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vrollin

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Posts posted by vrollin

  1. Great news for Bass users I guess!

    But cmon, can we please address the basics first. still no level meters, and still no method for saving Global settings! I know I'll skip this update in the hope that the next one will contain at least the ability to save global settings...

    Or maybe ill just buy a headrush pedal board.... Just joking, no one is that that damned potato!

  2. Is there meant to be a bright switch on the lead channel? I don't have one on mine, do have it on the clean channel, noticed that the real deal has one for the lead channel, I know I would use it, hopefully they tweak this is if it isn't there for everyone....

  3. I've got to say that I don't really see this as being the case... I frequent here, TGP, and the Facebook group, and I can't say that I've seen more than a small handful of people actually complaining, yet alone being "fed up". It seems the vast majority of people have been understanding, really.

    It may not be the case that it is in droves, however some members were complaining,in this thread, of it happening all too often. Given their responses to the OP I'm not surprised if blowing things out of proportion is on their cards.

  4. Love how a large number of customers can be fed up with the flow of updates and yet the regular culprits will be here ready to slam them for expressing their views, in the customer support forum, ready to stroke Line6' shaft and cup certain members balls.

    This is a customer support forum, they own the product, they are more than entitled to express they are fed up. If you are sick of seeing people talk about it then it's easy to see that there's reason then to justify the frequency.

    "Just sell it then..." How about don't open the thread....?

    • Upvote 1
  5. Some people have just been looking to use the Helix as a cash cow since the day it was announced.

    One in particular, Chad Boston, really grinds my gears. Here we have someone who is not a great reviewer, not a great player, and definitely not known outside of his little Mansonesque helix club who not only crowd funded his gear after he cracked the sads, but charges for patches, sells his own line of helix shirts and charges for access to a forum where you can get "special helix tips and tricks." What pisses me off about people like this is the fact that they have no input in the product itself but are certainly milking it for what its worth, how line 6 isn't dragging people like him over the coals is beyond me as he is making money off and from using their name.
    What ever happened to musos helping each other out? Not once have I ever considered charging someone to offer help when they have asked a question about helix on any other forums, and neither have the other users.

    Could you imagine, before modelers, asking people for settings they are using on there amps and pedals only to charge them to tell them where to turn their knobs? This is the same thing with helix, only because its digital and can be saved people are of the impression they are some sort of Hackerman wiz so in fact should be able to charge for their time.

    I've downloaded a few patches here and there, even bought one, to see where I could improve etc, the one I paid for was in no way more valuable to me than the free patches and not one, paid or free, made me think they would be worth the money.

    • Upvote 2
  6. Given how many parameters there are for all the blocks inside Helix, the state of each block, and the number of combinations all these provide, you could calculate the number of reasons why. In that context, even sixteen seems like a pathetic amount.

    Given where we are at with a unit like this, even offering multiple parameter changes, it's a long way from where we all once were, an amp with a few pedals and a switch to change channels. It kind of seems now that we have been given such a huge range of options people are crying because they unnecessarily want more and more. It's kind of like the rich kid that got a lambo for christmas but then complains its the wrong colour.

    I must admit, I always thought Jimi Hendrix' tone and playing was lollipop because he couldn't make over 16 tonal changes per song....

  7. Don't you think this last post of yours is kind of a pathetic attempt to come off as the wronged innocent?  Your original post (quoted at the top here) is the one I responded to and it was hostile and insulting, especially to anyone who looks up the meaning of the word you used "sooking", not to speak of the content of the rest of your post. So how about we not pretend that my comment to you just mysteriously appeared when you were just a poor soul seeking help.

     

    My response was to your abusive language and content and I even told you it was simply to demonstrate that while you were quite offensively criticizing my effort to respond to racism in the forum, you could not even resist responding to a comment I made that simply questioned the somewhat abrasive way you went about seeking assistance.   Surely you could have thought of a title like "Need Help With My Tone" rather than the more incendiary "Feeling less and less enthused about helix.".  Judging by the title you expect others to be respectful of your feelings, how about returning the favor.  

