amsdenj

Powercab+ can be operated in four different ways, the first two provide amp in the room tones, the last two don't. 1. As a plain 1x12 guitar cabinet: Use this as a powered guitar cabinet. Drive it with an amp model, but no cab or IR model. This will have amp in the room sound because that's exactly what it is, a plain guitar cabinet with no mic, and no processing. Get this with: Flat: LF Raw - just the raw 1/x12 speaker, no tweeter, XLR out is unprocessed (not suitable for direct FOH, needs additional processing) Flat: LF Flat - the 1x12 speaker with some EQ, no tweeter, XLR out is unprocessed Speaker Model: Natural - similar to LF Flat, but XLR out has speaker and mic model suitable for sending to FOH 2. As a 1x12 guitar cabinet with processing to sound like other speakers: Use this as a powered guitar cabinet with a choice of speakers, and to send speaker/mic processing for direct use in FOH. This is also amp in the room sound because there is no mic model involved in the 1x12 (only the XLR out) and no tweeter for any of these speaker models. 3. As a FRFR: Use this with amp and cab/IR models in Helix. XLR out is the same as the input and can be sent to FOH (because it has cab/IR and mic models from Helix). This use case provides support for a wide range of inputs and flexible processing from the device connected to Powercab. Also useful for acoustic guitar, keyboards, or anything that needs full range and flat response. Tweeter is on. This will not sound exactly like amp in the room for guitar because Powercab is reproducing a mic'd guitar cabinet. 4. As an IR processor: This kind of combines use cases 2 & 3: Powercab is a FRFR except instead of Powercab speaker models, it uses whatever IRs you installed. This provides additional tones, but not with amp in the room. Use this if your input device doesn't support IRs, or to save a block. More details (from a previous post): First Powercab is primarily intended to emulate various guitar speakers in a room, that is, speaker models without mic models, mic position and mic depth. It accomplishes this by using a coaxial speaker that can have the tweeter turned off in order to actually be a guitar speaker in the room. The woofer is a custom Eminence speaker, similar in construction to a Beta-12CX coaxial speaker, but likely using a cone material and construction to more close match a typical guitar speaker rather than a fuller range PA speaker. When you run Flat/FR Raw, you're using just that woofer with no EQ or any other processing - its literally a 1x12 guitar cabinet in the room. The tweeter provides additional flexibility for other purposes explained below. Flat mode has three voicings: FRFR, LF Raw and LF Flat. Flat/FRFR voicing uses the woofer and tweeter in the coaxial speaker with no EQ for a full range, flat response. Use this if you're using Helix (or HX Stomp) to provide the cab model or IR for the speaker model. Powercab just acts like a typical PA or monitor speaker in this mode. Flat/LF Raw voicing simply turns off the tweeter, and makes Powercab similar to any other 1x12, closed back guitar cabinet. Use only amp models in Helix or HX Stomp, no cab, or IRs for this mode/voicing. This should sound pretty close to a typical closed-back 1x12 guitar combo amp, with the specific characteristics of that custom Eminence speaker providing the speaker tone. Flat/LF Flat is a special voicing that also only uses the woofer, but uses an EQ to establish a consistent starting point for the guitar speaker models. All the speaker models are built off Flat/LF Flat, using different EQ and perhaps other custom processing to make the Eminence woofer sound like other speakers. There's no tweeter for these models, and no mic model or mic position. This is what can't be produced by Helix cab models or IRs and what makes Powercab unique. Helix cab models and IRs all involve mics, but Powercab speaker models are variations on a guitar speaker, not impulse responses of a mic'd guitar cabinet. XRL output in Flat mode is the same as the PowerCab input, there is no additional processing. Speaker models provide additional EQ on the Flat/LF Raw base voicing to model or mimic other speakers. The mic models and mic distance have no effect on the sound coming from the Powercab speaker, they only effect what's sent to the FOH or PA from the Powercab XLR output. Contrast with Helix where the cab models are sent to your FRFR monitor and FOH and all include mic models. Powercab XLR output needs additional mic processing that's missing from the speaker models to send to the FOH. What this means is that the guitar speaker models don't include any mic modeling in the Powercab speaker itself, making it sound more like an amp in the room. Speaker model/Natural is similar to Flat/LF Raw - the output from the Powercab speaker is the same, the Powercab tone is determined only by the Eminence woofer. But the Natural speaker model has the option of sending a mic model through the XLR output. User IR mode allows Powercab to essentially be set to Flat/FRFR voicing with additional processing provided by user IRs. In this case, the tweeter is on, and the IRs will include mic models. Use this mode if you're using HX Stomp, want to user your own IRs and need to save a block. There's probably less reason to use User IR mode if you're using Helix floor since its probably easier to just include the IR or cab model in Helix.

