themetallikid

Usually the -70 is a decent setting for at home, didn't know if adding a 2nd one with a lesser setting was 'better' than just increasing the 'input gate' to a higher setting. Sometimes those 'input gates' have some extra processing that gets added to them

Between the 'Input Gate' that is hardwired into every preset and the 'Noise Gate' you can add under the Dynamics Menu? Is one better to use than the other? On my presets i'm working on, I tend to have the "Input Gate" set to around -70db and it does an ok job, but still leaves some background noise......by dropping the 'Noise Gate' in front of the Amp Block, even with -96db (minimum it will allow) it cleans everything up nicely but doesnt seem to hamper my sustain or anything... Am I better leaving the input gate 'off' and just putting a Noise Gate? Not sure if they process things differently.....

My follow up question then would be..... If I had: Bank A - PowerCab Presets Bank B - Direct to FOH Presets If I'm using the 'lesser' PowerCab with the standard SM57 mic 'ouput' to FOH.....is there a cab in the Helix that I can put in my Bank B Presets that will make it consistent with Bank A's presets? Like Cab X with SM57 Mic sim will be equivalent to PowerCab's Link output?

Man, I was looking at some less expensive options, but the idea of 'limiting' myself to the choices on the cab, and not having to use DSP for a cab block, is very intriguing....

Silly question that I probably shouldn't have to ask....but here it goes... If I get the one with the speaker sims in it....I would not have to run cab blocks in my presets as it would be handled by the PowerCab, and I could run my line out to the FOH via the Powercab as well correct?

I've become fond of the ribbon mics because they do offer a more rounded sound in general, and then pairing them up in a dual cab with something to add the right amount of top end to the sound (this however is dependent on the amp model). For the ribbons, I find myself with the 161 a lot of times, it seems to have more 'punch' to the sound, but if I need some more 'boom' I'll go to the 4038(?) model Edit* - I do still add a low/hi cut eq at the beginning starting at 150hz to fix flubbyness and a parametric EQ at the end of the chain with starting cuts around 120hz/5.5khz....this really gives me a good starting point and if I can't get the sound using the amp controls then I'll go to adjust the Pre EQ or the Post EQ depending on what affect I want.

Fair....just saying, if all of the people have offered help on this topic, and your still complaining....I think my statement stands. I get that its harsh, but the tools/help on this forum are high in volume and that doesn't even bring youtube, if you can't find something useable with all the help here....maybe the issues are elsewhere.

"There are pages and pages of the same complaint on the internet. I would like, hope, to see that Line 6 is working on the problem." Where are you finding these pages and pages....there are also pages and pages of people who are more than satisfied with the unit. I'll ask this, is it possible your just an idiot? and should be playing through some sort of Fischer-Price guitar for ages 2+ or that maybe your Helix is broken in someway that it is not working correctly? Its pretty plug and play...and again as stated in one of your other threads...if you can't get a decent sound, guitar>HELIX>Headphones, then there are other problems than the 'software' and I don't think its Line 6's problem to fix with coding and formulas for the sounds inside the toolbox.

I've found that no matter the mic, I like it as close as I can get. I'd rather EQ out some of the low end, rather than add distance. The effect on the 'punchiness' seems to go away when I back the mic away as opposed to just tightening up the low cut.

yes, I have some low cuts up around 300 hz, which seems odd to me, but that's where it needs to be to remove flubbyness, then with the post parametric eq, I'll add a spike at 125hz for some palm muting chunk.

I'm not sure on the Master EQ portion of your question. I've been 'happy' with my presets for the last 6 months. I've owned my Helix for almost a year now. The recent change I made was when I create my presets to put a Parametric EQ at the end of my chain (but before Reverb/Delays so I can send a stereo signal if I want to) and set the low/high cuts to 100hz/5.5khz. This frequency gives me a basic representation of what a guitar cab would be outputting. I adjust the cuts to clean up any sort of highs or lows that need to be added or taken away. I've learned that any bass flubbyness you can tame with an EQ in front of the chain and any highs or ice pickiness you can tame after the amp/cab. This has given me a much more reasonable range to adjust on the high end. Different amps I've gone up to 8k, but mostly stay between 5-6k. This was a big leap for me as I had thought FRFR meant that having 'access' to those frequencies meant I'd have a fuller sound but after different experiments, I really just ended up back where a normal guitar cab would be anyway. Having access to a FRFR speaker though does allow me to hear what I create without any coloration, and know that what I'm sending to the sound board should be just as equal for him to put in its place.

