BBD_123

You got me curious. I've never used the Arbiter either on HD or Helix. You don't say what amp you are using, so I ran it through the Hiwatt (A+C, all default) to hear what the Arbiter is doing. Quite high gain at default, so I reduced the Level to 2.6. The WhoWatt is a bit quiet, so I set Ch Vol to 10. It still sounded horrible. Baggy and prolapsed :) So I tried the Low and High Cut EQ block in front of the Arbiter block. Making low and high cuts got me nearer something usable so maybe try EQ in front of Arbiter. One of the EQs on offer might get you there, or closer to it. It's all part of the fun :D

I'm *very* new to Helix, but I'm learning from the beginning of the signal chain :) , so there are already a few things that I would try: - Try turning Guitar in pad on (global options) - Guitar in-Z (input block) from Auto to 1M and then step down the list to see if any particular impedance sounds better.

Call the dealer who sold you the HX unit and get them to try to register it for you?

That's a really interesting matrix you have presented PN. Since I've only had my hands on the Helix for 3 days and only rather limited time to play around with it I'm not in a position to offer any in-depth feedback beyond simple thanks for doing the research and posting it up.

+1 Joined the Helix club today. Self-gifting, I'm afraid, but sometimes it's the best way to get things done :D. I actually bought the unit at the end of October and dutifully stowed it away in a cupboard. Out only once, to install v2.30 so there'd be no need to faff about on The Day. But oh, it's been a long wait... Reminded me of what being kid was like :D . I've been lurking here for weeks to get a clue, so thanks to all for the cornucopia of useful advice. I'm upgrading from POD HD, so I'm not starting from nowhere, but I've decided to rebuild my tones from scratch. The HD is packed away, and the long, empty list of Helix, USER 1 is sitting in front of me. My son's just gone to bed and my wife is reading a book by the fire, so after a final day of waiting, the fun can now begin.

>>you're right, AFAIK no L6 statements about this topic have been given.. Actually good to know it wasn't search crapness on my part. >>however, looking at most of the default settings of those added EQ controls, you can see that most of them tend to gravitate closer to the 50% zone rather than around 100%, like a way to adjust just a bit the original unadorned raw tone of the FXs to be a little easier to use.. A very good point. >>another thing that L6 never said AFAIK is if the added EQ is pre or post its hosting FX.. IMO it is placed after the FX, since it affects the FX tone really a lot, a lot more than I would expect if it were positioned instead before it Yes, and I never even thought about this. Cheers, BBD

Thanks hurghanico. I thought they might be active but I wasn't sure. I did look, but I couldn't find any L6 statement about this, although that could just be me not looking hard enough.

I'm trying to find out more about the bass and treble controls on the Tube Screamer model. Are they just cuts or do they boost? In other words, if we set bass and treble to 100% does that give the uncut basic sound? Or do the controls cut below 50% and boost above 50%? Any advice much appreciated, as ever.

Yup, same here. Use the older, Helix uninstaller (not HX Edit uninstall, obvz) to remover the older Helix editor. I'm sure I read someone saying that the 2.30 update did this automatically, but it didn't on my system.

If I can make just one suggestion - keep it simple. You have a Marshall 4/12. So begin with a Marshall head (whichever suits your style, from JTM-45 to 2204 via Plexi). Like others have said, no cab model necessary as you are using the real thing. Treat the model amp just like the real thing. Play around with it. Get a feel for what it can do. Then - only if you want - you might add a bit more oomph by putting a Tube Screamer in front of the amp. A bit of reverb at the end of the signal chain and hopefully you've created a solid, basic, usable first patch. Now pick another head and do it again... Leave all the fancy stuff alone until you've got the basic 1, 2, 3 at the core of your patches sorted out. And of course, enjoy yourself hugely in the process.

I'm in a slightly odd position at the moment with Helix. I have one, but it's in a cupboard waiting for 25 Dec. I set it up when I bought it a few weeks back, downloading v2.21 firmware and editor, and my initial reaction was in line with some others here: an option to toggle HD Edit-style* device-specific block icons would be useful. But this was an hour's playing around. Maybe I'll get used to the generic block icons sooner than I think. Just have to see. [EDIT: *But without the wood floor background, if possible? :) ]

Now that's a good question.

I use Rokit 5 Gen 3s in a room about that size and they are very good. For recording, maybe also consider direct connection to a DAW?

