robbieb61

Okay...I got tired of lugging around the combo amp after a few years. DT50 112 is just too damn heavy in and of itself. And all along I have had a Bogner 4x12 cab loaded with Greenbacks in a "live in" case with wheels just collecting dust for the past few years. So...I couldn't quite get the sound I wanted with the combo. No matter which virtual cab I chose it never really captures that "thump" of a real cab. Especially noticed it when I started playing in the new band I'm in and the other guitarist is using a 5150 head through a Marshall cab. All of a sudden my combo amp sounded like...a combo amp. I got out the Bogner 4x12 and unplugged the speaker in the combo and plugged just the Bogner cab in at 16 ohms. Sounded great, but still not quite right. So I went in to all my patches and selected "no cab" for them and BOOM! There it was! "That" sound that I was missing. But now I had TWO heavy pieces of gear to cart around. So I took the chassis out of the combo amp and I've been dragging it with me out in all it's naked glory. I went to http://mathercab.com/ and sent in the dimensions of the chassis. He sent me back a diagram to fill out with a few more measurements. The head cabinet for the chassis is going to be completed by tomorrow and shipped out so hopefully I'll have it next week. I'll post up some pics of it when I get it and have the chassis installed in case anyone else wants to turn their combo into a head. Plus, you can always take the chassis back out of the head cab and put it back in the combo cab in the future. :)

That would be PERFECT!

I'm with you no the models sounding flat compared to real pickups. That's why I don't use any of the models except the acoustics. NONE of them sound as full as the regular pickups on the guitar itself. They have more "bite", fullness, and lots more bottom to them. I even tried the ones that are supposed to sound like the pickups in my 89f...but they don't. It's just hard to justify turning on the models and getting a decent sound, when I can simply switch to the mags and get a great sound. Not sure that anything can be done about it. But the electronics have been disappointing to me on my JTV 89F. The alt tunings are all discordant, the models are weak compared to the mags. But the guitar itself is very playable and sounds good using the magnetic normal pickups. The acoustic is awesome to use in a live band. Just wish I had known that the electronics weren't up to the level of my Brian Moore with GK pickups going through my VG7 Roland amp. But then again...the VG7 doesn't even come close in tone to my current HD 500/DT 50 "dream rig" so I'm screwed either way. lol

"Helix want one but, do i really need one lol .." I could rhetorically ask myself that same question about every woman I've ever been with. So the answer is: HELL YES!!!

How about this... a video with the Rectifier amp for instance. Dial up a nice rock crunch tone similar to what Billy Duffy gets with The Cult. That's a solid rock crunch sound. And I don't care what amp he actually uses. I'm just saying grab the Rec and pull up a good crunch tone on it with a Boogie 4x12...I was only using him as a sort of ballpark sound. Not interested in hearing his exact sound modeled. lol Just the amp model and the cab. No need for ANY effect on that. Pure rock. Then just play an "A" chord on the second fret and hit that damn guitar really hard and let it ring for a few seconds. Then a simple palm mute chunk rhythm on an F# chord. That would tell me and a lot of other guys what the Helix sounds like right there. Then keeping that same amp...dial the drive up all the way and play some SLOW single note lead making sure to end a phrase with the note sustaining. Not interested in hearing noodling or how fast anyone can play. I want to hear the sound of the model and see if it has that tube sound or not. Play a slow phrase on the bridge and then one on the neck pickup. We've already heard the nice clean sounds. And they did sound really good on that last vid. Real good. And we've already heard the thing drenching the guitar in heavy effects. Sounded great. But it would be nice to show off the amp models for heavy rock like that. Minus the effects so we can hear just how good this new technology is getting the "meat" of the amp. I've never met anyone who tested out an amp to see what it sounded like by plugging in a dozen effects and playing to a backing track. lol But that demonstration did show how nice the Helix can sound in that environment. Now let's hear it as an AMP! :)

NOOOOOOO! Damn you! Damn you! lol :D

Got ya beat. My order was placed on 6/13 Yes, I pee'd further than you did. lol

Of course! :)

I told him that people on the Line 6 forum were saying Sept....he told me that's entirely possible with a new product. But as of today Line 6 told him early to mid August. So maybe that's good news? :)

I was just fooling around with this post originally. But I just got a call from Matt at Sweetwater. He called to give me an update on the Helix. He said it's possible that I could have it by early to mid August! :)

How about now? Is it here yet? Is it here? (picture a child in the back seat of a car on a long trip asking "Are we there yet?" over and over LOL)

