Line6 Helix Stadium XL Floor

Line 6 Helix Stadium: Floor and XL Floor.

Helix Stadium Floor and Helix Stadium XL Floor are the two new models in the series. Both come with an 8-inch touchscreen, twelve footswitches, a range of buttons and controls for controlling and adjusting effects and amps, and loads of connectivity options. A very solid foundation.

Among other things, both controllers feature the new Agoura amp modeling technology. Floor and XL Floor will initially come with sixteen amps, including classics such as Twin Reverb, Princeton, Hiwatt, and JCM800. There is also a special hype control that continuously mixes two amp emulations.

Good news for Helix users: Presets from older Helix models can be easily imported to the new models and opened without any change in sound. Speaking of presets, Line 6 has taken a leaf out of the book of software synthesizers such as Serum 2 and Omnisphere 2. If desired, each preset on the board can be accompanied by a directly played audio sample—very useful!

Connectivity

This is where the Floor and Floor XL differ slightly. The Helix Stadium Floor features an instrument input, an XLR input, two effects loops, two connections for expression pedals, two inputs for drum triggers (!), USB-C, USB-A, and a removable 32 GB SD card. The outputs include a couple of XLR outputs, a couple of jack outputs, and a mini jack headphone output. MIDI input and output are also included. The drum trigger inputs could make this thing a mothership for an entire band—wow!

The larger XL model features two instrument inputs, four effects loops (or two in stereo), four drum trigger inputs, four inputs for expression pedals, and “Scribble Strips”, which are small OLED displays above each footswitch. And, of course, the expression pedal with a toe switch.

Both models also have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi functionality. According to a Line 6 employee on The Gearpage forum, it will soon be possible to control the Helix Stadium wirelessly via a smartphone or tablet app. When connected to a computer, both floorboards act as eight-channel audio interfaces.

A range of accessory devices will also be available. For instance, the EX2 is a separate expression pedal that also works with previous Helix models.

With the Expand D10, you can also expand the connectivity options of both controllers. Variax modeling guitars, L6 Link, AES/EBU, and more can be connected directly. A matching backpack that fits both models will also be available.