rvroberts

Well, where you suggest after the amp is a perfectly fine place to put it. But in general, the reason you connect into your amp effects loop is to keep delay and reverb effects as clean as possible. In the Helix, while you could duplicate your live chain (well close with what you suggest) more likely you'd do what you would do in the recording studio - which is place those effects after the amp, speakers and mic - that is after the speakers/IRs. Then your Big Sky can really sparkle with absolutely no limitation of amp and speaker colouration. Naturally, you might like that colouration......... so back to plan A. But try it last in the chain and think about some EQ if it's a bit "in your face" and bright. Think like you are in a big studio where those effects are probably applied on the desk with outboard gear.

Actually, it's always been the case, but it's a bit annoying! Is there a real reason?

Well assuming every setting is identical, then it should sound identical. I've done similar reorganisations myself, and not noticed a difference - but I can't say I A/B'd them to test. You have been careful regarding same speakers/mic placement? - and the cabs are in the same places? No pedal assignments (except the volume). The volume is the same profile? If so, you have discovered a bug I'd say. Be worth just placing the amp and cabs (no other units in the paths) in path one and path 2 and seeing if there is a noticeable difference? A simple test I've never done. Then if it was identical, you could slowly rebuild and see if you can find where it's coming from?

I'm surprised you don't know AC30s don't have FX loops,.....

Have you thought of connecting your Helix directly to your DAW via USB? It might appear that you can only have one Audio device at a time, but at least in theory, you can create an Aggregate CoreAudio device. Not tried it personally - this info is Mac specific - https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT202000 I've heard it's not as easy on Windows.........but I'd be googling that!

On your output - the arrow pointing out on the right of your path - does is say multi? If so, you have a problem. If not click on it and set it to multi.

I'm just going to put this out there - and I'm totally willing to admit it's years since I tried this - and since I've never had 2 identical speaker boxes side by side - one 4 ohm and one 16 ohm - it's always had far too much time between the 2 audio experiences............ but I'm betting you can't hear the difference. There will be different amounts of wire on a transformer involved, so I can't prove that it's not audible - but I'd bet it's less than using a totally different amplification system all together. Just found this video - they seem to believe there's a difference............maybe you can hear it..........no sure I can!!

It's all about DSP - that's processing power. It is probably exaggerated on a downloaded patch as it is probably already packed with devices. You have 2 paths (well you don't say which unit you have....) path 1 and path 2. They both have the same amount of DSP - so if you find you can't add another drive say to path 1, you probably need to feed path one into path 2 and move a few things like the Amp which is generally pretty processor hungry to path 2, then you will be able to add that drive to path 1. When it comes to IRs, you either use a Helix native cab or an IR, not both, so the very first thing to do is get rid of the Cab. Most likely that will make space for the IR. Whichever way you look at it, there is only so much DSP and juggling it is part of the art of building great patches. Mostly it's just a case of getting rid of stuff in the patch you aren't using - it still takes up DSP even if it's not on at the time - that's why there is no delay changing snapshots but there is a slight delay changing patches. There is no rule - some units use more DSP than others.......it's all about the combination.

If the noise pickup of single coils is a problem for you, then you need noiseless pickups. But Fluence is just one solution. There are lots of noiseless single coil replacements for your Strat or Tele. And yes, the helix has a noise gate, but if you want dynamics in your playing - especially for low and medium gain, you don't want to do too much with a gate. From personal experience on a noisy stage - you know the ones with lots of lighting etc - if noise drives you nuts (it does me), the Helix can't fix all that buzzing and fizzing. I use Dimarzio Area 61pickups and am very happy - but there are Kinman and even Fender solutions. People will tell you they aren't as good as single coils, but when you don't have to fight the noise, I'd say the freedom to adjust your tone lets you sound better. Personal opinion!!

I'll second (or third) that - works well.

Your "typical" living area of 30ft x 100ft is more like a small club! So most monitors are not intended to fill that sized space at what sounds like close to live gig levels. I'd be thinking a pair of self powered PA speakers. would be the solution. I use exactly that as monitoring on stage. I can say it works, but I use studio monitors at home, and the studio monitors sound better. A lot of smaller PA systems seem to have a vocal enhancing EQ built in - and it does mean that what sounds great through the studio monitors is too bright through the PA wedges (yes, Fletcher Munson is probably a factor too) so it can sound great, but you might need to use your global EQ to adjust between the PA and your headphones. At least with PA speakers you can probably easily audition them at a sensible level. You would find studio monitors that could cut it, but like someone already said, for the level in that sized space they would be mega expensive.

