lyonk55

4 hours ago, codamedia said:

Always remember.... you do not have the same guitar as the reference therefore it will never match. That difference is likely more about the pickups/guitar than it is about the interface used. 

Of course. I'm just further away than I'd like to be. I've played about with different pickups over several years and I'm leaning to something else being off. 

4 hours ago, codamedia said:

Every interface will be different in this regard. IME: it is very easy to compensate a digital signals volume once recorded without degradation. If one is louder than the other, just adjust them to match once recorded.

I should actually add that the 2i2 input is damn near impossible to avoid clipping it seems. So no matter what else, consider it gone from my gear.

Thanks for the advice guys, I appreciate it.

Hi again,

So my new cable arrived and I've just tested it out. It's a George L, which seem to be known for brightness. Still has the high-mid roll off. Spectrum looks pretty much the same. So once again at a bit of a loss.

On 1/19/2020 at 2:47 PM, amsdenj said:

Excellent analysis. @codamedia, your contributions are always great, thanks.

 

One more consideration might be pickup height. If all the guitars are setup the same, its possible pickup height is the issue. Try lowering the pickups to improve responsiveness and tone.

 

I've messed around with pickup height a lot without solving it I'm afraid.

EDIT:

After playing a little more, I've noticed something weird with the way notes are (sometimes) decaying. When I hold a long note, sometimes as it trails off there is a sudden drop then rise in volume. It doesn't mute, it just gets quieter for a split second before rising back to the previous level and trailing off. Almost like it's being hit with a noise gate briefly, but it's the DI signal, the input gate is off and the stomp gate is bypassed. Not sure if it's related to my EQ woes or not but thought it was worth mentioning.

MORE EDIT:

@Ka5par

Sorry, managed to miss that reply. I managed to find my old Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 today and gave that a try too. There is less of a roll off than the Helix, but still less high-mids than the reference. The 2i2 is also louder, even at min gain, on the instrument input. I found another example comparing the 2i2 to another interface (forget which at the moment) and the 2i2 was noticeably less bright sounding. Here's a Helix/2i2 comparison with my 7 string and the new cable:

Helix:

2i2:

13 hours ago, codamedia said:

 

OK... so it's just a lack of high end clarity in your direct signal. Since you say it is happening with ALL of your instruments then it shouldn't be instrument specific (ie: a dull pickup) so I will suggest looking at general potential issues....

• The greatest "common" tone roll off in any rig is the cable(s) being used. Have you tried other cables... preferably ones of different make/model and length? 
• Did you set the input impedance to 1M (fixed) rather than auto as I suggested earlier? If AUTO is setting it to a lower setting, you WILL lose high end. 
• Are you sure you are not processing your dry signal in your DAW in any way? If your DAW has "input plugin" capability, are you sure it is empty or at least bypassed? 

I did set the impedance to 1M for those recordings. The DAW shouldn't be doing anything: I opened a new track, set the inputs and recorded. There is an input effects window, but it's blank by default and I've never added anything to it.

I have tried a different cable, but I have now realised that they are the same brand: the name on the older one had the name worn off a bit and I thought it was a cheap generic on. They're different models, but both Klotz, so might be worth trying something else.George Ls seem to be regarded as bright, so might look at those. I actually got the second cable after reading a thread here where that was the issue, so I'll be embarrassed if that's the problem.

Ok, while further testing I noticed I'd made a mistake when I made those images: the spectrum analyser plugin was in a different mode for the downloaded DI. The recordings were in "average + max", hence the overlay and the download was on "default". So I've re-done my 7 string, my Music Man and the download with it set to "average". The difference is much less stark, but still definitely a difference. The download has a lot more going between 1k and 3k, which would explain my duller sound.

Download:

My 7 string:

My Music Man:

I should explain that this dullness is there for all my guitars and basses, and that I've heard other people's Helix profiles sound great. So I think something is off on my end. Just need to pin it down.

Thanks for the advice so far.

Ah sorry, I didn't notice the images don't have their names attached.

1 is the DI I downloaded, it's a Daemoness 7 string with Bare Knuckle Black Hawk pickups.

2 is my 7 string whith Bare Knuckle Impluse pickups, the overlay is just the way I had the analyser set at the time: it held the max level, but the "current" level was still being displayed when I made the image. The others show the max only.

3 is my 7 with Fishman Fluence pickups.

4 is my Music Man JP15.

I realise that the download will be different, it just seems so far off from what I have that I was concerned. I did try doing a factory reset last night. I only had a quick check, but it might have changed something actually. No image, but the spectrum of my JP was looking more like the download. I'll look again tonight and report back.

The comparison signal is from online, I didn't record it. I'm not 100% sure, but I think it's a dry signal from an Axe Fx 2.

I'm using the guitar input, with "Multi" selected on the patch. I can't see an input level setting in the global settings or patch, only for the outputs and the effects loop. If I remember right, the impedance was set to auto, but it was either an empty patch or the USB 7 signal, so that should default to 1M right? I have played with the input impedance before and not really found it to help much when set to 1M.

It was a while ago I recorded my DIs, but only recently I thought to compare them to one I know I like.

Hi all,

I've had my Helix for a for a while now and have a bit of an issue getting high gain sounds I like (better luck with cleans though). I've suspected for a while now that the problem is related to the DI signal and not the modelling, since it seems to affect me using the Helix as an interface for plugins too. Finally got around to comparing my signals with the Helix to a pro's (Nolly's) and the results are pretty obvious: I have loads more midrange and low end, which explains my dull, boomy sounds. The thing is, I'm not really sure why and Googling seems to give more advice for the amp/effects rather than the dry signal itself. I don't think it's due to my instruments as they all suffer from it to varying extents, regardless of string age. And I can't see any obvious settings that would be screwing things up.

I record via the USB out and monitor with Sennheiser HD600s.

If anyone has any suggestions, either Helix specific or in general I'd really appreciate it. 

I've attached some images from the spectrum analyser plugin of Nolly's DI compared to my 7 string with 2 different pickups and my JP15.