The new Line 6 product the internet hates but will be perfect for me.

Mark Wein

Mark Wein

Grand Poobah
Staff member


I have three "rigs" if you will...my Fractal FM9 for when I need to sound awesome, the HX Stomp battery powered rig for Calypso and other small gigs and my Iridium, which I keep in the spare tire well of my car for emergencies. Lately I've had to use it at school at least once a week and not having reverb or other effects has been a drag playing through the classroom PA's. The HX One I think will give me any of the Helix effects including their virtual capo and it's only $299. Useless for anything other than a person who wants a bonus pedal that can do almost every type effect in their traditional pedalboard or a little more power for the HX Stomp.

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So it has a lot of individual pedals packed into one box. You can select and use one at a time. I read the description at Sweetwater trying comprehend what it said.
 
You play any ska with that calypso rig? I always thought that playing in a ska band would be the chillest gig - plus you get good cardio...
 
I could see that being useful. It would be great for getting all you modulation effects from instead of having 5 pedals on your board. I never seem to want to use more than one at a time so it would be great for that. You could also use it for a second delay or reverb.
 
It's a pretty good idea for a pedal.

I keep expecting Line 6 to introduce a new generation of the Helix, but maybe the technology is not advanced enough yet to justify that.
 
bsman said:
You play any ska with that calypso rig? I always thought that playing in a ska band would be the chillest gig - plus you get good cardio...
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Quite a bit of ska, but more "first wave" (60's style) and not Two Tone or 3rd wave ska-punk.

Chad said:
I could see that being useful. It would be great for getting all you modulation effects from instead of having 5 pedals on your board. I never seem to want to use more than one at a time so it would be great for that. You could also use it for a second delay or reverb.
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Yeah. For a backup rig it would get me across the finish line for most settings without being yet another thing to throw in the car. But I have to keep it on the small pedal train or it won't fit under the cargo deck of my car.
 
Denverdave said:
It's a pretty good idea for a pedal.

I keep expecting Line 6 to introduce a new generation of the Helix, but maybe the technology is not advanced enough yet to justify that.
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You'd think they would have something coming out because of the relative age of the platform but they have been doing fairly regular updates within the current architecture that seem to keep their customers happy. I would never use one for my main rig because there are so many other modelers that I think do the crunch sounds better but they make such good products now for the "under $1k" that you still see M5's and HX Effects on so many studio and touring pedalboards regardless of how many thousands of dollars have been poured into the rig.

I'm actually selling my Eventide H9 to fund this because while it most likely sounds superior it's not practical for my current needs between power consumption, total algorithms and physical size. I haven't fired it up in about a year for a gig so it's time to go.
 
Mark Wein said:
I'm actually selling my Eventide H9 to fund this because while it most likely sounds superior it's not practical for my current needs between power consumption, total algorithms and physical size. I haven't fired it up in about a year for a gig so it's time to go.
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$100 :howie:
 
Is there a reason you just don’t use the Fractal for everything? I’m getting ready to sell everything because I can’t see myself using anything else at this point.
 
OK. Ordered the HX One. It says backordered for a few weeks but then they already sent me a shipping thing for it being entered into their system for pickup so I don't know when I'll get it.
 
Chad said:
Is there a reason you just don’t use the Fractal for everything? I’m getting ready to sell everything because I can’t see myself using anything else at this point.
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I like having a backup in the car but also I play some kinda sketchy gigs on beaches or other surfaces where I'd rather not risk it. As you can see, having the strymon rig always in the car has saved my bacon several times at school. I also occasionally have days where I need to have a rig set up in one venue and need something else to play for an earlier gig or rehearsal. If I had the money I'd have both the FM9 and an FM3 but I already had all this other shit and the FM3 is smaller but not "hide in my car" smaller or "run off a battery for four hours" smaller.
 
Mark Wein said:
I like having a backup in the car but also I play some kinda sketchy gigs on beaches or other surfaces where I'd rather not risk it. As you can see, having the strymon rig always in the car has saved my bacon several times at school. I also occasionally have days where I need to have a rig set up in one venue and need something else to play for an earlier gig or rehearsal. If I had the money I'd have both the FM9 and an FM3 but I already had all this other shit and the FM3 is smaller but not "hide in my car" smaller or "run off a battery for four hours" smaller.
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Yeah -0 I need a backup rig pretty badly. Since I use the Helix, I'm thinking a POD go would be the logical answer.
 
smurfco said:
i like that board!
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Thanks! It sounds pretty good for Fender sounds although I'm not in love with the other models. I think this is going to be flexible enough to get me through gig if I needed it and I end up dragging it through the conservatory so that I can just plug into the PA in each rehearsal room and not kick students off amps during rehearsals.
 
When are they going to make the one where it's like an Alexa and I can just say "Alexa, make me sound like (insert band/artist here)" and I just strum? I guarantee I'd spend a lot more time actually playing that way.
 
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