willjrock

You are absolutely correct. Ive tested and it works exactly as you describe. Ill often use this control to level a patch if the only thing im running after the amp block is an IR.....or sometimes i dont care if im hitting the delay or verb a little harder, so ill use it.....but if you want to keep your patch sounding identical except a little louder, youll have to go to the end of the path to add volume, whether it be using the out block or a gain block at one of the later stages of the path.

Very very interesting topic. Subscribed.

Arislav is right. If you have no plans of gigging with it, (even tho you technically could with a bit more effort) for $99, youd be hard pressed to do much better.

The cabinet is everything. It plays a much larger role in modeling in comparison to a hardware rig. Finding the right one definitely should make the experience more enjoyable. You should know what kind of sound youre chasing. If the sound you like is a cab with 8x10s, leafing thru a folder of 2x15s is likely to leave you unsatisfied. In comparison, a guitar player looking for that british sound thru a mesa cabinet is likely to have a long search. The IRs used in the video above are some of the worst available. I would fully expect helix cabs to sound better in comparison. When you find an IR that suits you well and play on it for a couple of days, youre current selection probably will not have the same appeal to you. Good luck!

Phil explained it better than i could but the bottom line is that little bit of difference a balanced signal would provide, is so far under the noise floor of a distorted guitar sound that it wouldnt even be noticeable. The only time you might be able to tell a difference was when the guitar is NOT playing....and then the only thing you might get rid of is a little bit of handling noise. Being that the guitar itself is unbalanced its kind of pointless. I dont know about a variax though, thats why i said most.

Its never worth it to run a regular guitar balanced. at least not distorted.

I grabbed about every 4x12 cab from IK what ended up being about $35 in the custom shop. They are definitely some of the best ive heard. I know its a little different but its better than getting beat over the head for an IR.

If you guys are not hearings the artifacts the OP is describing, you really need to look into new monitors, your room acoustics, your ears, whatever. Thats no knock. Just stating- if youre not hearing it, there is a real problem somewhere. It is plainly evident. OP - you need to give full details on your set-up for anyone to make a reasonable guess. Post the preset here, ect. Not likely, but this may have been a problem in the past, and your prior set-up simply not having the bandwidth to reproduce the distortion. It literally could be anything without having some sort of details. One bit of advice i can give is that the treble control on this amp gets a little squirrely right around 6.8, 6.9, ect and can cause some weird artifacts (Really dial it and monitor it closely in this area) but i havent noticed it sounding like your example at any point. Simply could be any number of choices, such as but not limited to, my effect choices or chord choices, NOT being AS capable of highlighting the offending freq.

Was letting a bass player mess with my helix for a few days. Ive never used headphones with helix, nor even the headphone jack, but thats what he chose to use. As i was giving him a crash course on how to navigate helix, the hard volume pretty consistently ran around 35%. This is bass mind you. Getting up into the 50% to 60% range would be where he would start to comment about it being too loud. Most all the block volumes were at their default as i was just trying to give a quick crash course. Dude played pretty regularly on the Tampa thrash scene in the mid to late 80's, so his judgement of what "loud" is, cant be too too far off. Just describing my one and only headphone experience after almost 3 years with helix.

I DO like the 12's a lot, but the 10s were just sooo much more defined (which i know is not always important to everyone) and crisp sounding, and they just seemed perfect. Its possible that there may have been other factors at play. The room for one. If i were playing live a lot maybe the 12's would be a good choice? Maybe the 10s work better in a studio environment? Not sure. You sure make some great points man. Steve too. After hearing the ASM 10s compared to the 12s im prob just a little afraid of the 12 inch speaker. But youre right, it seems kind of crazy to pass up on all that PC plus has to offer.

Im going to grab a stereo FRFR set-up. Ive heard the ASM 10's and they sound a LOT better than the ASM 12s. Its kinda not even close....but i have NOT heard a powercab plus yet. I get that Helix will integrate with powercab better, and there are more features with the powercab plus, and for less money on top of all of that, but i'll end up gravitating to the pair that sounds the best, which in theory i guess they should sound about the same. Though i *think* the powercab plus has a twelve in it? That would mean more to me if i were only getting one unit. Which would you lean towards with tones being your main focus? If you have any reasoning youd like to share that would be cool too. Im guessing here, but the powercab probably carries firmware that will come with updates? growth is something that probably should not be ignored all together. Thanks for any thought.

Thats ok. Laugh if you want, but i bet thats the last time you step to me trying to play hard guy. I totally expected that type of reaction from you. Youre a troll out drama shopping.. Perpetuating is the only thing that makes sense.

