PeterHamm

Helix works great as a MIDI interface. No problems at all.

It was never better or worse. Just different.

2.21 is really worthwhile imho. The Swell delays and stuff are great, and the new Matchless hybrid cabs have become my go-to cab choices.

Helix Control is only useful or necessary with Helix Rack. It is not designed to work with anything else at this time. There is talk of functionality with Helix Native using the USB connection, someday, but not at this time.

yes, I believe it can be programmed. But if you are going to switch FX around a lot and use the looper, for the love of all that is holy, get Control. It's awesome.

Ignore the top line and you have the old tuner.

I also love that pedal, but find that I can get a lot of the same vibe with a clean Minotaur, or even the Vintage Tube Pre.

FRFR monitors are great to us for that use. If it's ONLY at home you play, a set of studio monitors can really do the trick.

Best thing with a Helix is going to be FRFR if you are running direct to the house PA or your favorite tube amp, preferably with a FX send Return so you can either use the tube preamp OR bypass it and use the Helix modeling preamps.

Dub meter on a phone is one good way.

it can. Easily. proper use of hi and lo cuts, amp settings (sag, hum, bias, bias X and even master), etc. Most amps are just as buzzy in the real world, and that gets dialed out by the sound guy.

No, I understand that. Just didn't know that's what you played. But imho, you want (need?) knobs in hand more than something like Helix gives you. In other words, the older tech would probably work better for that imho. And I've seen Bill play with all his stuff on the floor anyhow, as he does in that video.

This way of working seems crazy, though. Editing on the fly during live performance on ANY unit is going to lead to something really really bad eventually. Accidentally hit the wrong button and you're kinda screwed. It seems that figuring out everything that might change during a performance and getting patches that can do that is going to work better. In any case, let us know how it goes. I think Rack/Control is the way to go here.

Is this live or recording. For recording that's too convoluted.

Ir is NOT just merely a snapshot EQ curve, so even if this can be done, it's probably not helpful.

Using an IR AND a conventional guitar speaker at the same time will yield unacceptable results by most people's judgment. That's like miking a cabinet and sending that miked signal through a guitar amp and miking it again. Maybe okay for a wacky dark special effect sound, but not for what most people are, I think, looking for in a guitar tone. The purpose of an IR is NOT to make your Marshall Cab sound like a 4 x 10. There may be some IRs designed to change the sound of a conventional guitar speaker to something else, but I can't imagine them working all that well. By the same token, in my experience, using the amp model into the front of a guitar amp is not satisfactory either.

That's a bit of over-simplification, but I kinda like it!

One of the challenges folks find is that they think they have to use a bunch. If you get to one or two that work for your tone, just stick with them. I only use 4 cabinets for the most part, often in dual cab configurations, always with ribbon mikes, and never 3rd party IR. Ymmv, but those Matchless, Dr. Z and that 4 x 10 are all I need...

For Mac a fantastic choice would simply be MainStage, though.

Dude, I hear that. One reason I don't tune down unless the whole band is. One thing that helps me is when I use a capo (for instance, let's say I'm doing a song in Bb), I think the chord I'm actually playing, not the shape. So I think "Bb" but play the G shape. After a few months of this, I realized I had trained myself to transpose songs on the fly in a way I never thought I could.

Well, if you don't like them because they are "cheating", somebody better tell Jimmy Page, James Taylor, Joe B, Pete Towshend, Eric Clapton and pretty much any other guitarists worth their salt... (google your favorite guitar players names plus the word "capo"...)

Sounds like you might be doing it wrong. You use a cab IR instead of an amp cab model. Youight be using it in addition.

I can see a value in using two units together, but not those two. Eleven is too old now and has nothing you need I bet. But it's a good backup!

Not kidding. This is the solution.

The article on two voice with Helix in my signature is all about this.