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Favorite Factory Presets


roscoe5
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I hadn't seen a thread on Helix Factory presets, so I thought I would start one up. This may help new Helix users get going in a right direction with what they have in front of them, as well some of us Helix vets.

I see a lot of attention given to 3rd party presets and IR's, which are great don't get me wrong. But there are some good Line 6 Helix factory presets in there as well.

Previously I hadn't gone past just the basic amp type presets 000-053 in the Factory 1 setlist. I started digging around in the other presets further down the list and found a few from an apparent Line 6 high gain patchmaster that are set up the way I like with nice dual cab blocks and a parametric EQ right after. Excellent mic choices with varying distances and cuts. I would even stretch to say that these rival 3rd Party patches and IR's, at least IMO for the styles I play anyway.

Thanks and kudos to the Line 6 staff that made these. There is certainly a good ear, knowledge and some diligent work involved! I learned a bit about parametric eq settings post cabs with these. Some nice drives and effects in these as well.

058 Mad House: Brit 2204> dual 4x12 1960 T75 cabs>parametric eq
061 Aqualung: WhoWatt 100>dual 4x12 WhoWhat 100 cabs>parametric eq
062 Reign In: Brit 2204>dual 4x12 Uber V30 cabs>parametric eq
066 Pull Me Under: Cali Rectifire>dual 4x12 Cali V30 cabs>parametric eq
074 Shortest Straw: Cali Rectifire>dual 4x12 Uber V30 cabs>parametric eq

Now time to dig into the Factory 2 setlist :)

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Here is a Zip containing all the 2.0 presets ( maybe ALMOST ALL - DUNNO ) but sorted into folders by amplifier model. 

 

I've begun working through them amp by amp.  the whole process is quite laborious ! 

 

But L6 spend some time making these presets so i think they deserve to be given attention. 

 

Would be nice to have Line 6 put together a document describing each preset - giveng for example the ideal guitar or guitar model ( JTV FTW ) to use with the preset. 

Sorted By Amp.zip

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I must admit that, prior to reading this thread, I hadn't spent much time at all with the factory presets. But I suppose I should thank you for the impetus, as there is some really good stuff in there! I'm a sucker for simple and really liked the New Jimmy and Rebel Yell tones. For far-out stuff, I rather enjoyed Space Cadet, I could spend all afternoon throwing notes out the airlock! Probably won't get much sleep tonight, thanks!

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I've played through most of them. There aren't any that I found would be useful in a live band situation. And none of them that I would use to record with either. 
Way too much effects on most of them. And the few that are dry were "Okay".

I would say that most anyone on here could easily and quickly start with an empty preset and build much better guitar tones. Not sure why the factory presets aren't all that great. You would think they would be better than anything else out there since they were made by the experts with the unit. 

That's just my opinion. :)

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058 Mad House: Brit 2204> dual 4x12 1960 T75 cabs>parametric eq

061 Aqualung: WhoWatt 100>dual 4x12 WhoWhat 100 cabs>parametric eq

062 Reign In: Brit 2204>dual 4x12 Uber V30 cabs>parametric eq

066 Pull Me Under: Cali Rectifire>dual 4x12 Cali V30 cabs>parametric eq

074 Shortest Straw: Cali Rectifire>dual 4x12 Uber V30 cabs>parametric eq

Don't know if this is a useful train of thought, but it's my actual reaction, so here goes...

 

I am interested in high-gain stuff, and I have lots of respect for roscoe5, so I was interested to check these out. What I found was that several of them had a ton more top end than I typically have on anything. More to the point, playing them next to my more usual presets makes them both sound weird and unpleasant - my "standard" stuff sounds muffled, and these sound buzzy and overprocessed.

 

Anyone else feel the same?

 

Clearly all tones are relative. For better and worse, ears accommodate to what's happening around them. "Too much high end", like "too loud", isn't an absolute statement. A big part of what we do when we're building our universe of tones is switch back and forth between them and adjust tone, volume, wetness, etc. not so they're the same, but so they have intentional relationships to each other. That's not a Helix or modeler thing, it's just reality in a multi-sound world.

 

Does my reaction mean my "main-stream" tones are way off base? Don't really buy that; they seemed pretty much like I intended the one time I've played them with other people, I didn't get laughed or grimaced at there (quite the opposite actually, many compliments, from musicians and not), and I dig 'em when I go downstairs and play by myself. (Which I know is different from a live or recorded full band.)

 

Does it mean you have to pick a universe and stay there? Well maybe, but I and others do in fact have and want sounds that are pretty different from each other.

 

Anyway, net of all this is confusion. Doesn't change the sounds I've been working on, but it does make me mistrust, um, something, though I'm not quite sure what.

 

(Just to be clear, no criticism of L6's patch makers, Helix, or roscoe5 is meant here, just talking about how different sounds relate to each other.)

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Anyway, net of all this is confusion. Doesn't change the sounds I've been working on, but it does make me mistrust, um, something, though I'm not quite sure what.

