Line 6 Helix: Ten Years On
Published on 12 March 2025
Has it really been a decade since Line 6 released the Helix?
That was a quick ten years! Line 6, the company who changed the game for recording guitarists in the 90s with The Pod, have continued to develop and innovate their technology. We’ve been brought ever more realistic sounding - and behaving - guitar technology over the years, focusing on digital recreations of classic gear.
But ten years is a long time in the digital modelling world. Technology advances rapidly, and people are always rushing to catch up. Is the Helix still the king of the hill when it comes to digital modellers?
I’ve had a lot of experience with it over the years, as well as its brand predecessors such as the PODHD500X. I’ve also spent a lot of time with the Neural DSP Quad Cortex, the Fender Tone Master Pro, the Kemper Profiler and some others. Most of these units are newer than the Helix Floor, but that doesn’t automatically mean that they are better!
That’s the aim with today’s blog, really. I aim to look at the Helix Floor (I’ll glance at the whole Helix tribe as I go along too) and assess where it sits in the market today, ten years on.
Contents
The Digital Renaissance
In the past, the devices we now call ‘digital modellers’ were known as ‘multi-fx’. Whether as a floor unit or a rack-mounted box, these multi-fx contained amp sounds (maybe not as specific as they are today), drives, modulations and ambient effects. They arranged combinations of these effects in different settings called patches, and so on. In short, they were the same thing back then as they are today, except the sound quality has improved immeasurably.
Purist guitar players tended to look down their nose at early multi-fx units because of an overall agreement that they sounded phoney and sucked tone from your rig. In the 80s and 90s, that was maybe true (although look how many people want those ‘fake’ sounds now!) but it’s a different story now. Digital modelling has come of age: we can now make use of huge amounts of processing power to minutely clone the virtual electrical pathway that a signal takes through a given amp. It can then add that to an impulse response (a virtual rendering of the tonal changes that occur once that signal hits a speaker and makes a sound in the real world) and the end result is a guitar sound that is spookily realistic.
This is all old news to you, of course. Digital technology has been the equal to analogue amplifiers for over a decade now. We are all (am I speaking for us all here?) okay about the idea of a guitar sound existing digitally, and none of us can really tell the difference, not if we are being honest and not if the song is part of an ensemble. As I always say, if digital is good enough for both Mark Knopfler and Metallica to tour with, then it's good enough for me!
The Line 6 Helix
Into this brave new digital world came the Line 6 Helix in 2015. As I mentioned, the company has past history as market leaders in digital guitar technology. This was so much the case that there was a fair amount of anticipation for the unit prior to its unveiling.
When it emerged - into a world that already had the Kemper and the Axe FX - the Helix impressed with its functionality as much as for its sound. There were more inputs and outputs than any other floor unit, and the individual footswitch screens - called ‘scribble strips’ - were in addition to the large colour LED screen. The Helix was a comprehensive answer for guitarists, bassists and producers, with the sound quality matched by the ease of use and comprehensive functionality. Put simply: you could do loads with it, it was easy to use and it sounded immense. Like all top-of-the-line digital modellers, users were able to access high quality, realistic tones that would otherwise require a lock-up full of boutique gear and a talented engineer for. The Helix proved so popular that further developments were inevitable…
The Helix Family
When I refer to ‘the Helix’, what I really mean is the ‘Line 6 Helix Floor’, since that was and is the original flagship model. As mentioned though, the daily has grown, and today there are all manner of Helix-related products. Whilst today’s blog refers to the Helix Floor, it may be useful to briefly see the range as a whole:
Helix Floor: the top model, with the most functionality and largest number of features.
Helix Rack: the Floor model in rack form, controllable with an optional Helix Controller.
Helix LT: They call this one ‘streamlined’, but it’s more than enough for most players. Less ins & outs than the Helix Floor and no scribble strips, but otherwise it’s pretty much all here.
