devices · Helix LT · reference · levels
levels
A thin, quiet, harsh or fizzy sound usually comes down to two settings, and neither is a tone control. One is what you told the box your instrument is. The other is what you told it your speakers are. Get both right and the preset that sounded broken sounds like the demo.
Helix LT 3.80 Owner's Manualfirst, tell it what you plugged the outputs into
Global Settings > Ins/Outs, page 2. Knob 1 sets the 1/4" outputs and Knob 2 sets the XLRs. They are independent, so a rig can feed a stage amp from the 1/4" jacks and front of house from the XLRs, each at its own level.
- A guitar pedal, or the front of a guitar amp
- Instrument
- Powered speakers with unbalanced inputs, or a digital recorder
- Line
- A mixer, studio monitors, or a standalone recorder
- Line
- The mic inputs on a mixer, or a standalone mic preamp
- Mic
- PA or FRFR speakers, or studio monitors with balanced inputs
- Line
then tell it what your guitar is
Global Settings > Ins/Outs, page 1, Knob 1: Guitar In Pad. Line 6's own rule is that there is no rule: use what sounds best. The pad is there because a hot pickup can clip the converter before any modeling happens, and that sounds like fizz no EQ will remove.
- Passive pickups at normal output
- Off
- Active or high-output pickups
- On—try it, and trust your ears
- Some presets want it, others do not
- Global, then set Pad per preset in the Input block
Distortion that appears on loud notes and vanishes on quiet ones is clipping, not the amp model. Turn the input down before you touch a tone control.
the effects loops have the same choice
Each Send/Return pair is set to Instrument or Line independently, on the same page. Use Instrument for a loop full of stompboxes. Use Line for a rack processor, or when the pair is a spare input and output for a keyboard or a mixer. If an external pedal sounds weak or distorted in a rig that is otherwise fine, check this setting first.
the VOLUME knob sets only the outputs you choose
Page 3 has Volume Knob Controls, which sets the outputs the big knob affects. It can ride the 1/4" feed to your stage monitor while the XLR feed to the desk stays put. Digital takes the knob out of the path entirely and leaves both output pairs at unity. If the knob is not changing what you expect, check this setting.
impedance changes feel before it changes level
The Guitar In has a real impedance circuit that loads your pickups the way a pedal or an amp input would. Lower values roll off some highs, drop a little gain and feel softer. Higher values are full-range, hotter and tighter. Left on Auto it follows the first block on the upper path, so a fuzz placed first changes how the guitar feels under your hands, as it would on a pedalboard.
Global EQ is for the room, not the preset
Global EQ sits after everything. Use it at the gig where the backline or the room makes every preset too dark or too bright. Its third page applies it to only the 1/4" outs, only the XLRs, or both, so you can fix your stage sound without sending that fix to front of house. Hold BYPASS from the Home screen to toggle it.
watch the block levels too
Every block has its own Level parameter, and Line 6's advice is to leave it at 0.0 dB on most of them. Nudge three or four in a row and the output can clip while each setting still looks reasonable.
Levels are half of it. The other half is the cab block: on into anything full-range, off into anything that ends in a real guitar speaker. With both right, little else can make it sound broken.