WickedFinger

I do hope others will offer some cool things they have learned. Pretty much the reason why I came to this forum to learn more about the programming of advanced users. We could keep all these things to ourselves but really is that helping anyone or helping the Helix get the rep it deserves?

One might ask why? Are you producing frequency spectrum outside the guitar range? A "full mix"? Are you suggesting the issue is running a full band mix through guitar cabs? No one has suggested nor would suggest that. No one is saying that you cannot run the signal into PA FRFR speakers for bigger halls or rooms just that if you have high end guitar speakers the Helix sounds very good through them as well as it sounds good in FRFR. I use both and the sound is amazingly rich and full. The guitar cab sounds more like a real amp which is why I use mine. Everyone should do what they like or prefer but suggesting FRFR sort of moot points all those trying 4CM things with their amp and speakers. If you have low end guitar speakers that color everything even a 4CM thing is not going to get anywhere near the best sound. But with the array or great high efficiency higher wattage guitar speakers these days the sound coming out of the Helix is very powerful and sounds as good or better than any amp I have ever used. I love my 15" FRFR EV rig but still dig the power and punch of that modified 4x12.

Being a long student and scholar of history and a huge fan of reality: Believing in things has nothing to do with them being grounded in reality and physically real. The religious across the spectrum are the first ones to try and act as if science is a belief or requires you to accept it, it exists in contrast to whatever often delusional aspect of psychology that spins in one's mind. Think what you will, believe what you will, everything in human nature is a matter of your personal genetic markers. Nothing more, nothing less, born a with genius potential or retarded, we all are what we are and whether or not you become obsessed with some psychic communication with your imaginary friend does not give anyone the right to castigate science or non believers because they are not wired that way. There have been infinite religions and 10,000 gods in the human epic, the only thing that is common amount all of them is that their believers were utterly certain they were the one and only truth and light. Those who are convinced any religion or belief construction can "save" the world or admit them to disney land after they die is as mistaken now, as they have been then. The dumbing down of our educational system towards a basis of "faith" and "belief" ideology merely assures when we need science and brilliant persons to save is from a dire crisis, they will be busy praying or lighting candles. Now let's get back to programming the Helix and playing the music we consider a gift.

Mid 80s actually, we cannot all be young and dense as that seems to erode with time, hopefully anyway. I just tested the Helix to my external Gold Pitch Black and it seemed to be on pitch pretty much as the Pitch Black but yeah, a lot of drift and instability maybe really only for quick live tune checks. Bless anyone trying to set intonation using it, best of luck. First time I actually kicked it on myself. I never had a notion to use it as a main tuner anyway.

Been thinking about this for a while, how great it would be to offer some tips and tricks on programming HELIX presets to help them sound better and improve tones, and how delightfully wonderful to have things in the same thread to find. While I am not an established veteran of the HELIX "yet", I have discovered a few things that might be useful to others in this rather infinite magic forest of param variability regarding what I consider the best inventive progress in amp modeling since the whole ballgame began. So please anyone who would like to offer some idea or something they discovered which makes things sound better please add to the list or perhaps extend upon an idea to further flush out its potential. I have long wanted to find and read of such advanced user tips and wish Freman and others who sell presets, while not giving away the farm might develop a better advanced user programming guide of tips for the HELIX. SO offer up what you think might be of use, it does not matter if others know of it already, I guarantee there are many who will not have known of it: So to start off I offer a few things I learned or perhaps heard of someone else doing, so this is not about taking credit for anything as I have no idea of all the things discussed here on the forum or even in videos regarding the mighty HELIX. 1.) Make use of the MIC section PREAMP model of the Studio Tube Preamp model. Set the model to line sensitivity or "impedance" put the level of this on 10 and the gain right around 4.0. You can put this block in front of clean or dirt amp models which imparts a rather subtle but cool tube-ish enhancement model to make things sound a little more "not" digital or sterile. I find it extremely good after a high gain amp to increase and enhance the quality of the gain structure and intensity. I often place the "after" block before any separate speaker IR block but there is no notion it does not help after a full amp as well. Anyway cool trick I have taken to using and I often assign a switch to both Studio Preamps on merge/"multiple" to either shut both on or off or switch from one to the other. 2.) While not an unknown or surprise finding, using the Cali EQ block which is really Mesa's V EQ curve from their amps makes any high gain amp model sound so much better by notching the lower mid 750hz and bringing up the lows and highs in a V shape. One should not boost or cut too much but it for sure makes a high gain sound better and often on my cleaner models I like the tone balance. Of course EQ is always a matter of personal taste and case of point use but Mesa puts this V Graphic EQ on all their main amps as it just sounds wicked cool. Note:If you use the post Studio Tube Preamp #1 trick above, I suggest putting the Cali V EQ after the Tube preamp model as it is easily over driven which may not be a good sound for you. When I use the Studio Tube thing I just want a subtle tube quality into the sound structure. 3.) I find it essential for me when I run an external effects loop I need to have a NR gate block on after the loop return which keeps things quiet even though I use several high end external pedals. Of course slapping in a basic NR gate block after any hissy amp shunts off that annoying hiss without seeming to effect the overall sound dynamic or attack. I tend to use the stock default settings but others my have some better ideas for param adjustments. So I hope this prompts the witty higher end users to toss a few ideas and tips which could get quite insightful.

