themetallikid

So I splurged and got the York Audio cab IR packs...mostly as a personal challenge to dial in those amps as they typically are amps that I've never been able to fall in love with, but they do things I'd love to have in my aresenal. I threw the cab IR in to my stock template, turned off any additional eq's I had on, and grabbed the amp the cab was designed to match. Decent results for most, creating 4 snapshots clean/breakup/crunch/overdrive (4 ascending gain stages of the amp). For the most part i'm fine with them...but I know there are variations of the same amps in here, and some I've never really played with or know how they are supposed to sound...so... are there any amps whose stock settings don't represent what the amp is typically used for? I know the stock settings are sorta a 'good starting place' with most of these....but I watched a few Deluxe amp reviews/play throughs and it offers a wide palette of tones. Some amps are geared more towards a single sorta sound, some more versatile. Probably not a good topic or worded well, but its slow today and my mind is wandering.

As a bonus tip, set up a looper at the beginning of your preset, record you doing some solo or rhythm playing and while its doing its playback you can edit your preset and manipulate the wah sounds in real time then. I love this feature and so many people don't know or take advantage and do the tweak>play>tweak>play method....

Really finding the right Q of the wah pedal is the biggest thing you'll wanna compare. Things like the min/max setting can be adjusted to match the range of whatever pedal you wanna match it to. I usually adjust mine down to the 200hz ish for the low and around 2.1khz for the top end. I have done things like use 2 wahs in series (using same controller, settings), I also loved adding the Kinky Boost or similar pedal in front of the wah block (both set to auto engage with the exp pedal) to give a boosted (slightly dirty) sound into the wah. I have found that this helps make it a touch more vocal or aggressive to my ears. I know the Slash wah and others have a boost circuit involved. So just need to find out the level of the boost circuit and try and match that with EQ/Distortion pedal pre-wah block. The only thing we can't adjust is the Q (shape of the boost happening in the wah) or where the break in the sweep range happens. You can sorta manipulate the sweetspot of that 'break' in the range by adjusting the min/max settings, but its just not the same as a true Q adjustment. If you have a min/max settings of 100hz/3khz the frequency range where the wahs break in the sweep is will be a smaller zone within the movement range of the pedal. If you set your min/max to 500hz/1.5khz that range will give you more control in the middle of the sweep range as it stretches the middle ground to the min/max travel points of the pedal. So, sorry to direct help with the Tremonti settings, but there are ways you can manipulate the onboard wahs to make sound similar. Good enough, is up to you.

My only actual tube amp I've owned was the Peavey JSX head. I had it paired with an old Ampeg bass cabinet that an old drummer got rid of cause he was moving and didn't want to move it. It only had 3 speakers out of the 4 installed, and the tolex was ripping and had no casters. I initially gutted it, put in some 12T75's, installed a wire/jack plate that allowed for switchable OHM ratings for an eventual stereo cab setup (I had an Avatar 2x12, was going for a W/D/W setup at the time)…..anyway that tone I had killed for some badass rock tones. The cab was super thick wood, and really had a nice resonance without being muddy or super bassy. Allowed me to keep the bass/resonance on the JSX at a decent level. I also ran a Parametric EQ in the loop to help shape some percussiveness for palm mutes and some specific mid range bite....damn i'm getting excited just remembering that tone/rig....ugh... anyway, happy with my Helix....but... I would assume the Peavey 5150 amp would be the closest to the JSX (maybe the 2204 Mod?), but is there anyway to help replicate the Active Eq's that they used in that amp? Could I put the Amp blocks (not amp/cab block) EQ's at '5', insert a Parametric EQ block, then find a cab that would mimic what I had or something that sounds good. Then find the JSX's Active EQ settings. I'd imagine the Bass, Mids, Treble, Presence/Resonance had specific frequency points and the Q's were dynamic? Not sure....I still remember how I set up the amp, and didn't know if there was a way to approximate the way those controls interacted.....

I do have a cpu that I use for lots of things, just usually only access FB via mobile device. I can't remember the last time I did anything on FB via cpu. I can't wait to try them out. thanks again

Thanks I tried searching initially, but I don't use FB very much from a cpu and its interface is quite different and gave me lots of other options that weren't correct.

why can't i find this group?