Just askin' ! :D

I didn't know there was an Auto Tune guitar! If you are talking about the Auto Tune ATG floor processor...it works with any Roland GK pickup equipped guitar. And owning an old Roland VG7 amp that has alt tuning, guitar models, and amp models....I can tell you that the open tunings, alt tunings, acoustic guitar models, and drop tunings with it blow away my JTV89F I actually got the JTV89F because I wanted to be able to have open tunings and use any amp. But so far the open tunings on my JTV sound like crap because of all the ghost notes making dissonant tones. I've never been able to use it with my band even once in that way. So from my limited perspective of owning both GK pickup equipped guitars and the JTV89F...I would say that the GK pickup is far superior. I'm not happy to say that...because my GK guitars are ones I had for the last 15 years. The JTV is one I only got back in Nov. of 2014 I didn't want to spend that money but I did... thinking that the technology would have leaped forward dramatically and sound even "better". :(

I already pre-ordered. So put me in for "yeah"

I'd like to hear each model with just an "E" chord in first position and allowed to ring out. Just each one with no effects. And then maybe a slowly played chuck berry riff on each one again with no effects. It would really show the models off a lot better than sticking them in a produced mix and it would be easy to play and record. I don't think anyone really needs to hear long lead lines being played (noodling) or rhythm guitar parts. Just a big old "E" chord ringing out and a small couple of seconds SLOW lead guitar. All solo (no accompaniment) and all done SLOW so we can really hear the tone of the amp models. :) Would that be possible for one of you guys to just take a few minutes and do? I've already pre-ordered by the way...so I'm already sold. Just excited about the Helix and want to hear some things to drive me crazier with the long wait. :) -Robbie

Just wondering if this was ever resolved. I've had the same problem since I got my JTV 89F last Nov. and I've never been able to use any of the alt tunings because they are unusable with the mags bleeding and causing the dissonant notes. :(

I wonder what the hold up is? Are they having trouble producing them or something? Hell, in the amount of time it's taking...they could have already built a new manufacturing plant. lol Just wondering. Seems like they already have several of them floating around.

I don't think there would be any difference at all in the working section of the amp between the head and the combo.

Is the delay in getting them out just a matter of manufacturing enough of them to start shipping?

My guess would be that Sweetwater will be first to get them. That's why I did my pre-order through them.

I guess I'll finally hear the amp models when my pre-ordered Helix arrives in a month or two. lol And I'm in agreement. Make some vids showing the models. NO effects. Just the sound of the amp model. Just like I went into the music store and plugged my guitar into the amp to hear it.

Bingo! I'm tired of hearing about the great UI What I want to hear are some amp models. Yeah, the Plexi sounds great and so does the Fender amp. What about the rest of the line up? And I'm hoping for a Bogner Ecstasy...all 3 channels!

I got to say...I can't wait for my Helix to ship to me in a month or two. I'm chomping at the bit to try the same set up I'm using now with the HD500 and DT50 with the Helix & DT50 :)

I messed around with all the settings. What I think I'm going to do is this: I went in with DT Edit and set up Topography III to be no amp voicing. Then I set it up on the amp to be in triode mode. Then I went from the HD left unbalanced output into the effects return. I set the HD 500 output to "Line" and also the switch on the right hand side beside the expression pedal to "Line" I know those should have been theoretically set to "Combo Power Amp" and "Amp" respectively. But they just sound better and fuller in my opinion set to line. I am sending the right unbalanced output of the HD 500 to the mixer. I mix from stage so I'm able to use a short 15 foot cable to do it. That's the other reason I am only using topography III on the amp with no voicing inside the DT. That allows my patches in the HD 500 to maintain the same volumes to both the amp and the front of house mixer (especially the volume difference between my lead and my crunch tones) The reason I'm not sending from the amp itself to the front of house is because you really have to crank the amp to get enough signal out of it's xlr out to go to the mixer. And I don't want to have all the stage bleed. I tweaked and tweaked and tweaked trying to get a good compromise. But it was always the amp too loud onstage. So I finally went with the separate send from the HD500 straight to the board. And it works great! So with this set up...I'm able to send a nice strong signal from the HD 500 to the P.A. and at the same time have a great tone at a nice low volume (or high volume if I want) through the amp. And having that amp behind me singing with tubes catches my strings on leads and gives me that great singing sustain which translates through the HD 500 feed to the mixer for out front. :)

My name has been used in another reply! I'm getting super famous! I guess I'm going to need a manager, publicist, handler, etc. now! :D