specracer986

What kind of volume do you play at? I play in a really loud band and I don't have much trouble with my 69 or 69S being bright enough. In fact that's something I often need to tame a little. If you could post some before and after adjustment comparison clips, that would be great for all of us interested.

Well, my post wasn't aimed at you, but thanks for your analysis. I now feel qualified to run for president.

Freeman got me started on using dual cabs and treating them differently, but he uses IR's mainly. I learned a lot from Jay Sadites about setting up dual stock cabs. I keep a patch that I call the 2 Cab Shell and I use that as a base line for starting a lot of my patches. Depending on the song I might change out the amp or the cabs, but I usually use it just the way it is. There's three snapshots for rhythm, crunch and lead. I just uploaded it to Custom Tone and here is a link if anyone wants to check it out. https://line6.com/customtone/tone/3573872/

I'll be okay with whatever they give us. I have no problem finding a good amp / cab / mic for just about any song I want to work on. I do hope they give the metal guys what ever it is that they say they're currently lacking in the Helix. I'm actually more tired of reading that Helix doesn't do metal, than I am reading about the tuner. Maybe the controversial aspect of the new update is that they're going to drop the tuner! There, I think I pissed enough people off. :P

Personally, I'm looking forward to Gen3 Variax. I could use a new guitar.

Did you check out the Shuriken baritone?

You should check out the Mission Io. It may be more to your liking.

I don't think this is a great tone, but I don't think it sucks. It's a good starting point and very tweakable. It definitely needs more balls. I don't play metal, but FWIW, here is what I'd do with that tone: Add an EQ and boost some 250hz. Possibly a little 500hz. Work with Helix cabs and experiment with mics and mic placement. I'd probably do a double 412 cab and mic one with a 4038 ribbon and the other with a 421 dynamic. Put them on different paths with an A/B split so you could eq with more or less of one cab over the other. Add in a little Master Volume to bring in just a little low end hair. Add a compressor just to see if it helps. I think it might. Possibly just a touch of reverb to give it some body.

If your Engl has a loop, then put the Helix into the return of the loop and bypass the pre amp of the Engl. Then start experimenting. I think you'll find something there.

Another user of Mixcraft 8 Pro here. It's very intuitive. I can always figure out how to do what I need without opening up the manual.

I also went from a Zoom G3X to my Helix. I can't say that I ever got the Zoom sounding as good as your first video. I do think there is a little bit of effect from your guitar sitting nicely in the mix of that recording and being enhanced by the rhythm and bass. On the other hand, I also have struggled with taming harshness from my Helix patches. I use a DXR12. I think they are pretty unforgiving, and I find that I need to keep my low mids up and presence down. Your second video has much more crunch than your first. Try bringing down the Master Volume, and/or Drive, or change amps or OD pedals. You might want to try a compressor also. There's plenty of possibilities with the Helix, and once you find your sweet spot, it's easier to stay in it. I've recently found mine after about a year with the Helix, and I'm now going back and "fixing" a lot of my earlier patches.

That's covered in post #10 above. Both necks have the adjustment at the heel like a vintage Strat, and also a fine adjustment Gotoh box on the bottom edge of the neck about the 19th fret. So you can make several fine adjustments at the 19th fret, but then there's a point where you'll need to take off the neck and reset the fine adjuster to the center position and start over. I have three necks like this, and I've decided that if I order a fourth from Warmouth, it will be with the adjuster at the nut. Sometimes better ideas aren't that easy to live with.

I also use Mixcraft Pro 8. I've been having a problem with Helix Native. If I try to make Native active on more than one track, I start getting crackling. As soon as I make Native not active the crackling goes away. I'm sure this is a hardware problem, but I thought my laptop was fairly robust, apparently not. I have a Velocity Micro with Intel Core I7 2.6ghz, 16 g ram, Win 10 Home 64 bit. Would more ram help this situation? I don't have a latency problem, and I can record as many tracks with effects, as I want as long as I use my Helix or Katana as the interface. It's just when trying to use Native on more than one prerecorded track that the problem comes up.

Schaller (25/64" 11/32"). The stock tuners fit right in.

I had Warmouth predrill the holes for both of my Variax neck changes. I installed Sperzel tuners on one and reused the stock JTV tuners on the other. They both work fine.

Between crackling noise and latency causing unwanted reverb, my Native experience hasn't been good, so far. I use a Presonus Audio Box 22VSL into Mixcraft 8. The lowest I can get latency down to is 20ms. I need to find a better way to monitor playback I think. I've been using headphones out of the Presonus, but it's not cutting it. My laptop is pretty decent, a Velocity Micro with Intel Core I7 2.6ghz, 16mb ram and Win10 Home 64bit.

I assume you are talking about changing the channel on your physical amp, since you aren't planning on using amp models. I've never done that, but it's controlled by midi communication. I occasionally read that some amps respond well and others don't. You'll have to do some research for your particular amp and how to set it up.

Amp model/cab model is not required to use snapshots. Whatever effects are in the preset, can be adjusted differently and saved, in up to eight different snapshots.

Dang, that's beautiful. I'd be real reluctant to take that to a gig. I have a JP15 Blueberry Burst that I've never gigged. I don't mind getting honest wear on most of my guitars. But when they are that nice, I get extra protective. I had a custom shop Clapton in Daphne Blue (a real rare color) and it got dinged on stage by a dancing bass player. I've never gotten over that. Anyway, that's my phobia, more power to you for having a nice guitar and using it for what it was made to do. Just stay away from dancing bass players!

So Peter, do you ever use a Helix stock cab in your piezo acoustic path?

Thanks for that. It does sound pretty good. That's what I get for shopping by spec's only.

Sorry, the IR slipped right by me. I forgot it won't transfer with the patch file. I was using an acoustic IR that I got from a Freeman patch at that spot. I would think any good acoustic IR will get you in the right territory and then adjust EQ from there. The piezo's on the JP15 sound pretty decent, so I would think your Taylor IR will work fine. I'm pretty sure I have that same Taylor IR myself. Trying to keep track of all the IR's I have is getting confusing which is why I'm starting to lean towards using more stock Helix cabs. The stock cabs do sound sound pretty good. I'll have to investigate which one works best for acoustic.

I don't think your missing anything tone wise. Since I do gig, dragging two cables for me is a big consideration. I revised my patch a little and uploaded the new version. I moved the LP/HP filters into the cabs to make room for a compressor on the mag path. I like this lead tone a little better. https://line6.com/customtone/browse/helix/#

I looked deeper into the Fly Rig 5 and realized that it does not have a cab simulated out. Just an amp flavored OD pedal section. So putting that into my powered frfr would probably not sound good. It's looking like the Ampli Firebox is going to be the answer for me. I guess the Fly Rig is intended to replace a pedal board and go into an amp/cab. Not my situation.

I got the Parker cable which comes out of the stereo output of the JP15 and into my Helix with two mono plugs. I created a Helix patch that uses the Guitar In for the mags and the Aux In for the piezos. Snapshot 1 has all blocks active so you can switch between the mags and piezo on the guitar. Snapshot 2 is boosted just for the mags, for a crunchy rhythm. Snapshot 3 has an OD for the mags only, for lead and solo work. It works really well and has given me a reason to start playing my JP15 more. Here's a link for anyone that wants to give it a go: https://line6.com/customtone/browse/helix/#