willsmythe37

Hello all! just a quick one, my guitarist uses a pedal baby with a cab, should he use a pre-amp block without the BIAS settings, or a full amp block? I think the Pedal baby is a class-AB solid state? I might be answering my own question, but I reckon the pedal baby wants a mic level signal... the full amps are line? And the BIAS settings are emulating how much an amp pushes back on the signal... so as the PDBB is an amplifier... it already has its own behavioural characteristics? Looking for what’s correct, not a “if it sounds great it is great” #winky emoji Thanks everyone.

Ouch... yeah. Headrush is obviously the biggest ripoff ever. I could swear there was a (UK) top gear where all the standard and known manufacturers cars, have direct eastern doppelgangers... right down to the way it looks. Heard Ola Englund's review and I think I prefer my old Pod XT when it comes to sound. (Which served me well for a decade. Skipped on the HD500 and sat in the wings... delighted when the Helix arrived)

Hello all, Thanks for all the information there gentlemen. I'll certainly check out ideascale website, I haven't been over there to take a look so having seen the image posted above, shows that a lot of ideas have been taken on board. (There's a metric butt load on there?) There's a lot of messages to respond to so I'll just list away: I wasn't discounting that the engineers are hard at work. It was just whether someone communicates freely with the community on their behalf in a recognised location. I'm from the Uk, Why would the FTC block communication with customers? I totally understand about not being able to meet promises. I wasn't really saying about making promises TBH... more of a 'we're looking into...' What is the official correspondence doing over on TGP (the gear page)? Regarding EQ charts; Basically what's already available in the global EQ... when it comes down to real-time graphical representation of signals, even some expensive digital mixers don't offer that functionality. Even if only through the Helix edit application. Regarding tuner, I think concerns about the tuner are done to it being so very reaponsive. I've gotten used to it and appreciate the enhancements already added. It could do with some sort of median algorithm... to dampen sensitivity 'a touch'. I appreciated when Line 6 mentioned about the bass amp update... there was lots to look forward to and details were released in advance. So it's not that I'm overlooking previous messages. Regarding feedback, feature requests etc, Microsoft do something similar after their Xbox had a terrible release... Sony got on board after the feedback program was so well received... Unknowingly, this is the ideasxale website which I will go and check out. Regarding people feeling 'entitled'. It's also not unrealistic to question the features of a device. It isn't cheap knock off gear afterall, purchase is an investment. Don't misconstrue, I'm not trying trying to incite a flame war. I'm invested in my Helix all the way. As for (sorry to say) condescension about smart phones etc, the world is a big place and people on whatever device they have, are being connected together better everyday. As for 'demands', I wasn't demanding anything. I was questioning something and someone pointed me in the right direction earlier. So to summarise, I understand that communication with customers could be a double edged sword and feel a bit more enlightened as to proceedings. I'm not sure if it's my written tone of voice, but I seem to have ruffled some feathers up. Didn't mean anything by it, I was just speaking freely. Thanks to all those who've weighed in on the thread.

Hi guys, I don't mean to winge and gripe. Regarding upcoming updates for the Helix, is it too much to ask to have a hint of what's to come? Obviously system stability is a big thing and bug squashing is another aspect which needs to be addressed when new firmware is rolled out. On the whole, the customer knows you guys will be working on this regardless. It would be nice to know what new feature-sets are on the horizon. I personally wouldn't want direct specifics... I don't want to know exactly what pedals, amps or cabs you.re working on... Just that you guys ARE working on it. I'm more curios about whether suggestions are being taken on board? Tuner improvements, adjustments. Mic positioning (horizontal to the speaker centre, instead of just distance) IR manager. Some sort of visual feedback regarding metering :compression, levels, EQualiser charts detailing specific Q width and High/low cut roll off db/octave. Second to that... It would be nice to have some correspondence as to if something will never happen. It'll certainly put some discussions to rest. Note: is there returning correspondence from engineers shown on the Ideascale site? Is there ever a YES or NO answer for suggestions?

I agree the tuner is appreciatively accurate.... My solution would be to add a optional 'sensitivity knob'. Similar to that found in "peak dB meters". Whereby an A rating would measure peaks levelss but jump around quickly... But the B rating presents more of an average. The difference being that A weighting would be as it is, the default. The B weighting would have a 10ms look ahead time... Or median algorithm. I'm not sure if the tuner itself is bound directly to each patch or paths processing power... But there isn't a need for immediacy I.e extra 50ms for the tuner to load a second weighting. The tuner isn't broken.... But I use a Guage 10.5 to 48 mil strings in drop C on a 25.5 inch scale length guitar. So deep strings go all over the place... Same with the G string (or F in my tuning) The way I get around it at the moment is tuning e guitar to frequent string strikes. However I haven't tried the neck pickup, tone done method... Which IMO highlights there is a problem with the tuner.

