erniedenov

I initially made my patches in stereo with my in-ear monitors, but retweaked them for my FRFR powered speaker in mono. As DD says, stereo is often not practical on gigs; not only because sometimes there's not enough channels on the mixing board, but also because with the 10 to 14 piece bands I play with, there's often not enough room on stage for two powered speakers, especially if I want to spread them apart enough to hear the stereo effect. And for that reason, I don't have two powered FRFRs anyway. At first I just used the left output to sum to mono, but I found that some of the stereo effects just didn't sound that great summed to mono, particularly modulation effects. So I went back and redid those effects from the mono list and with a little tweaking, got them to sound good in that setting. The reverbs don't have a mono option, but they're not as problematic. I know it can be anticlimactic having to hear your glorious stereo sounds reduced to mono, but life can be a series of compromises sometimes.

I think that's awesome!

That was cool! A few friends saw King Crimson a couple of days ago in Chicago and said they were amazing! My patches are pretty simple too; I never use more than one signal path.

Well suspect what you want to. The guy in my little story is the first call guitar player for musical theater gigs in Chicago and makes a 6 figure income doing it. He has no interest in becoming a guitar god; he's just looking for the best tools for the job he does. And in my experience with hundreds of musicians I know, the search for the most ideal gear has nothing to do with avoiding practice. I've been though a whole bunch of gear over the past 40 years myself and never had the notion that any of it would make up for practice. Actually I do the vast majority of my practicing unplugged; keeps me honest. The compulsion to buy gear simply comes with the territory, whether you're a novice or a pro. As the technology continues to evolve, musicians will tend to want to evolve with it.

A friend of mine who plays Broadway musicals had a Fractal Axe FX. He was interested when I got my Helix and came over for an A/B "shootout." He brought his powered monitor and we compared amp models with the same settings. There were differences, but they were pretty subtle, like there was a little more gain or treble on one than the other (with identical settings). When he left, I had the impression that he preferred his Fractal, though he had to admit Helix had a much better user interface. Two weeks later, he bought a Helix and put his Fractal up on eBay.

See if you can get it exchanged with a new one from wherever you got it. I think that qualifies as a malfunction. I've never even noticed the zippers on the inside of the case though I use all of the ones on the outside. Apparently they are used for sticking the foam in, but it's crazy that the tab for the zipper is on the wrong side. You paid for a new one and that's what you deserve.

I can't say "lots" because I only made 8 user presets (which I'm always refining). That's all I need. I've never consciously tried to emulate any particular guitar players' tones. That said, I only use one amp model's stock "partner" cab (Dual Rectifier) in one of my presets. I don't know about "all;" many users here do try and emulate the guitar tones of the tunes they cover to the best of their abilities. But I do go for the particular sounds in my head and I've often been surprised at how I've been accidentally able to make different amp and/or effects models sound practically identical.

I can't make that decision for you. I didn't have a lot of money to spend on an FRFR powered monitor and the Altos were getting good reviews. Like Jbuhajla said, they don't have the "monitor mode" that compensates for floor coupling. I don't know how well that works, but I do know that my TS212 needs to be mounted on an amp stand or a pole to sound good, otherwise it's pretty bass heavy. Not a big deal, I bought a pole that was somewhere around $25 or so and it solved the problem.

I use an Alto TS212; pretty satisfied!

There's really nothing to argue about, "pop" is short for "popular." It's not genre specific, although it has gotten more so than it once was. There was a time when even instrumentals by bands like The Ventures and Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass were Top 40 hits. In the early '70s, a prog rock tune like Yes' "Roundabout" or Kansas' "Point of Know Return" were in the Top 40. By today's standards, that stuff wouldn't be considered "pop," but it was at the time. Needless to say, times have changed a lot and musicians are just inconsequential pawns in most of today's pop... if they're involved at all.

There's no shortage of those; they're just not in the mainstream like the guys you mentioned. Allan Holdsworth (who passed away a couple of months ago), Steve Vai, Guthrie Govan, Scott Henderson, Ben Monder, Adrian Belew, Tommy Emmanuel... all guys who brought new exciting stuff to the table. The problem is that modern mainstream pop just doesn't have much in the way of guitar... or instrumental solos of any kind.

