Should I return the Helix or ....?

[Rocco_Crocco 147]

 

 

 

I have horrid fizz (the bad kind) coming out of my hi-gain patches.

 

 

 

What are your hi cuts settings? Globally? IRs? Speaker Block? This is how you fix fizz.

[satch4u4 1]

Either way... Helix or Ax8, you'll be tweaking away. haha

[cruisinon2 2,595]

Either way... Helix or Ax8, you'll be tweaking away. haha

Personally, I'm waiting for Apple to get into the modeling game...tweaked with voice commands, of course:

 

"iAmp, sound awesome".

 

Problem solved...;)

[Zzz123 18]

John Browne Presets.

 

Absolutely nothing tweaked.

 

Beautiful in a mix I think

https://soundcloud.com/baron-toria/helix-tone-test-3

 

And on it's own

https://soundcloud.com/baron-toria/helix-tone-test-3-without-drums

 

What do you guys think?

 

Decision made for me - I'm keeping the Helix!

 

And to answer a previous question - I wrote to the seller of the Helix and informed them that I will return it if I can't sell it. 

 

My local classifieds just so happened to have an AD for someone who wanted to buy a Helix...crazy right?

[Digital_Igloo 1,107]

The guys at Line 6 must just pull their hair out at these threads

Ha, jokes on you! I have no hair.

 

 

 

 

:(

[cruisinon2 2,595]

Ha, jokes on you! I have no hair.

 

 

 

 

:(

 

The question is, why? ;)

[johnonguitar 31]

Ha, jokes on you! I have no hair.

 

 

 

 

:(

To me you will always have luscious locks

 

 

Seriously though, I was a little critical before the v2 update but it's all good now.

 

Deluxe normal, soldano clean and crunch, 2204 mod and plexi brt

 

Load your fav IR's and quit moaning. If you sound lollipop? no offence guys but if that's the case you sound lollipop anyway.

 

and if you're still worried about your hi-gain in Djent sound then well hurry up and get through puberty and play some proper music children

[gunpointmetal 590]

and if you're still worried about your hi-gain in Djent sound then well hurry up and get through puberty and play some proper music children

 

Because that's relevant, helpful, and not at all immature...

[Zzz123 18]

Still no feedback on the tone....?

 

And Hello Mr. Igloo...

[BillBee 397]

Was that the B-Stock unit you got from Thomann back in early Sept? Glad it worked out for ya. ;)

 

Tones and mfx are always subjective unless you find people who have an ear for what you are looking for.

 

Now if you had asked "is it djent?" that would be different. :D 

[Zzz123 18]

Was that the B-Stock unit you got from Thomann back in early Sept? Glad it worked out for ya. ;)

 

Tones and mfx are always subjective unless you find people who have an ear for what you are looking for.

 

Now if you had asked "is it djent?" that would be different. :D

 

The one from Thomann yes :)

[regalpierot 33]

Actually, now I'd say return it, or sell it, or whatever the odd story that keeps contradicting itself it. Buy a Fractal, go on their forum and then repeatedly ask people over and over again to do all the thinking and work for you.

 

Problem solved.

[cruisinon2 2,595]

Actually, now I'd say return it, or sell it, or whatever the odd story that keeps contradicting itself it. Buy a Fractal, go on their forum and then repeatedly ask people over and over again to do all the thinking and work for you.

 

Problem solved.

Ouch...

 

If I still have to think, then what am I doing with this smartphone? Perhaps I could order "awesome tone" from Amazon... ;)

[Zzz123 18]

Actually, now I'd say return it, or sell it, or whatever the odd story that keeps contradicting itself it. Buy a Fractal, go on their forum and then repeatedly ask people over and over again to do all the thinking and work for you.

 

Problem solved.

Thanks!

[WickedFinger 43]

Another attempt 

 

https://soundcloud.com/baron-toria/helix-tone-test-2

Sounding better I think.

I would try  backing off the amp gain some and use a cleaner drive, boost or gain block in front of the amp to get the gain level and more tighter response/ Also guitar, pickups, it all makes a chemistry. That is why I switched over to Les Paul's just more range of styles and tones over a one trick pony that does one thing well. 

Another hint is on high gains many prefer just dialing down the Presence to zero and yeah it's all cab and mic from there. I have loaded 128 Custom IRs in my Helix yesterday. You know how many I like or could use? ONE. I realize many blow horns about all the various IRs one needs to buy and if I could actually try some I might believe it.

Found one from "GuitarHack" that sounds pretty good near the edge of the speaker thing. Shame there is no adjust on the Helix hybrids for mic position as mid towards  the edge sounds better to me.

Hard for me to find a high gain amp I am really crazy over. I have a few I rigged up but I do not use them a lot. Truthfully I prefer a cleaner amp that sounds good with pedals.

One thing I can tell you in all this is that recording guys view things differently than ones looking for the best live sound which is what I drive for. It is certain no matter what, pleasing all of their ear wiring is impossible and true as well while some tones might be novel for recording tracks in a song mix, live they blow.

