When we at Sweetwater heard that Line 6 dropped an update for the Helix series over the weekend, we weren’t particularly surprised — until we saw the release notes, that is. There’s a ton of fun content to dig into here regardless of which Helix platform you use — Helix Floor, Helix Rack, Helix LT, Helix Native, or HX Stomp. Offering new amps, cabs, and effects along with a slew of bug fixes and other improvements, you’ll definitely want to update your Helix to version 3.0. Here’s what’s new.
Note: For more information on how to update your Helix device with the latest firmware, we’ve put together this helpful guide just for you. If you want to check out Line 6’s full release notes for the 3.0 update, you can find them here.
New Amps and Cabs
A handful of new amps and cab models in the Helix 3.0 update includes offerings for classic tube-amp tone as well as for modern metal. The US Princess amp model is based on the Fender Princeton Reverb tube amplifier, and you’ll find matching cabs in the new 1×10 US Princess and 1×12 US Princess cab models. Modern metal tones are covered by the Das Benzin Mega and Das Benzin Lead amp models based on the Mega and Lead channels of the Diezel VH4 amplifier.
New Effects
In all, you’ll find 16 new effects processors in Helix 3.0. A huge advancement comes in the form of Line 6’s Poly Pitch, a polyphonic pitch-shifting effect that’s capable of shifting complex chords with minimal sonic artifacts — it uses a lot of DSP but gives you the power to do massive pitch changes and bends without unwanted artifacts. Also notable is the Shuffling Looper, which Line 6 describes as “part looper, part sampler, part inspiration generator, part performance instrument” — definitely a giant leap from basic looping functionality.
Line 6’s release notes highlight these new effects:
- Horizon Drive — based on the Horizon Devices Precision Drive pedal
- Swedish Chainsaw — based on the BOSS HM-2 Heavy Metal Distortion
- Pocket Fuzz — inspired by the Jordan Boss Tone fuzz pedal
- Bighorn Fuzz — based on the 1973 Electro-Harmonix Ram’s Head Big Muff Pi pedal
- Ballistic Fuzz — based on the Euthymia ICBM Fuzz pedal
- Horizon Gate — based on the Horizon Devices Precision Drive’s gate circuit
- Acoustic Sim — based on the BOSS AC-2 Acoustic Simulator pedal
- Poly Detune — a Line 6 Original, an alternative to a traditional chorus pedal
- Poly Sustain — a Line 6 Original, generates infinite sustain with optional poly-pitch modulation
- Glitch Delay — a Line 6 Original with lots of innovative options for how the delay repeats behave
- Poly Pitch — a Line 6 Original designed for complex shifting of entire chords with minimal sonic artifacts (but at the cost of high DSP usage)
- Poly Wham — a Line 6 Original, uses the Poly Pitch engine as a Whammy (pitch-shift) pedal
- Poly Capo — a Line 6 Original, uses a simpler version of Poly Pitch to transpose your playing
- 12 String — a Line 6 Original, 12-string guitar emulation
- Stereo Imager — a Line 6 Original, increases the stereo width of your signal when connecting to dual amplifiers or a stereo system
- Shuffling Looper — a Line 6 Original, chops up your playing and gives you control over reordering, octave shifting, reversing, and repeating
More Big Improvements in Helix 3.0
True preset spillover
Tired of hearing your delay lines and reverb trails cut off abruptly when you change snapshots? Line 6 heard you and added true preset spillover in Helix 3.0. Due to the high DSP cost of true-spillover operation, you’ll need to completely disable Path 2 to take advantage of true preset spillover. The reward is the ability to change presets seamlessly without any sonic interruption.
Save your Favorites and User Model Defaults
Once you’ve tweaked an amp or effects block to perfection, you can now save it as a “Favorite” that can be quickly recalled along with your preferred bypass state and footswitch assignment. Favorites will appear in the new “Favorites” category for easy access. And, speaking of making your preferred settings quicker to access, Helix 3.0 now allows you to save User Model Defaults for any amp, cab, or effects block. Save your preferred default settings, and each time you load that model, it’ll have those settings called up.
More blocks for HX Stomp
Due to popular demand, Helix 3.0 increased the number of simultaneous blocks in HX Stomp from six to eight. It won’t give you more DSP to work with, but if you’ve felt confined by only having six blocks in your HX Stomp, then those days are over.
New artist presets
With over 30 new artist presets created by the likes of Misha Mansoor (Periphery), Bill Kelliher (Mastodon), Billy Sheehan (Winery Dogs), Pete Thorn, Rabea Massaad, Devin Townsend, Vernon Reid, and other icons of guitardom, Helix 3.0 lets you explore the tones of world-renowned players from the inside out. Take note: Line 6 is adamant about not overwriting your own presets — you won’t find them immediately after updating to Helix 3.0. You can access these new presets by resetting the factory presets (back up your own custom presets first!) or by manually loading Helix 3.0 factory setlists via HX Edit. The Line 6 Helix 3.0 release notes cover these procedures in detail.
Making Helix Better Than Ever
Helix is the gift that keeps on giving, as you can see with the Helix 3.0 update. We’ve covered the most exciting stuff, but there is also a ton of bug fixes and other changes and improvements here, too. If you’d like to know more about the Helix series, then give your Sweetwater Sales Engineer a call at (800) 222-4700 — many of them are Helix users, too, and it’s likely they’re already exploring what’s new in Helix 3.0!
