cruisinon2

You pretty much answered your own question there... every mix is its own thing. Your choice of amp/cab/mic models are as well. There's no magic EQ bullet. A Plexi with a 4x12 cab and any of the darker mic choices will require entirely different EQ than a Fender Twin with a 57 in front of it... and so will a similar modeled signal chain in Helix. When it sounds good to you, and your tracks aren't getting buried in the mix, then you've found the "right cuts". But the next track you lay down may need something quite different. And, as already noted above, you don't want to have really savage cuts applied before your DAW anyway... if you decide later on that you need more of some of the frequencies you've already hacked away, then your stuck. Can't boost what ain't there...

I suspect that the overwhelming majority of Helix owners only use a small percentage of its capabilities... myself included. But I wouldn't trade it for the Stomp if you paid me. 6 blocks in the chain really isn't a lot. I'd have to strip down what are not particularly complicated signal chains to begin with... it might be overkill, but I'll keep the Helix.

There will never be a single device that satisfies every possible want or need, folks... and good hitters learn to stay in their wheelhouse, otherwise their whole game crumbles. Better to be really good at one thing than to half-a$$ everything.

Like everything else in life, tiny incremental measurements such as these are likely to vary from one brand of string to another, or even from one manufacturing lot to another from the same brand. I've also used cheap digital calipers that weren't particularly trustworthy. Either way, I wouldn't lose any sleep over the discrepancy that your're seeing, even if it's real. The difference in total tension exerted on the neck with the variance that you're taking about will be negligible. And for what it's worth, in 30 years of playing and setting up guitars, I don't ever recall seeing a 10-48 set, from any brand. 9-42, 10-46, and 11-49 have been industry standards forever...so unless they're deliberately using some weird custom gauge, I'd say you have a regular set of 10-46 on there.

Well it's easy enough to avoid that... just don't use stereo FX blocks if you're running mono. There's no reason to...I don't, and I've never had a phase problem.

High and low cuts are almost always a necessity, so you're on the right track... however it's best to stay away from the global EQ, and use EQ block in each patch instead. Not all amp models will require the same cuts, so trying to do it globally will just create more problems. The global EQ is really for making minor tweaks for room acoustics, not for creating your tones. As for getting it to sound like a "real amp"... that's a touchier subject. The "amp in the room" sound that you're probably used to isn't really gonna happen. Helix is modeling not only an amp, but a mic-ed speaker cabinet as well. What you're going to hear is what you would get listening in a recording studio's control room: the sound of a mic-ed cabinet coming through studio monitors, with the added characteristics that a particular type of microphone adds to the tone. It takes some getting used to. If you want a more familiar sound and feel, then the Powercab might be a better choice for you, as it can behave just like a "real amp", or as a more typical FRFR speaker, depending on the settings.

The alt tuning algorithms detune everything relative to the guitar's physical tuning, and the smallest interval is a half-step. So no, you can't tune the guitar to A 440 and have it detune only 8 cents to 432.

You won't like this, but tone matching can't be done this way. It can't happen remotely and in a vacuum. For starters, a patch that sounds magnificent when playing unaccompanied might sound dreadful in a mix, and vice versa. So the odds of anyone suggesting factory presets, or ones created by a third party (that they audition remotely and completely out of context), that will be a drop-in match for the tones on your recording are basically zero... the only way it'll happen is through extraordinary dumb luck. You could blindly try patch after patch until the end of time and never find one that's a decent approximation. As already mentioned above, the best you can hope for is to start with a signal chain that mirrors (as closely as possible) the real gear that was used on the recording... and that's only a starting point. It's gonna require effort, and it's not something that anyone will be able to guess at just by listening to some clips... the are too many variables.

Best part is, it was all "Show me, show me, show me!"... and then he ignored all the clips that were posted anyway, lol... I've seen more skillful manipulation from little old ladies in retirement homes.

Now that hurts...I might not sleep tonight. And yourself? What have you brought to the table with any of this?

He's not trying to convince anyone else of anything. He's trying to talk himself into a $3K purchase that he clearly wants, but is having trouble justifying. Otherwise he'd have skipped this absurd "my finely tuned perception is better than yours" dance, and his Axe III would already be in transit.

Thank you sir, much appreciated! And after some sober reflection, I think I'd have to vote for bacon, too. Forgive me...I skipped lunch today. ;)

Yup. There are a thousand reasons why these discussions are irretrievably pointless. Preferences are exactly that... preferences. They have no intrinsic value, and never will. Which makes arguing over the "best" anything, utterly useless, and determining who's subjective evaluation is "right" impossible to achieve. So you're left with trying (in vain) to convince yourself that what you've already decided, is in fact "correct". May as well have a steel cage match to determine the world's "best" sandwich meat. I "win" because I like smoked turkey, and your pro-ham argument has failed to convince me. Really? Ugh... it boggles the mind.

You do understand that demanding "proof" of something that (by definition) cannot be quantified, or otherwise measured in any definitive/ objective way, is like to trying to pick up a turd by the clean end, right? Never mind... don't answer that, we've all wasted enough time already. You'll "win" the argument by default, because what you're demanding cannot be done. It's a half-clever (yet thoroughly obnoxious) means of seeking external validation for an already fully-formed opinion. And while it makes for some festive arguments, in the end it achieves nothing and helps no one. Your Congressman would be proud.... But what the hell, I'll bite....I posted the same clips a while back in a previous iteration of this retarded discussion. So as long as we're all intent on taking yet another ride on the stupidmobile, here ya go: Listen to This Really Needs A Title by cruisinon2 #np on #SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/user-100603322/this-really-needs-a-title Listen to Here Goes Nuthin' by cruisinon2 #np on #SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/user-100603322/here-goes-nuthin-final-edit Love it, hate it... either way, it's no skin off my a$$.

In retrospect, I should have stopped reading after "I don't want to start trouble, but..."