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Factory Presets......


Paultm
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I think the biggest problem with the factory presets is that they have zero or not sufficient cut in the highs... As soon as I applied a high cut at about 7-8khz in the global EQ most of them sounded much better. However, I still cannot get the Helix to sound as good as my (old) Axe FX Std, I find it really hard to tweak to be honest. I think I need someone to educate me, because I am soon running out of things to tweak...  :unsure:

Word.

The high end is easy to fix, but I find all of the amps too sloppy in the low end. I can make them tight and full of attack, as I do on my axe-fx.

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Word.

The high end is easy to fix, but I find all of the amps too sloppy in the low end. I can make them tight and full of attack, as I do on my axe-fx.

As I wrote in another thread, the Helix sounds great through my EVH 5150III's poweramp and cab, but I just cannot get it to sound right with the built in cab sims or even the IRs (which is how I intended to use it). Really hate to say it, but I am going back to Fractal and selling the Helix... I have spent a week now tweaking for hours every single day, honestly it is making it less joyful to play guitar, because I almost never play and tweak all the time. I haven't gotten much closer to a really great tone during this week either (except a great clean tone from the factory presets). Even with the old Axe FX I could make a simple preset with an OD in the front, amp, cab and maybe an eq in the end of the chain and it would sound freakin' great with minimal tweaking. This is not a "hail Fractal Line 6 sucks" post, I am just sharing my experience and how/why the Helix does not work for me. I hate the fanatic Fractal fanboys just as much as all of you do, but I cannot deny that Fractal makes great stuff... The Helix is a great piece of gear as well, just not for me.
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As I wrote in another thread, the Helix sounds great through my EVH 5150III's poweramp and cab, but I just cannot get it to sound right with the built in cab sims or even the IRs (which is how I intended to use it). Really hate to say it, but I am going back to Fractal and selling the Helix... I have spent a week now tweaking for hours every single day, honestly it is making it less joyful to play guitar, because I almost never play and tweak all the time. I haven't gotten much closer to a really great tone during this week either (except a great clean tone from the factory presets). Even with the old Axe FX I could make a simple preset with an OD in the front, amp, cab and maybe an eq in the end of the chain and it would sound freakin' great with minimal tweaking. This is not a "hail Fractal Line 6 sucks" post, I am just sharing my experience and how/why the Helix does not work for me. I hate the fanatic Fractal fanboys just as much as all of you do, but I cannot deny that Fractal makes great stuff... The Helix is a great piece of gear as well, just not for me.

It happens...how much you want for it?

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The norwegian krone is really weak these days, so I am afraid I cannot let it go for less than 1650$ + shipping...

Do not know where you are located, but if it is outside the EU the shipping might be quite expensive as well, but I can check it if you are interested.

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The norwegian krone is really weak these days, so I am afraid I cannot let it go for less than 1650$ + shipping...

Do not know where you are located, but if it is outside the EU the shipping might be quite expensive as well, but I can check it if you are interested.

Thanks anyway...would be way less here in the US for a new one. Good luck!

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Well, I'm not sure you can make that guarantee. I would be VERY sorry to see Line 6 do that. As a non-metal head, every tone that guy played sounded identical to me (OK, I'm exaggerating somewhat). The presets in the HELIX have a nice blend of different styles. If you guys think this guy nails the metal tone (you guys would say tones, :)), then maybe he could put the metal presets together, but I have no interest in metal tones, so well done Line 6 for putting in a wide mix of styles in the presets.

 

:)

The reason I posted this was just to show the guy has an ear for tweaking these kind of units. The amplifier is just one he recently got he has an ax FXll also.. of course I don't know what the presets he made with it sound like because I don't have an ax FX two and haven't seen that he made a video like this but originally when I found him on the 11 rack presets forum he was making presets for the 11 rack and he made presets for every type of music in his preset pack,300 to 400 presets and they are all extremely well done.

