Geeman Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 For your viewing pleasure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQUmE0TfC4I 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarrellM5 Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 Great review and demo!!! Very impressive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efunkelist Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 He is awesome but not once did he use the Helix's cab-simulations - why? Because they're poor. He did the stuff helix excells at. I find helix requires outboard help to be REALLY good, such as ownhammer's impulses or a real amp to 4CM with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil_m Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 He is awesome but not once did he use the Helix's cab-simulations - why? Because they're poor. He did the stuff helix excells at. I find helix requires outboard help to be REALLY good, such as ownhammer's impulses or a real amp to 4CM with. That is what you call an "argument from silence". You're assuming that because Pete didn't use the Helix cabs that he thinks they're poor... He never said such a thing. I assumed that he simply prefers using the IRs he's most familiar with. It is kind of what most people do. I assume he has a pretty busy schedule, so rather than really try to craft tones entirely from scratch, he started with known entities. Personally, I've yet to hear a tone made with an IR that "blows away" the Helix's on-board cabs. It really comes down to a matter of taste. If you think a particular IR rocks - that's great! Use it. the Helix was built with that sort of flexibility in mind. But, personally I'm completely happy with the Helix cabs and haven't really been persuaded to spend money on third party ones. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efunkelist Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 I apologize for my exaggarated judgement. No I can't say Pete thinks Helix's cabs were poor, I can only say from my point of view they are no match to a really good IRs. It is my assumption that he'd agree with me on this as he said a good cab sound is about worth a half of the complete guitar sound. I think even the one free set of IR's ownhammer offers as an introduction beats all the cabs onboard helix. But ofcourse, like you said, it is a matter of taste. And I'm not saying helix's cabs were unusable, they just don't sound much better than Johnson J-Station's cabs and that artefact is from the 90's! There are many free IR's available around the net, no need to buy them if not interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digital_Igloo Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 I apologize for my exaggarated judgement. No I can't say Pete thinks Helix's cabs were poor, I can only say from my point of view they are no match to a really good IRs. It's not that IRs are inherently better than Helix's cabs (which are IRs themselves), but when searching for your ultimate guitar tone, there's a LOT more to choose from in third-party IR land—thousands (tens of thousands?) vs. Helix's 30. We didn't add IR support because people demanded it; we added it because we wanted it. I have my favorite RedWirez and Ownhammer IRs as well. :) Similarly, just because I choose to track vocals through a Manley VoxBox and real hardware LA-2A doesn't mean that Helix's mic pre and LA-2A model are inadequate—I just gravitate toward what's always worked for me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncann Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 It's not that IRs are inherently better than Helix's cabs (which are IRs themselves), but when searching for your ultimate guitar tone, there's a LOT more to choose from in third-party IR land—thousands (tens of thousands?) vs. Helix's 30. Does that mean that each mic and mic distance are not IRs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galaden Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 I watched Pete's demo of the Helix . . the problem I have with Pete's demos is that he makes everything sound great :) . I could spend the whole day watching Thorn, EHX's Bill Ruppert, and Line 6's Sean Halley as long as the pizza guy delivers. I was very impressed that Pete used the Helix in a bunch of different configs with no loss of quality. Thanks for posting the vid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joepeggio Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 He also knew the ir well. Easier to compare or judge the true quality of the effects and amp sims when using the same ir. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efunkelist Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 An IR is only as good as it is made so ofcourse not any given IR goes past Helix's cabs. Besides, ownhammer and redwirez are quite sophisticated in what they do so excellence is expected. And Helix is awesome because of it's versatility - the user has overwhelming possibilities to choose from how to create his/her sounds. Even if I did whine about this or that here I do likey-like my helix and I'm happy for the purchase. At the moment I'm just sippin' my morning-coffee and reading this forum - then I will go to my studio and start rocking with my helix, mmm-mmmm!!! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterHamm Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 Am I the ONLY guy who just adores the IRs that are already in the box? the Z cab, the 4 x 10 bassman... mmm... mmm... I could be happy most days with just those two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncann Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 I don't know if I'd use the word adore, but I find the built in IRs good enough for anything, really. The plus side of the built in ones, it's very easy to change how one sounds to get the correct one for the context by changing mic and mic distance. It's not as easy when you have to sift through lots of files. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssj2ian Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 I own all the redwirez stuff and I can honestly say that the stock ir's are just as good and eat up less dsp. Yes there are less options but tweaking individual cabs is really fast and has a huge impact. Rather than flick through tons of different ir's trying to find the right one I can get in the ballpark and go from there with mics, placement, then high and lowpass filters. One thing that I've really noticed with Helix vs. the HD stuff is that more cabs and mics will work well with any given amp. It seemed like the amps in the HD 500 only played nice with a few cabs. As far as this demo goes Pete is a great player with great tone. I feel like a demo like this should have been done right off the bat by an experienced third party known for making quality demos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dshow Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 The cabs in helix are fine for me. But I'm happy to have the option to load IRs for more choices. Beside the ones already named above I foind the Rosen Digital ones to be one of the best sounding (and feeling) with helix. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncann Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 I've got the Legacy cabinet from Rosen Digital. That's a really nice one that when combined with an onboard IR, in series, makes it really, really nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRalphN Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 Am I the ONLY guy who just adores the IRs that are already in the box? the Z cab, the 4 x 10 bassman... mmm... mmm... I could be happy most days with just those two. I am just fine with a lot of the built in stuff.. Just listen to Glenn DeLaunes stuff! All stock and sound great.. I haveca couple irs I use for 60s Marshall Cabs and a Cox with Blues.. But I also love some of the built ins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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