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Fender Mustang 3v2 in fx loop of Helix, HELP?


mgw5678
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Hi,

Is it possible to place the Fender mustang in the fx loop of Helix so I can use Helix effects before and after the mustang amp sim. The Fender 57 Tweed Twin is very good but the Helix effects are te best. Can any one help?

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Yes, just run it like any other amp in 4CM.

 

Guitar > Helix input

 

Helix loop send > Mustang input

 

Mustang loop send > Helix loop return

 

Helix output > Mustang loop return

 

 

This will allow you to place Helix effects before and after the Mustang, and also use the power amp and speaker in the Mustang to monitor through (in mono, obviously). Be sure to have an effects loop block active in the Helix (that corresponds with whichever of the four Helix loops you inserted the Mustang through), with the mix set to 100% wet.

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Thank so much for your help, I have actually set the mix in Helix fx lop to 0, when on 100% there wasn't any sound coming through. Any way it works but it needs a little 'tweaking'. The Mustang 3 amp is very good considering it me £240 delivered, the fender tones are very accurate, I have a real Fender 57 twin with vintage Jensen speakers and vintage caps and the tone is spot on even when I drive it with my Fender Clapton strat with the midrange boost on full. If anyone is looking for the Clapton tone of his original John Surh built twins you can get it with the mustang.

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I have the Mustang III V2 too and tried to connect it with the 4 cable method and it sounds really got. I used it with the HD500 too. The only "problem" I have with the Mustang is that the Fender amps sound good but non-Fender amps not that good. This seems also be the case when connecting a modeler. I've already bought another speaker which I will try to change when I have time.

 

Anyway I find this video very helpful:

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I wish Helix's Fender amps sounded as good as the Mustang's.

Yeah, they're close but it would seem that nobody does Fender like Fender. Could you imagine how embarrassing it would be if they, Fender, didn't get that right?! lol

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Yeah, they're close but it would seem that nobody does Fender like Fender. Could you imagine how embarrassing it would be if they, Fender, didn't get that right?! lol

 

They can't sell a higher gain amp to save their lives though, which is interesting in the fact that two major companies (Marshall and Mesa) got their start getting great higher gain sounds out of Fender circuits.  

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They can't sell a higher gain amp to save their lives though, which is interesting in the fact that two major companies (Marshall and Mesa) got their start getting great higher gain sounds out of Fender circuits.

Good thing I don't have much use for most high gain sounds. There are some that I use but none are of the scooped ilk.

Surprisingly, the only sound I'm not truly happy with, yet, is a jazz sound - on either the Mustang or the Helix.

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The Helix is superb but you have to spend a lot of time tweaking and adjusting to get the tones you want for live work, Lincoln Brewster's tone works really well for me live. I agree a good jazz tone is hard to get but the crazy thing is I don't know why that should be, user error I guess. I have only had the Mustang 3 v2 for a few days so I'm still messing with it, many users say that its shrill or there's a metallic tone, actually you get that with the real Fender amps there's something in the tweed circuits that give that tone but I cant remember what it is, the speakers need time to really break in. I wondered about a speaker swap, you need to find the right speaker to give no colour to preserve the emulations.   

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I'd love to know how it sounds. I wonder if a EV12l would sound good, I had one in a cab for my Soldano slo100 when I was looking to get Claptons 24 Nights tone, great speaker.

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Lincoln as yet hasn't posted any Helix patches yet, I took the HD patches I had plus one that another user had been working on and also I purchased the Ohwnhammer studio collection of cabs and messed around until I got what I wanted. To me it sounds great with my strat which has area 58 pups. Just need to find a good Joe Bonamassa tone from the Muddy Waters concerts he did with the high powered twins to use with my Les Paul.

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I wish Helix's Fender amps sounded as good as the Mustang's.  

 

I think this depends on your output method.  Having owned a Deluxe, a Twin, a Mustang IV, and now a Helix there's no doubt in my mind that Helix got the Deluxe and the Twin dead on.  But then I have my output going through a FRFR speaker.  The Mustang IV did them well although I thought the Twin was a bit too bright.

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I can post the Lincoln Brewster's patch if anyone would like it.

Sure, thanks. I'm not very familiar with him as an artist, or his tone, but you're not the first I've seen say they like it.

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Which Twin do you mean the Tweed 57 or the blackface, Fenders reissue Tweed Twin they brought out needed a bit of work to get it to sound like the vintage twin. I had my Tweed 57 hand built by Rosewell Amps in the Uk, Dave builds some of the best sounding tweed amps I've herd. It's a shame the Helix doesn't have a 57 tweed twin. Line 6 had a Tweed Twin the low powered 57 but it when missing after the first pods came out and it was never scene again in the pods.

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  • 2 months later...

As the previous posts to this thread predate the 2.xx Helix firmware releases, have there been any updates, revisions, or improvements regarding the Fender based profiles?

