BigBob-Irwin

Thank you all for the very interesting suggestions I have updated the Tone master which gives the equivalent of cutting C22 in the vibrato channel. I have 2 external pedals a Nux Morning Star which is their take on a Bluesbreaker pedal for my attempted Blues Breaker Beano album tones and a Nux FET driven tube screamer which is my always on pedal at unity gain no overdrive. The reason I want the Plexi sound is to get Gary Moore type od I believe he used a Marshall governor into a JTM 45 and was considering buying a electro harmonix Glove pedal but I have the stomp so am giving it a go first. I am off to experiment will let you know how it turns out.

Hi before anyone replies just use the plexi amp model what I am doing is going into a Fender Deluxe reverb Tone master which does not have a send return circuit and I would like a plexi type sound either using the pedals in the helix or the plexi preamp and some EQ to make it less harsh. Does anyone has any ideas or workaround before I resort to buying a pedal?

I guess although I might be wrong that you want to use the Litigator amp to get close to a Dumble amp sound if that is the case the HX has a close approximation to a zendrive pedal it is called the Dhyana drive.

I ordered one for my stomp and they had wired it incorrectly at the factory switch 1 should be tip and switch 2 should be ring. After testing with a multimeter I discovered that was wired the wrong way so opened it up and resoldered now all is well.

Thanks spikey forgot the linky:-

There are so many variables to contend with as DD said you are not saying how you are setting this up are you going into a Daw or PA, FHFH, etc the mike placement I tend to use a ribbon mikes and pulled back a bit but that's just me everyone is different. One tip I picked up from watching Richie Castellano on a facebook video recently is his parametric eq after the amp/speaker which to me make the amp sound more natural to my ears settings below:- Low freq 230Hz Low Q 0.7 Low Gain 1.6Db Mid Freq 4 Khz Mid Q 0.7 Mid Gain -3.1Db High freq 8 Khz High Q 0.7 High gain +2.1 Db Low cut off High cut 8.9 Khz Level 0 He got this by recording his Helix into a Daw and using the parametric plugin in the daw and then transferred these settings to the Helix I guess if you use a daw you could do the same. What he has done is upped the lows a bit and cut around 4 Khz where the fizz is. I have come to the conclusion after many years listening to guitar tone and music that everyone hears things differently, in other words, each person's ears is not a biological constant and what one mans great tone is another's torture.

After reading the post on how to update from Line 6 was pleased I had no problems and was very straight forward. Love the new Grammitco and my fav pedals are KOT both the prince and KOT also the zendrive and have been having fun plugging my cheap zendrive clone pedal (Mooer Rumble) in to compare.

I would play what I am happy with if he is happy with his tube amp that's ok too the problem is he wants you to be the same as him. I use a tube amp when gigging but use the helix as a pedal board I also have a power cab and have used that as well the only difference between the Helix and the tube amp is not in the sound but the lack of harmonic feedback (if you hit and hold a note and turn towards the amp to be rewarded with a lovely F3 harmonic) now I am old and play blues/classic rock and this is important to me but at some point I think Line 6 will address this either by adding a frequout pedal or some other magical gigery pockery but if I did not do this kind of playing I would be happy with the Helix into the Powercab

Thanks datacommando might buy these would be great not to have to take 2 guitars to a gig. This getting old malarkey is not good but interesting getting there.

Interesting now I am sure I am going to ask a stupid question here but I am old so forgive me. So if I want my Les Paul to sound like a Strat do I buy the Les Paul package or the Strat package and also the other way round if I want my strat to sound like a LesPaul?

I have the Helix LT and use it in 3 different ways. Live I use it into a valve combo amp but do not use amp or cab sim so all I am using is several types of od or dist a volume and wah the amp has good reverb so apart from a little delay it all goes into the front I can also channel switch from the Helix. The second way I can use it live is with a power Cab in which case I add an amp but do not need the cabs, I am not so convinced by this method as you do not get controlled feedback the same as you would from my combo amp and one reason I would like a freqout pedal in the Helix. The last way I use the Helix is direct into my daw or digital recorder ay home with full modeling If you use a JTM45(and therefore do not have a send and return) you will have to try and get as much clean headroom as you can if you want to use time effects like delay/reverb as they do on That pedal show on utube.

When I got the Helix LT I put my pedal board into the send and return on the helix and switched between helix version of OCD,Klon and tube screamer and the real deal on my board and to be honest there was not much in it tone wise . You mention a bass cut on the amps input, but it is there in the helix if you prepared to use either the parametric or graphic eq before the amp or at the beginning of the chain. In fact using eq before or after an amp block can improve what you are expecting i.e. most folk say the nearest to a Dumble a helix comes to is the litigator model if you look at the circuit for a dumble you will find that the tone stack/FET element comes pretty close in the beginning of the signal chain so try putting a graphic in front of the litigator with more 500 Hz and 750 Hz dialed in and it will sound even more like a Dumble. This kind of thinking will get you closer with other amps too the tools are there but sometimes you need to think outside the box a bit to obtain your goal.

