“The missing link”: Line 6 keeps up the pace with the Fender Tone Master Pro by adding EVH 5150-inspired amps for the first time in free bumper Helix update
The update also delivers amp models inspired by sought-after Fender and Bogner amps, four new cabs, and a bass wah to widen the line-up’s tonal palette
Line 6 has announced the latest major firmware update for its Helix family, introducing an array of new amp models, cabs, and effects that look to help give the digital modeling products an edge against fiercely growing competition.
Helix 3.80 is available to all owners of Helix Floor, Helix LT, Helix Rack, HX Effects, HX Stomp XL, and HX Stomp units. The update also applies to HX One pedals and the aforementioned plugin.
It’s been positioned as a rather notable update, too. In Line 6’s words, this “finally delivers the missing link with six of the most requested amp channels” it has ever produced, and is further augmented by four new cabs to bring “more creative tonal options to Helix”.
The new amp models – available for Helix Floor, Helix Rack, Helix LT, Helix Native, HX Stomp XL, and HX Stomp models – are based on three amps, delivering two versions each.
There are models inspired by both the normal and vibrato channels of a Fender Super Reverb, two takes on the EL34-bolstered Bogner Ecstasy 101B, and – perhaps most notably – the 6L6 flavors of an EVH 5150III 100 for the first time.
Indeed, it’s the first time Line 6 has tried its hand at producing an actual EVH 5150 amp model, and while it’s not a totally new phenomenon – and the firm has dabbled with a Peavey 5150 model before – it seems as though increased competition in the digital amp arms race has forced Line 6’s hand.
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Elsewhere, updated cab enjoyment comes via a quartet of additions, including a 4x10 US Super (Single, Dual), captured from a Fender Super Reverb.
Two cabs – a 4x12 Cartog Guv (Single, Dual) and a 4x12 Cartog C90 (Single, Dual) – have been captured from amp guru Ben Adrian's Cartographer cabinet collection, while a 4x12 SoloLead EM (Single, Dual) captured from a Soldano SLO 4x12 cabinet rounds out the batch.
Line 6, which launched the first Helix product in 2015, says the update is “in lockstep with guitarists' needs… as the entire creative tonal palette continues to expand”.
A freelance writer with a penchant for music that gets weird, Phil is a regular contributor to Prog, Guitar World, and Total Guitar magazines and is especially keen on shining a light on unknown artists. Outside of the journalism realm, you can find him writing angular riffs in progressive metal band, Prognosis, in which he slings an 8-string Strandberg Boden Original, churning that low string through a variety of tunings. He's also a published author and is currently penning his debut novel which chucks fantasy, mythology and humanity into a great big melting pot.
