amsdenj

Try a USB2 hub, not USB3.

I believe the issue is with the USB 3 ports on 2012 MacBook Pro Retina models and beyond. These ports do not play well with all USB 2 devices, in particular Helix. I have a older early 2011 MacBook Pro with USB 2.0 ports that is also running 10.11.4, and it works flawlessly for audio, MIDI and Helix app. USB audio and MIDI work ok on my 2012 with USB 3 ports, but not the Helix app. An easy workaround seems to be to use a higher quality USB 2.0 hub connected to the Mac. I have one plugged into a Belkin Express Dock and then into the Thunderbolt input and it seems to work fine. No problem with latency either. I suspect the issue is related to timing issues with the USB 3 ports on particular computer models.

Right. I use 3 footswitches (Clean is all off). The first one called Drive turns on a Studio Tube Pre set for some additional gain and voicing (a little bass and treble cut), and changes the Drive level into the amp to provide a driven sound without much tone change. Its just beyond the edge of distortion, thickened up, but not too much. The second switch called Overdrive uses the Teemah! or Minotaur, they're both good for this application. This is set for a bit more distortion for blues leads with more bass and treble cut for a more overdriven voicing. The third is called Distortion and uses a Compulsive Drive distortion model for heavier rock leads. Each of these switches sounds good by itself, but they can also be gain staged together. For example, the Drive and Overdrive together create a more aggressive blues lead tone, but with a different distortion level and voicing than the Distortion switch. This requires two switches to get the tone, but I like the flexibility of being able to gain stage these different distortion levels and voicings, just like you would with real pedals.

On of the stupidest (well two) things I ever did is let my 1966 Super Reverb and an similar vintage Deluxe go. But now the Deluxe Bright is my GOTO Helix amp, so I guess I recovered. The issue in those days is that there were no really good distortion pedals that could create a good Blues sustain sound without running the amp full volume. I did all kinds of things to try to work around this including creating a biased dioide clipping circuit between the jumped vibrato and normal channels of that Deluxe (with HiFi tone controls in the normal channel). But there was no good way to switch that. Everything has changed now, and I can now use Helix for front of the amp effects into my old Fender Showman and get exactly the tone I was looking for. But I can also get that from Helix into my EON610 stage monitor too - it's not quite the same, but close enough.

Both. A footswitch can support up to 8 settings, so this shouldn't be a problem. See https://jimamsden.wordpress.com/2015/12/29/creating-a-helix-electric-guitar-patch/ for details on how to design and setup this kind of patch.

I use one patch for the whole gig. It is configured with an amp and IR of speakers I know and love. It has all the effects I'd typically need and I don't even use those that often. To me, less is more with effects. It has three gain stages for Clean, Drive, Overdrive and Distortion operated by three foot switches. This is an incredible range of tones in a single patch. It's convenient, consistent, easy to use, and mimics what you'd likely have with a guitar amp and fixed pedalboard. The reason I do this isn't because of limitations in Helix, patch switching delays, or lack of effect tails. It's because I want to focus on what I'm playing and not be distracted by switching a lot of things that the audience won't even notice, or worse will distract and confuse them. It's because I want my playing, and tone to have a recognizable identity and consistency so I can communicate musically rather than technically with the audience.

Try making sure Helix isn't selected as your system audio device, just in case that's causing some timing conflict on the shared USB port.

On my mid 2012 Mac Book Pro Retina, I can drive S-Gear with Helix at the lowest buffer setting and get no click or pops, and no USB audio failures with OS X 10.11.4. However, the Helix App still connects only occasionally and has trouble staying connected when plugged into that computer's USB 3 port. A USB2 hub might be a temporary solution. I don't get this problem on my older Mac Book Pro which has USB 2 ports. But this is great progress. Helix is now useful as a USB audio device on OS X. And it works great as a pedal board into S-Gear. S-Gear provides the amp models and back of the amp effects (modulation, delay and reverb) while Helix provides everything else (compressor, distortion pedals, UniVibe, phasor, etc.). I've been working on a blog posting describing this, but had to wait until the USB audio issue was fixed. Will try to get that done this weekend.

