doctorvague

Boss makes various footswitches that will do that in their FS series. The LED is just an on/off indicator though, not color coded. Read up carefully on the different models, some latch, some are momentary and at least one can be switched either way. Also note whether it runs on batteries, adapter etc to suit your needs. Anything that has LED's will need power.

After gigging with my Helix floor a few months, I'm pretty happy with it. The rotary sounds though, I think are horrible. Have any of you come up with some alternatives using other effects? I have one preset that uses the Bubble Vibrato as a pseudo-fast-rotary effect that, while it's not a rotary sound, it serves that function better musically better than the stock ones. IOW, I'm looking for some modulation that works musically like a rotary even if it's not an accurate rendition. Also, I'm mostly talking here about a fast rotary sound.

I use a bunch of different amps to get different flavors. I'm still pretty new to the Helix (3 gigs) so I'm still experimenting. I usually put amps (or preamps) in the middle of the chain with compression (if I'm using it) first and volume pedal after, then delays and verbs. Mods like flange and chorus placement vary as to whatever sounds good, same with OD pedals. Sometimes just using the preamp section of the Helix amp works best and sometimes the whole amp, but I only rarely use amp+cab in front of the Mesa as the cabs tend to sound smeared and roomy- and not in a good way, in my rig at least.Pprobably 1/3 of my presets just use pedals and no amp at all. My Helix is packed for a gig tonight, but if I remember later, I'll go through my settings and list some amp/preamp models I'm using that work well.

I'm a little late to the party, but I thought I'd comment since I run a Helix Floor into a Mesa Mark5:35. I use the Helix exactly like a pedal board and think of it that way as far as programming, and run it right into the front of the amp, at either the 35 or 25 watt settings. I tried the loop and didn't like it at all. I keep all the normal tone controls flat on the Mesa and use the graphic EQ to taste (depending on the room, etc.) I have found the Helix to be generally a little top-heavy across the board so I use a bit of Helix global EQ to tame that and leave it set, and then use the Mesa graphic as needed, mostly again rolling off some highs and boosting 80hz some. FYI - I play mostly bluesy light and mid-gain tones, fat cleans and a few lead tones but nothing approaching metal. It's pretty easy to use the Helix global EQ, but the Mesa graphic is more immediately available in gig situations for quick adjustments. One fun interesting thing that's *not like a pedal board is using "an amp in front of an amp". I've gotten some Fender tones that I would swear are coming from a Fender amp if I wasn't looking right at the Boogie! EDIT: I just wanted to add that this all works gtreat using the DI XLR out of the Boogie into my Apollo interfaxce. My amp has 3 settings, open, vintage and closed- not sure about the 25watt. They all 3 sound good, but I tend toward the open back setting. I'm a recording guy too, so I'm pretty picky about that stuff, but I think the Mesa DI sounds good and quite usable.

Based on a tip here, I was able to set up a footswitch (not the toe switch) to switch expression pedals. You had to loop a MIDI cable out and back in to the MIDI I/O and send CC 59 back into the Helix. Weird, but it worked. I play sitting down and I find the toe switch ridiculously hard to engage on the fly, but beside that, this workaround allows the same expression position to remain (say, volume) when switching to a wah pedal. I could have sworn I read somewhere on here that this was able to be done now with 2.8 without the cable. I've looked for that info but haven't had any luck finding anything. Can anyone shed any light on that? Thanks, Phil

The Analogman models are exactly what I've been looking for. I barely used the Prince of Tone one but it sounds great to me, and I'm a long-time Bluesbreaker/Morning Glory user. The King Of Tone one has a lot of options yet to be explored.

OP here. Thanks very much for all the insights, it's really helpful. I'm getting some joy with a few of the preamps and amps, for the sound I was posting about, and mostly using the Teemah and Valve Driver for leads and Minotaur for clean fat boost. I'm looking forward to the King O' Tone- as I'm sure a few others are as well.

Oh thanks for that. I will definitely dive into it. I have an original Bluesbreaker pedal. On my Kemper I kept coming back to a couple of Supros so it's cool you mentioned that. Also the last pedal that really tripped my trigger on some videos was a King Of Tone so the idea of even an approximation is pretty exciting.

Hello. First time poster and new Helix Floor user. I’m using the Helix to replace a pedalboard, running straight into the front end of a Mesa Boogie Mark5 35 (that I love). I tried running into the effects return, but I like the front end better. The main reason i bought the Helix was my band plays a variety of rock and bluesy stuff, about half originals, and I like getting a lot of ’stunt tones’. Like I’ll use a reverse delay on 2 songs, tremolo on 2 songs, wah on 2 songs, POG… you get the idea. Lots of extra physical pedals just to get a few special tones for one or two songs. I’m blown away by the Helix and all the possibilities, especially the editing software, which I think is fantastic. The pedal emulations are varied in quality as to be expected. I’ve gotten some nice rock lead tones with the Valve Driver and a couple of others. So I’m plowing through our song lists and been programming for quite a few hours. OK, here come the eyerolls and I understand. “Transparent” “smooth” distortion. Yeah, I know. I don’t know how else to describe it. My main tone is a JHS Morning Glory (and previously a Marshall Bluesbreaker) into a clean, warm tube amp. Even though I don’t care for him, think John Mayer. I don’t like Tube Screamers or the variations I’ve tried. They’re way too colored and midrangey for my taste. The sound I like is almost clean and you can work it with your guitar tone and volume to get different shades of smooth grit. This is the main tone I use 70-80% of the night. With the gain dialed back on the pedal there’s almost no change with the pedal on or off. Unfortunately after hours of approaching it in different ways I cannot get even close to that vibe with the Helix. I’ve tried 2 pedals in parallel dialed back, clean/parallel mix, comp>OD etc and haven’t had any luck at all. I realize I could simply hook up my Morning Glory into the loop but geez, I just spent $1600 to carry in one pedal board and go. The idea of a pedal off to the side, cables, a power supply - it defeats much of the reason for buying the thing. I know the Helix is deep with possibilities so I welcome your ideas of anything I’ve overlooked or didn’t know you could do. I’ve also tried the amp and amp+cab models instead of pedals, but the ones I tried are extremely colored sounding - the opposite of transparent, but there are so many, maybe I’ve just missed the magic one. My Kemper is like that - just a few magic profiles in an ocean of them. Also considered using channel 2 of my Mesa but it doesn’t really get there either, even after some tube swapping. It’s too gainy. Speaking of gainy, I do like the Hedgehog OD in the Helix but even at zero it’s like the gain is already halfway up. I wish they had dialed that one back a bit. I tried dropping volume before it but the tone kind of died. Thanks in advance for your ideas. Here’s a video of my band and the kind of sound I’m talking about: youtube link