Hello, I'm having trouble getting the sound I was hoping for on the Helix, and I need some help. I'm sure it's my lack of experience with gear and effects that's the problem, not the Helix. I watched all the Jason Sadites videos and regularly read through this forum, and I do seem to be SLOWLY getting closer, but I also wonder if there is not something more fundamental wrong with my setup or settings - like guitar, monitor speakers, amp choice, etc. Here's how I'd describe the sound I'm going for: Warm, smooth, thick, rich clean tone, with some reverb/spaciousness, and a little overdrive to give it a soaring quality. I tend to prefer smoothness and warmth to pinpoint clarity and accuracy, and I definitely don't like twangy sounds.
- My guitar. I have an American Elite Strat. It's great, but the single coils are probably at odds with my tonal goals. I use the neck pickup exclusively, but want it to be even more "neck-pickup-like" if that makes sense. The bridge pickups sound unusably harsh and twangy to my ears through the Helix.
- I have monitor speakers connected to the Helix as my "amp". Yamaha HS7's - they are nice monitors, but possibly not as guitar "amp" and this may be part of the problem.
- Over headphones, I get closer to the sound I'm looking for. Things sound spacious and rich in comparison to the monitor speaker setup.
- I get a harsh digital sounding tone anytime I use a delay block. This is not as important as the main tone issue, but it is pretty pronounced, and maybe this gives a clue to what's going on. Weirdly, ping pong delay is the only one I've found that doesn't have this problem as bad.
- The sound was way too harsh and digital sounding until I turned on the global EQ and dialed down the high cut to a low level, around 5kHz
- Using ribbon mic's on the cabinets helps immensely as well. I've not otherwise messed with trying different cabs or cab settings...
- I've experimented with different amp models, and some work better than others, but the base fenders work the best: US Double vib/nrm.
- Before Helix, I used a Yamaha THR10C, and found the chorus effect to give that smooth rich sound. (it doesn't actually sound like a chorus, and I only mention this in case anyone has experience with this)
Appreciate the help!! Attached is a tone example (excuse my intermediate-lollipop playing) and also a settings file in case that's useful.
Thanks,
JoelMAIN Headphones.hlx
Test Sound Clip Main Headphones.m4a