I have a mid 2012 Mac book pro. Will test tomorrow. Works great on an older non-retina Mac book pro.

For an individual delay or reverb, the mix control is essentially the same as running in parallel. Running in parallel is useful if you want to keep delays out of the reverb or reverb out of the delays (both sound a bit different). I like to limit the amount of reverb and keep it pretty warm as reverb tends to push the tone back and makes it less distinct. I use delays for ambience instead of reverbs to get the benefits of ambience without the mud of reverb.

I like the ribbon mics too, mabe because I play a Strat most of the time and ribbon mics tame the high end just right.

What you'd need to do is get an impulse response of the 8" speaker, and the speaker you want it to sound like using exactly the same sweep at the same time with the same mic in the same position. Then you'd have do do some processing to "subtract" the 8" impulse from the larger speaker impulse so that you only have the difference. Then whey you play through the 8" speaker and that modified IR, you'd be putting back the difference in the tone required to make it sound like the larger speaker. This is essentially the same thing you did with the post EQ, but it gets the change in EQ over time using an impulse response rather that simple static EQ. But the 8" speaker won't move the same amount of air and it will likely never sound the same as a big speaker. And since you're going through an IR anyway, why not just use one for the desired speaker and ditch the 8"? What's interesting about this approach however is that it is how you could make one instrument sound like another. For example using an acoustic guitar body image minus the image of an electric guitar pickup to make an electric guitar sound like an acoustic.

It would be interesting to pick a couple of effects to compare too, those can sometimes have more complex algorithms. But possibly the biggest difference might be in the speaker models. The biggest variables in tone for electric guitar are the end points, the things that touch the air. Speaker, mic and position models make a huge difference in the tone. I wonder how Helix and AX8 compare in this important area.

Some, maybe most, of the best guitarists on the planet use one or two amps live and a pedalboard. Helix can do that easily in one patch. So it should be possible to in most cases make all changes within a song, and that need to be done instantaneously, while maintain effect tails, within a single patch. I know a lot of us are playing covers, and we'd like to reproduce the performance and tone of the original. But I don't worry about that so much anymore. I'm more interested in my own tonal identity, and feel free to play my own solos with my own tones on cover songs. I try to keep the original intent of the song, but don't worry about the exact tone or every note. I think that makes it more interesting for the audience and for me. Plus I rarely play the same solo twice (mostly because I can't memorize them anymore). So I don't do a lot of patch switching at all. Rather I want to present an identity and consistency to the audience that reflects my relationship with them. This feels more musical than a lot of patch switching in a song and worrying about effect tails and patch switch time. But I can see why that's important to some people too.

Maybe its better to avoid the word normal the context of the Master volume. For those amps that have master volume, assuming Line6 modeled them faithfully, the min, 50% and max values would be whatever they were on the modeled amp. For amps that don't have a master volume, we don't know how Line6 scaled the control they added. For maximum flexibility, I would expect they would have modeled the the amp with the Master control at 50% so that users would have the option of changing the master up or down from the fixed value in the modeled amp. This is similar to what they did for the Middle control added to amps that don't have that control, but rather use a fixed value. Another possibility might be that the default value for the Master on amps that don't have a Master control would correspond to the design of that amplifier. But these are just guesses. The interesting point however is the ability to control preamp vs power amp distortion and how they are a bit different in terms of harmonics generated and dynamics of compression vs. sag and bias extension.

Its helpful to know the mics before you start selecting speakers as they make a lot of difference. If you're looking for warm, choose a ribbon mic; transparent, choose condenser; hyped upper mids, choose dynamic often the '57. Looking at the same criteria: warm, choose cone; transparent, choose cap-edge; bright, choose cap. For distance: close, in your face, and warm, choose close mic; transparent, choose 2-4", thin and roomy, choose >4". Know something about the speakers themselves, which ones are warm, transparent or bright. That might take some research, but trying them with the same choice of mic, position and distance can work too. If you know what tone you're looking for, these simple guides can trim down the number of IRs you need to audition a lot. Once you zero in, you can try a few different positions or mics on the speaker model you like.

