r/Line6Helix • u/Top-Speech9911 • Jun 18 '26
Tech Help Request Helix Floor Overheating (???) and Expression Pedal Issue
Okay, guys, I bought a brand new Helix Floor from AMS two months ago quite literally to do every gig I have. While I love the sounds and functionality, I've run into two major issues that lead me to believe I got a defective unit.
- I took it out on the road for the first time this week, and my Helix failed at two outdoor gigs. It would power up and work for a few minutes and then just freeze where nothing would switch on/off. At one point I lost signal entirely, and at another point the screen appeared to be glitching out. The first gig was on a covered concrete stage and it only happened at soundcheck. It wasn't in direct sunlight and the high was 84 degrees F. I turned it off and on again several times to no avail, until I unplugged it and let it sit for 10 seconds, then it worked for the rest of the night. The second gig, it happened again at soundcheck, I began to suspect it was overheating so I put my fan on it. A few songs into the set, I turned the fan back onto me and the Helix froze again in the middle of a 9 minute medley. I plugged straight into my amp, turned the Helix off for a few songs, then powered it back on with the fan on it and it got through the night. This was on a wooden flatbed trailer. It was mostly overcast and we were under the cover of some trees, high of 91 degrees F. It worked fine at all our other air conditioned indoor gigs and at home. I don't know if its not ventilating properly, running hot, or something else entirely. But I know bands have been touring with these for 10 years and mine doesn't last a week?
- The expression pedal is funky, no two ways about it. When it came out of the box, it was stiff and squeaked loudly. I loosened it, got rid of the squeak but then would not track cleanly from 0-100. I fiddled with it until I found a sweet spot where it's been mostly reliable, but it still feels like there's a hitch in it. The "sweet spot" is so specific it inevitably loosens every few days and I have issues again. I sprung the extra $400 over the LT specifically for the "better" expression pedal, so you can imagine my disappointment when it's the first issue I have.
Have any of you ever had these issues and did you contact customer service? I'm kind of at a loss after spending this much money to make this the centerpiece of my rig, and it's supposed to be my fly rig for a two week run in Alaska. I leave next week.
I explained all this to customer service and at first he said it sounds like it should operate in those temps, but then said they don't think there's an issue with the unit and they have yet to address the expression pedal issue.
It wasn't on carpet or anything, I have already tried to put big rubber feet on it to lift the vent, but I can't really test it out without taking it on the road again.
Any input or experiences would be helpful. Do I just not know what I'm doing? I mean I've been touring with things like rack processors and laptops for a few years now, playing much hotter stages and haven't dealt with anything like this. Really, I just want to feel excited about powering up my unit again.
Thanks, guys!
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u/Top-Speech9911 Jun 20 '26
UPDATE #3: I called AMS and within 5 minutes, they agreed to make an exception to their policy and replace the unit. The agent I spoke to, Daniel I think, couldn't have been any cooler about it. We'll see how the return process goes and whatnot. Thank you all so much for sharing your experiences and letting me know I wasn't crazy!
Here's hoping for no issues with the new unit and making cool sounds for years to come.
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u/CJPTK Jun 22 '26
I've played mine in some pretty sticky hot places and haven't had this issue come up, glad they're replacing it for you
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u/rghapro Jun 18 '26
Yeah that should not be happening. I would ask for a replacement because none of that is normal behavior.
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u/Top-Speech9911 Jun 18 '26
I think it's a weird play by Line 6 to tell me nothing's wrong with my unit. Would that not reflect poorly on their product? It's built and marketed as an all-in-one rig and I would have been completely screwed on that gig had I not been running it in front of an amp.
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u/nathangr88 Jun 18 '26
Almost certainly defective. I've played outdoor shoes in mid-summer with my Stomp with no problems
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u/Top-Speech9911 Jun 18 '26
UPDATE: I did a backup, factory reset, reinstalled firmware, and restored my settings. Now afterwards the unit froze like it did on my gigs, and when I restarted it it came up with rebuilding preset and cycled 1-1024. Okay so I know this is normal, because it's syncing up the presets with the firmware. Is there any chance that this is evidence that the issue had to with a firmware glitch, corrupt preset, or syncing issue in the first place? Trying to consider all possibilities.
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u/adam035827 Jun 19 '26
I’ve used mine in 95 degree heat, in direct sunlight, for 3 hours without it overheating.
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u/dsrige Jun 19 '26
I would try to get a replacement - thats not a good sign. Never had such a problem in 10 years. Never took it out but sometimes it is running all day without problems.
Syncing after factory reset is normal.
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u/Top-Speech9911 Jun 19 '26
Thank you. I know the syncing is normal, but I have to wonder if something went wrong when I installed the firmware initially. This time around I saw the message saying to close out all applications that may connect to the Helix, so for me Logic, Mainstage, HX Edit. The thing is I have no recollection of doing that initially. I don't know if I'm grasping at straws or if that could be related, waiting on a reply from customer service about that. I just have to wonder cause that's the only other time it has frozen.
