DunedinDragon

If you've been used to the Mustang amp, you already have some familiarity with modeling. So that's good. However Helix is quite a few steps beyond what you were using, so there will be a considerable learning curve. As MonkeyXT points out, the Helix unit provides everything BUT the amp and speakers. But it's designed so that it performs the same way in a recording scenario as it does in a live scenario. The Helix contains all of the various effect, amp models, cabinet models, microphone models (for mic'ing the amp) and so forth. It is, in effect, a modeled studio environment for constructing the signal chain that can be fed either into a DAW for recording, or directly into a PA. Either way it provides a finished production sound. When we talk about FRFR speakers (Full Range Flat Response), what we're talking about are the same type of speakers used in most PA systems. These speakers are powered and contain their own amp and speakers and would typically be connected to a mixing board (which doesn't contain an amp). You can use these speakers to connect directly to the Helix and get the same effect as you would were you to send the signal to a PA mixing board that would be connected to FRFR speakers. In essence, what separates FRFR speakers from a traditional guitar amp and cabinet is they have a flat response across the entire frequency spectrum. Guitar amps and cabs may have a full range of response across the frequency spectrum, but they favor certain areas of the frequency range which is relatively small compared the the full range of frequencies. As MonkeyXT mentioned, some people do connect the Helix to a traditional amp and cabinet in various ways, but a given patch built to work directly into a recording DAW or into a PA or FRFR speaker will not sound the same due to the limitations of the traditional amp and speaker. This introduces a problem in live playing where what you're hearing on stage will not be the same as what the audience is hearing through the PA. This is one of the main reasons many of us opt to use FRFR speakers rather than a traditional amp and speakers. First, it's a much simpler setup. You route your signal directly into the speaker and set the volume, and you're done. As compared to running various cables into different inputs to and from the traditional amp setup. Once you gig with this setup, you already have a stage monitor (your FRFR speaker) and you simply route a separate cable directly to the PA mixing board (no actual mic's are used). You know that the sound of the patch you built in the Helix will sound very close if not exactly the same through the PA and through your personal FRFR speaker. Should you decide to record your guitar through a DAW at home, you shouldn't need to make any modifications to the patch, whereas with patches built to go through a traditional amp and cab will have to be mic'd to record the sound you're hearing, or you would need to modify the patch since recording, in essence, is a FRFR process. The reason I wanted to lay this out in detail to you is that the Helix already represents a much more complex environment than you are used to and has a considerable learning curve. The FRFR approach at least reduces some of that complexity. In terms of FRFR type speakers, there are a couple of different variations. As I mentioned before live powered PA speakers such as an Alto, or JBL, or Yamaha, or QSC are typical ones used for PA's. Depending on the power and size you want they can range from around $250 up to $1000. Additionally you can use studio monitors which are meant more for home studio recording setups, but can also be connected directly to the Helix. These are typically bought in pairs and there are some very low end monitors, but I wouldn't recommend any that were cheaper than about $150 each ($300 for a pair) as you will generally get what you pay for in this area.

The thing is, by having the IRs selected by the knob it makes it VERY easy to scroll through the IRs to audition them for how they will work within a patch. In fact you can have a loop playing and scroll through until you find the one that works best. I don't think it would be that easy if you had to constantly go back to select the IRs from the list.

Except that pedals aren't multi-level like an IR is. A single IR that's been loaded into a slot actually contains 2 versions (1024/2048). So if they simply listed the list of IRs, you would still need another drop down box to select which type. Personally the method used now hasn't caused me any problems nor has it been a problem for most people. This is the first time I've ever seen anyone have a problem with it...and there's LOTS of us using them.

My assumption is people using the dual harmonizer understand the theory and application of harmonies and major/minor/pentatonic variations, so I won't get into that. What seems to work for me is placing the harmonizer late in the chain, but before reverb and delays. The key to getting them to sound natural is blending them correctly. There's probably a couple of ways to do it, but I individually set the volume on the V1 and V2 keys then use the mix to lower them so they're slightly less prominent than the primary lead line.

