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I use Helix with Amplitube over single USB. It works great and am able to set the latency in AT to 64ms. AT sees the Helix drivers in its audio/midi settings. Since audio from the computer on USB 1/2 is always heard in Helix, I set the AT output to USB 3/4 so that I can control where it is inserted in Helix blocks. The two are fun together. I mainly play around with Helix amps through AT cab room. But the multi-channel AT looper and recorder is quicker and easier than my DAW to jam and work out ideas. AT has easy MIDI map and learning to set Helix up for control.

I went ahead and did a few more mics, SM57, SM58 (got idea from Ola Englund video), and Sennheiser e609.

Holy crap guys, thanks or the test drives and comments!!! And thanks for the plot CabIR!!! I just made one more with some adjustments to smooth it out. A tiny bit more off the cone and a tiny bit back. Dang what a difference slight adjustments in mic position make. MesRec212_D112_15in_2.wav NEW!!! (smoother, not as bright) https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mm1y9x4s75d9oh4/AABljWBWiNEzDlA3_rgB6XNka?dl=0

Thanks for trying it out guys!!! I really appreciate the feedback! I agree, it is super trebley. I think it's the nature of that AKG mic near the center of the cap. the YouTube video of it was pretty trebley too. I ended up pulling the high cut even even lower to around 5kHz. I think I will keep it around for the cleans though.

Been jamming on this for a few days. It's working really well for Fender cleans and Brit crunch too. The Helix Soldano trio and Brit 2204 regular and mod sound really good through it. That AKG D112 mic really opens up the highs and lows. It's killing me not to have time to make some more of these. Ah well, maybe Santa will bring me an AKG C214 :)

Cool. I'll still jam through amplitube once and a while, mainly to run Helix amps through the Amplitube Cab Room and revisit the Mesa pack once aND a while. Did you pick it up?

I feed Helix floor 1/4" out into the return/power amp in of a 100w L6 Spider Valve HD100 and have the volume 9 o'clock. The amp master volume is at 10 oclock. I use full amp models though which are louder than preamp models, but the Spider Valve has almost no coloration of its own. Mesas, Marshalls, etc have a very signature colored power section when Helix preamp models seem to work better with. In this case, you need Helix output to be louder. Personally, I like controlling volume from Helix floor in front of me. The scale of the volume control is much finer and less touchy than my amp master volume.

From info and research from the IR Deep Dive/Impedance Curve thread I posted, I am testing a new (to me) IR method. Thanks to all of the info in the Fractal community and the contributions from @CabIR here on the Helix forum (and Fourier transforms :) ) . Helix seems to lack some of the speaker/amp interaction modeling and controls of Fractal Axe II, but the Helix amp models themselves are phenomenal. IMO baking some of that interaction back into the IR can improve the realism for Helix. As we have covered on some threads here, and as can be seen in some of the factory Helix presets as well as 3rd party, parametric eq with specific settings between amp/cab blocks or after the cab can also simulate the resonance of the cabs resulting from tube amp/cab interaction. The goal of this exercise was to capture the linear and time based response of tube amp & speaker cab interaction (impedance curve, etc.) that is lost when a solid state amp is used for capture, but remove the tonal coloration of the tube amp itself. This approach should yield a better feeling IR than ones created with solid state amps, but not as colored as some made with tube amps. I chose the AKG D112 (1in from the grille slightly off center) for its wider frequency response, which is a good start for the Mesa Recto 212 cab. IMO, it is easier to trim the frequencies off using the hi/lo cuts in the IR block than to add them back with EQ. It makes this Celestion Vintage 30 based IR pretty versatile for cleans. This also leaves a lot of tonal control to the amp model controls and guitar tone knobs. I'll probably do more tweaking and more mics, positions, speakers and IR mixes, but I want to stew on this one for a while. I think it accomplished what I was after for a first pass. MesRec212_D112_1in_1.wav MesRec212_D112_15in_2.wav (smoother, not as bright) MesRec212_D112_1in_OA.wav MesRec212_D57_1in.wav MesRec212_D57_1in_OA.wav MesRec212_D57_2in_OA_Enh.wav MesRec212_D58_1in.wav MesRec212_D58_1in_OA.wav MesRec212_D609_1in.wav Mic Mixes posted!!! New!!! So much smoother and fuller than the single mics alone. Changing out my FOH IR with one of these. MesRec212_MX_57_57OA.wav MesRec212_MX_57_58.wav MesRec212_MX_57_58_112_609.wav MesRec212_MX_57_58_609.wav MesRec212_MX_57_112.wav MesRec212_MX_57_609.wav MesRec212_MX_58_112.wav MesRec212_MX_58_609.wav MesRec212_MX_112_57_58.wav MesRec212_MX_112_57_609.wav MesRec212_MX_112_58_609.wav MesRec212_MX_112_609.wav https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mm1y9x4s75d9oh4/AABljWBWiNEzDlA3_rgB6XNka?dl=0 For the really distorted high gain stuff (i.e. Bogner Uberschall), you may want to pull the high cut down to around 8-10,000 Hz and the low cut up to 80 Hz since the AKG D112 has extended low and high frequency response. http://www.akg.com/pro/p/d112mkii Here is a good video I refer to often comparing an SM57 and D112 on a Mesa Recto 412 cab. I think this IR with the Helix Cali Rectifire amp (gain 7, presence 6) model almost nails the AKG D112 tone in this video. Here's a clip I made of the same (approximate) riff with Helix Cali Rectifire amp model through the IR with only a tiny bit of room reverb. I actually left the low and high cuts on the IR block off. No other eq or effects are in the patch. Apologies for the dead strings and ringing trem on that PRS. https://soundcloud.com/michael-potts-995394155/mesrec212-d112-1in-1-clip

