About to take the Helix Lt Plunge

[Southpaw Tele]

After many hours and dollars spent battling effect order, patch cables, buying, selling and tweaking pedals, and having to mic an amp I can't turn up past 2 at the church I play at, I'm about to hit buy on a Helix Lt.

I can go direct into the church PA and buy an FRFR cab (or go in ear when we take the silent stage plunge).

I'm getting rid of gear on Reverb and the big obstacle is getting rid of the Blues Jr.

I was worried about the Helix crapping out (as opposed to single pedals crapping out), but I have an American Sound from Joyo, should that happen.

The only other option is to go with the Helix HX Effects and use it into the American Sound (very poor man's Helix LT?)

Anyone satisfied with their Helix? I've owned an HD300, but it was limited in options and effects routing.

 

[jbwhitaker]

I have a Helix that I also use at Church and I love it. Some people are old school pedals only but I love the flexibility, effects, and tone I get out of the Helix. Very simple to use and so far it's as tough as a Tank.

 

[Steve_U1S]

I've been using mine for just over two years - game-changing.
Flexibility, quality sounds - just be willing to put in the time to understand how to get what you're looking for out of it.

I've put a couple of simple videos that a friend caught of the first night that I gigged my Helix sitting in with my buddy (he does a one man show with tracks) - so I'm on the right using the 2-tone Texas Tele, which is going through a Line 6 G50 wireless straight into Helix Rack - and the Helix is straight into the PA, no monitors etc on the tiny stage.
It's a reasonable demonstration of the type of sound I've worked up for that type of playing (plus, 'my other guitar is an Ibanez 7-string' - I'm in the 'shred' camp as well).

To contrast, my buddy's sound is an original POD into the PA.

 

[RyCo1983]

I LOVE my Helix Floor.

It's so user friendly and intuitive.

Drop me a line for some patch and IR suggestions if you plan on outsourcing your tones at all

 

[Southpaw Tele]

I think my big question right now is whether to keep the Blues Jr and get the HX Effects or go full in with the LT. The $1000 price tag would get covered if I sell everything, but then I'd still have to get a decent powered FRFR speaker. If I just go Helix HX, I can save myself all the cable mess. Arrrggghh decisions!

 

[JayFreddy]

By all means, if you like it, get one.

However, I caution against selling older equipment that you like in order to fund the new stuff.

Sell the stuff you don't like. Keep the rest.

 

[Danjabellza]

I’m in a similar boat. I’ve ditched my pedal board for the HX effects. And now my amp crapped out. Probably an easy fix, and I have the THR10 for the time being, which will get me through. But I’m a fan of lots of genres and even with the flexibility of the egnater tweaker, I cant quite get to all of them. So the helix is around the corner for me I think. Being able to go from a pristine twin reverb to insane soldano/uberschall tones in one little box.. not to mention wet dry wet capabilities for church, etc would be huge!

 

[Southpaw Tele]

I'm also thinking the POD HD500x might be good enough. I'm all over the place! Someone slap me here.

 

[Southpaw Tele]

I’m in a similar boat. I’ve ditched my pedal board for the HX effects. And now my amp crapped out. Probably an easy fix, and I have the THR10 for the time being, which will get me through. But I’m a fan of lots of genres and even with the flexibility of the egnater tweaker, I cant quite get to all of them. So the helix is around the corner for me I think. Being able to go from a pristine twin reverb to insane soldano/uberschall tones in one little box.. not to mention wet dry wet capabilities for church, etc would be huge!

Dan, I hate to get so obsessed about pedals and amps. I've been buying and selling pedals the past couple of years and haven't focused on playing. Truth is, no one notices my tone but me.

 

[Danjabellza]

I'm also thinking the POD HD500x might be good enough. I'm all over the place! Someone slap me here.

The hd500x CAN sound FANTASTIC! But, it’s not nearly as user friendly and to really dial in useable sounds, it takes a lot of time on the computer interface. One of my buddies has one and it sounds as good as any other rug out there, but he spent hours upon hours fine tuning it. My experience with pod units and the HX effects has me pretty well convinced that the helix is the way to go for user friendliness. That said, a used HD500x can be had for 1/5 the cost of the helix. And that’s no small thing. You could get two, have one as a backup with all your patches loaded and if the one craps out use the backup, an you still have a ton of money left over.

 

[Southpaw Tele]

Update: my TC Triple Delay and Blues Jr sold today. I also sold my looper, Rat, and my Tremor tremolo.

Even more important update: my wife told me not to go cheap on whatever I buy when I told her prices on HD500x vs Helix LT. She thinks I should spend the extra! I married well 21 years ago!

 

[Kebmel]

I couldn't afford a Helix so I went with the Headrush. It's not as full featured as the Helix
but it is so easy to use and at my age the less tecnicals to get my head around the better.

 

[Southpaw Tele]

Okay, I pulled the trigger on the Helix LT. I've never spent this much on any gear, but I had more than enough in amp and pedals to cover it. I still have a Joyo American Sound and an iPad with iRig HD as backups.

 

[Southpaw Tele]

I couldn't afford a Helix so I went with the Headrush. It's not as full featured as the Helix
but it is so easy to use and at my age the less tecnicals to get my head around the better.

I like the touch screen and I back and forth on which to get. I've had good experiences with Line 6 and went with the LT (same price as the Headrush).

 

[RyCo1983]

I like the touch screen and I back and forth on which to get. I've had good experiences with Line 6 and went with the LT (same price as the Headrush).

If you need any help with patch creation or IR's (Cab sims effectively) and that sort of thing...PM me.

 

[reckless meanie]

I have a Helix LT and it works great. I do think you need some additional IR's if you are running it straight into the PA. There are alot of free ones out there that sound good.

Good Luck!!

 

[Southpaw Tele]

If you need any help with patch creation or IR's (Cab sims effectively) and that sort of thing...PM me.

Thanks very much! Will do!

 

[Southpaw Tele]

Okay, it arrived today and I'm downloading firmware update 2.54 and installing it. I'm usually pretty tech savvy, but this thing is complex. Will be figuring things out as I go here.

 

[Mad Kiwi]

Changed from a Digitech RP1000 to Helix LT.

Effects sound slightly/mostly better. Amp modelling nearly a full step up in quality, feel etc.

A bit of a learning curve that i'm working through but I genuinely really like it.

I have 3 modes I work in.

-Just as an effects pedal board in to my amp.

- A modeler for recording
- IR's make a big difference for a great recorded, sit in the mix sound. Very pleased here.

- Modeler for quiet practice and fooling around.

Works really well so far and I still have a lot to learn and fine tune. So I have high expectations it will get a lot better again.

 

[Southpaw Tele]

I just figured out how to assign switched to pedals and I set up a Twin Reverb using Double Norm, the EP, Big Muff, opto trem, normal delay set to dotted 8th, Adriatic delay set to 1/4 note, Spring Reverb and then the particle verb (just for weirdness). Oh, also through a volume pedal after drives.