billlorentzen

I suggest saving the names of impulse responses that are used in a preset with the preset. This would make it possible for us to safely reorganize our IRs, which can become a real mess after several years! I wouldn’t mind having to reload the correct IR on an old preset, as long as I knew its name.

I've got a coupe DXR 10s and the sub, which I use as pa on some gigs and just 1or2 dxrs for guitar on others. These cabs have an exceptionally hifi sound for their price. I love mine!

I use 2 dxr10s and one sub for a full pa rig, or with an ensemble, I run one on the floor for myself, and if needed, the other aimed across the stage for the rest of the band. Sounds fantastic to me.

Nice! I do a solo guitar arrangement of Leaves too. I liked the trem stuff.

To get the lower fi delays, I'd put it in a separate path at 100% mix, followed by a dist pedal, then mix the return of the path to taste.

I play covers, and with a very wide variety, but I don't try to cop original guitar tones. I go for approximations, but they're my sounds that I like for the particular song. I do use one particular preset for about half my tunes, and maybe 4 others for almost everything else.

I have the opposite problem, where they don't show on the screen as active, when they are. Only sometimes, on certain patches.

I made a video of how I use the Expression Pedal to control my lead and rhythm sounds and levels for live use. You may find it useful, especially if you are also a singer or just like convenience. If you want to take a closer look at the patch: http://line6.com/customtone/tone/2783919/
https://youtu.be/tEVdNJLDoQI

If you're not playing out and just want true representation of helix at comfortable volume, I'd get one of these. Or two if you want to improve your studio, or play in stereo. http://www.equatoraudio.com/professional-monitor-reviews-s/12.htm

Has anyone tried the Roland EV5? I have one of their vol pedals with the same design and it has been very reliable for years, so I'd be pretty confident about it not breaking down.

 

I wonder if there is a simple mod I could do on the Roland vol pedal to make it an exp pedal?

i can only listen thru iphone speakers at the moment so wont comment on the tone yet.. did you try going into aux / return? i find it sounds better than going into the guitar input for acoustic.

Yes, that's what I do.

I've been working on my Helix acoustic patch, using one of the ubiquitous Taylor IRs, and this is the best I've gotten so far. I'm really curious to hear other people's best tones, for purposes of knowing how good it can sound and learning how to improve my own.

 

This is an Eastman Grand Auditorium (similar to a Taylor, with a rather poor-sounding Fishman undersaddle piezo). I rolled off some highs and reduced the output on the guitar itself. Helix chain is: Graphic EQ, Taylor U87 IR, Parametric EQ, Deluxe Comp, Delay, Plate Reverb.

 

I played a simple G, C, D strumming thing, with a little single note run at the end. This should be easy to duplicate. I'm mostly interested in optimizing the strumming sound, which I find to be the Achilles heel of most guitar pickup systems.

 

If you have done some work on this type of patch and would like to share your sound in a clip, or have suggestions for how you get your best sound, please share! Thanks.

https://soundcloud.com/billlorentzen/acoustic-patch-helix-u87-eastman

You could certainly use helix as your single audio interface. I've found the challenge is to adjust to it conceptually, but it can prolly do most, if not all, of what you may need. For sure, you're going to like the amp sounds.

I haven't done a comparison of converters vs my audio interface, and although I am an experienced audio engineer, I also know after 40 years as a working musician, my ears are no longer trustworthy for full frequency shootouts, but I can say I don't hear anything faulty about the helix converters.

It's kind of neat.

Everything he describes - the low end roll off, the knees, the sag - that's what I love about it.

Transistor tape is my favorite. It seems to not get in the way of new notes. Others are also fun.

I guess im in the minority here. Its the exact same thing as the whowatt with a bit more gain and bass.. Its a sound i was already getting from the helix just fine, before the update. Heres a clip. Whoawatt with an overdrive in front of it and then the litigator without an overdrive. all pretty much at their default settings. I think i had to turn the bass the whole way down on the litigator.

 

dont take my word for it try it for yourself. There is A LOT of overlap in helix amps. The majority of them sound the same.

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/26654830/dumbwhatt(2).wav

Those two sound almost identical, on my iPad. In my world, they don't sound similar.

I am stoked about the Litigator. It sounds fantastic with both my electrics. It does the Dumble mystique proud.

The Archon isn't really my cup of tea, but that's cool.

Interesting. The Helix is the very first modeler that has made me happy about my medium gain sounds. It's made me happier than real amps because I don't have to play so loud to get the feel I want.

I agree. I got some decent tones with the Pod HD, but the Helix sounds super nice for just-breaking-up sounds. I could never go back to real amps because I'd have to bring several to a gig!

I've had a hard time finding amps that worked really well for medium gain distortion sounds on any modeler with my semihollow. They have tended to sound farty (um, not tight) on low notes. The Dumble, as I hoped, sounds especially good with my Ibanez AS120. Thanks, L6 Helix team! You guys keep making me happy.

 

(Now, about that mix control on distortion pedals...)

You may not have done anything wrong in reassembly. Mine can scrape if I put any lateral pressure on it. IMHO, the pedal design is a bit flawed - it shouldn't ever squeak (mine did too) and it shouldn't be close enough to the chassis to ever rub. I would add that I think the pedal is a it too heavy. Unless you keep it pretty tight it won't stay up. I was actually thinking of drilling some holes in it to lighten it a bit.

Not if your USB feed is 1/2, which it should be.

Cool. I was referring to analog inputs. I do a lot of solo gigs with an iPad for backing tracks. It was convenient on the 500 to plug it straight in via mini plug, but on Helix I would rather not give up any blocks, even if it could be heard during patch changes. If there was a way to mix a return into the final output "behind the scenes" I would like that.

I think you will get a drop out of the backing track audio when you change patches in Helix. I used to run my tracks through the HD500 but went with a separate cable in my helix set up.

This is a wild and unsubstantiated guess, but maybe the reverb is not an original L6 algorithm. Why create new something that has been done and done before. As such, there is no market for a mono reverb other than on something like Helix

I use it in a patch that I use for jazz, with the Gibson amp. I mix in some of the synth, so there is still attack from the straight guitar/amp as well. I usually use it on tunes with an extended solo or for vamping out, etc, to give some variety, but not as the main sound. It works ok in that context.