Anyone run SPECIFICALLY Mesa Road King 1 + Helix 4cm?

[jmp22684]

First.... I ranted a little. Lol.

 

So main point:

Reverb = horrible digital 80s dance music

Distortion = nearly unusable, tone suck extreme.

 

No time to proof read, toddler pooping and I gotta wipe bootie butt.... 🤣🤣😂

 

Running the helix 4cm with a road king series 1. As title states. I have channel switching setup with an rjm amp gizmo. Fight off HORRIBLE loop noise using an ebtech hum eliminator.

 

I am 90% certain I have all things set up correctly @ unity.

 

-Loop 1 on the road king, which is series.

-Send/Return level on amp at 12 o'clock; according to all things boogie and the manual this is unity.

- helix global setting for volume on the 1/4" out is set to no control AND instrument level. Assuming it outputs unity at this point.

-send/return also set at instrument level.

 

Basically within the helix everything is set at instrument level, and the volume pots on the helix do nothing to the signal. I want to control everything at the Road King 1 and use helix for effects only.

 

Issues:

-any distortion pedal seems to suck the tone and life right out of the amp. And bad!!! Almost unusable. Best I have found so far is the helix model of the fulltone OCD. Settings: Tone: 7, High Peak, V2, Level: 8. Anything outside of this level and it boosts or drops volume way too much. It isn't like driving the input of the amp at all. It simply increases or decreases volume too much.

 

Reverb on the Helix. I can't seem to get anything that doesn't make the amp sound digital. Great sound, turn on reverb and I feel like I'm in a first generation 70s electronica group.

 

The helix it self pulls life from the amp.

 

Procedure for setting levels:

-guitar to helix, send return block inserted, send to amp front input

-made sure level matched at this stage to that of plugging directly into the amp.

 

THEN

 

-send from amp to return on Helix, 1/4" from helix to return on amp.

-again make sure all levels are equal by activating and deactivating loop on amp.

 

All things equal I notice a little tone suck. But not so much that I think anyone else would notice, but still the distortions just seem really wonky.

 

So bad to the point that I am using the helix for only:

-midi control of amp

-delay

-chorus

-wah

-auto filter (one song)

-octave pedal (one song and pretty bad compared to the octave I got with my dt50 and hd500)

-hmmmm... Yeah that's about it. Aside from my boss volume pedal @ the end of the chain.

 

Feel like the helix is a bit over kill for that and what I really want to use it for just isn't performing.

 

I did run it direct to PA for over a year. Switched back to a tube amp just a couple weeks ago.... all the arguments in the world can't change the fact that Myself, as a player, just plays better on my tube amp. I can feel it again. And I feel like I'm interested in REALLY playing again.

 

So 4cm vs direct FRFR is not the topic. I have an EXTREMELY expensive full Midas/JBL PA system and use it almost daily. Quality FRFR solutions are well available at arms reach (literally... I can't walk from my bedroom to the kitchen without walking through the studio) and have been used on a daily basis for over a year.

 

The question is: can I get this thing to sound like a full analog rig, or am I doomed to sell and build a midi rack?

[jrrjr68]

Not road King.. so specifically.. no. 
But I hooked it 4cm to my Dual Rectifier tonight and after a small amount of tweaking it almost brought tears to my eyes.
(OK.. I am exaggerating a little.. I will say I repeated the words "I am really happy" maybe 6 times because I have been skeptical). 
I'm not sure how anyone else is doing it.. I've seen lots of different ways.. but I ran dual XLR's to Mackie mixer. Sends/returns from Rectifier to Helix and main out to input on the amp. 
Mind you.. I was using my studio preset I have created for recording our CD.. one of them. Anyways.. not a clean patch with send-return and minimal fx.. it was loaded.
With a little tweaking of volume knobs on Helix, and send returns on the amp I had both equally matched pretty well. All fx were working through the half stack.. it didn't seem to color the sound of my amp at all even with the rectifier model and distortion engaged. 
A-B comprison was quite impressive.. my studio sound {which was built to sound like my rig} came through nicely on the PA. 
No FRFR speakers.. just our JBL's and CROWN PA's. No subs hooked up. Yet. 
I know I can bypass the pre-amp section of the boogie and just use it for power too which I will be experimenting more soon but if this was all I had to choose from I am good with that. But I am looking forward to experimenting more with it as to there are many routing possibilities. 
As for studio.. I've played my Dual Rec 1/2 stack for nearly 10 years or more now.. so I know how it sounds.
I've spent many hours trying to reproduce that sound and can honestly say at times I forget the stack isn't here.
I would recommend not giving up on it.. seek instruction and try again. 
The blend of sim to PA and my boogie all combined was heavenly.
Good luck