It's really hard to understand the problem you're running into, but I'm assuming after you dragged the IRs into the Impulses tab of the editor you saw the IRs listed there in the editor. If that's the case then you have both the 1024 and 2048 versions of the IRs available in 2 of the IR slots. The next step is to add an IR block to a patch. When you click on the IR patch for editing it will list both 1024 and 2048. Select either. From there you should be able to select one of the slots where the 2 IRs are loaded.

In a year and a half of owning my Helix and building/saving/restoring/copying presets almost every day, I've never had anything like this happen...in fact, I've never heard of anyone running into problems this extreme that I can remember. If I were you I'd call the customer service number and go through all of the version information to ensure there's not any mismatch as Silverhead was alluding to. If it's not that there's got to be something messed up with the unit or the USB connection.

Regarding using the global EQ to manage FRFR speakers. Just to re-iterate what was said earlier, but in a different way: The key problem with using global EQ to address adjusting the tone of a FRFR speaker is that not every combination of amp, cabinet, mic, and mic placement needs that much EQ. If you're using different amps, cabs/IRs, mics, and mic placements in your patches there may be times where you need no cuts or adjustments, or only very minor ones. In some cases combining cabinets in parallel can often fix things without having to apply dramatic EQ adjustments. The best bet is to put together your patch then adjust what you need to by ear within that patch using parallel cabs, high and low cuts on the cabinets/IRs or selective adjustments using a parametric EQ. This will preserve the tone much better and not lose fidelity and articulation you might want to keep.

I'd definitely return it. This is a premium piece of gear and that kind of sloppiness simply isn't acceptable, and Line 6 needs to be made aware of it in order make sure they correct the problems.

If that's the case I'd strongly urge you to consider an FRFR approach using a powered PA style speaker or studio monitors rather than integration with a guitar amp. It's much simpler in that the speaker used has an integrated amp so you simply go from the 1/4 out or the XLR out direct into the speaker. You can then use the Helix to construct a patch using a regular amp and cab and effects and not have to worry about using pre amps and running into returns and so forth. MUCH more straightforward.

I'm going to take wild guess here but I suspect the Mission Gemini may not have a mode to offset for bass frequency coupling when it's placed on the floor like most of the FRFR powered speakers do. Do you have your cabinet on the floor or is it on a stand? Certainly there's going to be some difference between a wood cabinet and a molded cabinet with integral baffles, but I would think a big difference would have been noted by some of the other Gemini users.

If I remember correctly this feature was there even long before snapshots within a patch. It was simply a matter of turning it on via the parameter on the Delay (trails on/off). Of course it only worked within a preset, but I used it effectively and still do within a given preset when there's a dynamic change from one setup to a different setup within a patch. Snapshots just provided a more comprehensive way of doing such things. However, unless you turn on delay trails on the delay block it won't work either way.

I often wonder how embarrassed people get when they go off on a rant only to find out they would have known how to fix their problem if they'd only read the manual....hmmmmm :huh:

The B112D isn't really a bad powered speaker at all. It's just a generation behind other powered speakers in terms of having built-in DSP processing to manage the sound of the speaker. A lot of the folks around here use 10" versions rather than 12" versions and are happy with it primarily due to weight and size. I personally use the DXR12. It just gives a slightly bigger sound, but not necessarily all bass. Just an overall bigger sound. I will say, having owned both B112D's and DXR12's that there's a pretty significant difference in clarity between the two, and that may be what is causing it to get lost a little bit in the band mix rather than just volume. The big differences you'll find on the newer powered speakers like the Yamaha, QSC, and Line 6 is there's no tone adjustment. The tone adjustment is done by selecting how the speaker is to be used (for example on a pole, or on the ground in a monitor position). This is far more accurate than simply modifying tone controls as it adjusts the entire range of frequency response rather than just one section of it. The newer DSP driven speakers also have much more accurate control over how the speaker and compression driver are used within the frequency range, so the sound tends to be more natural and articulated. Those are probably going to be the most representative of the sound that will be coming out of the PA speakers because they are, in fact, PA speakers. I can't speak much to the cabinet and wedge style units as I've never messed with them. I gather their appeal is more towards providing a traditional "amp" sound on stage at the cost of not being as representative of the sound that's actually coming out of the front of house PA speakers.

