loydall

Thanks for your responses. The reason we were looking at the RCF evox 8 (with the Jmix console/MIXER) is just how convenient they are to store and put up. We did a gig this weekend with an old PA system and it took ages to put up and it didn't sound great. The JMIX has, effectively, 6 inputs which would cover 2 vocals, 2 guitars, 1 bass and a kick drum - at the moment that's all we'd need and it has the benefit of all the digital/virtual desk controls. Was thinking of getting one of therm and then an additional evox 8 without the mix console to give us a pair. They sounded great in the shop - do you not think they'd be loud enough? a pair of those plus a couple of floor monitors was the plan.

Hi, My band (rock/indie covers band) are looking to buy a portable PA system for small to medium sized gigs (and by small to medium I mean small pubs to gatherings of up to 100 people). The main requirement is that we can run vocals through it along with 2 modelled guitars going through helix straight into the PA. Possibly we'd run the bass guitar and maybe mic up the kick drum as well. Any recommendations? Budget isn't massive given that this is just a dad's band playing a few local gigs. We saw the RCF evox 8 being demoed the other day and thought it sounded great but wondering whether it's enough to sit alongside our drummer - he's not a painfully loud drummer but drums are, naturally, loud anyway. I really like the idea of those column-array PA systems in how easy they are to set up but just wondering if they'll cut it and how good a helix powered guitar would sound through them. Cheers.

Yes - this is the way to do it and is also my set up pretty much. Are you talking about the revival drive compact? Either way you'll want to run the revival drive with post drive eq set to P/AMP so it's properly working as a pre amp. I have the Revival drive in the fx loop - HX FX Has noise gate > compressor and maybe some of the hx fx overdrives and then the FX Loop. I have a few more pedals in the loop than pictured below but I always have the Revival drive at the end of the loop going back into the HX FX. Then delay/reverb etc after the loop and out into the power amp (pedal baby in my case). Be prepared to be blown away by the RevivalDrive - it's stunning - the way it handles all those string dynamics, scrapes, hits etc... it's just awesome.

Thanks - yes, this makes sense.

Hi - I want to attach my HX FX to my pedal board - using velcro. I've not found a definitive answer as to whether the screws of the feet on HX FX need to go back in if the feet are removed? I can't see those little screws attaching to anything crucial/structural in the HXFX - surely internals would be connected/mounted internally? Any ideas?

Just resurrecting this one... Thanks for all your responses. We came to the conclusion that the PA we were playing through was completely rubbish and no amount of EQ-ing was going to fix the boxy-ness of the sound. It's a really old beat-up PA that's used a in a rehearsal room so has probably been hammered by bands rehearsing for years. The mixer console itself is very basic and doesn't feature panning on a per-channel basis so is very basic. I think we'll wait until we get to use a decent PA before we try going direct as, at the moment, I don't think there's much point in trying. Cheers anyway.

Sorry - forgot to mention/didn't make it clear - we're both going through our own modelling into separate mixer channels. Our guitars don't share any of each other's signal path.

Hi - we're trying to set up having both guitars in our band go straight to the PA system (well, via helix amp/cab modelling of course) but our first attempt wasn't great - the guitars sounded ok on their own but in a full song with vocals also going through the pa and bass and drums doing their thing as well, the mix just sounded muddy and sort of boxy. I'd always thought that giving the guitars a little push in the mid-range was good thing to help them cut through the mix but I think the PA we use (which has high, mid and low controls per channel) has quite a high frequency mid-range which didn't sound pleasant at all so I actually dialled it back slightly and that did improve the boxy-ness of the sound a touch. But - it still didn't sound great - it was like the guitars weren't defined from each other enough - they blended into one muddy mess of a sound. Any tips for running 2 or more guitars through modelled amps/cabs and on into the PA without it getting muddy? Cheers.

Fantastic - thanks. I'll give these a go. Sorry for slow response - not on this board that often at the moment. Really appreciate that - cheers.

That would be fantastic if you could. I'd really not thought of using IRs at that stage of the chain but it sounds like it's worth trying. Cheers.

Hi - obviously HX FX doesn't include amps/preamps but - if I run HX FX directly into a power amp (or the effects return (power amp) of an amp head/combo) are there any pedals(blocks) you could recommend to boost/eq/drive whatever my signal so HX FX was acting as a sort of clean Preamp before a power amp? Cheers.

I actually went the other way round - initially really liked FRFR with its polished sound and all the options I had with IR and Cab blocks... but after a while I missed the "real" amp sound (plenty of discussion on this topic and it's all personal preference). Also - you say "Things felt so limited with the Power Amp -> Cab setup." - in the end it was this simplicity that I really liked. I still have the effects/amp/preamp blocks to play around with in helix but much of the time I keep things simple and I think things sound better for it. I wouldn't go selling that PowerStage 170 too quickly - that thing is killer and you may miss it after the honeymoon period with FRFR is over... Then again you may go FRFR and never look back - it's all personal preference and really.