I still do not have a clear idea what that Flash Memory file is for or if we are to make use of it and how. I think it has confused a whole lot of users besides me. I tried to down load that thing as well before someone slapped me to look at the title header on the left. Still not sure why it is there or what we are supposed to do with it if anything. Seems like the main 2.01 takes care of it. Remember campers the globals must be reset as per the instruction sheet on 2.01. I notice many missed that part.

I always use full amp models either as the one model or the amp with a separate cab or IR, always sounds the best. I have tried using preamp models but not as full and the depth of the power amp modeling. You can artfully use preamp models as boost into other models. One of my programming tips is to add in a MIC tube preamp model set to line impedance full at 10 and the gain around 4 to be clean but imparts some tube modeling artifact chime (not noise) to any amp model, but recommend one try this on your next preset design. Just adds a little "tubish" goodness to the tone. An easy miss as who would look at the MIC preamp model when designing a preset. I ran across it from someone and it was a damn good tip. I pass it on to those who read. My thoughts on using preamp models were the aspect of using a tube power amp which is going to add its own response characteristic into the sound. I recommend solid state power amps, there are a lot of choices and it is easy to get just too many watts. You have to make sure your ohms out are working with the speakers you are using and the over all RMS watts is comparable to the speaker combined (series/parallel) cab RMS. Chap above is right about V30s, loved them with my prior tube head but with the modeler, have to go more high end if you want the best sound. I reloaded my 4x12 cab that had V30s to a hard stereo wired load with Eminence Man O War 12s which are 120watt speakers and man do they sound good. I also have a pair of EV 15" FRFR which part of the easier mode of them is they are self powered with a Class D 400 watt internal each. Not a fan of the POD 4CM thing myself, depends on the speaker config the amp has but in general lower end guitar speakers just do not do well. The Helix is a different animal then what most of use experienced with the POD so the use of good speakers or FRFR became even more important. As far as a power amp, there are a lot of options out there and almost none are bad choices as theory wise they just need to reproduce what they are given. So asking about tube power amps, I think Line 6 would agree you do not need one. The Helix kicks major "t rump" no matter what you do, thoughts are just on what might be more optimal. Like I mentioned it is easy to get too many watts in a power amp these days, the speakers have to be able to handle it. My SLA-1 is like 100 watts a side into each a pair of Eminence rated combined at 240watts ea side. I seldom run the amp up more than half outside a band thing, And they can reproduce well what is thrown at them. They can do from 70Hz to 5.5kHz before starting their roll off slope so they are well able to range the guitar spectrum. I like them the best on my rigs. The 15" EV's are massive but really do not need all that low end for the guitar I had them for my guitar synth which was a different animal. The guitar also does not manifest ultra high end so all that headroom is nice but just not being used. I also prefer the single 12" for more punch and power not having the sound split in a cross over circuit. What is important for me in my rigs is the wattage headroom, the clarity and ability to generate lows and a spectrum of sound. Those days of using low wattage guitar amps for clipping and no bass just do not do well with a modeler.