     

    I told you that the only reason I questioned your post was to show you how difficult it was not to respond to something you think is wrong.  Sure enough you managed to miss my point while simultaneously making it. Forget about a comment that could definitely be construed as racist, you could not even resist responding to a comment that mildly criticized the way you asked this forum for help. Do you not see the irony here?  What happened to your stance of not needing to post a response to "every little thing you read on the internet"? Clearly a double standard you only hold others to. I replied to and was able to clear up a misunderstanding due to someone who had no intention of making a highly loaded and offensive statement but did so innocently and from what I can tell was bummed out by the response it evoked. Your response was to try and cyber-bully me. Highly questionable behavior. I find your comments harder to fathom as he actually meant no harm. 

     

    My record speaks for itself. I go out of my way to help other users who are having technical issues and rely on them in return. You can look at over a thousand of my posts that will demonstrate that. We may disagree at times but I do my best not to insult fellow users and vice-versa. Usually but not always we succeed in that endeavor and when we don't it is often done with humor, not bile.  Why not just admit you were being rude "champ" and let the issue drop? Or not, I really don't care. Anyway, I am done here, I have seen these conversations escalate before and I have no wish to be caught up in the back and forth. I know most of my fellow forum members do their best to clear up misunderstandings where possible and don't get caught up in ugly exchanges that have no business here and truly bring down the quality of this forum and the value it delivers on a daily basis. I, like so many other people here try to speak out against racism or other issues that don't belong on the forum, try to understand where others are coming from, and I don't appreciate being bullied in return and question your motives for doing so. Anyway, I hope you can take this with the same thick skin you seem to be insisting everyone else have. 'Nuff said!

     

    Wow, if you think the title of my post is "abrasive" then you need to get out more. No one likes an SJW, stop trying to make everything more than it needs to be...

  8. Not surprising I guess coming from the guy who titles his topic "Feeling less and less enthused about helix." because of a problem that could easily be caused by his own user error. 

     

    Not sure what you are trying to get at as that was genuinely how I was feeling, it got to the point that I wasn't even turning it on because I was so disappointed with what I was hearing. It wasn't an attempt at a post to bring helix down, it was simply a title reflecting my exact feelings at the time regarding my experience.

    As for user error, yup, that could be it, that's why I was posting in here asking the questions I asked, could it be me, could it be the product, are my expectations vs reality out of whack. If its user error then hopefully I can get right to the bottom of it and Ill be happy, remember I never claimed to be an expert. Some people are trying to help rather than scoff at the thought they can climb aboard their high horse and shout "USER ERROR" as though they get some sort of personal gain out of the experience... But hey what ever floats your boat champ....

    • Upvote 1
  9. Heres another clip for ya man. Its an Uberschall with an IR. Its not a tone Id go for but you had mentioned using that sim so whatever. Its not a sim i care for much.

     

    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/26654830/UC/uberschall.wav

     

    Reason for this is, and i say this with the utmost respect, is that i believe your/ear brain has drifted a bit, from what you think is a good sound. It can happen easily with sooooo many sonic choices, and even though it may sound like im being condescending, its happened to me plenty of times.

     

    It sounds like you are adding a lot of treble, trying to achieve a certain tone when maybe you should be looking at different amps/cabs. No matter how much EQ you use a Marshall will never sound likje a boogie, nor will a Bogner sound like a 5150 ECT.

     

    Compare my clip to yours, and how much rounder and less trebley my sound is, but how it still fits into the mix. Ive mixed lots and lots of guitar oriented tracks over the last 30 years, and the first thing i would be doing to your "best tone" (the patient riff) track would be looking for ways to warm it up.

     

    edit: BTW on a side note - that bass track is the Helix with a 6string guitar and a pitch shifter. Again, not what id go for but one of the more tolerable bass tones ive manufactured in this fashion.

    Thanks mate appreciate it, I know what your trying to say, and to be honest, I've never mixed a track before, so knowing what fits in the mix vs my just trying to emulate a cab in room sound are no doubt going to be extremely different things. Because if this inexperience it makes it confusing as to what I should be chasing.

    I think I made some decent headway today and ill have another crack at recording some little demo tones a bit better tomorrow after work and get you to have a listen!

    • Upvote 1
  10. How are you getting the signal to your monitors? Direct or through a computer? 

     

    The demos of stock presets don't sound too different from what I would expect. But the compensation in EQ in the later demos sounds like it's overcompensating for your listening environment. The demos did sound quiet. I'm not sure what setting you have the volume. Could be an element. Possibly not. And I'm not even sure about the listening environment part.

