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Plugging it into things

Every jack, what it is for, and the two or three that regularly cost people an evening.

04 · 7 min

The one thing

For a mono rig, always use the LEFT/MONO jack of a pair. Using the right one on its own gives you half your effects and a thin sound.

The jacks

Click any jack to see what it does and what to watch for.

CONTROLINPUTSFX LOOPS 1–4OUTPUTSMIDIA/BC/DINST 1INST 2MICL/MONORIGHTL/MONORIGHTPHONESNEXUSS/PDIF INOUTINOUT/THRUmicroSDUSB AUSB CAC INLOCK

Helix Stadium XL Floor · Rear panel · schematic, drawn from Line 6’s panel diagram

INSTRUMENT 1 and 2

TS, ¼″

rear panel

Two mono instruments, or one stereo instrument. Each has its own impedance selection, switchable pad and noise gate.

Two inputs is the XL's other real upgrade. A guitar and a bass, or a guitar and a synth, can run their own paths without a switcher in front.

Helix Stadium XL Floor Cheat Sheet (Rev B)

The mono rule

Outputs come in stereo pairs, and only the left jack of a pair carries a summed mono signal. If you take one cable from the right jack, you get one side of a stereo image: quieter, thinner, and missing anything that was panned away from it.

The XL has three outputs with independent mixes and two instrument inputs, so both “which output” and “which input” are real questions here.