I suppose in a pinch you can use it to at least get in proper pitch and tune the strings to each other. Personally I have a gold and a black Korg PitchBlack tuner and one of my Les Paul's has a G Force. I have never really been happy with the tuner software in any modeler or multi unit I have owned. For shear accuracy and being true bypass I really like the Korgs, I use them for all my intonation set up work. They have strobe modes as well, maybe not as good as Peterson but then what is really. I think we get lazy with all the tech at hand. I remember when I started playing as kid there were no tuners and no one was certain they were in pitch you just tuned to each other. Ever try to tune a guitar with one of those old pitch pipes? Kill me now. Modern tech has given us so many tuners these days and all of them are pretty damn good, never hurts to hear the notes harmonize into the pitch on different strings and you know the guitar is dead on. No one should try and do set up work with a not so great tuner. Speaking Helix wise, I have never used the tuner function, I always have one of my Korgs in the loop.

Be hard pressed to find a bad power amp these days tube or not. While it would seems that a tube power amp might be cool, I changed my tune on that after some research as one does not really want the power amp tubes adding their "reactence" to the component modeling which already takes into account the power amp section. You can ask L6 but I think they suggest you do not use a tube power amp for best possible modeling results. You could just use preamp models but in general I think the full amp sounds better. In my experience w modeler units just about any basic power amp works just fine I have used a few different models. Right now I like my ART SLA-1 it does the job very well, clean, quiet, has its own cooling fan, perfect wattage for my main cab rig. Studio quality monitor amp and did not kill on the cost, are there better ones, sure, but is it really adding much if anything to the sound quality for the expense? I also have some class D powered EV 15"'s so I have a range of FRFR and high wattage guitar speakers. A lot of stuff is Class D these days, seems OK, huge power capability in a small amplifier sound wise I cannot really tell a difference. Only power amp I was not real happy with was a Behringer Nuke, it is Class D got that as a low cost get in a hurry fix, was OK but I am not a big fan of that brand, The SLA-1 just so much a better amp. Tube power amps are nice but not sure they are really needed with what the Helix can do. Besides having to buy tubes again and hope the "matched set" does not have bad ones, plus many tube power amps have preamp tubes in them as well and those are a often bad despite claims of binned and tested. Personally I am glad to not have to deal with them anymore and the maintenance.

Well, been at this for a good month now, tried all sorts of user "presets" which range from complete programming crap to just unusable. Why so many of these terrible things are being loaded into the custom tone section is beyond me, every one I have tried either needs almost a start over edit or they are just not worth the trouble. Really have just deleted them all after about 30 secs if that long. One cat had a couple nice Pagey ones I kept and mod'ed but in general I will not be wasting my time with the custom tone section again. Then I started listening to Doctor Freman's work, and this guy, wow, he has a gift, or Helix has a gift. From what I have heard so far not only are these worth the money they save me hundreds of hours of programming sweats. I thought I was coming up with some cool well thought out stuff but this guy, he is like what "meambobbo" was to the HD POD writing his own user manual on programming, but all things considered Mr. Freman is a bloody genius! I am waiting on payday to get this pack. 175, really, it's taken me a month to get 20 good personal cool ones. He should consider writing his own user manual with the tips and understandings he has come up with. From just a few I have heard even if the rest are are mediocre still well worth the price for such well thought out and tweaked presets. God of the Helix! Line 6 you should be paying this guy to load in the factory presets!!!

I have both as well and there is no bad. Just saying everyone does not need to run out and buy FRFR rigs if you have decent high end guitar speakers, the better they are the better the Helix amp tones sound. I never recommend cheese speakers, that is what IRs are for to mimic all sorts of speakers and cabs for just tone modeling. I have never been happy with stock loaded cabs myself. Full range is great for keyboard or guitar synth ranges, in fact it is a necessity as they are producing sonic spectrum beyond the high and low ranges of guitar. Since the guitar cannot produce tones beyond the typical sonic range of a quality guitar speaker then case in point the FRFR rig has a whole lot of sonic headroom that will just not be used. I am not sure the logic argument of having that extended range headroom makes any difference in the sound when it is not made use of. By the time you EQ, high/low cut and speaker IR your tone it is right in the niche and range of good guitar speakers. Personally I prefer the more unified sound and punch of a nice cab. When I was running my GR-55 synth rig, FRFR was a must as the guitar speakers could not reproduce the sonic range as well. As always everyone has to make the best of what they have or make good decisions in buying gear. My FRFR EV rig was about a $1000, I took a quality made 4x12 I had and loaded it with Eminence 120watters, and rewired it for less than half that. Kicks major "insert your censored word here".

