themetallikid

LOL, alright, I'll take all that into consideration. My biggest potential buyers remorse is that I get one and I end up in a project that I dont need the versatility as much and its a wasted purchase. I'm not quite in the "I have money to afford 'extra' toys" camp....so i need to justify the use of the bells and whistles. Also worried because of the timeline of Variax tech that I'll get one and the 'new' tech will come out. I was interested about 2 years ago, but yet here we are. lol

I believe it is manipulation of a delay (time, feedback, etc) but I cannot wrap my head around how to get it. There are 2 songs I can reference from Vince Neils 'Exposed' album. The Edge - intro solo starting at 0:40 (part specifically is at 0:52) Look In Her Eyes - This middle solo has a huge solo section, it starts at 2:45, but is more melodic until 3:28, then Steve gets wilder.....delay(?) tricks start at 3:42......and end around 3:56. Also, while the album has its cheese moments for sure, I love the guitar work....tones and all. I will never emulate Steve's tone here, but any ideas on getting in the ball park. Such a crunchy, scratchy, fluid type tone.

I hear all that. I tried the Digitech and didnt like something about it. I also knew that the Poly stuff was coming with the Helix so if I kept the Drop I was going to need to keep the Freqout to help with the E > Eb feedback issues live. I didnt like the Freqout's tracking... probably more the way I was trying to implement it. If I didnt keep the Freqout, I had no reason to keep the Drop...and the Poly stuff in the Helix works fine for me if I wanna go the 'Shift' route vs a true Variax approach. I'm very intrigued by the Variax still...... Does cable length matter with the variax cable? Are there length options? I greatly appreciate the information

The wireless was going to be another question I had. That may be a deal breaker for me then. I've heard some people reference other units that compete with variax, I think Boss has one....any suggestions outside of L6? Yeah I figured it would be an experiment and see situation, but the one video I listened to sounded pretty good.

ok, that clarifies the program differences then. Would you say that the acoustic sounds are solid enough to play an 'acoustic' show with? I'm seriously debating about going full variax/Helix for full band and solo shows. In my head right now I can't think of a reason to keep the full acoustic if the variax sounds as good as an acoustic and gives me alternate tunings and plays like an electric

I appreciate those words... To follow up on your answers 2) Is there much of a difference in the mag pickup models? If the electronics are good, what would be the reason to still use the 'original' mag style approach? So the difference otherwise is just aesthetic visual preference? Are there any sort of 'preferred' after market upgrades? Things you shouldn't do. I see that 9-11's are recommended, which is fine as I use the 10/11 hybrid sets, but it seems that coated strings are a no-no? 3) Is all that done through HX Edit? Or I see a program called workbench referred to at times??

Well...I feel it is come time to realistically explore a variax type guitar. I'm not doing the heavier rock stuff as much anymore (palm muting issues, potentially, shouldnt be a concern) and I'm finding a larger need to have a variety of sounds available that I just can't dial in on the Helix alone. So....few requests (I'm at work, and cant fully search these currently) 1) Could someone link or post a video demonstrating the different models of the variax? I'm not doubting the product, but want to hear how it sounds. I'll do my own homework a bit and search audio samples on the variax page....but sometimes you just dont know what signal chain they are all going through or what else is changing. 2) Is the Shuriken the most recent version? I dont think the tech has changed much, however, has the build quality improved? What makes one model different than the other. Is one better than other? I usually design a preset per song for my performances, how much more complicated will this make my process?

Ok, so I have a buddy coming out to my acoustic show tonight that wants to sit in. I had the crazy thought that I could run 2 vox and 2 guitars through my helix on 4 separate chains. I have the preset created, but wondering if there is any sort of special sauce or anything I need to add to the Return 1 vocal channel or guitar (AUX) channel to help them match my Mic In and Guitar In levels. I have added gain blocks to the Return/Aux channels, but wondering if there is some sort of standard difference that I can use as a starting point.

While I dont run my presets/setlists like he does. I do recall having 'Global' blocks in my Boss GT. It was nice to create/save 10 user amps/cabs/effects (sorta similar to favorites). Then when creating a preset from scratch you want to add an amp block, scroll right to get all the preset amps included or scroll left to get the User defined slots. The benefit to using those though was more what Sascha is referring to.....If I had 10 Amps that varied from sparkling clean to death metal chugging heavy and implemented those across say 40 presets for various projects, and those 40 presets maybe were spread across 3 different setlists in varying orders (10 in this setlist, 15 in this setlist etc)....... it WAS nice to be able to make a change to any of those global user defined amp blocks and it would update all presets that used that user defined slot. That feature ran for all effects that you could do user defined spots for. I think ever effect had 10 slots. 10 wahs, 10 chorus, 10 delays, 10 reverbs etc. Something like that would be great I think. It would also help in my case where we get a new toy (amp/effect etc) and I want to insert into my stock presets and song presets. Its hard to remember which of the 60 presets I have currently that implement the TS808 vs Kinky Boost. However, if I changed the user slot labeled (Lead Boost OD) it would update all presets using that slot.

#2 is crucial for me. I take the time to level presets as best I can, but there are always some that just catch me off guard live. I have my presets saved on the Output Block. I make the adjustment and save the preset in about 3 seconds. Occasionally I go through my presets and any that have 'odd' output block numbers ( I start all presets at -4db) I adjust the block that is causing the volume difference. Being that I usually create basic amp/cab presets first, and then use those templates to build my presets there shouldnt be anything greatly off, unless an effect is pushing something hard.

