amp/cab without a sim?
Last question , other than aesthetics and amount of switches , are there any major differences between the Helix and Helix LT? Cheers!!
 
I thought they were pretty cool back in the early to mid 80s . I saw them open for WASP and Krokus in 84 and they put on a good show

 
I was a fan. If you don't know "Rock You" you don't know metal
 


To OP: sorry I don't have anything useful to add I couldn't resist
 
LOL! Good one. :)

There have been a few folks talking about the Helix lately. I have never played one myself (have an Axe-Fx II) but reviews all seem to point to a solid, great sounding piece of gear.

If I remember correctly, the LINE 6 doesn't have all of the options of say Fractal or Kemper but I think that is probably what people want. A lot of folks could care less if they mess with the tubes, Sag, etc. as long as it sounds great.

LINE 6 were one of the originators of the tones we are all now enjoying with the other modelers. I'm sure it sounds killer because they probably took their experience and saw what these other companies started doing and wanted to up the game.
 
I love the Helix (LT specifically). Much more than the Kemper. I haven't spent any time with the Fractal, so I have no opinion on that. But there are tube tones and feel in the Helix... and that's with stock cab IRs. I've had most every modeler besides the Fractal, and the Helix is the only one that really impressed me.
 
Red_Label":1ygdqv3o said:
I love the Helix (LT specifically). Much more than the Kemper. I haven't spent any time with the Fractal, so I have no opinion on that. But there are tube tones and feel in the Helix... and that's with stock cab IRs. I've had most every modeler besides the Fractal, and the Helix is the only one that really impressed me.
Click to expand...

Wow, that is really saying something. The LINE 6 stuff has improved a lot over the years.
 
HanJolo":3bbgt28x said:


To OP: sorry I don't have anything useful to add I couldn't resist
Click to expand...

:lol: :LOL: :lol: :LOL: :lol: :LOL: I thought the same thing as soon as I saw that Helix video posted.
 
romanianreaper":1wzq651d said:
Red_Label":1wzq651d said:
I love the Helix (LT specifically). Much more than the Kemper. I haven't spent any time with the Fractal, so I have no opinion on that. But there are tube tones and feel in the Helix... and that's with stock cab IRs. I've had most every modeler besides the Fractal, and the Helix is the only one that really impressed me.
Click to expand...

Wow, that is really saying something. The LINE 6 stuff has improved a lot over the years.
Click to expand...

It's awesome and I've been recommending them to anyone who's curious.

Btw... I know that the KPA is a profiler and capable of amazing tones. But I just hated it from the minute it arrived in my man cave until it left. I had it for a couple of weeks and sold it for a friend, but had the option of picking it up for a good price myself. It didn't suck, but I didn't bond with the interface at all. I liked the interface on my old Eleven Rack MUCH more than the KPA. But the tone of the 11R wore on me fairly quickly. I could only make it acceptable for me, running through a good SS power amp, into a 4x12. I hated the direct sounds. Whereas the Helix sounds great running direct to my PA.
 
I've had 3 KPAs over the years when they were released. I was an early adopter. 2 of them had issues and one was great with no issues. It's a nice unit and it does some great things. Lots of pro players using it on tour.

The Helix though, is just so much more of what I wanted for this type of thing. I still regularly use a tube amp. I wanted something that does 4CM very well and is super easy to setup. I also wanted something that I could go direct with for those times that I don't use or want to use an amp. THe bonus is that it also doubles as an interface if I need it to. So much packed in this box. The new Mark IV profiles from the last update are killer! The stock cab IRs are great when you fiddle around with he high and low cuts as well as the mics. I have them sounding fabulous. I have the rack and control version. I love how through midi, it interfaces with my JP-2C to switch the amp channels. Super easy to use and tweak. The display is awesome on it and intuitive. I'm still learning a few things about it.

:rock:
 
I appreciate the responses. Like I said in my original post , I absolutely loved my Kemper. I have actually owned one on 3 different occasions. I love the fact that it has a built in amplifier and it is , in my opinion , VERY easy to use. The Helix is very intriguing to me, because if the base amp tones are on par with the Kemper and Axe , it's a no brainer.
I know that the Kemper and Axe can get very deep , but I used them as a straight up amp replacement. When I stripped the signal chains down to nothing but the amp , they both sounded great. I am just curious if the Helix sounds that convincing.
 
The Helix has improved a lot with updates. They aren't that frequent but they really upped the quality. I also have an AX8, Amplifire and Headrush in addition to my Kemper (Yes, I am retarded).