     

    However, I dislike the Orange models for exactly the reason you're here. I imagine the cab blocks are a large portion of the culprit. I'd recommend staying away from them. 

     

    I don't really want to type out a huge wall here, but (EDIT: here I go apparently) my recommendation is to look at the internal routing like an actual tube situation. (Also, before I continue, I want to point out that I strongly disagree with your statement that minor EQ can compensate for a muddy guitar/pickup. Sound starts there. Pots, pickups, material. Huge impact.) I rarely go to these high gain amp models for my high gain tones. I'm a bit of a different player, but look back at some of the great high gain pioneers. Also, you might think you need more gain than you really do, but that's a different conversation and I don't want to seem like I'm patronizing you. 

     

    I am personally getting very good higher gain results with more classic amps. I think it might benefit you to explore that realm for multiple reasons. One, it'll simplify some of the structure. Going with an amp that "doesn't have" a master volume simplifies the gain sounds. Knowing the difference between preamp and power amp distortion is a good lesson. It can really guide you to how you want to push your amp. 

     

    But I want to take one step back with that in mind. Going back to a more classic amp, get a good clean tone. One that sparkles in the way you want. Lush, but not boomy. Then start to push the amp from there. I'm not a huge fan of TS style pedals, but they play their place in tone shaping. They cut some lows and really notch out your tone. I'd recommend a Centaur for a flatter type of drive to push the tone toward what you want. Then pushing the drive on your "masterless" model to continue. An alternative to the drive on the amp could be as simple as a clean boost (EDIT: Clean boost could be as simple as a flat EQ with up to 12db of gain across the board. Or +6 to the mid section and +12 to the highs on the Simple EQ) to slam the front end of the amp. You'll get some nice play with the harmonics going on. 

     

    I also suggest (if I haven't already. It appears I'm writing exactly as much as I didn't want to.) from there to start playing with the mics and their placement. Start with just one cab. One mic. It'll isolate the variables in the rig and you can grow from there. You'll be better for it. At least it's good for me, anyway. 

     

    It really helps to have some good tube amp experience to guide you through. It really informs you on what kind of beast you're dealing with. For instance, I don't particularly care for Rectifiers for their muddiness indeed. So that's already one step toward what your problem is. I experienced muddiness with most of the high gain models. 5150 might be closer to the bite you're looking for. I am personally having a lot of success with the Bassman. I visit other amps like the AC30 (fawn or not, one of the most capable amps of all time) from time to time, but I keep going back. Then again, I go between rock/metal to blues/jazz, so it's a nice little setup for me. 

     

    Just recently though, I've changed the stock cab with the mic six or so inches away and some early reflection to a blackback with an 84 condenser up close. I wasn't liking some low end flub that was happening, so I tightened it up in a 412. This is all to say that there are options. And it's not all necessarily EQ. There are so many characteristics to explore that EQ just won't solve. 

     

    In conclusion, I'd say take a look at your pickups (I'm not particularly familiar with yours). And take a look at how you're feeding your signal to your monitors. I imagine it's going through your computer somehow. Could be your interface. Maybe there's some knob turned on your digital "console." If it's not a matter of a dark guitar or a monitoring signal path snafu, take a look at how you're creating your tone. EQ should be a last resort. If you can master edge of breakup tone, you can easily step into the high gain world from there with all the bite and nuance you've ever desired. That's what edge of breakup is all about. 

     

     

     

    Now that my dissertation is done, I've been inspired to go mess with the Helix. This thing is really great. I've learned even more because of it. Mostly about cabs and mics, and how they react in a space. It really is a guitar studio in a box. 

     

    Signal is running direct from helix via dual XLR, using the helix as a soundcard and using the onboard soundcard yield the same listening experience. In regards to listening environment, I'm not sold that its the case as I can listen to the demos through the same setup, in the same room I'm playing in, no other variables, and the demos sound amazing, this is what is so bloody frustrating to me.... (edit: ok so tried the switches on the back of the monitors, boosted the 2K on both, it hits it with  2db increase, and for the greater part its 90% better straight away! Theres still a little bit of weird mid eq that I dont particularly like in my tone, however now that im not using EQ to fight the effect I was having before I can try and narrow that down now!)

     

    As for the quietness of the demos thats direct from USB on the helix to the laptop. No volume adjusted anywhere, hit record on reaper and save. Do I need to push more output on the helix? Or if you know a bit about reaper should I boost the input signal somewhere??

