themetallikid

I would love that, I've got a Dance/Classic/80's/90's/Hard Rock banks set up now, but I'd like to get another specialty bank where I have an all-in-one patch, and others in a bank. This might be the trick.

I haven't updated yet, as I've got two gigs the next 3 days, but I haven't ever had an issue with the 'fizz' that others complain about using any modeler. I had a Fractal before...and people complained there as well. Get some decent IR's and tweak as you would a real amp, no issues generally. Haters gotta hate....lol.. Only units I've heard fizz with has been the $500 and under units like the Boss GT series. Usually need 2 or 3 EQ's after the preamps to tame whatever artifacts they have in the preamp/cab sims. Just never sounds right, and shouldn't have to edit that much to get a usable sound.

I did not know this....I have been using mine as a toe down start point, and will consider this on my next tweak session. It seems to be a harsh turning on of the effect when using the regular settings this way. Was thinking of switching to a heel down starting position, but maybe this will do the trick.

So question, on your #5 comment, are you referring to which effect shows on the screen when you recall a preset? Can you clarify, cause it sounds like you are talking about one of my peeves of editing, lol. Not a deal breaker, just annoying. I have it saved to the amp block as its easiest to tweak live the volumes, but while tweaking if I adjust the EQ or something and resave it it then shows the last block edited, not the one I'd prefer it to show.

I'm fairly knowledgeable with how those affect the sound, except for extreme settings I've played with these a bit. I'm curious....how does Bias X and the Hum/Ripple apply to the sound. According to the 'manual' online it states Bias X Determines how the power amp tubes' voicing reacts when pushed hard. Set low for a tighter feel. Set high for more tube compression. This parameter is highly reactive with the Drive and Master settings. Hum Controls how much heater hum and AC ripple interacts with your tone. At higher settings, things get freaky. Ripple

Is there a setting or a combo of settings that will take an amp from a tighter feel to a looser feel? I typically like a looser feel on my lead tones and I'm familiar with the Sag/Bias settings, but they don't always seem to get me in that realm of making an amp looser 'feel wise'. To be fair, I haven't played with the other parameters outside of Sab/Bias so I apologize if I just haven't explored enough yet. I usually think of these things while at work and don't have the unit in front to play around.

Yeah, I don't really do much for volume use with expression pedals, unless the song requires it. But it was a nice way of leveling patches in a live environment and then going back to adjust them. Really made it streamlined. try presets live, make adjustments on songs adjust amp ch volumes to match adjustment to preset volume variance try presets live again, rinse and repeat It worked well, if I adjusted the preset volume +/- 3db, I would adjust the amp ch. volume by that amount and reset the preset volume back to 0 to help with the next round. Really helped hear patches in a full band and be able to adjust live.

Hey, I'm at work when the thought came to me so I don't have my unit in front to know if I can do this. Usually work in snapshot mode, and am beginning to setup a switch in Stomp Mode that will be a momentary lead boost (while depressed, off when let go) for those songs that need that. But its opening up an option I used to use in my Fractal often that I didn't think about. I used to be able to attach 2 IA switches on my Ground Control Pro that would increase/decrease the patch volume when pushed and automatically save that setting. So you could adjust on the fly if something was louder/softer than what you assumed it would be. I generally try to level my patches as best I can, but there always seems to be a few that slip through and this was a great way to catch it on the fly. Anyone know if this feature would be there for me in Stomp mode? I know I can generally just reach down and adjust the Ch. Volume of the amp block (which is where I save my presets to show when I recall them), however, that is tough when I have 3 or 4 snapshots where the Ch. Volume varies, would need an overall preset volume. I can then go back through patches that have had that overall volume adjusted and fine adjust the Ch. Volumes across the Snapshots to bring them all down.

Just purchased this morning, the Big Pack and the Big Pack Add On.....can't wait to redo all my presets and just tweak for my performance needs and not worry about tone. I downloaded the Hot Plexi and Alter Bridge free presets to check them out as a test run and liked what I heard. Thanks for your work! I'm sure I'll have questions on how to adapt them to my needs. On a quick note, to speed up time later, do I have to import the files one by one, or can I do a bulk load and they will load correctly?

- I will definitely try the Optical Trem trick and see how that affects it. - For gain, I usually try to dial in what sounds right for the cd, then add a bit more for live use. I'm not a gain-a-holic, and actually try to play with cleaner gain than I probably should sometimes. I will say that for the presets I've worked on already, I played with the Input Pad and added the compressor settings that Duned referred to...and they worked great. Its still not perfect to my ears, but with guitar/pickups/non-original gear its much closer than I was before. Thanks again!

