billlorentzen

Work on your falsetto. ;-)

I think it's a pretty good idea, and I certainly wouldn't down vote it. However, I'd rather see them invest their time in more amps, right now.

If you're getting a different sound from your EVs than your home listening system, one of them is untrue. I used an HD 500 for years, through Yamaha DXR 10s (+ sub), with patches created on Mackie HR 824 studio monitors, and they always translated nicely, with no EQ necessary. I don't know the model of EVs you have, but I have noticed that EVs are on the brighter side. Do other things sound overly bright through them? I sometimes gig with a guy who has some nice newish QSC powered speaks. I immediately noticed my guitar was brighter than usual. He likes to keep the bright boost feature turned on, for some reason. It wasn't terrible, so I didn't bother to EQ my rig, but if I had really bright sounds to start with, it might have been a problem. I've never been into really bright guitar sounds, unless kept lower in the mix. Anyway, you have many ways to curtail highs in the Helix, you really should have no issue tweaking your sounds if you decide to buy one. I can assure you, it sounds pretty damn good!

If that's not clear,ask questions, I will endeavor to explain more clearly.

If you are using a split, the reason is that there is no pan law employed. In other words, if panned center, there is a 12 dB boost, a doubling of the signal strength. If you are just using a static split, you should reduce the level of each split by 6 dB, using whatever tool you prefer, and preferably before you hit any amps or fx. If you are using active panning across the split with an exp ped, You can correct this gain problem by using a volume pedal as the first block in each split, set so that it goes to 0 when the signal is panned opposite to it. This puts each split path at 50% (or -6 dB) in the center panned position.

Do you get the full throw with that mod? In other words, does the pedal only reach 100% in the full forward position?

These sound like a combination of delay, modulation and reverb. I remember a patch on either a Roland or ensoniq multifx unit I had back in the 90s, called something like instant movie score, that sounded like that. You just have to mess around until you get the exact thing you want. I would suggest moving the looper to the front of the path and playing an Edge part, then just tweak until you get it. Long tails and lots of repeats and cascading should get you there.

Can anyone post an example of shimmer?

I don't have any problems using it on gigs, but I agree it is not the most accurate. I think doubling the visual representation would be adequate. I voted!

Nushield looks like a great product if it works. I play a lot of outdoor gigs, but haven't been in direct sunlight with the Helix yet. Nushield looks like it would help with another problem, that I can't use my good polarized sunglasses with my iPad.

I suppose eventually L6 will incorporate auto-engage, like the AX8 has.

I get a surprisingly good sound with the Taylor IRs and my Eastman grand auditorium acoustic with a (fairly cheesy) OEM Fishman piezo undersaddle pickup. I don't get a good sound with my EMG SA single coil equipped guitar and the IRs. Oh well, can't have everything. But wait - what if I had the graphtech piezo ghost system and their Acoustiphonic preamp? Anyone tried this?

I've never bonded with the vox sound, but I'll check it out.

I guess those of us who came up on wah pedals just like to throw it down and instantly engage, like in the middle of a solo, without any extra dancing.If that mission pedal into exp 2&3 thing works, I would go for that.

The advantage to this would be that you could use the long throw onboard pedal for things like volume, where you want more precision and the short throw mission for wah, where that's a more natural feel. I can use it but I don't like wah on the helix pedal.

I was using my vintage cry baby, which was working perfectly most places, but I got a ton of noise at two of the places I play every week. Wish I could handle that! I'd go for a mission if I could use the toe switch with helix floor unit.

One thing I've noticed is that I can get more of the amps to give me great tones. In the HD 500, I had only one amp, the /13, that gave me both a great clean and a great semi broken up lead sound. In helix I can get excellent bread and butter patches from the 13, the Z, the Shiva and the deluxe (and maybe others I haven't fully explored yet). Sometimes I can't choose!

I bought one of the L6 pedals, but I can't recommend it. I'd spring for the Mission pedal.

Good one. Voted.

I dig. Because I'm also a singer, I can't do that. Looking down at foot switches while singing is a royal pain. My right foot can find the exp ped without looking.

I'd suggest using expression pedals to control more things. I use them to increase from rhythm sound and level to lead sound; to introduce or control amount of fx; or to go between two very different sounds on a particular tune. For example I just put together a patch for Sanata's Europa with forward being the distorted sound and back position for the clean phaser part. No dancing around. And if you set them up right you have the nice stuff in between your full lead and your soft or clean rhythm. After perfecting my methods with exp control of a modeler this way, I could never go back to pedals and amps, because of all the control I would lose.

If you're going to use the looper, make sure you practice with it a bunch, it's not so easy to nail perfectly under pressure!

Wow! Fantastic videos. Thanks for giving us a peak into your pit. That looks like a blast. I thought I had done it all in my career, but I've never played a pit (not a literal pit, anyway). I love gigs that have a huge variety of styles. I recently played a 2 hour big band show that covered 100 years of American music, so we played everything from Jelly Roll Morton to Pharel Williams, and it was a blast, but we were all on the stage. In some ways, I think the pit might be more relaxing - no one can see you (no makeup and hair!), so all you have to do is play. It's like studio and live at the same time. I was wondering how the conductor sees the stage. Does he use monitors or can he see everything live? Do you often have to follow the conductor to stretch or compensate for stage f/ups? My wife once starred in a big Vegas production of a Rogers and Hamerstein musical and on opening night she was so nervous she started her first song in the wrong key and then stopped singing to get her note. She was so grateful to the conductor and orch. for cool-ly not stopping, but seemlessly cycling through the intro again so she could restart.

I think I played my all time best tonight, and I have to give credit to the amazingly cool amp tones of Helix. I have used modelers for many years, for the convenience of plugging in direct, and finally with Helix, it's no longer a compromise. Thanks, L6!

Sweet, dude! You've obviously done your Jimi homework.