Here's a bit more explanation on the Helix amp parameters. I'd like to add this to helix help.com, but don't have a password to make edits. Can someone else make the updates? Master Adjusts the amount of power amp distortion: 0% clean 50% normal, 100% driven. Note that 50% may not be normal as the amps may have been modeled with the Master set too high. Consider using lower values, or the minimum distortion required to fit the song. This parameter is highly interactive with all other power amp parameters—the lower the Master is set, the less effect the other controls will have. Low Master and high Drive gives smother preamp distortion while high Master lower Drive gives more power amp, symmetric and more aggressive distortion. Sag Controls power amp sag or compression 0% tight, 50% normal, 100% more touch for dynamic sustain. Lower Sag values offer a "tighter" responsiveness for metal and djent playing; higher values provide more touch dynamics & sustain for blues and classic rock riffs. High Bias (closer to class A) reduces the effect of the Sag control. Sag doesn’t exist in class A amplifiers since the average plate current doesn’t change. Sag is caused by the amplifiers power supply being unable to meet the demand when the map is pushed hard with high Master. When the power sags, the amp output drops and then recovers, creating a unique compression effect with some additional, but temporary distortion when you pick hard. Unlike compressors before the amp, sag compression occurs even when the amp is already very distorted. Large sag gives more compression, better sustain, and can accentuate pick attack. But the amp will appear somewhat less responsive especially at the low end and can get muddy. Hum Controls how much heater hum interacts with your tone. Tube amplifiers generally used low voltage AC in the tube heaters, and sometimes this could add some hum into the signal. At higher settings, things get freaky. Higher levels cause some intermodulation distortion as the heater hum mixes with the signal. Generally left at 0 unless you are looking for a specific effect. Ripple Controls how much AC ripple in the power supply interacts with your tone. The power supply of a tube amp is filtered with large capacitors. If the amp is driven hard, these capacitors can’t provide sufficient filtering and some AC ripple is introduced into the signal. This is similar to hum but is on the plate of the tube instead of the heater and has a different shape. At higher settings, things get freaky. Also generally left at 0 unless you are looking for a specific effect. Bias Changes the Bias of the power tubes. Lower values achieve a "colder" Class AB biasing. At maximum, the amp is operating in Class A. Higher or “hot" bias will increase the warmth, reduce headroom, distort earlier or at a lower Master setting, and (in a tube amp) decrease the tube life. Lower or “cold" bias will make the sound less sweet, but will tighten it up and make it more dynamic. Bias X Determines how the power amp tubes' voicing reacts when pushed hard, controlling how much the bias changes when the amp is driven hard. Bias X is a bit like Sag, except it controls change in a tube’s operating point due to change in the tube bias when the amp is driven hard. Set low for a tighter feel. Set high for more tube compression. This parameter is highly reactive with the Drive and Master settings.

Any FOH PA will have its own EQ and that't the best and most convenient and consistent place to touch up FOH tones. Digital PAs make it easy to save settings for common situations as patches. For Helix into a FRFR, many of those have digital inputs these days and their own EQ. For example, I use a JBL EON610 as my monitor and can use its EQ through a mobile app and Bluetooth to adjust the tone of the speaker. What's nice about this is that the adjustment for that speaker stays with the speaker, not in Helix. So it has no impact on Helix use with a different configuration. Personally I'd like to see the global EQ be configurable for global or patch. I might find it more useful as a very flexible EQ in a patch that doesn't take up a block.

