emagli

Yes, that is also my understanding. I am using a TS cable.

Hi all, and Happy 2020! I have run into an unexpected problem using the onboard exp pedal in conjunction with an external exp pedal on my Helix LT. The external pedal is an Ernie Ball VP JR 25k, with OUT connected to the Helix EXP PEDAL 2 input, and no other connections on the VP JR. More info on my setup at the end of this post. I have stumbled upon this while I was using a relatively complex patch, but I have set up a simple one to replicate the problem. The patch has just a Chrome Wah followed by any amp+cab block (WhoWatt in my case). The wah is assigned to EXP 1. The problem goes like this. First, I bring the external exp pedal in the heel down position (0%). As soon as I move it away from 0%, the onboard exp pedal gets assigned to EXP 2 (green indicator) and then immediately back to EXP 1. Is this switch occurring because of some exp pedal setting that I am not using correctly? My guess is that, in the heel down position, the external exp pedal turns itself off, and this is sensed by the Helix, which switches the assignment of the onboard exp pedal from EXP 1 to EXP 2. What I'd like to have is the onboard exp pedal always assigned to EXP 1, and the external pedal always assigned to EXP 2, irrespective of whether an external pedal is indeed connected or not, or what its position is. Along the same lines, I am afraid not, but do you know if it is possible to disable the toe switch? My setup goes like this: guitar --> digitech drop --> clyde wah --> velvet fuzz --> helix in. I use send 1 and return 1 to have the signal go through external compressor and mid boost pedals. Helix XLR out --> monitor. All output and send/return levels are instrument. In the global settings, EXP1/2 pedal position are both set to "global". Do you have any suggestions as to how I can either prevent the VP JR pedal from disconnecting in the heel down position (if that's the issue), or preventing the Helix from switching the assignment of the onboard exp pedal? Thanks in advance!

I guess everyone is different here. My neighbors definitely don’t like listening to me practice, and I take full responsibility for that. Ideally I’d like to prepare patches alone in our band rehearsal space at high volume. However, having a job and a family, I never get there early enough so that I can spend some quality time tweaking my patches. Thus I have learned to anticipate (to some extent) how my bedroom-prepared patches will sound at high volume, and I only need to do relatively few tweaks at high volume. Most of the time it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s frustrating because I get to check my tones only once a week. In the grand scheme of life this does look like a minor problem...

Yes, that turned me off from IRs for a while. Plus, I found that most free or commercial IRs were too scooped and would not cut through at rehearsal/gig volume. What worked for me was using Mbritt’s preset/IR pack. There is a relatively limited selection of IRs fir various types of tones, and those have enough mids to work well at loud volume levels. It took me very little to identify the 2-3 that I like. I now use those for 50% of my patches, and stock cabs for the other 50%.

Absolutely, positively yes. My approach is to shortlist a few IRs that have strong mids, and test them at rehearsal/gig volume.

I sometimes do that for rock / hard rock tones (say old Bon Jovi or similar). I do not necessarily start from a clean amp, but I obtain my crunch tone adding a mild overdrive to a mildly distorted amp (plus another overdrive for lead boost). Sometimes the harmonics from the two types of distortion combine very nicely. I usually don't do it using a clean amp as a basis; I used to do it with analog amps/pedals, but Helix has so main options for crunch that, unless I specifically like one particular pedal model, I'd rather start from the crunch channel of an amp model. That said, I recently prepared a patch for a higher gain sound and wanted the low end to be very tight. I thought I'd start from a high-gain amp model, figuring it should be already optimized for that application (Revv generator -- wow!). I could have done it with pedals and there are ways to tighten the low end when needed (I like some low cut before the amp), but I felt it would be an unnecessary complication. All are valid approaches, and YMMV.

Agreed. I'm using this as a sustainer when I need one and it gets the job done, but for compression I prefer other models like Red Squeeze and LA studio.

Ditto. Snapshots may seem difficult to use in the beginning because the way you use knobs to assign parameters to snapshots is different from the way you assign them to footswitches (which is the first thing one naturally learns to do with the Helix). I stayed away from them for a while but now I am a convert... They are easy to learn and once you get the hang of them they are much more flexible. It is easier to edit snaphots on the Helix than using the editor (except for changing name/color).

LOL... What about when the wife hears the same riff looped for one or two hours, and sees the husband bent over the Helix and slowly rotating a knob to switch IRs? Mine certainly thinks I must have some form of difficulty in social interaction :-)

Thanks! I had eventually found them in the other thread. Good to hear that they are created at gig volume. I'll try them at our next rehearsal. The (not so many) commercial IRs I have tried sounded great at bedroom levels, but were way too mid-scooped at gig level for my taste. Mbritt's ones seem to be the exception -- to my ears his presets and IRs sound good also at gig volume.