I hear a lot of live bands trying to get a metal sound and most fail utterly which is why the tone style gets so much hate. I go for massive punch your face low end and a low mid 750Hz scoop of about 3-4db. Presence down, do not choke off the high end out of the cab or cut off the low end too much, cut sub sonics, let the speaker cab oddly enough do as it was designed. Use artful EQ to clear up any mud or tame overt highs not the cab cuts. 

Anyway, that is my 2 cents. I would offer you some of my presets but they would not work for you as I use a lot of routing and external pedals.

Try a BBE positioned and set right it helps live sound a lot. The transmission quality of sample sounds does not always do well as my PC does not have massive 15" FRFR or 12" speakers to really hear anything as it should be. I can tell you in many decades playing, the tweak for tone never ends and is never good enough for any length of time.

The infinite options in the Helix can have you getting brain melt trying to constantly get a better amp and whatnot. I try to find a few I can use and save my mad scientist stuff for limited experimentation. You can end up noodling for hours and never really playing which was degrading my chops for a couple months getting the Helix. I have tried to get back into more playing and less tinkering. 

[Zzz123 18]

Sounding better I think.

I would try  backing off the amp gain some and use a cleaner drive, boost or gain block in front of the amp to get the gain level and more tighter response/ Also guitar, pickups, it all makes a chemistry. That is why I switched over to Les Paul's just more range of styles and tones over a one trick pony that does one thing well. 

Another hint is on high gains many prefer just dialing down the Presence to zero and yeah it's all cab and mic from there. I have loaded 128 Custom IRs in my Helix yesterday. You know how many I like or could use? ONE. I realize many blow horns about all the various IRs one needs to buy and if I could actually try some I might believe it.

Found one from "GuitarHack" that sounds pretty good near the edge of the speaker thing. Shame there is no adjust on the Helix hybrids for mic position as mid towards  the edge sounds better to me.

Hard for me to find a high gain amp I am really crazy over. I have a few I rigged up but I do not use them a lot. Truthfully I prefer a cleaner amp that sounds good with pedals.

One thing I can tell you in all this is that recording guys view things differently than ones looking for the best live sound which is what I drive for. It is certain no matter what, pleasing all of their ear wiring is impossible and true as well while some tones might be novel for recording tracks in a song mix, live they blow.

I hear a lot of live bands trying to get a metal sound and most fail utterly which is why the tone style gets so much hate. I go for massive punch your face low end and a low mid 750Hz scoop of about 3-4db. Presence down, do not choke off the high end out of the cab or cut off the low end too much, cut sub sonics, let the speaker cab oddly enough do as it was designed. Use artful EQ to clear up any mud or tame overt highs not the cab cuts. 

Anyway, that is my 2 cents. I would offer you some of my presets but they would not work for you as I use a lot of routing and external pedals.

Try a BBE positioned and set right it helps live sound a lot. The transmission quality of sample sounds does not always do well as my PC does not have massive 15" FRFR or 12" speakers to really hear anything as it should be. I can tell you in many decades playing, the tweak for tone never ends and is never good enough for any length of time.

The infinite options in the Helix can have you getting brain melt trying to constantly get a better amp and whatnot. I try to find a few I can use and save my mad scientist stuff for limited experimentation. You can end up noodling for hours and never really playing which was degrading my chops for a couple months getting the Helix. I have tried to get back into more playing and less tinkering. 

 

Hey man, 

 

Something at https://soundcloud.com/baron-toria/helix-tone-test-3 which I'm ok with for now.

[BillBee 397]

One thing I learned (from Duncan IIRC) is watch for ear fatigue when dialing in tones. Its that phenom where the night before everything sounded sweet during that 4 hour tone building marathon then the next day with fresh ears it sounds like lollipop.

[gunpointmetal 590]

 I go for massive punch your face low end and a low mid 750Hz scoop of about 3-4db. Presence down, do not choke off the high end out of the cab or cut off the low end too much, cut sub sonics, let the speaker cab oddly enough do as it was designed. Use artful EQ to clear up any mud or tame overt highs not the cab cuts. 

 

 

This is how you get a crap metal tone. 

750Hz is around where the body of the guitar sound is, massive bass response is the bass players job. Anything below about 100Hz, especially live, is totally useless in a "heavy" guitar tone unless you're playing by yourself. The goal is for the band to sound heavy together, not just the guitar by itself.

But what do I know, I've only been playing and recording metal for the last 16 years as a main focus.

[Ka5par 22]

My favourite for high gain sounds has been the Uberschall with low gain Minotaur or Teemah in front, with Uberkab (lo-pass at 7-8K) and SM7 mic.
With dual cabs you have lots more combinations for variations, but I'd start out with a minimal setup, try to get as close as possible, then try to get even closer with a more elaborate setup.

[Hoopington 1]

Actually, now I'd say return it, or sell it, or whatever the odd story that keeps contradicting itself it. Buy a Fractal, go on their forum and then repeatedly ask people over and over again to do all the thinking and work for you.

 

Problem solved.

 

This ^^

 

If you drop the fairly substantial amount of money on a product like this before actually trying it out and knowing you could get the tone you want, you're beyond help.

