gbr13697

I just checked - downloaded in less than 1 minute.

I have a Helix Floor, Quad Cortex, AxeFx3, and TonemasterPro. I have tested the sounds using a switcher to send them to a Line6 PowerCab. I turn off cab emulations in the modellers, and set a suitable cab emulation in the PowerCab to level the playing field. I have set up presets in each modeller for most of the common amps where they all have similar emulations (other than high gain amps which I don't personally use and would not be qualified to evaluate). I start with an amp in the modeller with the fewest controls, normally TonemasterPro or QC, and dial in a decent sound. I then replicate the settings to the other modellers, avoiding any parameters that are not present in the basic model (although Helix and AxeFx3 would allow much more extensive customisation of the sound). I can then get instant comparisons by simply stomping on the switcher. There are very slight variances, but nothing outside the range that would be expected from two supposedly identical valve amps. For instance, no two Fender Deluxe Reverbs, from the same year with the same settings, ever sound exactly the same. The amps used by the modeller manufacturers for modelling would never sound exactly alike, so there will inevitably be slight differences in the models they produce. The sounds produced by each modeller are very similar, and none is better or worse. All of them will produce good sounds. The choice of modeller will depend on other factors - size and form factor, hardware, touchscreen and visuals for those that consider it important, workflow, number of amps and effects, flexibility of preset design layout, how much will fit in a preset before DSP runs out, ease of editing on the unit, quality of desktop or tablet editor, controls for live playing etc. It has to be said that Fractal leaves all the others in the dust for most of this, though Helix still stands up very well. Quad Cortex and Tonemaster Pro will suit those that like simplicity, touchscreens, and pretty graphics. Quad Cortex certainly has an advantage for those that value captures above modelling, but I am not one of them. Make your choice according to your preferences, but I do not believe that any of these modellers "sound better". Furthermore, you will almost always find that those who say that one or the other does sound better have never actually done a proper and fair side-by-side comparison.

You will almost certainly find that, when you connect your Helix, your Windows sound device changes to Helix from whatever you were using previously. Windows normally has separate volume settings for each device, so the chage in device also results in a change in volume. Go to Windows > Settings > Sound when the Helix is connected, and you should see a list of devices. You can set the default voume of each device independently.

We have always been told that having the Volume knob at Max is unity gain. However I have always found that unity is between 1 and 2 o'clock. Setting it at Max adds quite a significant boost. I have tested it with an empty signal path, compared with guitar straight into the amp. I also recall an old thread where a couple of other users had tested theirs and found the same thing. Like all gear, individual units will have some variation. The only way to know where unity gain is on your unit is to test it.

This problem has been raised before. You may find your solution in this thread.

Once you leave the amp and go into the Fryette, the signal level is astronomical compared to the amp input and the levels that the Helix operates at. I am not familiar with how the Fryette loop operates but, to be compatible with a modeller, it would have to drop the signal down to instrument/line level from its Send, and then amplify it back up when it gets it back through its Return. It may have this sort of feature, but I rather doubt it. If it does not have this feature, you will lose the signal boost from the amp's power stage that is designed to drive a speaker, and you will be back down to Line level which will certainly not drive a speaker.

Amp effects loops are notoriously variable. The Return is designed to see a signal level equivalent to the Send level from its own preamp. These have been known to be up to 30v in extreme cases! No modeller is ever going to pump out that sort of level. May not be your problem, but you could try connecting other devices into the Return of your amp to see if they also appear quiet. Even just connecting your guitar through a boost pedal into the Return will tell you a lot about what level of signal your power stage is expecting.

I have a PRS P245 with magnetic pickups and piezo. I have several modellers and I use two cables, and route through separate paths, in each modeller. The signal from the piezo pickups does not pass through the amp/effects used by the magnetic pickups. I can use either, or blend them, and each pickups source gets separate treatment. This format is part of my template used for all my presets. I can also use the single mixed output lead into a conventional magnetic pickup preset for a different effect, and the blend on my PRS sounds fine used in this way. I also have an Emerald Virtuo that I generally use in the same way. The Virtuo additionally has a GK pickup that can by put through a Roland/Boss synthesizer, and my templates incude a third input and path for this purpose. Switching from single split coils to humbuckers, to acoustic via piezos, and to synth and simulated instruments via GK, all from the same guitar gets really silly (but very versatile and a lot of fun)!

Amp effects loops are notoriously variable. Some pre-amps output a reasonable level to their power amps, and other pre-amps have a very high output, which their power amps expect as an input for them to work effectively. This is particularly so with amps that have cascading gain stages. Some are known to pump out 30 volts from pre-amps, and this will be what they output from their Send. Obviously, their power amps are expecting a similar level to their Return, to match what they would get direct from the pre-amp without the effects loop, but no digital modeller is going to deliver that sort of level. If you have one of these amps, all you can do is to max out everything short of digital clipping as advised by Schmalle. You could try using an "always on" conventional boost pedal between the HX Stomp output and the amp Return.

Thank you Silverhead. I had a feeling it wouldn't be simple, and would involve MIDI. I don't really record anything - Helix Native would just be an alternative to setting up the hardware for playing. Presumably I could acquire and use a MIDI controller of some sort, and adapt all the assignments in every preset, but it really isn't worth it for me. If I could (for instance) just map the expression assignments to the > and < keys on the computer keyboard, then it might be worthwhile. Thanks for helping.

I have used Helix Floor for many years. I have habitually used expression pedal assignments to control amp parameters. As I push from heel to toe, gain increases, Channel volume decreases to compensate, and EQ and Presence etc also change. I have never liked using snapshots for gain level adjustments, and I utilise snapshots for other purposes. I have just taken advantage of a cheap deal for Helix Native and got it working in Cubase. I imported all my Helix Floor presets and, obviously with there being no expression pedal, all the expression pedal assignments have vanished. All my presets sound very clean, so I assume Helix Native has imported the "heel down" values for everything! I have minimal experience with DAW's, and zero with plugins. Are there ways to emulate the Helix Floor expression pedal assignments and behaviour in Helix Native?

The levels of amp effects loops are notoriously varied. There are amps that put out as much as 30v from their Send, and their Return will be looking for something about the same. No modeller is going to push that amount in. My Blackstar Artist has a Loop Level button to switch between -10db and +4db (Instrument/Line). If your amp has a similar button, you will get a 14db boost by switching from Line to Instrument.

I also route the pickups through separate paths. However, I have never seen the need for amps, IRs, or cabs for acoustic. I just have a volume/gain block to compensate for volume, though my PRS doesn't need much. I do have an EQ block in the chain but I never seem to need it. Then add some reverb and the occasional effect, and send it directly to FRFR.

There are a few amp models that are more susceptible to this, particularly the Vox Ac30 types. It isn't noticeable with most of the other types.

I have an EV-30 that does nothing for the first 30% of travel, and two FV-500L pedals that do nothing for the first 25%. It is just poor engineering such that the pedal does not move the pot before that point, or simply very poor pots. You would expect better from Boss, but it seems pretty standard for their expression pedals. I put spacer blocking under the back of the treadle so that it can't go any more "heel-down" than will actually register a change in resistance. You lose pedal travel, but at least the pedal travel that you are left with actually does something. I replaced the Boss pedals with Fractal expression pedals for regular use, and only use the Boss pedals as extras when required. The Fractal pedals work perfectly throughout the range of travel.

It won't work. The HX Stomp only has one expression input. It can't tell the difference between 2 pedals connected via a Y cable, and will simply read the total/average of whatever combination it sees.

Many fuzz boxes and other effects are sensitive to input impedance. Wireless systems intrduce a buffer, so the fuzzes were unable to see the impedance of the pickups, and the fuzzes sounded crap. Initially this was a problem with the Helix because some of the effects were similarly sensitive. You could always adjust the input impedance, or set it to Auto which matched the input impedance to the first block in the chain, whether that block was active or not. That meant you could put the fuzz in as first block, making the impedance around 22k, and the fuzz sounded fine. Trouble was that the low imput impedance badly affected subsequent effects and the amp when the fuzz was off. Many of us devised a solution where the stomp button for the fuzz also switched the impedance to low, and switched it back to 1M when the fuzz was turned off. After some long and heroic battle by a few users, Line 6 introduced an update so that the Auto Impedance could be set to that of the first Active block, not just the first block. This meant that the impedance changed automatically as the fuzz was switched on and off, so the problem was solved. If the treble booster emulations in the Helix are impedance sensitive (though I have never noticed this), they should be fine as long as you place it where it will be the first active block when it is on, and set the Auto Impedance to "First Active Block".

Nothing is "dummy-proof" to a sufficiently qualified dummy!

My Dell XPS15 updated to Windows 11 a few days ago. No problem connecting to HX Edit.

I usually find that a 15mm square at each corner of a normal pedal is enough. It will lock down with a definite click, and I need to get a blade under to prise it off.

I use the expression pedal with most of my amp models as a gain control. For instance, I may have the pedal set to increase gain and treble, whilst also decreasing bass and channel volume. Today I was tinkering with an AC30, trying to solve the perennial problem of ice-pick bridge pickups on Strats and Teles. With the pedal heel-down, I increased the Tone Cut until I got acceptable tone from my bridge pick-up. I checked that I wasn't over darkening the neck pick-up, and kept adjusting the treble and cut to get a nice clean tone. Then I put the toe-down on the pedal, and found that my gain had vanished! After a while it clicked that the Cut control is not part of the pre-amp tone stack, but operates further down the line. If you use too much cut, it also drops the signal and reduces overdrive. A bit more fiddling, and increasing the maximum gain to 10, got me a decent compromise. Incidentally, I also found that swapping the AC30 Bluebell cab for Greenbacks or Creambacks, and using a ribbon mic further out instead of dynamic close in, also helps. It still sometimes comes as a surprise to find that the modelling works as it should!

I never had a problem with USB connection to my Helix Floor with 2 previous laptops, but I have with a new Dell XPS15 that has only USB-C slots. This obviously means that I have to use a hub or adaptor. I have always used long cables without issue, but the cable that works fine with my older laptops would not work on the new XPS. I tried the shorter cable that I use with another Multi-FX and that failed as well, along with a couple of other cables. I dug out all my printer cables and tried them in turn. One of the 1m cables, and a 2m cable worked fine, and I then found a 5m cable that worked. A bit of cable swapping, and everything is working again with the cable lengths that I need. There does not appear to be any logic to it - around half the cables I tried worked, and the other half didn't. Length did not appear to be critical - just luck. In case it helps anyone, 2 cables that worked (including the longer one) were DTech Shielded - the outer is clear plastic and you can see the shielding through it.

I did the update last night. I saw the instruction saying: How do I update to 3.10? Any chance you've already updated HX Edit to 3.01 (released on Feb 2, 2021)? If so, just connect Helix/HX to your computer via USB and launch HX Edit. The software will walk you through the entire procedure, including updating HX Edit 3.01 to 3.10 and backing everything up to your computer. I opened HxEdit and started the update process, and it did update the Helix firmware. I assumed it had also updated HxEdit but, when I checked this morning, HxEdit was still on 3.01. I had to download and install the 3.10 HxEdit update separately. I don't think this is working as intended, but it does explain why RChatfield1977 isn't seeing the new amp.

The method I use for "do-it-all" stomp box patches is to divide the paths almost throughout. I have a divide as the first block, so 1A and 1B flow through to 2A and 2B before merging near the end. The divide and merge blocks are set to switch on each alternate snapshot, with all through 1A and 2A on odd numberered snapshots, and all through 1B and 2B on even numbered snapshots. Then I populate each of the 2 paths with similar blocks in respective positions, e.g. FuzzFace, EP Boost, Klon, Flanger in Path A, and Muff, KWB, TS808, Tremolo in Path B. Each pair of pedals is switched on and off by the same footswitch (marked on the scribble strip FuzzFace/Muff etc) but only the pedal that is in the active chain has any effect on the signal. I would generally use only Snapshots 1 and 2 (Paths A and B) for humbucking pickups, giving me 2 different ranges of 8 pedals. The snapshots for 3 and 4 are identical, but I have a 5db boost at the start to equalise the volume for single-coil pickups. Snapshots 5-8 are repeats of 1-4, but all the time based delays and modulations are set for dotted 8th instead of quarter note. With one guitar, 2 snapshots are all you need to get 2 ranges of 8 pedals - 16 in all. With carefull positioning, choice of pedals, and descriptive scribble strips, you can get a reasonably user friendly pedal board with 16 effects. How you make use of the other snapshots is up to you - I use them to equalise for different guitars and to give me more options for tap tempo with time based effects. If I am using amp emulations the 2 paths merge in front of the amp and cab combination, and I might also have reverb, EQ, compression, etc in this position, effecting both chains. You obviously can't have 16 effects at the same time, but you can choose complimentary combinations. You would rarely need a compressor and a wah at the same time, or 2 fuzz types, or a flanger and tremolo together, or a Klon and a Tube Screamer together. Snapshot 1 or 2 will get you in the ballpark for a range of 8 pedals, and you only have to click up one snapshot to get another complementary selection.

Save the preset to your Templates bank, or to another safe location, as well as to your working preset bank. You can then copy the effect from the template, and paste it into a new preset.