robbieb61

Thanks! That sounds great and is now part of my lead snapshot. :)

Been using the Modded 2204 for my heavy crunch and lead tones....Sounds great! BUT...I just tried out the Archon model...I think I just replaced the mod 2204 in that slot. :)

I'm pissed. I now realize that every amp I ever owned...from Mesa, to Marshall, to Bogner, and every amp in between...NEVER had a single "update"!!! I was being ripped off for the last 30 years and didn't even know it! :angry:

I think that an FRFR cab with a hi-end tube power amp like audiophiles use in super expensive stereo systems would probably be the ultimate way to run a Helix. The best of all worlds. Even numbered (pleasing to the ear) harmonic distortion that only comes from tubes and a cab designed specifically for it. :)

I'll bet! I'd love to run a giant rig again onstage. Especially the Helix with a tube amp setup in stereo. I used to run a wet/dry rig back in the '80's....but back then I had a 3 man road crew and didn't have to set that rig up (Mesa Studio Preamp, rack full of effects, Mesa Simuclass 295, and 2 Marshall cabs mic'ed up). Honestly the Helix sounds great all by itself. I played a recent gig here in Vegas and had several other musicians come up and tell me that they had never heard a guitar sound so good in the P.A. before. And that was just the Helix going straight into the board and me monitoring myself through the same floor wedge as my vocal. :)

I'm pretty sure you aren't familiar with the VGA-7. It was the most advanced piece of modeling gear back then. A complete modeling amp. I used it with my Brian Moore I-Guitar with it's Roland pinned jack which gave me total access to modeled guitars, tunings, amps, and cabs. And that was in 2002! I kept the amp because it STILL sounds great and the different acoustic guitar models it has are the best I've ever heard, even to this day. To answer your reply: Yes, the Roland VGA-7 has 2 65 watts amps (stereo) going into 2 12" speakers and 2 tweeters. https://www.roland.com/us/products/vga-7/specifications/ And yes, you can plug your I-Phone in it and play music and it sounds as good or better than a monitor. That amp and speaker configuration was WAY ahead of it's time. And I used it exclusively on the road for about 3 years and amazed people everywhere I went with it. But, the point I was making is that IF you get on stage with your Helix and an FRFR and you are playing with another guitar player using a Marshall stack...you'll quickly hear the difference in your Marshall model and cab through an FRFR VS the real thing. There's just that little even tone harmonics and presence that tubes bring to the table. You won't notice it at all if you are the only guitarist because the Helix is really that good. But when you are onstage in a 2 guitar band you will notice it. Luckily...simply putting my DT 50 and my Bogner cab into service with my Helix allowed me to kick my other guitar player's lollipop! lol And then I have the added luxury of NOT having to use the DT50 and Bogner cab when we play smaller venues. In those situations, his amp and cab sound like crap because he can't turn them up loud enough for the amp to "kick in". But my Helix still sounds great all by itself straight into the board. :)

I can report this....Playing in a band with another guitarist....I used the Helix going into the aux in of my old Roland VGA-7. That's pretty much FRFR as far as I'm concerned. The other guitarist used a "normal" rig of a Peavey 5150 through a Marshal 4x12. My rig sounded real good! That is until he played along side me. His tube amp and cab were far more "present" both in rehearsal and live onstage in the band mix out front. Don't get me wrong...the Helix sounded REAL good like that. But he just had more "punch" and "mojo". I have no other words to describe that. Then I dragged out my DT50 and my Bogner 4x12 and ran my Helix through that. My sound suddenly was kicking his butt. It was just a different animal, and I mean that in a good way. Has anyone else had that experience yet of playing in a 2 guitar band opposite a guy with a tube head and 4x12? As I said the Helix sounded amazing already...but for me, when I added in the tube amp and 4x12 cab THAT was when all those even numbered harmonics created by the real tubes kicked in, the sound warmed up AND at the same time got punchy as hell. I can't explain it except to say that it took away any "cold" sound of the Helix and turned each note into pure molten butter with effortless sustain and a punch and presence that was lacking before.

I haven't heard them sound bad yet in any of the posted recordings. :) Great job!

Jim...I got them today and went through some of them real quick. The CV4 was BEGGING me to use it. lol But...for me the SMBeta56A was the winner. It seemed to be able to catch those frequencies in the upper mids that allowed for some really nice long sustain on lead notes for me. Plus I think it will fit in with a mix a bit better than the CV4 (which sounds AWESOME with all that low end...but probably not as practical in a band). Anyway, I recorded a quick little bit of audio. Just some basic rock rhythm and lead using the modded 2204 in the Helix: https://soundcloud.com/robbie-boyette/helix-and-jim-roseberry-ir-crunch-and-lead I really like it. Seems to have just enough bottom end AND mid range punch for me. Thank you! -Robbie

Sent an email today. Hopefully I'm not too late for the party. :)

I thought the first sample was fizzy. The second one you just did sounded kind of muffled. Neither one is what I THINK you are going for (obviously or you wouldn't make this post). My thinking on your question is that you may be having a tough time putting together a good sound on the Helix. I KNOW the sound is there. But you just haven't gotten it yet. I'm thinking that maybe you should try some other people's patches that are in that genre of music you're into. Then you can tweak those out a bit to sound the way you want. Doing that might give you a better feel for tweaking the Helix as well. Anyway, good luck to you on finding that sound you are wanting. I do think the Helix is more than capable of doing what you want. :) Check out this page: https://www.glenndelaune.com/patch%20downloads.htm and listen to some of the samples there....might be one there that could set you on the path. :)

DI, I think the main thing people want is the ability to use the L6 link and get the topography to change with the amp model. :) That was always the big selling point of the amplifier to the consumer. It was like "magic" or something...lol

Wow, that "Tape Slap Attack" preset is awesome...hell, they all are quite frankly. Never used the UAD stuff before. Impressive sounding.