I can see this for sure. Tweaking in my headphones always gives a false sense of the gain/crunch on a preset and live, while I play direct, I do have a wedge that I feed my guitar through, and am usually pleasantly surprised by having to dial back some things. Though I do have a good ear for our FOH system and how it translates to my ears already. I'll play with the pad, as I was fairly confident as well that the EMG's were probably sending too hot a signal as well and its hard to dial that out.

The pad impedance..... this is something that I need to also explore. My lack of knowledge in this area has kept me from playing with things I don't know about.

Yes guys, thank you for those tips, I'll take a look at those and play around with them. I'll be honest I'm compressor illiterate. I understand what they do, and I get generally how they work.....but just cannot become 'fluent' in working with parameters especially across different models (I have some of this issue with other effects as well too). I've read a few posts where people have put Compressors in front of amps to help drive them a bit or for what you mentioned...I'll have to check it out. Yes you are correct...the two tones I struggle with the most is that Clean up front, but spongy type after taste. I think of Takin Care of Business type tone, then adding a TS808 or something to help give bit more sustain or liquid to the notes for leads. The 2nd is going to be just that classic Plexi Classic Rock sound from a cranked amp...but this is where I really struggle getting that nice breakup without it sounding to snarly. I'll try your settings Duned, and see what happens. I appreciate the info.

Ok...sorry to bother you all with this question....but I've always had a hard time dialing in that light/medium crunch sound for Classic Rock type tones. I can get the heavy stuff down ok, and my clean/slight breakup stuff is ok....but getting that next level of saturation/gain seems to elude me. I'm guessing part may be because of EMG's maybe, but I would think there would be a way to compensate that in the settings of the Drive/Master. Songs I'm referring to are American Band, Boys Are Back In Town type stuff. It always seems like to get enough 'crunch' out of it I have to put the drive higher than it feels it should be for that tone, and then it gets too (for lack of a better description) stiff and preampy sounding. I usually start by bringing up the Master to above 7.5 or so to get that power section working, then try to find the sweet spot for the Drive that gets me in the ball park. Then play with the sag/bias settings to help with the 'feel' of the attack and body of the notes. Usually that will result in reducing the Drive a bit to keep me in the same area of crunch I'm looking for.... It sounds like a modern amp doing classic sounds though and doesn't sound authentic to me. Maybe I'm using the wrong cab sims to achieve it as well?? I've also tried using a TS808 or other pedal and they all just make it sound tighter (go figure huh?) rather than helping to push the amp where I want it to go. Any suggestions on amp/settings? I usually start with the Plexi type model and when I can't seem to get that 'right' for my ears I start looking at Plexi-like models to maybe do something it wasn't for me. I'm sure it really is just something I'm doing or not doing, or maybe my ears are just jacked..... Thanks in advance.

I generally will try to get in the ballpark 'tone' wise....but for me, its more about dialing in the feel of how the guitar sound sounds to me. I play in a cover band that does everything from Neil Diamond to Metallica and everything in between. Originally, I create a bank for each 'genre' that involves 4 sounds, generally a clean/gritty/crunch/boosted versions. For genre's I'll have a Dance Rock, 80's Rock and Hard Rock....that should cover just about all sounds we play and also any impromptu ones we don't have in the list that we can pull off. I'll then go back and use those tones as starting blocks to create more song specific presets (utilizing Snapshots to make changes during the song, I run 4 preset/4snaps mode). My original statement is referring to my approach of getting in the ball park. I'm not going to play Metallica using a Fender Twin with a pedal in front...to me that's going the wrong direction tone wise for the song.....likewise, taking a Dual Rectifier and reducing the Drive/Master til I get a cleanish type tone for Sweet Caroline is also like trying to use a screwdriver to cook eggs. I'll dial in a sound that gives me the right gain/feel/response and call it good. I like playing the song Your Love by The Outfield, and really banging on the strings to get that percussive strumming type sound that you hear. So I try to find an amp that gives me that type of response but not get too gritty. Same with Metallica, gotta have that chug a lug thickness without losing some definition. Generally I still only use probably 6-7 sounds a night, but really try to dial in what feels good when playing. If I have to fight the guitar or the sound for how I wanna play, its no fun. But I also don't usually spend more than an hourish on a specific song's sound unless there is some crazy routing or effects. Just recently I've gone through all the amps and created snapshots of clean/amp drive/amp gained/boosted, and when using the looper pedal I can now play the riffs of the song, and just cycle between the presets/snapshots and jot down a few amps that get me where I want. I then just copy/paste that Amp block into my songs preset and tweak until I'm satisfied. It's been a lot of setup work, but now that its completed its made my creation process much more streamlined and I can focus on the smaller details of getting what I want.