 

 

I wouldn't let this discussion make me distrust anything. Tone is completely subjective, and in this case there are other factors that virtually guarantee that your ears are not hearing the same tone that anyone else's ears are. Are different guitars being used? Even different pickup selections? What about monitoring - amp? Studio monitors? FRFR (or thereabouts)? What size speakers? 5"? 8"? 12"?

 

ALL And ANY of these things contribute significantly to the tone you hear. Trust your own ears and go with the tones YOU like.

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The day I encounter a device that has factory presets that are usable as-is, I suspect I will drop dead from the shock. "One size fits all" is not a concept that's applicable to a pursuit that is subject to as many variables as guitar tone. The box itself is the ONLY thing all users have in common...guitars, amps, cabs, pickups, fingers, the listening environment itself...those ALL change from user to user, yet the patch itself is supposed to be the great equalizer? Never gonna happen. End of story...

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Well for starters, my main guitar is a one-off, so clearly I'm on my own on that level.

 

What I'm really getting at is that I find high gain tones the hardest to work with. I was hoping these might provide some inspiration, and maybe some examples, of both sounds and techniques. I can come up with nice cleans all day, and even more so, somewhat driven ones, but really gainy stuff is much harder for me to feel good about. They most often just don't remind me of the masters of that stuff.

 

If these factory presets don't float my high-gain boat, but others find them useful, how do I tell what other offerings might make sense for me? For example, Fremen's stuff has been pretty universally acclaimed, but does that actually mean anything, to me?

 

In general I'm not a big buyer or downloader of other peoples' patches. I really enjoy building my own (for synths too), and to me it's an important part of playing music. But I do look for ideas from other sources, when that makes sense.

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Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that these presets were the end all-be all.  I'm not actually using them either.  I just thought that they would have been a better starting place to me when I first got Helix for my styles and closer in design to what took me months to reach on my own research and testing.  

 

My takeaway from these at my current evolutionary stage was learning a bit about parametric eq settings post cabs when I was previously using 10 band eq post cabs and a little confirmation on my own patch designs.

 

Sometimes you don't know what you don't know, or you just don't know where to start when getting a new device.  I'll tell ya I was stubborn and I was not about to drop additional cash on 3rd party presets and IR's after I spent $1500 on Helix.  I built my own patches and made my own IR's to get what I wanted...bent Helix to my will.  The patches that I listed would have gotten me in the ballpark and gave me a better jumping off point personally.

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Thanks roscoe5, but I didn't take your post that way, just as some things you thought might be worthwhile from amongst the rather large set of factory stuff.

 

OT: I always get frustrated w 10-band EQs. They rarely have the actual frequency I really want to tweak, nor are they specific purpose-built cool choices like the Mesa. Getting comfortable w a parametric will get you a lot further IMO. It's also educational, since you can explore the effect of different changes a lot more directly, and with fewer limitations.

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I don't think it would be fair to expect the factory presets to be perfect, ready-to-roll tones. Differences in guitars, pickups, playing styles, output devices and physical environments as well as personal tastes and preferences all factor in. I do, however, think they demonstrate a pretty solid foundation and by digging through them there are things to be learned and applied to your own presets. Likewise with the Fremen stuff. I purchased the bundle and really like what's in there, but they are not the presets I'm using on a day-to-day basis. To be very honest they are a little TOO pristine for me. I have learned a ton about tone crafting from analyzing and de-constructing them though, and my own presets are getting better for it. Worth every penny of the price just for that.

 

As for the "drifting ear calibration", I encountered that with the use of third party IRs. Most noticeably with the Ownhammers, actually. When I would listen through one for a long period, like while putting a preset together, my ear would dial into its particular EQ signature and I'd get it sounding perfect, and then if I moved on to something else it would suddenly sound like I was playing in a tin can. So I'd work with that and get it dialed in more to my liking and then going back to the previous one would sound like I was in a tin can again. It became really apparent when I started using snapshots to switch the IR assigned to a block: going back and forth like that made everything sound weird all the time. It was driving me nuts and took me a while to figure out that it was actually my ear that was changing, acclimating to the EQs inherent in the IRs. I've currently switched to using the stock cabs exclusively and my ears are no longer drifting like that. And I'm learning that with a little craftiness and effort they can sound really good. I'm not saying I won't ever use an IR again, but when I do I'll know a lot more about what I'm listening for.

 

So long story short, I immediately dismissed the factory presets and stock cabs as rubbish when I got my Helix and now here I am 6 months or so in, using the stock cabs and learning from the factory presets. There's probably a lesson in there somewhere for me.

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Truthfully I never spent much time going through them or any of the user custom tone ones as most were dreadful for me and I would just as soon create my own. I do use a Template now and then but really have my own I use. I never had a multi unit even my guitar synth that had any factory stuff I liked. I suppose they have some decent samples in there but it is so easy to create one that is specific to your rig as you are going to have to tweak on them anyway. Only the templates have been useful for me in creating more complex split paths before I understood how to do it. That is why I am leery of buying user made presets as I am afraid if they are anything like the custom tone stuff they are not going to work for me. A couple of these guys are genius programmers, I do not know why L6 doesn't use their stuff for a factory package. 

As for the opinion of the stock cab IR stuff I think its just fine and I like being able to change mics and params easy. 

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