themetallikid

I've done this with the Placatar Dirty model....the trick for me to get the cleans (unless you want the spanky clean sound, its still sorta a marshally clean) is to make sure the BE/HBE switch is to BE so its less gain from the start, also make sure the Fat/C/Saturation switches are all off. This makes it a bit sparklier in tone in the amp. There is a spot in the gain setting that you can get to a cleanish type setting....it will vary with pickups youre using. You can also make the input pad switchable on snapshots I believe, so that will help, but also, if you have room in your chain for a block, add a volume block first in the chain and play with the setting. Take the expression controller off of it and assign it to snapshots instead. I do this all the time when I dont have the DSP to add a 2nd amp...I will just reduce the volume to a % that is similar to rolling your guitar volume down to clean up an amp. (also essentially what the input pad is doing as well). For me, i usually have to dip below 10%. Too close to 1-2% and you might get some weird signal levels if you have the gate on, but that is also switchable via snapshots so on your clean snapshot turn the gate off.

CHECK THE OPTICAL SENSOR (BLOW INTO IT LIGHTLY) AS IF IT HAS A FUZZ/HAIR/ANYTHING ON IT, IT CAN AFFECT HOW ITS TRYING TO READ THE PEDAL. ALSO IF THERE IS ANY DIRECT LIGHT GOING INTO THE WINDOW (SUNLIGHT) THAT CAN AFFECT IT AS WELL. I GET A LITTLE DRIFT AS WELL ON THE EXTREME SIDES, BUT THATS USUALLY JUST DUE TO THE RUBBER STOPPERS PUSHING BACK A BIT, BUT NOT TO 90%

I had this issue sorted once before, but I have no idea what I did to reverse it or now, fix it again. Simple setup, Helix connected via USB to Laptop/Reaper. I like to record things this way, works great. I also like to use this to help level presets a bit more when my ears are being finicky between clean/dirty sounds. So, my issue is that when I turn monitoring on in Reaper, in order for the master fader (the only one I know of that is of decent size to see numbers well) to read the output level of the helix...it sounds like i'm in a small bathroom. If I turn off monitoring, I can hear the preset as it should be, but then lose the master monitoring. So... 1) Is there a better meter for me to use in Reaper?? 2) Is there a setting that i'm missing somewhere in the 10k setting options in Reaper that is doing this? I found that turning off the sends in the routing fixes it, however that also removes the monitoring. 3) Is there a different leveling/metering option I can use on a windows laptop to get an idea of preset output levels to help keep things tidy. Generally my 'stock' presets are usually leveled, but when I go to add new songs/presets getting those to match the main library is a pain.

I have had more disconnection issues since 3.7, nothing different with my setup, than i've had in helix's lifetime with me. I"ve never had disconnection issues unless my cord is bumped and wiggles a bit, but since 3.7, i get random disconnects. without touching the cable, i can click reconnect and it does so fine for whatever period it wants. i'm usually jamming so HX edit is not the primary window open, but again, had 0 issues with pre 3.7.

Appreciate the help. for the most part there is clean sounded picked notes and a strummed bar chord. I guess what i'm looking for is something that will take those notes and blossom some background 'fill' if that makes sense.

So, against my better judgement of throwing my bass player a bone in song selection, my band is going to cover Garbage's song Stupid Girl. We have 2 guitars, and the other guitar player is more the bare bones guitar sound sorta guy and I get all the fun parts with effects. So.... there is almost 0 need for a 2nd guitar, and playing things just to duplicate them makes no sense in this song. So unless i just walk off stage, grab a beer and wait til it's over (not a bad backup plan)....I need help in dialing in some sort of atmospheric space filler sound. Now, i'm completely ignorant, but this type of reverb effect dialing in is not anything i've really done. I dialed in some space filler type sound for my picking part of another song, but that doesnt transfer well into this song, even with some additional decay/mix/etc parameter editing. So.....I just need some guidance on how to approach this. In my mind it seems like reverb would be the best option....???

I am playing an electric guitar with the acoustic sim to help make leads a bit easier to play as we try to keep songs as similar to the full band versions as possible. Which is where i'm struggling a bit to find a sound that retains that acoustic type sound, but gives me a bit more girth to work with gain wise. I think the first suggestions of the tube pre or legacy tube drive might be best options to try. I have not tried the Prize Drive yet, but have tried the Minotaur/Teemah and such and there is something in those that I dont like in THIS application.