I find it best, for myself, when testing a bunch of IR's to setup the Looper at the beginning of a preset your mostly happy with. Even one that you have dialed in well with a great IR. Something you are familiar with the sound of. Using the looper to replay a constant set of riffs or such, then I'll use the IR block to scroll through IR slots making note of the slots that stand out to me as ones I like and noting what I like about them (tighter low end, punch mid range, smooth top end....whatever) and after going through however many I'm auditioning, I'll categorize them by the 'sound' they portray. To help with that, I really only use a handful of IR's at a time, so I've allotted slots 1-10 for my live use. Slots 11-64 as my keepers to inventory when auditioning new amps (usually divided into categories by their general sound) or looking for new tones...and everything 65-128 as slots to use for auditioning new IR's.

ok, thanks, it dawned on me while at work. So I just need to make sure my headphones are monitoring the L/R outputs. Thanks...

So this seems like an obvious (read: stupid question) to ask....especially coming up on a 2 year Helix anniversary for myself....but I would assume the Global EQ is something that affects the Headphone out as well? My headphones are a little on the thick/bassy side and I've learned to compensate....it just dawned on me that I could probably just set the Global EQ to better flatten the EQ to what I get through my wedge/PA setup so I'm not making intelligent guesstimates with EQ'ing things.

If I'm reading your post right, you don't 'drag' the IR on to the block in your chain, you import/drag it into the IR Library to the left side of the editor, and then add an IR block in your chain. The first parameter in the IR Block allows you to choose which IR slot the IR Block references. Step 1: Drag/Import the IR you want into Slot 1 Step 2: Choose IR block> Mono/Stereo to add to your preset Step 3: click drop down or move slider within the IR blocks parameters to choose the slot that its looking at, should default to Slot 1 that's all that's needed unless you want to do some additional Hi/Lo cuts or change the output level.

I just started recording direct via USB > Reaper on laptop. I get plenty of signal. Few things on my side: 1) I have the main output volume knob disabled to give max output level consistently (mainly live, recording is new and I thought I'd have to lower it to not overpower my input on laptop). 2) to get a good level in my headphones I usually need to turn some channels/tracks up while recording for monitoring, but then playback is usually needing to be turned back down when mixing what I recorded.

I usually have been monitoring via Helix Headphone jack. I didnt get a chance to follow up yesterday, it was clearly user error on what I was inquiring about. I bought a headphone amp so others can listen at the same time if they want, and the adapter from 1/8 to 1/4" even though both stereo, when pushed in all the way must not have been contacting right so I was getting some sort of weird half sound thing. was able to keep it stable 3/4 in and got full sound. However, I did try recording using USB 1/2 and Channel 8 in reaper and my channel 8 track was silence. do I need to set the helix to 'All' instead of USB 1/2 to get that dry track?

Also was setting up a track for my daughter to sing along to (Aladdin song) and when playing hte track the vocals are in the distance, not present up front and its a normal track similar to what i've used the past few days as a reference track on my own recordings.

Not sure if this is Helix or Reaper related....but sometimes when I'm recording my vocals it sounds like I'm in a small box type reverb/doubler sound. It wasnt like this earlier, but I can't seem to get rid of it. I get it in my headphones when monitoring my vocals. It doesnt seem to come through in the actual recording version.... annoying....any ideas? I noticed originally it was when I was trying to record two tracks at the same time (in error, not intentionally arming 2 tracks to record). But as soon as I disarmed one it went away. Now I've only got one track armed, and its the same on USB 1/2 and 3/4 so its not related to one output.

yes it sounds like your snapshot changes that you are trying to make are not being made on parameters after they are assigned to the Snapshots Controller setting. Example Preset - Marshall World (Brit 2204 model, for example only purposes) Snapshot 1 - Marshall Clean (gain on 1.5, all other parameters stock) Snapshot 2 - Marshall Breakup (gain on 2.5, all other paremeters stock) Snapshot 3 - Marshall Crunch (gain on 5.0, all other parameters stock) Snapshot 4 - Marshall Rock (gain on 9.0, all other parameters stock) As you make those changes from 1.5 - 9.0 if you do not set your Gain parameter to be attached to the snapshot controller, any changes you make are across the board for the preset. Once you assign the parameter to the Snapshot controller, the changes you make will only affect the snapshot you are working in. Same with the bypass states as well. I sometimes get confused with the bypass one when I add a new block, but a quick run through of the snapshots its an easy fix.

