MXR Micro Amp with the Helix.

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My friend gave me this pedal years ago and have really enjoyed it in front of my Princeton and Quilter Aviator. It just makes the guitar sound, well, bigger. Any guitar.

I've tried it with other modelers before and all it did was make the incoming signal louder - nothing like what it does in front of an amp. With that experience, I didn't expect it to do much with the Helix but to my surprise, it did to the Helix what it does to an amp!!! Soooo COOL!! And batteries seem to last forever in the thing too.

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That's cool. When ever I've tried this with clean boosts, it loads the input too much.

Perhaps you are using different amp models to me.

I mostly use Marshall's.

Perhaps you are using clean Fender models?

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I'm using Fender, Mesa and Matchless models.

I think the difference is that while you certainly can use the Micro Amp as a boost and it works great for that, it's primarily designed as a buffer amp as far as I know. In fact, when I use it with my amps, I don't like to turn it off because of the way it clarifies the sound of the guitar. It also gives the guitar more girth at the low end without getting muddy or obnoxious. I liken the sound to the difference you hear in a recording studio when you get to use really high end Burl A/D converters compared to the lower caliber ones that you've had to make do with. Really fat and polished sounding with no harshness in the high frequencies and no tubbiness in the low end. You just hear the entire spectrum of the guitar better.