jeebster Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 Fellow Players, I'm primarily a guitarist but recently picked up the bass and have been looking for helix bass patches on custom tone - unfortunately I haven't been able to find much and the factory presets aren't as 'boomy' and present as I'd like. I'm still tweaking some patches but does anyone have a nice r&b, funk bass patch they're willing to share or point me in the right direction of? Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoneToner Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 For bass, as with guitar, the best thing to do is look at the gear the artists you want to sound like and try to get gear as close as possible to it. On bass I have found it is best to run parallel paths from the get go. Keep one path clean except f or maybe a couple EQs for a bass, mid, or treble boost. Then on the second one put your effects you want to use. Early funk/r&b used the ampeg b15 quite heavily. In fact it is basically the r&b amp to have. I forget the name of it but they do have this amp modeled in the helix. I would just being the gain down and volume up to clean it up unless you want a bit of grit. Two effects I've liked is the mystery filter set pretty mildly and then for some grit take on of the leslie rotary blocks crank the gain put the speed to minimum vaue and use the mix between horn and speaker as a tone knob. It's killer for guitar too but it makes this really fat unique drive that I really dig. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vmoncebaiz Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 I've had luck with bass sounds by running into a compressor block then splitting the chain. One path runs into a bass model and cab. The lower path is just a DI and i use the expression pedal to blend the two paths. try this and just swap out the bass amp or the effects as needed. http://line6.com/customtone/tone/1616207/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roscoe5 Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 I totally forgot about CustomTone. Been posting presets on dropbox. I'll post the one I use live when I get back to my computer. It has some nice stomps too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klangmaler Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 I've had luck with bass sounds by running into a compressor block then splitting the chain. One path runs into a bass model and cab. The lower path is just a DI and i use the expression pedal to blend the two paths. try this and just swap out the bass amp or the effects as needed. http://line6.com/customtone/tone/1616207/ Thanks a lot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roscoe5 Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 Fellow Players, I'm primarily a guitarist but recently picked up the bass and have been looking for helix bass patches on custom tone - unfortunately I haven't been able to find much and the factory presets aren't as 'boomy' and present as I'd like. I'm still tweaking some patches but does anyone have a nice r&b, funk bass patch they're willing to share or point me in the right direction of? Cheers! I was too lazy to figure out upload to CustomTone. It's in Dropbox for now. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/009bkqzooza1aop/AADN_bQ4dSjLZs73ndg6sm11a/IR/v3/_Presets/Cali%20Bass%20%2B%20Effects?dl=0 Should have most bass effects you would need to get started. The path is setup for footswitch/stomp mode and all of the effects, wah and volume are mapped to footswitches and expression pedals. I gave you two versions, studio and live. Studio has only a single path with cab to the Multi out for headphones, DAW, etc. For the LIve patch: The 1/4" out path has no cab and runs to the effects return of my Mesa Walkabout or M9 depending on gig size. The XLR path with the cab runs to the PA. The 10 band graphic EQ right before the volume pedal at the end is to adjust for whatever stage or room you are playing in. Luckily I havent had to mess with it, but it's there if I need it. The filters after the amp, and in the before and after positions of the Mod blocks, were deliberate as I thought they sounded best in those locations. It's a little different that I ran those types of effects on my physical rig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammycraig Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 What speakers or headphones are you running the Helix through? When I first started I was running through a stage wedge and it sounded like garbage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeebster Posted May 16, 2016 Author Share Posted May 16, 2016 I was too lazy to figure out upload to CustomTone. It's in Dropbox for now. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/009bkqzooza1aop/AADN_bQ4dSjLZs73ndg6sm11a/IR/v3/_Presets/Cali%20Bass%20%2B%20Effects?dl=0 Should have most bass effects you would need to get started. The path is setup for footswitch/stomp mode and all of the effects, wah and volume are mapped to footswitches and expression pedals. I gave you two versions, studio and live. Studio has only a single path with cab to the Multi out for headphones, DAW, etc. For the LIve patch: The 1/4" out path has no cab and runs to the effects return of my Mesa Walkabout or M9 depending on gig size. The XLR path with the cab runs to the PA. The 10 band graphic EQ right before the volume pedal at the end is to adjust for whatever stage or room you are playing in. Luckily I havent had to mess with it, but it's there if I need it. The filters after the amp, and in the before and after positions of the Mod blocks, were deliberate as I thought they sounded best in those locations. It's a little different that I ran those types of effects on my physical rig. Hey Roscoe, Thanks for the patches, I used them live at a gig yesterday and in some tracking today. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeebster Posted May 16, 2016 Author Share Posted May 16, 2016 What speakers or headphones are you running the Helix through? When I first started I was running through a stage wedge and it sounded like garbage. I've got JBL LSR 308s and Audio Technica ATH-M50X. I'm getting a decent 'boomy' bass sound but I'm also looking for a very tight & compressed pop 'n slap funky tone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammycraig Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 I've got JBL LSR 308s and Audio Technica ATH-M50X. I'm getting a decent 'boomy' bass sound but I'm also looking for a very tight & compressed pop 'n slap funky tone Interesting. I can't think of any reason you aren't getting that with the helix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeebster Posted May 25, 2016 Author Share Posted May 25, 2016 Interesting. I can't think of any reason you aren't getting that with the helix. After talking with a bassist, I believe some of the music I was hearing was performed on a bass with active pickups, hence the much brighter, snappier tone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HonestOpinion Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 After talking with a bassist, I believe some of the music I was hearing was performed on a bass with active pickups, hence the much brighter, snappier tone. You may be able to emulate that sound to some extent by turning the sag all the way down and lowering the bias setting on the Helix cab as well as tweaking your compression and EQ settings. You may also want to play with a low cut to tighten up the bottom a bit. I would also make sure it is a "hot" preset with plenty of level to emulate the active pickups. Setting the impedance to a higher number in global settings may also help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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