 

  

Of course. It's a mid to high gain package. But it's very well done. And although I agree that the wide mix of styles in the presets are a nice offer from Line 6, I still have to say that I cannot make any of the amps sound like the amps in the amplifire video. I might suck at editing, but I get these sounds on my Axe-Fx...pretty close, but not on the helix. So yeah, would be curios to see what Singtall could come up with:)

 

This is exactly what I was saying about the 11 rack, I am not a good tweaker as well but I have come up with what I think are some pretty decent sounding ones on the helix. I posted some here and one with an IR that I made myself but only got one response so I don't know how good it actually is or if it sucks.

 

 

I think you misunderstand. I don't do "drag and drop". I make patches from scratch all the time. I audition all amps, all cabs and if they are not sufficiant...IR's.

What I am trying to say is that Singtall made some really good sounding patches on the amplifire. If I could get them, I wouldn't use any of them exactly like he's done it, but I would be curious to see what he's done to the setup. But maybe it's not doable on a helix, and the amplifire is just a better unit for that kinda sound. That's of course possible:)

My thought is that the helix being newer hardware is probably better than anything you could get out there at this point, it's potential I don't think has been unlocked for many of us to see this the reason I posted the video was in hopes that possibly someone in charge could at least commission this guy to make some presets to show the abilities of the unit. not every engineer that worked on this unit I'm sure is a sound engineer or a really good tweaker, we see from the presets right?

 

It was the same thing with the 11 rack even the Sweetwater presets that were put out by Sweetwater for those who bought theirs from them were not near as good as the ones that Singtall created for it, the factory ones really were pretty horrible and I was not pleased when I went through them when I purchased the 11 rack.

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So this thread has not evolved as I though it would...... I was hoping for was tips and advice on crafting a good tone.

 

I have taken the time to work on my presents, purchased other available presets to further my experience. So I believe this to be the best multi-effect pedal I have ever purchased, what my ears hear and desire as tone need to be created by me, not by someone else

 

What I have learned so far is-

  • Impedance setting is key
  • using the right monitor to craft you tone is essential
  • No rules but guidelines, what you hear is what you need to be happy with.

 

So @Digital_Igloo please keep up the good work, appreciate you guidance and help.

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So this thread has not evolved as I though it would...... I was hoping for was tips and advice on crafting a good tone.

 

I have taken the time to work on my presents, purchased other available presets to further my experience. So I believe this to be the best multi-effect pedal I have ever purchased, what my ears hear and desire as tone need to be created by me, not by someone else

 

What I have learned so far is-

  • Impedance setting is key
  • using the right monitor to craft you tone is essential
  • No rules but guidelines, what you hear is what you need to be happy with.

So @Digital_Igloo please keep up the good work, appreciate you guidance and help.

Agree with all of this. I would add to the list:

  • Crank up the large physical "Volume" knob at least half way, maybe all the way according to some (Waiting for consensus on this one, where are people running the "Voume" knob?). I run at 3/4 volume but this may change as more feedback on the ideal setting comes in.
  • Make sure you have either "Line" or "Mic" chosen properly in the global output settings for whichever output you are using and matched with whatever mixer/amp/speaker you are plugging into
  • Consider a 'high cut/low pass' EQ cut somewhere in your signal chain (Helix global, Helix amp, Helix eq, mixer's guitar channel, etc.), set anywhere from 5-8 khz as this is where guitar speakers typically drop off dramatically. Modeling/effects units can sound harsh on the high end without this cut depending on what equipment you are going through or if you are going direct to PA. If you are going directly or through a mixer to full range speakers, they will not cut off the high end after the 5-8 khz range like a normal guitar speaker would. Use your ears, don't cut if you don't have to (but you probably will)!
  • If you are using the noise gate on the input block ("Input Gate"="On"), make sure that the "Threshold" is set to as high a number as possible that still cuts off the noise at a satisfactory level. Otherwise it may sound like the tail end of your notes is getting cut off. You will find on many lower gain presets you don't need the noise gate at all (depending on how noisy your guitar pickups are).
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  • 4 weeks later...

FACT: ALL PRESETS SUCK.

Hey I just updated my Helix and did the factory reset to load the "new version" of the factory presets and I must said I was pleasantly surprised that they sounded 10x better than the original ones I liked well over 60% of them compared to about less than 1% the first time when I got the Helix.

I am talking about "factory presets 1"

 

Thanks Line 6 for updating them Great Job!!!

