For those who are still hesitating, fret not, I am here to answer any remaining doubts with my own personal experience. I'll talk a little about the Helix but more on how it changed my life. Let's start with a little background info on myself.
I consider myself a little of a church guitarist but more of a bedroom-dreamer guitarist. I used to have a full-on analog pedalboard and loved trading and swapping pedals as time goes on. I play single-coiled guitars a lot due to their simplicity and I love recording guitar covers during my free time. The above picture depicts my current gear arsenal while the picture below shows where I've come from.
This board is the perfect board in my opinion. I could do so much with this board, but considering the costs, something out there must be "better". While not necessarily "better", the Line 6 Helix answered most of my questions. I chanced upon it after seeing some online people raving about it. I calculated the costs of making the switch and everything calls "worth it".
Still I had some leftover pedals and decided, against the many advice I received on Facebook, to make a spare Pedaltrain Nano board. I did, but eventually sold those away too because I simply am just keeping them for memories' sake.
Ok, well, enough talk about pedals. Let's get on to the main topic.
If you are wondering whether the Line 6 Helix lives up to it's name, I can add my confirmation that it does. This thing is so versatile that it got rid of my entire pedalboard, along with an amp simulator and an audio interface.
Think about messing with patch cables, power supplies and pedalboard real estate. And then you think about the Helix. Well does it make more sense now? Costs aside, it is much more convenient to carry the Helix around and not worry about a ton of other factors screwing with your playing.
The Helix also essentially kills your Gear Acquisition Sydrome (GAS) with guitar pedals. I dare not say the same for guitars. But that itself is already half the battle won isn't it? You can now focus more on your playing other than thinking of what new guitar to get next!
I have recorded so many videos over the last few years and the Line 6 Helix just made everything so easy. I used to worry about my amplifier not blasting properly into a Shure SM57, or my amp simulator Tech 21 Blonde not cooperating well with my audio interface. The Helix arrived and it was a simple as connecting the Helix to my laptop with a single cable and press "record".
With that single cable, I am also able to edit my effects using my laptop, something which is so easy to use when preparing for a weekend worship set. Instead of bending over to constantly twist knobs and strum, now I can just click and strum. How cool is that?!
And when you run out of inspirations, you can just download your effects and send it to someone else via Whatsapp or Telegram and have that person edit your effects for you. Yes, the Line 6 Helix is so versatile that it even allows different Helix users to get together to create a unique sound.
And if you think Helix is just effects, think again, Helix is so much more. It has tons of simulated amps and cabs in it. I bet you 99.99% that the audience will never be able to tell the difference between the Helix amps and real life physical amps. The other 0.01% belongs to us guitar addicts.
The Helix is not only built for electric guitars. Bass and acoustic guitars can use it too. So can violins and keyboard and vocals and whatever that you dare to try. The Line 6 Helix is prepared for whatever instrument you throw at it and will show you new dimensions to your style.
I'm not even gonna step into the world of Impulse Responses because that is another topic for another day. Basically it runs some other stuff you can buy online and "improve" your sound. Yeah, even Line 6 thought of integrating other gear into the Helix.
Maybe this one will sell a point on it's own. Snapshots, are truly blessings. Imagine during a song change on stage, you have to tap dance around your traditional pedalboard to reset the mood. On the Helix, it's just one single button. Yes, you can argue that a MIDI controller can do the same job, but here in the Helix, it is already built-in.
And the Helix itself can save millions of ways you might configure your effects. On a traditional board, you have to memorise certain sweet spots. The Helix does all that for you a thousand times more. A single button again takes you back to your favourite tones from anywhere you might be.
Scribble strips, on the other hand, provides me with so much convenience. One glance and I'll be able to tell which of my effects are turned on and which part of the song am I in. Nothing is more scary than not knowing which effect to activate first or not knowing where your effects are on a dark stage. Thank you Helix for making my stage life so colourful!
If all the bells and whistles ain't convincing enough, this should do the trick. There's only one way to upgrade your sound on traditional pedalboards, that is to keep on buying new pedals. On the Helix, these upgrades arrive in the form of digital updates. Yes, as time progresses, more and more effects will be given to you FOR FREE. This is basically saying you get to try new effects while keeping your old ones right where they are, while not paying an extra single cent!
Of course there comes a time when a new version of Helix comes out and this one gets left behind. But seriously, by then I would be so convinced of it's power that I wouldn't hesitate to upgrade to the newer version. Come on now, you can't expect anything in this world to last forever right? Heck, even the Line 6 HD500X is still surviving well.
And yes, the price may be a little steep for new users stepping into the world of electric guitars. Line 6 makes an affordable version of it called the Line 6 Helix LT. Same brain power, same functions. And if that's not enough, the Line 6 HX Effects and HX Stomp is there is provide for your needs. But for veteran electric guitars, the Line 6 Helix may very well be the best decision you'll ever make.
I dare not compare the joy of simply plugging in your electric guitar into a physical amplifier or the "true guitar tone" of an analog rig. But given the circumstances of technology, maybe it's time to try new things? I've got good hope for the Helix, and every other digital multi-effects out there.
Why not both? Why not have an analog board and the Line 6 Helix at the same time? Yeah I'm working towards that now. It takes a serious amount of time and money commitment for that to happen. But for the everyday guitarist, a Line 6 Helix would probably be the only thing you'll ever need.
Now that's my take on the Line 6 Helix. I hope to have positively impacted your considerations into giving the Line 6 Helix a shot. I have never regretted making the jump and I believe it will be the same for you too. This is the best thing that's ever happened to me.
Been there, done that. Now's your turn.
Edwin Ang
20th December 2018
20th December 2018
*As of 9th January 2022, my Line 6 Helix Floor has been sold for $1250. It was a really great 4 years with it and now I'm moving on to newer heights with the HX Stompboard.
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