Not sure what style you are playing, HX Cabs for mid to high gain sounds aren't great OOTB. They almost made me want to return Helix when I first got it. Try throwing parametric EQ between the amp and cab blocks, boost 110Hz +4db and cut 500Hz -3db to better simulate real cab resonance. Many IR's do this themselves if you want to try a few of those.

Awesome, thanks Glenn! BTW, I really dig the videos of the Boutique patches Vol I & II. Those will be mine :)

Hey Zooey, In Glenn's patches, are his "tone match/imprint" IR's separate from the cab blocks/IR's or do they act as the cab (plus special sauce)? I always wonder if he and others make their IR's from scratch, or reprocess other's IR's with added eq/matching from a DAW.

One heck of a Fractal wiki collection on the subject... http://wiki.fractalaudio.com/axefx2/index.php?title=AMP_block_parameters#LOW.2FHIGH_RESONANCE_FREQUENCY.2C_LOW.2FHIGH_RESONANCE_Q.2C_LOW.2FHI_RESONANCE_.28SPEAKER_IMPEDANCE.29 One way to find the SRF is to put a Filter block after the amp block. Set the type to Peaking, Q to 5 or so and Gain to 10 dB. Start with a Freq. of 50 Hz. Play some chugga-chugga and slowly adjust the Freq. until you hear and feel the cabinet resonate. Make a note of the frequency. Remove the filter block and set the amp block SRF to match. 4x12s typically have an SRF of between 80 and 120. Open back cabs are typically a bit lower

Perfect! Thanks again! I really appreciate the expert input. I'll definitely look into some of your IR's. I like the way you think :) P.S. You should consider adding this info to your tips and tricks page. PEQ seems just as effective giving a tube feel to solid state amp-based IR's, at least in Helix anyway. https://www.cabir.eu/en/content/category/3-academy-ir-tips-tricks?id_cms_category=3

Awesome, thanks for the info @CabIReu! As of now, Helix has no Cab/IR block controls similar to AxeFX and I dont think that the amp models are really addressing the interaction between amp & cab either. I think the Helix cabs are REALLY flat, maybe by design. IMO, IR's generally seem to have frequency enhancements that the HX Cabs do not. PEQ between the Helix amp and cab seem very effective in simulating this. The Kock 212 plot is very useful to me personally. I think I was pretty close with my PEQ settings above for the HX Mesa 412 cab. I'd love to see similar plots for different Marshall cab speaker types (Greenbacks, Seventy 80's, V30's, etc.) with different Marshall amps. I know you guys do a lot of these.

I use this one I created from my own stage rig on all my presets. Initially I did it so I could play gigs and record with and without the amp/cab and have the same tone. But over time, I found it to be very versatile and my go-to IR. MesRec212_2ioaD12_L6SV_6L6.wav https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ch8ekey3nr4ro5l/AABr5NAVSAIm9ZzfzwG9eOWKa?dl=0 This IR really has a wide frequency response due to to the response of the AKG D112 mic and can brighten up this Mesa Celestion Vintage 30 loaded cab IR when needed, unlike many other V30-based IR's. It also captures the impedance curve, damping effects and resonance of a tube amp and Mesa V30 speaker with the Line 6 Spider Valve HD100 MKII power section with little to no coloration. The L6 SV is very neutral as it was intended to be used with full amp models from the Spider section or a Pod X3. It sounded great physically when I ran Helix amp models into the L6 SV power section into the Mesa 212 cab, so it made sense to make an IR of it. I just tweak high and low cut depending on the amp type and amount of gain. Little to no hi/lo cut for cleans, 9kHz hi cut and 80Hz low cut for really high gain. It is also very responsive to the guitar tone knob. It seems to let a lot of the Helix amp model character pass.