If you’re using a clean amp and no distortion pedals, you might find little difference in where the amp is placed. It when non-linearities (distortion) is introduced that you have be be more careful. Generally tone shaping (Wah, compressor, phaser, Uni-Vibe, etc.) work well before distortion, and time/frequency based effects (chorus. Flanger, delay, reverb) work well after distortion. This difference is whether you want to distort the effect or effect the distortion.

I take a hybrid approach that uses all of the above. I use a goto patch that has most of the effects I’d typically need before the amp (compressor, Wah, Uni-Vibe, Phasor, overdrive, distortion, etc.) and after the amp (chorus, delays, reverb, etc.) and use that patch for my own generic tone. I use it for almost all songs all night because its very flexible. I use one amp model, Litigator, and use a Drive footswitch to create something like an amp channel switch: it changes the drive, bass, presence, IR high cut and a few other things to switch from a clean to a driven amp tone. I don’t bother changing the IR, find a good one you like and stick with it. Consistency has its benefits. There are lots of amps in Helix that can do this including Cartographer, Derailed Ingrid, Cali Texas Ch2, Archon Lead... These amps have wide gain capabilities, and the Cab/IR block often has more to do with tone then the amp model. I use snapshots in this patch for big changes that might happen between or within a song, mostly changing Variax open tunings, a quick acoustic (turns off amp and cab models, changes EQ), configuring for a Leslie. Then I use different patches for things that are song specific and go outside what can be done with by goto patch. Summarizing: Foot switches are a very effective way of turning on/off various effects in a patch that you might use in different combinations. These are changed very often. Snapshots are a good way of making big changes in a patch for different sections in a song, reconfiguring the patch for a different purpose temporarily. Note you can change the snapshot, then switch back to stomp model to turn on/off effects in the context of that snapshot. I do this all the time. Snapshots are changed, less frequently, either for different songs, or different sections in a song. Patches are required if you need completely different blocks for special things for a song, musical style, etc. These are changed least often, only when you need a very different configuration of blocks for a unique purpose. That’s one way to use Helix. There are other ways. You can create a patch for every song, a snapshot for every section of a song, and use foot switches to change effects within the song section. That’s great, and might be especially useful in a situation where you’re playing in the orchestra pit for a play. I don’t do this because I like to have a consistent tone of my own, and a consistent layout of foot switches so I know where everything is in a live situation. Too many patches becomes a distraction for me, and inhibits creating my own tonal identity.

Richie Castellano's video provides a great answer to this question: You can also use similar techniques to get a two-channel amp tone out of a single amp block. What you need to do is map the drive, bass, treble, presence, cab/IR high cut, master and maybe channel volume to a foot switch. The off position uses the one set of settings and the on position another for the same amp. If you use a flexible amp model like Litigator, Archetype Dirty, Cartographer, Cali Texas Ch2, Derailed Ingrid or Placater Dirty, you can easily get two really different tones out of the same amp. For HX Stomp, this can also save you a block as you can probably configure the lead sound to have all the distortion you'd need from the amp, eliminating a distortion block.

