StruckingFuggle

One feature I would love to have is if I press once to select a snapshot, and then press the same button again it jumps to the previous snapshot. For example, Ive selected my Rhythm snapshot, play a while, my lead comes so I step on my lead snapshot. If I step on my lead snapshot again, it would jump to the rhythm snap I was using. This would be great because I'm often playing and signing. I usually put my lead snap button next to tap. It's easy to find. But sometimes I'm coming from a snap that's on the other side of the board, and want to go back to it after the lead. Is this possible? First press selects snap, second press returns to previous?

Amsdenj has a good point. I bought an amp stand to tilt my 2x12 up, and it was exceedingly bringht in a very narrow arc. You had to be standing in exactly the right place. My L2t seems to widen that "face melting" arc from a few degrees to 180. Maybe that means I need to audition more off-axis IRs.

I've tried high/low cut from amp+cab blocks, and from the IR blocks. So far I haven't inserted any EQ blocks or touched the global EQ. I *thought* I could just create a blank preset, throw in an amp block followed by an IR block, and then audition IR blocks until I found one I like. For years (and years, and years) I played through a Mesa Boogie slant with Vintage 30's, mic'd with a 57. So naturally I thought I'd buy the Redwirez Mesa V30 IR, and then pick one. It's never that simple, is it? I KNOW that the FRFR is never going to sound/feel like my Triaxis/50:50/cab. I totally understand that. But it's SO bright and boomy that I'm obviously doing something wrong. Which knob to tweak? Things that are new to me 1) modeling 2) IRs 3) FRFR. So many variables.

A little background for context. I've been a guitar player a long time. My first pre-amp was an ADA, then Marshall JMP1, then Triaxis. I've owned more rack unit effects boxes than I can possibly remember. ART, Lexicon, Peavey, TC Electronic, yada, yada, yada. I'm a MIDI control freak. Using MIDI used be the hard part of controlling a rig. It required deep editing, thorough understanding of the manual for both controllers and effects. Helix is exactly the opposite. MIDI control of all my effects is stupid easy. Assigning controllers, selecting patches, sending program changes, all ridiculously easy, and in almost all cases very intuitively implemented. Bravo Line 6. The capacitive touch feature is brilliant. However, I'm really struggling with the amps. I knew exactly what my old amp channels sounded like. I had to select from two (three max) channels. There was clean, and there was crunch. So now I see the amp section of Helix the same way all my old band-mates used to see my effects racks. It's only been three days with Helix, and things are getting better. I just downloaded Glen's boutique patches, and I've found some stuff in there that was both usable and educational. Probably the best $25 I've spent since getting my Helix. For me, his Dumble patch is a great starting platform. I've been auditioning some Redwirez IRs, but I'm not well versed enough with the amps to know that what I like/dislike about a tone is because the IR or the amp. When there are this many variables it's incredibly hard to not just make things worse by grabbing knobs and twiddling. I was getting horribly frustrated, almost to the point of sending it back. After all the reading I've done here it seems clear that IRs are what is needed to turn the amp models into live-sounding tones. It's definitely not that simple. In my case they just overly complicate things (completely due to my lack of experience with modeling). In my day-job I'm a firmware engineer. I absolutely should know better than to introduce so many unknown variables and expect acceptable results. It's one thing to know ahead of time that going from amp/stomps to Helix/FRFR is going to take some tweaking. It's a completely different thing to have it sitting in front you making noises you don't like and can't fix. :( Now is the perfect time to panic. So if you're a newbie to Helix (like me), I would encourage you to load up some of the patches from the experienced creators. Start with those, then tweak the parameters you understand (gain, eq, presence, etc). Starting with some well constructed patches has gotten me about 80% of what I need. At least I have usable tones for practice and a place to start. Oh, and one other thing made a HUGE difference for me, parallel effects loops. I use a Mobius in loop 1, and at first I was just throwing a Send/return block in the main path. While I LOVE LOVE LOVE the mobius, I wasn't getting what I expected until I dropped the send block to the B path, and then set the mix to 50%. Adding wet signal to dry is the shizz-nit. Now I just set the Mobius patch levels to 100% and then mix in how much of the effect I want with the send/ret block. Not something I could do with my old amp's serial effects loop. I realize this is stupidly obvious to those of you experienced with constructing Helix patches. I've seen it done in videos countless times. But in my head I was treating Helix's loops like my old GCX loop switch. It's either IN or OUT. There was no mixer on the GCX. In Helix it's programmable per snapshot? And I can control the mix level with a pedal? And decide if the return comes back before/after the reverb? I'm like:

This matches my experience with my L2t. I've currently got it in ref mode, on the floor, tilted back at 45 degrees on the kickstands. When I go to my neck pickup on my PRS and hit a single note on the low E 5-12th frets the room rattles. There is a huge bump in the 150hz range. I've tried low cutting the IR around 180, which helps tame the boomy, but when I go back to my bridge pickup it's thin. Settled on a compromise low filter around 140. Still trying to tame the ice-picky harshness. If I set the the high cut down around 3k it sounds less ice-picky, but is missing some sparkle. Still struggling with this rig.