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Had my Helix just over week now, have to say despite a few niggling issues ( e.g. volume memory on patches) I am very happy.

 

I use an L2m as a floor monitor and still working on dialling in my tones, but why do the factory presets sound so unusable? apart from cleans most others are very fizzy despite using XLR or l6 link.

 

I was told, on an earlier post of mine  that all I needed was to select PA mode and factory presets would sound great, unless I have missed some other setting?

 

Anyone else have the same experience?

yes....there must be a bug on some units, incl. mine....all !!! my presets sound fizzy as well...unusable, whereas other report they sound great...so i´m pretty sure, that´s a bug...just can´t understand why it takes L6 so long to tell us... 

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yes....there must be a bug on some units, incl. mine....all !!! my presets sound fizzy as well...unusable, whereas other report they sound great...so i´m pretty sure, that´s a bug...just can´t understand why it takes L6 so long to tell us... 

 

L6 told us some weeks ago. Have you got the latest firmware?

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really...great...have you got a link...? i´m on 1.04.1... 

 

It's a bit invisible, but the release notes on Oct 30 for v1.03 say:

"Improvements made to the factory preset bundle"

 

It was made clearer in this thread that this included the SM57 on all presets fix, which contributed a lot to people saying "the presets suck".

 

So, if you have >= v1.03, and they still suck, it's a different problem.

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It's a bit invisible, but the release notes on Oct 30 for v1.03 say:

"Improvements made to the factory preset bundle"

 

It was made clearer in this thread that this included the SM57 on all presets fix, which contributed a lot to people saying "the presets suck".

 

So, if you have >= v1.03, and they still suck, it's a different problem.

well I could be wrong but if you didn't do this then all your factory presets are still like on ver. 1.0.0 

 

RESETTING HELIX GLOBALS

IMPORTANT! This procedure will completely overwrite all existing presets and setlists, as well as clear all user IRs and reset all global settings! Back up your presets and IRs before proceeding!

1. Turn off Helix.

2. While holding footswitches 9 and 10 (middle two switches on the bottom row), turn on Helix. Wait for the message “Will reset Globals and restore stock Presets, Setlists and IRs…†to appear and let go.

 

................. in ver. 1.0.3 it dose say (optional) but heck its worth a try.

I just did it before posting they sound good now and I had not done it before because I didn't want to lose my IR's and have to reload them... but it's done now and I am glad I did it. now there is a lot of usable factory presets that can be used to add your own FX to the first maybe 20 of them are just amp and speaker.

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well I could be wrong but if you didn't do this then all your factory presets are still like on ver. 1.0.0 

 

RESETTING HELIX GLOBALS

IMPORTANT! This procedure will completely overwrite all existing presets and setlists, as well as clear all user IRs and reset all global settings! Back up your presets and IRs before proceeding!

1. Turn off Helix.

2. While holding footswitches 9 and 10 (middle two switches on the bottom row), turn on Helix. Wait for the message “Will reset Globals and restore stock Presets, Setlists and IRs…†to appear and let go.

 

................. in ver. 1.0.3 it dose say (optional) but heck its worth a try.

I just did it before posting they sound good now and I had not done it before because I didn't want to lose my IR's and have to reload them... but it's done now and I am glad I did it. now there is a lot of usable factory presets that can be used to add your own FX to the first maybe 20 of them are just amp and speaker.

i did reset them as well, still the same problem...but maybe it mainly is that problem with the sm57...there´s of course been other problems as well...the helix app f.e. froze etc...and it often froze while upgrading as well...

i´ll actually try altering the mic settings...

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i did reset them as well, still the same problem...but maybe it mainly is that problem with the sm57...there´s of course been other problems as well...the helix app f.e. froze etc...and it often froze while upgrading as well...

i´ll actually try altering the mic settings...

Have you tried any IR's? and did you make it to ver. 1.0.4.2????

 

I did have an issue after the first time I loaded it and tried to reload my presets, it locked up and lost connection to the comp and was dead in the water even restarting it would go past the load screen and go blank so I loaded the firmware again and had no problems since.

 

try this IR I made with some free ones I found and mixed together. https://www.dropbox.com/s/zqe6sfla34v6fjg/GHK.wav?dl=0

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