daacrusher2001

I realize I'm 8 months late to this thread...but I've learned more from this thread than any other, and especially this quote from #DundinDragon. I have a few more questions - hopefully you guys can assist. First, let me say that I am definitely not an audio expert. I'm a basic, plug my guitar into a good amp, maybe with a few pedals, guy. Modeling appeals to me for many reasons, but I've never been able to get my modeler to sound consistently good. I actually sold the Helix, and I'm now considering repurchasing as I'd really like to make it work for me. I play in a classic rock band - and also a jump blues band. In the rock band I play a mix of lead and rhythm. I play a lot more rhythm in the blues band as I'm a guest. The lead guitarist is a lifelong friend - it's his trio - and he likes to add me to their last set and we do some things that sound better with two guitars. I had been amplifying my Helix, and before that an HD500, through a Carvin PM12a. No matter what parameters I changed, probably not fully understanding the impact of every change, I always felt the sound was harsh on the high end. When I bought the Carvin, probably 10 years ago, it sounded pretty good at the Carvin store, was reasonably priced, so I gave it a shot. It still sounds fine to amplify music. I had an opportunity to try a Helix into two QSCs (10/12) and two DXRs (10/12) - at a shop in the area. Just the standard presets sounded very good through these speakers. They are significantly more expensive than the Carvin was - and I'm guessing it's for good reason. This comment: "In the powered speaker market you pretty much get what you pay for, and the Headrush is more or less the lower end of the market." - I think, describes the Carvin as well. I'm sure it's the totality of the engineered components in the QSC or Yamaha speakers that makes the difference...what about DSP? Is DSP a key component here...seems like the lower end speakers don't use DSP, or at least their specs don't mention it. Also, I'm likely to use my setup 80% of the time at home. We only gig occasionally, so I want something that sounds good in the house so I can dial in my presets, and just turn them up when we play. Would I be better off with a 12" if I go with one of the higher end speakers, or the 10" ? I honestly preferred the 10" when I tried them in the shop, but I didn't turn them up to band levels... What about the Bose L1? I've seen some very good reviews from modeler users - will it be loud enough with the full rock band (6 Piece )? It appeals to me because I think it would work great for the smaller venues I play with the Blues trio.

Would love to know what you think of them. Mine is working OK with the Helix for some models. Has a fizzy top end tho', and the bass has to be dialed down some.

This has been my experience as well. Almost exactly...lol I am very impressed with Helix - just for a test, I set up the deluxe reverb and tried to replicate my Allen Accomplice for tone. It took some tweaking. Honestly, I could use either the Helix or my Accomplice and you'd be hard pressed to tell which is which. I need a better way to amplify the Helix - likely going down the DXR10 or 12 path. I also agree with one of the previous posts on the OD's. With my valve amp, I use a Fulltone Fulldrive, Timmy, and MXR Carbon Copy - the FX in the Helix sound pretty much the same as my pedals. I never could get the tones and responsiveness with the HD, or XT, or my old Bean POD - not even close. Helix is miles ahead.

I looked at the Spider V lineup, doesn't appear to have an FX send/receive - Is there some way to shut off modeling and FX and just use the power amp?

I had the same experience with the POD. I've been able to make the PM12a work with the Helix - maybe it's me, but the Helix seems much easier to adjust to dial out the harshness.

The EHX looks like an interesting idea. I hadn't really considered it before. What speakers do you use in the cabs with the EHX? Anything in particular? The DXR10 was at the top of my list. I tried the QSC's as well. Both were good. I just thought using an amp like the Katana or Mustang would give me additional options. I guess I'm going to have to just try it...One question, is the DXR10 loud enough with the band. I wouldn't be mic'ing anything, It'd be Helix to DXR and that's it...

I don't love the sound of my Carvin PM12A to amplify my Helix. It's ok, but has some fizziness I can't dial out sometimes. I've been considering a Yamaha DXR10 as a replacement - but...last week I tested out a Boss Katana. The Katana sounds pretty good - I'd just want it for Jams and a small venue gig we do...but I started wondering about using it to amplify the Helix. I can go right out of the Helix into the Katana power amp. Is anyone using a Katana or other similar amp with their Helix this way, if so, does it sound good - better/worse than a powered monitor like the Yammie?

Is there any hope for fixing this problem? I can't use the editor effectively on my Surface Pro 4. The text is tiny and the app doesn't give you any options to resize the text. It's actually really bad.

I got a pretty good Shakedown preset using the Deluxe but I will switch it up as you suggest. Funny you mention. JJ Cale, was listening to him yesterday on my commute home and thinking we need to add After Midnight to our list for an upcoming gig.

So, last night I was able to try out the many suggestions here - I have been using just my headphones and was able to finally start getting some good tones and saved a few presets. I turned on my Carvin and honestly, they didn't sound too bad. I was very surprised. I did a ton of tweaking to get good sound through the headphones and I'm not sure I've settled in on anything just yet, but it's starting to feel like I'll be able to really get some good use out of the Helix. The real key has been experimenting with and using high/low cuts and EQ's. I don't have it right quite yet, but I cranked one of my presets pretty loud and I could definitely use it live. I'm staying pretty basic right now...Deluxe Reverb (Normal), Tube Screamer, LA Comp, and delay. Working the EQ in the chain in different places. Ran out of time again so still more to do. I managed to get a usable "Shakedown Street" tone with the Envelope Filter - tho' it seemed tinny and harsh sounding at first until I made some adjustments. I need a killer smokey sort of blues tone - that's my next objective. Feeling better about it all now - also switched to my Tele with a ballsy set of Kleins (Broadcaster bridge, Nocaster neck) - I found the putting the guitar input in PAD mode helped a lot with that Broadcaster. So far I don't love the delays or the Timmy, and some of the fuzz are a bit buzzy for my tastes. Gettin' there