Everyone's an idiot, that is just a species trait. Nice to know your experience sets the paradigm for all audiences and experiences as well as erasing counter intuitive issues. Even my basic tone deaf wife having little to no musical skill can recognize what sounds good and what sucks. You cannot judge the world on the acts and behaviors of the worse morons. Let's face it genius is a rare trait not a majority, how many general populace to one Einstein? I work on my tone as it pleases me to do so, and even if every monkey on the planet was deaf it would not relegate me to a sonic world of crap. I have experienced many times how audience listeners picked up on nice tones and sounds, something pleasing to the ear is like shiny objects to apes.

i have to somewhat disagree as to the musical hearing ignorance of the general public. Some have stated they do not care about tone, while it is certainly true they have no idea what different guitar or amps sound like or what they are or how the sound is created, but, they really do know what sounds like crap and you are kidding yourself if you think they do not get what sounds good and what sounds bad. Heads turn when a cool tone comes up or something that sounds really pleasing verses some god awful affront to the ears. They are of course exceptions as I do not know how kids like mine have a clue what might sound good as their paradigm of music is really not music but in general people get what sounds good what what sounds crappy.

Problem for me is just getting too many options to remember, like if you program 8 snapshots on a preset and try to label them, get about three fully loaded snapshot presets fully loaded up and I am lucky to remember what I am doing anymore. I find I get so involved programming and experimenting I seldom just play and work on that aspect of improvisation which is my central love of the guitar. I find just programming some well thought out presets with stomp box mode on/off does just fine and is very workable. If I need different array of effects I just copy the preset and change that around or a different amp model config. Snap shots are great for mapping out complex songs that require instant multiple footswitch or param changes. For me I find having another preset on deck is just as easy for me as snapshots within the same preset and I still have stomp box mode as well. I find in general keeping things simple like stomp box mode works for me as a basis. You can do so much with switch assigns as well and proper labeling. For example instead of using a snap shot I might have one type of reverb on and when I hit the footswitch it turns that reverb off and goes to another one. You can also program param changes. Very cool options on this puppy.

The thing is that FRFR sounds great no complaints just the point that high end guitar speakers can kick major lollipop (a s s) on the tone as well. There is no bad side with the Helix. As far as a guitar cab not being heard or directional and giving way to a PA set up. Speakers by nature are directional. Standing off from anything is diminished sound and a PA can sound reverbish and distant in the same manner as guitar cabs. As always anyone should use what they want, like or have, which has been my argument about telling everyone they have to get FRFR monitor class speakers for the best sound. You do not and those pipping a 4CM thing into amp amp using its power amp and speakers is not going to get a bad sound. As I recommend higher-end, more efficient, wattage capable guitar speakers do very well. And personally I like them as a more full unified intact sound which makes an "amp" sound like an amp. I get touring downsizing simple rig config thing but just saying what is the ultimate tone? One can easily have that guitar speaker thing going and farm out to the PA for additional volume and reach while having the tone optimized. So it all works and I get the issue of the FRFR having a wide headroom of response but as I said when you get done IR curving and EQ cutting the signal down for use you are well within the range of high end guitar speakers plus the added issue you are not splitting the sound through crossovers. Which is not to say a PA rig setup cannot be optimized to sound very good, it is after all the Helix. Just saying the logic of having to use full range is perhaps not so solid an argument as one might argue. Although getting others to see beyond just insulting me to the point of logic you are IR'ing and Eq cutting the response before it gets to the FRFR speaker(s) so what is the point of needing frequency spectrum out what you are producing? Comparisons always down guitar speakers as if all there is, is the low wattage low efficiency classic old stuff. True they all have a "roll off" and a roll off for a reason, that is all the guitar produces in range! And the more high end speakers have a wider response, sensitivity and headroom than cheapy ones. Big difference.

