tjbassoon

There are about a dozen places you can adjust the volume on any given patch. In the amp model there is a gain, channel, and master setting for most models. In the cab portion there is a trim/boost section. The output at the end of a path has a level on it. There's the giant main hardware volume knob on HX itself. Any compressor or EQ that would typically be "always on" have level knobs on them. Also remember that if you model a Mesa Boogie with the gain up to a 7 it'll be a lot louder than a Jazz Chorus with the gain at a 3, unless you tweak a lot of other settings. I don't know how loud a powercab is, and don't know how to adjust them. But if you were going into a 60 watt tube amp before, I bet that amp was probably louder than the powercab can be. But I don't know.

Let's say I have a preset designed with two cabs or two sets of paths and they're hard panned left and right. Sounds like I want when I have it hooked up in stereo. My question is, if I'm hooked up only to a Left/Mono right some time (maybe the house is only in mono or they only give me one XLR cable) will I get the sound of both cabs summed to mono or would I lose the right panned path completely? How does the panning ultimately work (dare I say "pan out?") when only plugged into the left output. Is the unit smart enough to know when I'm only mono out?

My back hurts looking at that board. (I love my HOG but it's not going with me when I have the Helix)

Unfortunately you are correct. The reverb in your example would sum the effects to mono before creating a stereo signal. There is no way to maintain true stereo separation through stereo effects as I understand it (I had asked a similar question before). This is, honestly, a really big oversight in the case of line6. IMO, any stereo effects should operate like the Boss DD7 pedal: https://www.boss.info/us/products/dd-7/ which has discrete stereo L/R in as well as out, for things like ping-pong delay this is really necessary.

Otherwise a cable that has 1/8" stereo on one side and L/R split 1/4" plugs on the other, run that into a pair of the Return jacks. In any part of the signal chain you can add the Return as a stereo pair. You can put it at the very end of the chain or before some effects. Doesn't have to go on a dedicated input. https://www.amazon.com/TRS-Dual-Stereo-Audio-Cable/dp/B0795VR79W

When using an instrument other than guitar (so like, vocals, or in my case bassoon) I think using the tube pre is maybe a good option for sound coloration and EQ, especially if an amp/cab block is not preferred. Question is would the tube pre be best before or after effects? Or would it be good more in the middle of the signal chain like Gain Effects > Tube Pre > Modulation/Delay/Reverb ? What are some good uses and placement for the tube pre?

Yes, I understand how I would use a pedal with an effects loop in conjunction with the Helix (4 cable method, basically) but I'm wondering within the helix if it might be possible to do something similar. Maybe a suggestion to put on Ideascale?

Wondering if there is a way to implement something like the Decimator G String noise gate pedal. It's a pedal that's designed to get your clean signal up front, then have the effects in an effects loop, then the output. The idea is that it gates the effects, but gets the gate threshold open from your unaffected signal. The advantage is that the gate stays shut for high gain effects, but opens easily to light picking, without having to slam the gate open. Other effects that I've seen that use an effects loop is the Lovetone Meatball, which is an envelope filter that you can put another effect (like a fuzz) in the loop, so you can have the filter affect the fuzz pedal, but that fuzz pedal is a part of the effect unit, not before or after, so the filter is controlled by your clean guitar signal. Is there any similar way to route effects in the Helix? Either with a noise gate, or filter pedal? I'm thinking this falls outside of the normal A/B/Y kinds of routing we can get, as it requires an effect "inside" of another effect completely. http://www.isptechnologies.com/portfolio/decimator-ii-g-string-pedal/

I would imagine it's flash memory, like an SD card. You talking like the old NES cartridges? That'd be crazy old tech that'd be more expensive than just flash memory.

Set up an amp and cab model, and if it's still too harsh on the high end, there's a High Cut on the cab model settings, or try different mics on the cab in that same settings tab. That's really the first place to go for what you are doing.

Oh lollipop, it didn't even occur to me that the OP wasn't using amp/cab modeling already. I thought he was just adjusting to his own PA, which he was using all the time. In that instance the global EQ can be a good workaround.

You want to utilize the Global EQ feature. Page 41 of the manual.

I thought it went over the nut you adjust for the expression pedal!