I figured it out.....when in the 'effects chain' view use the joystick to highlight the looper block, then push the bypass button, this exits the effects chain screen and brings up the screen with the looper controls. Once you start editing it will change back, but the buttons for Stop/Play stay lit and control the looper still.

But for the life of me I cannot figure out how to jump between the editing chain screen and the screen that shows the looper controls. Trying to do lots of editing and I know I can put the looper in the first block, but can't find anything that explains how to get to the control screen. couple things... 1) Yes I know this is probably way easier than I'm trying to make it, and that is causing more issues... 2) Yes, I realize this is a waste of forum space, lol 3) Yes, I feel like dweeb having to ask this when I've done it before.

I appreciate that and will check out those examples. I'm currently building a bank of 'useable' tones for each amp. Creating snapshots for clean, amp drive, full drive, and boosted type sounds to help create the colors on my palette. I just don't have experience with the drive/amp combos in regards to good sounds.

Thanks for the input, and I agree (as with my other thread about delay/reverb) no one cup is right everyone. However, being that I've never been a drive pedal guy...other than the 0 Gain, 10 Level kinda boost pedal into an amp....was looking for what others do use so I can test out and hear what others consider good. Everytime I try to set something up, I think it sounds like junk and just move to find a 'useable' amp sound, when I know others are using the drive/amp setup to get the sound.

I'm all for this, but for the sake of trying to copy/paste a general setting that will accomplish what I want across my 48 presets, I was just looking for what others use as their 'stock' live setting for things. And I agree with this as well, my cup of dark porter beer is anothers wasted hops, lol.....however, again, I am just looking for some stock type settings that work for others to try out and see what I like. It's hard for me to dedicate an hour to sit down and 'figure out' a delay setting only between job, actual band stuff to accomplish (poster runs, bookings, FB stuff, etc), wife time, 2 year old time, house chores.....nothing that I'm sure others dont also have to deal with.... I'm just a weekend warrior in a local cover band. Looking for some help on some starter settings. I already lock the delay to my preset/song's tempo...but the repeats and level also seems to good on others presets, and I can't seem to find that right balance.

On this front, I've always been an Amp sound guy, maybe a drive pedal to tighten it up or boost a bit for leads..... I've never been good at creating a drive pedal sound going into a cleanish amp. Can anyone share their favorite type of drive/amp settings? I play a range of rock covers using clean to higher gain type stuff. I'd like at least one or two fuzz sound choices (these are like trying to nail jello to a tree for me, impossible)

I've listened to these presets that people come up with and they sound great, they sit well in a mix due to reverb/delay settings. I struggle with it...I like what I hear on presets, but cannot for the life of me dial up something that sounds as good. Would someone be willing to help me out with a few settings? I'd like a reverb that will help the guitar sound more up front, and add some depth, nothing too 'wet', but enough that it does what it should. I always seem to make them sound like a cave or the effect is non existent. I'd like a good lead delay sound, I prefer ducking delays. I cannot seem to get the level/repeats and such correct. I'm usually decent with tweaking once I have a home spot to start from, but to take a block and edit it from scratch...I get lost in the options of settings for those effects. I play mostly rock covers, ranging in sounds from clean to Recto/Metallica sound. most of our stuff sits in the medium gain range. I appreciate any input/help.

There is a spot, I believe its when you are in the save screen, you can choose what color the ring is.

I have not had those issues with my Helix, but did have issues with my Boss GT100 that prompted me to get the Helix. During its last performance, it would just start changing presets as soon as I would activate my lead sound via Exp Pedal. Reboot was fine, for a short bit (usually up til solo) when I go to kick into a lead it again would just start changing presets... ...hooked it up again that week back at home, worked perfectly fine. Reputation damage was done though and I haven't used it since. We have a dedicated sound/lighs guy/gear and at that gig we tapped directly into the box, so I doubt power was dirty for us....but I can easily see how that could cause issues with something like this with all the failsafes they probably have built in

Thanks for the notes and checking that out. So, what I gather is that it 'works'.... What I also gather is that if I have an OD in front of an AMP for my rhythm sound, by assigning the stomp to the OD, it will automatically toggle the on/off status to the opposite of what it currently is? So not only adjusting the parameters you specify, but also the on/off bypass status?