I run my HX Stomp into a power amp (Orange Pedal Baby) and then into a 2x12 cab so very similar setup. I've never liked the sound of any patch with a cab block in it through this set up. But - I pretty much always build my patches up from scratch so every block I add serves a purpose for the poweramp-cab set up... as in - all my patches are tailored for that set up rather than hoping a pre-made/demo patch will sound good. For a while I've been using an amp block in my chain (not amp + cab, just amp) and adding other blocks/effects around that. Originally I compared using a pramp block vs an amp block and always thought the amp block sounded "better" than just a preamp block - they gave a fuller sound.... But - I started playing around with the preamp blocks and, with a bit of work, I'm finding I get better (to my ears) results in the end. The preamp-only route feels like a cleaner base to work on - i get a more manageable tone from it.. there was something about the amp blocks that I found harder to tame - it was very subtle but if I wasn't careful the amp blocks could get a little wild. I'll have another go with Cab blocks tonight but I've never heard one that sounded great going through a poweramp and then onto another cab. Give preamp blocks a go and slowly and carefully build your tone up around one.

Hi - I've been looking at the revival drive and really like how it sounds - it seems to have a really crisp, responsive sound to it with a nice attack to the notes - a real clarity. However - it is quite expensive so was wondering if you guys have any tips on dialling in that sort of tone on helix (I'm on HX Stomp). I really like that clarity the revivaldrive gives but I've not managed that level of crispness/attack with my Stomp yet. Any ideas?

How does your OD pedal sound going straight into your amp? If it's noisy if you exclude the HX Stomp from the chain then you know it's not the HX Stomp. What power supply are you using for the OD Pedal?

Got my eye on the RevivalDrive Compact - looks and sounds like a great pedal.. Seems to be more of a preamp than a straight overdrive pedal. I'm wondering if you could put it in the loop of helix and have it replace an amp/pre-amp block? Would be interested to hear from anyone who has used it with one of the helix/hx boards/pedals

Yeah - totally agree... For me I have 4 scenarios of set up - 1) At rehearsal where I go through the 4x12 that is provided by the rehearsal room 2 ) Through my 2x12 at home 3) Through my 2x12 un-miced for smaller pub gigs and 4) larger gigs where I'd mic up my 2x12. I'm quite enjoying being able to pack everything I need into a bag for rehearsal each week and know I'll get a similar tone to what I dialled in at home. If I was regularly playing gigs where I bought my own cab and it was miced-up I may look at the FRFR option for the reasons you described... As it is we're lucky to even get small pub gigs!

It's all personal preference but... there's nothing quite like playing through a 4x12 - even at lower volumes it just creates a "bigger" more solid sound. I've done helix into - 1x12 combo, headrush 112 and then power amp into cab and it's the helix > power amp > cab that suits me best - you get the feel of the amp in the room with all that 4x12 power but with flexibility of helix still being able to pick amps/preamps blocks before the actual power amp. You do miss the Cab/IR blocks but I'd take an actual 4x12 over a cab/IR into a FRFR any day.

I use my HX Stomp into an Orange Pedal Baby powering a 4x12 cab - it sounds phenomenal - certainly the best sound I've had out of my helix and it's full on amp-in-the-room feel.

Yup - this is similar to my experience - I played around with 4CM for a while - it was pretty good but then thought I'd simplify (less cables) by going straight into effects return and yeah - it sounded great. I ended up ditching my combo and buying an Orange Pedal Baby and running the Helix into that.. The Pedal Baby runs into a marshall 4x12 at rehearsal - it sounds astonishingly good. I run it into an Orange 2x12 at home and that sounds amazing as well.

I tried pre-amp-only patches first with the pedal-baby and it actually sounded ok but certainly moving to a full amp block (obviously no cab/IR) sounded better... or at least fuller plus it gave me way more tonal options. Each time I've improved what I play the helix through, I've gone back to my patches and tweaked them a little because with each step up I hear more and more detail in the helix and I keep getting more out of it.

yeah - I think for a valve amp you would want to use that approach - I'll find out tomorrow when I crank the Pedal-Baby if there is actually sweet spot although I suspect it will be consistent from low to high volume.

Give or take.. I set the Helix volume dial to near max and adjust slightly if I need a quick volume change. That pedal baby must be seriously loud when pushed - at home I have it set somewhere between the first 2 dots and it's loud enough.. First band practice with it tomorrow night so will be interesting to see how it stands up to a drummer/band.

If you want to use an amp block in your Helix then you're best off going straight into your amp's effects return. If you're going straight into your amps "normal" input then you have a full helix patch including amp (and possibly a cab?) going into real combo amp with preamp, poweramp and cab of its own. So - if you want to use helix overdrive/distortion/dynamics pedals plus things like reverb/delay etc from helix - look into the 4 cable method (4CM). But that way you wouldn't use any preamp/amp/cab in helix. If you do want to use the helix amp modelling then pick either a pre-amp block or an amp block (with no cab) along with any other pedals in your chain and then go straight into your amps effects return bypassing the physical pre-amp.

Just resurrecting this thread rather than starting a new one.. I was looking at the Power Stage 170 and also the Pedal Baby 100. A local shop had the Pedal Baby in stock so gave it a try (they have a helix set up in the shop as well) and ended up buying it. Also got an Orange 2x12 cab. So - my setup is pretty simple - helix into pedal baby into 2x12 (I also run a boss SD-1 before the helix just because...). How does it sound? To my ears it sounds incredible.. I'm seriously impressed - every patch I went through sounded incredibly alive - almost like the helix was finally allowed to shine.. Previously I ran the helix through a Headrush FRFR and then an all-valve combo which both sounded ok but this is on another level. The guitar/amp relationship seems so much more responsive and, surprisingly, even compared to the valve combo this set up feels the most organic/natural. I spent an hour so last night going through my patches amazed at how good each of them suddenly sounded. Anyway - there's a mini review of sorts - really impressed. Pic of setup below.