Dontcha just love a good epiphany??

[ricstudioc]

Wow.  Just.....wow.

 

So - got my Helix back at the top of March, knew pretty much right away that I hadn't wasted my money.  After a great deal of disappointment with the 500x, the Helix came outta the box and just dialed right in - amps just sounded good when you called them up without all the eq's and "tips" and such that the HD's required.  Night and day......

 

Had some gigs coming up, so I dialed in some presets using my old standby configuration - drive pedals into a Twin, standard mod/delay fx after the amp, nothing fancy.  I DO keep path 2B set up as a clean line for Variax acoustics, with a footswitch to swap paths.  Again, pretty bread-and-butter stuff.  Sounded really good, but I knew there was more in there with some pokin' around.

 

With some time between gigs I began that pokin' - 2204 (yeah!), Dr Z (woomph...) and down the list.  Had read a lot of positive comments about the Matchless, so I plugged that into my standard setup - yowza!!  Ended up with the Channel 1 and Channel 2 switching into a 4x12 cab (stock cabs) - pretty much all default settings, not even tweaking things much.  A little compression coming in, a Tube Drive in front of the amps (with a footswitched "More Drive" option), my usual mod/delay/rev after.  Even at the low volume of rehearsals, I had a feeling I was on to something....

 

Live I run into a couple of Alto TS10's set up in front of me as floor monitors, firing right back at me - let's give the sound guy a chance to actually control things, ok guys? 

 

Had my first gig with this configuration last night - this band is a "business" band, typical rock/pop/country covers, and last night was a typical company party type gig.  Except that it wasn't - not on my side of the stage, at least...

 

Great Googly Moogly!!!  This setup RAGED!!  I'm talking fire-breathing, rip roaring, dam bursting, oh-my-god-hang-onto-something tone and responsiveness.  In 47 years of playing I've only felt this coming at me a handful of times, typically from someone else's extremely high-end rigs.  Ya want clean?  Pull up Ch 1 and roll back the guitar just a tad (main axe is a Steinberger GM Pro).  'Lil grind - Ch 2, straight no chaser.  First order crunch?  Ch1 w/the tube driver.  Face melt - Ch2/driver.  "Ludicrous Mode"? Ch2/driver/"more drive" switch on.  Abso-freakin-lutely nuts - the responsiveness, character, touch, sustain.....

 

Look, we're not a "loud" band by any means - I was running the Altos around noon, ditto for the Helix.  But even on the clean channel, I could hit a chord and it would just....bloom....start going into first-order feedback.  At the higher gain settings I could hit a note, light up and finish a cig, and that note would still be there, still evolving harmonically.  I can't shake this feeling that if I went back to the venue this morning some of those notes would still be hanging there.  Yeah - it's like that.

 

I'm...... gobsmacked.  Yeah, that's it - gobsmacked.  I stand in utter awe of the marvel that is Helix - it's what I've been waiting for for years - and now it's sitting down there at my feet, patiently waiting to be unleashed.  Can't believe I'm about to say this - but I'm looking forward to the next boring corporate gig.  The poor little drones in the audience have no idea what's happening up on the stage.

 

An unabashed testimonial?  You betcha - credit where it's due.  Literally a life-changing event...

 

In the meantime - I may just go to church tomorrow.....

[talwilkins]

Moo-aaah! Great story!

Do you go out to the desk directly or have the TS10s miced?

[ricstudioc]

Moo-aaah! Great story!

Do you go out to the desk directly or have the TS10s miced?

Left/Right 1/4" to the Altos, love me my stereo delays - but Left (mono) XLR to the board.  Have the XLR's configured to ignore the volume control so I can tweak on stage without messing the sound guy up.

 

Hell, he came up to me after the gig, grinning ear to ear: "I don't think I've ever seen you play like that before..."  Me: "You'd have to be standing where I was to get it..."

 

There's no doubt I've found my new "default" setup.  Will I whip up little "specialty" presets for certain stuff?  I'm sure I will - hell got 1000+ slots to store'em.  But come time to just git down to business - I'm on it.

 

Put it this way - after last night I'm seriously considering buying a second Helix, parallel everything into it.  I consider myself a pro, never go out the door without backup strategies in place - and this business band charges a fair amount of coin so failure is not an option.  Currently for guitar (I also play keys with this band) that backup strategy is - brace yourself - a Pocket Pod.  Hey, it's small, fits easily into one of my trunks, and would get me thru a gig in a pinch.  But after last night I'm not sure I ever want to be without that sound - ever.  Really truly pinky-swear - it was that good.