Ok, line level is hotter than mic - yes. Why not send mic level to something expecting line level? Well, a few considerations - Firstly, it is quite likely that there will not be enough gain in the line level amp to reach satisfactory levels, very unlikely to reach anything like full volume. Secondly, all electronic devices and signals has a noise component. If you have to use lots of gain to get a very low level signal up to something usable, you also amplify the noise, so expect a noisy result. In guitar amplification this is pretty important because guitars are noisy sources, distortion pedals etc are also noise amplifiers, so you are often already needing to do stuff like manage volume on the guitar or a pedal just to keep the noise acceptable, so the last thing you need is to amplify all the noise in your signal even more.

If you don't want to rewire - you don't want to rewire! But your amp will run into 4ohms just fine according to the Marshall site?? So there is a simple answer if you want it!

If it's 16ohm speakers - which they mostly are, you just need to wire it in parallel to make it 4 ohms. https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/how-to-rewire-4-16-ohm-speakers-for-a-4-ohm-head-and-speaker-choices.1931962/

Well interestingly enough, there is a video posted today that might give you something to think about - but it's using normal tube amps - and that makes the rest of this discussion in Helix land a bit different - be sure to get past half way for a wet dry setup. The rig Aynsley ends up with (assuming he ever gets it under control) is built around a Tube amp he like to drive hard and back off the volume on his guitar. The negative for him is if he has a delay set up just right when he's on 3, as he turns up the guitar his delay goes up and gets distorted too - so Mic's solution is second amp in a wet/dry setup. It seems they both think this sounds way better and more expansive. So essentially that is something you could duplicate in Helix land with 2 cabs. Now is that better than stereo? Well it is if you are using tube amps without effects sends as you want your effects to be mostly clean/cleaner. But I'd argue, the width this gives is a result mostly of what I'll call "movement". As you can solve all the other issues of distortion levels messing with your delays and other post effects in the Helix, it's the width you get from movement that makes this rig appealing. You can do all that with the Helix stereo effects. It is all about getting a difference - mostly varying in some way like modulation from side to side - often discussed as phase relationship between the stereo pair. Anyhow, you can totally duplicate what they do in this video with 2 cabs, but I suspect cleaver use of stereo is better and more flexible once you think that what you are looking for is some sonic difference that probably modulates between the stereo pair. Go 2 cabs - I run stereo - it's not so obvious for 80% of my sounds because they need to be tight and fit into the band - but here and there I get to take a good sized chunk of the sonic spectrum - and then the stereo is bliss.

Funny answer! My wife is the same. Gain from the guitar.............. Depends! mostly you can adjust gain in the Helix so that the amount of distortion is the same - however, the basic tone of the guitar will be a result of lots of stuff including how hot your pickups are....... Pickups wiring - the further apart the coils the more range from top to bottom on that particular guitar (whatever it is). That doesn't make one better than the other. A strat in the 2 or 4 position has a certain sound because the coils are not so far apart. A Tele gets a different tone because the 2 pickups are further apart. (plus other factors naturally!) One is not better than the other. But again, it's just one factor. Splitting humbuckers is a black art it seems as a good single coil sound is hard but not impossible to get. Definitely some humbuckers split better than others. Some guitar manufacturers use some resistors to keep a little of the other coil in the mix which can reduce the extreme difference you might get between single coil and full humbucker. See what your pickup manufacturer recommends on their site. Chances are you will be torn between alternatives!! So you will end up having to try it.

Does seem to me that Pod Go is the solution you are looking for. The extra possibilities of the XT are totally valid, but for someone who has no experience of lots of amps and pedals, you will spend a lot of time getting lost, which is not fun! You would still have a huge amount of flexibility, and money for good monitoring and other bits you will soon want if you start recording, like a good mic, an interface ( yes you could use the XT as an interface, but it's not great or easy for vocals and yet another place to get lost.) Also decent DAW software is not cheap, who knows, maybe you need a better computer? I've also discovered that it doesn't take long going down the DAW path to recording before you want a basic keyboard and some form of pads, so if you don't keep some spare money you will find another batch of frustrations just round the corner. It's not like the PodGo is second rate, they are full quality Helix sounds. And you can add lots more effects if you need them in the DAW software. If recording is part of your plan don't try to be too "high end" about every part, unless you have both lots of money and lots of time for what can easily become a learning curve that could be years before you start to feel in control!

