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Any advice for setting up Helix pedals and blocks?


salmanhkr
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Hello everyone,

Hope you enjoy your wonderful Helix like I do!

My question is how to use the blocks? I mean I don't know do I have to place Compressor before or after distortion? wah pedal before or after Amp?!

Is there any rule for pacing these stuff to get a better sound?

Thanks in advance 

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Hello everyone,

Hope you enjoy your wonderful Helix like I do!

My question is how to use the blocks? I mean I don't know do I have to place Compressor before or after distortion? wah pedal before or after Amp?!

Is there any rule for pacing these stuff to get a better sound?

Thanks in advance 

 

Here is another good article on effects order, as always just a guideline, let your ears be the final judge:

 

http://www.gmarts.org/index.php?go=222

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I do have one question for folks regarding the info in this article ( http://www.gmarts.org/index.php?go=222), which generally reflects how I set up my pedal order. I tend to put my harmonizers early in my signal chain before distortion as I don't want any distortion pedal harmonics being "harmonized". I like to have as clean a signal as I can get go to the harmonizer which I find improves tracking and results in fewer ghost notes and unwanted artifacts. This article claims that it is better to put the harmonizer after distortion pedals because putting the harmonizer before the distortion pedal can result in "sending several notes to the overdrive input cause strong inter-modulation distortion where additional, usually low, notes are added."

 

Where do most players put their harmonizers before or after distortion?

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Thank you guys  :)

 

Regarding to Helix, Can you let me know how to change EXP2 to EXP1?!

I can only use EXP1, when if adjust wah position or volume or etc, they just fit to EXP2

EXP1 is completely useless!

I was hoping to adjust wah to EXP1 and volume to EXP2 and switch during performance!

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I believe that the default pedal for volume is Exp1 and the default for Wah is Exp2.  This should be easy to change by toggling with the joystick over to one of them and then manually assigning it at the bottom of the screen.

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Everything is possible and different placements do different things. As it is so easy to swap around stuff in the Helix, I would just experiment. A Phaser before the dirt (pedal or amp) does very different things than after. Basically you could say whenever you place a pedal before an overdriven amp or an overdrive pedal, you not only shape the sound but also shape the behaviour of the overdrive section. If you place it after, you will shape the final sound of things.

 

Best is not to read anything but experiment yourself and draw your own conclusions. Otherwise you might be missing out on a process that would get you your very own signature sound, instead of copying what xyz did a million times before.

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I believe that the default pedal for volume is Exp1 and the default for Wah is Exp2.  This should be easy to change by toggling with the joystick over to one of them and then manually assigning it at the bottom of the screen.

So we can't assign two different wah pedals one to exp1 and another to exp2 and switch the pedal label during a performance?

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So we can't assign two different wah pedals one to exp1 and another to exp2 and switch the pedal label during a performance?

 

Those are just the defaults.  You should be able to manually assign whatever you want to either one.

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Those are just the defaults.  You should be able to manually assign whatever you want to either one.

I can't find this! 

"Activate the hidden toe switch to toggle between EXP 1 and EXP 2"

I can't toggle between exp1 and 2!

where is this toe switch?!!

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There seems to be a general notion that your signal goes into distortions (modulation) first then stick things like EQ and compressors in there and then have reverb, delays, chorus (time based) after that. Some people have the signal go straight into compression first. I suppose depending on how you set up the compressor, that could be a good thing, especially if you're going for a bowing sound to emulate a violin, viola or cello.

 

For the types of sounds I prefer, I do think that keeping modulations before time-based is a good thing because the other way around tends to make things sound muddy. You might be striving for something completely different, which is why experimenting with the order of things can yield some amazing results.

 

David Gilmour got that "seagull sound" because someone didn't plug his guitar into his wah pedal correctly.

 

At least if you understand the fundamentals, then breaking the rules can be really rewarding.

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