roscoe5

Went ahead and submitted on IdeaScale. Helix 31 Band Global EQ Option http://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/31-Band-Global-EQ-Option/831633-23508?submitted=1 FYI, I did some research on DSP in powered speakers and separate amps. The Carvin DCM X-Drive amps were the only ones I could find with a 31 band eq in their DSP. I made a separate post on those with their 12" coax bi-ampable monitors as a potential FRFR rig. http://line6.com/support/topic/21784-carvin-dcm2004lx-and-trx12n-for-frfr-rig/

I think the amp has presets for those speakers, as well as other Carvin speakers. Obsessive tweaking is optional. Nice to have the option though. I think most tend to find flaws and imperfections in their gear over time. Also I think those models have been around a few years. Might even find some on the used market.

Great job on the IR's! Played them for a couple of hours today. Going to take a couple I like in parallel in Helix into Redwirez MixIR2 and mix them down into a single IR and get them into a couple of presets. I don't know why, but I never IR's my Recto 212 with a neutral SS power amp. I need to go do that...you gave me a nice reference on what good neutral 212 IR should sound like. I did not like 3sigma Recto 212 IR's.

I played for a couple of hours with the Crate rig today. I duplicated my L6 SV Recto 212 patches and put IR's and cabs back in them. I ran the Android RTA Pro app after using the phone mic calibration feature, and everything seems pretty flat without Global EQ adjustments. I thought things sounded fine just playing, but thought I would check. Again, a real reference mic and DAW RTA plug in may be more accurate and may do that later. The two speakers at 75W per a side with this rig is ear splitting. I cant imagine hundreds or thousands of watts. Maybe needed on a big outdoor stage or something. I tried a few backline scenarios with me standing about 6-8ft in front of it with my back to it: speakers flat on the floor side by side, each up on a guitar amp stand, and stacked...stacked sounded amazing! Vertical stereo is actually pretty cool, and this rig will have a VERY small footprint on stage. The stack-lock corners on the Crates are nice too. It felt like a 412 behind me with a lot more clarity. Really good thump as well, maybe from the bottom speaker coupled to the floor. I've been so caught up in playing, I haven't even taken the time to clean them up and put the grilles back on yet. But here is the current Crate rig iteration. On to rehearsal this week, then gig this weekend. PS: Apologies to Line 6 as well. A lot of my preliminary Helix and HX Cab judgement was based on a pair of Sennheiser HD280 headphones, M-Audio BX-5's, and JBL Eon 515xt's. No wonder a 12" and horn is such a popular FRFR format. Helix through this rig is blowing my mind with both HX Cabs and IR's.

I dunno why I get excited about finding alternate FRFR solutions. But this one really seems to punch a lot of tickets and might be the ultimate tweakable FRFR rig. It has been a while since I've looked at Carvin for anything. While I was down the FRFR /PA engineering / RTA rabbit hole, the DCM amps with Xdrive really caught my attention. They have preset-able and recallable DSP, including 30 band eq, 4 band parametric, high & low pass, in a 10 lb 2u chassis. Then I looked at their 33lb TRX12N neo 12" coaxial, bi-ampable, pole mountable monitors which seem to have an incredibly flat response. Passive crossover is at 2.5k which is the same as Mission Gemini. But being bi-ampable, you could seriously fine tune them with that 4 channel DSP eq/crossover amp. The amp has presets for the Carvin speakers too. The amp and 2 monitors are $1557 and they have a 10% off coupon. So the whole rig would be $1400, less than Mission Gemini 2. http://carvinaudio.com/collections/dcmlx/products/dcm2004lx-ultra-light-4-channel-2000w-x-drive-power-amp http://carvinaudio.com/collections/trx-2000-series-monitors-mains-and-subwoofers/products/trx12n Feel free to say I'm deleriius at this late hour, but right now this rig makes a lot of sense in terms of features, quality, flexibility and longevity. It actually feels like a lot of bang for the buck. Anyway, maybe yet another FRFR option for us. Need a sanity check from the group on this one though.