Then use snapshots if you want delay trails to carry over. What's the problem? You know, part of getting to the moon required the astronauts to know how to operate the space capsule. ;)

I would think it's much harder to try and apply the stock presets than it would be to simply learn the techniques used in the stock presets and build some presets that meet your needs. It's not really that hard to do and you'll get closer to what you actually want. You can also control the overall volume level much better when you build your own. As far as some of your other questions. The behavior or the volume pedal on the overall sound can be different whether it's placed at the beginning of the signal chain or at the end. You should try both and see what works best for you. When you switch presets, all of the blocks in the current preset are unloaded and the blocks of the new preset are loaded. Since the volume pedal is just another block, the new preset has no idea what the settings were on the old preset, so, yes, the volume pedal will be set to 0. However, the setting of the volume pedal is saved along with the settings of any other block. So if you have the pedal set to max and you save the preset, the next time you load it that will be the setting of the pedal. I can tell you right now that there will absolutely be a delay when switching between presets due to the loading and unloading of the blocks. This makes it somewhat impractical to switch presets within a song. But as you've discovered you can pretty dramatically change the behavior of a preset by simply changing things within a preset using a footswitch. This is the whole idea behind snapshots. I personally have never found the need for snapshots as I have always been able to accomplish dramatic changes in the behavior of a preset by assigning multiple actions to a single footswitch just using a single preset. It's entirely possible to even change things like the drive setting on an amp and the depth of a reverb on a single footswitch action. Read the section on Bypass Assign and Controller Assign in your manual. Yes, Helix has a manual and a lot of information in there can be quite helpful when you're learning to use the unit. It's worth reading.... You're correct in assuming the behavior of a Yamaha DXR will be different from the behavior of the B112D as they represent two different generations of powered speakers. That being said you shouldn't have any problem with the B112D keeping up with a band unless your band is WAY too loud. This isn't 1970 anymore so given that you will likely be pushing all of your instruments through the PA, and you certainly don't need a lot of volume to achieve the sound you want with the Helix.

Not really. But you could simply save them to the hard drive of the computer, or alternatively copy them to a different user set and then just tinker with those copies.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, the perceived and and actual volumes can vary, so there's likely to be some minor tweaking at rehearsal. Generally I can catch those perceived differences by ear as I step through the patches at home, but it's inevitable that some minor fine tuning will be needed typically at rehearsal with the full band. In my experience I may have minor volume tweaks in maybe 2 out of every 10 once I get to rehearsal, and they tend to be pretty minor 5 or 6 db changes. Overall, between a meter and your ears you can tend to get pretty close. I do know at sound check when we gain stage one patch the gain level works for all of them, and the mix from the audience perspective is pretty stable regardless of the genre and style. I'm not sure a recorded song would be a good way to match volumes for several reasons. SPL is accumulative so a full band recording will naturally be louder than the guitar part alone. Not to mention the fact that mastered recordings are pretty deeply volume maximized and compressed nowdays (too much so in my opinion), so I'm not sure you'll get the right level for the dynamics involved in a live performance. I know I've been following this regimen generally now for about three years starting with the HD500X. I've had to modify it some as I was using a SPL meter originally, but a signal meter seems to get me a LOT more consistent between patches. We play at least once or twice a week each week and since going to the signal meter approach we've had MUCH better stage mixes, which translates into better house mixes.

