Amp/drive blocks lack of flexibility?

[josetxu]

Hi everybody

 

I've owned an Helix since early February and the more I play with it the better it gets but I find that the amp/drive blocks lacks of flexibility. It's not the number of models but the lack of some parameters/options that would give a lot of versatility in an easy way, for example:

 

- Bright switches: We have the Fender normal and vibrato models but the bright cap isn't the only difference between them in the real amps. It would be nice to have a bright "switch" in that models and it would be easier to get them sounding right.

 

- Jumpered models: I can't understand why there's a Plexi jumpered model but not a JTM45 or a Hiwatt jumpered. Sometimes the normal models are very dark and the bright a bit "piercing" (also in the real amps being modeled) and blending them gives the best of both worlds (ask David Gilmour ;) ). I imagine it's also less CPU consuming that jumpered models than using two amps in parallel (and we even can't do that with the Hiwatt, as there's not model of the normal input).

 

- Although not in the original models it would be nice to have some EQ options in the drive blocks. I mean: there's hundred of Muff's versions and models and having some control over the pre/post-drive bass and maybe mids without having to use CPU consuming EQ blocks.

 

In general it would be great to have some "deep" parameters like those found in other similar units and even switch between a normal/deep editing modes to get more of the current models.

[amsdenj]

The problem with the amp Drive control is that there's no way to change the voicing of the amp as the Drive is increased. The more distortion you get from an amp, the more you have to cut bass to eliminate mud and cut treble to eliminate ice pick. The Drive control just increases the gain into the front of the amp, it doesn't do anything to the voicing.

 

That's why my "Drive" footswitch controls both a Studio Tube preamp and the Drive amp control. I use the studio preamp to add drive while using the low and high pass filters to control the mud and ice pick. The preamp also adds some extra gain to Fender amp models that don't have enough Drive.

 

S-Gear amp models, which are guitar amplifiers created in the digital domain, not models of existing analog guitar amp channels, has lots of switches for voicing the bass and treble of the amp, and the boost and channel switches also have different voicings for different distortion levels. The Duke even has three choices on how to voice the distortion - normal, thick and bright. This makes a huge difference in how the amps sound. I'd like to see Line 6 start taking more of this approach to amp models instead of just reproducing what has already been created. 

 

Another option is to use distortion pedals with their tone controls to create voicing for overdrive and distortion tones. My goto patch does all three. The Drive footswitch controls the preamp and amp Drive controls. The Overdrive footswitch controls one distortion pedal, and the Distortion switch another. I gain stage these so that I can have many different tones from clean, blues, crunch and metal from the same patch. This works great for me and eliminates the need to do a lot of patch changing to get a wide range of great tones.