I'm going to stop playing guitar because it's not cool anymore... right! It's just that technology replacing human labor has moved to our realm of the world. Music made by machines is cost effective to The Industry; never mind that it sucks! The kids will buy whatever is shoved down their throats. Rock is becoming what jazz has been for decades: a once popular music that has been shunned from pop culture. And like jazz, it'll live on, but only in the shadows, away from the limelight. I'm not going to let it get me down. I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing until I die or am physically unable to play anymore... or playing musical instruments becomes illegal; whatever happens first.

Cool! Jamie has been a staple of the jazz/rock fusion scene for several decades; he was even in Chick Corea's Elektric Band for a while. I think we'll gradually be seeing more and more artists using Helix as time goes by.

Alto FRFRs have a direct output in the back; you can use XLR or quarter inch with it. I'd assume the FOH has tweeters and the sound coming out of it would be fairly similiar to what's coming out of the Alto powered speaker.

No "almost" about it. I use my Helix either with my Alto or with my in-ear monitors and headphone jack. I made a separate setlist for each and the EQs are very different between the two.

No. As I stated in my last post, tweak (or re-tweak) your sounds at gig volume if possible (I used to rent a rehearsal space to do that kind of thing; now that we bought a house a year ago, I can do it at home) and that should get you pretty close to what it's sounding like through FOH. If the speaker is sounding very different in the venue, then (and only then) you should use the global EQ to tune it to the room. Also, you can use the Alto's direct out to go straight to the FOH. In global settings, you should probably set all outputs to "line," but be sure the venue's mixing board has line inputs, some only have mic inputs.

Well Pete Thorn makes it sound good... but then again, when did he ever make anything sound bad?! Not that I'm seriously interested; Helix works just fine for me (except... hey, how's the tuner on the Headrush? ;) ).

I have an Alto TS212. The contour button is like "loudness" on a stereo system; it ADDS bass and treble. The stand is the best answer. When you set it on the floor there's a lot of coupling and it's extremely bass heavy. Mount it on a pole or an amp stand and it's a whole different ballgame! I learned this the hard way; I initially used a ton of low cut on the cabs sims until someone here suggested using a pole. Then I had to tweak my patches all over again but it was worth it; sounds great now! BTW, you should avoid using global EQ when making your patches. Save it for when you have to tune your Helix to a room that has some acoustical problems. I love this forum; I learned all of this stuff here! (edit) One more thing: If you're going to be playing live, be sure to tweak at the approximate volume you'll be using it at.

Thanks for your kind offer; I appreciate it! I don't have a laptop anymore. In my Line 6 Vetta days, I used to ask for a backlined Vetta and I would load my patches into it; I had a laptop then. The problem was that 75% of those rented Vettas had issues. There was a problem with the knobs they were using and the vibration of the amp would do stuff like make the volume knob turn up on it's own. Thank god Line 6 used high grade components in the Helix! I think I'd need some quality time with our soundman to get Helix working with that band. I did bring it once, but we were having noise issues that we couldn't figure out before we ran out of time. That was a good while back, before I started using the input noise gate though. I'm starting to ramble; think I'll go now. Once again, thanks!

Okay, that wasn't us. We're a cover band led by a reasonably well known actor; he's the bass player. I do have the Helix backpack. Trouble is that it won't fit under a seat and my other carry-on is my guitar.

It sounds exactly like I would want a gained up Les Paul to sound. That was great; thanks for sharing! I wonder if that was "The Fremont Street Experience?" I play at that once a year with the band I tour with. I didn't have a Marshall stack though; I use a rented Mesa Triple Rectifier half stack with that band. To tell the truth, I'm a little squeamish about flying around with my Helix, especially after having two suitcases smashed by TSA in the last 3 years. My Line 6 M13 survived, but of course that unit was 1/3rd the price of the Helix. Who was the headliner? Just wondering if it was us.

I'm not quite sure Chevere exists anymore, Brad. The last time we played was last summer and there's nothing booked for this year yet. We'd been talking about making a second album, but there has been no recent discussion about it. Well... thanks!

Thanks! I was actually thinking about bringing my FRFR powered speaker in case I'll need to get some feedback for solos. Perhaps I could just take the direct out from it and have it go into the board.

I don't mind the models; I just wish we had the ability to virtually move the mic across the speaker and angle it. That and make the tuner more usable for live gigs.

I have my first studio session with my Helix on Tuesday. I have no home recording gear and have only used it with my in-ear monitors or my Alto FRFR powered speaker. I have separate setlists for each respectively. Which setlist is going to get me closer to the ballpark? Any tips will be appreciated!