The manual your modeller should have shipped with.
Gridleak Guides are independent, deeply-sourced manuals for guitar amp modellers — interactive control maps, signal chains, rig setup wizards, tone recipes and the troubleshooting references that don't exist anywhere else. A source on every claim.
Deciding which one to buy?
Within a family these devices share a sound engine, so the decision comes down to a handful of lines. Here are those lines, side by side, with a source on each.
One modeller at a time, done properly
Each guide is built by reading everything published about the device — not by paraphrasing the manual. A guide ships when we've exhausted the available sources, not on a schedule.
Nano Cortex
Captures, not models. The cab-sim rule, the rotary footswitches, and the four presets under your feet.
Open guideQuad Cortex
Scenes, the four-row grid, and the DSP limits that aren't the CPU meter. Everything the Nano deliberately isn't.
Open guideHelix Stadium Floor
The touchscreen generation. Clones, songs and flags, the Matrix mixer, and eight knobs that change job with the block.
Open guideHelix Floor
The one everybody means by “a Helix”. Two paths, 32 blocks, capacitive footswitches, and the DSP rule that stops you at four.
Open guideHelix Rack
The same brain in 3U, plus wordclock, AES/EBU in and a buffered guitar thru. And the Control board you have to buy separately.
Open guideHX Stomp
Eight blocks, three snapshots, three footswitches. The whole guide is about spending a small budget well.
Open guideHelix Stadium XL Floor
The Stadium with more footswitches and a second expression pedal. Same brain, more feet.
Open guideHelix LT
The same processing as the Floor with the I/O trimmed back. What you actually give up.
Open guideHX Stomp XL
An HX Stomp with eight footswitches, which changes how you build presets more than it looks.
Open guideHX Effects
Every HX effect and no amp models, for people who already have an amp they like.
Open guideHX One
One stereo effect at a time, from the full HX library. The pedalboard answer.
Open guideAxe-Fx III
Four independent grids, Cygnus amp modelling, and the depth that puts people off starting.
Open guideAxe-Fx II
Still gigged everywhere. Ares firmware, tone matching, and getting Axe-Edit out of your way.
Open guideFM9
Most of an Axe-Fx III in a floorboard, and the DSP ceiling that comes with it.
Open guideFM3
Three blocks of headroom and one amp block. Where the budget actually goes.
Open guideFour rules, and we don't break them
Every source, then a citation on every claim
Manufacturer documentation, firmware release notes, dealer specs, professional reviews and thousands of owner reports — read in full, then cross-checked. Each fact carries where it came from and how well evidenced it is, and anything we can't confirm is marked unverified rather than asserted.
Version-stamped, because staleness is the real problem
Most gear coverage is written once and left. When firmware changes what's true, guides here say which release they're checked against and what older advice it invalidated.
Interactive where a table won't do
Clickable control maps, signal chains you can inspect slot by slot, and setup wizards that turn “what am I plugging into?” into actual settings.
Honest about what nobody knows
Reading every source shows you where they disagree. Where a manufacturer's own documents contradict each other, we show the conflict instead of quietly picking a side and looking authoritative.