erniedenov

I'm currently using some third party IRs and more often, Helix cabs. It depends on the patch. Sometimes I'll try replacing a stock cab in a patch with various third party IRs and after a bunch of tweaking and A/B comparing, I end up sticking with the stock cab. I'm grateful we have the option to use both. Now if someday Line 6 gives us the ability to virtually move the mics across the speaker (and at angles) as well as close to or away from it, maybe, just maybe I won't feel compelled to use third party IRs anymore. I still hope to find out at some point. FWIW, I use the ribbon mics on the stock cabs a vast majority of the time.

I'd say boosting your mids could be a big part of the solution. They cut through a mix more than treble does.

That's very altruistic of you. Personally, I can't get inspired if I'm hating my sound. I have a setlist for playing with my FRFR speaker and another one for my in-ear monitors (one of the bands I play with doesn't allow amplifiers or monitors on stage and my Helix goes direct to the board). Obviously, both were tweaked for how they're being used and my in-ear setlist sounds great to me and to everybody else in the band, who are hearing what I'm hearing because we're all wearing in-ears. But I have no idea what it's sounding like in FOH and I just keep my fingers crossed that the soundman is doing an adequate job of EQing everything. It's not an issue when I'm playing with other bands and using my FRFR speaker, but it is one with the in-ears. I just can't listen to my FRFR setlist with in-ears; it sounds thin and lifeless. Maybe it wouldn't matter quite as much if I never improvised solos, but I do and I've never been able to play my best (or even at par) if I'm not digging my sound. If there's a solution, I'd love to know what it is. Sorry if I derailed this thread a bit, but I wanted to chime in on what you said because it's something that irks me.

Sorry. I just felt like a little levity was in order at this point. To offend was not my intent. This makes a whole lot of sense. I don't find the tuner unusable by any means; I just find it slower than any other tuner that I've used. Both bands that I work with consistently go from one song straight into the next one and there are very few breaks for stage banter. I usually have to tune during a 4 or 8 bar break where guitar lays out. To add insult to injury, my guitars are set up with floating bridges which take longer to tune than non-floating or hard tail bridges. To summarize, I have to tune up quickly. It's not a major issue, but it is an issue.

I thought you were going to suggest a cage match. It'd be more entertaining at least.

Hmmm, I never detected any problem with accuracy; it's just the "jumpy" thing before it settles. It takes longer to tune because of it. The tuner on my Line 6 M13 works great! Can't help but wonder why a tuner on a (more expensive) product by the same company doesn't work as well, especially when practically everything else about it is awesome.

I use an Alto TS212; it was $300. I didn't have a lot of money and it was getting great reviews everywhere I looked. I'm happy with it! Just be sure to put it on an amp stand or mounting pole; it does not sound good on the floor.

No. On last Saturday's gig, I couldn't tune my low E string. Tuner was jumping around like crazy and would never settle in. And yes, I was using the neck pickup with the tone knob rolled back. Maybe that string was getting prematurely old. Or maybe the tuner needs some more work.

Yeah, I've had to decrease the high frequency in most of the wahs; too "ice pick to the ear." I've had to decrease the wah volumes in several cases too. I don't use wahs a lot, so they're good enough for me now, but if you're a wah fanatic, Helix could definitely use some more flexibility in that department.

Same here. I was a little surprised that it sounded awful in front of the amp and great after the cab, but that's why you have to experiment with what sounds best where in the chain; it's not always what you'd expect. When using the dual pitch block, it's helpful to understand the scale modes. For instance, when I wanted to harmonize with a Dorian mode (I call it "The Santana Mode;" the one that works best if you're playing over a progression like Emin7 to A7), I set the Dual Pitch to D major. Dorian is the second mode of that scale. And I don't know if anybody would be interested in this, but a setting I like to use with Dual Pitch is based on a wide chord voicing that I've always liked the sound of. I set one harmony a 6th below the primary pitch and the other one a 5th above. It's a huge sound, try it!

63 years old here and still a professional musician, though it's gotten harder to make a living at it over the years. Nothing to do with my age; everybody's struggling more these days (regardless of age), I won't bore you with the many reasons why. But I can't afford to retire, so I'll do it until I can't physically do it anymore or nobody will have me. Anyway, loving the Helix! I've been off and on with modelers and tube amp/pedal-boards over the last decade and a half, but this is the first modeler that leaves me feeling that I don't need any more analog and/or tube gear anymore. This thing does practically everything I need it to do and then some. Enjoy!

A musical giant passed away today at the age of 70. He was one of my biggest heroes and I'm profoundly sad. Normally I don't believe in anybody being the "best" at anything, but I might have to make an exception in Allan's case. He wasn't the only guy around with seemingly limitless chops, but I think he was the most original and innovative electric guitar player since Jimi Hendrix. He had his own musical vocabulary and sounded like he never listened to another guitar player in his life (though I know he had). His harmonic concept was extremely deep, but beyond all of his technique and knowledge was a very soulful, emotional player, though some might not recognize that because of the complexity with which he expressed himself. His music was pure art; there was nothing remotely commercial about it... and for that reason he was never the kind of household name that so many other guitar players are. And he was always struggling financially for that reason too. Those of you that have ever read an interview with him also know how painfully humble he was; he was never satisfied with his work. I've seen him apologize to audiences several times, though all they heard was sheer brilliance. He was even clearly uncomfortable with accepting compliments, despite his graciousness. He left us a great legacy of recorded music. I know I'll be savoring it for a long time, but I'm bummed that I'll never hear him live again. R.I.P. Allan.