I did try that on one of my lead tones using the neck pickup of my PRS CU24 into an Archetype Lead -- it does what you said and indeed it does not muddy up the tone. Thanks for the tip!

I’d be happy to try them, thanks! Email address: e.magli@gmail.com

I tried a few things yesterday at rehearsal based on the suggestions received. I was very pleased with the results. Only problem is that I made the rookie mistake... I changed several things at once, so I don’t know what’s exactly responsible for the improvement. Anyway, here it is. - I decreased the gain by a couple of notches. Immediately got more attack and dynamics. - I removed any post amp EQ (other than volume boost), and simply relied on the minotaur for mid boost (plus slightly boosting the mids on the amp, if needed). - on the timmy, I reduced the hi cut a bit for more brightness. - I decreased presence to remove harshness. After that, I tweaked treble on the amp to obtain the pick attack I wanted - I turned my yamaha dxr10 from wedge to straight position, slightly tilted using the small wooden stand someone kindly described on this forum, in order to decouple it from the floor. These modifications got rid of the harshness and honkiness, and got me very close to where I want to be. From now on just a few small tweaks will be needed, and more importantly, I think I have understood how the different parameters affect my tone. Thanks everyone for the very useful suggestions! Regarding the original idea of this topic, i.e. overdrive+amp or amp with different settings for rhythm and lead, I tested two patches with either method at rehearsal volume (read: pretty high), and had my bandmates comment on the tone. For the Mahadeva there was little audible difference. For the Placater, overdrive+amp yielded a more creamy tone with enhanced attack. Sounds interesting and I’ll try that too. Isn’t resonance going to increase the low end? For leads I generally like to cut the lows — I find it makes the guitar less muddy so that it cuts through the mix better.

Thanks everyone for the very informative answers! It seems there are different approaches to EQ... 700-950 Hz is not far from the same frequencies that TS808 and Minotaur are boosting, which should provide more midrange growl, 2kHz is closer to what I typically do; for me, it enhances pick attack and brightens up the sound a bit. I have also tried boosting 3.5 KHz; it definitely brings the tone forward in the mix, but also adds some harshness (I am mostly using the HFS pickup which has rather prominent highs). On a related note, do you only use the EQ, or also change settings of treble and presence between rhythm and lead? Good point! I was getting this wrong, too. Regarding position of the EQ, since EQ is linear and the cab is also linear, their order should not matter. Same applies to delays/modulations, *IF* they are linear (which they typically are, at least in their core tone). I do not use any reverb on leads, I find it muddens up my tone too much (we have a very dense mix with 2 guitars + keys and loud drummer...) I am also using the ducked delay, and specifically the setting in one of MBritt's Helix patches. I have also moved to using snapshots; it is just too convenient. I have some blocks that I use only occasionally (a tilt EQ to compensate for the tone loss when I use The Drop, and a Volume boost), so I use the mode with 4 snapshots and 4 stomps, which gives me the best of both worlds. I used to use dual cabs too; I had found a combination I liked, which was a CaliV30 with an SM57 and another mic to smooth it a bit. For now, however, I have reverted to IRs. I have purchased Mbritt's IR pack and have found one that I particularly like. For most people, choosing an IR requires trying a huge number of options. For me it was the opposite. With MBritt's pack there are say 10 IRs to be tested that are well suited to a Marshall tone, so I do not have to spend too much time tinkering with parameters, which was the case with dual cabs and mic parameters. It was getting to a point where I was spending most of the time chasing tones instead of playing. That is very true; initially I did not realize the pickups in my guitar have very high output (for passive, anyway), so I turned the input pad on; now I turned the gain down even more. It is easy to use gain to obtain a more fluid sound when technique is so-so. Yes I am :-) I guess since I am an electronic engineer and know all the theory behind this, not being able to translate this into the tones I want is particularly frustrating...

Hi all, I have been trying different ways to obtain good lead tones on Helix. I am very satisfied with my rhythm tones (mostly Bogner Mahadeva, Plexi and Placater) but there is something in my lead tones that feels a bit un-musical to me (slightly honky in the mids + harsh in the highs at gig volume, using a PRS CU24 with HFS/VB pickups). The tone is not "bad", but the other guitarist in my band has a very mellow lead tone using his Kemper; I am sure I can get a tone of similar quality with the Helix, but for now I am falling short. Disclaimer: I know tone is in the fingers, but I am talking about the core tone on very simple solos. I am not talking about dynamics either, which is the operator's fault -- purely the tone. I have been reading plenty of posts on this subject in this and other forums. The prevalent approach seems to be to use an overdrive as boost before the amp to boost mids and obtain more gain, and/or post-amp eq to boost mids. So, my patches mostly employ a Minotaur as mid boost, sometimes a Timmy for low and high cut, and always an eq at the end of chain to raise level and boost mids further (generally +1.5dB @1.8 kHz). Another approach (which can not be done with real amps for most amps) would be to dump the pre overdrive and post eq, and change directly the amp eq settings via snapshots. I have done some preliminary testing (bedroom level only, for now) and I seem to get better tone in some but not all patches. If you have tried this approach and would like to share your thoughts... What are the differences between the two approaches? Using only the amp may lead to a more "organic" tone? The overdrive combined with the amp distortion may generate more harmonics? Any suggestions? Thanks!

