toddkc

Haha I agree with the keeping in mind it is only ONE of Richie's presets, I was just glad to see ONE other place that had that trick :) I also totally agree it sounds like I'm missing something, and I would sure love to find out what that is. I am 100% certain I do not have any gate or pad enabled, and all of my blocks are gain-staged fairly well IMHO, as you could tell if you tried out my preset. But yeah, I also 100% need that +12db gain block up front. Not for any actual gain of course, I agree with you also that most things have plenty of gain, it's literally just the sustain. I can start from a new preset and add just an amp and cab block, with that 2204 mod, and while I get plenty of gain my notes just decay and die unnaturally quickly, exactly like if I did have a gate on and set incorrectly. Add in that gain block (or as I tried with the GP-10 just hitting the input with more signal) and that solves it. It's crazy! Also as a note, I had this same issue with my Pod Go. That's one of the things I had hoped to fix by upgrading, which I guess I did as I have more blocks and options. Sorry for saying "I agree" so much, I guess I'm just agreeable today....

Hi, thanks for the tips! I agree about the feebacker/sustainer wishlist. I have been shopping around for a freqout myself. Maybe the next update will have something. I monitor through IEMs, some computer speakers, and sometimes a couple 12" behringer PA speakers. The PA speakers are of course the best option, I can turn everything up to get feedback and then it isn't an issue. Again, I feel I should point out I am in no way expecting a note to hold forever, just for a few seconds with an actual fade out and not an abrupt cutoff. And having the +12db gain block first in my Helix path solves this, fwiw. I don't have my pickups set too high. I set all of them to the "standard" of 3/32" and then tried various adjustments up and down. Seymour Duncan also recommends 1/8" on the low E side and 1/16" on the high E side so I tried that and various tweaks from there. They definitely aren't all too high, and I get the same results with each guitar. I wrote this before, but apparently forgot to login first so it didn't post (or just hasn't yet): I have a Boss GP-10 I was using to compare. The amp modeling is nowhere near the quality of the helix but with my guitar plugged straight in to a mid-gain amp with no other boosts or overdrive/compression pedals I was getting the desired amount of sustain. It appears the Helix input is just much less hot than the GP-10, even with the input pad off. Then I tried going guitar into GP-10 into Helix, with all the GP-10 effects off. I cranked up the preset volume setting and the physical volume knob, and that also got me the desired sustain through the Helix amps. THEN, I did add a cranked up clean boost (basically the same as a gain block in Helix) and finally got some red on the Helix input icon showing I was clipping. I have also tried using two gain blocks at the start of the path in Helix and that's just too much, so for whatever reason it seems that my preferences with all three of my guitars just need a bit of an input boost to get me where I need to go. I did also finally find another person doing this, that makes me feel a bit better. On the CustomTone site Richie Castellano has a preset for Comfortably Numb that has a +12db gain block first in the path. Thanks again for the tips all, this has been an interesting experiment.

Thanks for the feedback everybody. There is definitely something I'm missing, but I sure can't tell what it is. No noise gate is on, no pad (preset or global), and like I said the same result with all 3 of my guitars. I do my own setups so I'm sure they aren't perfect, but I also don't think it's due to fret buzz or pickup height honestly. I've tried various tweaks on my setups and not difference. I'll try to get some sound clips maybe of what is happening. I guess it could just be my technique. The first block being a +12db gain block really really seems to help all 3 of my guitars, so that may just be a permanent block for me! Maybe I'm just an "always on transparent boost" type of player and I didn't know it until now. I also do have a catalyst that I haven't used much, I'll compare results with that. If I have any significant findings with any of these tests/combos I will report back. Thanks again!

