Richie - your enthusiasm is contagious.I went with the rack as well - I carry it for my minor live sit-ins - I do that to keep all the audio at the back; just the controller and expression pedals out front. I also use a G50 wireless (at home I actually use a G10)...Your videos are excellent; great seeing the capabilities of the hardware/software being maximized and adapted to your purposes.The flexibility of Helix is outstanding.Cheers!
everytime i watch your videos reaffirms how happy I am that I am subscribed to your channel. I love love love my helix. You are making me contemplate getting the rack as well. That matchless loop sounds nice.
My line 6 rack and floor board are on the way. I had a giant pedal board that I used with my kemper. I preferred the peadls over the kemper effects. But taking out my pedal board was like working out with heavy weights. Just getting it out from behind the couch was a chore. So the helix rack will replace my giant monster pedal board. Now I can have many options while playing with a much smaller foot print. Now I just have to dive into programming the helix with the kemper to change amp profiles. Im not so good with that but Im sure I will be happy when its done. Your videos have helped so much with undertsanding the inner workings of the helix.
Ave many variax guitars including a white and black variax standard and i love the standard. The neck is perfect, its basically a Yamaha Pacifica with variax hd. It’s just great.
Thanks for the VP tip! I just got my Helix some days ago and was thinking to get expression pedals while at least having the same pedal you mentioned right here.
love the video. I have the Helix floor unit and I'm a relatively new user and it has brought to swift relief how much I don't yet know and understand about frequencies with all the different options that the Helix has for control and tweaking tones. If it makes sense, I would love to see a video tutorial regarding understanding eq's and frequencies and all the different ways that you can tweak effects and amps and inputs and outputs through the helix to get the tones you want...
You know what, this is a great idea for a video. I roll my eyes every time someone scrolls through an amp and says this sounds too _____. Meanwhile I'm yelling at my screen saying "JUST EQ IT!" It'll be hard because there isn't one EQ setting that works for everything, but I can certainly try to explain how I use it.
I’m pretty sure you could get variax dry DI if you use the usb. I use usb and helix is set up well to reamp to daw through usb. Love your vids so much man. Thanks for the help and inspiration.
Hi Richie, first of all, thank you for all you effort and share about Helix and Music, such a good channel. Now, with your know how and road and live experience, could you please, help me out in this question... As a wedding musician, Voice and Guitar, in a Trio project...in mind with fast and practical setup mount and transport, and all the dangers of being expose with Helix Floor unit.. (drinks, people aproaching etc..) will you consider use the Rack unit instead of floor unit? or a rack system weight and space is a killer here? and probably the all in one floor unit comes with a better solution for small venues? Thank you!
Yeah, for sure, that's true! Thanks richie. I will now try to get a new flight case and pedal board for Helix! regards, and please, keep up your amazing work :D
Hi Richie Love Your Videos and the Band Geek stuff is great!! for Re-amping w Variax I think if you use usb channel 7-8 that is just the guitar signal from any input. including Variax Sean Halley does a video on it. I was doing a gig and the sound tech was multi tracking. and asked if he could just get my guitar signal, but i was using my Variax Standard and JTV 59. So I looked up how to do it. He ended up not doing it though.
Hey Richie,thanks for the videos. You are providing a great service. I was wondering if you have had any issues with a negative effect on your tone when send/return blocks active but effect is not on? On my send, send and dry thru @ 0. On return, return @ 0. Mix @ 100%. Thanks
thanks for the video! one question about the Helix rack unit and its floor controller: I assume the rack Helix also has a guitar tuner? where is the tuner's display, is it on the rack unit's display or on the little display of the floor controller?
Hi Richie, I love you channel and all your video's. Would you consider doing a comparison of the Original Helix, Helix LT., and the Helix Native for us? I know we would get the real story. Rock on..
Awesome! Great to hear! I hope you love it. I use the ownhammer Mesa closed back 4x12 with the SM7 the most. I also use the ownhammer Fender Deluxe with the 122 ribbon, but not as much as the Mesa.