I pretty much subscribe to what Sascha sais. Another couple of things. I have a Yamaha DXR10. The tone control is not for mid bump, but for low cut If the speaker is on the floor, it will generate unwanted extra lows. You can avoid them using a speaker stand, or cutting them through the onboard DSP. Moreover , if there’s enough room onstage, make sure to stand not too close to the speaker. You will avoid extra bass from near-field effect.

I have a Schertler small acoustic amp (Giulia Y). Sometimes I connect the Helix LT output jack to the return of the amp effects loop, and use its power amp as an almost "flat" amp which sounds a bit warmer than a monitor (I have and often use a JBL LSR305 as monitor). It does sound good at home and I like it perhaps better than a monitor for noodling around (but I have not tried it at gig volume). However, I would not buy the amp for this purpose if I did not have one yet - I would buy an FRFR speaker. If you do play acoustic guitar, using the Helix before the acoustic amp for effects would sound good.

Agreed that it would be nice to have global blocks. I could use a gain block as first in chain in all my patches, with the purpose to adjust gain for different guitars in order to compensate for different pickup output. The global pad does that, but has just 2 levels (well, better than nothing I guess).

Jim, it is hard to overstate how useful this stand can possibly be. I gigged a couple of nights ago; trying to put my DXR10 on a regular amp stand to decouple it from the floor, I had a lot of trouble because the knobs and XLR cable on the back of the DXR10 would constantly end up against the metal pipes of my stand, at the risk of breakage. Your design looks like a brilliant solution to this. Thanks for sharing! And agreed, a great sounding unit for Helix.

Hi all, I have been using a Digitech Drop as first pedal before my Helix LT for a while now. It works ok, but I can indeed hear a slight tone loss if I drop by 1 step or more -- my crunch tone (based on plexi) is less punchy and lacks high end. We have a dense mix in the band (2 guitars + keyboards), so most of the time this is not very noticeable. However, this can be clearly heard when I play chords while all other instruments are silent (think of the beginning of Bryan Adam's "It's only love"). Do you have any tips about how to eq my patches in order to adjust the tone to compensate for the Drop? (I usually use a Minotaur + low gain plexi for base crunch tone, then a combination of OCD pre-amp slight boost, increased amp gain, and post-cab Cali eq for low-cut and mid- and level boost for leads). Thanks!

Thanks! Which wah model are you using? I'd like to understand if all models provide identical sound, or if some are more affected than others.

Phil, thanks for the explanation. I am looking at the impedance from the perspective of the tone of a wah model (first in chain) using a wired vs wireless connection between guitar and Helix. Just to see if I understand this correctly: if I use a wah model that keeps input impedance to 1 MOhm (e.g., Chrome wah), there should be little change in tone between wireless/wired, because even though the guitar has a relatively high output impedance, the Helix input impedance is still a lot higher. Conversely, if I use a model like teardrop (or pretty much any of the fuzz models) that lowers the Helix input impedance, the high vs low impedance of direct guitar / wireless system, combined with the low Helix input impedance, could lead to significantly different tone. If the wah is not first in chain, assuming that the input impedance is set to 1 MOhm, I should choose one of the wah models that works well with the 1 MOhm impedance setting. Does this make any sense? I could live with that as I am not a heavy fuzz user, but I need a good wah tone.

Agreed on analog effects. But doesn't Helix have variable input impedance, at least in the auto setting? If the first block in a preset sets an impedance lower than 1 MOhm (e.g., the teardrop wah), and if the output impedance of the wireless system (low) is different from the impedance without wireless (high), then shouldn't the tone possibly be different? It seems to me that the change could be small if the input impedance is 1 MOhm, but it could become significant if the input impedance is lower. Or maybe this reasoning is flawed...

Locking has happened to me maybe 3-4 times lately at random times (still playable in the preset/snapshot). Shortly later, the expression pedal of my helix LT has stopped working, most likely for a failure of an electronic component in the expression pedal (that's the best guess the tech support could provide by phone). I figure that the problem with the electronic component may have played a role in the lockups.

Those of you going wireless with Helix... Do you have any issues with wah and fuzz? I understand that the wireless receiver acts as a buffer, which may change the way wah and fuzz respond, as opposed to being directly connected to the guitar.