mikisb

I think - if i understood right, fukuri hits the point. The possibility to do what zooey would like to have would'nt make footswitch assingning easier for more basic use. Just for my brain, the helix offers rather to much possibilities than to less. I have the same thinking about the number of different addditional amps some call for as i would prefer 20 pretty good amps than 100. With to much possibilities, i get rather lost. All the things in the Helix has so much parameters to tewak, that one should always find a way to do it with the existing toolset. What i would do if i wanted the same setup with different distortions: Well, the Helix offers so much slots to store - I would duplicate that basic tone to a second, third...slot, modify each slot with the desired distortion is set to on by default and thats is. So i could switch easily between different distortion pedals with the advatage to tewak some other parameters to match this specific pedal better. I think that a lot of the wishes to combine a lot of things on one footswitch (wich make it more difficult to use the system) comes out of a time where slots or presets... where rare and therefore precious. We are all used to this kind of thinking but times has changed - and possibilities to do things has increased a lot ;)

Thanks for this hint, but 'cause i've read about this point before here in the forums, i already started with mastervolume from noon to full. I don't even thinkt that changing the output makes a similar difference as with cab simulation on or not?

Not really, i think, it was a pretty good joke :D Thanks for this detailed answer, it will help me to find my sound(s) But belive it or not, i think that what i heard within the first few days based on a hardware problem or a software bug. Because this hissy noise over all distorted or overdriven sounds is gone without changing anything ion the helix. It's just like after firmware update and factory reset, the unit needed some time to implement all the parameters, specially the speaker simulations. I have really no explanation for this but i'm pretty shure that it were'nt my ears misleading me. In the first days, all distorted sounds where way brighter and more "fizzy" or farty than everiyhing i heard with se same speakers in the same distance in the same room just a few seconds before on the same reproduction chain. So it sounded a bit like one of the very first modelling units or a cheap transistor amp. Yesterday, i tried again and - surprise - the noise and fizz was gone - not a bit but completly. The sounds from my helix come now pretty close to samples from the factory presets i know from others. Shure, there still are some differences, but in a range wich can be explained by different guitars, cables and playing techniques. How can it be possible that a digital devices behaves a bit like a brand new speaker who changes its sound by some hours of use because mechanical components as spider and surround gets more soft by movement. (At the end, the difference was way bigger than between a new and a used speaker) Perhaps, Line6 implemented this behaviour by software, so a brand new device needs some time to settle the sound? ;) To compare, i changed for some presets the and+cab models in separate amp and cab with the same parameters. Sounds identical. Then i switched of the cab (it's so great to be able to do all this with the feets while playing) and there was it again, this noisy sound i was used the first days. Just to tell you how big the difference was between before and now. So i rellay think that the cab simulations did'nt grip in the first time. Then i made a factory reset again. My modified presets were gone but the sound is still ok. So i can not reproduce the effect. There are sometimes funny effects in a digital world wich should not happen when it comes to processing zeros and ones, but they appear (think on your computer). So perhaps a software bug, perhaps a hardware problem, who knows. But for now, im totally satisfied what comes out of the factory presets and now have a (hopefully stable) base to tweak at my own taste. So thanks again to all of you trying to help!! I could take some good advices wich will help me to use my helix better in the future. Best regards Michael