Hi Richie, great stuff. I'm looking at getting a helix soon. Do you recommend any specific cab or speakers, 2x12 or 4x12? Thanks and awesome playing and tones.
I really like the way you do your videos. You really have the ability to break stuff down to be easily understandable and I appreciate that greatly. I do have one question. I am thinking of getting the Helix LT (the for 999.00) and I am wondering if it would work well with my Fender Mustang 3 (100watt) amp. I think I can get the pedal, but I think my wife would kill me if I try to get ANOTHER amp also :)
Thanks for the videos. I watch you all the time you've got a new fan!! I have a Helix Rack and Controller also but I'm just a novice next to you!! Question for ya. I noticed on one of your Band Geek Videos what appears to be a L6 - L2M on the floor. Is that what you are using to amp your Helix for live sound? I'm still looking for a solution to my amplification/speaker dilemma. I bought a Firehawk 1500 thinking it would be perfect but it doesn't speak well with the Helix (No L6 Link and using monitor in's cuts out the Center Horn, you've got to use a bunch of shenanigans to make it work with phasing issues, compression kicking in etc. ) Also tried a few cabinets and a power amp but it just isn't "wonderful". I've contacted Tony at L6 support (and the forum) with not too much help to offer. Any suggestions? If you don't mind what do you use with Band Geek and BOC?
Lonny Horowitz MD in my studio I mainly use it as a PA monitor. It does that very well. When I do local gigs, yes, that's my helix amplification. I send the 1/4 inch outs to the PA and the XLRs to the L2. I only apply the global EQ to the L2 or whatever powered speaker I end up using. This way I can tailor the stage sound without affecting the house sound. I also never use the L6 link connection. I like the regular input better. On the global EQ I end up doing heavy low and high cutting plus a little boost in the low mids and little cut in the high mids.
AlexisGitarre i thinks it's because it probably will be a monster CPU killer...why bother when u can take such a workload off the CPU and not deal with latency? Plus idk what u would do if you're like me and use the fx loop function for ur other pedals..but for $100, will definitely add it to my arsenal lol
Good question. For all the band geek stuff, we can't monitor off plugins. We gotta have a piece of hardware in the studio. This makes life easier for us. I used to record everything with guitar rig, monitoring through the software and it was drag with the latency. I do plan on using Native when it comes out, but that will be for tracks that are already recorded. It's also great to be able to get my guitar sounds without turning on the computer.
I was wondering how you avoided latency issues with the band geek thing with everybody on headphones and running through the software. hekix that makes sense. I have trouble with recording a 2nd guitar part and the latency screws me up, I am looking into the helix it's a serious amount of money for me to spend but i may be able to ditch most of my amps BTW love the @ andy timmons couldn't live without it now use it all the time
You’re my parallel Twin! LOL ... You might eventually make your own music desk like me! I had 24 guitars and bought everything from Roland, Line 6 etc .... **** Today I have only 3 guitars 🎸 A 13 Pin American Made Brian Moore C-90 A 13 Pin Godwin Peavey AT-200 Roland VG-99 Antares ATG-1 ( For Aternate Tunings and Multi Guitar Sounds) 2 Line 6 HX Stomps ( because of You 😊) A JHS BONSAI and I might get a Andy Timmons AT V2. My list goes on but, you might see our similarities lol ...
Hi, Richie! Quick question? Is you Variax the American-made version, or is the the foreign-made JTV? I have the foreign-made one, and I love it, but I have been thinking about buying a back up.... if yours is American made, is it worth the extra money?
Richie Castellano I own a Korean and USA made Variax. There is no comparison. The USA version is a far better guitar. I have 24 guitars ranging from Les Paul, multiple American strats, PRS DGT and Santana, custom shop Tele. But I always find myself reaching for the USA Variax. If you can get a hold of one, try it out. Such a solid build and instrument.
What do you prefer about it? I have a imported JTV-69S too, and I was thinking about picking up another as my back-up guitar. I was just wondering if it would be worth looking into a different model.