I don't have an exact amount of time in mind, but more than it currently is. If I'm playing a solo in front of people and hit a note and bend it and hold it and it immediately dies it looks like I messed up, and it's hard to get in a groove when you just can't hold a note. You get 5 seconds?! I am absolutely astounded by what you are saying. It's like we have two completely different pedals. I have been playing with the +12db gain block first in the chain for the last hour or so and that makes a world of difference, so that may be the solution. But, again, it seems this is only a me problem, which you corroborate with your signal path and results. I did attach my main preset I use for basically everything. Only notes I will add is that the Deluxe Comp after the wah is just an experimental comp block, it's at the default settings for that comp and that's the block I've been using to audition different pedals. I generally just don't have anything there. And I have an IR block that obviously won't have an IR in it when you load it up. Thanks for the reply and help! Litigator 2204.hlx

Hey everyone, I am having an issue and assume it's mainly just my lack of knowledge on how I should solve it. So I have three guitars, a Godin XTSA, an ibanez S670, and an Epiphone with Fishman Fluence pickups. The Godin and Ibanez just have their respective branded pickups, nothing aftermarket. My issue is that all three guitars get NO sustain at all through my helix (and previously my pod go). I've tried all sorts of patch creation, and at this point I have the input gate off, pad off, impedence auto (first enabled), a compressor up front going into a boost and then a high-gain amp, using various combos of cabs, dual-cabs, and IRs. I hit a note above the 12th-fret, hold it and add a touch of vibrato, and it decays almost instantly. It's awful! I know there are "high-output" pickups, and people spend money on dimarzio/seymourduncan/whatever pickups because they are better than godin/ibanez branded pickups. But I thought when I got the fishman fluence one it would be different. Nope. No sustain at all. My ibanez has a floyd and the instant I try to use that on a note....note dies. For the record I have also tried a lot of pickup height adjustments on all three guitars to see if any higher/lower positions help. No difference, until I get to the extremes of course. I also have several different cables and even a wireless setup I have tried for getting the guitar to the helix. So....the only thing I have found that works is adding a +12db gain block up front. I really don't want to waste the block though if I can avoid it. And none of the presets I've downloaded do this, but the videos always seem to have great lead lines with gobs of sustain. I would love to get some advice that could help me learn a bit and solve my issue. Thanks!

I have that ampero switch and it works great btw. Even comes with the cable you need to connect it. Got it on amazon for like....$17? Totally worth it IMHO

Fair point, but I just look at this stuff from the "hey that's pretty neat" mindset, I personally am not doing the math to see what it's costing/saving me. I originally got this to try to chase down some electrical noise or ground loop issue I was having with my pod go that a DI box wasn't solving.

You are correct, there is no way to do exactly what you are wanting. You get 6 switches and they are either in preset, snapshot, or stomp mode. No mixing of the modes. You can add a dual external footswitch that I think is not controlled by the mode so theoretically that could do what you want. The Helix can also do what you want, although obviously at a much higher price for that feature.

Isn't technology amazing? That is so freakin cool.

Wow that's crazy! Well, there are tons of brands of these available here, maybe there is an alternate pure-sine-wave one? I basically just searched for the cheapest pure-sine-wave LifePO4 option.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08P5SFV4D?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1 Also, not sure how often this happens but the coupon was for $60 off when I bought it in August.

I just wanted to provide some random info in case anyone is looking for a portable power solution for their helix. I have a helix floor and just got a 300wh pure-sine-wave portable power station and it will power my helix for a whopping 12 hours! I'm not trying to shill for any particular brand so I'll leave that out unless anyone asks. I was pleasantly surprised that it worked and that it will go for so long!

Hey all, I could use some help doing something totally unnecessary. I have a pod go and a behringer fcb1010. I thought I would try to hook the behringer into the pod to allow for the pod to be in stomp mode while the behringer handled the 6-button looper and 4-snapshots. I have a usb-midi adapter and then a usb_a-usb_b adapter also to allow that to plug into the pod. I'm guessing this isn't powering the usb-midi adaptor properly so nothing works. Any ideas? Adding in a powered usb hub to the mix sounds like overkill so if that's the only solution I'll probably give up.

I was not aware of this specific "helix core" update. Thanks for this info! Very interesting stuff.

It's so strange to me when people say "the Helix is now 7-years old so of course it doesn't sound as good as __". It's a computer running some software. I am a software engineer and I sure don't judge how well my software runs based on the pc that I wrote it with. The helix is really only as old as it's last software update, right? Am I missing something?

I know this quite the necro....but....I'm currently sitting with MixIR3 in a cart and would love to get this "how to" if you are still around to give it.