What speakers/ amps or powered speakers are you getting the best sounds out of your helix?

[mileskb]

But to answer your question, I'm running mine through a Bose L1 system.  :)

 

Finally someone mentioning the L1 System.  I see the smiley face, but can you share details?  Any drawbacks?  What type of music do you play?  I have been looking at L1's since they came out.  The best reproduction for Acoustic guitar (especially Ovation) I have ever heard.  How do they handle rock and metal tones?

[Geeman]

Finally someone mentioning the L1 System.  I see the smiley face, but can you share details?  Any drawbacks?  What type of music do you play?  I have been looking at L1's since they came out.  The best reproduction for Acoustic guitar (especially Ovation) I have ever heard.  How do they handle rock and metal tones?

 

Sorry mileskb for late reply!  Been away from the forums for a few days.  I have the L1 Model II with the ToneMatch and the bigger B2 sub.  Our band has been using the Bose systems since 2004 and love them.  We're a cover band that plays mostly classic rock but, we also do a lot of pop (dance-type stuff) and even heavier stuff like Metallica and Godsmack.  With the original Bose PAS and the smaller, original B1 bass speakers the sound was good but, when the bigger B2 came out, boy howdy!  A much fuller sound for my guitar.  The band always got compliments on the overall sound from our four Bose systems but I very rarely got any compliments on my guitar tone until I started using the POD HD500X and the newer L1 Model II with the B2 sub.  Now I get compliments on my tone fairly frequently!  But, not so much on my playing ...  :(.    I can't wait to start using my Helix live!

 

As far as drawbacks I really cannot think of any.  We're able to play very small clubs to large ballrooms.  We even play some outdoor events with ease but, if we ever had to play a really large outdoor festival, we'd need a bigger system.  For example, we play annually for one of the local town's nearby for their Spring Concert series.  It's outdoors and about 400 people.  The audience is really spread out far to our left and right but, folks have told us that with the Bose, they're able to hear us clearly even sitting off to the far sides whereas with other bands the sound is muddy unless they're sitting more in front of the band.

 

Hope that helps!

 

Mike

[mileskb]

Sorry mileskb for late reply!  Been away from the forums for a few days.  I have the L1 Model II with the ToneMatch and the bigger B2 sub.  Our band has been using the Bose systems since 2004 and love them.  We're a cover band that plays mostly classic rock but, we also do a lot of pop (dance-type stuff) and even heavier stuff like Metallica and Godsmack.  With the original Bose PAS and the smaller, original B1 bass speakers the sound was good but, when the bigger B2 came out, boy howdy!  A much fuller sound for my guitar.  The band always got compliments on the overall sound from our four Bose systems but I very rarely got any compliments on my guitar tone until I started using the POD HD500X and the newer L1 Model II with the B2 sub.  Now I get compliments on my tone fairly frequently!  But, not so much on my playing ...  :(.    I can't wait to start using my Helix live!

 

As far as drawbacks I really cannot think of any.  We're able to play very small clubs to large ballrooms.  We even play some outdoor events with ease but, if we ever had to play a really large outdoor festival, we'd need a bigger system.  For example, we play annually for one of the local town's nearby for their Spring Concert series.  It's outdoors and about 400 people.  The audience is really spread out far to our left and right but, folks have told us that with the Bose, they're able to hear us clearly even sitting off to the far sides whereas with other bands the sound is muddy unless they're sitting more in front of the band.

 

Hope that helps!

 

Mike

Thanks.. I only check in every few days myself.  I have done FOH for a band that uses L1 model II's as well.  I really like what I can do with them.  They moved to In-Ear Monitors, but used to have a set of L1 Model II's for side fills.  That was my favorite setup although I noticed when they had guest artists on stage some had to get used to being able to hear themselves to clearly everywhere...  a strange experience for most.   I figured they would be good, but it's better to actually hear someone that has used them.  I have only mixed them, and the guitarist uses some software on his laptop so I'm not really sure what he sends me... but I can usually make it sound pretty darn good.

 

thanks 

[littlespaceman]

Any thoughts on the Yamaha HS5's, guys?

 

I have so far been using my Helix with the aux in on my Yamaha THR 10 - and tbh it sounds great, with a fairly good stereo spread. However, although theoretically as far as I know the THR speakers are 'full range' (at low volume anyway I guess that is?) do you think they would colour the sound compared to say some powered monitors like the Yamaha HS5 speakers? So do I really need some 'proper' monitors, or will the THR do?

What I don't want to do is set up all my patches at home using the THR, then plug in to a PA for a gig and think 'WTF??'  :unsure:

[DunedinDragon]

Any thoughts on the Yamaha HS5's, guys?