If you have not gotten 'any' usable tones out of it... I would start with something that will install some confidence that it can be done: Headphones. It takes all the other factors out of play. Get some decent headphones, plug them in, start a new preset, slap an Amp/Cab block in there only....and see how the stock settings sound. They should sound decent to begin with. Maybe take something mid gainish or clean first. If you can get something useable here...then its not the guitar/Helix....its everything afterwards in the chain. I would then once that is useable, I would remove the Amp/Cab block and separate them to make sure you can achieve the same tones, just by splitting the blocks out. If you can do that, then you would only need to bypass the cab block and maybe change the output routing to send that same signal to the FX Loop in on whatever amp your using.... That should help troubleshoot where the issues are coming in. My fave amps to go to stock are the JC120, Brit 2204 (line6's version towards the end of the list) and also the Trainwreck/Placator models. That should give you a variety of amp sounds to try out.

I'm sure there are several things that I'm missing in this statement....but I'll put it out there anyway... Wouldn't the preamp only models really just be a sophisticated od/dist pedal?

Looking to do a project with my drummer and I only....he will be playing on an electric kit and sometimes using a cajon, I will be doing acoustic for sure, maybe electric guitar on songs depending on the flavor. Anyone do something similar? Any ideas on tricks I can imply in the Helix to help fill the sound a bit or make it not sound like we are missing band members? I've read a little online, but some seem to get quite complicated and include pieces the Helix does not provide. Thanks in advance for any help

I'd be curious if your issue is just a specific issue or something other users have encountered....

The issue when present though is involving both the External Mission Pedal (both pedals I have tested when this happens so its not related to just one of them malfunctioning) and also the on board one. Its something internal with how its reading the information being received from the pedals. Which is what made me think power related as its both pedals and doesnt happen while I'm at home, only when I'm at practice or at a gig...

I included my thoughts above on the situation, and the response back was again to loosen the allen screw. I fail to see how loosening the screw on the L6 Onboard pedal will resolve the issues with my Mission Engineering pedal...but whatever I guess. Also, they are saying that sometimes the chassis can become bent due to use. I've never used the onboard pedal except for the time that I mentioned above, so I doubt its bent, unless I got some sort of resealed used unit. But I doubt Sweetwater would've done that to me. So I guess my options are to try and 'trust' this again, by loosening the screw....then send it in, and hope that I get something back before my 5/5 gig or I'd have to use my Boss GT.

I do not have one, but...I may plug into my other guitar players to see if I do not have the issue at the show. I got an initial response on my ticket to "Loosen the allen screw"....I fail to see how this would result in it reading the toe down position correctly...but advised I would try it. I do have the on board one set a little stiffer, but my Mission pedal feels like a typical Crybaby resistance...not too stiff or loose. It feels to me like its just tight enough to not fall into the toe down positon from its own weight.

Also, there is a global setting in the 'Preferences' tab that gives the option of EXP 2/EXT Amp and it can change from EXP 2 or EXT Amp Out....its set to EXP 2, which I'm assuming would be correct...not sure why it would need to be different...but not sure what this controls.

I get what both of you are saying, and I'll see if my drummer can bring a multimeter saturday and see if we can determine that... On another side note....maybe this should be lumped into symptoms of the same issues I'm fighting or not....but when I save the presets, I always save the presets with any block that is autoengaged in the 'off' position. This comes from my experience with Boss/Fractal where if it was saved with the effect 'on', it would always be on when you call up that preset. With the Helix, I've got 3 banks of 8 presets (dance,80's, hard rock banks - 4 presets, 4 lead versions of those) all have a wah/gain block auto engaged, but the preset is saved in the off position. At this last practice, I went through half a dozen songs in the Dance/80's banks all is fine, when I turned on the Hard Rock-Rhythm preset, it had the wah engaged and that is where I noticed that it was set to 95%. This makes me question 2 things...there is a setting that I'm never really sure how I should have it set...I get the meaning of the parameter, but not sure what the effect is if I change it...i know that sounds stupid as well...Global Settings>EXP Pedals >EXP1/EXP 2 Pedal position> Global/Per Preset/Per Snapshot. I have both set to Global... Could that be causing an issue when it boots up, if I dont use the pedal right away and change presets without 'moving' the pedal? Maybe its not calibrating right away for some reason? Would this be better set to per preset being the presets are always saved 'off'? side note #2 - just fired it up at home since it freaked out a practice again so I could check that setting I just mentioned...and checked what the External/Onboard pedals were reading and they are both reading 0-100% again at home.