I can appreciate all that but merely offering usage with a modeler like the Helix, I get better sound using high end guitar speakers and not those found in most cabinets. For most they know nothing of custom loading a guitar cab with better speakers they deal in terms of the stockers, that is not the guitar speaker I am speaking. Most IRs are done using those cabs with often low end speakers so if one wants to get those sounds that is what IRs do. FRFR presents the issue that they produce a greater spectrum of frequencies than the guitar is capable and when you get done using a speaker IR and various low or high cuts you are shaving the signal down to exactly the range of a quality high end guitar speaker, there is nothing for the added response of the full range to reproduce is my point. I am not talking about using guitar amps and speaker cabs and how to record them but what to use with a modeler and why the need for full range speakers and their extended range...

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Some will get the issue and the argument and some will just remain stupid. I do love the personal attacks which can only mean a reflection of your own egoism and your sense of inadequacy of making an argument so you get personal rather than deal with the discussion of facts. How very Trumpish of you. Does not have a freakin' thing to do with me in any way shape or form simply a discussion of using IRs to guitar curve response into a full range system which reproduces much more spectrum than the guitar is capable. Sorry some of you cannot get the premise. Please hate me because I am pretty. Simple question why use full range speakers on an amp modeler unit as opposed to using high end guitar speakers? Can you pose a discussion or just refute science?

No it is just science and how things work, opinions are not a matter of science, it does not require ones belief of opinion it is simply the foundation premise of the laws of physics. Again you justify everything as to what someone hears. We use scientific measuring tools to measure see and hear things beyond the flawed ability of biological personal appendages. One's personal want or dislike of sound is something worked out in your own personal preset sounds not a reference system or the how and why of a global system EQ. Are you aware you can DI tap the speaker line(s) and send that primary tone to the PA without the need of further mic coloring? If your sound PA engineer is adjusting the environment system EQ by ear he is not a sound engineer but a hobbyist. As a bit of history, high wattage guitar amps were developed to be heard by the audience on stage when one did not dream to have their primary sound solely in the hands of the PA guy. Do you think any one in the crowd is having trouble being off axis from Malmsteen's wall of Marshalls which he indeed has on. Extreme example of course. Do you want to hear your guitar through a monitor from the PA, fine. Want your main sound to go to the PA, one wonders what arenas you are playing. I am interested in producing the most viable great sounding guitar tones and whether one pipes that to an external source using DIs or lines or off to a recording medium the whole premise is the primary sound and how amazing it is. If someone wants the most amp like real tones out of your modeler there is a better way to get them. This is intended for the argument of everyone buying and using FRFR speakers for their modeler and the use of global and system EQ adjusts. By the way I just happen to have a good 4x12 I use, you can put high end guitar speakers in any config one likes, split twin 12s and point them out to the crowd as you wish. It is not about me or my 4x12 use it is what sounds the best and why we need FRFR on our modelers to reproduce ranges they do not see.

