Need advice on a dual input problem

[motorhead9999]

Hey all,

I just got a Line 6 Helix today and I'm sort of needing advice (aka help).

I'm fairly certain that my issues are with the Helix, but throwing the Stepabout in there is making me wonder if I'm messing something up. (For those not aware, the Stepabout is a Stick oriented preamp that lets you rout the bass and melody inputs to different outputs. Check out this video to see how it works: https://youtu.be/YO-8SkgXaPU?t=5m58s)

Here is the setup I'm using:
I have my Stick (Villex PASV4 pickup) in stereo mode (toggle switch pointing towards my right arm). Cable goes from the Stick to the Stepabout (ring/Melody into Input 1, Tip/Bass into Input 2). On Input 1 matrix, I have A selected, and on Input 2 matrix, I have B selected. Then I have Output A routed to my Guitar In on the Helix, and Output B routed to the Aux In. On my basic patch, I have the top input with "Guitar" set as my input (with a random amp and reverb effect), and on the second row, I have Aux selected as my input, and a random bass amp.


If I understand correctly, this should mean that my melody strings should be routing to my amp and reverb unit, and my bass strings should be routing to my aux row with just an amp (no reverb). I have two problems so far:

1) I have a terrible noise/static/hum that's coming through the headphone output of the helix. I don't know if it's a grounding issue or what, but I'm not sure what to do. I can put a threshold on it and set my guitar impedance so that it's not bad, but as soon as I kick the amp on, it becomes terrible again. If plug my headphones into each of the Stepabout outputs, the tone coming out is perfectly crisp and clean.

2) Despite the setup above, my bass strings will still have the reverb effect coming through on them, which makes no sense to me.

I'm extremely new to the world of effect units and amp modelers, so I'm really not sure what I'm doing wrong here. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[phil_m]

I guess my first comment would be that I don't know how much functionality the Stepabout preamp is giving you, if any, that you couldn't do entirely in the Helix itself. It's very easy to change the routing of different inputs to different paths in the Helix itself without having to have another pedal to step on. Also, the Helix itself acts as a preamp, so having another gain stage in front of it might be causing your noise issues. I suspect you may be clipping the internal signal path somewhere. You might also be running into ground loop issues because you have multiple connections between the two pieces of equipment.

 

If you do want to use that preamp, you may be better setting up your patch using two of Helix's effects returns as inputs rather than the guitar in and aux in. You can set those to line level, and that may work better with the preamp's output level.

 

As far as the reverb affecting the bass, if everything is set correctly, that shouldn't happen, so I'm not sure. I guess I would troubleshoot by may maybe going directly into Helix first.

[motorhead9999]

You're right. I plugged directly into the helix (melody side into Guitar, and bass into one of the returns) and that seemed to solve the issues. At this point I'll have to RTFM to see about changing the line levels to see if that solves the problem. I'll have to noodle a bit too and see if I even need this pre-amp at all even.

 

Thanks again!

[phil_m]

You're right. I plugged directly into the helix (melody side into Guitar, and bass into one of the returns) and that seemed to solve the issues. At this point I'll have to RTFM to see about changing the line levels to see if that solves the problem. I'll have to noodle a bit too and see if I even need this pre-amp at all even.

 

Thanks again!

 

Check out page 18 of the manual where it mentions a "2 into 1" setup. Because there are a total of 4 paths, you could actually set this up for each side of your stick. That's what I meant in my earlier comment when I said the Helix could give you the same functionality the Stepabout is giving you. You can have it so each path is being fed by two inputs, and you can set up controller to control the merge block in each path. That way you can send the treble side to Path 1 or 2, and do the same thing with the bass side.

[motorhead9999]

Alright, so I'm looking at the manual for that section you mentioned, and I see what you're getting at, but here's an issue I'm looking at:

 

I'm trying to merge my Return 1 (bass side) into the looper that I currently have sitting on my "Guitar" input (melody) side, and when I try and drag it, it only gives me the option to move the looper (in order to generate a split) to a line on the current input side it has (i.e., it won't let me create a merge with the return input).

 

Am I looking at going about this the wrong way? Basically, I'd like the looper to be able to record both the melody and bass side at the same time.

[vmoncebaiz]

You can always try to add in an unused send/return block pair, and then physically patch them in the back of Helix.  its useful for jumping around and inserting things in the signal chain more than Helix's own internal routing will let you.

 

Assign the send block to a footswitch and that could route from the bass path up to the guitar path with the looper.  It might take some level balancing to make it happen, but its possible.

[HonestOpinion]

Alright, so I'm looking at the manual for that section you mentioned, and I see what you're getting at, but here's an issue I'm looking at:

 

I'm trying to merge my Return 1 (bass side) into the looper that I currently have sitting on my "Guitar" input (melody) side, and when I try and drag it, it only gives me the option to move the looper (in order to generate a split) to a line on the current input side it has (i.e., it won't let me create a merge with the return input).

 

Am I looking at going about this the wrong way? Basically, I'd like the looper to be able to record both the melody and bass side at the same time.

 

Not sure I understand exactly what your preset looks like so I apologize in advance if this answer doesn't help. I realize you are actually feeding a bass input and not an actual bass in separately but I have simply referred to is as "bass" below. I would try the answer below in bold first because it will be the easiest path to setting this up. Once you understand the routing it should be no problem setting up presets like this from scratch in the future.

 

First copy the "04B - Gtr+VOX+Bas+Keys" template under the Templates setlist to a blank preset. You will use this template as a guide. Set the input in this template on Path B that is currently set to Mic to whatever input you are using for the "bass", for example "Aux" (or for instance "Return 1", see comment at the end of this paragraph).  Now drag the merge block (small block at the end of Path B ) up to Path A, right before the looper  This will cause Path B to collapse its output block into the one in Path A. Now set the output block on Path A to whatever you like. This should get you close to what you are looking to do. You can delete blocks on the two unused paths on Route 2 (VOX & Keys) to preserve DSP. You can then change the other blocks on Route 1(the one you just set up) to whatever effects and amps you choose. Not sure how you are incorporating the "Return" block you referenced but you should be able to work that into this setup as well. Btw, you may want to use a Return input rather than "Aux" for your bass input. The Aux input has a much higher impedance than the guitar input. 

 

If you want to do it from scratch here are some more detailed instructions.

 

If you don't already have a split path you will want to drag at least one block, it can just be EQ, down to create a split path. I would put all my processing blocks for the bass on this path (Path B ) You can then move the split block on Path A directly after your return which is where it sounds like you are inputting your bass and then move the merge block right before the looper on Path A. You may want to put your bass Return block on Path B or even drag the split block down to Path B to create a second input block and set it to the bass Return, especially if you want to use a different set of effects than you use for the guitar.

 

Alternatively, do you have two totally separate paths with separate inputs and perhaps separate outputs, one for bass and one for guitar? In other words, do you already have a split and merge block? If so, you should be able to drag the merge block (it is smaller than the effect or amp blocks) up to Path A just before the looper block. You will want the looper at the end of Path A unless you are trying to put your bass through the same effects as your guitar.

 

There may be better ways to do all of this but this is what initially comes to mind.