Never thought about the preamps, but I like that thought line in my head, and seems to be more flexible.... my preset is pretty simple as well, so I should have plenty of dsp/room to do that.

Yeah the Studio Pre is one that I had in mind to try out when i sat down again with it, but the legacy side is one that i for sure have not explored with this goal in mind. I will note the Tube Drive. Thanks for the suggestion. The EQ'ing i'm not worried about, i can handle that if needed, its more the added playability of 'dirty' without it being too grindy and trying to keep it in the acoustic family tone-wise. Although, adding a post OD EQ may help tame what i'm not liking so far on some of the models i've tried that get them into that fatter overdriven tone that i'm trying to avoid in a way.

So I do solo acoustic shows (no leads required), I have a duo group (on a real acoustic) and I'm fine with my tones on those projects for how I play. However, I have a 3 piece (2 guitars, lead singer) where we are a 'broken down' version of the full band with a few deviations setlist wise to lean more towards the acoustic sound of things as some songs just dont carry the weight. We do a variety of songs (girl singer), and to help make things easier with capo/keys and such, I've adopted the Poly/Acoustic sim approach for myself to blend with the other guitar players acoustic. No worries here rhythm wise, it sounds great and the Helix makes it super easy for me to turn on the Poly Pitch to adjust where my capo would be. However, I am struggling with getting a good lead sound for this. I could just boost the level a little add the usual delay, etc, however, i want to add a little bit of dirt/weight to the tone without losing the sort of acoustic vibe that we have created. I've tried a variety of OD blocks, and just cant seem to get a good balance between adding a little grittyness to the sound but then making the acoustic sim lose its character. It's hard to describe what i'm really looking to do, I hope it makes sense. Initially I tried switching to a fenderish amp to create a good clean lead tone to put over the other acoustic, but I didnt like the overall sound that had. I like having the acoustic sim still there, but need to find a way to boost it up a bit to give me more of a fluid lead type sound. Any ideas? I have not dug into the legacy options yet, but just looking for suggestions or ideas??

Yes this is what i did when i was testing some IR's. I'd set up an Amp & Cab Block of whatever amp I was going to be using, dial it in as best as I thought I could with the stock cab/speaker. Then i would set up 2 IR's on path 1, and 2 IR's on path 2. I would then make each one active on a different snapshot. I could test 4 at a time then, so typically i would take the same speaker/cab combination but change the mic or mic placement to find it out. Once I liked something I would save it as a favorite and then create a new round of the favorites to compare the speaker/cab/mic choices I liked. Much more thorough of a process, but worked for me.

I have noticed this as well. Few things about when I do notice it. Guitar with Hetfield EMG's so plenty of input signal (input pad is off) Gate is on, -48db, 250ms decay. Poly block is first in my chain. I have also noticed this....its not at audible level if i was playing out live, but with headphones on, and letting a note ring out, when its very low in signal strength, i also hear it jumping back to original pitch. I'm typically using the -1 setting as well, fast tracking (maybe tied to this setting instead of the most accurate one?) with the tone/eq setting at 5.0. Its subtle and again, well after i would have killed the note live, but when i let something ring out and am adjusting in HX Edit, i can here it happening at the very end of my input signal life. I suppose you could add something like a gain block or something before it to boost it if its really bad, however i'd be wary of just introducing more noise into your signal then.

I'm curious if he is updating his dsp or if anyone else has a list of the dsp usage of the new amps. His site was great for allowing to compare the new blocks compared to what i'm using now without having to go into each preset and click and look for colors. I get that i could just try that, but I tried reworking a new preset structure assuming the L6 original amps were as low dsp wise as the Ventoux or a few others, but they seem to be higher than some of the previous ones.

There's a tuner?!?!

Also, if you search (not sure here, but on TGP for sure) there is someone who shared EQ (I think it was a Para EQ block) settings to basically add what the bright cap is doing.

I tried inputing this method into my STP tribute presets where I use the Ventoux/Placatar dual amp sound. While I liked what it was adding in clarity, it also sorta removed the 'thickness' I was getting from the Placatar. However, I did not spend a ton of time trying to 'fix' it. I like what its doing overall, just might not apply to my use-case greatly.

I had same issue with my LT initially. Toe down would only reach anywhere from 88-100%, but it would never be consistent so adjusting my 'toe down-off' % could not be set right. And there is nothing more embarrasing then having a whammy that auto engages at 95%, not turn off and be 6% in its pitch shifting travel and you can't turn it off mid song. Ultimately I was in warranty and had to send it in. the replacement unit they sent back was great for about a month and then had similar issues. I upgraded to the full Helix at that time, and have not had a problem. Troubleshooting option.....try blowing some compressed air into the optical sensor bay to clear any hair/dirt/debris that might be causing the sensor to read funny. That cleared it up a few times for me, but ultimately still had issues.