Not that I can tell. The Helix's Fender sounds are serviceable but there's something about the Mustangs and the way they seem to get the vibe across. Yeah, they're really kind of a "Fenders Only" type of modeler but damn they do it well.

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I find myself prefering the stock cabs over 3rd party IRs in most cases, but the Helix Fenders I find kind of flat with the stock cabs. Using Ownhammer or Red Wirez IRs (probably others too, but those are the ones I've used) really wakes them up.

 

 

Yeah, maybe 3rd party IRs are the answer because you're right.  They do sound kinda flat and just not as lively as on the Mustang. To me.

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I find myself prefering the stock cabs over 3rd party IRs in most cases, but the Helix Fenders I find kind of flat with the stock cabs. Using Ownhammer or Red Wirez IRs (probably others too, but those are the ones I've used) really wakes them up.

Does adjusting the Early Reflections parameter of Helix's stock Fender cab profile(s) improve the result?
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Does adjusting the Early Reflections parameter of Helix's stock Fender cab profile(s) improve the result?

I think the Helix's early reflections parameter would be a lot more effective if it was stereo. As it is I think it just kinda muddies up and smears the sound a bit.

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Does adjusting the Early Reflections parameter of Helix's stock Fender cab profile(s) improve the result?

 

A higher setting on early reflections (in conjunction with mic distance) may give it a bit more "in a room" feel, but that's only an improvement if what you're looking for is the sound of hearing one of those amps in a room.  Since I've always played live with my amps mic'd what I hear from the Helix is far more indicative of a mic'd Twin or Deluxe than what the Mustang produced.  Of course once you mic the Mustang it's pretty much the same sound as the Helix.  But conceptually adding the "room" feel via the early reflections and mic distance might be a way to get a "room" feel through the PA from the Helix.  I might actually try that at some point.

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I find that the Early Reflections on a single cab sounds a bit artificial. However if you tun two different cabs in parallel (which I reccomend over using a double cab block), then adding some Early Reflection to one of them adds some depth and space, very nice. In moderation though, too much and it begins to sound un-natural.

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The speaker I ordered is the Eminence Beta-12LTA. It's a Full Range Speaker but I didn't find the time to mount it in the mustang.

If you installed the Eminence Beta-12LTA in your Mustang, how does it sound when using the amp standalone?

 

How does it sound using the modified Mustang as a powered cab for your Helix?

 

Do you feel the Mustang's electronics support the upper range the spkr provides? For example, when playing back an MP3 or iPod via the Mustang's AuxIn, the original Celestion sound is very rolled off from about 4kHz up. Does the Emknence Beta 12LTA restore a FRFR sound to a song playback?

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If you installed the Eminence Beta-12LTA in your Mustang, how does it sound when using the amp standalone?

 

How does it sound using the modified Mustang as a powered cab for your Helix?

 

Do you feel the Mustang's electronics support the upper range the spkr provides? For example, when playing back an MP3 or iPod via the Mustang's AuxIn, the original Celestion sound is very rolled off from about 4kHz up. Does the Emknence Beta 12LTA restore a FRFR sound to a song playback?

I've installed the speaker but didn't play around that much - only at bedroom level.

The overall sound is much more "open". With the stock speaker I felt like there was a cut somewhere in the high mids.

 

I attached my phone to play some music and it sound quite good, very similar to a PA Speaker.

The amp standalone sounds better to my ears too. There are a lot more highs though and I had to adjust the patches. The cleans sound very good. I don't like the distortion sound that much, but that was also true with the stock speaker. I have a Metal 2000 patch for distorted sound. I always felt it sounded a bit thin and fizzy. With the new speaker this much more noticable but as I said I didn't play around that much. Maybe it could dialed in to a good sound.

 

The sound with Helix has improved a lot to my ears especially the clean ones. I create my patches mostly with headphones because I mostly play at home with headphones and they translate quite well. Some slight adjustments are needed but other than that I'm pretty happy. I could never reproduce the marshall sound I've created with the headphones. It sounds awesome with the headphone but with speakers I can't get it to work (not only mustang). Maybe because more volume is needed - I only play at bedroom level right now.

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Timely thread for me.  I came to the forum, today, to look for speaker recommendations for the Helix I just purchased (ETA 5 days).  I already own an Mustang III, so this thread bought me some time.

 

Other than the Eminence BTA-12LTA, what replacement speakers should I consider?

 

Out of curiosity, could a similar signal path be used with the Helix to connect two M-IIIs, in stereo?

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Sure two combo amps (Fender Mustangs or otherwise) could be used as powered cabs with the Helix. The real issue would be if to yours ears, the upgraded spkr does the job in the Mustang.

 

I have both a Mustang IV v.2 and a Mustang III v.2. Before I would consider replacing their spkrs or immediately buy FRFR Yamaha DXR12s, or similar, I would try the 4 Cable Method with the Mustangs I already have with a Helix.

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