dbosko

It sure would help to alleviate a lot of frustration for those of us new to this if Line 6 would print in bold red letters at the beginning of the manual that this EQing needs to be done.

For me, it isn't so much an "I shouldn't have to," it's more of a, "How the hell does this doomahicky work?"

Thanks Alex, I'll give some of those a go tonight. My clip above was just straight amp+cabs of course. And, instead of using the cab cut I added a high-cut block to switch on and off.

Thanks willsmythe37, I kinda know what you mean. With, the little bit of recording I've done, I found if I stand two mics at a height of 6 feet spread about 12 inches apart 6 feet away and pointed down at a screaming amp I'd get the sound I hear when I play. Go figure :) I just recorded 6 minutes of Mama Kin looped into Cubase direct as I switched through 25 amps up to the plexies turning a 7.5K cut on and off. For some, it was too much for others not enough. I noticed it really just gets rid of the fizzies mostly but the effect is definitely exaggerated at volume in the room. Now I need to figure out how to "round it out." https://soundcloud.com/david-bosko/helix-hicut-onoff-25amps

It doesn't seem like there are a lot of "the Helix is too dark" threads out there. :) I don't have a lot of experience with modelers except that I do have an HD500 that I never used because of the same reason. From what it sounds like, I just don't know what the approach is to these things. It does seem like the comparison clips on youtube should cut the highs a bit though compared to the others. edit: I tried it on DT770 80ohm. Not sure if that matters.

You guys are awesome, thank you. It's becoming clearer how to approach this. I think some of these well thought out explanations of what us new guys are hearing should be pinned right up front. I kept wavering from "this isn't right" to "this is how it is supposed to be" and back again. What you all are saying makes sense so I'm back in the "this is how it is supposed to be" camp. I'm switching back to the KRKs now to get back to "pure" Helix, and I'll go from there. I'll noodle with the dials a bit and post a clip later tonight and see what ya'll think.

When I get home from work I'll try putting the studio pre at the beginning and at the end of the chain and see if that rounds stuff out a bit. I read that here somewhere. Of course, no matter what, I will never click down to the bridge pickup of a strat, that is a place I'm not prepared to go just yet. :)

Fair enough... it's just that my eyes see this scary high-cut number, my ears tell me I like it, my brain starts thinking these two things shouldn't go together.

Playing through headphones everything sounds harsh. Playing through Sunn half-stack using 4 cable method sounds harsh. Playing through Onyx mixer into Rockit studio monitors and sub sounds harsh. I realize that there are a bunch of people on the forums here saying you always have to use a massive high cut and a bit of low as well to get it sounding good. I guess now I know why. But, is it supposed to be this way? I think this also explains why all the Helix vs whatever comparisons on youtube seem to have all the others sounds warmer and rounder. I would like to see those comparisons redone with a bunch of high cut because it definitely sounds better after that than what people seem to be showing. I bought the HD500 years ago, used it a couple times, and put it back in the box because of the same shrillness. I still have it, brand new in the box. I'm determined to figure this thing out this time though. Is this a bug, a special Helix feature, or am I still doing something wrong? (although it does sound good with a cut down to 2 or 3K, just not sure if that is how it is supposed to sound or the best it can)