bsd512

I'm no pro, but I've tried Redwirez, 3Sigma, OwnHammer, and Rosen. For me, the OwnHammers sound the best to my ears. While I think they all sound great, I think they sound the best in pairs of different ones, both behind the amp for stereo output. A pair I like a lot is their 57 mic paired with a 160 mic, perhaps with different speakers on each one, i.e., G12C on one and V30 on the other depending on cabinet, and even entirely different cabinets. Can give some really nice results. But whatever mic's you use, try mixing them up in a pair of IRs used together in the same patch, split 50/50 right after the amp. If you're using a single IR behind the amp, try their OH1F or OH2F mic mix. You can grab all these from the QuickStart subdirectory. Then set the low and high cuts on each IR block to 72 hz and around 5-6K respectively. That's been a good combination for me. And setting the lo/hi cuts are important, otherwise they can sound really boomy or bright, depending on the amp and whatever output device you're using. Hope it helps and saves you some time from auditioning 1000's. :-)

You've probably already eliminated the obvious things - but could this be due to perhaps a bad cable in the mix somewhere? Not specifically Helix related, but we had a major IT outage event at work not long ago. After multiple vendors were engaged, firmwares verified, packet traces, and all that, with much hair pulling with critical systems going up and down with no clear cause other than it seemed to be related to underlying storage connectivity, the problem turned out to be a loose cable that was plugged in just well enough to be working just barely enough that the backup failover systems didn't engage and switch over to automatically recover, but not working quite well enough for reliable operation. Sometimes it's the simple things that we take for granted to "just work" and when they don't, they're sometimes the last thing to be checked.

Extremely well-done video and great information. One of the best I've seen - no fluff, just good stuff. Perfect! :)

And for more delay clarity, you can also run the delay in parallel to the reverb block so that the delays aren't 'reverb'd but take their own separate path to the output without the reverb processing applied to them.

Thanks for the answers and insights, they are very much appreciated. I realized I haven't actually used either of the studio headphones to listen to normal already produced music to see how that sounds. That should help me compare what I'm getting from them with the Helix vs other sources. I'm suspecting it's largely ear training on my part and just getting used to the linear response. Who'd have guessed what I've been listening to all these years as a consumer has been a vast conspiratorial lie from headphone makers! :) I feel like I've just taken the Red Pill ... :)

Dumb question alert ... from non-pro audio noob I see tons of threads on the Helix about folks working to get their tone right through various amp/pa scenarios, and also with headphones, and how to get a faithful reproduction of what is heard through headphones from amp/pa's. Along with these, there's been lots of recommendations for good quality studio headphones and once dialed with those, that usually translates to a good tone through a PA. I personally use a pair of Yamaha HS8 studio monitors when I'm not using headphones and they sound great. I also use a pair of Bose Quiet Comfort 25 noise cancelling headphones I've used for many years long before I got the Helix, and they sound really great with the Helix, too. But I was curious and bought a pair of decent studio headphones, thinking maybe I'm missing something important - and what I hear from the Bose QC might not be translating to an accurate non-headphone tone. The first thing I noticed from the studio headphones was they sounded harsh and fizzy. Really pretty bad. So I returned them and bought another pair. Same thing. This is with high gain amp settings. I do use hi/lo cut on the cabs as I've learned to do, and that helps with the harshness, but it still sounds pretty bad even with those recommendations. I go back to my consumer Bose QC headphones (which aren't cheap!, just not billed as studio headphones), and it's like the Helix is a chorus of angels by comparison. All still sounds good through the studio monitors, though. What am I missing? Am I listening for the wrong things from studio headphones? I'm pretty sure the studio phones aren't supposed to sound harsh and fizzy. Are my tones all mess up and I just don't know it because haven't been using studio headphones? Are my ears just not trained to hear the nuances from the higher accuracy of studio headphones? I understand their frequency range and response is supposed to be very accurate. If regular folks listen to your music using regular headphones / speakers, shouldn't that be what you dial in your tone for, at least for recording purposes (not live music, of course)? Thanks for any enlightenment. This question has been bugging me for a while, ever since I tried a couple of pairs of mid-range studio headphones. Which were the Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO, 250 ohms and Sony MDR7520's, btw.

Inspiring! Thanks for posting that!

Excellent!

There are a couple of IdeaScale entries for more IR space. Here's a few I found - there may be others. Vote on them if you think that's a good idea: http://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/More-space-for-IRs/809273-23508 http://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/More-impulse-response-slots/796023-23508

Very nice!

Agreed. Sticking with the rifle analogy - the Helix has open sights. Still an accurate rifle, it's just harder hit the bullseye. A lot of folks want the scope with the cross hairs.

Sounds great!