Sounds daft... but I wonder if the stereo merging to mono is having something to do with things? Basically... You plug mono into the Helix... but immedietly it's turned into stereo. (Path one is a stereo path) Try putting a mono simple Eq at the start of your chain... that way, if the effects send is merging to mono, then you're not doubling up on jangly high freqs? Someone also mentioned about the the line/mic settings on the effects sends... don't forget that your amp may want different settings too. My hot rod deville likes line level, when feeding the power amps. Last thing would be to manually lower your guitar input impedance. I think by default it's set to Auto on each patch... but lowering it down can get rid of jangly high frets

Thanks for the replies everyone. I puzzled over this for a little while and I think the squeel was probably caused by the compressor settings. I presume with a bigger rig, the engineer was applying his standard compressor levels to all instruments... this could've been doubling up on my helix compression. Not really important : I setup an Eq at the start of my signal chain that reduces lows... that way the compressor was being applied on a "flat" guitar eq. I'd return the lows with parametric Eq later to taste. I think the -30db threshold might've been a little brash, even with the mix lowered giving a "parallel compression" effect. When I was setting the patch up through studio monitors, the amount of compression sounded subtle... but after tinkering with the amp at practice, i could hear the difference the compressor was having more clearly. I've dialled the compressor threshold back 5db, then lowered the mix to a point where it's audibly makin a difference... but it's a subtle thing. Without the compressor, the clean snapshot sounded lifeless... and really helped as an indicator of what's happening before the amp block. Although the settings felt amazing to play and sounded like the holy grail, I'm much happier knowing I'd done something to combat the Squeal. The settings still play nice enough... and with compression from FoH, it probably will balance out my reduction. (Please give us some graphical charts within the helix Line 6, showing volume, compression amount, and prarmetric eq "q" width)

I had a similar experience with that guys "Amp room" set list. Setup and everything was great, I just found I had to put a compressor post cab, to balance the level out a bit so it sat comfortably over backing tracks.

Hello everyone, I ran into some very strange behaviour the other day. What I experienced was a feedback loop through the stage monitors, in sound checks. My setup is pretty standard. Guitar > Helix > 'Poweramp-in' on my Hot Rod Deville. Pre-Amp model of the Engl. No distortion pedals. Drive on the amp-block around 4.0. A typical metal patch including bog standard compressor, noise gate. Obviously no cab emulation. We were asked to have our backline volume down on stage to adhere to H&S, so I was running the amp at a much lower level then I normally do. Respectable, considering the amp was being mic'd up anyway. Essentially, I'd get high pitched feeding (Squeel) after my palm muting... the gate would cut it off, but considering the size of the system, that squeel was running throughout the room. Horrible stuff. The sound engineer lowered the level of my guitar in the monitors, which cleared it up. I was just so surprised to have run into this. Not once in my life have I experienced electric-guitar monitor feedback and I've done my fair share of sound engineering also. I really don't want to run into this issue in the future as it sure messes with my nerves. That, and the whole show I had fear of going near any of the other monitors on the stage as their monitor mix could've been louder than mine. I could certainly hear a lot more of my other guitarist in nearby monitors. Any suggestions? I thought perhaps my amp level was actually too low onstage? Passive pickups, hot humbuckers... but no need to turn guitar input PAD on because of my recorded tones behaving just fine at that level. If I stand in front of my amp at rehearsal volume, I struggle to get deliberate feedback?

To the original poster. Few things I've noticed that may help. I think you like myself, have an affinity towards the "amp in the room" tone. It's basically how an amp sounds , non-direct... in a room, loud... with no other instruments. Put a microphone I front and it doesn't sound like that... on any amp! Grab your old amp and dial in a familiar tone... then get down and sit right in front of it with your ear 1 inch away... notice it sounds a little harsh ;) ;) For a while I haven't been amazingly happy with my direct tones going into the desk/studio. My problem was, I'd get the tone sounding how I want. Record it to some programmed drums and find out I'd have to eq the recorded guitar all over the place, to get it to sit right. The result wouldn't sound good to be honest. I had a brainwave and decided to try "re amping" with the helix. It struck because I have to make minor alterations and can't really be the judge until the other instruments are there... and also can't play at the same time as tinker. So I wrote a few sections, programmed the drums (using big beats that use the full frequency spectrum) and played along till I wrote something I could play well with my current settings. Although at first it was tricky, I soon got in the swing of things. I had to mute the drums while I set the "sag" and "bias's"... but I got there so much quicker. It was so easy, I actually wound up throwing in a handful of other amps too so now I have something to choose from when the tone gets ... boring (as anyone whose played the same amp for a while, gets!) I strongly recommend doing something like this. I hear what you mean about more rounded bottoms on the competition... but as an engineer, I'd scoop that muddy crap outta the mix for sure, to make room for other instruments. Current settings: Typically I use a high cut at 10khz. Low cut at 60hz. Sometimes going as far as 120hz if it's a particularly bassy amp (doom for example) I use (what I thought) to be a well rounded IR. Lastly, a small -1.5dB, wide Q cut at 5kHz... using a parametric EQ. I should really host some of my presets...