 

Using your choice as some kind of threat to people who like the product......I mean, honestly, what are you, 12?

[Rewolf48 321]

This is how you get a crap metal tone. 

750Hz is around where the body of the guitar sound is, massive bass response is the bass players job. Anything below about 100Hz, especially live, is totally useless in a "heavy" guitar tone unless you're playing by yourself. The goal is for the band to sound heavy together, not just the guitar by itself.

But what do I know, I've only been playing and recording metal for the last 16 years as a main focus.

 

Do you consider John Petrucci to know anything about this?

If not that is fine, but he does a big cut at 750 on his boogie - you can see it here where he does a rundown of how he gets his sounds.  

 

[Zzz123 18]

This ^^

 

If you drop the fairly substantial amount of money on a product like this before actually trying it out and knowing you could get the tone you want, you're beyond help.

 

Using your choice as some kind of threat to people who like the product......I mean, honestly, what are you, 12?

 

There are no Line 6 Helixes readily available where I'm located.

 

Some kind of threat? Lol - how is any part of this thread meant to be a threat?

 

If you don't have anything meaningful to contribute, please stay off this thread...

[Lachdanan0121 181]

 

and if you're still worried about your hi-gain in Djent sound then well hurry up and get through puberty and play some proper music children

 

See this is a problem with being a guitarist.  There is an abundance of the old fart rhetoric. Much like this statement I quoted here.

[gunpointmetal 590]

Do you consider John Petrucci to know anything about this?

If not that is fine, but he does a big cut at 750 on his boogie - you can see it here where he does a rundown of how he gets his sounds.  

 

His tone is dated, and the Boogie's he's using are incredibly mid heavy already. I wouldn't exactly consider his rhythm tone a "holy grail" either. You can get away with a little scoop on certain amps, but saying "cut at 750Hz" is pretty much a terrible idea for any guitar tone if you want to cut through a mix and not have to be louder than God. I'm always amazed when I play with bands that still scoop their mids, crank their amps till they're drowning out the PA, but you still can't define a single thing they're playing because its all fart and sizzle.

To each their own, but the OP was looking for a certain sound, and vintage metal scooped is not it.

[cruisinon2 2,595]

I'm always amazed when I play with bands that still scoop their mids, crank their amps till they're drowning out the PA, but you still can't define a single thing they're playing because its all fart and sizzle.

 

"Fart and Sizzle" would be a great name for a steak house...;)

[Lachdanan0121 181]

"Fart and Sizzle" would be a great name for a steak house... ;)

Im imagining the logo on the sign out front. lol

[BillBee 397]

Get 10 punches on your F&S "Slap & Tickle" card get a free "awesome" tone download. :)

[bsd512 169]

Needs Chorus.  Chorus fixes everything. :)

[WickedFinger 43]

Just so you kids know, the Master volume induces power amp modeling, ch vol is the loudness of the amp in general. Just saying, power amp is often the balls and "power" of the amp. Holding down the master on a real amp and driving the ch vols makes for more preamp gain on the Helix model it does not. If one is not willing to tweak anything than why have the best tweaking options at your feet. Most be one of those close enough-plug in and play chaps. If anyone has played for any length of time running a preset through its paces and does not opt to just sweeten the pot a little bit then what can I say. To each his own. 

[spikey 699]

I sure would like to get paid as much (and play out as much) as John does with his out dated mid heavy tone.  

 

Like you said, to each their own - my milage can and does vary on this one.

 

But then Im just an old fart stuck in my ways. Ask Silver if you don't believe me...  ;)

[Pacohelix 1]

hey.  I struggled bad with mine when I first got it.  FIrst thing I can recommend is download patches off the custom tone or buy patches to get you close and then tweak to your liking

[HonestOpinion 937]

I sure would like to get paid as much (and play out as much) as John does with his out dated mid heavy tone.  

 

...

 

I am not going to weigh in on what constitutes or gets you to a great tone but I have to agree with Spikey. Older or not John Petrucci and his blend of metal and fusion (prog-metal?) makes him one of my favorite guitarists. I respect what he has to say about tone even if he is busy doing an endorsement for Mesa Boogie.

[WickedFinger 43]

Hey man, 

 

Something at https://soundcloud.com/baron-toria/helix-tone-test-3 which I'm ok with for now.

Sounds pretty wicked!

[WickedFinger 43]

hey.  I struggled bad with mine when I first got it.  FIrst thing I can recommend is download patches off the custom tone or buy patches to get you close and then tweak to your liking

If there was one in the same galaxy, easier just to make one from scratch than fix everything as that's what it ends being anyway. Clearly I am not hearing whatever it is these chaps are hearing. 

[johnonguitar 31]

If there was one in the same galaxy, easier just to make one from scratch than fix everything as that's what it ends being anyway. Clearly I am not hearing whatever it is these chaps are hearing.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ilncCKL2g1I

 

Like?

[glideman 162]

Yeah... that dated tone ole John is using is killing me...    LoL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Bwaaaaaaaaahahahahaaaaa...  hehe  :P