Vids from him make me def want the helix been lookin at the headrush too but if it was better this guy would b using it n he's not soooooooo lol great vids bro
I'm thinking of buying this. Will I be happy playing the line 6 helix through some powered monitors? Or would it be better sounding through effects loop of a tube amp. I only play at home..
The truth is that the Helix gives you the option to do both. If you already have a killer tube amp with an fx loop in it, why don't you try that first using the the 4 cable method? The Helix is a lot of fun in that configuration. If you decide later on that you want to hear more stereo stuff or use cabinet simulations, then you can always buy speakers. If you play at relatively low volumes at home (like me) I'd recommend getting a decent pait of studio monitors. If you want to hear it loud, then you'll have to go the powered PA speaker route.
I just got this two days ago. I'm only using the head phones for now. Sold my amp and waiting for my new one to arrive. This helix sounds amazing. It really does. I never thought I'd like it this much. Thanks for your vids.
Can you shed some light on your patch bay and what you mean by "normaled? By the way, now the owner of a JTV89 and I'm eagerly awaiting your content!!!
Sure. Patcbays are set up with the top row for the outputs and the bottom row for the inputs. So if you're looking at the back of the patchbay the helix send (that's an output) goes to the top row and the distortion pedal input goes to the bottom row. Now, let's pretend we're looking at the front of my patchbay. If my patchbay was not normalled, I'd need to take a little patch cable and connect the hole for helix send to distortion pedal in. But since my patchbay is set up normalled, the helix send is automatically connected to the distortion pedal input. And then I can repeat this process for anything else I want to semi-permanently connnected. Many patchbays have 24 channels. If you're set up in a normalled configuration, anything on the top, gets fed directly into the corresponding hole on the bottom. So the top hole on channel 1 gets fed into the bottom hole on channel 1. The top hole on channel 2 gets fed into the bottom row of channel 2, etc... You could of course break the normal by plugging something into one of the holes, but a well designed patchbay will allow your studio to be completely patched for your standard setup without having to plug anything in on the front. Of course if you have tons of outboard gear and you're routing things constantly, you'll need to patch stuff. But for a project studio, it should be easy to achieve this.
Using HX Edit 2.60, have you been able to load a backup for the Helix Floor into Helix Rack? Also, how are you running the Helix Rack into your MOTU 1248?
Richie, whenever I use my MXR + or fuzz faces in my effect loop, I get a huge amount of hissing, I have to gate the crap out of it. Any tips on how u control that when u run them in ur Helix setup?
James Balestrino I do get a little noise from my distortion pedal but not like you're describing. Have you tried a ground lift on the Helix power cable? Also, makes sure that loop is set to instrument and not line.
You should do a video on all your connections and wiring!!! Great video!!! Definitely leaning on getting the rack.
Richie - your enthusiasm is contagious.I went with the rack as well - I carry it for my minor live sit-ins - I do that to keep all the audio at the back; just the controller and expression pedals out front. I also use a G50 wireless (at home I actually use a G10)...Your videos are excellent; great seeing the capabilities of the hardware/software being maximized and adapted to your purposes.The flexibility of Helix is outstanding.Cheers!
everytime i watch your videos reaffirms how happy I am that I am subscribed to your channel. I love love love my helix. You are making me contemplate getting the rack as well. That matchless loop sounds nice.
Thanks, that Matchstick has been one of my go-tos lately.
I just did exactly that.
My line 6 rack and floor board are on the way. I had a giant pedal board that I used with my kemper. I preferred the peadls over the kemper effects. But taking out my pedal board was like working out with heavy weights. Just getting it out from behind the couch was a chore. So the helix rack will replace my giant monster pedal board. Now I can have many options while playing with a much smaller foot print. Now I just have to dive into programming the helix with the kemper to change amp profiles. Im not so good with that but Im sure I will be happy when its done. Your videos have helped so much with undertsanding the inner workings of the helix.
Thanks Richie! You have really taught me a lot about the capabilities of the Helix. Thanks for the the inspiration!