YES I DO

one last follow up...There might not be any actual difference to listeners, but again, my brain can't math all this...In my head there wouldnt be a difference, so why not just control it in Helix. Lets say at the merge block I keep it A100/B100 and keep a true stereo L/R out. Running into the board the mixer could then 're'-pan these Left/Center/Right or anywhere on that spectrum to balance the sound evenly. Correct? OR... I could just set my merge block to maybe A45/B45 (whatever mix I would choose). Then at my output, I would essentially be back into that dual mono situation, but not a true 100% mono as the Left would have both signals, just a more pronounced Left Amp sound and the right would the opposite. In my head those are the same scenarios just leaving it up to me or sound guy to determine.

haha, love the reference!!! Does that work as a 'poor man's wah' in a way? I remember back when I had a Boss GT-3, the wahs were pretty weak....and someone on their forum had a way to assign the expression pedal to a parametric EQ and use that to create a wah. It gave you access then to the Q type parameter, but could also set your min/max frequencies with the low/high cuts/frequencies and you could tailor the Mid frequency to adjust the peak frequency of your pedal. I havent been able to duplicate it very well, but i remember it being very vocal.

Thank you for that, that last line clears it up. In my mind I thought that would be the case, but then overthought it and ended up down several thought paths that I couldnt get out of. I think then thats where I can play with the 'stereo image' a bit more. Appreciate your help.

I think that last part is maybe what I was missing. Running my chorus with a pretty high depth, mix at 50%....it was audible for sure, but not nearly as wet as I would have imagined given I had the A100/B100 setting setup as mentioned. So if I kept my mixer (merge block?) as the default setting, then i'm essentially collapsing into a dual mono sorta thing? I'm losing the stereo image? To be fair, as I mentioned, I dont really have a reason to be 'stereo' out front....however, I do want/need that sorta stereo/chorusy type sound. How do I get from the split/amps/merge/stereo effects out of the Helix into the FOH mixer but not have my AC30 in one speaker and the Placatar in the other speaker only. I understand stereo enough to confuse myself with all the different collapsing/splitting options, but then we you add panning options at the board as well I get lost in the best practice for this application.

I get that I can dial in the low/high frequency settings. However, with no boost, Q, resonance options.....is there anywhere, or anyone that would provide details on what that portions of the circuit do and maybe how to approach duplicating them? I've also loved adding an OD prior to my wah with a slight bit of dirt and boost to it, but option paralysis gets frustrating in a way. Just looking for a headstart as i'm reworking some of my favorites for 2 new projects I got.

So in my Stone Temple Pilots band, I try to run a 'similar' style signal path to what he does. This has typically been: stereo chorus > split block > Path A - AC30/Ventoux stype amp for highs/edge type sound, Path B Placatar Dirty with all switches on for lows/thick type sound > stereo cab > post effects (delay/lead boost) However, I have been running the split block as an A/B split with left side 100% path A, right side 100% path B. I recently tried it with the split block being the one that allows you to set a frequency (I forget the name while here at work). I have also tried the split 'Y' block where you just slide between A100>B100 so you can choose which mix/balance you want. Can someone explain in simple terms what difference there is and what makes sense. Is there much difference between the Y split and the one where you can choose the left/right of each A/B path? and what difference does that have from doing the frequency split option. I obviously get that its grabbing everything +/- of the 650hz frequency and splitting it to paths A/B. Is it 100% cutting the sound to the other path opposite the frequency selection? I'm going to try and find some videos on these, as I know Jason Sadites does the frequency split thing, which is what caused it to be added to the Helix, however he still uses a different method for some extra control which I get and he also doesnt run a stereo chain like I need for this project. I'm not sure i've seen any other videos covering the options for this point in my signal. ***I also get the 'dont use stereo live, it doesnt make sense' argument. However, all other mono options I've tried just dont seem to get that chorusy type sound he gets on several tunes.

Just as an added option. Most (in my experience) modern FRFR speakers have a direct out that just pass audio. For myself (floor not stomp xl) I just use the 1/4 out to my wedge, however, I have used the direct out from my wedge too when I first started as well. I'm not familiar with the Headrush, just throwing it out there as an option if you dont have an available HX output to use.