Use caution with drop tuning. It might sound ok, but your guitar interacts physically in a feedback loop between the strings and the speaker. If the sound from the speaker is a different pitch then the string, then you'll get lots of cancellation and the guitar won't feel or resonate the same, especially at higher volumes. Also physically tuning the strings changes the tension which is part of the purpose of drop turnings. Sometime physical just better than virtual.

They can, sort of. If you're trying to make modifications to a patch, and want to be able to A/B compare the patch, then simply clone it to the next patch up. Leave one as the original, unchanged patch, say A. Use the second to try changes to compare to A. Switch to B, make a change press Save twice. Then you can switch between A and B to compare the two. If you like B better, save it to A and start the process again with the next change.

It depends on what you want the boost to do. If it's pre-distortion, then the boost is probably going to add more distortion. In this case you might need some bass and treble rolloff to voice the distortion in order to limit bass mud and treble ice pick. I use a combination of a studio tube preamp and the amp's drive control for this - to simply add a bit more drive to the front of the amp, using the high pass and low pass filters in the tube preamp for the voicing adjustment. If it's just a volume boost, then you can do that with a switch that changes the level control on the amp or on the output.

Ideally Helix with a good FRFR will faithfully reproduce the amp and cabinet models in a performance context similar to what the original amps and speakers would do - assuming the amount of air moved and positioning are quite similar. Don't expect a pair of EON610s to do what 8 12" speakers will do, even at the same power levels. FRFRs don't really make the total guitar signal chain that much more articulate - they're just reproducing the output of the amp and cab models. This is where articulation is established. A bad FRFR can remove clarity, but a good one won't add anything that's not already coming from the amp and cab models. What a FRFR can do is provide the ability to reproduce many amp and cab models for lots of different applications, not just one electric guitar tone. This may or may not be useful depending on different performer needs.

The problem with the amp Drive control is that there's no way to change the voicing of the amp as the Drive is increased. The more distortion you get from an amp, the more you have to cut bass to eliminate mud and cut treble to eliminate ice pick. The Drive control just increases the gain into the front of the amp, it doesn't do anything to the voicing. That's why my "Drive" footswitch controls both a Studio Tube preamp and the Drive amp control. I use the studio preamp to add drive while using the low and high pass filters to control the mud and ice pick. The preamp also adds some extra gain to Fender amp models that don't have enough Drive. S-Gear amp models, which are guitar amplifiers created in the digital domain, not models of existing analog guitar amp channels, has lots of switches for voicing the bass and treble of the amp, and the boost and channel switches also have different voicings for different distortion levels. The Duke even has three choices on how to voice the distortion - normal, thick and bright. This makes a huge difference in how the amps sound. I'd like to see Line 6 start taking more of this approach to amp models instead of just reproducing what has already been created. Another option is to use distortion pedals with their tone controls to create voicing for overdrive and distortion tones. My goto patch does all three. The Drive footswitch controls the preamp and amp Drive controls. The Overdrive footswitch controls one distortion pedal, and the Distortion switch another. I gain stage these so that I can have many different tones from clean, blues, crunch and metal from the same patch. This works great for me and eliminates the need to do a lot of patch changing to get a wide range of great tones.

If you really love your guitar amp, then you should probably stick with it. You can use Helix two ways with a guitar amp - as a digital pedalboard into the front of the amp, or using 4CM. Using the latter you probably won't use any amp models, neither would use cab or speaker IR models. So you would be under-utilizing Helix, but that might be fine. The biggest motivation for FRFR is flexibility, and the ability to play multiple instruments, especially acoustic guitar - which will never work well into a guitar amp. So to me its more what you want to achieve then it is specifically the tone. I suspect that any of these approaches will produce good and useful tone even though they might be different. Different is probably neither good or bad in this case, just different.

@optimus_7, couldn't agree more. Another solution to spillover is to design your patches so you don't need to change patches in the middle of a song. I have a blog post I'm working on that discusses the various merits of sticking with a patch and changing effects vs. changing patches. Personally, I mostly use one patch and avoid distracting myself and my audience with too much variability.