Hi, first, thanks for your advices!! Well, i did a complete factory reset after the firmware update. And i know the effect that ears get tired and after a while i hear everything i want but not the reality. I know well this effect from developping loudspeakers, but for loudspeakers, i can continue by measuring what is a little bit more difficult when it comes to distorted guitar sound. So i can even measure pickups at different loads, but not really a complex signal. I agree that the guitar makes a difference but wich becomes smaller as distortion gets more. So i used different guitars, with different pickups and i have the possibility to change the characteristics of the pickups using c-switches and variable parallel loads. As i build my guitars myself and even some pickups, i know my gear about good. The biggest difference makes sureley the playing technique, as im really not the most talented player in the world. Lets say that i can better build guitars and pickups than i can play, and that's not difficult ;) So i'll never sound a second like Bonamassa even if you'll put me his gear in my hands. But what i hear (sometimes more and sometimes less) is this hissy, noisy distortion overlay from my helix where i don't hear it from foreign records. I chords, the different strings ar'nt to sepatate, even at low distortion (crunch), the tone gets muddy verry fast. I can't belive that the paying technique, even if it's really bad, can produce this noise. Even regular pickups with resonance frequencies between 1000 and 4000 Hz ar'nt able to produce this. Again - i think that i can eliminate this hiss by tweaking or EQing, but that's not my point. I belive that the guys from Line6 tried to get (at last in the first 40 patches in setlist1) an authentic sound of the modelled amps when connected to a frfr system like PA or studio monitors. I bet that none of the originals sounds this harsh - even without mic. Not in a small room and not in a church and regardless of the used microphone. Sounds like there would be no cab sim, but all amps in this banks are Amp+Cab+mic models. When i try to modify single parameters on these cabs, the sound changes, so there are active. OK, if the guys recorded these files tweaked their patces before, there is nothing to compare and my question would be answered. But they say "without modification - recorded via usb". So for my understanding, a digital signal is recorded digital in a digital computer file and the result on my speakers should be about the same as the signal from the same patch, the same computer and the same speakers i use to hear the recordings. Even if they have their global EQ active - on USB-recordings it should not influence the record. I think about buying some good ir's (ownhammer?) and perhaps some good patches (Glenn Delaune?), but if the difference between the demo recordings in the net and what comes out of my helix is this big, it would be more useful to tweak my own sounds. Soundfiles would be a good idea to compare. Problem: If you would hear my playing you would immediately start crying, and i don't want to make you sad ;)

Hi, i own my Helix just a few days and i'm really happy with a lot of features. But i'm still to silly when it comes to a "good sound". When i hear samples of factory presets in the net, they sound pretty good to me if i use headphones or frfr speakers to listen to. Most sources of those samples tell to have recorded via usb without any tweaking or patching, so these sounds should be easy to reproduce. I use the actual firmware and did'nt tweak anything. When i play the same factory presets on the same chain, they sound extremely different and these differences grow with overdrive or distortion. No matter if i use different headphones or different speakers, there is a huge difference between samples other people recorded and what comes out of my helix. So if there is any distortion, the sound gets relly muddy, harsh and seens to have some kind of noise overlaying the tone. Sounds somewhat artificial like plastic. I tried even different guitars from Strat style to neckthru humbucker, does'nt affect the noise on distorted sounds If i use line out, headphone out or usb does'nt make a difference in sound. The global EQ is neutral and switched off. On the second day, this effect was in general existant but far smaller without having changed anything (as far as i remember). The presets still sounded a lot better but still not great. So did my ears change overnight or what could be happened? As the samples from other people sound the same to me, i think my ears are still OK? In POD HD500, there was the option to chose the output mode between line-combo-poweramp... with big effects on the sound. Ist there something comparable in the Helix i did'nt see and changed without noticing? I know that getting my prefered sound will make it necessary to tweak and to try - no question. But im talking just about preset sounds and with a digital device, they sould be exactly the same out of every unit. I'm pretty shure that the helix has the sounds i want inside, but how i get them? The presets frome line6 can't be so cruel as i hear them. Thanks for your advice Michael

Hi radatats, thanks for your explication but it confuses me a bit probably because english is'nt my language: So you use an amp model in the HD (Fliptop in ypur proposed patch) and mute it. I think this means, that you switch it to "off" in HD500edit? Now i would expect that the DT stays in channel A wich ist the standard channel for modelled amps coming from the POD, but you write that DT switches in this way to channel B witch is the channel used (as standard) when no amp model is programmed in the pod. So why the muted Fliptop, as, in the end, the result is the same?: Channel B on DT. Where ist the difference? And when the DT has switched to channel B, does the resulting tone does'nt depend on the settings for topology, Pentode/Triode.... wich were last made manually on the DT? Sorry for this perhaps dumb question and my confusion, but the routing in HD and DT is a kind of mystery to me :unsure:

if i understood right, if there's no amp chosen in the Pod, the DT will use his standard preamp model wich depends on the selected voicing? So a preset basing on "no amp selected" will sound different, depending on your former preselection on the DT. Independent from the preamp model and the poweramp section, it will always be hard to get a ccoustic sound from an amp made for electric guitar as the speaker in such an amp is not made for neutral reproduction but für sound forming. i made a quick and dirty measurement of the line6 celestion G12H90 from my DT25 Combo: So there's a lot of midrange and just few bass and treble but both are needed für acoustic sounds more then für electric sounds. Other guitar speakers have a similar behaviour. I found some pretty good acoustic sounds in the customtone database and they all base on the utilisation of lots of EQing to eliminate the guitar speakers character. And with a lot of WQing, there often come a lot of unwanted noise. For the moment i feel therefore more comfotable to play my HD500 in a linear bass amp with tweeter (homemade combo with a markbass amp, a faital 15 FH500 and a Faital HF500 with tactrix horn ST500. Fore some sounds, HD+DT sounds still better to my ears, especially with a powersoak, but with a neutral amplification i'm more flexible and get easier the same sounds live and when recording ;) In fact, for some things i'm to stupid for the line6 link (even if it's basically a great idea), so if i have a similar (linear) environment for both livesound and recording, the world is a bit more easy for me.

sometimes there are wonders :) After 2 hours i tried again without powersoak - 45 minutes at moderate level - no problems. Class A/AB - Triode/Pentode, everything worked. Then the hard test with master volume at 75% and Powersoak (correct cabling this time), no problems within half an hour. So a defective hardware becomes more and more doubtful. In the forum of the powersoak manufacturer (tubetown) someone said to have found something about a protection-circuit of the speaker outputs. He found this on the line6 homepage but without detailed information how this mechanism is constructed. For the moment i hope, that this device protected the poweamp from melting. Perhaps it is a kind of thermistor as you supposed. Perhaps i had a lot of luck today ;)

hmmm - strange: The DT25 is running at livingroom-level now for about 45 minutes - everything works as it should. Voicings, Penthode/Triode......no problem. Perhaps a heat problem during the first trials, but i was shure that really everything was cooled down after my mistake. So i'll watch this further and than i will push it a bit with the powersoak. If everything's fine after, i don't understand what happened. When the tone was going away, there was no noise, no hum, no crackeling and even no relay clicking. Just as somebody hat turned mastervolume down quickly. If everything's not fine, i'll try to change the tubes and bias them...we will see.

Hi Brazzy, thanks for feeling with me :) Yes, I removed the amp out of the combo. As far as i can see - I see nothing. No black marks from burning, no blown fuses. In his last seconds, it smellt a little bit unusual but not much and i can't find the source. Might it help to change the tubes? I still have the old set wich i changed because of a bit noise but i think that, if a tube would be blown away, the amp would'nt work/sound at all?? The powersoak ist 100% OK, but for the moment it's not linked to the amp.

Hi, this morning i made a really big mistake by connecting a powersoak to my DT25/112: I linked the 8Ohms output of the Amp to the output of the ps and the 16 ohms speaker to the input of the ps. The ps was switched to 16 ohms. So i did everything wrong what i could :huh: (never play guitar or connect amps before the first coffee) and played a while with mastervolume nearly at 100% and the ps reducing to moderate room level. This worked for about 5 minutes (i wondered a bit about the relativley harsh sound), than there was no sound anymore and i started to detect my mistake. After turning off the amp and switching on again after a while, it worked some minutes without any problem but than again - no more sound at all - just a very light hum. No, now all connection are ok, ich checked twice ;) I finally measured what i've done - so i used the amp at full power at a load of about 0.7 ohms DC at the 8 ohms output. I understand that i've blown away my amp cause i was stupid but i don't understand why it works normally for some minutes? When the sound stops, i can't hear something of interest like a relay or something - it just stops sounding. Has anybody an idea? Thanks a lot and sorry for my english, i'm still learning Michael