Getting close is good enough - yep agree with that. But to the other conversations about "clean" guitar sounds................. Guys, use your ears! If you can't hear the amp overdrive in the high points of these solos....... Clean is an interesting conversation - Tim Pierce admits all over his channel he never runs his amps clean - but he plays lots of parts people might call clean...... don't confuse a bit of overdrive with obvious distortion. It's that nice harmonic content of driven valves. That guitar in the solos below is cleanish when he turns down and well into overdrive when he's pushing the high points of his solos. Volume interacting with strings produces additional sustain - it's really feedback - but before it takes off into howl. Overdrive (which produces natural amp compression) enhances that and makes it easier to control. With a good match of volume, drive and your relative position on stage, infinite sustain is very possible without a lot of distortion. You just have to play your amp. Watch the volume knob! Why is he doing that? It's his drive control! If you aren't getting it from your setup, it's probably running too clean - but a little compression will probably help you with what you want - doesn't matter that Derek doesn't need it. He's getting it from how he's running his amps.

I'd think the Super Reverb is closer to a Deluxe Reverb - the twin has much more clean headroom. And that amp overdrive would be where the sustain comes from. I've noticed Derek is a very traditional player - he rides his volume constantly. So I'd say he's the variety that drives his amps pretty much max (give or take what he would want as max overdrive) and then drops the volume back on the guitar. When he is soaring at the peak of the solo I'd say he's pretty much wide open - and definitely well and truly into amp overdrive. He just sounds cleaner because he's backing off the volume a lot of the time. Watch him on video for constant volume knob fiddling.

Well, there are a number of possibilities - And none of them are likely to be because there is something not good about the 3 update - except that you should update to 3.01 as there are bugs in v3.0. But that won't be the cause of your problem. If you had a global EQ setup, you will need to fix that (if you didn't restore from a full package update) Also if you were using IRs and you haven't restored them to the correct slots? Plenty of other changes possible depending on what you did or didn't do when you updated. I am assuming you are updating?

So you maybe need to have a big button saying "yes, I have read the instructions" before allowing the download?

That's the original record sound - not the one in the clip - no Wah there - just tone knob!

Upon second listening - I've realised the "hollow" sound is a half cocked Wah - it's just sitting about the middle. You will need to fiddle around with position - don't know what model to use - but I'm pretty sure what's the hollow EQ.

I can get a very similar sound out of a number of the amps. This is because this type of sound is as much about how you play the amp as it is about that amp itself. Take a small fender say and turn it up maybe almost full. (the Stoneage - which is actually an old Gibson I think - works too) Regularly that also meant turning all the tones up full too - use some common sense here - but you need to push the amp into more gain than you need. Then back off your guitar volume knob till you have the lower drive and clarity you hear here. The amp needs to have lots of gain in reserve. Use the bridge pickup on a humbucking guitar and turn the tone down till you still have enough top, but a more mellow overall tone. Now you will be in the ballpark. Santana is riding his volume knob for both clarity, sustain and subtleness. So he's playing the amp as much as the guitar. Believe he used SG's around then. The story is it's a Twin Reverb - but probably modified. (people recorded with bigger amps then to get extra sustain and controlled feedback) The Twin model in the Helix has way too much headroom for this type of sound - as do most twins - but something tweed should be OK. There is a certain hollowness in there - that might be about the speaker and micing too. One of his SG's had P90s.............that might make that difference. An EQ after the amp should let you tweak to a very close match - obviously a little reverb after all that too. Here he is doing it recently - a bit different - but using the same tricks. You'll notice his volume on the guitar is so low he actually sometimes is pretty much off!

So how are you connecting it? Are you using the audio out of the synth into the guitar in? Or are you thinking it might connect over USB? - probably not! Use the audio approach - you probably need to set the input level on the stomp to line. Then you go synth to stomp to amp. Should be fine (assuming both devices work and you have a few decent audio cables!!??). Plenty of other people doing it.