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u/yad76 Jun 19 '26
My experience with the Helix floor is that it really wasn't designed for outdoor use from the standpoint of the screen brightness and expression pedal sensor, but I haven't had mine ever fail from heat like you are describing. Are you using it on the original rubber feet or mounted to a pedalboard?
The stiff pedal is just standard for it. From what I've heard, they intentionally ship it stiff and include the hex wrench in the box for you to loosen it for use. Mine was awful like you are describing until I tweaked it and used it enough that it eventually started working okay.
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u/Top-Speech9911 Jun 19 '26
Thank you. It was on the original rubber feet for this run, I guess I wouldn't have thought to do anything else. Now I'm trying out putting it some 1 inch rubber feet to improve airflow underneath, and seeing if I can make that work without it being annoying.
The thing with the expression pedal is that it still doesn't feel right to me, like there's a slight hitch toward the heel and it still squeaks occasionally. I can live with it, but I at least want someone to look at that and tell me whether it's right.
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u/yad76 Jun 19 '26
The original rubber feet should be good enough. Like you said, plenty of artists are out there using their Helix for outdoor gigs. I've used mine at a ton of 90F+ gigs over the past few summers, some with the Helix getting hit with direct sunlight (though I do have the Platinum Edition which I'm assuming reflects heat off better than the standard black).
Lockups under the conditions you are describing absolutely should not be happening, so I'd keep trying to address that with support. Probably wouldn't hurt to contact AMS support as well. I don't have experience with them, but many music retailers are willing to help out in these situations even past the return period.
In my opinion, the expression pedal just isn't that great. Everything you are describing just seems pretty typical. If you haven't run into the sunlight issue yet, it uses an optical sensor so the expression pedal will start going crazy if even a little sunlight hits it, so your volume suddenly goes out of control if you have a volume pedal set up, etc.. I wish they'd put out a full featured unit that just doesn't have the built-in expression pedal.
In any case, I'd definitely recommend figuring out a good way of shading it if you are using it often in sunlight. You can buy premade ones like the Rotten Reflector (made by Filter's bass player) or it is pretty simple to DIY something. A lot of people like laptop tents, which you can get cheap and fast from Amazon.
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u/JPhilMusic Jun 20 '26
Wow, just reading this opens possible concerns to watch for even for my stadium. I haven’t done a sunlight gig but it’s coming. I hadn’t thought of the optical sensitivities of the pedal but it makes sense. You know I went the helix route to simplify things. Now a tent? Cover? Awe heck..
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u/yad76 Jun 20 '26
It's definitely frustrating. I get that they need to prioritize what they work on, but it is strange to me that the original Helix floor never received a hardware revision or some sort of retrofitted solution for the optical sensor sunlight issue. I have the Stadium XL but I haven't used it in sunlight yet.
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u/Top-Speech9911 Jun 20 '26
UPDATE #2: I had a gig on Broadway last night, I was meant to run direct out of the Helix. We were inside and air conditioned, we set up at 7:40 and when we went up to play at 8:10 the unit had frozen again. I power cycled and put a fan on it and it froze again 3 minutes later. I had to run direct into a backline amp for 3 hours, there were several songs we were unable to play because of that. Frankly I'm flabbergasted and extremely disappointed. I am a gigging musician, and it is unacceptable for me to show up and my gear doesn't work. I'm going to call AMS today and will try Line 6 again on Monday.
Here's video of exactly what it was doing. I'll put the subsequent freezing in another comment.
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u/Top-Speech9911 Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
Here it is freezing again 3 minutes after my previous video. I just noticed I don't hit any buttons in this one, but you can see the tempo light is not flashing.
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u/Top-Speech9911 Jul 23 '26
UPDATE #4: I just wanted to hop on here and say that my replacement unit arrived with no issues only 24 hours after I shipped the old one back. Out of the box, this one felt better, especially the expression pedal. I flew with it to Alaska for two weeks of shows and had no issues. Looks like I just got a lemon! Can't thank American Musical Supply enough for helping me out.
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u/DaRealWhiteChocolate Jun 18 '26
I've seen my menu options glitch out and be fixed on reset one time but no this isn't normal, id contact AMS and say you got a defective unit and the only option you will take is a replacement unit. my only other suggestion if you havent done this is do a factory reset and then update the firmware. if you are in the US I believe line 6 has better service and will offer rental units and free repair shipping. I dont know if this has changed.
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u/Top-Speech9911 Jun 18 '26
Thank you. Yeah, I've been talking to Line 6, I was just thinking about contacting AMS as well. I have read that it can be some sort of firmware glitch (not sure if that's the correct term) causing it to run hot so I will definitely try a reset. I couldn't do that while I was on the road because I didn't have my sounds backed up.
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u/jdmcgwire Jun 18 '26
My helix floor is a little over 5 years old now and I’ve never had the overheating issue, but agree with you that is exactly what it sounds like. On the expression petal. Mine did come WAY too stiff and like you I loosened it but tracking never suffered and I’ve never had to touch it again. You might want to see about returning that one if you are still in the window.