It does sound great and really close to the Mark IV settings on my Mark V. Helix is so much more even and controllable through. I should take my Mark V into my reactive load back into Helix into the same IR and AB it. Wouldn't be surprised if Helix sounded better.

Ooh, that's a good question. Interested too.

Glad to hear it!

No issues here with 2.0. I didn't do the editor and driver first, and should have from what I read. I got lucky I guess.

Not sure if anyone was following this or even really cares since it's not the hip and cool new FRFR tech. But just to close out the thread... FINALLY got some time today to repair the crossovers and horns on those Crates. I'm happy to report that they sound fantastic full-range with Helix cabs or 3rd party IR's with the Crate Powerblock in stereo. Fully functional, great sounding stereo FRFR rig for about $200 for the Crate Powerblock and the pair of Crate PE-12H speakers, and replacement horn diaphragms & crossover caps. The Line 6 SV HD100 sounds great with them FRFR also, but it's not stereo. I had some doubts about the stock Crate FST 12" speakers, but they sound just fine with everything repaired and up and running. Going to try the rig out in rehearsal this week and then on a couple of gigs this coming weekend. I really like the portability since the Powerblock fits in the Helix bag and I can actually gig with one cab for the small stuff. If I need more headroom, I could get a second Powerblock and run them both bridged at 150W each instead of one at 75W a side, or pickup a rack stereo power amp. I had my sights higher on a Mission Gemini 2 rig, and may still eventually go there. But this rig will certainly buy me some time, save me $1500 for now, and is a good FRFR gateway drug.

I was thinking I could route the output of Helix through an eq/RTA plug in then to the Helix outputs just to compare Helix Global EQ with a 31 band to see if the extra piece of rack gear is even worth it. I'll probably pick up a reference mic for fun and learning.

Hmm...this could have been a drive-by click baiting fellas. No sign of the OP. Ooh...would that be a category 6 poster? Sorry...a little of my category 5 coming out ;)

Going off of a lot of forum advice to change mentality from traditional guitar amp/cab to studio/PA sound engineering for an FRFR transition. So I'm trying to bring myself up to speed on understanding EQ usage and flattening out an FRFR rig (or PA). I've read a lot of posts on the Helix Global EQ (parametric and high/low cut type)and some suggested settings. I have adjusted it myself using just an RTA phone app and gotten some pretty good results. I think I am getting a grasp of some of the fundamentals. However, when you research traditional methods of EQ'ing for flattening a PA or studio, it seems a 31 band eq with some RTA auto-eq algorithms and an RTA mic are used. This also aligns with my RTA app and it's 31 band analysis capability. I'm wondering if a 31 band Helix Global EQ option would be useful. It seems to be industry standard. http://www.waves.com/plugins/geq-graphic-equalizer#geq-graphic-equalizer-overview http://www.music-group.com/Categories/Behringer/Signal-Processors/Equalizers/DEQ2496/p/P0146 http://dbxpro.com/en-US/products/driverack-pa2 I post this as I am considering a Mission Gemini 2 passive speaker with separate Matrix GT800FX power amp, and maybe 1U eq like the dbx DriveRack EQ or the Behringer DEQ 2496 if I cant all the needed eq with Helix. I can get all three for about the cost of a Mission powered Gemini 2 and have a much more flexible, repairable, possibly better quality / sound modular rig. I could also have room eq presets for different clubs / venues I play regularly, for both guitar and bass. http://usa.matrixamplification.com/rack-amplifers/gt-800-fx.html http://missionengineering.com/?product=gemini-2-p I don't really care for having the power amp integral with the cab. Every time I walk into my local music store I walk past the repair dept with tons of powered speakers with their amps and/or speakers pulled. Not that this rig couldn't fail too, but I have other backups of each type of component. FRFR is a big investment for me at about $1500+. Trying to get the biggest bang for my buck, as well as longest life cycle, best sound, most flexibility, etc. Anyway, I really appreciate the input all of the experienced and technical users in this group and thought some of you would have some expertise in the area.