In many cases when you download IR's they're contained in .ZIP files. You need to unpack them to regular .WAV files placed in their own directory. If you downloaded .WAV files you need to take note of where you downloaded them to. Then you can either drag and drop them into the Impulses tab in the Editor, or select an IR slot and choose 'Restore' then select from the .WAV files you unpacked. Bottom line, the last used directory location is always used when you choose 'Restore' so you may have to navigate to the correct directory. Just because you download them doesn't automatically mean they're imported. You have to specifically choose import and to which slot it goes.

There's several ways to do this. Personally, for setting volumes equally, I use a small 4 channel mixer and plug my L/Mono XLR output into one of the channels. I leave my Helix master volume set at 11 o'clock, and I adjust the output of my patches so they register on the meters of the mixer at about the same level. The level on the meters depends on the gain setting used on the channel I'm plugged into, so I leave that at the 12 o'clock position. If you have a DAW you could pretty much do it the same way. There are three ways you can adjust the volume on your patches and not affect the tone. Typically you can adjust the channel volume on the amp, but that might affect the tone in some cases although I haven't run into it. Other than that I prefer to either adjust the level on the cab/IR or the final output block level. At home I just leave my Helix plugged into the mixer. The mixer has no speakers attached to it. It's simply used as an output meter. If/when I need to equalize volumes I just turn it on and adjust accordingly. That gets everything reasonably close. However there's a difference between perceived volume and actual volume, so you may need to make minor adjustments once you get to rehearsal with the band.

Yep... Takes me about a minute or so to tune my guitar with the Helix. But then, I don't really obsess over tuners.

I think this is the key point of all of this. Adjusting to a full FRFR rig is a considerable change for someone coming from the traditional amp setup, no doubt. But I get an absolutely GREAT Gary Moore sound using my Helix and a Marshall amp model into a Yamaha DXR12. However, I've been using modelers for a while now having come from a POD HD500X, so I understand the drill and know what it takes to create the sound. The biggest difference is in my ears, however. Modeling is all about using your ears and you are clearly using your ears to listen for something different when you model a patch than when you simply plug into an amp. And it takes a while to re-train your ears from listening for the right "amp" sound to listening for the right "studio" sound. The reality is that when you're trying to copy a sound such as Gary Moore, what you are listening to is a "studio" sound from his recordings, not an "amp" sound, and the "studio" sound is far more detailed and precise involving compression, close attention to the amount and type of gain being used, EQ tweaks to mellow out certain frequencies, and some bias adjustment to better capture the clean articulation on his leads. You can get a reasonably close sound just using an amp, but unless your sporting a ton of gear getting his studio sound is going to be a challenge on a traditional rig, but actually pretty simple on a modeling device like a Helix. The Helix and other modelers in this class actually require developing some of the same type of skills as a recording and mastering engineer has to get effective at emulating tone. If you truly want to emulate tone, that's the price you pay. But the longer you do it, the better you get at it and the results, in my opinion, far supercede anything I ever got with just a simple amp setup. And the audience loves it because it's actually the tone they've been used to hearing on Gary Moore's recordings. By the way, I get great 2 and 3 part guitar harmonies on the Helix, but it is one of the more challenging things to figure out because it's not very intuitive. But once you break the formula it tends to work well on almost any music genre from classic rock to country.

Other than things like adjusting pads, I'm not sure what value it would have to specify types of guitars on most of these hints. I use 4 distinctly different guitars (Tele, Strat, Les Paul, and Gretsch Hollow body) on various different presets, but other than differences in how I EQ them, the hints I recorded and most of the ones I've seen on here would be the same regardless of the guitar. I could see it if it's something specific such as specific hi or low cuts, but then you'd also need to specify what amp model, cab, mic, and mic placement as well as output device you were using as well in order for a specific cut to be relevant.

And here's where you probably should have done a little bit more research before diving in...... You're going to hear a lot of talk about FRFR powered speakers as an output method. That's really the only way to achieve what you're describing when you say you want to hear the Fender, Vox, etc. There are ways you can go through a regular guitar amp and cabinet, but it's always going to color the sound from the Helix. The only way you can get the full effect of the amps and cabs is to have an output mechanism that is a powered Full Range Flat Response (FRFR) because it won't color or change the tone in any way. There are different types of these types of devices ranging from studio monitors to PA type monitors and speakers. But what you can't do is make a Marshall style 2x12 cabinet sound like a Vox or Fender cabinet.