Great dialog on the topic from the CabIR.eu thread here... http://line6.com/support/topic/18056-impulse-responses-by-cabireu/page-2

If you are looking to use it in a backline, first things that come to mind are the Mission Gemini 2 (2x12 coax) and the Line 6 Firehawk 1500 (1x12 +horn + two 6" coax). Gut feel is that the Mission will sound bigger with its 2x12 coax speakers, but this may not be the case. The L6 Firehawk is designed for good stage spread and volume. Fire hawk is 2/3 the price of the Mission. Many here put various PA-type FRFR speakers on poles behind them. I personally have no experience with any of these. Others will likely chime in soon.

I totally agree with not being bound by old amp tech and embracing new tech. There are some good approaches, physics and lessons learned in the past generations of amp tech though that can help us. Personally, it does me good to revisit the old stuff from time to time. This week's journey led me to the parametric eq and surgical settings between amp and cab to improve the overall feel and response. I just went back through all my patches and replaced all IR'S with Helix HX cabs fine-tuned them with upstream eq. I know it sounds like an exageration, but Helix feels like a new machine to me now. The Helix cabs have great consistency, contol ability and predictability. I think they just needed some tuning beyond of their block settings. I might actually be ready for FRFR. P.S. I did end up pulling down the 110Hz bump to +3db from +4db when I ran the patches at stage volume. May be the Fletcher Munson effect.

I really like your tracks...both tones and tunes!

Yeah, I understand the nature of IR's and non-linear characteristics. Knowing this and noting the difference between solid state amped IR's and tubed amped IR's, I went for the low hanging fruit of eq between the amp and Helix HX cab to approximate this effect. I'm sure there are diminishing returns on the effort and cost of chasing every detail. Maybe there is an opportunity to develop eq curves for specific amp and speaker type combinations for Helix. I believe that this is what Redwirez was trying to accomplish with their impedance curve IR's. @fremen here actually did a nice video comparison/demo of the Redwirez impedance curve IR's back in 2010.

I modified the Q setting and gain to taste to try and match my real recto head and cab, which is a little boomy also. I tried it in headphones and 8" studio monitors. You could certainly tweak the gains. I was really targeting the frequencies. I think the power lies in having the eq between the amp and cab and tweaking it near those frequencies depending on your amp and cab models. It may be overkill for clean to low gain sounds. But really starts to show with mid to high gain sounds. I may look at some of my tube amp/cab IR's in an analyzer app/addin and see if I can determine impedance curve effects of the different tube amp types and roughly translate it to some parametric eq settings. But honestly, once I found the frequencies and had some ideas of what I wanted to accomplish, my ears seemed to work pretty well.

I took a queue from Fractal's writeup about a 100Hz+ resonance in most guitar speaker cabs in their Axe manual, and that many impedance curves can result in a low end bump, then scoop and rise back up in the highs. I made a simple Line 6 Helix preset with a Cali Rectifire amp model and stock HX 412 Cali Cab model. I have placed a parametric eq between the amp and cab with a +4db 110Hz boost and a -3db 750Hz cut to attempt to simulate the Impedance Curve between tube amp and speaker cab. The first half of the clip is eq off, second half on. This feels MUCH more like my real Mesa Recto head and cab. The resonance is much better. I, and others, have been putting eq's after the cab, but it seems to improve the realism, feel and response of the whole amp/cab when placed between them. The HX Cab seems to respond better and the overall sound is tighter. Clip https://soundcloud.com/michael-potts-995394155/cali-rect-impedance-curve Preset http://line6.com/customtone/tone/2735500/ In conclusion, the parametric eq between the amp and cab with some deliberate adjustment to simulate the effects of an impedance curve seems to add a touch more realism to the sound and response of the Helix HX Cabs. This is most apparent in high gain IMO. Of course this isnt a real impedance curve and doesnt capture all of the interaction between tube amp and cab. But it does enhance the HX cab resonance and a little mid scoop that you might from the IC, bringing it closer to real for me.