Im a 5...which one are you ;)

Interested too.

Wow, I just asked basically the same thing on another thread just now...your wording and organization is much better. I'm not up on the idea of using 3 cables and custiom helix patching to access the FH1500 horn. I also asked if the FH1500 1/4" guitar input happened to be stereo since it can pass signal to all speakers. I think you can use it as a single mono in (your question 6).

I'm considering either the Mission Gemini 2 or the L6 Firehawk 1500, as I want to keep the guitar cab format. Helix connectivity to MG2 is a simple stereo connection. I haven't seen anything published in the FH1500 or Helix manuals on connectivity between the two. Is see DI and Silverhead saying it's great, that FH1500 is the Line 6 FRFR amp for Helix and no other plans for a plain L6 link version of it are being developed. I would think L6 would publish connectivity and may some Helix Templates for FH1500. I have gone through a couple of forums and videos trying to wrap my head around connectivity between Helix and FH1500. It seems like it takes 3 cables and some creative Helix patch work to get signal to all FH1500 speakers, including the horn. At this point, I don't think I care about wet/dry/wet. I would like to just use 1/4" LR stereo connection from Helix to FH1500 and XLR LR to the PA. I think the horn is a key piece and don't want to lose it. I really don't want to mess with splitting the paths, summing stereo, etc. As I would have to go back through a lot of patches, many of which already have splits. Plus it sounds like levels and phasing may be an issue. Is the Guitar input of FH1500 possibly stereo? That connection seems to get signal to all speakers.

I'm considering either the Mission Gemini 2 or the L6 Firehawk 1500, as I want to keep the guitar cab format. Helix connectivity to MG2 is a simple stereo connection. I haven't seen anything published in the FH1500 or Helix manuals on connectivity between the two. Is see DI and Silverhead saying it's great, that FH1500 is the Line 6 FRFR amp for Helix and no other plans for a plain L6 link version of it are being developed. I would think L6 would publish connectivity and may some Helix Templates for FH1500. I have gone through a couple of forums and videos trying to wrap my head around connectivity between Helix and FH1500. It seems like it takes 3 cables and some creative Helix patch work to get signal to all FH1500 speakers, including the horn. At this point, I don't think I care about wet/dry/wet. I would like to just use 1/4" LR stereo connection from Helix to FH1500 and XLR LR to the PA. I think the horn is a key piece and don't want to lose it. I really don't want to mess with splitting the paths, summing stereo, etc. As I would have to go back through a lot of patches, many of which already have splits. Plus it sounds like levels and phasing may be an issue. Is the Guitar input of FH1500 possibly stereo? That connection seems to get signal to all speakers.

Wonder what sounds better...Mission Gemini 2 212 or L6 Firehawk 1500. Similar format.

And you have a nice mic set too. I'm sure that was a bit more work and much appreciated!

I got the 3sigma Recto 212 IR's and didn't care for those. They were a good general representation of a Recto 212, but They didn't really sound like the way I liked to mic and record my cab. The forum members are very kind and supportive here. I had some people wanting to chip in a few $ for the hack ones I made. After a few requests even though I was telling people not to worry about it, I just threw a paypal payme tip jar out there with the IR'S. I think it is nice to be able to try all IR'S and just pay for the ones you use. We really have an honest and generous bunch here.

Thanks! I'll give them a go. Just curious... Did you go with a neutral SS power amp or tube?

Thank you for the review. The Mission Gemini 2 was top of my want list to. The coax 12s make the most sense to me and I would like to keep the gutar cab format.

Thanks guys! Guess I'll do my homework next time ;)

I went on the ASUS site and looked at the typical available downloads. There is a specific ASUS motherboard USB driver, Chipset Drivers, and others you may want to try. The default Windows USB driver may not be the best. http://www.asus.com/US/Motherboards/ROG-RAMPAGE-V-EDITION-10/HelpDesk_Download/