HX Stomp: Very compact and very powerful, this stompbox-sized processor actually has nearly all of the sounds from the Helix Floor in it! Very useful as a travel rig, many gigging players find this enough for their whole rig.
HX Stomp XL: A longer version of the HX Stomp, which allows for 8 footswitches compared with the Stomp’s 3. Sonically the same, as is the case with all HX and Helix devices.
HX Effects: Floor unit that does away with the amp modeling to focus only on effects. This is for players who already have their ‘sound’ and simply want a host of great quality effects to integrate into their existing rig.
HX One: As simple as it gets, this compact pedal takes just over 250 sounds from the Helix and lets you use one at a time. This is designed to be that ‘special pedal’ on your pedal board, a chameleon of a pedal that can become whatever you need it to be for that moment. Very simple and very useful.
Helix Native: the Helix as a plugin for your computer. It has all the functionality of the Helix (in digital on-screen terms, of course) but it also has an open-ended sound design tool that really opens up the doors of creativity. Presets can be shared to and from any Helix device.
That’s the whole Helix family, as of March 2025. The important point to emphasise is that the sound quality is equal across the range: the more affordable options are due to their physical size and feature set, not an indication of their tonal hierarchy. They all sound equally excellent, and so it’s a matter of choosing the unit that meets your particular needs.
Constant Updates
One of the real secrets to the longevity of the Helix is in Line 6’s commitment to constantly updating the firmware. Each update so far (we’re on version 3.80, I believe) has included new amp models, fresh sounds and special artist presets, and this is all free, let’s not forget!
The addition of these completely new amp models, effects, new impulse responses and increased functionality has been the vital link that has proven to be the Helix’s lifeblood. This has kept the sounds and performance current and up to date, in a market that is moving faster than ever.
User Community
Another significant part of the Helix’s continued success is the user community. Imagine, thousands and thousands of musicians using the same platform, creating sounds and then sharing them online for others to download free? It’s a utopian concept for sure, but it’s also the day-to-day reality for everyone who reads the Tone Discussion and Line 6 Central forums.
In a very real way, this element is a significant part of the Helix’s continuing legitimacy on the market.
Still Cutting Edge
One final point that can’t really be avoided is the fact that we really have gotten to the point where digital technology is indistinguishable to an audience from a ‘real’ amp. The sounds, the texture, the behaviour and reaction of each note played is the same as it would be from each traditional amplifier that is being modeled.
It’s fully worth understanding that the technology would be nothing without fantastic amps to model from in the first place, so amplifiers are an extraordinarily important part of the equation here. But for guitarists looking for world-class sounds in a portable, practical package, it’s still pretty hard to beat a Helix.
Whispers of a New Helix?
So, the sounds still cut it, technology hasn’t necessarily given us anything better since, and there’s a huge community of musicians actively using it and sharing sounds with each other. At ten years young, the Helix appears to be in rude health.
But is there another Helix on the way? A Helix II?
Well…not officially, no. There have been mutterings now for years, but neither Line 6 nor parent company Yamaha have let anything slip. Every January, we do wonder if there will be an announcement at Winter NAMM, but we are now in March and have not heard a sausage.
It could be that there hasn’t actually been sufficient advances in technology to merit it. Newer modellers such as the Quad Cortex and the Tonemaster Pro aren’t exactly outperforming the Helix in any realistic way (thanks to the firmware updates), so I’m guessing that Yamaha are holding back on any new Helix generations until the tech is there to offer a noticeable upgrade.
I actually applaud Line 6 for not rushing out a ‘meh’ second one when there’s currently not enough scope to wow audiences afresh. As it stands, the Helix is still one of the real units to beat in terms of digital modelers. It is used by industry pros and touring artists all over the world (check out my rig rundown with Peter Gabriel’s guitarist David Rhodes below), and these people can choose to use any gear they want! Their choices say a lot about the quality and scope of the Helix in 2025.
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