I was able to get a decent sounding preset last night, through headphones only - I wasn't able to turn the Carvin on as it was too late when I got to it. Tonight I'll turn it on and see how it sounds. The biggest change came from the high/low cut and EQ. It seems I need to adjust everything in the signal chain to some degree. That said, I am sticking with OD, Delay, Amp, Cab until I get that simple chain sounding right when amplified through the Carvin or at least my Rockit 5's. It may be that the Carvin won't get me where I want to be and I need something a bit better - Once I get a few presets that I like through headphones and my Rockits, I'm going to take the helix to a local shop and plug it into QSC and Yamaha's...just to see how it sounds. Then I'll decide. The post cab processing piece is definitely an enlightenment for me.

Yeah, I've tried everything. The only thing that helped was adjusting the resolution down a bit, but I'd rather not leave it that way.

Hey, thanks for the detailed response. You would think, after playing guitar for a long time, I'd know more about this stuff, but I've always been a guitar into amp guy, with an occasional pedal for OD or delay...that's it...so much of this is new to me. One question, should the Helix outputs be set to line or mic? I assumed line, but am I wrong about that? thx...!

I'm really wondering if it's just a configuration issue and I can maybe get it sounding right with the Carvin. It even sounds a bit harsh with the headphones.

Are you saying it's me, the Carvin, or something else...? I tried a QSC in the store, but honestly, until I get it home and really try it out I'm not sure how good it is. So, all the wise guy replies aside...what do you guys recommend to amplify Helix for use in a band situation?

didn't occur to me to put the compressor after the amp/cab Not sure it'll help with the harsh sound I get through my powered monitor, but I will try it. It can be downright shrill on the high end and overly distorted on the low end. That disappoints me...otherwise it's a very cool product

After about two weeks, I'll weigh in - I'm struggling with getting good (a.k.a. non-harsh) sound out of a powered monitor. I have a Carvin PM12A - sounds very harsh on the high end, and the low end seems to distort in a harsh way. It sounds better, but not great, through my headphones. I spent hours playing around with it yesterday and got a few good sounding presets - but when I click in any distortion it just goes into the harsh realm. I've heard some very good recordings of it, so it must be me not setting something up correctly. Kinda sucks, it's why I bailed on the HD - always sounded very harsh to me.

On my new Surface Pro 4, the Helix font is so small the app is really unusable for me. I don't see any zoom option in the app...and the windows magnifier works but really slows me down. I've tried increasing the overall font size, doesn't seem to help with the Helix app. This is a big issue for me. Works fine on my mac, but I need it to work on the Surface Pro. Is there any way to increase the font size within the application ?

Digital_Igloo, thanks, that was the problem. I just restarted it holding FS9 and 10 and now I'm able to assign through the software as I expected. Appreciate the help, everyone... Jim

OH, I definitely did not do this I'll redo the update and comment back...thanks

Unfortunately, I can't play around with it again until Friday - Traveling for work all week. I have a Surface also. I'll install the SW on this PC and see if that changes the behavior and report back on Friday or Saturday. At least I am able to make it work with the extra step of touching the button. The guy that did the video didn't seem to be doing that, that's what prompted me to ask - well, that and intuitively I would have expected it to work differently. Thanks, I'll drop back in later in the week with some additional info, maybe even some pictures. One last question - when I click FS6 is there any indicator that I should see that says it's in stomp mode, or just the fact that the FS's light up ?

If I configure a preset and select it, it works fine, but if I then hit FS6 all of the FS's are turned off - that is, nothing in the display by the footswitch at all and they are not lit up. If I select the block on the screen of the Helix, or even with the software, I can touch a swtich and assign it. ​I didn't think it was working correctly as it didn't make sense to me that I'd have to do both. The software appears to be working fine - I'm using a Mac, and running the latest version of the Helix software. I'm actually quite pleased overall with the usability, but this one thing is driving me crazy 8^)

I may not be asking the right question...still getting used to the Helix, here's my scenario: I set up a preset for a clean amp, then added in three pedals for dirt - two 808s and a Timmy. I assigned each pedal to FS 1,2,3 respectively. I did this using the Helix software. I was following a video on how to do this. Once I set up and saved the configuration in the software, I selected the patch on the Helix with the footswitch. When I clicked FS 6 I thought it would put me in stomp mode where I'd see the three FS assignments and be able to turn them on and off as required. I could not do that until I selected each block, touched the FS for 2 seconds, and clicked ok to assign it. Is that the normal behavior? It seems like the software should configure the Helix without me having to touch the FS. The video I was watching, which was very good, btw - didn't mention touching the FS - it looked like it was all configured in the SW. He was building the preset from scratch and never once mentioned touching the FS. Thanks for your patience - this is a new world to me.

Thanks... so I always have to touch the FS to do the assignment? The software doesn't do it simply by selecting the FS? I'm ok with it, I thought I might be missing something

Hey guys, sorry for a boring question but I'm brand new to helix and still figuring things out. I have a couple of nice presets created and want to be able to toggle some FX on and off. I'm using the Helix software for all of this.... When I assign an effect to a foot switch it doesn't seem to light up unless I lightly touch the switch and click the dial to accept the assignment. Is that the normal behavior or am I doing something wrong? I was expecting to just select it the software and have it light up by the switch. It isn't happening that way. I suspect I'm missing something...?