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Helix with external OD Pedals


sosamon
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Hi,help needed¡¡¡

i´m pretty sure that i´m doing something wrong but this is the problem:

i want to use helix as a swticher for a couple of distortion pedals.

selecting the send and return routing no problem at all and assing this loop to a switch is ok.

BUT,as soon as i  hit the guitar harder,the (lets say) dry clean signal of the guitar appears as loud as the processed(EXTERNAL TS 808  into one loop).

 

Any ideas 

everything is straight into the input of the amp.

 

 

Help will be much apreciated

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thank you all,i mean it.

i´m pretty sure that the problem is the lack of experience from myself in this digital domain.

Here it´s what i´m doing :

imput selected :guitar.

3 empty bloks,then a delay and a reverb.

in the very begining of the signal chain(empty block) i can select sends,return or loop 1-4.

Choose loops 1 and connetct the 808 .

the options are:send(db) return(db) Mix and Trails.

In either position of the mix i can avoid the strainght clean signal of the guitar.

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thank you all,i mean it.

i´m pretty sure that the problem is the lack of experience from myself in this digital domain.

Here it´s what i´m doing :

imput selected :guitar.

3 empty bloks,then a delay and a reverb.

in the very begining of the signal chain(empty block) i can select sends,return or loop 1-4.

Choose loops 1 and connetct the 808 .

the options are:send(db) return(db) Mix and Trails.

In either position of the mix i can avoid the strainght clean signal of the guitar.

Sounds like one possible source of the problem could be how you have your send/return jacks plugged in. A lot of people are used to seeing send/return jacks in vertical pairs with the send jack on the top and the return on the bottom. The Helix send/return jacks are in horizontal pairs with the send next to the return on the same row.

 

Some possible troubleshooting steps. Starting with as simple a setup as possible so you can troubleshoot from the ground up. This scenario uses "FX Loop 1" for the loop block, and the "Guitar" input and "1/4" output on the back of the Helix, adjust the instructions as needed:

  • Connect guitar to "Guitar" input and set the "Input" block to "Guitar". Connect a guitar cable from the Helix "1/4" output to your amp input and set the "Output" block to "1/4".
  • Connect from the input of your pedal to the "Send 1" jack on the back of the Helix. Connect the output from your pedal to the "Return 1" jack on the back of the Helix. Note: If you are looking from the back of the Helix this will be the two jacks on the top  row all the way to the left in the "Sends/Returns" section.
  • Select "FX Loop 1" as your loop block.
  • Bypass all the effects blocks in your preset except for the "FX Loop 1" block. Make sure you do NOT have "FX Loop 1" bypassed. The "Mix" parameter on the FX Loop should be 100%
  • Make sure your effect is powered up and has its level/volume turned up and turn it on. You should hear just the sound of your effect.  The volume may be a bit low as all of the blocks are off, you can always crank the level on your output block. If this test succeeds you should now be able to turn the bypass off on the other Helix effect blocks and hopefully all will be well. For what it's worth, the loop functionality seems to be working as advertised, at least on my Helix, so it may well be a setup issue or a bad cable or the like. Good luck!
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  • 1 year later...

Helix owners! I need some help understanding the send/return option for external OD pedals. I have been playing for quite sometime but I will be honest, I am a noob at effects paths and EQ settings. I just bought the Friedman BE-OD pedal which i played in the store and sounded amazing! now when i use it with the helix there is noise even at half gain. 
 
- Is there some setting I am missing in the Helix?
- Any tips for paths or EQ settings?
 
 
My style of music would be Djent I guess (although i wouldn't classify it like that). My influences currently are; Polyphia, Intervals or Plini (Plintervals), David Maxim, Davesh Dayal (Skyharbor) etc. Honestly I just need some general starting points to take of from that. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

 

 

 

 

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I know this is an old thread, but I thought I'd answer the original question.

 

Tubescreamers and many other low to medium gain overdrive pedals mix a portion of the clean signal with the distorted/compressed signal at the output. This is what gives them the ability to sparkle and still have clarity while still having that feel of a solid distortion. The attacks come through with clarity to give punch to the crunch so to speak.

 

However, if you send an extremely hot signal into the input of a TS style pedal, you end up with a loud clean plus a much smaller distorted signal mixing. Unfortunately, since the distorted path is compressed and is not proportional to the input signal, a loud input will overpower the distorted portion with too much 'clean' signal.

 

This happens in the purely analog world if you use a strong clean boost pedal before your TS pedal, or even if you have insanely hot pickups. And similarly, you'll get the same effect if you have any blocks that boost the signal that is being sent into the outboard OD pedal.

 

So the solution for the original poster is to make sure that the gain staging is set in the Helix so the TS-808 is fed an appropriate signal level. This might involve sending it a lower signal level that is more akin to what is coming out of the guitar and boosting the return signal into the next stage of the digital chain. It may even be as simple as putting the OD earlier in the signal chain before other blocks have boosted the signal.

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