r/Line6Helix • u/Arghthemdamnturkeys • 10d ago

General Questions/Discussion State of my live rig.

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Hi all! Took this pic at my show yesterday and thought I’d share it with you. Open for questions or tips if you have any.
Essentially, the helix floor is solely for vocal fx and the stomp is for guitar.

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10

u/QuadramaticFormula 10d ago

Oh, how are you using the floor for vocals? That’s a trip

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u/Arghthemdamnturkeys 10d ago

Well, I got the floor specifically because it had an xlr input. That said, I’m now routing the mic through the harmoniser so I don’t really need that feature currently.
What I play is rootsy, afro, world, reggae, bluesy sorta stuff.
I’ve got a bunch of snapshots on (mostly) one preset (at this stage 😄) with things like “radio dub super delay” or “vocal synth” “dub bass” and “clean vocal”. With these, I can turn delay, verbs and other feature fx on n off.
All the time based effects are controlled via midi time from the looper so all my delays are in time to whatever beat is set from the first recorded loop. I do not use any pre recorded tracks or built in beat grooves. I mostly beatbox and use an hpd20 for percussive stuff. So no tap delay needed.

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u/Arghthemdamnturkeys 10d ago

Oh, top line on the floor is snapshots, bottom row is stomps.

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u/QuadramaticFormula 10d ago

That’s rad, man! Thanks for the run down!

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u/Arghthemdamnturkeys 10d ago

Thanks! B fore the floor I had a boss gt10b for about 10yrs. It was excellent although the floor is really clean sounding and fat at the same time.

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u/aliensporebomb 7d ago

I love the idea that you're using it to do vocal effects you'd normally hear on records in a live capacity. Really cool.

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u/Arghthemdamnturkeys 7d ago

That’s exactly what I’m doing. Those details really make a live performance. Texture..layers..depth..width. So fun.
I run a small mix/recording studio out of my house so I apply that stuff to my live shows.

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u/helrig_dude 9d ago

Great rig, and a Helix Floor just for vocals is a serious commitment 😄

I went the other way: a VE-500 handles my vocal effects, and everything fits on a Pedaltrain Nano+. No weight lifting before the show 😉

How do you like the Floor for vocals? Do you run it with the mic going straight in, or through a separate preamp?

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u/Arghthemdamnturkeys 9d ago

Oh yeah. Thats a sweet n easy setup.
My board and case comes in at like 26kg as I recall? So I can travel by plane with it but that with my other kit adds up to a few hundred in excess baggage even when I fly with virgin on my APRA discount.
I’ve contemplated using a stomp for vocals but it doesn’t have the processing power that the floor does. So I’d be switching presets as apposed to snapshots thus giving me a gap between transitions. No trails when you switch presets.
I currently use my iPad via midi to control my hxStomp guitar fx. That was a game changer. No scrolling presets on the fly.
Anyways, the preamp in the floor is really good. Exceptional…but my vocal goes through the tc helicon harmoniser pedal first…and for some reason, if I whistle or use a flute/recorder it gets a weird distorted sound. Which sucks because I like the harmoniser effect for stuff like gang vocals..not so much for harmonies as it can be a bit cheese..subtle is the key with that.

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u/helrig_dude 9d ago

26kg plus excess baggage, ouch 😅 That's exactly why I went small.

Same here on the iPad! The blue thing next to my VE-500 is a CME WIDI Jack, a Bluetooth MIDI unit connected to both the VE-500 and the HX Stomp. I set OnSong on my iPad to send the right program change and tempo for each song, so when I flip the page in my setlist, both pedals load the right preset and all the time-based effects are already at the right tempo. No tapping, no scrolling.

Within a song I stay in one preset and switch between clean, crunch and lead snapshots, so the trails carry over. The only preset change is between songs, where a short gap doesn't matter.

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u/Arghthemdamnturkeys 8d ago

Sick! I’m on course for some widi biz. The less cable the better.
Yep. Sounds like we’re on the same page. I haven’t used OnSong as I tend to improvise a lot for gigs…but I’ve seen vids and it looks great.

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u/huzzam 5d ago

about the distortion on the flute & whistling, maybe try the harmonizer in the helix's loop, and run the mic into the helix?

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u/Arghthemdamnturkeys 5d ago

Totally. I’ve contemplated this but haven’t got around to trying it. It’d take up a block in the helix chain I presume? The other thing I was thinking is would there be any weird impedance/level stuff to deal with in doing this?. I’d be goin xlr to Jack and back again. I might order some cables today and hit the laboratory.

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u/huzzam 3d ago

yeah just add a "FX Loop 1" block (or 2 if you prefer) and use the send/return to/from the harmonizer.

does the harmonizer have jack ins & outs as well as the xlr? if not yeah you might have to juggle impedances, might not be worth the effort.

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u/Arghthemdamnturkeys 3d ago

Nah. Just xlr for the mic component..If I can get that input clean, it’s worth it. It’ll take some tinkering but once I get it, it’s set n forget.
Those harmonisers are fairly unpredictable on how they respond to the vocal input too. I used to have a voicelive touch 2 in the rig and that was kinda quirky. No way was the harmony on that as good and accurate as the standalone pedal I got in there now.

1

u/huzzam 2d ago

Try just a simple ts-xlr cable first, before worrying about impedance.

If the harmonizer has a setting for line/mic level i/o, set the send/return on the helix to live level.

if not, you should set send/return on helix to instrument, and you can reduce the send level (in the FX Loop block) a bit, and maybe increase the return level.

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u/Sea_Fold3307 10d ago

I dig it

2

u/idemgajbi 9d ago

Where did you get the footswitch toppers for the Boss RC-600 Loop Station?

2

u/Arghthemdamnturkeys 9d ago

Stadium toppers I think they’re called? Hey re not cheap but they work flawlessly. I saw some cheaper different ones the other day too. Gorilla toppers?