steelstringer

Question: If I use this kind of approach, then I choose a guitar input for both paths 1 and 2. I have read on this board that this often causes an unprocessed , dry guitar signal that negatively affects the tone of the patch. Is this true?

Sweet! Thanks.

Also, if anyone has a screenshot of a 3 amp blend, I would really appreciate it. I am struggling to create this patch...

Thank you for the feedback, Gritch. My goal is to blend two different overdriven amps and one clean/chorus-y amp. Right now, my two favorite patches are a Park/interstate zed blend and a Park/Roland blend, so I am trying to get the best of both worlds. It's pretty awesome that the Helix provides these possibilities.

I have really been enjoying the tones that I am getting when blending 2 different amp models together. Is there a way to blend 3, or am I getting too greedy now? What would the routing look like if this is possible? Btw, my setup is using all Helix amp models/effects direct to my mixer. Thanks!

Has anyone experimented with blending a clean amp (I used the Jazz model w/slight chorus) with a crunch tone (I used the Park bright channel model). I'm going direct to a mixer with powered speakers, btw (no guitar amp). I've been blending similar sounding amps for a while, but this was my first attempt at a clean/dirty mix. I have to say that it sounds surprisingly nice. I'm getting the nice midrange crunch with a shimmering high end. It's really interesting, and more importantly, seems to really cut through a mix. Just wondering if anyone else has tried this or has other amps that mix together nicely.

Right now, I have 3 tube amps (68 Bassman, Marshall DSL, and a Bugera v22). They currently don't leave the house for gigs since I got the Helix. The ridiculous pedalboard with 20 patch cables also stays parked in the man cave. I'm not going to sell the amps (well, maybe the Bugera), but they are more like decorations or for conversation. The Helix straight to the mixer has been that awesome (so far).

This is an issue that I dealt with way back when I had the Spider Valve amp. I was so excited to use a Fender clean and a Marshall crunch, but the sounds were so sonically different that it bothered me in a live situation. It also made volume leveling (already a tedious endeavor) that much harder. So, with the Helix, I use two irs (Ownhammer) pretty consistently with my 4 gigging patches. I still use several different amp models for some nice variety, but I like the consistency of the same ir/cab.

Yes. The highs and lows are now tamed a bit, both on the cab and parametric eq. Also, I switched to the Archtype amp, which is a smoother sounding high gain to me than the JCM. But I am learning that you don't need the gain very high on these amp models. I have it on a 4, and it's nicely compressed and crunchy.

If it sounded good through a powered speaker then in all likelihood the channel on the mixer wasn't gain staged correctly and was likely being clipped by the mixer's pre amp. That has to be adjusted during sound checks using the gain or trim knob to ensure the signal itself isn't coming into the board too hot. Normally you would do this by turning on the PFL (pre fader listen) button and then watch the signal for that channel on the meter to ensure the signal doesn't exceed the input limits. This is a separate adjustment from the actual volume fader on the channel.

Thank you for this info.

So, I just started tweaking the JCM patch and I guess I did have the gain way too high (6) and the master was too low. But it's still not great. Better, but not quite there. I am kind of digging the Archetype lead amp, though. So many possibilities.

I am using Helix cabs. I want to explore/tweak before exploring the IR world.

Thanks for the response. I am actually using two cab sims- the fender 1x12 and the Mesa 4x12 (blending the two by using an a/b split). The tone was nice through a powered speaker when I built the patch (XLR connection), so that is why I was surprised by the fuzz (almost big muff) tone through our PA.

We played an outdoor gig last night, and I used the Helix straight to the mixer (XLR out). It was a marked improvement in tone over any setup that I have used, so I'm pretty excited to start tweaking things today. I used the Mark IV rhythm 1 for a clean and pushed it with the Timmy OD; that tone was very nice.

On the not so nice side was the JCM 800 tone. It sounded almost like a fuzz pedal (not crisp/defined). Could that have something to do with the amp master volume setting? Or the channel volume? It seemed like I was overdriving the channel on the mixer (master volume of the amp at 70, channel volume at 90, Helix volume knob at about 10 o'clock). Any thoughts on what could cause that sound? Thank!

Preamp ended up sounding better in my situation. The full amp made the overall volume get a bit crazy. That's the fun of amp modeling, I guess.

Thank you for the replies. I will play around with both options. I am dialing in a clean Mesa and dirty JCM 800 tone tonight. I just got the Helix LT this week, and I am astounded by all of the routing and tone shaping ability. I also enjoy this message board; it's very professional and helpful overall.

Which block should I use (preamp or amp) if I am going from the 1/4 out from the Helix to the effects return of my tube amp? I want the Helix to provide my tone of course and I know to not use a cab block. I am confused as to the difference between the two. Thanks!

Awesome. Thanks for the reply. I'm excited to get back to a Line 6 product. I had the Spidervalve when it came out, but I had so much trouble leveling volumes between presets that it was not great as a gigging amp. I am sure that I will have better luck with the Helix. If not, I'll jump on here for advice.

I am getting ready to replace my Digitech RP500 with a Helix LT (super excited). In a live situation, I have been running one 1/4 output to my amp onstage (effects return) and one XLR out to the mixer. I am relying on amp simulation for my tone. The RP500 does not allow me to choose direct (no amp cab sim) from my 1/4 out and then select an amp cab sim from the XLR. Can the Helix LT do this? I would like to hear my real amp speaker onstage, but have the crowd hear cab sims. Thanks!