dzruna

Thanks for passing this along. I don't think I want to get into the IR rabbit hole. Seems like one more variable that might complicate things. I may change my mind on this later. What is it about the PC212+ that you prefer over the 112+. It it a stereo or dual cab thing?

I'm wondering if I should have purchased the 112+ instead of the 112. I can get good Fender tones in most cases using the Jarvis speaker emulation on the Powercab and removing cab blocks on the Helix (using Fender amp models) but when I use the Powercab in FRFR and cab blocks on the Helix something sounds way off. I could probably correct all of my presets with EQing, different Hi\Low cuts, etc. to compensate but it seems like the issue lies with the Powercab 112. There are many posts from people using the 112+ that mention how switching to LF-Raw makes a huge improvement to the Powercab in FRFR mode. I think this is what I am missing. It doesn't look like the 112 (non plus) version has this option so I think I'm stuck and possibly have to turn off all cab blocks in all presets and live with one speaker emulation on the Powercab that sounds decent. I would prefer having the option to use speaker emulation at times for that AITR feel but would mainly use a good clean FRFR mode. I have a QSC K12 that sounds much better to me surprisingly compared to the Powercab in FRFR. I want to use the Powercab but it feels like a step backwards right now. Any advice would be appreciated. I do already know about optimizing levels and the usual recommendations when setting up a Powercab.

I stumbled on a combination that seems odd to do but sounds great. I'm playing around with the Jason Sadites template (Duluxe with two cabs) to the Powercab with the Jarvis speaker emulation. Sounds better than the Powercab in FRFR mode or with the Helix cabs disabled and using the Powercab speaker emulation. Not sure how this would work out with different Helix cabs or Powercab speaker combinations or on the XLR out but I think it is worth experimenting.

I think what you are saying is spot on. I didn't notice much of a sound difference between symmetric and asymmetric and left that alone. I took the SRV approach last night as according to your post and had a much improved higher gain sound. I would typically mess with snapshot amp settings including drive instead of just pedal stacking and it seemed to throw the character of tones too much out of whack. I also kept the individual gains a bit lower than normal knowing the combination would add that extra gain. The only thing I'm not satisfied with is the crunch tone. Timmy (on for everything) plus Minotaur. Tried an Heir, TS, etc. I think I can adjust to get what I'm after with EQ snapshot setting adjustments after the pedals before the amp. This really helped with my clean tone to get it more on par with the other tones. Adding the Facial Fuzz for heavier saturation worked great too. Not overly harsh. Thanks again for your insight! I feel like I'm starting to hone in on a much better approach for my presets.

Wow, fantastic explanation. Thanks for taking the time to put together this well articulated response! Breakup tones I can do but I've always struggled with higher gain tones. I'm going to give this a try.