     

    Running through all the cabs, and a selection of ownhammer cabs, the onboard "mandarin" cab is the clearest most in room sounding for me. (edit : ok so since adjusting the monitors ill have another look at this one!)

     

    Ill give the different OD and clean boost a crack! (edit: gave it a go, came back to the same model again, the minotaur had improvements in some areas but lost some of what I like about the tubescreamer model, out of the two I liked the TS more for me)

     

    If i set the mics any further back than 1 or 1.5 its like adding more and more blankets... (Edit: still a bit ame same with that one too)

     

    No chance its the choice of pickups here, never had an issue with them playing through my old SS and tube rigs, Randall RG series and Randall RD100.

     

    Thanks for the tips though!

  11. Agree if OP belives that any famouse guitar player just hook up the gear he have (sorry his guitar tech hook up the gear) and just play he is way wrong.

    It take them months sometimes even years and some player constantly changing their tone also as they "buy" oops is getting new gear for fee i mean

    And they also have hours of soundchecks in every venue they play not like i have 30 min max often less that that.

     

    But the fine thing about being a real pro is that most of the work you dont do yourself they can come in to the venue a couple of ours before the show and just check everything is ok to their ears.

     

    And their tech constrantly have dialogue with them about how they wants to sound and the tech also does all wiring soldering and preset making etc some simple tweaks is done by the guitarist themself..

    Not to mention the tech also does all tuning of the guitars they change strings does all setups etc etc.

     

    No pro that have complicated sounds as far as i know just buy a gear and just hook it up and start playing..

     

    Not even Angus Youngs sound who is supposed to be a very simple sound to dial in is simple.

    It is months well even years of tweaking to get his sounds right and he doesnt even use effects and he have a tech that is constantly working on his tone to get it right.

    So OP go figure they dont buy a piece of gear hook it up and play out of the box!!

    If you want to do that i say start playing punk music instead of metal

    And b.t.w downtuned metal and using 7-8 string guitars is way harder to get right soundwise than using 6 string guitars with regular A-440 tuning.

     

    Ahhh ok, not using 7-8 string guitars, as I posted the majority of my guitars are E standard/Drop D, among other weird stuff you posted there but thanks for your helpful input I guess?

    However if you watched all the demos leading up to release, all the hype, it was in fact marketed as something that yes you could indeed plug in turn on and dial up a great tone.

  12. Did a couple of really scrappy short recordings, bit of an out of time tol riff and just some odd palm mutes and chords to give an idea of the tone im talking about, nothing special by any means. I wish I knew how to just re amp, but reaper is one hell of a confusing beast to me at the moment. Recorded on the factory presets with no adjustments, last one will be of my own Uber model setting.

     

    Recorded on what is one of my brightest guitars, Ibanez SZ4020FM, JB in the bridge, Drop D 10-52.

    https://soundcloud.com/brad-butler-22/factory-cali

    https://soundcloud.com/brad-butler-22/factory-2204

    https://soundcloud.com/brad-butler-22/factory-uber

    https://soundcloud.com/brad-butler-22/demo-uber

     

    This is the closest ive come to being happy with a tone from the unit...
    https://soundcloud.com/brad-butler-22/sz4020-the-patient-riff

     

    Is there a way I can attach my preset into here so someone could look at it???

     

    What I forgot to get was a quick demo of the factory AC30 which just sounds like a wet bass fart with a weird octave effect on it....

  13. Ok, so I did a factory reset and reloaded the latest software and my presets. I think, and it could just be in my head, that through a cab it may have sounded a little better, as for monitors and headphones its still that muffled tone so the fight continues. At this stage I've disengaged global EQ and trying more and more EQ options. To me though, having to potentially run an EQ before the amp, an OD, and EQ after the amp, low hi cut on the cab, an EQ after the cab and a low hi cut before the output just seems like too much trouble for what should be a unit of endless great tones. The whole idea was to be able to plug in ring up an od and an amp and go, not the case by a long shot....

    • Upvote 1
  14. So many awesome responses.

    I'm going to try the factory reset first and see how I go from there, that's just the one where you hold two particular buttons down and it resets yeah?

     

    As regards to wah, I dont have any wah effects in my chain, all the wah models do my head in, until they release an auto on wah with the expression pedal and model a bad horsie 2 then I will never have one in the chain.