I use a Variax JTV-69S for gigging with Helix floor and Powercab+. I changed the pickups to use SVL Daytonas and changed the neck to a Warmoth. Altogether this cost me about $1000 over the price of the Variax, which is quite an investment in Variax modifications. The end result is a very playable, very comfortable, very nice sounding guitar that has a lot of tonal options. I use it every gig, almost every song. The models don't sound that great, and I'd never record with them. They don't make me delight in their tones. But for live gigging in a cover band, they're impossible to beat. So what you do depends on what you're trying to do. This was a good solution for me, but your needs might be different.

Most of you are familiar with Helix snapshot and stomp modes. Snapshots can store up to 64 parameters and block bypass states, and a patch can have up to 8 snapshots. This is a great way to make big patch configuration changes in the middle of a song. I use snapshots for Variax open tunings, quick acoustic guitar configuration in an otherwise electric patch, switching in a post amp Leslie, changing a patch for a different guitar, etc. Stomp switches can control up to 8 things, block states, or parameter min/max values. You can configure Helix to support 10 stomp foot switches. So why would you use stomp vs snapshots since there's some overlap in their capabilities? Snapshots' big advantage is the number of parameters they can control, and that they can set the specific values of those parameters. However stomp switches have a couple of big advantages over snapshots you might want to consider when configuring your patches. First there can be 10 stomp foot switches, but only 8 snapshot foot switches. That might not seem like much, but my patches use all 10 of those foot switches all the time. The biggest advantage of stomp foot switches though is that they can be combined. Any of the 10 foot switches can be on or off allowing you to layer sounds on top of sounds. You could for example turn on a distortion block at the start of a solo, add another distortion block or boost party way through the solo, add an octavia, and/or Uni-Vibe, all by just turning foot switches on and off. But you can do more than that. A foot switch could be used to "channel switch" and amp by changing the min to max drive, turning down the bass and presence, lowering the high-cut on the cab or IR block, etc. Then you can turn on a distortion block with the the channel switch on or off to get different distortion levels and voicings, all while having all your other effects directly available on other foot switches. You can also combine these two approaches. Switch to snapshot mode to select the desired snapshot, then switch back to stomp mode to use foot switches to control things within the snapshot. That takes some tap dancing on the Mode switch, but its something that with a little practice and good shoes isn't too difficult. Ultimately Helix provides three levels of tone configuration: patches, snapshots within a patch, and foot switches to control thing within a snapshot. You can think about this in terms of patches for songs, snapshots for sections of songs, and foot switches for changing things within the section. This highlights the simplicity and flexibility of Helix for live performance.

You might also consider HX Effects for more buttons and blocks if you're not going to use the Stomp amp models. "Buttons and blocks", there's got to be a song in that.

I use IEMs with a Behringer P2 headphone amp on my belt. I use a standard XLR cable with a Y adapter to get stereo out of our SD16 digital snake head. I have not found the wire to be a problem as I’m connected to my Helix with a VDI cable anyway. My advice is to get good noise isolating earphones and don’t worry about the cable.

Make sure the piezo pickups are well seated in the bridge pieces and there's no dirt around them. Then make sure there's nothing else vibrating that might be getting picked up in the piezo pickups. Variax sensitive to anything that changes the pressure on those pickups. Any rattles are likely to cause a problem.

I really like this patch:

Yes. You'll need to use a dynamic mic, and a mic transformer such as https://www.amazon.com/Performance-Plus-Switchable-Transformer-MCT-1S/dp/B0018ST7CK/ref=sr_1_12?keywords=mic+transformer&qid=1552252595&s=gateway&sr=8-12. I recommend using one that has a short cable so that you don't have any long jacks plugged into HX Stomp that could get stepped on and break something.

Maybe that's what Powercab is. It provide a powered cabinet that you can plug any modeler into. That's more flexible than a Helix Amp would be.