I LOVE the tone that I get from my AX8 but holy shit is it frustrating. I NEVER have any of the issues with the Helix that I have with the AX8. In all reality, it's not really a good comparison, though people do make that comparison. The Helix has so many more features that it is more comparable to the Axe FX II, realistically. More processing power for sure and you can do things with it that you can't do with the AX8 like run 2 amps. I won't be selling my USA made AX8 in the near future because it literally kicks ass in so many ways... just so frustrating to work with sometimes.

I haven't tried the Helix LT but the Headrush I have has made me a fanboy. I freaking love this unit. It's so easy to do everything and while it doesn't have everything the Helix has, it has earned it's respect from me.

The Amplifire 12 was a waste of $800, IMHO and I am going to sell it to GC today, I think. It sounds ok but it's plagued with crazy issues at times. For example, I get crazy volume pops... like the volume will just randomly turn itself up super freaking loud when I switch on certain effects randomly. I am just not happy with it at all.
 
I'm going to be the odd man out on this one. I play in a pop/funk band (mostly low/mid gain stuff). I use a pedal board with a variety of "regular" pedals and a Tech21 Flyrig and go direct to PA, and have been using this rig for a while now. The board weighs about 60 lbs and fits in a big keyboard case. Pain in the butt to carry around.

I've been seeing more and more other bands use the Helix lately and so I got intrigued and bought one. I messed with it for a nearly a month and simply could not get any sounds I was really happy with. I tried programming my own sounds and even downloaded a bunch from the web. I ultimately ended up sending it back for a refund.

If you haven't looked into the Tech21 stuff, it may be worth your time. Most of them are one-trick ponies but they do it extremely well IMO.
 
The Helix is not the Line6 you know of the past .
Really I was skeptical .I own the Ax8 and my singer has the Helix Floor.
He lent it to me for a week while he was away .so I had both in same room through same monitors.
The Helix was a joy to work with as others have said the Axe is not ,the axe i have to use the Edit software to be efficient ,without a computer at a rehearsal when something goes wrong like fottswitch assignments getting messed it is a nightmare to reprogram on the fly again my personal opinion .

Anyway the question you asked about sound quality .IMO it's very close on some models ,some require a bit more work but can get there

The Axe core tone is always a bit more dynamic ,and better on the amps just breaking up , on the Hi gain its pretty close almost like saying you have a Bogner Uber buddy has a 5153 which is better.
the effects on the Axe are better but way deeper and way more confusing if you don't know what the parameters do i.e.: eay to get crap tone

Anyway I will just do my personal comparison as of the firmware 2.20 ?? I tried

Amp and modelling quality : slightly in Fractal Favor But keep in mind there has been like 25 updates with like 4 or 5 complete modelling overhauls AX2 ,Mimic,G3,Quantum where all huge overalls
line6 has Helix core 3.0 coming later this year which is rumoured to be the first major revision to amps and other stuff. who knows

Drives: I like helix , it just reacts like the pedals and has limited controls just like the pedals

Mods: Fractal to me is more like the Deep algorithm rack style stuff ,Helix is like the simple pedals on your board which I prefer

Reverbs : this one goes to FAS But in a live scenario i would not use a verb so really its not something i worry about , Again comments from Line6 employee. "Our product department head worked for Lexicon so I am not worried, Just impatient"

Anyway at the end of the day with Fas and Helix side by side the things Helix does vs the things the Fractal does slightly better , its easy to see why Helix is such a popular product .
 
Pete Thorn just played a gig in Canada using the Kemper as his amp w/4CM to Helix for effects, switching, and interface to FOH. :rock:
 
FWIW, I've been using modeling since the Vox Tonelab tabletop, and as my main gear since the Vox ToneLab LE. I've owned several other modelers, these days my current main rig is Boss GT-1 + SY-300 direct.

That said, I've wanted a Helix since it was announced, but the original floor had many features I'd never use. Over at TGP a few of the Line 6 reps are active, and there were several discussions about a "Helix Light" what it would have / not have and at what pricepoint, etc. then Boom! Helix LT was announced on or around April Fool's day this year, so it took me awhile to determine it wasn't a prank, found one in stock and ordered it within a day or less of the announcement. As one of the early "Helix Light" proponents, the LT was a nice surprise, it has everything I want and less of what I don't need than the floor, it was a no brainer for me.

It sounds great, easy to use workflow, I use the stock IRs, I run it direct into my Line 6 AMPLIFi 150. I dig it. If it had more poly synth capabilities like the SY-300, it would be my main rig. I haven't used a Kemper and haven't had FAS since my Ultra many years ago when it was still their flagship. I don't think you can go wrong with Kemper, Helix or FAS, just find the one that sounds best to you, has the features you need, and a workflow you can live with or dig. IMO
 
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