Helix is a new kind of multi-effects guitar processor: it’s not only a tour-grade multi-effect pedal that sounds and feels authentic, it’s also one of the most comprehensive master controllers for guitar systems ever built. Start by recreating the tones in your head with the new HX modeling engine—the new amps, cabs, mics and effects will feel familiar to anyone who has ever spent time in the studio getting the best guitar sounds from both vintage and modern gear. Have a pile of oddball pedals that you rely on for your personal sounds? No problem. Take advantage of the most comprehensive I/O and routing capabilities ever built into a multi-effect and easily integrate them into the Helix environment. Once connected, create custom setups and footswitch labels that make your external pedals feel like they’re all under the hood. Whether you spend your time in the studio or on the stage, Helix is the next-generation guitar processor you’ve been waiting for.

Real Tone That Feels and Sounds Like Your Analog Gear

When it comes down to authentic sound and feel, Helix represents a giant leap forward for guitar technology. The dual-DSP engine provides massive power to accurately recreate the dynamic feel of tube amplifiers, not just their sonic fingerprint. Each stage of an amp’s circuit has been measured and matched back to the original, so that each model reacts and interacts just like the real thing. This level of dynamic circuit detail extends into areas like power supply ripple, individual tube sag, and control over B+ voltages. Once these elements are captured, you get classic bloom and gooey compression on some amps, and a powerful gut punch on others. Helix also lets you load custom impulse responses, allowing you to personalize your rig setup.

So Intuitive, You'll Already Know How to Use It

Massive power traditionally comes with a steep learning curve, but Helix challenges that way of thinking. Touch-sensitive footswitches allow you to select an effect block for editing simply by touching it. In combination, the large 6.2" 800x480-pixel LCD display all but eliminates menu-diving and provides the same level of control you would expect from an external editor. Colored LED rings and customizable scribble strips complete the user interface, letting you know what each footswitch is doing at a glance. When it comes to creating tones, Helix is as fast as you are.Part of the goal in developing Helix was to allow guitarists to interact with technology in ways that are more intuitive, making the creation of tones easier. This means that—for the very first time—you won’t have to stop playing to tweak a knob. With Pedal Edit Mode, you can edit any parameter you like using your foot: simply select the block that you want to tweak, and its parameters spill out onto the footswitches. Select a parameter and tweak the value using the expression pedal.

Giving you the ability to touch a footswitch and quickly tweak parameters or easily assign or learn controllers, Helix is the fastest tone creator of its kind on the planet. But that’s only part of the story—it’s also the most flexible. Helix has four stereo paths per preset, allowing you to design complex routing scenarios for each patch. Creating variations on wet and dry routing schemes is as easy as loading a template or tweaking the joystick, and using the onboard effects models in conjunction with the four freely assignable effects loops means that the tonal possibilities are truly huge.

Control of Your Entire Right—Integrate and Control Internal and External Devices

As the most advanced guitar processor ever made, Helix can become the nerve center for your entire guitar rig. Easily integrate traditional effects pedals and other hardware into your environment, creating a seamless hybrid rig that incorporates the best of what software and hardware have to offer.Helix has the most flexible audio routing ever seen on a guitar processor, thanks to its dynamically allocated DSP. Use the four effects loops to connect four separate pedal chains, or split them up and use them as freely assignable inputs and outputs. In combination with four stereo paths, this means that you can process multiple instruments at once, send wet and dry signals to different places, and create large integrated systems that take advantage of both digital and analog I/O at the same time.

When you need to incorporate external devices via MIDI, Helix offers more flexibility than any multi-effects. In addition to powerful real-time MIDI control, Helix can send up to six separate commands at patch recall that aren’t assigned to a footswitch, which means you can change a patch on a synth, start a sequencer and turn up a fader on an external mixer, all with one press of a footswitch. Add three expression pedals, CV/Expression out and external amp switching, and Helix can be the command center for any size rig.

Helix 3.80 firmware update (as of Nov. 2024), is free to download by any owners of this product.
This free firmware update for Helix and HX hardware devices and the 3.80 software update for the Helix Native plug-in finally delivers six of the most requested amp channels and four unique cabs. Although the focus is on new amps and cabs, please note that the HX Effects processor and HX One pedal will still receive a new free effect.

Based on the Bogner Ecstasy and EVH 5150III (6L6), these new models round out the portfolio of amps, and the Teardrop Bass Q represents the first new Wah since v1.0.

The update gives you the following:

NEW AMP MODELS
For Helix Floor, Helix Rack, Helix LT, Helix Native, HX Stomp XL and HX Stomp
• US Super Nrm, based on* the Fender Super Reverb (normal channel)
• US Super Vib, based on* the Fender Super Reverb (vibrato channel)
• German Xtra Red, based on* the Bogner Ecstasy 101B (EL34) (red channel)
• German Xtra Blue, based on* the Bogner Ecstasy 101B (EL34) (blue channel)
• EV Panama Blue, based on* the EVH 5150III 100 [6L6] (Blue channel)
• EV Panama Red, based on* the EVH 5150III 100 [6L6] (Red channel)

NEW CABS
For Helix Floor, Helix Rack, Helix LT, Helix Native, HX Stomp XL, and HX Stomp
• 4x10 US Super (Single, Dual), captured from* the Fender Super Reverb
• 4x12 Cartog Guv (Single, Dual), captured from* Ben Adrian's Cartographer cabinet (Modified Lee Jackson 4x12 with Eminence Governor speakers)
• 4x12 Cartog C90 (Single, Dual), captured from* Ben Adrian's Cartographer cabinet (Modified Lee Jackson 4x12 with Mesa C90 speakers)
• 4x12 SoloLead EM (Single, Dual), captured from* the Soldano SLO 4x12 cabinet

NEW EFFECT
For Helix Floor, Helix Rack, Helix LT, Helix Native, HX Effects, HX Stomp XL, HX Stomp and HX One
• Wah > Teardrop Bass Q (Mono, Stereo), based on* the Dunlop 105Q bass wah