This haunts me...I literally lose sleep over this....so I've gone further down the rabbit hole on speaker modeling with Helix HX Cabs as my baseline, compared to Impulse Responses (IR) using solid state amps vs tube amps vs my own IR's made from my various tube power amp sections. I'm also considering my current preference of running Helix into a neutral tube amp, like Line 6 Spider Valve (Fryette PS2 in future), and Helix preamps into DT50. The last bit of realism missing seems to be boiling down to tube amp-speaker interaction of different tube power amp types and speaker types, including Impedance Curves and dampening factors resulting from this interaction. I think we all are realizing that a lot of magic happens at the cab/IR block :) This seems to be addressable via amp matching tech like Kemper, BIAS, and Fractal. It seems fairly consistent where you configure a similar model amp & cab then capture that final interaction with a real amp and cab via matching. I get a very similar result (I think) when I capture an IR of my real cabs with the power section of a tube amp of similar type to the Helix amp that I want to pair it with. You can test yourselves with this handful of different power amp IR's I created a while back. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ch8ekey3nr4ro5l/AABr5NAVSAIm9ZzfzwG9eOWKa?dl=0 Redwirez provides different impedance curve IR's to mix with their standard library to get closer to this tube amp and speaker interaction. I think some of the 3rd party Helix patch guys are providing some tone match/imprint IR's with their patches. We Helix users and patch authors also seem to use EQ after the cabs to achieve a roughly similar result I think. Fractal seems to have a very specific set of cabinet parameters to address this in AxeFx. I'm wondering if additional similar Helix cabinet parameters could be a Helix wishlist or IdeaScale item and improve the overall realism. Maybe some of this tech is already in Helix and I am missing it. http://www.fractalaudio.com/downloads/manuals/axe-fx-2/Axe-Fx-II-Owners-Manual.pdf 5.1.2 Amp Speaker Parameters These parameters shape the virtual speaker impedance curve and the resulting resonances in the virtual power amp. Amp/Speaker interaction causes an increase in power amplifier response at certain frequencies, affecting the tone. Note that the power amp frequency response will not equal the speaker impedance if the NEGATIVE FDBK is greater than “0†(because negative feedback flattens the response curve). LOW FREQ, LOW Q, LOW RES – Guitar loudspeakers have a low-frequency resonance, typically about 100 Hz. This shifts up slightly when the speaker is mounted in an enclosure. This resonance causes an increase in the power amplifier response due to the finite output impedance of the power amp. EFFECTS GUIDE Doc v15.0b 43 HI FREQ, HI RES – A loudspeaker voice-coil presents an inductive load to the power amp at high frequencies. This inductive load, in conjunction with the output transformer capacitance, creates a highfrequency resonance at the specified frequency. XFRMR LF, XFRMR HF – These set the output transformer bandwidth. SPEAKER DRIVE –This parameter simulates distortion caused by pushing a speaker too far. It interacts with the MASTER, which determines how hard the actual power amp is pushing. XFRMR DRIVE – Controls how hard the virtual output transformer is driven. Higher values simulate a smaller, more easily saturated transformer. All this said, I have no intention of changing over to another modeler and am staying with Helix. I can get what I need by making my own IR's with matching tube amp type power sections. I could certainly use a couple more cabs and mics to fill it out. But I think this could be addressed by Line 6 and Helix and would love to see a parameter-based solution, or some kind of impedance curve matching between the Helix amp model and HX cab model that reads the amp type and speaker type...maybe similar to the way the guitar input impedance (Z-in) changes automatically on the amp type.

I'm really interested in your experience. I have seen good things about it from a couple of others in this forum. I currently use the power amp in of a Line 6 Spider Valve HD100 head into a Mesa 212 that I think sounds very neutral. But I would like to go with the smaller Fryette PS2.

I'm pretty new to Variax, but stumbled across something I thought was cool. Sorry if this is a repeat. I was doing a lot of research about replacing the pickups in the JTV-69 because the stock mag humbucker simply wasn't hot enough. The modeled pickups are just a tiny bit off to me on the high gain bridge pickup stuff. But I just discovered that in Workbench HD, I was able to simply boost the output +6db and set the mix to 100% mags. I have this set in the Custom 2 bridge slot. I can kick the boost in and out by pressing the model knob. It sounds really good and drives my real amps and Helix much better when needed. Then back to vintage-style gain when desired. I know I can do this with a gain block in Helix and snapshots, but I kind of like having on the guitar. Also, for some reason it takes all +12db Gain block boost in Helix to match the +6db boost in the Variax, and the Variax boost sounds better to me.