I've played through most of them. There aren't any that I found would be useful in a live band situation. And none of them that I would use to record with either. Way too much effects on most of them. And the few that are dry were "Okay". I would say that most anyone on here could easily and quickly start with an empty preset and build much better guitar tones. Not sure why the factory presets aren't all that great. You would think they would be better than anything else out there since they were made by the experts with the unit. That's just my opinion. :)

That's the culprit.

I'll say this much...when I showed up with my Bogner Ecstasy head and cab I had a great sound coming out of the cab. Soundmen LOVED it too. My sound out front in the P.A. was always great. Same with my old Boogie rack rig, my Peavey 5150 rig, my Marshall TSL rig with the classic marshall stack cabs, and even back in the 1980's when I was using a Seymour Duncan Convertible amp. Both myself and thousands of other guitarists got massive tone (as it's always been for decades going back to some of the greatest guitar tones ever all the way back to the 1950's) But when I switched over to the HD500 and the Line 6 DT 50 amp...every soundman would groan at first sight. They were VERY anti-digital modeling...even though I pointed out that the DT amp was designed by Bogner himself and uses tubes. After I played they would begrudgingly tell me that my sound was "pretty good" with that rig. Then I got the Helix in 2015. And I played a big gig on Fremont Street here in Las Vegas. Big P.A., several signed bands, and a really good crew working sound and lights. We went on right before the headline act. I had the Helix for one week at that point. And all I had time to do was build a patch using the Boogie Dual Rec for crunch and lead and the Fender twin model for a clean sound. Ran right out of the xlr to the house P.A. and had them feed back my signal to the same monitor I used for my vocals. It blew them away! They couldn't believe I was getting that kind of sound from a pedalboard. Does it sound as great as my Bogner head through it's 4x12 cab? No. Does it sound as great as my old Marshall doulbe stack? No. BUT...it sounds DAMN close! And it wowed that crowd and the crew and all the other guitarists in the other bands all wanted to know what I was using and look at it. Since then of course, the Helix has been vastly improved and I've tweaked it out to hear exactly what I want. And I've played plenty of gigs with it here in Vegas and at the last gig I played I had a local band come up and tell me they had NEVER heard a guitar sound so good through a P.A. before. That really put a smile on my face. :) So yeah...eq'ing an expensive (or cheap) FRFR cab is a great idea...though it's NOT necessary to achieve a great tone. Keep in mind that being musical and using your ears as your guide is exactly what the greatest musicians in the world have always done. I don't think that modeling technology has changed that basic premise very much. I plug my Helix into a JBL Eon 15 inch monitor...it sounds great! I plug it into my DT 50 running through a Bogner 4x12 with greenbacks and it sounds AWESOME! I walk into gigs here in Vegas and run straight to the P.A. and get it fed back to me through my vocal monitor and it still sounds GREAT! No use of global eq and I try to even avoid the HPF and keep the LPF on the cab at around 100 hz A lot of this depends on your guitar and your fingers. Then your ears to determine what is musically pleasing. If pink noising a particular cab gives you that...then that's great! If running it through a tube amp into a 4x12 gives you that...that's great! Everybody has their own unique "sound" they hear in their head. Whatever gets you there is what counts. :)

Wickedfinger, I'm just pointing out that The Beatles didn't care one bit about what you are saying when George Harrison played "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". Page would have laughed in anyone's face who tried to tell him he is "stupid" for trusting his ears and his vision. Van Halen didn't need any science discussion to achieve his tone. The truly great ones didn't give a damn about any of the stuff you're saying. I'm not discounting what you are saying, I'm just pointing out that true musical sounds come from the player and his ears. If you get close to your own idea of great tone by reading physics books...good for you. No need to be self-pretentious and think you are smarter than other people. Listen to the awesome tone of the slide guitar on Jackson Browne's "Running On Empty". David is playing a cheap trash guitar through a cheap tiny amp and it stands the test of time as a great sound. Using your logic in this post...it shouldn't sound good at all and he is "stupid" Come on man...don't be "that guy" on the forum. Lighten up and share your ideas without copping an attitude.

Keith Richards would be swinging his telecaster at wickedfinfers head by the second sentence of that post lol

Testing...1,2,3...

So when he was in the studio it was Fender and in concert it was the Lab? Would that be the answer?

There are definitely no bands like Zep anymore. Not sure what Wicked finger thinks we are saying here, but as far as I can see there has been nothing but good things said about Page and Zeppelin in this thread (as it should be)

I think BB used those old solid state Gibson LAB amps? The man's tone was definitely a combo of "Lucille" and more importantly...his fingers

clean: Matchless channel 2 (gain way back) crunch: New modded Marshall (gain way back) lead: New modded Marshall (gain dimed with no distortion pedal in front)

LOL! :D

Tried all of that with Acid thrown on top for good measure. All it did was get me laid from 1978 forward all over the country and a lot of fuzzy memories of my "greatness" at venues everywhere. lol After all these years I'm starting to think that maybe massive amounts of something called "talent" may be the key ingredient that I missed! :lol: