themetallikid

Yes, now that you mention that, without even being near my Helix, I think you are right. I have mine set per preset (more than likely) for the same reasons. Although I always keep it toe down (playing OCD a bit), it makes sense that the preset doesnt acknowledge the pedal until it is moved once the preset is called up. So yes I need to 'activate' the pedal once I select that preset. Thanks....complete oversight of my own wants/needs. lol

Good to know, I look at the unit when editing and see the meters usually, maybe I just never noticed the numbering or didn't know what the sections meant. Pro tip, I'll try it.

I"ve done this. lol.... It was a 97yd par 3. Elevated tee do a postage stamp sized green. Overhanging tree covered part of the green if you hit a lob wedge to drop it straight down yardage wise. I jokingly grabbed my putter, it skipped the downhill portion of the tee box and actually rolled up on the green. Had about a 25 ft putt, but it was a fun unconventional par. lol

That all makes perfect sense. I forget, how do I know where -10 is on the reduction meter?

So I typically only use my expression pedals for wah/whammy (any volume differences I program into snapshots as I dont do any swells really). However.....what I've noticed on presets is an odd delay or lack of engaging on presets I do this with. I'll try my best to describe it. I set my auto engage up so its backwards then most, toe-down is 'off'. I have it set to 98% as the threshold to engage the block, 0ms delay. I do it this way as I tend to favor the lower part of a wah sweep and accidentally turn it off a lot less this way. By default, I set up any other effects like whammy the same way just for consistency with my poor brain for live use. When I first turn the Helix on, I notice that I need to rock my pedal(s) back and forth at least once, sometimes twice for the blocks to engage properly or there is a lag in engagement. For my acoustic gigs this isnt an issue as I only use the pedals to reduce input signal between sets or turn off delay/reverb for between song banter. However if Im playing a gig with full band and I dont use the pedals for the first few songs and forget to 'calibrate' (lack of a better term)....then when I get to the song with the expression pedal use, there is a clear delay or change in the engagement of the bypassed effect. Now the strange part (for me).... Usually once I do this 'calibration' after the helix is powered up, it seems to be fine across presets. However there are a few presets where it seems I need to do it once the preset is engaged regardless of any previous 'calibration'. Am I on crack? Is there something I'm missing in setting up my auto-engage settings or something? Or am I really just slacking on engaging the pedals properly upon boot up and any issues I'm having are associated with that? (I apologize for my rambling, its band practice day. First practice with a new group and I'm all excited and my mind is going over every little thing about my presets i've noticed in my head that doesnt seem 'perfect')

Yeah I assumed the pickups were a part of it. I've used the Tilt EQ trick you showed me and that helps get the tone a bit of a single coil, but its still missing something. I've been using the amps you suggested up there as well. Well aware of the Dr. Z being a country fave which was where I started my search and helped determine its more than likely my pickups that are over driving what the compressor is doing. I'll have to play around with a volume block in the beginning of my chain to see where it needs to be and then make up the volume elsewhere in the preset(s). 1 question though, when setting the compressor...I know quick attack/release settings help, and I can surely find the right threshold to get what I want....but is there a 'rule' for setting the makeup/output gain for this application? I know generally its to help compensate the output volume for what the compressor is doing, but being in front of the amp....am I looking for 'unity' or is the decreased volume also a part of this 'sound' in regards to the signal hitting the amp right?

I have a comp set right, but I'm not really getting that snappy sorta attack. I like what I'm getting for my rock style stuff, but I want some sparkly/snappy clean sounds (or light breakup). I have higher output pickups, is that the final part I'm missing to get some decent cleans? I like the Jazz 120 amp, may try the Soldano clean

The mix has to be at 100% otherwise your getting 50/50 of the guitars tuning and the effects block's affected tuning. which would sound horrible.

I did this in the past as well for home use. Is it comparable quality wise to the Poly Wham doing the same thing? I have a band that literally has 1 maybe 2 songs in Eb, and I can't get the preset to sound right with the Poly Pitch stuff cause I need the dsp for other parts of the song....however, bringing an additional guitar for 1 or 2 songs is a pain and not 'worth' it. The song can't be played just lower on the neck cause of open strings either.

I had a DigiDrop for a bit. I couldnt get along with it in the loop where I wanted to run it so it was preset specific engaged. Do you run yours in the front of the Helix?

I"ve also noticed if I overwrite slots or copy/paste between setlists it will sometimes rebuild presets as well. Nothing to worry about, its just making sure all is good.

You could do 3 things....1 not a guarantee.... 1) You could set the global eq up this way and just turn it on/off as needed. However this affects all presets GLOBALLY the same way so its not a great bandage for this issue. I wouldnt recommend this. 2) Tweak your presets at the closest volume and on the closest equipment you can to what it will be played through. It's the only true way to combat this issue. 3) In between 1 & 2.....you can reference what YOUR monitoring situation sounds like....and then compare how that translates to your PA situation and then make adjustments at home knowing that what you hear isnt 'perfect' for your ears at home, but will translate to the performance PA appropriately. I do a combination of 2/3. My headphones can be a bit muffled on high end. It's easy for me to dial the highs too bright....I know that. I dial them in with my headphones to be a touch muffled and it translates well to my PA. If I dialed them in to sound good on my headphones, no one could stand within about 100ft of the PA then...they would end up sterile. lol. One second solution is to copy your presets to another setlist or preset slot(s) and then you can adjust one for headphones and one for PA use. Same presets, just different EQing.

So Ive been delving back into stock cabs again for preset building simplicity. I've been getting some decent tones, but a few tones could use some exploration type help. I really only know a few of the mics. I usually combine a 57 with a 160 and then use the low cut to balance the 160 appropriately. Other than wiki, are there any good resources to learn more about the mics. I do usually cycle through them, so I'm tweaking with my ears, not my eyes...however...Id like to just educate myself more about the mics. Any resources? Any favorite mic combinations? I've mainly been using the Greenback 25 (57) paired with the Mesa V30 (160) cab.

Appreciate that. I know it wont be 100% legit, but the IR's I tried, just do something that I can't figure out that I dont like. Almost like the dry signal goes through or something weird.

I believe they make after market buttons that are much more mushroom shaped. Would eliminate some space between buttons in a way, but also give you a larger target to hit, or lift the backrow ones higher (in a sense)

What are you setting it at to go from Hum > Single? I tried the Guitar IR's from a company and they are ok, but missing something. Id be curious to try your trick.

Also another option. So many paths to choose (no pun intended) that it really just depends how you want to approach it.

Yeah that was the one nice thing last year when I recreated my core tone presets that I used to build my song presets off of. I hooked up my helix to the digital mixer (pre-Helix meter era) to help balance presets visually before finally adjusting by ear.....But also use a real time EQ analyzer to help identify the problem frequencies to CUT rather than Boost. Not that I couldnt have done it by ear....but when crunched for time to create 40+ song presets....any help is help.

Yes, I dont use stomps much....I do snapshots for most my changes as I create a preset per song type approach. Not sure how to do it on the Helix as I edit in HX Edit mostly... But in HX edit, 1) highlight the block, 2) click on the right tab (bypass tab) and then just choose the controller (stomp), 3)Choose what the controller will be controlling (Level), 4) then choose the min/max (off/on) parameters. Min = -116 (or whatever you need) and Max - 0.0 (or whatever level you want). I'm away from my helix so I hope that is mostly right.

This is awesome and visually will help me see what I'm hearing a bit better. I did lower my saturation/texture settings last night. I am using the 30ips setting as I didnt like the extra thickness the other two were adding. I have a shelf eq pre-Retro, but I feel like its not doing much. With this, I can add a parametric post Retro and correct what I'm hearing.

If your just bypassing the block, its doing what its supposed to do....letting the audio pass through. You want to attach your controller (snapsnots, expression petal, stomp switch) to the Level Parameter and reduce it to the minimum amount. That will kill any signal getting into the block. If I understood your post correctly.

lll have to check/compare my settings. I know I have it fairly last in the chain. I think the only thing after it is either reverb (If I'm even using any) or a delay for my leads. I remember keeping the wow/flutter lower....it might be the texture. My memory says that I have that higher, but I'll have to check.

So, I've recently had some time to explore this effect a bit, and while the majority of what it does I like regarding feel...... It seems that this effect greatly darkens my preset. I have a hard time regaining that upper mids bit that you'd get from a 2204/Placatar/Plexi style amp. I'm running parallel cabs (greenback 25 -409 mic and Cali V30 - 161 mic)... I've added the tilt EQ but it doesn't seem to have great effect. Am I doing something 'too much' or is there something I'm doing 'incorrectly' or is really the intended effect of adding this block. I know without settings and such its hard to evaluate and fix...but the darker tone seems to be attached to when I added this block. I feel it adds some lower mid thump (fullness) which I like, but its the high end that Id like to bring back a bit. Any help info?

I watched the video.....i'm disappointed..... not in the audio...but that it looks like the usual Ray Gun tricks that Steve is known for with Billy Idol. Like he said...'Oh yeah....that ray gun thing with Billy? Watch this lollipop!" and then recorded and duplicated it live. YOu can clearly see him chuck the raygun at the end of the solo. damn....lol

Yeah my 'head' understanding is that its a shift in the delay repeat time. Feedback 0 so you get 1 repeat only, 100% mix(?) and then control the delay time with the expression pedal. I know he had some sort of custom unit next to his pedal board that he could manipulate some things live at times. Now that you mention the whammy shift, it could be part of it...I just attributed it to his playing style/ability and just being super smooth/fluid with that sorta thing. Yes he is a monster...what a glorious monster to study playing wise, lol. If I ever get to be 20% as good as him...its a good day.