phnurt

Good homework! This from the guy that wants L6 to build the Helix to his "personal requirements"? Just messin w/ ya! In all seriousness, what do you think all the guitar heroes of the 60's and 70's and maybe even early 80's did on stage in front of an audience? They swapped guitars and a roadie retuned the refuse backstage with a huge stobe tuner for the next swap. NOW think about what they did BEFORE they were famous... You guessed it! They tuned by ear each guitar to each other. Right there on stage in front of dog and everybody! And no muting either! I'd say we modern pantywaists have an enormous advantage with the Helix's "flawed" tuner. Wouldn't you?

You can't possibly expect a commercial tuner to be accurate for an "H" tuning! After all, in western music THERE IS NO $#"@ING "H" !!!! *sheesh* And for the record the Helix tuner works as well as many many many tuners I've owned over the last 36 years. Use your danged ears for the "fine bits". :)

I've owned more than a few modelers (software and hardware) and I've yet to hear the "magic" of a JC-120 from any of 'em. For that matter, I've never heard a chorus sound anywhere near a TC SCF either. Being a child of the 80's, a good clean chorus is synonymous with rock-n-roll to me and I'd love to see some love for the tones of the time.

That's the ticket right there! Gives me plenty to chew on. Thanks everyone!

Ok. So I messed with it with what you described in mind. I can't find the secondary "zero point" you talked about on the Helix, but there was a definable "center". And it was slightly different (higher or lower), for each amp model i tested. I discovered that the tone was "punchier" below the peak and more "diffuse" or "vintage" sounding above it. I also found that the noise floor was really high dialed right in to the center point but the tone was still good. Can't quite come up with a descriptive for it. Further research is definitely in order.

I took what may be a goofy approach and effectively "disabled" the big knob. I set the global for it to only control the spdif outputs (which I will never use). Then I set the other output globals (1/4" XLR) to either "instrument" or "line" depending on how i plan to use them. That way all volumes and levels are controlled from within the patch and not dependant on the weird (to me) big knob.

That actually makes some sense to me. I'll experiment with that technique.

You're spot-on with the technical aspects of it all. What I'm really searching for is an explanation that even a lowly plank-spanker like me can understand. I'm looking for terms like "more bass" or "accentuated high-mids" or "gritty vs smooth". Things like that.

This was something I really enjoyed when I was using Amplitube and trying out "re-amping". Tweaking the tone while not playing was kinda cool. I'm not really set up for it at the moment but that should change soon.

That was VERY useful. I was only able to listen on my tablet speakers but I think I get the gist. Time for some experimentation.

Excellent description! But it's been decades since my electronics training in the USAF and you may have taken my "DETAILED" remark a smidge too literally! *grinz* I'm just trying my best to figure out why these interesting settings were even included in the hardware/software clusterfark that is the flagship of the L6 line. I certainly don't have these controls on my physical amp and it costed a boatload more than the Helix.

I thought so too until I CRANKED the master control. The hum control has an obvious and tangible effect. The ripple, not so much.

Regarding the hum control. What I'm saying is that I actually like it and tend to set it above %50. It's sort of a soft ring modulator kind of sound that's very musical with low to moderate gain amps (my fav). I totally agree with your assessment of the bias control. I've been going to 35 or 40 % with the fender and marshall type amps but it really sounds great cranked to 9 or 10 on the vox's. What I don't understand is why it sounds like arse at about %65 on a plexi model when IRL a hot biased plexi sounds like molten sex. The bias-x thing is really buggin me though. The manual says set low for tight bottom with high gain and set high for more compression. I'm no wordsmith but to me this is the same creature. Any ideas on the bizarre and mysterious "ripple" control? Thanks for the help Peter!

Hi all! I've been backwards and forwards through the manual and previously owned an hd500x and had the same minor annoyance. Could somebody PLEASE point me toward comprehensive info about the power amp section/page? I see that Line6 is offering free classes that cover the topic but the closest one to me is over 2 hours away. I totally get the master control and oddly enough I'm understanding the "hum" knob. Instinct dictates that hum is bad and I couldn't understand why they even added it till I cranked the master and fiddled with the setting. Now I find myself actually dialing in a decent amount of it. As far as bias, I've burned out more than a few tubes over the years by biasing them hot for that delicious "inch from death" tube tone goodness. But the control in the helix doesn't seem to work the same way. I really prefer what the manual describes as a "colder a/b setting". As far as ripple or bias-x I have absolutely no clue. Any help or link to a more DETAILED explanation is appreciated!