Or if you want, you can set Helix to display presets on one row of (4) switches and effects on the other row, as shown on the box it comes in. You can do that from the global menu. Whenever you go to a preset, it'll display the effects that you can toggle on and off in that preset. And as said, you can have one switch toggle two effects on and off simultaneously.

Cool, thanks! I actually loaded the 44.1 kHz and the 48 ones before I stopped and thought, "wait, I don't know what I'm doing!" Guess I'll just clear the 44.1 ones.

Thanks!

I just purchased a pack of IRs from 3 Sigma Audio. There are 4 versions of 10 files. Each version has it's own number; the numbers are 44.1, 48, 88.2 and 96. I don't know what these numbers mean or which ones to load into my Helix. Please help!

When I went from firmware 1:06.5 to 2:10 I felt fairly certain that I heard a noticeable difference for the better in my user presets. When I updated to 2:20, I didn't hear much if any difference. Maybe the tweaks are that subtle from one version to the next and it's more perceptible when you skip from a much older firmware to the latest. Or maybe it's all in our heads.

I've never bought any, but out of the three free demo packs I got, the Celestion one is the only one I use. The other two were Allure and Ownhammer. I'd guess it's strictly a matter of personal taste. I have to say, with the Ownhammers, it's a matter of option overload; dozens of versions of the same cab... and sometimes the differences were so subtle that they were barely perceptible. You can lose perspective after a while; at least I did. And btw, the majority of IRs that I use are still the stock Helix cabs.

Well thanks for sharing! I guess I just need to do some more experimenting.

You're right about the difference between playing by yourself and playing with a band; I tend to forget about that when I'm by myself, tweaking. Still, I hate hearing any of that white noise, particularly when I'm improvising a solo. I tend to subconsciously avoid using rests and play non-stop strings of notes. I don't even hold notes long because of that sound of the gate killing it's sustain. In that Decimator II G String video, it sounds like it doesn't suck the sustain or the tone. I guess I need to try one. The extra loops in Helix would accommodate the way the Decimator needs to be hooked up nicely.

LOL, that's great! I'm hearing it in my head with Gollum's unique voice! Honestly, I was scared to do the update myself because the last time I did it, I lost most of my user patches and had to bebuild them from scratch. But I shamed myself into being brave. I had a few boneheaded moments, like where I couldn't find the newly downloaded firmware on my computer, only my old 2:10 version. And other stupid stuff. But after I found 2:20 on the Updater, it went without a hitch; I even successfully loaded my third party IRs back in place (didn't have any the last time I updated). But while I'm being honest... I personally didn't find 2:20 to be worth the anticipation. None of the new models are anything I'll likely use. The new chorus and compressor are cool, but I was fine with the old ones and I don't find the new ones to be substantially better. Autoswell was disappointing and I still prefer using a volume pedal for that effect. I won't continue to go down the list; it's just a matter of personal taste. And I certainly appreciate that we get these free firmware updates; it's just that this one didn't bowl me over. YMMV. The best thing I got from it is that I'm not afraid of updating anymore!

I tried the Helix's hard gate and it sounded so bad initially that I didn't have the patience to mess with it. It was chopping off the front of notes. Would you be kind enough to share how you set those gates and where you put them in the chain? Actually I use a rented Mesa Triple Recto half stack with the band I tour with and I put a (Line 6 M13 model of a) Tube Screamer in front to smooth out the mids. Yeah, they're noisy and some are worse than others (though I've found the newest ones to be reasonably quiet), but I swear, my high gain Helix patches are noisier. My problem isn't the noise when I'm not playing; I've learned to go to the clean channel the split second that I'm done with the high gain channel (at our soundman's urging). It's the sound of the gate while I'm playing; the way it kills notes that would sustain if it wasn't engaged. I'm not a gain maniac, but I want enough to be able to get some sustain and be able to feedback when I want it too. Any help with successful use of the Helix gates would be much appreciated!

The only real issue I have with Helix is that the high gain sounds are so noisy, actually worse than most high gain tube amps that I've known. I've never liked noise gates; always avoided them... and now I need to use one. The Helix one is okay but not great; it still messes with the sustain and makes that noise when your palm touches the strings. I'm tempted to get one of these, any of you peeps have any experience with one?

Are you using "line" for XLR/quarter inch outs in the global settings? If not, you should. Just overturning stones here.

The contour button on the Alto actually increases the bass and treble; it's like a "loudness" button on a stereo system. I keep it off and I'd guess most users do the same unless they're playing at bedroom volume.