    The power amp I have been using is a Marshall VS120, and before that was the power section of a Randall RD100H, up loud I will say that it sounds pretty good, but given this is a modeler and meant to emulate all those things about cranked tubes at reasonable listening volumes I shouldn't have to push the speakers to breakup to get a good tone out of any of the listening mediums.

     

    Reg global EQ, if I dont have that on with the huge scoop on the 350hz band then there's really no point even trying to play.

     

    If I knew of one locally in a store I would be all over trying it out, but given its line6 and the price point in Australia I dare say its one of those things where the stores don't want it in stock unless you want it.

     

    Ill let you all know how the reset goes later on, havn't had the heart to touch the unit since I posted this the other night.

     

    Thanks guys!

  15. Have had the unit since release and I'm really starting to question, just how good this unit really is, or if in fact mine has been fault all along. I find that for every high gain tone I am always forever trying to cut out that wet blanket or muffled tone. I have cut freqs, boosted freqs, EQs in front, behind, both of amp and cab blocks. The only amp I have found "workable" for a high gain tone is the uberschall model. Everything else has this low mid muffle that cant be cut, or extreme low end that can be dialed out, to the point where I completely dialed out the bass on the amp block and it was still booming. 

     

    This is through all methods, power amp to Orange PPC212, to Yamaha HS8 monitors and Audio Technica ATH-R70x monitors, so no part of me is considering that it is the medium which I am playing through.

    The kicker for me is listening to demos online, through the very monitors I use, when they say they are straight into a recording app with no post and it is crystal clear, almost cab in room sounding, and then I use my helix through it and its the muffled tone all over again, even copying or downloading their patches. Now I get that a different guitar and tuning will have a big impact, but you should be ale to dial the majority of that out with some minor eq on the amp block.

     

    If I don't use the uberschall model, the tone is either extreme fizz, or for instance using the marshall models, extreme flub broken sounding low end and so so much of that low end, wet blanket and some fizz, its almost sound that you would expect listening to a battery powered audio device that is dying. Pretty much every high gain amp model sounds like a fuzz pedal on roids, is a fight to remove copious low end, remove the wet blanket and get a clear sound that would cut. None of my amp models have sounded like the demos of that block that I have watched, the marshalls especially....

     

    For high gain my typical configuration is TS9, uber, 10 band, noise gate, then into a dual cab setup, both mandarin 4x12 blocks and if I use anything but a 421 and 112 or 57 mic is like trying to listen with a wah slightly cocked. I cut around the 80-100, anything above and it is so so thin sounding. Any other cab and we are back to trying to dial out even more muffled tone...

    If I use third party IR's I may as well throw pillows on both of my ears. For example, in Olas demo, before the IR both demos sounded kind of flat, and then with his IR it was clear and it cut very well. I downloaded his patches and IR to see if I had the same results. My tone I had was more muffled using the exact same monitors I used to listen to his demo, at the same volume, and then when I used his IR it was EVEN WORSE, more muffled again!

    For my global EQ I have a huge cut around 350hz, -8db, if I don't the wet blanket is ever worse. If I go any more then the sound gets thinner and thinner....

    Guitars I am using through it are;

    Ibanez SZ4020FM, Duncan SD, Drop D

    Ibanez SZ2020FM, Duncan Distortion C#

    Ibanez SZ2020EX, Duncan Distortion Drop B

    Ibanez MMM1, Duncan Distortion C#

    PRS P22, Stock 53/10s Drop D

    PRS SE245, Duncan JB, Drop D

     

    Now none of these guitars had any issues with clarity in the past before helix and given the nature of the high end in these pickups they should all cut, the only pickups I should have a huge issue with are the 53/10s....

     

    Basically the only way I can get any decent tone is to smash volume out of this thing, anything that is normal bedroom level is flat and muffled, even though its the same volume I am listening to the demos on youtube at while smashing my head on my desk asking why cant I get even close....

     

    Is it likely that my helix has been faulty all along, that some audio chip has shat the bed and is just killing the tone? It cant be this impossible to dial a good tone and to remove so so much low end and wet blanket....

  16. Maybe just order some perspex and cut it to size yourself to place over the top of the screen, its very easy to work with if your just cutting it into a rectangle, would just need to figure out a way to attatch it and make it look nice

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