Nice man! I have the Floor and LT but switching the LT out for a rack as well for the very same reason! Love your vids.
I love the Variax standard
I love the sounds of my Helix rack mount. I am barely scratching the surface with what it can do.
Fantastic tech
Love to see a video on your patch bay setup with the Helix. I don't have a Helix but wondering if I could set that up with my AxeFXII
John Sousa you absolutely could. And that's not a bad idea either.
This is awesome. I'm learning the Helix one video at a time. I believe you can rename your fx loops. Thanks for all the videos.
Oh cool! Thanks for the tip!
Ave many variax guitars including a white and black variax standard and i love the standard. The neck is perfect, its basically a Yamaha Pacifica with variax hd. It’s just great.
Thanks for the VP tip! I just got my Helix some days ago and was thinking to get expression pedals while at least having the same pedal you mentioned right here.
love the video. I have the Helix floor unit and I'm a relatively new user and it has brought to swift relief how much I don't yet know and understand about frequencies with all the different options that the Helix has for control and tweaking tones. If it makes sense, I would love to see a video tutorial regarding understanding eq's and frequencies and all the different ways that you can tweak effects and amps and inputs and outputs through the helix to get the tones you want...
You know what, this is a great idea for a video. I roll my eyes every time someone scrolls through an amp and says this sounds too _____. Meanwhile I'm yelling at my screen saying "JUST EQ IT!" It'll be hard because there isn't one EQ setting that works for everything, but I can certainly try to explain how I use it.
Nice, love the rack. Would love to hear some of the tones you come up with :)
I’m pretty sure you could get variax dry DI if you use the usb. I use usb and helix is set up well to reamp to daw through usb.
Love your vids so much man. Thanks for the help and inspiration.
great video! awesome feel!
Hi Richie, first of all, thank you for all you effort and share about Helix and Music, such a good channel.
Now, with your know how and road and live experience, could you please, help me out in this question...
As a wedding musician, Voice and Guitar, in a Trio project...in mind with fast and practical setup mount and transport, and all the dangers of being expose with Helix Floor unit.. (drinks, people aproaching etc..) will you consider use the Rack unit instead of floor unit? or a rack system weight and space is a killer here? and probably the all in one floor unit comes with a better solution for small venues? Thank you!
For gigs, I prefer the floor system. People spilling drinks on your stuff will ruin your gear no matter what you're using.
Yeah, for sure, that's true! Thanks richie. I will now try to get a new flight case and pedal board for Helix! regards, and please, keep up your amazing work :D
Hi Richie Love Your Videos and the Band Geek stuff is great!! for Re-amping w Variax I think if you use usb channel 7-8 that is just the guitar signal from any input. including Variax Sean Halley does a video on it. I was doing a gig and the sound tech was multi tracking. and asked if he could just get my guitar signal, but i was using my Variax Standard and JTV 59. So I looked up how to do it. He ended up not doing it though.
Hey Richie,thanks for the videos. You are providing a great service. I was wondering if you have had any issues with a negative effect on your tone when send/return blocks active but effect is not on? On my send, send and dry thru @ 0. On return, return @ 0. Mix @ 100%. Thanks
I haven't tried it. I usually turn them off when I'm not using them.
thanks for the video! one question about the Helix rack unit and its floor controller: I assume the rack Helix also has a guitar tuner? where is the tuner's display, is it on the rack unit's display or on the little display of the floor controller?
It's on both. I actually like the floor controller tuner a little better because it's kind of stripped down.
@@RichieCastellano that's great the tuner is on both. thank you very much!
Thanks Richie! :)
Hi Richie, I love you channel and all your video's. Would you
consider doing a comparison of the Original Helix, Helix LT., and the Helix Native for us? I know we would get the real story. Rock on..
I someone sent me an LT, sure!
I'll look forward to the video. Thanks
awesome videos on the Helix, just ordered one because of these videos. What IR's are you using the most?