 

btw - just noted your signature line.  RIP Frank - ever day knowing that there won't be a new album from you is a day that's just a little less then it might have been.  And thanks to Dweezil - I catch every ZPZ show that comes to town, Frank would be proud....

[megadupe]

great post.  Love my Helix as well.  Would you mind sharing your patch (the Matchless)?

thanks!

[electricfactory]

Would love to see pics of your rig w/ the Altos..

[ricstudioc]

Don't do this too often - let's see if this works....  Ok, got it. 

 

I always build my own boards - what can I say, I've got a table saw.  The POG2 is non-negotiable, nothing else does quite what it does.  The other EHX "9" boxes are recent arrivals, I'm still deciding on them, I'd love to get away from all my 13 pin gear for basic alternate textures.  They're not bad - will probably be staying.

Would love to see pics of your rig w/ the Altos..

 

Currently (1st gen build) I'm running the "9's" each in their own loop (damn, I love the Helix....) but I'm not sure that I won't serial them at some point, we'll see.  Note the sends coming just after the compressor, and the returns after the amps but before the mod/dly/verb fx.  The 2B path is for the Variax acoustic - this patch is covering a lot of ground for the band, I'm probably gonna set one up without the acoustic path so I can use it to better process the 9 boxes.  (did I mention I love this thing...?)

[ricstudioc]

great post.  Love my Helix as well.  Would you mind sharing your patch (the Matchless)?

thanks!

Well, when I get a chance I'll strip out all the excess stuff (see picture above) and toss it up - but really, it's pretty much straight as called up, totally white bread.  Going thru the screens the only thing on the amps I changed was the "tone" on CH2 - set it to "1", seemed best to my ears.  Other than that they're pretty much at default - which is one reason I love this thing, the amps call up ready to go.

 

BTW - we DO multitrack everything live.  Currently another band member has the drive, if I find anything worthwhile that shows off the preset I'll get it posted.

[talwilkins]

btw - just noted your signature line.  RIP Frank - ever day knowing that there won't be a new album from you is a day that's just a little less then it might have been.  And thanks to Dweezil - I catch every ZPZ show that comes to town, Frank would be proud....

Yes, I totally agree. Have you ever tried playing Frank's music?

I played in Zappatika until last Year (clash of ego's).

Now I just formed a new band called "Absolutely Frank"

It'll take a while before we're ready to go on stage but it's so much fun and fulfilling to play his music.

Mind you, we don't play the most complicated stuff, we'll leave that to people like Dweezil.

[ricstudioc]

Yes, I totally agree. Have you ever tried playing Frank's music?

I played in Zappatika until last Year (clash of ego's).

Now I just formed a new band called "Absolutely Frank"

It'll take a while before we're ready to go on stage but it's so much fun and fulfilling to play his music.

Mind you, we don't play the most complicated stuff, we'll leave that to people like Dweezil.

I have indeed - played quite a bit of it over the years actually.  Always fun, if challenging.

 

Of course, "complicated" is a relative term - but I youtubed Zappatika and it would seem that we have about the same definition.

 

Good luck with "Absolutely" - lemme know when there's something to check out.  I'd love to.....

 

ric

[talwilkins]

I have indeed - played quite a bit of it over the years actually.  Always fun, if challenging.

 

Of course, "complicated" is a relative term - but I youtubed Zappatika and it would seem that we have about the same definition.

 

Good luck with "Absolutely" - lemme know when there's something to check out.  I'd love to.....

 

ric

Thanks! To be ouhnest, I think my new band wil sound better. Zappatika had a lot of issues I didn't like and couldn't be solved with the band leader having such a big ego.

Check out www.absolutelyfrank.com and follow us on Facebook if you're interested.

I put up a few snippets from the 7th rehearsal, curious to hear what you think.

I'm playing through a Helix and DT25 (the solo on Zoot Allures). Would also love to hear what you think of my tone!

[Leftzilla]

Great post.  I too am loving the Helix, after a long time on Line 6 modelers starting with AX212.  I am primarily a prog player on the high gain side, but the Matchless emulations combined with the modeling out of the Variax is pulling me in bluesier/jazzier types of playing that I have never been interested in before just due to the sheer beauty of the sound out of the Helix.