I must have said this sort of thing a million times. EQ is relevant to environment and volume, that is a fact of physics. The problem these days is that many have no idea what the science means or consists. Seems adjusting an EQ via the use of pink noise and spectrum analyzer has been forgotten over using your ears and the infinite range of degrade and flawed biologic issues each person has. One of the primary standards in all scientific testing and experiments is the establishment of reference and control. If you have a home studio or any studio and you have not analyzed the space at various volume levels to determine its spikes and resonant frequency issues then you have no idea what it means to study sound engineering or the proper use of a global or system main EQ. You are in no way an actual "engineer" that is capable of producing music to any sense of industry and science standard that would be viable on any listening scenario. You would be in effect making something compensated and adjusted to sound good on your personal system in your personal environment. Parametrics and internal block or pedal EQ things are there to adjust the infinitely variable needs of a particular preset, before, it goes out to the reference system EQ. Running sound is a science not a hap hazard ear adjust methodology. No guitar can be heard in any sense in the extreme range of 20Hz to 20KHz human hearing which is basically what full range speakers systems were designed to reproduce. FRFR is used in the studio to encompass the low kick of drums and the feel and the ringing high presence and sibilant of cymbals, not just guitar. Other musical instruments produce frequency response outside the ranges of guitar like an orchestra, strings, organ and what have you. When I was running a Gr-55 guitar synth producing other musical instruments an FRFR rig was essential because there were frequencies present that needed to be reproduced. In regard to guitar rigs all one is doing is taking a fullrange device and EQ curving it down to the guitars freq ranges. So question remains if one is putting in a signal IR and EQ'd across the range of the guitar in the first place then what is the additional ability of the FRFR speakers to reproduce in a range they are not given??? Take into consideration your massive guitar tone be that as it may when it goes through a FRFR speaker design is being split through frequency crossovers into different speakers, so the unified signal is being divided into different speakers from its unified start. While that sort of thing would go unnoticed and is a part of fidelity in a listening system, is it something you want to do to the live sound of your guitar? There is a difference in a playback of a music source and the creation of that sound before it becomes something in playback. What sort of guitar tone and sound do you want? This is why I advocate using higher end more advanced high wattage guitar speakers on amp modelers over FRFR rigs. I have both and believe me if one sounded much better than the other I would use it, that is why I prefer my custom wired and loaded 4x12 for the shear real amp tone, punch, and low end, without mud and range of highs across the entire ability of the guitar. Seems coming from an age of cheap low wattage severe coloring guitar speakers muddles the understanding that higher end guitar speakers are a different animal. If you want the sound and coloring of the low tech speakers that is exactly what an IR is for. Use them on presets into the higher guitar speakers to color the sound just as you would an FRFR rig it works. My sound engineer brother wanted to know out of curiosity what sort of frequency spectrum one of my prior guitar cabs was doing to the sound, he was a bit shocked to discover it was nearly a flat response across the entire range of the guitar spectrum, what lies outside the range of the guitar is just not there so why worry a rig and system that can reproduce what it is not given???

This chap is on the right page. I must have said this sort of thing a million times. EQ is relevant to environment and volume, that is a fact of physics. The problem these days is that many have no idea what the science means or consists. Seems adjusting an EQ via the use of pink noise and spectrum analyzer has been forgotten over using your ears and the infinite range of degrade and flawed biologic issues each person has. One of the primary standards in all scientific testing and experiments is the establishment of reference and control. If you have a home studio or any studio and you have not analyzed the space at various volume levels to determine its spikes and resonant frequency issues then you have no idea what it means to study sound engineering or the proper use of a global or system main EQ. You are in no way an actual "engineer" that is capable of producing music to any sense of industry and science standard that would be viable on any listening scenario. You would be in effect making something compensated and adjusted to sound good on your personal system in your personal environment. Parametrics and internal block or pedal EQ things are there to adjust the infinitely variable needs of a particular preset, before, it goes out to the reference system EQ. Running sound is a science not a hap hazard ear adjust methodology. No guitar can be heard in any sense in the extreme range of 20Hz to 20KHz human hearing which is basically what full range speakers systems were designed to reproduce. All one is doing is taking a fullrange device and EQ curving it down to the guitars freq ranges. So question remains if one is putting in a signal IR and EQ'd across the range of the guitar in the first place then what is the additional ability of the FRFR speakers to reproduce in a range they are not given??? This is why I advocate using higher end more advanced high wattage guitar speakers on amp modelers over FRFR rigs. I have both and believe me if one sounded much better than the other I would use it, that is why a prefer my custom wired and loaded 4x12 for the shear real amp tone, punch, and low end, without mud and range of highs across the entire ability of the guitar. Seems coming from an age of cheap low wattage severe coloring guitar speakers muddles the understanding that higher end guitar speakers are a different animal. If you want the sound and coloring of the low tech speakers that is exactly what an IR is for. Use them on presets into the higher guitar speakers to color the sound just as you would an FRFR rig it works. My sound engineer brother wanted to know out of curiosity what sort of frequency spectrum one of my prior guitar cabs was doing to the sound, he was a bit shocked to discover it was nearly a flat response across the entire range of the guitar spectrum, what lies outside the range of the guitar is just not there so why worry a rig and system that can reproduce what it is not given???