I'm in Florida and have played many summer outdoor events. I've never had a problem with the Helix overheating, but I do use a fan blowing across the stage as a safety measure.

- Get familiar with the different amps to gain an understanding of how they are best used. For example, what models are primarily oriented toward clean sounds, toward crunchy, or overdriven sounds. What artists were known to use them? You will likely end up with a set of 7 or 8 amps that are your "goto" amps for certain types of sounds. Do some investigation on the internet about why the amp was popular and for what reasons. This can help guide you in how best to use them. - Establish a way of normalizing the volume between patches. The easiest method is to use the meters in a DAW or invest in a small mixer with meter lights to help you set the volumes evenly between patches. Get your patch sounding the way you want it, and as the last step use this process to set it's volume equal to your other patches typically by adjusting the output level on the output block or adjusting the output on the cabinet as these shouldn't affect the overall sound of your patch. - DO NOT adjust high and low cuts via the global EQ. Global EQ is meant for adjusting to room acoustics. More importantly every amp, cabinet, mic, and mic placement will have an effect of what is the best high or low cut value to use for that patch. Learn to use your ears to guide you in setting these types of cuts. - Use the same or very similar output device to the type of output device that will be used live to ensure you won't be surprised when you go live with your patch. Keep the volume up high enough (80 to 90 db) when building the patch so that it will reflect the sound of the patch when played at normal live volume. At lower volumes the human ear can deceive you as we become much more sensitive to certain frequencies the louder they get. - Build the base sound first (amp, amp EQ, cab, mic, mic placement, hi/lo cuts and general volume) to get the tone right before adding effects. - Compressors are your friend. They will add the professional polish to many of your patches just as they do in the studio. Each of the compressors respond in a slightly different manner and are best used for certain types of sounds. For example, the LA Studio can be a very subtle and non-intrusive compressor to bring out even articulation on a clean sound, whereas the Red Squeeze is a bit easier to setup and provides a nice Rolling Stones, The Who, or Doobie Bros. "strained crunch" on a crunchy style tone. Compressors can be placed at the beginning of your signal chain or toward the end with slightly different effects. Try them both to see which best fits your patch. - Harmonizer and pitch effects (dual guitar) tend to be a bit cleaner when placed after the amp and cab toward the end of the signal chain. - To keep your options open to doing dual cabs in parallel signal chains you may want to create separate cab blocks rather than amp+cab blocks. Very often combining cabs this way can overcome the harshness or brittleness you my hear negating the need for high and low cuts. Use an A/B split to determine how much signal goes through each cabinet. - Combining a Reverb and a Delay in parallel paths can provide a very lush reverb/delay sound found in many recordings. Don't overlook the value of dry patches however. There are quite a number of artists that use this to great effect to get a very stark "in your face" crunchy sound when combined with aggressive palm muting. - The Helix is very accurate in reflecting picking techniques just like a real amp. Very often you can get a more aggressive dynamic or a smoother dynamic by simply altering where you are strumming (between neck and bridge) or the pressure you're picking with, or even the angle of your pick. - The general rule of thumb for amps is that adjusting the master volume will add dirt to the sound whereas the channel volume tends to be a more pure volume adjustment. In some cases you can lower the master volume and increase the channel volume to get a very full clean sound. - Sometimes a particularly rough bass or high problem can be fixed using the parametric equalizer easier than high or low cuts. Often with lows you can clean up boominess with a 2 or 3 db cut in a fairly narrow Q in the frequency range around 180 to 220 hz. You can also take a bit of the edge off of highs without killing the whole range with a narrow cut of 2 or 3 db up around 4000 to 5000hz. Place this toward the end of your signal chain. That's about all I can think of right now.....I might come up with some other things if I think about it a while...