I would also like this. Especially for venues that you're just providing your own stage sound and there is no FOH sound at all. Maybe I just like the sound of the Fender Twin and call it a day, no SM57 needed. Here are several old threads about this:

The preset should result from the requirements of the music. If you're building a jack-of-all-trades pedalboard replacement preset that's one thing, and that's most of what my presets are: Start with a basic sound that you like using the amp/cab models, then build a pedalboard to go with it. I have presets that are basically my "vox modern tradiaional" board that has optical tremolo, channel switch on the amp, a dirt pedal, wah, delay, reverb, all switchable. But my one that's the "fender traditional" might have amp vibrato, tape delay, some kind of chorus, different distortion pedal... you get the idea. But if you're building a preset designed for a specific song, put only what's musically required for the song in that preset. Or a better way to think of it would be: this song is Not musical if I DON'T have the 70's chorus effect (maybe during this section)? It's really easy when you have 300 effects to choose from to just start throwing in all sorts of effects without the end result truly being musical. I downloaded an artists preset that's a "clean" preset that has a parallel paths with chorus on one, flange on the other, a pitch shifter turned on, tape delay, two EQs and two compressors at various points in the signal chain.... 9 effects blocks not counting the amp and IR blocks. It is, in my opinion, kind of a mess. It's billed as "ambient clean" but it's one of the wettest presets I've come across. It's only "clean" in that it's not got any distortion in it. And with all the swirls happening on the pitches I'm playing I'm not sure how I'd use it "ambiently" as it draws too much attention to itself. That's not to say you wouldn't be able to use it in a certain setting, but to me it's not very musical (this guy has made a lot of presets that I've been trying that are really good too, just this one stood out as being not so good for my ears).

Easy. Create your EQ block, use the action button to move it "down" and create a new signal path. Find the point where it joins the original signal path again and use the action button to move that down so that it's a separate output. Configure your outputs so that one goes out the Left 1/4" and the other goes out the Right 1/4".

Seriously the Helix gigbag is probably one of the best gigbags for a pedal or pedalboard I have ever seen. It's really comfortable as a backpack (the fact that it's a backpack at all is a huge plus), it's really well designed in terms of padding and protection, has lots of storage. I'd really like one dedicated to my Voicelive pedal as well. Wondering if there's anything out there like it. What have you guys found?

I'd run the 4 cable method to the amp that can handle it ultimately out to the left channel and send the amp with no effects loop to the right channel, and create separate signal paths for both guitars when necessary. You may not end up using the HX Effects FX Loop very much with this setup, and probably run most of your effects just before the input of the amp, not worrying about the FX loops at all.

I bought a Mackie Thumb 12A to use with the Helix. It's rather boomy on the bass side of things, which isn't terribly hard to compensate for with the global EQ, but aside from that I'm having a hard time deciding which of the four EQ presets is giving me the most accurate presentation of the sound coming from the Helix. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Thump12A--mackie-thump12a-1300w-12-inch-powered-speaker Any idea which one is likely the closest to flat EQ? It's definitely not the Music setting, that's got a significant bass boost that's really obvious. So it's probably "mon" or "live" but it's hard to really tell what is different between them. Wondering if anyone here knows. Edit: I'm an idiot, there's literally a graphic on the back of the speaker that shows the frequency response of each EQ setting. Live is the flattest. I'm just so used to ignoring the usually useless info on the back of these things, as it's usually just model information and FCC regulation info.

I think it's blocking too much text in the desktop version too. But I also came here to complain about how it makes going on the forums on mobile next to useless. I also think there are WAY too many stickied posts....

When I use amp/cab models on the helix it's with bass. I'm actually pretty happy with the sounds on the stock amp and cabs for the most part, but they're definitely all of the vintage variety. I'm looking for some more modern options, like Hartke, Markbass, Phil Jones, that kind of thing. Are there any options for free or really cheap IRs that would get me in that space? Or maybe suggestions on the guitar amp/cab side of things that would sound good with bass that go in that direction? And yeah, Line6, if you're listening, more modern bass amp/cabs please.

The sound in the beginning of this video: Assuming I have a bass with sort of similar pickups and an active preamp, what kind of amp/cab model would get this kind of sound? Most of the bass amp presets on the Helix sound either distorted in some way or very dark/muddy. None of them have this really bright clarity to the sound while being quite clean at the same time. Even when I'm looking for something more like a Weather Report kind of bass sound most of the time the presets are very dark and lack clarity especially on the lower strings. Testing with headphones to get the most accurate representation of the Helix.

In general I don't think of them as a step down. I prefer the legacy pitch shifting for sure. I just didn't know if the reverbs were " nerfed" in some way.

Since now all the old Room, Cave, Hall, etc. reverbs are demoted to the "legacy" category it seems like they're not in stereo anymore. Is that so? If so, what do I do with these new over-the-top ring-forever-with-modulation reverbs that have taken over the primary category? Seriously, other than for pedal demos who can play with these reverbs? (minor rant)

I haven't had to clear browser cache to fix a problem with a website in at least a dozen years, but that did solve the problem.