brain-donor

I place mine close to the end just before delay and reverbs so that swells work best and then I use my volume knob on the guitar itself to affect the amount of gain on the fly.

Pick one amp model. Just one. One you are already familiar with in the real world. Use an amp + cab block to keep things as simple as possible. Start with the default cab that in the amp/cab block. Tweak the mic or cab if you want along with the main settings on the amp - drive and amp EQ. Get your tone right with just that and skip everything else. Don't keep switching amps, cabs etc. but instead learn one model and cab. Once that's good, introduce delay and reverb and then maybe a dist block. The longer you can keep things simple the more comfortable you'll be with getting things to sound good and consistent. That's a good place to start. After you're good with that then expand to more effects, more amps, advanced routing etc. I would NOT start with watching other people's videos. The guitar they are using is different, How they play is going to be different. Probably the amp model they are going to use is not the one you are most familiar with. Don't start with the presets either. Start with a blank patch, one amp/cab block and keep things as simple as possible. No way to get overwhelmed that way.

reverbs! That was the only thing I've been missing (except for presets for blocks - but hopefully that's coming soon too). Very pleased about the new reverbs!

Helix takes a different approach than fractal as far as amps and so this question kinda doesn't make sense. Helix does point to point modeling of the amp, component to component so that the input going from one part of the amp to the next responds the same way that it does in the real amp. There is no reason to change an existing amp unless there is a bug in one of the components. Getting a particular sound out of a Helix amp should require the same talent that it takes to get that particular sound out of the real amp on which it was modeled. Fractal takes a different approach so if they don't get the end result correct I suppose the solution is to change that end result in an update so that it's closer to the particular sound they were going for in the first place.

What kinds of changes would you make to your presets to use them in a live band setting as opposed to how you might set up the preset just to record a part into your DAW? My first thoughts are turn down reverb mix, and maybe delay mix. What about cab changes or amount of gain or anything else you normally do?

Sounds fantastic, really flexible and easy to use, looks really cool, fits in a backpack, consistent from gig to gig, week to week, great user base to learn from... my advice: go for it!

Just curious which amp models you end up using the most because you find them the most useful or exactly what you're shooting for etc. Here are my favorites that I end up using most often: Essex A-30 US Double Norm Brit 2204 PRS Archon Matchstick Which are yours?

I'm wondering now if perhaps I use too much reverb. What I have sounds great to me but I'm always listening to us through the in ear monitors. The PA speakers are in front of us so if I pull out the in ears what I hear is not very distinct, so it's hard to tell what I sound like in the house from where I stand. But this definitely makes me think I should record us and listen closely to my sound with and without (or less) reverb.

So if I've understood everything correctly there are 2 types of sounds we're talking about: 1) the sound of the amp/cab somewhere out in the room and 2) the sound of that same amp/cab but 1 inch away. In situation 1 the unpleasant sounds don't have enough power to reach everyone and so aren't heard. In situation 2 we then have 2 applications: A) live situation (mic and then PA) B ) Helix (impulse response - going either to a recording or to the PA) In both of these situations we have low and high cuts that have to be applied as they are now part of the signal.

So some of you are saying that an IR of a cabinet WILL produce frequencies that a real world cabinet would not produce and that's why we need to use the low and high cuts. Others of you are saying the IR produces the SAME frequencies that a real world cabinet does BUT not all of those are pleasing or beneficial and so we cut them in helix the same way a sound guy would cut them at the board. The latter makes more sense to me from my (limited) understanding of how impulse responses work. I was not aware that those low and high cuts at the board were a standard thing. Cutting the lows makes sense from a mix standpoint to make room in the mix. But I was under the impression that the sound coming out of the cab didn't have frequencies above a certain range because of the speakers used for guitars (not full range). If that's the case I don't understand why it's standard practice to again cut those frequencies at the board (or in our case on the helix cab or IR).

I am probably misunderstanding how Impulse Responses work so help me out here. I thought that an Impulse Response would be convolved with an input signal/sound and produce an output matching the source (cabinet). So for example if you feed into it a signal that has frequencies beyond what it is capable of reproducing then the output would not have those frequencies. If that is the case why would there need to be a low and hi cut on the helix cabs and IRs? Wouldn't those frequencies you are cutting not be present in the output because that's what the cab/IR already does?

The unit I used before moving to the helix had exactly one update - TOTAL! It went from 1.00 to 1.01. I'm totally blown away that we've had all the fantastic updates to the helix. Thanks Line 6. I absolutely love the Helix. Thanks for all the great updates - they are greatly appreciated!

Thanks everybody, great to be able to learn from your experience!

That's a great idea. I'm going to try that.

Ha! I think to a certain extent we all tweak towards a certain sound that is in our heads which we really love.