Hmm, that sounds kinda similar....maybe we are on to something. I havent gotten a response yet...but I'll mention my thoughts here to them and see what they say. To be clear on the power I'm plugging into... 1) my house - is over 100 years old...I do not know when the power was last run, but I'm in our laundry room, and have no power issues with anything else plugged in. TV, laptop, xbox. No lights dimming when things like the washer/dryer kick in or anything... 2) my drummer (practice space) is a master electrician....which makes me chuckle a bit that I get a bit more buzz at his place, no matter what outlet I plug into, lol...but he has used that room for various bands over a long period of time and no one has had power issues.....although.....now that I think about it....my other guitar player does have a rack power unit that reserves power and will go into a battery mode if the power does dip a bit where it isnt seeing what it would like to see.....it does beep a few times during practice which may mean that there is a lack of power being supplied to the outlet he is using as well. He also runs direct with a rack preamp, so no real 'power hogs' like we were using full amp heads.... 3) the gig where the whammy/pitch issue happened is a venue that only opens Friday/Saturday for live music...they open at 7, both nights. and host bands pretty much every night they are open...I have not heard of others having power issues, and they usually provide a backline to any regional/national type acts that perform there...but maybe the Helix is just more sensitive to that and again, internal wiring may add to that if my thought process is correct. I know ME makes a special L6 pedal....I'm curious to know what makes that pot different than the regular one...I dont know if I'd be able to get the specs to see if that has a different power draw or something like that.

well, the issues, are unpredictable....they work all the time at home (mostly, I've rarely had the issue at home). But when I program a wah to turn on at 97%, and when I get to the gig and have 30 presets with wahs, and now its reading 95% max....that means I have to go edit the bypass trigger point of the auto engage on 30 presets... if it was just consistently going to 95% I'd just adapt and set my auto engage to match that....but its 97%, then the next time its 95% or 98%. One time while playing Crazy Train, my other guitar player and I were looking at each other like WTF is going on....something was out of tune....after both checked our tuning and we couldnt figure out what was out of tune....I stopped the song....we checked again, and pinpointed it was my guitar....I checked my preset and I had a pitch block set to whammy....again, auto engage at 97% (thats what was working great all week) that was now reading 91% with the toe all the way down. So my guitar was being pitch shifted to whatever 91% of standard tuning was. Sounded great, lol. Delete the block, everything was fine, but I had no whammy effect. I would consider the pedal the problem, but it does the same with the 2nd pedal of hte same model....tried different cables....even used the onboard pedal and got the same issue. worked great for the week at home, took it to the gig and that was when the whammy issue above happened. Which makes me think its something internal... Only thing that would contradict my thought is that the onboard is an optical pedal, which I could possibly handle power or reading the pedal travel differently than the regular expression pedal...again, above my head of knowledge.

I already opened a ticket with the L6 powers that be...as I just can handle the inconsistency I get from the expression pedal travel...which I've created threads about....I wont reiterate those details again....but it got me thinking while I was making dinner... This is possibly a dumb question, so I'm asking those that know/understand more than I do about this....dont banish me to the bowels of the forum for asking, lol.... when you hook an external expression pedal up to the Helix, is there any sort of power that is needed for the Helix to read the pedal correctly? I know that sounds like a dumb question on its own, but hear me out... I only seem to have the problems with the on board/external pedal not reading the full 100% outside of my home...basically gigs and my drummers basement (where I get a decent buzz that I dont get at home). I'm wondering if there is a hierarchy of how the power is distributed internally with obviously the processors getting the most priority...but maybe expression pedal response on the lower end of the priority....(again, I get how rediculous this line of thinking may be) ...the trickle down effect would be that when I bring my Helix elsewhere where power may be questionable...it doesnt read the on board/external pedals with 0-100%... feel free to comment on whether this is plausable or not....or just my crazy line of thinking...its all fair game. Thanks as always.

Yeah Im a fan of his videos as well and I've applied that on a few presets I just can't seem to EQ correctly...Right now I'm settling on the Engle Meteor amp for my 'Modern' (mid switch on, medium on the gain knob), Hard Rock - Mid switch off, Hard Rock Scooped - Mid Switch Off, EQ'd little more aggressively....but it just doesn't scratch that itch...I feel like its missing some dynamics/punchiness on the low end...The split/gain trick works to help bring out some upper mids bite and such...but I seem to be struggling to keep some low end punch. I believe on my Hard Rock presets I am using the Minotaur to boost it as well, gain rolled back to about 3-4.