Awesome! Great to hear! I hope you love it. I use the ownhammer Mesa closed back 4x12 with the SM7 the most. I also use the ownhammer Fender Deluxe with the 122 ribbon, but not as much as the Mesa.
Hi Richie, great stuff. I'm looking at getting a helix soon. Do you recommend any specific cab or speakers, 2x12 or 4x12? Thanks and awesome playing and tones.
I really like the way you do your videos. You really have the ability to break stuff down to be easily understandable and I appreciate that greatly. I do have one question. I am thinking of getting the Helix LT (the for 999.00) and I am wondering if it would work well with my Fender Mustang 3 (100watt) amp. I think I can get the pedal, but I think my wife would kill me if I try to get ANOTHER amp also :)
Thanks for the videos. I watch you all the time you've got a new fan!!
I have a Helix Rack and Controller also but I'm just a novice next to you!! Question for ya. I noticed on one of your Band Geek Videos what appears to be a L6 - L2M on the floor. Is that what you are using to amp your Helix for live sound? I'm still looking for a solution to my amplification/speaker dilemma. I bought a Firehawk 1500 thinking it would be perfect but it doesn't speak well with the Helix (No L6 Link and using monitor in's cuts out the Center Horn, you've got to use a bunch of shenanigans to make it work with phasing issues, compression kicking in etc. ) Also tried a few cabinets and a power amp but it just isn't "wonderful". I've contacted Tony at L6 support (and the forum) with not too much help to offer. Any suggestions? If you don't mind what do you use with Band Geek and BOC?
Lonny Horowitz MD in my studio I mainly use it as a PA monitor. It does that very well. When I do local gigs, yes, that's my helix amplification. I send the 1/4 inch outs to the PA and the XLRs to the L2. I only apply the global EQ to the L2 or whatever powered speaker I end up using. This way I can tailor the stage sound without affecting the house sound. I also never use the L6 link connection. I like the regular input better. On the global EQ I end up doing heavy low and high cutting plus a little boost in the low mids and little cut in the high mids.
is there a variax port on the peddle? or do you have to run it all the way back to the rack? Also, what about controller peddles? thanks.
Hi all is the buffered out put on both units?
Love the helix hehe
Hey Richie, why didn't you just wait for the Helix Native that will be released soon? It's 100$ vs 1500$
AlexisGitarre i thinks it's because it probably will be a monster CPU killer...why bother when u can take such a workload off the CPU and not deal with latency? Plus idk what u would do if you're like me and use the fx loop function for ur other pedals..but for $100, will definitely add it to my arsenal lol
Good question. For all the band geek stuff, we can't monitor off plugins. We gotta have a piece of hardware in the studio. This makes life easier for us. I used to record everything with guitar rig, monitoring through the software and it was drag with the latency. I do plan on using Native when it comes out, but that will be for tracks that are already recorded. It's also great to be able to get my guitar sounds without turning on the computer.
I was wondering how you avoided latency issues with the band geek thing with everybody on headphones and running through the software. hekix that makes sense. I have trouble with recording a 2nd guitar part and the latency screws me up, I am looking into the helix it's a serious amount of money for me to spend but i may be able to ditch most of my amps BTW love the @ andy timmons couldn't live without it now use it all the time
You’re my parallel Twin! LOL ... You might eventually make your own music desk like me!
I had 24 guitars and bought everything from Roland, Line 6 etc ....
**** Today I have only 3 guitars 🎸
A 13 Pin American Made Brian Moore C-90
A 13 Pin Godwin
Peavey AT-200
Roland VG-99
Antares ATG-1
( For Aternate Tunings and Multi Guitar Sounds)
2 Line 6 HX Stomps ( because of You 😊)
A JHS BONSAI and I might get a Andy Timmons AT V2.
My list goes on but, you might see our similarities lol ...
what does normaled mean?
Hi, Richie! Quick question? Is you Variax the American-made version, or is the the foreign-made JTV? I have the foreign-made one, and I love it, but I have been thinking about buying a back up.... if yours is American made, is it worth the extra money?
I have the imported one. To be honest, I'm digging the Variax standard the most right now.