I just wish the FRFR sounded as good as the users wished. I have both and very high end products. The FRFR just does not sound as good. I get the theories but perhaps no one is able to read the issues of what is going on, I tried to explain above. You IR the full range to the basic response curve of a guitar cab as that is what the IR is. Many of you further low cut and high cut the signal and then presume a full range is buying something outside of what you just cut. It makes no sense. And if your amp is shrill and tinny or whatever maybe adjusting it properly might help. For high gain the Mesa V or Cali EQ is a must but that is not a part of the FRFR issue really. Despite guitar speakers have a roll off designed for guitar, mine starts dropping at 5K but the presence control on most amps is around 9K and you can hear that on guitar speakers most assuredly. You guys are confusing guitar speaker roll off with a complete cut of frequencies or the inability for the speaker to produce them. I would be the first to say that FRFR on my prior GR-55 guitar synth rig were paramount important as the synth created instruments and ranges beyond the scope of the guitar itself and you could hear the difference right off but on my guitar system my Eminence sound much better and can handle whatever is thrown at them. Remember that I am not speaking of cheap low efficiency green back 30 watt speakers. If my FRFR 15" EVs sounded better I would have retired the stereo 4x12 but they just don't. BYW, the EV are power rated at 400 watts each. My Eminence loaded 4x12 is rated 600 watts RMS. Also the perhaps unread matter of splitting your signal into FRFR cross overs verses one solid main signal, that makes a difference. If the audience cannot hear the on stage cab then what is in it? Piping into the PA does not have the same tone really. Just saying something is not right with the theory when it comes to IR'ing a full range speaker and also using high and low cuts. Why does one need frequency response outside the range of what is being produced and/or cut?? Defies logic.

Input and outputs set to guitar and 1/4 or whatever you're using. There is also a a PAD and a NR Gate on the guitar in line might want to check these for off. Guitar Impedance can also muffle the signal, best option I think is auto detect. I made a goof one time of plugging into the AUX instead of the GUITAR IN could not see the back panel clearly, thought something was wrong, just wrong jack.

I wish I had the pink noise analyzer capability, adjusting things by ear is at best a flawed premise. Yes when you pink noise something to a room the resulting sound is so much more pleasing to the ear and less tiring. Every studio is supposed to be Pink Noised EQ'd out for proper monitoring. EQ is relative to volume and room issues not merely the initial response of the unit in question. The Helix should be globally set to be as flat as possible and control the preset EQ via the configs. That is the same principle has having a proper studio monitoring setup which allows one to adjust the recorded music from a flat reference, if your studio is not flat reference then your end result is going to sound different than you assume. If the Helix global is right then adding a (ex) Cali EQ further allows one to make that amp have killer low end punch and presence while cutting the 750 lower mid which is what made Mesa famous. You would not want your preset EQ block and adjustments to have to compensate for what the Helix normally does or does not put out. Something to consider in regard to high cuts, most presence controls on amps are focused at 9K. despite the frequency range of the guitar is below that considerably it is hard to argue argue one cannot hear it when turned up. Focusing on the mid range quality of the guitar often has the illusion of sounding better because it is more prevalent but balance is a different thing. Cutting off the high end makes a more smooth subdued jazz tone thing which might sound "better" in some regards but not good for others. I always present the issue that using full range monitors is somewhat flawed in concept as the guitar does not render in the extreme ranges of hi and low, then one uses a speaker IR to EQ and curve down the full range to a "guitar speaker" so in the grand scope of logic it is hard to understand the argument of full range when we cut and EQ things out of the fullrange and use IRs from cabs. Personally I prefer high end more efficient guitar speakers than full range and the sound is different when you split if between crossovers in a fullrange rig and if you are cutting the lows and highs from the cross over manifesting the sound primary put of one speaker then how is a quality high wattage guitar speaker a bad thing?? My Eminence stereo wired 4x12 just has much better guitar sound than my full range, Despite even the best guitar speakers start rolling off at 5k tell me when you turn the presence on any amp centered at 9k you do not hear it? Just thinking through the confusing frequency thing and the full-range ideology.