Line 6 Helix Effects Review

Helix Effects contains more than 100 High-Quality effects, many of them taken by or already inspired by the legendary Line 6 stomps pedals. 

Each effect can be stored in presets, or can be used in pedalboard mode, switchable through a single button. 

Furthermore, we have access to the Worshiptutorials.com downloadable patches, as well as the Helix Native amp/FX modeling plug-in. Another advantage of buying this unit is the access to the free Helix training from Doug Doppler’s Helix University. Buying the original Line 6 product will also give us the right to advance emergency replacement, just in case of software or hardware failures.

The more than 100 effects are directly taken by the Helix units, and thanks to the high processing power, we can use up to 9 effects simultaneously. The hardware is composed of eight buttons, six for the effects routing and two for the mode selection and the tap tempo. 

As already mentioned, the effects can be routed in two different modes:

In the pedalboard mode, we can store our effects in presets and select them through one of the six available buttons. Each button click will select all together the effects and parameters we stored in the single presets.

In the stompbox mode, each effect stomp is assigned to a single button switch, and we can activate or deactivate it with a simple button pressing. These modes basically emulate what could happen on an analogic pedalboard, with the additional advantage of the tap tempo to control the overall midi clock. We can activate in real-time single effects, add more distortion, and momentary modulations for playing specific guitar parts and so much more.

The routing possibilities are infinite, and this gives us a lot of power together with maximum flexibility.

The modes are selected in real time through the assigned buttons. As already mentioned, everything is controlled by tap tempo: this means that we can give a specific tempo to parameters like delays and modulations, for example. 

Additional expression pedals can be added through external footswitches, and furthermore, we can send and receive midi signals through the two midi ports. This will allow us to work together with other multi-effects, change amp channels in real-time (if the amp has midi access) and so much more. 

The Helix Stomp can be used both direct, or 4/ cables method depending on our exigences. 

It can be used to integrate and complete our analog pedalboard, or just be used as one if needed.