I havent really paid attention, but have you detected any difference in sound or quality? as opposed to the 48/16 files Helix calls for? I guess it could come down to the quality of the conversion? Dropping a 96/24 file in Helix should still work but will it sound different than the same file at 48/16? Will it sound different whether using a redwirez converted IR, as opposed to a file that was converted by loading it into the helix? Splitting hairs im sure. Just curious. The guitar style factors in i bet.. May be completely imperceptible in a "wall of sound" rock production while a single cleanish or acoustic track may show signs of degradation. Monitoring would also be a factor here.

I dont know why you just dont let other people have their opinion without you feeling the need to insert your mouth in the middle and start slinging the insults? Why are you so worried about what i have to say? We have a a perfectly legit beef here. Its just a discussion. No need to jump in with your condescending remarks - "if you dont like it dont buy it" - "its not that complicated" (no kidding?? thanks for the heads up) Thats on YOU dude. Its not "soft language" as you call it. Its about not coming equipped with enough mental competence to rebut an opinion without resorting to name calling. calling people entitled, asinine, stop complaining, you must be 15, ect. You have an opinion on the topic, great! Let'r rip. You have an opinion on my opinion or want to tell me how to conduct myself? Then we'll have an issue.

Why are you even speaking right now? Not interested in comments from the peanut gallery. Im having a conversation, and you think you need to rush to MLSL defense by attacking me? What, are you his bodyguard lol? or are you just trolling on in, attempting to start drama -as usual. The only thing assine here is you thinking youre qualified to give me orders.

Well i DID try the "best IR in the world" and lets just say I dont use it at all. Yeah i have bent modeling amps to fit that IR, and it sounds OK, but its unlike the other IRs i use, and the other IRs sound the way i know a cabinet to sound. Cabs that i own. Nor, as a 47 year old man, can i tie a tie, so i get it. Poor analogy. I can order a tubescreamer from sweetwater, try it for 30 days and then return it. I really cant think of an Item a user CANT try first (yes i get the whole digital goods thing) ........and nobody is "demanding" anything here. Furthermore a demo is a sidenote of the main issue i have. Charge a hundred for them if you want. Thats totally your prerogative. In the states it is, but in Canada its $45, so i split the difference.

Yeah but if i were to go buy them right now, i could hand you the whole collection without any trouble at all. I could sell them if i wanted to. Whatever, its not hurting me any, other than it would be nice to demo stuff. All im saying is that IRs are always a chance. $40 is way too much when the best IRs in the world are available for 15$ and less

Theres gotta be a way. My god we can get to the moon! Model an amp that sounds good with the IRs, release them together, as a package, baked into one another for lack of a better description, and put a time restriction on the demo?? Im going to say its do-able somehow.

The whole "try the free one to evaluate the others" doesnt work. Its like test driving a dodge to buy a chevy. Ive tried the freebie. It doesnt say anything about your other IRs. In ownhammer speak - why would i try the free mesa when im contemplating a marshall cab? Im happy with Ownhammer and Redwirez. Ive heard about all the clips with your IRs and theyre not doing anything i cant do.Thats why $40 is too expensive. However its always cool to explore new possibilities, but not at the risk of hope.

40$ is far too much to take a chance on a single cab. It may be ok for the next guy, but i already have to many IRs Ive gotten stuck with (and from the most noteable vendors) because there is no demo available. $80 on celestion IRs, and i get far more than MLSL offers, and i may as well have taken that money and thrown it in the garbage. Sorry but celestion's latest release of the suhrs really pushed me over the edge on that whole deal.

Yeah.....One or two "neutral" amp blocks shouldnt be that hard should it? One for the lower gain amps and one for the higher gain amps. Or hell even one amp! We dont have to have matching power/pre amp for each and every block, but even one generic one would be something.

sure it does, add a gain block at the beginning of your chain and you have exactly that.

A tuner WOULD be cool on the editor. I know it would make spikey happy. After thinking about it though, it doesnt make a difference for me whether i look to the floor where my helix sits or to a computer screen 6 feet away from my helix, so i guess it feels a little unnecessary.

Thats why it should have been done when gunpoint asked instead of ignoring him after he spent his valuable time trying to help

Well yeah. Theyre all good, but nobody here can tell you what you need....unless you want other people telling YOU what kind of guitar sound you like? The thing about IRs is you need to know what you want or you'll just be going thru all of them looking for something that sounds good, which you may or may not find with a suggested pack. This is known as the rabbit hole.