 

I have so far been using my Helix with the aux in on my Yamaha THR 10 - and tbh it sounds great, with a fairly good stereo spread. However, although theoretically as far as I know the THR speakers are 'full range' (at low volume anyway I guess that is?) do you think they would colour the sound compared to say some powered monitors like the Yamaha HS5 speakers? So do I really need some 'proper' monitors, or will the THR do?

What I don't want to do is set up all my patches at home using the THR, then plug in to a PA for a gig and think 'WTF??'  :unsure:

 

I have a pair of HS7's which have been the workhorse speakers of my recording setup for years and do a pretty decent job of giving me a good full range response.  Your THR10 has two 3.15" speakers which are physically incapable of giving you anything close to the FRFR type of response in a PA system, so yes...in all likelihood you would have a WTF moment when you plugged into a PA.

 

There's some groundwork here you need to understand.  FRFR isn't a standard so to speak.  It simply means there's a relatively flat response across the entire usable frequency spectrum used in live performance.  Two FRFR setups will likely sound similar, but not exactly the same as one may favor some frequency range a bit over another.

 

Studio monitors can be considered to be FRFR, but they work very differently in most cases from standard live music FRFR speakers.  They're designed to give you a sound that fills a listening area such as a living room or a car, not a stage in a large venue filled with people.  Live music FRFR speakers are designed specifically to project sound over long distances with less degradation of the energy.  This can make them sound a bit harsher to the ear up close, but in a larger venue will sound fairly normal as the sound energy dissipates across the crowd and venue area.

 

For myself, I use a Yamaha DXR12 as the monitor for building my patches because I know that's going to be a closer match to the sound that will be coming out of the PA speakers which in our case normally is a QSC KLA12 Line Array system.  That way I'm pretty confident in knowing what the audience will hear.  Although you could use something like an HS5 you may still be in for some surprises when you go through the PA.  Depending on how you place the HS5's and how you have them setup they may have more bass response than what the PA will have due to the bass porting of the cabinets.  Likewise the high end is produced from a 1" dome tweeter in comparison to a horn and compression driver used by most PA speakers.  That means you may end up cutting too much bass and not enough high end once you plug in through a PA.

 

As for myself, I use my DXR12 when I build my patches and I maintain a reasonable level of volume to be able to hear the response.  I'm also careful to stand about 5 or 6 feet from the speaker so I don't get fooled by the harshness of the horn response up close.  But that's the best way I've found to ensure the patch I've created will sound the same to the audience listening through the PA.  It won't be in stereo, but it's probably unlikely the'll allocate the two channels on the board to accommodate a stereo signal anyway.  Most sound people don't want to be bothered with that because they know most of the audience won't really hear the stereo separation once the sound gets 15 or 20 feet from the stage anyway.

 

Anyway, that's my approach but it comes from not only being a guitar player but also a sound man.

[littlespaceman]

Excellent reply - thank you. I appreciate that different PA speakers will have a different 'colour' from one to the other, all I want to do is get a fairly good 'neutral' (for want of a better word) feel at home when I programme the Helix - and so really the question was do I be a cheapskate and stick with just using the THR for that patch-tweaking, or will I get a better result using the HS5's (single or a pair) for that (after all, they're not crazy expensive)

The main thing is size (smaller the better) and cost - we have a baby on the way!  :)

[jimbojamz]

EV ZLX-12p

[AlexKenivel]

I just picked up an HS5. I usually play through my Alto TS112a and my presets translate super well from one to the other.

[MusicLaw]

For low to moderate SPLs at near field, my HELIX to Yamaha THR10c AuxIn sounds great! 

 

I then tried pairs of JBL LSR305's, LSR308's and Yamaha HS8's. I wanted higher SPL capable near field monitors for a wide variety of material - not just for electric guitar. I was amazed how well the THR10c compared to these monitors at lower SPLs, notwithstanding the Monitors' clearly superior bottom ends. I opted to keep the JBL LSR308s for their price/performance, wide sweet spot and superior sonic character.

 

My full HELIX system is a pair of Yamaha DXR10 monitors, I often run WDW with my Fender Mustang IV v.2 configured as a Powered Cab (bypassing the Mustang's Presets and EQ Stack).

 

Once I got familiar with how the JBL LSR 308s and Yamaha DXR10s fit into the spectrum of my existing listening references (also Snell main monitors, and other JBL Studio Monitors), tweaks are minimal adjustments and not problematic. 

 

The HELIX makes the entire process down right fun! Rock on!