Yes. It's very easy. Helix calls it "command center", and you can configure Helix to send MIDI on preset selection (among other things).

I've connected the L2t via Line 6 link cable, and it's in PA ref mode. Im getting more confident that it's just an artifact of some modeling parameter for some amp models. I've just upgraded to the latest firmware, and have been auditioning Mobius presets thus morning. Like, all morning. As in, I can't put this down and go to work. Omg. This is the real deal here. Patch 01A, with the Mobius on send/ return 1. I raiswd the low cut to about 65hz, and holy lipipop. I've been comparing the Helix mod effects to the Mobius side by side. It's not even close. The helix mods are acceptable. I don't expect everything in helix to be mind blowing. If I didn't have a mobius to A/B with it then I'd say they were pretty good. At this point I'm happy. More than happy. The patches can only get better with some equipment shaping, some good IRS, and time in the saddle.

Helix is here, and after a couple hours I think I'm going through what appears to be the normal panic-stricken what-have-I-done phase. I knew the presets sucked. No surprise. Clean sounds are ok. Having a very hard time with most of the dirty amps. There is a fizz that I cannot stand. It's definitely tied to the drive paremeter. It sounds like fret buzz, but it's exactly the same on multiple guitars (and not present in any clean patches). I only hear it if I pluck low single strings and let them ring. It's a fizzyness that piles on the gain. It's not all amps. I don't hear it in the hiwatt. I know that it sounds like I'm describing fret buzz, but you'll have to trust me that it's the exact same frizzy across all three of my guitars (each with different setup and pickups). It gets worse when I turn up the drive. I've tried changing the input impedance and pad, and run though every preset. I hear exactly the same thing in headphones and the L2t. At first I thought it was a bad tweeter in the L2t. It kind of sounds like a ratting screw or blown tweet. But after trying several patches at different volumes I'm pretty sure it is the modeling, not the cab. Is this expected? Is this the fizzyness of amp models that people write about?

Well, I'm committed now. Just sold my Blackstar. Helix arrives tomorrow. Got the l2t today. Hope this works!

Good point. I was wondering if the slant would be too much. I could make something like this, but make the bigger side flat. I wanted enough room underneath for a power strip and pedal power supply, but I'd like it to fit into one of the standard pedalboard bags/cases.

No Helix until Monday. :( So I made a mock-up of my pedalboard. I had some 1/2" plywood and wanted to see what the layout would look like with a Pedaltrain classic 32. You never really know until actually get things down on the board in front of you, right? I don't want a super big board, but I do have a couple pedals I want in the chain. I'm modeling what my modeler might look like on a mock-up. I'm not sure if that's sad or cool. Either way, I think the 32 will be big enough. :)

I've put my HT 60 on Craigslist. Probably have a hard time selling it, but I was never very happy with it from the start. I liked the clean channel OK, and one of the voicings on the amber channel, but just could not get along with the red channel. I liked the amp a lot better run into my Mesa 4x12, but who's going to lug around a 4x12 and 60 watt combo? Not this fat old wannab.

Cool. Thanks guys. Sounds like it falls into the "better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it" category.

Should get my Helix in a day or two, and I'm planning my pedalboard. After reading through the forum, it seems the consensus is the safest way to interface to FOH is to take the 1/4" -> DI box. I'm considering buying a stereo DI box, and putting it under my board permanently. The outputs of the DI box would be run to a panel on the side of the pedalboard for easy access (or just mounted on the edge, whatever). This would avoid the phantom power issue (right?), and allow me to ground lift (which may or may not be effective). For monitoring I'll be running the Line 6 link to an L2t. Mono for now, but with the ability to expand to stereo if/when I can. Is there any reason I shouldn't always use the 1/4" to DI for FOH?

Ordered an open-box Helix and L2t today. I'm currently playing through a 60 watt three channel combo along with a rack full of pedals and effects controlled by a loop switch. It's heavy, complicated, and fragile. And at the end of the day I'm not getting the sound I want. I use GuitarRig and Amplitube on my Mac, and have been very happy with the sounds I can get using the modelers direct, but have never been able to replicate that sound on a live rig. Specifically, the Uberschall. Yesterday I plugged into a Helix/Alto and happened across the Uberschall patch and was blown away. Don't get me wrong, the tone wasn't great. The Alto was boomy, the little room I was in had glass and sound reflected everywhere, and everybody knows the presets suck. But what blew me away was the reactivity, feel, and *potential* was all there. The bad-lollipop sound I've been getting in my headphones for years was *almost* there on the floor in front of me. I realize it's going to take some tweaking, additional IR, and time in the saddle. I'm a little nervous about giving up the amp after 35 years of lugging around tubes. Everything is a compromise, right? Wouldn't have taken the plunge without this kind of forum and people willing to share their experience and tribal knowledge. Readying everything I can, already feel like I've got a good head start. I'll have lots of questions in the coming days. (sitting by the door waiting for UPS)