Good analogy is that of a gun - say with a scope. Line up the cross-hairs on the target bullseye. If the gun has not been sighted in, you may shoot a tight group, but low and to the right, for example. The gun is precise (tight group), but not accurate (hitting low and too the right of the bullseye). Adjust the scope correctly, and you hit the bullseye. Now the gun is both accurate and precise. A poorly made gun will not be accurate or precise, i.e., you can't make it shoot a tight group even if locked into a vise, it's all over the place with every firing. Using your scale analogy, the scale is precise if you weigh yourself 5 times and get the same result every time. It still may not be accurate, though. Your scale is accurate if you test it with a known calibration standard weight and the scale displays the correct value. As far as significant digits, false precision can be a problem like you said, making one think it might be more precise than it really is. Repeated measurements will uncover that flaw very quickly, though. So: precision: you get the same result after repeated measurements, whether they are accurate or not. accuracy: your measurements match those of accepted standards. accuracy + precision = a well calibrated, high quality instrument. Just semantics, but we should be accurate and precise with our definitions. :) Just helps avoid confusion and misunderstandings.

That was awesome! Thanks!!

SoundCloud says "Oh no! We can't find that track." I'd love to hear it. :)

Yeah, I think you'd run out of of DSP with dual 2048 IRs and the selection for the second would be greyed out. Make sure to use 1024 for both.

After the amp, press the joystick and select the 1st IR as normal. Then use the action button and move it down to path b. Press action to release. Use the joystick to move back up to the block that was just vacated. Press the joystick and add the 2nd IR in the old one's place. That creates the dual path split after the amp feeding the two IRs.

The Helix rack has a dry output jack. The floor unit doesn't. I submitted an IdeaScale to route the dry signal to one of the other outputs on the floor unit a little while back. Vote it up. http://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Enable-dry-signal-output-alternative-other-than-USB-7-8/821453-23508

I approve. :)

Very nice!

I just verified that works. Connected with my iPhone using bluetooth while running the Helix through the 1/8" aux input. Note that the volume knob on the Amplifi is actually two-in-one, which blends the guitar signal in with the aux input. Makes it real quick to level out the sound to get the right volume of each when playing with a backing track. When running the Helix into the aux input, as well as playing something over bluetooth, you lose that mix functionality, so you'll need to match the volumes appropriately from their source, either the Helix or whatever you're bluetooth source is. Still easy, but not quite as easy as blending on the Amplifi itself. If you run the Helix into the Amplifi using the Amplifi guitar input, the Amplifi volume mix knob would work as usual to match the volumes of the two sources. All in all, it's a pretty sweet setup. Not as good as the studio monitors, but still not bad at all. And I'm sure not as nice as it's Firehawk big sister.

I just did a quick test and I can confirm that the Helix sounds pretty darn good through an Amplifi using the 1/8" AUX input of the Amplifi. I used the Helix 1/4" outs set at line level into a "Y" cable to connect. It seems to reasonably and faithfully reproduce what I hear through headphones and also from my studio monitors, which are a pair of Yamaha HS8's. I tested the stereo-ness using a ping pong delay and you can hear it bouncing back and forth from one side of the cabinet to the other, so stereo seems to work, too, at least as much stereo you can get from a 22" wide single cabinet. It gets pretty loud, too. I set the Helix master volume at 12 o'clock and briefly turned up the Amplifi nearly all the way and it was way more than what I'd want to be sitting next to for practicing, but didn't seem to break up, at least that I could tell for this quick test and everything in my attic office rattling including the windows. :) I couldn't run it that way for long because the family is home. But with the Helix master volume at noon, and the Amplifi AUX volume at around 10 o'clock, it was comfortable. So I'm assuming it would work for what you are thinking, and I'm sure there's more in there if you turned up the Helix master even more. That's the Amplifi 150 at least. I didn't try going direct into the Amplifi's guitar input from the Helix. That didn't really seem to make sense for my purposes, though robby747 and others have said that works fine, too. I'm assuming you'd lose stereo doing that, if that's important to you. I have two ears, so I like stereo. :-) That was fun! And my Amplifi actually got turned on for the first time in months since getting the Helix. :)

I actually have an Amplifi 150. My Helix replaced it, it hasn't been powered on since I got my Helix. I have been meaning to try it with the Helix, but never seem to get around to it since I've got a pair of studio monitors I use when I'm not using headphones. I'll give it a whirl. It probably sounds fine, but wouldn't have the stereo spread of the monitor pair. I'll find out.

Guilty. Software development, electronics, manufacturing automation, robotics, etc. Never met a programming language I didn't gel with. I really like solder, though. :-) As comfortable as I am with computers and software, I was mainly drawn to the Helix because of it's tactile UI. I want real buttons, dials, and switches I can reach out and twist and press. I hate having to use menus with a smartphone or tablet. Line 6 really nailed the UI function and form with Helix.

Any day now ... just a few small tweaks needed. :-)