The smaller of Line 6’s new next-gen digital amp modelers, the Helix Stadium Floor, is finally available to order – eight months after it was unveiled.
When the firm’s new range of innovative floor modelers was unveiled last summer, Line 6 called them “a new type of product.” The Helix Stadium Floor and Helix Stadium Floor XL both offered brand-new modeling algorithms, touchscreens, and a powerful Showcase feature that aimed to take the all-in-one rig concept to dizzying new heights.
The Helix Stadium Floor XL – which offers a built-in expression pedal and larger footprint – only beginning shipping at the tail end of last year. Several months later, the Helix Stadium Floor is now on its way to retailers around the world.
Attempting to "establish a new benchmark” in what modelers can do, it leverages Line 6’s new Agoura modeling tech for more dynamic touch sensitivity and amp-like feel.
The ‘Hype’ feature is also pretty interesting, tilting the tonal balance between “ultra-authentic” and “idealized” sounds. But its firepower goes beyond the typical tonal realms. Its Showcase feature bids to replace the band's laptop by becoming a central hub, triggering MIDI changes, engaging presets, running tracks, recalling Snapshots, and more, allowing players to focus on their performance.
It can also control click tracks, and automate lighting and video for live rigs, streamlining the entire gigging process. That sets it apart from its competitors, and with the amp modeler market now so densely populated – see Fractal’s lowest priced modeler, the AM4, and Neural DSP’s small but mighty Quad Cortex mini for evidence of just how competitive the market has become.
The main difference here, compared to the XL, is a smaller real estate, thanks to its lack of a built-in expression pedal. That arguably makes the Helix Stadium Floor the more natural competitor to the Neural DSP Quad Cortex and Fender Tone Master Pro.
“Helix Stadum's all-new modular platform has been specifically architected to be extensible and updateable for a long, long time,” says Line 6's Chief Product Design Architect, Eric Klein.
“In addition to featuring the best-sounding, most powerful, and most flexible processing Line 6 has ever offered, they can serve as performance workstations that aim to upend the way you approach playing – whether that’s writing and learning songs, jamming with friends, or controlling your band’s entire stage rig.”
With that in mind, Line 6 will also bring its Proxy amp, cab, and effect cloning feature to the modeler in the future, after a first update dropped in December, following the XL’s launch.
Visit Line 6 for more.
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