I use my amp stand if I want to edit this way

Hi it is just a standard guitar cable with a 1/4" jack on each end by putting the cable into the fx return you are bypassing the amps preamp and effectively using the power amp section of the amp.

I used to own the DT25 as part of "The Dream Rig" set up with variax JTV59 and HD500 and after messing about with it came to the conclusion that if you wanted the HD500 to sound the same as you are hearing out of the headphones or powered monitors at home then connect from the 1/4" out to fx return on the amp.

Hi Phil I am using windows 10 on a pc with dual I5 processors 16 gig ram and a SSD to boot up the os

I am not sure I am posting this in the right place as it is not so much a bug with the Helix but the last 2 times I have updated to the latest firmware my google browser gets completely reset. It loses all the saved passwords and is as if I had loaded the browser for the first time also the @ and " key seems permanently reversed that is if you press the quotes key you get the at sign and visa versa. I have run a virus check but there are none found, anyone else have this issue.

I think everyone uses pedals differently some buy a clean amp usually known as a good pedal platform and run through this letting the pedals take care of most of the tones. Others run pedals into an amp that is just breaking up some into an amp on hooligan setting you only have to go and look at the pedal show on utube to hear how pedals sound in front of different amps and indeed what sequence the pedals are put in sounding totally diverse or compressing in a different way so it’s quite complex. The test I have done with the helix is plug a tube screamer klon clone and an ocd one at a time through a clean amp in this case a boss Katana and switched between the helix version and the real thing using the send return on the helix and to be honest there is not much in it. Then powered up my other amp which is a Victory RD1 which is kind of in the ball park of a plexi and tried the same thing it did not like the tube screamer either in the helix or the real thing which is not surprising because you are running a mid-humped od into an amp which already has strong mid-range and what would be better here would be a treble boost which the helix does not have but the amp sounded good with the EP boost. So, I guess what I am saying here is you need to choose your pedal/amp combination carefully.

My hoped for list:- Amps Marshall Bluesbreaker combo with the KT66 tubes and Celestion Greenbacks Dumble OD Special 68 Fender Duluxe Reverb Pedals Treble boost Carpe Diem Zendrive Boss BD2 bluesdriver also would like better reverds and a Watkins copycat guess I am showing my age

Just come accross this post and can see where the op is coming from. I too do not get a good sound from my live amp using the Helix in the sugested and most used 4cm method and will try his idea which is exactly how I use my pedal board live and how I have always used pedal boards which in my case is guitar into wah followed by klon clone tube screamer OCD into front of amp (Victory RD1) amp send into TC flashback mini then Trelicoptor and TC HOF into return of amp which works perfectly and hope to get good results with this method with helix. I have also been playing about with the helix getting a dumble tone using the ligator amp pre amp with the following path guitar in to helix 1/4 inch out to return with 1/4 inch set to line level I have 3 OD pedals before the amp block and delays reverb after sounds great at home but have yet to try it in a band context I know this is nothing to do with 4CM but thought I would mention this incase someone wants to try it

I do not use the HD500x out live I spent a month of Sundays trying to get a good live sound out of it I still use the HD at home or for studio and for that I think it is great I don't use the dt25 or the jtv59 either which I will sell. I have gone back to basics for live sound which is a good valve amp in my case a Victory vc30 and a few good guitars in my case Gibby Les Paul and PRS guitars not necessary the most expensive models. I have bought reasonably cheap pedals and made up my own pedal board in the send return are TC electronics mini Hof , mini flashback and a Mooer Trelicoptor trem in the front end a spark drive mini TS and Tone city Bad horse (klon clone) might be joined later by a Mooer audio Rumble for a bit of Dumble sound which is something several of us had asked for in ideas but was never implemented in the HD either as an amp sim or pedal. A few months ago I was over in Austria and just took the vc30 and the hof for ease of travel and relied on the OD channel on the amp for od and just turned the volume down on the guitar for clean it worked great just like it did many years ago and sometimes I think we make things too complicated for ourselves

Cheap and easy solution for you is the Fender Mustang III V.2 has modelling plus power and very easy to dial in your sound for a small venue no need to mike up keeps up with a drummer however not as programmable as the pod but easy to make and store patches. Take a look at this guys u tube Chanel he did a series on mustang v the real thing here:- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNYCekIbACIRUPs1qmL-ZqLIS9daaiXhg

Yes as you will be listening in stereo just like you do when listening on headphones. Are you listening on decent studio powered monitors connected to the interface not the PC? Or have you tried connecting your headphones into the interface when the Pod is connected with 2 xlr's if you do this and the sound is the same quality as plugging into the pod then this points the problem to your monitors. It is worth checking all these variables to eliminate the cause.

I go either direct stereo out of the pod into my cakewalk ua-25 EX interface if I am playing along with tracks but prefer to use my Tascam DP 24 or zoom R16 if recording. I have recorded direct through the interface to sonar or Cubase but prefer the separate recorder as it gives me simple options re noise gates compressors etc then I transfer the tracks from the recorder and mix using the PC.

When you say you are using usb is this one of the usb ports on your PC or is it a usb interface. If it is a interface try putting the pod out stereo into 2 xlr/jack sockets on the interface and see if this helps with the sound.