Algomas

So after a few days doing research, talking to other guitarist and fiddling around with my rig I figured I'll come back to this topic and write down my experiences in the hope it helps other helix/powercab starters struggling to get a decent sound. First of all tnx to the responders above for their comments and ideas! Anyways, as I said before I agree with the variables as: " its in the hands", "different rooms/recording/playback" etc. But: - when you spend that amount of money, you shouldn't have to fiddle for weeks to get a decent sound. A great sound? Sure..decent..nope. -line6 probably wants to make things as easy as possible to get a decent starting sound to work with with as less effort as possible in order to not demotivate people and scare of new buyers. (Again: decent, not necessarily great sound.) -if you have the same modeler and (only!) amp + same settings (ie no effects etc) as the person in a YT video and his/hers tone sounds great whereas yrs sucks, even considering all those extra variables like mic, room, YT compression etc. Its worthwhile to look at the other main variable: yr guiter/pickups. Maybe not if this is the case with 1 to a few videos, but if it happens constantly and you cant get a decent sound any ways (eg. its always dull/lifeless) then yes, yr guitar is probably the first thing to look at. Not yr hands, not yr technique, not the carpet on the floor.. Tone is for the most part: effects, amp and guitar. And for such a rig it shouldn't sound too far of of what you see on YT. Same? no. Ball park/starting point, yes. Check also the reviews on the gear, if all those players are that enthusiastic whereas you are not: its probably not because of you. So I decided to look at the main variable left: my guitar. After reading a lot of negative reviews on emg-hz I decided to fiddle with the pickup and pole heights following some YT tutorials. And wow..did that make a difference! Those dull sounding patches came to life! More punch and clarity! It's still not where I want it to be, I have a lot of tweaking left and I might still decide to get different pickups or a better quality guitar. But at least I' now can start at a decent point. Summary for newbies: - A helix & powercab should sound decent/workable with little effort. If not: try (borrow?) different guitars and/or adjust your elements. If that fails, then try a different player to try yr rig ;-) - Don't get discouraged by people online, be stubborn and curious:-) Cheers

I agree on a lot of stuff like having to learn the ins and outs to get great sounds as well as the fact that a lot of the tone is in the fingers. but still: I see a guy strumming a single chord with 1 amp at default settings and goes “wow”. imo the biggest difference is then the guitar (pickups mostly) and stuff like how it’s recorded and how I hear it through my speakers at home. I’ve read pretty similar experiences online about emghz humbuckers sounding dull, so imo that’s a big variable. The l6 vs xlr is a small chance but would be interesting to see if some one did actual test.

I only have the l6, I don’t know if you can or can’t use them both. Ie l6 for switching and xlr for sound. So I don’t know if there’s any difference in tone. I did read that there’s a difference in output levels and a difference concerning the global settings (works on xlr, not on l6). Hence why I am asking for if some did an a/b test. Can’t blame me for asking. About yr other remarks: yes i once had a mess boogie and a boss gt8. Worked pretty well together. I let the mesa do the clean and crunch and added stuff from the gt on top of that. I choose the helix and pc+ to het a more versatile sound as I’m planning on playing in a cover band. Btw: I play for about 20yrs, no way I’m a great player though but for reference: I can get up to about 90-95% accuracy at stuff like Metallica and guns and roses with about 5 evenings practice. I don’t know if that’s good or not or why i should care. I’m used to a much simpeler rig though..just trying to get up to speed.. Also, the main question was fairly straightforward imo: did any one do a comparison between xlr and l6?

Sure..but its not just the audio that gives away the fact there's a huge differences in tone quality.. I've noticed with many of these videos (be it dialing in..or reviews), that even with a preset containing only an amp and cab (or speaker) it already sounds great. And that's not just me hearing it (i.e through mic, youtube compression and what not) but also the reactions from the dudes themselves. They all go: "wow! this sounds great" etc. wheres I go: " wtf did I spend all this money for.." Same Helix, same powercab+, L6 link apparently..It must be my crappy esp ltd ec 300 then I guess?

Cool so we know: - he's using the L6 (although, theoretically he could still be using the L6 and the xlr for sound right?) - it sound great (even) with a (much cheaper) variax

Pretty accurate. A bit thin maybe in the lead parts

So I'm following Richie's settings: and already with only the amp and powercab active I noticed my tone isn't any where near his. His sounds great, mine thin and punchless. As with all my tones since I bought the damn thing.. I've checked the obvious stuff: getting the pc led in the yellow, volumes etc and hence my conclusion is that either the difference is because of: - different guitar - L6 link (I) vs xlr (he?) -both So I figured I could rule out the L6link if some one here has tried both L6 and xlr and noticed any differences. If so, I'm out buying a xlr cable, if not, I'm out to buying a better guitar (esp-ltd-ec300 with emg-hz currently)

Have the IR in the powercab section shown by its name instead of a number

and? any follow up?

tnx for all the responses! I'm a newby and learning fast because of you! I'm a bit surprised so many people seem to use the pc in frfr mode instead of using the speaker sims or irs though. Does this still get the amp in the room feel when playing with a band? Also, I've noticed the global eq doesn't work when using the l6 link cable so I guess I should have a starting eq block to cut lows and highs in each preset? Or is it better to have the low&high cuts in the end? eg in the output block or l6. I'm leaning towards in front of the chain because that way I can tweak the guitar output as well. My esp ltd eclipse 300 sounds a bitt dull...might be because of the emg-hz humbuckers..

https://nl.line6.com/data/6/0a020a40c8225fb6a48986968/application/pdf/Helix LT 3.0 Owner's Manual - Rev C - English .pdf page 29: When using the L6 LINK Out, often, the Helix LT Preamp models are a better choice than Amp or Amp+Cab models, allowing you to adjust the power amp and speaker cab options offered by the Powercab or DT units to taste

According to the manual one should use pre amps instead of amps when using a powercab and the Li6 link. I cant get the sound from sounding dull for some reason so I might try this although I havent seen any presets using pre amps..only the amps..which make me wonder.. Hence for the users with a similar setup: what are yr thoughts on this?

I wish it would say the name you've given it in powercab edit instead having to recall what number belongs with it. Also: the display on the pc doesnt change?

How about a variax?

Cool thanks for the info so far. is there a guitar that sounds great on rock, metal and blues? Then I can think about selling mine for one. Maybe a satriani? Or prs?

Does any one have a similar setup and any luck with a fat blues tone? Whatever I try it still sounds "fat" or " fake". I even tried a follow along youtube guide and already I heard a big difference with only the amp in place (video had no pc btw). I'm lost..I'm starting to think my guitar is rubbish and can only play metal.. Tips any one?