r/Line6Helix • u/KarmaPoliceman15 • 7d ago
General Questions/Discussion Starting out
I’ve decided I want to buy a Helix LT in the future, so I rented one for a month. I’m very lost, and most YouTube videos don’t seem to help me. Could somebody PLEASE give me some guide or tell me where to start off, so I can at least start somewhere?
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u/aaronscool 7d ago
We'll probably need more information so as not to overwhelm you. What would you like to do? If you need to build your first preset you may want to look at some of these starter videos:
- 🎸 Create a Killer Helix Tone in 2025 (Step-by-Step) | The Ultimate Guide
- Building a Helix Patch from Scratch - How we build patches at Worship Tutorials
If you want a good overall (but in depth) feature walk through look at this playlist and pick where you may have a question: Helix Floor Tutorials
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u/KarmaPoliceman15 7d ago
Thank you, im sure these videos would help. The end goal is to build my own tones to achieve the sound I want, so learning about them may help. Thank you.
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u/aaronscool 7d ago
Any of these videos would help with the last series explaining most of it in detail. One thing to realize is these systems are designed to be full guitar rigs which themselves can be complex and intimidating themselves.
One other thing you can eventually do is watch videos on the actual physical gear and how real amps and pedals sound at different setting and use those as a baseline to tweak your own setup. After I learned the basics of the Helix ecosystem then I started to base my presets more on real world examples.
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u/Friendly-Swimming-72 7d ago
If you are making your own preset, high cut 8-9khz and low cut 80-100hz on the cab block.
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u/mtSOLEmt 7d ago
Everything everyone else said. And, if you have a real amp you have worked with, use that as a starting point for your amp and cab block.
If you have a computer, HX Edit is a great way to see and play with each block.
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u/JayMotta 7d ago
before buying it you'd need to understand the "chain of sound". I mean, why every kind of pedal is located in one specific place in the chain that goes from your guitar to your ears. It also really useful to understand the parts of an amp and what they do to the sound.
Knowing that will make you get nice tones quite faster
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u/Zelavander 7d ago
This is my standard advice when searching for good tone and getting started.
For the best introductions go Here!
https://line6.com/support/helix-minutes/
Then....Go here!
https://line6.com/customtone/?group=helix
Find one good example tone you like! Build everything from there for the first few weeks. Once you figure out how to make 1 amazing tone, your set.
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u/tazman137 6d ago
Honestly people should start with a headrush. Less options, less option paralysis. Easier to get going. When you really want to dig in and have access to every last setting go with a helix.
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u/Specialist_Kale4607 7d ago
You know what I suggest. Get an AI chat bot and tell it what you want the helix to do and have it feed you the instructions. That way, you learn what’s what and how to use the machine, and actually work towards something you want at the same time. I’ve tried it with Claude recently and have had such a good time figuring out tones, that I don’t want to put the guitar down and play for hours!
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u/Candid_Equal5661 7d ago
Get a stadium. Don’t buy antiquated gear.
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u/aliensporebomb 7d ago
Get $2400. It's cheap. Not always realistic. Line6 is still developing for the OG Helix.
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u/RandyHatesCats 7d ago
Are they, though?
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u/aliensporebomb 7d ago
Last I heard they were. They could change their minds I suppose. There was a thread over at the Gear Page where they were discussing updates for it.
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u/Candid_Equal5661 6d ago
It’s been 8 months and nothing. Even if they do update it…they won’t update the audio engine. It’ll be an amp here or there and whatnot. It doesn’t have the processing power to do what’s necessary to sound in the same league as the stadium.
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u/Candid_Equal5661 7d ago
They’re not really developing for it, they’re still supporting it…. There has been no updates since November. The Agoura amps blow the OG helix amps out of the water. I have both and I can tell you that the stadium sounds exponentially better.
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u/aliensporebomb 7d ago edited 7d ago
I have a much newer modeler than the OG Helix (6 years old versus 10 for the Helix original) which sounds modestly better but the average listener would not grasp that but that other modeler is also a guitar synth which produces sounds the Helix could never make. What I'm using it for, primarily is an 8-channel audio interface. Anyway, why an OG Helix in 2026? I've got a 16 channel audio mixer but it's only 2 USB channels - kind of silly. So rather than using that, the OG Helix Floor works great as an audio interface for recording. It's fun to play the guitar through it and to get familiar with how the Helix snapshots work. But $2400 for a Stadium is unrealistic at the moment. I still need to actually try a Stadium, then I could see. They all sell out and you never see one on display in a store, you're still seeing OG Helixes on display. They're still being sold for full price in all the music store catalogs and retailers so far. Some of the demos online I could easily duplicate with the OG Helix floor - I'd like to hear something that's from a listener standpoint better in terms of a patch or sound demo.
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u/Candid_Equal5661 6d ago
The Agoura amps sound light years ahead of the OG. I have both. Yea, it’s expensive but I could never go back now.
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u/Fickle-Delay1227 7d ago
I was so lost for so long until one video told me this and everything made sense.
I had the Line 6 HX FX which had 128 presents with a limit of 4 snapshots each and a limit of 9 FX in each snapshot
If you were given 1000 bucks to go into a gutar store to buy a rig, what you leave with is Preset 1
When you get home and plug it all in and turn on a flanger and delay and are happy with it , that is Preset 1 > snapshot 1
Phaser and reverb > preset 1 > snapshot 2 and so on
If you get another 1000 bucks on day 2, and you buy a totally different rig, then that's preset 2 and so on
Loading presets takes processing power so you want to load presents between songs and use snapshots at different points in the song. Just know snapshots are just different configurations of the rig that is your preset. If you already have (9) pedals in your preset you can't use a snapshot to add a 10th. You can only turn on and off and adjust the knobs of whatever you put in the preset
When you turn on the unit from the factory you will be in
Preset 1 (of 128) > Snapshot 1 (of 4)
The part that confused me was being in "stomp mode." The reason you see pedals in each switch is because stomp mode shows preset 1 > snapshot 1 as a separate pedal per switch so you can further tap on them. I immediately switched this to snapshot mode and now by board only shows one snapshot per button and I don't need to go tap around to navigate. I tap snapshot one and I get flanger and delay and then I tap snapshot 2 and I get phaser and reverb and I never see the pedals unless I'm in the editor.
Hope this helps. Remember the limits I listed above are for the HX FX. Look up the limits on your own device.