For me, maybe there is a better way....But when I'm in 10 stomp layout....I build my switch layout (preset previous/next buttons, and any snapshots I need for the song I'm doing, and also any actual stomp buttons. The stomp buttons though...I assign not in command center....but on the block parameter page itself. I forget the name of the tab, but there is the parameter page, and then one where you can assign controllers/bypass stuff.....I do it there.

I should state that I do like the radio songs I've heard and as I've delved into some of the songlist, I remember some songs, but mostly cause friends were more into them than I was....especially at the time they were around. I can appreciate how good they were back then....definitely better than a lot of the 'alternative noise' that turned me off coming from a lot of groups. Digging into his rig, writing style, riffs and stuff...I'm coming across a new appreciate for what they were. Also the damn jazz chords are a new challenge both sonically to get to sound right and just fingering the damn things, lol.

I found a L6 video where they create the Plush sound. I didnt like it, but it was close in theory to what I came up with before that point. I used his template for the preset and applied my amps/cabs to it. I mainly switched the Essex 30 (sounded too brittle and not 'chimey' (is that the cab/speaker?)) for a Madarin Rocker with a similar setup. Matched with the Placatar Dirty. This is the heaviest 'version' for the crunch versions I just reduce gain/chorus to match. So far I'm only 4 songs into the bands song list: Dead and Bloated, Sex Type Thing, Wicked Garden and Sin, but it seems to cover that stuff well so far. I'm sure I'll keep the template and just substitute amps/effects as needed. Heavy Chorus.hlx

I've read a little on the guitar players gear (I'm not a huge STP fan, however am familiar with the radio stuff), but he has a signature sorta chorus'd sound. I've played a bit with micro shifting and it sounds ok, but wondering if the gear genius' here have any suggestions on amps/effects to employ for some of his stuff? I'll keep plugging away, but looking for suggestions.

Thats what I was thinking. We dont use a lot in the way of effects and such. Some reverb on vocals, chorus/delay on guitars. EQ's for sure to clean things up a bit. We dont need phantom power. Is there a benefit over going the mixer route vs adapter>Return 1? I would run guitars on path 1 and vox on path 2 more than likely. I would be the 'A' paths and other would be the 'B' paths

Ok, so right now for my solo shows I do the mic input, guitar input, XLR out to my FOH speaker and 1/4" out to my monitor. I have a split at the end of Paths 1 & 2 that seperate the feed/mix from FOH/Monitors for myself. For my duo shows, I really like using the Helix, but we end up having to use the full bands PA/Mixer setup and it just doesnt sound as good and is more crap to haul around. My mind was thinking in the shower today (doesn't everyone think about gear things in the shower? No? Just me? hmmm).... Could I get a small passive mixer to run Mics 1 & 2 into, to essentially submix to send to the Mic Input of the Helix? Then send my guitar to guitar input, and send the 2nd guitar into a return send (better option?) then I can run a single vocal path and 2 guitar paths. This would allow me to maintain my 1/4" out to monitor(s) and XLR out to Main(s)?? Or would I have a better option of getting an adapter (XLR>1/4") and running the 2nd mic into Return 1 and the 2nd Guitar into Return 2 and using those inputs as paths 1b & 2b so everyone has their own vocal/guitar path. I would just run a simple FOH mix then from 1/4 outs for monitoring purposes. We dont do a lot of special stuff acoustically. I play leads but really dont need much more than Chorus/Delay. The other guitar player only a small lead part here and there. So I dont think we would run out of DSP, its more the routing that is in question.

Also interesting to try. Appreciate it

Interesting...I'll have to try this....makes sense

My best advice, having used both (helix currently) is to watch videos of people create presets. Using the PC Editors and the on board controls. To me the UI and editor was a no brainer for Helix...again, coming an original Fractal Ultra user. Helix is so plug and play to create a preset from scratch. Not saying Fractal isnt, but its parameter paralysis to a point in some cases....Less is more. Also having less parameters to play with has forced me to search for more appropriate tools and explore the tonal possibilities in the tools I do have.

Yeah, Yek was a great resource when I had the original Ultra

I'm excited to give this a try. I love posts like these. I don't have real world experience with the amps a lot of times and love explanations about different models. The Axe FX had a wiki page that gave some in depth notes about the originals the models were schemed after to help explain the thought process behind the amp design a bit. Was a great help!

I've struggled to like these as well, when trying to run all 3 as a all in one combination type setup. Same struggles as you. I thought I remembered (maybe in my Axe FX days?!?!) that this amp was picky with cab/speaker choice too? I've always thought that this amp was more of a high master, but I thought I remember reading that most real world options dont usually get run much above 4-5 because it gets too flubby and the highs get icy/harsh. I havent revisited this amp in awhile win the York IR's that I use now, but maybe its worth doing.

Yeah, I'm habitually not a RTFM guy once I grasp the nuts and bolts of things, but with it being a release afterwards...and the time its taking me to get to this point....whoops, in one ear and out the other. Thanks for sharing that though.

Yeah, I really havent utilized the 'user defaults' at all, and feel like it will replace lots of my amp setting favorites. However, if you save a user default with the Amp + Cab block, does it remember the cab/mic choices as well or only the Amp settings portion?

Dumb question (more than likely) but its slow at work and I have new IR's to play with. Got me thinking about my use of Favorites...I usually create my favorites after I create a preset. I go through each block and save it with the presets name-block name. It seems clunky and not organized well. Looking for different approaches to how you use/manage your favorites. Honestly, I think some of my fave's could just be replaced with user defaults for the amp blocks and such. I think also I struggle with the amps that can do multiple sounds with different approaches to the settings (think your all in one amp styles) Just a conversation...no issues here.