Heh. Hurghanico strikes again :) FWIW I had a look and I think the cheapskates among us could DIY per bjnette's suggestion: >I checked and the inner shaft goes deep. Some compressed grippy foam will fit into the outer area >like it was designed to fit. >Some cut size; shouldn't raise the knob by more than a mm if that to create a nice resistance.

Ha, me too. Desktop and shortboard, though MkII. Agree with you about the orange screen :-(. FWIW, I have always zeroed the control knobs (except master, obvz) so they can only get nudged one way.

Dual amp mode necessary for good distortion? No! Overdrive pedal instead of amp drive? Depends entirely on the amp and desired effect. High gain amps don't need a drive pedal, but you can pre-EQ the tone with the tone controls on the pedal for really nice results. Your Noise Gate should be the first thing in your signal chain, not the last. If you don't want scooped mids, then don't use an amp like the Treadplate. Use something that is naturally closer to what you want. The Plexi Bright model might a good place to start. Leave the amp gain/tone stack, cab and mic defaults alone. All you may need to do is turn Channel Vol down a bit. Put a Tube Screamer in front of the amp, then maybe turn the Drive down a bit and the Output up - experiment. Use the Bass, Tone and Treble controls on the Screamer to EQ your tone. Try the same approach with a few other amps. Hopefully this will *quickly* get you close to where you want to be. Then you can tinker with it for many happy hours until it's just so.

Andertons (UK) still have +10 in stock... Maybe Thomann just fell out with L6? Possibly over diminishing margins in the face of EU-area price cuts...

>>Next week is my church's anniversary so I want to have a really good sound by then So no pressure then. If I were in your boots, I'd try this: NB: For tone building, use headphones plugged in to the HD500 so you can hear what it is doing - and what it will send to your church PA. Use good headphones. >>usually when I post things on forums I don't get much help and I wasn't expecting to get help here either Well, this might not work, but maybe it will help along the way: Open a fresh new tone patch. Then, straight out of the box, just HD500 defaults, set it up like this: [Noise gate] - [Distortion: Screamer] - [Amp: Plexi Lead 100 Brt] - [Reverb: Plate] >>but honestly they sound good until you start playing with other instruments. Play a backing track and see how you sit in the mix. Even if it's just a YT video, play to something you know and like. Use the Bass and Treble *on the Screamer* to tweak your tone. Leave the amp alone except for turning down the bass if needed. Live, use the tone / vol pots on your guitar as needed. Listening to your links, you might want to roll off some bridge pickup tone, but the beauty of a bright sounding patch is that you have the option of toning it down. Probably stuck my neck out too far here, but there it is.

It's a very good idea to build tones using only headphones directly connected to the HD500X. That way, you know *exactly* what it is doing.

It's what I used to do in real life until I turned into a POD person :-) That's why I love the POD so much - it behaves very like real world kit. As a fun project, I spent a while on getting a decent VH1 'brown sound' out of a Kramer Baretta with an EVH Frankenstein pickup using the POD. The results were the best I've ever had in ~35 years of trying, on-and-off, to nail that tone. The trick is to use the normal channel Plexi, not the bright channel model as you might expect, then dial in the bite with the TS and the groove with the bias and bias x :-)

Thanks, Nico - I always enjoy your video clips and will watch these later when peace descends on this household (ie wife & child gone to bed :-) ). Good picks, as I feel that I've really neglected the *fuzz* pedals in favour of overdrive. Fun later, hopefully.

The PG has a point. I found the MAB Tone Guide massively useful as a POD newbie but only because I was used to using real-world kit already. The Tone Guide (and posters here, including PG) helped me to get the POD to do what I wanted it to do. But I wasn't starting from a position of general ignorance.

I like to give the older Marshall models a bit of extra bite by using a drive pedal directly in front of the amp. I always seem to come back to the Tube Distortion and Tube Screamer in front of the Plexi and JTM-45. Output high, drive low; the usual thing. But perhaps I'm missing a trick. What do others like to use for distortion / drive effects with these amp models? Any clever tricks for setting the pedal controls? Any suggestions welcome, even if it's just 'stick to what you are doing' :)

You will find lots of useful information in the evergreen MeAmBobbo Tone Guide. Lots.

Don't be evil, Ed :-)