So I have a vocal/acoustic preset that works well for live.....and I copied it and deleted the acoustic portion into a new preset slot for recording vocals. its ok....passable, but i'm not schooled in best approach on this. I'm learning Reaper, and know how most effects work, but would rather send something good into reaper than trying to navigate their effects menus. I have setup the tube preamp, reverb, LA Comp (stock settings). I also have a chorus before the tube amp, but don't typically record with it, it just sorta adds something to the vocals when used minimally live. Would I benefit from a compressor with specific settings first in the chain? I'm using a Sennheiser e835 mic, which is good for me live, but I don't have great 'recording' specific gear...nor a budget or want to buy more stuff I'll minimally use. Reverb...what are some good reverb settings where I can play with the length and mix to accommodate stuff. It seems its either present in my recording and overbearing or not really noticeable at all.

I agree, its a minor work around and a solution by L6 is coming down the pipeline in some fashion.

Yeah I've specifically named the presets as the type of blocks they are.....MODULATION, REVERB, DELAY, DRIVE, AMP etc. You get Limited on the AMP/CAB side pretty quickly DSP wise...so I try to name them further Clean Amp, Gritty Amp, Metal Amp. The only thing I don't like about this approach is that if I have a good hard rock sound and it includes a pre-EQ, boost pedal in front, and a post EQ after....remembering which block helped build which sound can be tedious without having a custom name attached to it or saved and able to import. That's why I created my Core Tones Presets. I then just copy that whole preset wherever I need it, or if I'm building a Song Specific preset that mixes two sounds, I'll copy/paste blocks as I need them, but those 'rigs' are prebuilt then for me to use elsewhere.

your talking about something I'd love that may come in the future, Global Blocks or ability to save them. Right now the only option is to create a blank preset somewhere and save the blocks into that preset. You'll then need to go to that preset to copy/paste into the new preset. This was why I created core tones in my 1st setlist slot. I have a blank preset, I have an acoustic/vocal template, I have several basic tones as templates and lots of useless presets that just include various blocks or things that I'll reference later so I don't need to create from the stock settings all the time.

"finished versions" - Added vocals, FX/Mastering to my bass track and overall mix. Vocals are my weakest. I sound better live than recorded...Also getting a good vocal sound is tough. Just using a Sennheiser e835 into a vocal patch on the Helix and some post cleanup using the Aggressive/Modern templates in Reaper. I think they turned out decent. I need some harmony help from my other guitar player, just dont have the ear for that very much. https://soundcloud.com/jason-allwardt/sets/demo-tracks-wvocals-master-fx For my presets, the Hard to Handle was done using the P75 amp model, boosed with the Heir Apparent into my 4x12 Creamy IR (from somewhere I dont remember) Some Pre/Post amp Eqing as well. Small Things used the same 'Core' preset.

thanks I'll check that out.

yeah I'm sure I can apply an overall reverb to them as well. the actual tracks arent dry at all, but probably getting lost in the mix. For the amp/cab varies per song. I have to run quick for a showing on our house, but when I return later I'll look it up. I know the IR i'm using is labeled only as 4x12 Creamy. There are other versions of it listed as 4x12 Crisp, Boomy or something similar. Not even sure what cab it models or where I got it, lol. thanks for the comments so far. appreciate it.

its in the global settings I believe. in the pedal section there is an 'always on' setting. I forget how its named...

Ok, damn....thank you guys for helping me get over that hurdle. I was familar with Reaper from my last set of band demos. I did a nicer job than our sound guy...I think (and others, lol). Here are the links to what I did tonight already. A few notes: 1) they arent finished, merely recorded the guitars and bass tracks. 2) Bass tracks are a pitch shifted guitar bass rig. Ive never played bass before, the bass lines probably arent 100% right and not sure if I did a good bass sound. I think it works though 3) no vocals yet, have to find space and time to get into 'that' mood. But hoping soon. 4) they arent mastered or anything, just mixed so I can sing to them when ready. 5) it took me about 2 1/2 hours on the Hard To Handle as I was getting used to it and a workflow developing. Small Things took me almost an hour Well here go...be kind and if not kind constructive. https://soundcloud.com/jason-allwardt/sets/helix-guitar-bass-band-demos-rough