Just gotta say. Thanks for putting the amp room together all. I had a little jam through various bits and pieces yesterday and it certainly made life a heck of a lot easier. The only qualm I had was that I needed to clear the IR from the chain and replace it with a bog standard compressor. I found this brought a lot of life back into the guitar tones as they were sounding a little glassy when played through studio monitors. They now sit healthily in line with online backing tracks. Come to think of it... I was inserting this into path 1b.... so perhaps I was using parallel compression to merge back with the original tone? Sounded great at least! I had a nice jam using amps I hadn't tried before. That Matchless sim... and also the Litigator and Archon were different beasts! It's little things like this that help me recognise how important it is to be a part of the community. I'll come back and post my adjusted version of the setlist if people are feeling the same way I did.

Thanks guys. General consensus is it's no different then. It would be nice to know once and for all whether there is any colour difference between the two settings, running at the same volume. I.e, perhaps there is a different interaction between amp component modelling?

Ooooo, so it can be done! How does one change the controller bypass settings? I honestly haven't dabbled with control centre

Thanks guys, it appears I had simply missed it out. I guess that's the one thing that's missing there then; being able to do away with the bank/preset switches if you wish to work within STOMPS/SNAPSHOTS... or the other settings. As I will generally be working within one preset live, those switches are redundant (for me) so an option to turn them off and assign other bits to them would be great. Thanks again for your continuing work L6

To original poster, Really?! Can you rename the file and pop it into Dropbox? It would make life a lot easier having one IR to rule them all :3

Ahhh, that explains why I only run into the problem occasionally then!

Hello all, I wanted to gather opinions as to the best method of feeding directly into the power tubes/effects return of an amp. My question relates to the master volume nob and it's correlation to Helix Ampsim Ch volume. Currently I have the pedal at around 3 o'clock, with channel volume at 8 (master volume of amp at 6?) Either way. Should the pedal volume knob be set to full? Then levels always adjusted on the amp sims channel settings? Or should it be as I have set it, higher settings in the amp sim, with the master volume on running 'never at max'?

Hello all, Just a query. Is it me or are there a number of limitations regarding naming scribble strips? I'd like to be able to rename snapshots, as well as some effects. Also I would like to have 5 snapshots in the bottom row and 5 stomps on the top? Is that even possible right now? (Remove the up/down bank/preset buttons) Having lots of fun with the unit.

He's right. I'm having similar problems. It only seems to interfere with visuals... but settings are as they were before. I'll double check everything is done correctly next time round. I can make do in the meantime

Recently updated my pedal and have decided to emalgamate my four 'go to' presets into one using snapshots. Snapshots are mega by the way! I must've encountered this before and just got on with it. The question is, why is it that a gain block (set to +3db) gets triggered by the wah pedal? I.e. I'll switch to my lead snapshot with the gain block enabled, click on the wah wah pedal and the gain block is disabled automatically? I'd be more confident with levels if things were more precise, as I currently have to guestimate the added volume adjustment to the amp settings instead.

Sweet thanks buddy. Would you suggest one of these in particular as the best mode to use for my setup?

Hello all, Although I was super hyped for snapshots, I've only just updated my Helix since "the last update before snapshots". I'd like to start using them as our second guitarist is injured at the moment, so my patch changes are noticeable now and are irking me ever so slightly. Currently I use four patches A clean - various reverbs/delays...chorus. Particle verb for special sections. Was and distortion pedal stomp B metal rhythm - balls to the wall, standard metal rhythm with general compression, small room verb and a "AM radio"/eq effect. Octave harmony pedal. C lead - volume boost, delay as a stomp. Still room verb. D solo - extra amp gain, delay enabled, hall verb. Wah stomp. Explanation) - 4 patches that have various delay, eq, octave, distortion, particle verb "stomp boxes" merged into a typical 4 patch , clean, rhythm, lead and solo setup. Previously I had four patches on the front row. Various stomp pedals above. Bank select to he left. I've had a little look through global settings and I unsure how to implement this setup into a similar (enough) transition, whilst using snapshots. The question is, when implementing snapshots, can they be repositioned around? Or must I use perhaps a stomp/4snapshot, mode. Then change the "bank select" on the left to preset? Also, despite changing the setting in global, the 10 stomp setting (instead of 8) doesn't seem to appear as standard. I have to adjust the pedal mode. Is this right? Any insight into a better way of doing it would be great. I need to pre-emptively setup the patch before rehearsals as I don't get to test things until gig volume.

Original poster: It might just be one of those things buddy. I wonder if we can assist. Can you elaborate as to your live set up, I.e Do you use IRs in your presets? Sounds like a daft response, but go back to your "saved IR" list and sort them by date before re-importing then to the helix. They could've been re-loaded in "name order" but because of 50 IRs coming from the same amp, you might not have noticed it. I updated and haven't actually had a chance to try my patches out yet. After completion I started going back through my global settings (to re-setup everything as it was) I noticed that I couldn't find the "input impedance" section. Previously I had this set up to "one notch back from Auto". That way I new things were consistent... but I couldn't find it anywhere? If you're like me, perhaps this is something that has changed? Another thing (relating to IRs) might be that the sample rate has changed from 48khz to something different?

Just put a mono block at the end of the signal chain... works for me. Simple EQ for the win

I mean... I take advantage of the available spaces for "blocks", but never wind up filling them all. It's an easy fix but doesn't compromise patch utility at all IMO Some people be Homer Simpson "doh" ing