Richie Castellano I own a Korean and USA made Variax. There is no comparison. The USA version is a far better guitar. I have 24 guitars ranging from Les Paul, multiple American strats, PRS DGT and Santana, custom shop Tele. But I always find myself reaching for the USA Variax. If you can get a hold of one, try it out. Such a solid build and instrument.
What do you prefer about it? I have a imported JTV-69S too, and I was thinking about picking up another as my back-up guitar. I was just wondering if it would be worth looking into a different model.
Robert Simpson I like the smaller neck and I think it looks cooler. (I know...very important)
Vids from him make me def want the helix been lookin at the headrush too but if it was better this guy would b using it n he's not soooooooo lol great vids bro
I'm thinking of buying this. Will I be happy playing the line 6 helix through some powered monitors? Or would it be better sounding through effects loop of a tube amp. I only play at home..
The truth is that the Helix gives you the option to do both. If you already have a killer tube amp with an fx loop in it, why don't you try that first using the the 4 cable method? The Helix is a lot of fun in that configuration. If you decide later on that you want to hear more stereo stuff or use cabinet simulations, then you can always buy speakers. If you play at relatively low volumes at home (like me) I'd recommend getting a decent pait of studio monitors. If you want to hear it loud, then you'll have to go the powered PA speaker route.
I just got this two days ago. I'm only using the head phones for now. Sold my amp and waiting for my new one to arrive. This helix sounds amazing. It really does. I never thought I'd like it this much. Thanks for your vids.
Did you buy Helix Native?
Can you shed some light on your patch bay and what you mean by "normaled? By the way, now the owner of a JTV89 and I'm eagerly awaiting your content!!!
Sure. Patcbays are set up with the top row for the outputs and the bottom row for the inputs. So if you're looking at the back of the patchbay the helix send (that's an output) goes to the top row and the distortion pedal input goes to the bottom row. Now, let's pretend we're looking at the front of my patchbay. If my patchbay was not normalled, I'd need to take a little patch cable and connect the hole for helix send to distortion pedal in. But since my patchbay is set up normalled, the helix send is automatically connected to the distortion pedal input. And then I can repeat this process for anything else I want to semi-permanently connnected. Many patchbays have 24 channels. If you're set up in a normalled configuration, anything on the top, gets fed directly into the corresponding hole on the bottom. So the top hole on channel 1 gets fed into the bottom hole on channel 1. The top hole on channel 2 gets fed into the bottom row of channel 2, etc...
You could of course break the normal by plugging something into one of the holes, but a well designed patchbay will allow your studio to be completely patched for your standard setup without having to plug anything in on the front. Of course if you have tons of outboard gear and you're routing things constantly, you'll need to patch stuff. But for a project studio, it should be easy to achieve this.
You can most likely afford it but you could have used one of your old pod hd 500s with a helix native. But if i were you id get the rack.
Using HX Edit 2.60, have you been able to load a backup for the Helix Floor into Helix Rack? Also, how are you running the Helix Rack into your MOTU 1248?
I've never tried. I just copy over the setlists.
And is the Helix going into your 1248 or just USB?
That room looks like a Japanese Studio apartment. You can just barely squeeze that Desk in the width of it.
I know. The New York Real Estate market is crushing my dream of having a huge studio!
I heard that the floor unit had less cpu / memory space then the rack . do you know anything about this . thanks
No, the two are identical in regards to processing/memory. This is true across all the Helix hardware including the LT.
Richie, whenever I use my MXR + or fuzz faces in my effect loop, I get a huge amount of hissing, I have to gate the crap out of it. Any tips on how u control that when u run them in ur Helix setup?
James Balestrino I do get a little noise from my distortion pedal but not like you're describing. Have you tried a ground lift on the Helix power cable? Also, makes sure that loop is set to instrument and not line.
Richie Castellano I'll give it a go! Thanks Richie. Don't forget the new 2.20 update. Can finally control Variax workbench thru the Helix!
James Balestrino that's awesome!
Nice Rack.