Best way to switch from a clean sound to lead tone with one footswitch

[billbassler]

Pretty new to Helix.

What's the best way to set up a preset to go from clean with a chorus to a lead tone with maybe with a distortion pedal?

Would need to instantenously switch between sounds.

I'm thinking maybe parallel routes each with an amp/cab and fxs.

 

e.g.

route 1 - clean amp/cab + chorus

route 2 - dirty am/cab + distortion pedal

 

somewhere after these the signal merges to a common delay and reverb.

I assume the basic routing is feasible.

The thing I don't know about how would I toggle the clean and dirty paths using a footswitch.

 

Or is there a better way to achieve this within a preset? Or is there some way to achieve it with multiple presets?

Are there any factory or downloadable patches that achieve this sort of thing that I can tweak?

 

[HonestOpinion]

Pretty new to Helix.

What's the best way to set up a preset to go from clean with a chorus to a lead tone with maybe with a distortion pedal?

Would need to instantenously switch between sounds.

I'm thinking maybe parallel routes each with an amp/cab and fxs.

 

e.g.

route 1 - clean amp/cab + chorus

route 2 - dirty am/cab + distortion pedal

 

somewhere after these the signal merges to a common delay and reverb.

I assume the basic routing is feasible.

The thing I don't know about how would I toggle the clean and dirty paths using a footswitch.

 

Or is there a better way to achieve this within a preset? Or is there some way to achieve it with multiple presets?

Are there any factory or downloadable patches that achieve this sort of thing that I can tweak?

 

You may want to start with the 02C "TwoTones A-B" preset under the "Templates" list.

[tagmusenmagnus1]

If you set the split-block to "A/B" instead of "Y", you can make a controller-assign, that chooses either A or B og any combination of the two...

[fukuri]

Or use a clean amp and a couple of drives. Thats what I do and its very useable. There are no rules that say you must have a distorted amp model for a driven sound :)

[PeterHamm]

You can also use a footswitch instead of an EXP to change every single parameter of an amp if you would like.

 

You could, for instance, have one footswitch that

 

slightly ups the gain on the amp

changes the bass, treble, mid, presence and channel volume to compensate

turns on a drive pedal and, if you want, a compressor

and changes the mix on a delay, or some other parameter on an effect.

 

You can do this all with one footswitch (or EXP for that matter). It is awesome I promise you.

[sdsingle]

What PeterHamm said.  The answer probably depends on how the two tones are built.  Is it two different amp blocks altogether? Adding a second amp block?  Distortion/fuzz/drive being added before the amp?   Note that you also have the option of just adding an additional gain block at any point in the chain, and if you do it at the very end the "how dirty" decision can be separate from the "how loud" decision.  This is one of the great things about the Helix way vs. traditional pedals/amps.  But whatever the differences are, you can trigger them all by a single footswitch called "lead tone" or whatever.  As I think of it I don't know if I've tried using the same switch to simultaneously turn one block on and another block off, but if that's what you need maybe someone else knows if that's possible (e.g., amp 1 off, amp 2 on, distortion on, chorus off, etc.).

[fukuri]

Yup

I've got 6 assignments on one pedal to switch off the amps and cabs and switch on the Leslie etc

[amsdenj]

See this blog post: Creating a Helix Electric Guitar Patch. It discusses gain staging for clean, drive, overdrive and distortion using the same amp. I use three footswitches for this (clean is all off). The drive switch controls the low and high cut of a Studio Tube Pre in front of the amp, its gain, and the drive control of the amp. Off is clean, on increases the overall amp drive, and adds some low and high cut to deal with mud and fizz. Overdrive uses a distortion pedal for increased gain. Distortion uses a different distortion pedal with more gain, and more tone voicing to address the increased mud and fizz that comes with added distortion.

 

These switches can be used in combinations too for additional gain and voicing options. Use your guitar volume control for more control and finally leverage all that gain in your hands and how you pick.

[Digital_Igloo]

Or is there a better way to achieve this within a preset? Or is there some way to achieve it with multiple presets?

Are there any factory or downloadable patches that achieve this sort of thing that I can tweak?

Start with 8 TEMPLATES > 02C TwoTones A-B. It has exactly what you're asking for set up and ready to go. In stomp footswitch mode, FS8 ("TONE A-TONE B") toggles between two discrete tones, each with its own Amp and Cab. You even get spillover delay and reverb.

[HonestOpinion]

 

Pretty new to Helix.

What's the best way to set up a preset to go from clean with a chorus to a lead tone with maybe with a distortion pedal?

Would need to instantenously switch between sounds.

I'm thinking maybe parallel routes each with an amp/cab and fxs.

....

Or is there a better way to achieve this within a preset? Or is there some way to achieve it with multiple presets?

Are there any factory or downloadable patches that achieve this sort of thing that I can tweak?

 

 

You may want to start with the 02C "TwoTones A-B" preset under the "Templates" list.

 

 

Start with 8 TEMPLATES > 02C TwoTones A-B. It has exactly what you're asking for set up and ready to go. In stomp footswitch mode, FS8 ("TONE A-TONE B") toggles between two discrete tones, each with its own Amp and Cab. You even get spillover delay and reverb.

 

Hey look, DI is starting to quote me now. He fills in the details better but I must finally be doing something right. I'm getting this one framed!  :D

[HonestOpinion]

8 TEMPLATES > 02D TwoTones Blend. Includes spillover delay and reverb as well.

 

 

 

Hey look, DI is starting to quote me now. He fills in the details better but I must finally be doing something right. I'm getting this one framed!  :D

 

 

Crap, found an even earlier post from DI from another thread. Guess I will have to save that frame for another day  :wacko:

[lrschmid]

See this blog post: Creating a Helix Electric Guitar Patch. It discusses gain staging for clean, drive, overdrive and distortion using the same amp. I use three footswitches for this (clean is all off). The drive switch controls the low and high cut of a Studio Tube Pre in front of the amp, its gain, and the drive control of the amp. Off is clean, on increases the overall amp drive, and adds some low and high cut to deal with mud and fizz. Overdrive uses a distortion pedal for increased gain. Distortion uses a different distortion pedal with more gain, and more tone voicing to address the increased mud and fizz that comes with added distortion.

 

These switches can be used in combinations too for additional gain and voicing options. Use your guitar volume control for more control and finally leverage all that gain in your hands and how you pick.

 

Is that your blog? Very nice and detailed.

[billbassler]

There are a lot of good ideas here. But I must say I tried using the A-B template per Iknowathingortwo. And it's just what I was looking for.

One stomp on one footswitch switches between 2 completely separate amp + fx chains. Perfect! All I needed to do was build the two chains and match the output levels. Now I'm trying to figure out how in the "h" the preset works. Need to get much better in inspecting the routing components. Maybe some detailed info on how best to do this exists. The manual is a little thin in this regard so far. 

[johnnyspys]

Now if someone could show me how to build three or four chains in one patch so I could have three or four unique sounds to switch on and off with hitting button 2 shutting off button one as well as turning on button 2.

[shred440]

This is what I'm doing.