Yes, that would work fine. The integration won't be as good as Helix 2.8 will be, but it will work just fine.

I have never had any problems with Helix Native running in Logic Pro X. Running Mac OS 10.14.3, Logic Pro X 10.4.4, using a Focuswrite Saffire Pro 40 Firewire audio interface through an OWC Thunderbolt 3 doc.

Guitar speakers are kind of unique. Although a round cone will produce the same dispersion over 360deg, that's maybe not the whole story. What happens is the low frequencies tend to go everywhere, and therefore small cones that don't move that much air will suffer from poor low end at high volumes because of this dispersion. All that wasted energy is lost. However, high frequencies in a guitar speaker tend to beam straight out and don't disperse that much at all. Contrast with a PA horn that loads the diaphragm differently, resulting in horizontal dispersion while limiting vertical dispersion, keeping the energy focused where the audience is. This is great for PA use, but maybe not so great for guitar performance use. This horizontal dispersion has the same effect on overall perceive loudness as the 360deg does for the lows on a guitar cabinet. The frequencies that would have been beamed straight out from a guitar speaker will now be dispersed horizontally by the PA horn, changing how these tones are perceived by the performer. This can make the guitar feel like it gets lost in the stage mix, at least to the performer right in front of it. It can also make the guitar sound overly bright to the performer because the high end is getting better dispersion than the guitar speaker so the performer will hear it better. But that's not necessarily good if you're expecting a nice warm, fat sound from your guitar. I think the issue is that what the performer needs for backline on stage, and what the audience needs to cover the room are quite different, and the same speaker/cabinet design can't do both very well. I've moved away from PA FRFR speakers for live stage/backline use to a Powercab Plus. This seems to be a nice compromise because the speaker models don't use the tweeter at all. So it sounds and feels more like a guitar speaker (which after all it is) to me, while still having FRFR capability for acoustic sounds and IRs I still want to use. Then I run Helix into the PA to support what's needed for FOH. I don't try to use the same solution for both.

I do use Helix with S-Gear, but only for front of the amp effects. I prefer S-Gear’s Mod, Delay and Reverb Things for back of the amp effects. And this keeps the signal chain simpler. I had been using S-Gear as my gig backup rig. But 1) Helix floor has been solid and reliable for the last 3 years, so I’ve never used the backup, and 2) I have an HX Stomp now. For recording, I use Helix Native with S-Gear, so I don’t need any complex routing, its easy to control with MIDI, re-amping is easy, and everything can be automated,

Also if you go with no backline, and real drums, all the people close to the band (i.e., the dancers on the floor in small clubs) will hear is the drums.

It also depends on what you're competing with in the mix. The other guitar player in my band is using a Fender Blues Junior. For such a small, low-power amp, its really loud, bright and narrow dispersion. I couldn't compete with that even using two JBL EON610's. But PowerCab Plus seems to match up with it better.

I just installed MidiWatch on my Apple Watch and used it to control my HX Stomp. It worked great and was easy to setup. I use it to change patches, change pedal modes between stomp and snapshots, to control a few key voicing parameters (drive, tone, level) and that one or two effect that often don't have a footswitch - usually chorus and delay. If you've got an iPhone and Apple Watch already, this is a pretty good solution. If you don't it would be hideously expensive for only this purpose.

A good solution is to set the main L/R output -3dB and use a foot switch to boost back up to 0dB. This doesn't require a block (works well on HX Stomp) and makes sure that you aren't adding any gain, only removing a cut, to reduce the chance of downstream clipping. Using the channel volume is ok, but this changes the gain into any effect blocks that follow the amp block. I prefer to keep all the blocks pretty close to unity gain and do the boosting by removing a cut at the end of the signal chain. This way I'm sure that the lead boost isn't going to do anything but boost the volume, and all the blocks are getting an input that's hopefully close to their sweet spot. That said, you might prefer to have a lead boost that also adds a bit more distortion. A Kinky Boost block in front of the amp is a nice way to do this. Another option I've used is to set min and max drive levels with a footswitch. This is a different kind of lead boost, one that changes the volume and distortion voicing at the same time.

