r/Line6Helix • u/Old-Media-4807 • 2d ago

General Questions/Discussion HELIX VS ….

Hoping I don’t get crucified…the band and I have decided to get back together for our 20 year album release reunion. I dusted off my Les Paul and my POD XT LIVE. Which still sounds amazing btw. I’ve been playing catch up with all the modern day technology and also using Neural DSP etc to relearn songs at home. I’m a huge Stef Carpenter fan and saw that on his rig rundown he’s using the Helix and naturally as a fan and me being Familiar with Line 6 capabilities I wanna purchase the Helix stadium. However after doing some more research I’m seeing this Quad Cortex thing pop up. I also noticed that almost EVERY band is using it. I’ve been getting some killer tones with the Neural DSP plug ins that I’d love to utilize for a live setting so I guess my questions are Helix or Quad Cortex? Will I be able to use/save my Neural DSP presets with the helix? Thanks for reading.

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u/Zelavander 2d ago edited 2d ago

Here is my general breakdown as of today

  1. Helix LT best bang for your buck Modeller on the market! but if your into multi amping DSP is somewhat limited. New cost ~$800.
  2. Quad Cortex: most powerful and probably most accurate behind only Fractal. can get a new one for ~$1600
  3. Fractal Axe FX III : King of the Modellers, best in business also most expensive! ~3k+ for a setup with footswitches.
  4. Helix Stadium : a little less powerful soundwise than quad cortex and (much less than fractal) but lots of functionality. Newer and thus much more unstable/buggy. ~$2k+

I love my Helix LT, didn't like the Stadium, If I were to buy something new today in the ~2k budget range I would try out the Quad Cortex and a good expression pedal. but Under 1k the LT is gold.

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u/PlsNoPineapplePizza 2d ago

Curious, what made you not like the Stadium? I was considering this as a natural upgrade from my Helix Floor.

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u/canalguyopen 1d ago

I also bought a stadium when it released and returned it. I own two helix LT's and I could not hear any difference in the way they sound. Sure the extra dsp is cool and touch screen ooh ahh and all that but there was literally no difference in the way the two sounded. I always said what difference does a touch screen and splash graphics matter if I'm the only one that can see them on the stage. All that matters to everyone else is how it sounds. I couldn't justify the price difference for literally no difference in sound. If you need the dsp that badly then imo it's better to buy two LT's than one stadium. You will get double the switches, double the combos and at only half the price. The best part is that they will sound EXACTLY the same as the more expensive stadium.

So tldr if you care about the touch screen and the bells and whistles of colorful pictures and flashy icons then by all means pay for the stadium but if the sound is what matters to you and the people hearing you, then just go with two LT's and double your dsp and switches. You can daisy chain them together no problem.

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u/PricelessLogs 1d ago

Were you comparing the same amp models? Because yeah, those sound the same by design. They explictly stated that. But if you mean that the Agoura amps sound identical to their last gen counterparts then I can understand your point