Next up we moved over to the new AC30 model, and this was another one of the highlights. Like many of my P & W brethren, I’ m a stereo fanatic, so as soon as we were done toggling between the Normal and Brilliant inputs, I asked Brian to create a hard panned path for each of the inputs, and instantaneously we were in stereo heaven. In combination with a Fender Custom Shop Tele, the level of chime, jangle, and stereo goodness was beyond awesome. Be it the feel of the notes coming off the strings, the way the left and right channels breathed, to how the sound filled the room through the Genelec studio monitors, this was a special worship guitar moment for me.
For the last demo I grabbed a Line 6 JTV89F for some shred action into the Marshall JCM 800 model. In addition to delivering the goods on some palm muted shredding, when I brought the volume down on the bridge pickup, the behavior was truly amp-like in a number of key ways. On a great tube amp there are a thousand shades of tonality available depending on where you place the volume control, how hard you hit the strings, and where you place your picking hand. This for me was the defining moment in terms of how well the Agoura models captured the essence of the tube amp experience. I was able to ride the dynamic and tonal range just as I would a tube amp, and this made for an incredibly exciting play!
WHAT IS AGOURA? Named after the street where Line 6 has its headquarters, Agoura is the next generation of Line 6 modeling technology. One of key tenets of Agoura is increased attention to things like the nuanced essence of tube behavior, wire capacitance and inter-block communication. Since all amp and cabinets blocks are independent of one another now, the information that cab block send back to the amp block plays in integral role in terms of replicating the speaker impedance curves that are key to how power-amps and speaker cabinets behave in the real world. Out of the box, Helix Stadum will ship with sixteen guitar, and six bass models, a number of which feature multiple inputs per model.
THE HYPE KNOB Like people, not all of our favorite amps’ traits are desirable. Although the Hype Knob behaves a bit differently with each amp model, the goal is to smooth out some of the sonic warts to create a better playing experience. This can also result in a‘ more produced’ sound so your guitar sits better in the mix when combined with other instruments.
TOUCH SCREEN Pretty much everyone anticipated that when Helix 2 came it would have a touch screen. But in classic Line 6 fashion, this delivers far more than simple touch screen tactile control. In Focus View you can drag you finger between the four corners of the screen to morph between preset settings for amp and effects as well as set your own‘ corners’. This multi-dimensional control increases ease of use for players of all levels and is one of the key features I believe players will lean into the most. Imagine you’ ve created a preset using your Tele and want to update it for your Les Paul. Set your corners for Gain, Treble, Middle and Bass, morph
July 2025 Subscribe for Free... 75