I was using two JBL EON610s as a backline with Helix and JTV-69S. This was OK, but sounded a bit overly bright/harsh, and could get boomy when I was stuck in a corner with the speakers on the floor. I found these to have a pretty dispersed sound, which I suppose is good, but tended to make my guitar disappear in the mix with the drums, bass, keys, etc. I'm using a PowerCab plus now and find it works better. Bass coupling with the floor isn't as bad with a speaker more designed for guitar, and the tweeter isn't as bright or dispersed as a horn, so it sounds warmer and more natural. There's a low-cut switch that can compensate for the floor too. I don't put it on a stand because I don't what the volume in my ears. That said, I have to use IEMs as my ears just won't take any loud volumes at all without ringing badly for days. If I don't use the IEMs, then I use professionally made -25dB ear plugs. These work well too. So I don't really get to hear my backline. It's mostly there for feel for me, and to provide some acoustic coupling with the guitar to provide better sustain. Its also my stage amp for dancers up close to the band in small clubs. I'm overall pretty happy with PowerCab, and will make good use of 2.8 when it comes out to get better integration in my overall Line6 signal chain. I also tried going amp-less and only using IEMs. But that won't work in small clubs because dancers up close to the band don't hear any guitar if its only coming through the PA. You can use a front-fill speaker, but then you might just as well use a backline. And either everybody or nobody can use this approach. You can't mix and match as people up close will only hear the drums and whatever instruments have a stage amp. I also tried using a wedge monitor in its side as a front monitor. That was the worse setup. It was too loud, harsh with that PA horn, and just didn't sound or feel right. Then the wedge monitors tended to reflect off the back wall and competed with the PA while introducing phasing issues. And there was no front fill for the dancers.

If you're on a Mac, and you have Logic Pro X (and why wouldn't you?!), Logic comes with an Impulse Response Utility that makes this pretty easy. See the doc for instructions. It's pretty easy. Note however that there's generally more to it than what's shown in the video above. First there's the cabinet, speaker, mic and room variation. The room will have a big impact on the result, especially as you move the mic further away from the cabinet. Second, many of the IR production companies do other processing on the IR, to phase align them, maybe adding some EQ, Z-modeling for dynamic impedance, and possibly other things they don't tell is. I've made a few IRs in my garage, and I have to say I was pretty happy with the result. So if you have a speaker you love, try capturing an IR so you can use it with Helix.

The gig on Feb 15 with Powercab Plus when very well. As usual, I was stuck in a corner, Powercab on the floor, and the PA sub is partially in front of my amp. So I expect a little too much low end, and account for that with low cuts. I used Powercab in FRFR mode and my usual Helix patch with an IR. It was great. I did have a bit of a problem getting loud enough, but that's not unusual for me - I always try to do my part to keep the tempo and volume down for live gigs. I also use IEMs to protect my ears. So I didn't really get to hear the Powercab. But audience feedback was good and I'm sold on Powercab. Next gig I'll push it a little harder. But I don't want to us a stand or anything that would expose me to too much backline volume. My ears just won't take it.

In LF Raw (or speaker model Natural) mode, you're getting the raw Eminence woofer only in a closed back cabinet. If you want to get a bit of the low cut you'd get from an open back cabinet, you could try turning on the low-cut switch. That won't do exactly what an open back cabinet would do because of the reflections from the back of the cabinet hitting the wall and bouncing around. Open back cabinets have their appeal.

This is what I had in my notes: Guitar input: Auto, 10K, 22K 32K, 70K, 90K, 136K, 230K 1MOhm Aux input: 10k Return input: 1M Ohm if the loop is set to instrument and 10k Ohm if it's set to line level