Helix and active pickups?

[damien_]

Hi,

 

What has been your experience using the Helix with active pickups?  I know the manual says such guitars should plug into Aux rather than Guitar In.  Did you find that this was producing better results?  Anybody tried the Guitar In and experimented with the Input Z for interesting results?

 

Thanks,

[soundog]

I think it depends on how "active" the preamp in your guitar/bass is. It may take some experimenting. My Stingray bass seems to have a lot of output (especially with a fresh battery), so I ended up using the aux input because the guitar seemed too hot in the guitar input and sometimes heard what I thought was digital distortion. But others have reported (in another thread somewhere) they used the guitar pickup without issue.

 

Try running some of the stock clean presets (no distortion blocks) using the guitar input and see if you hear anything nasty, and go from there. Try dialing up the gain on a clean amp and listen to where things start breaking up. You may like the guitar input more than the aux, or vice versa.

[malhavok]

I use Helix with a Dean equipped with EMG-707s. I have my input pad turned on always. I plug the Dean right into the guitar input. Sounds like this:

 

[mkornell]

I have an (active) EMG 81/85 setup one one of my guitars. I drive the EMGs at 18v, which produces a fairly hot signal. I have experimented with both Helix inputs and with different impedance settings, but have not picked up any discernible difference in tone. Could have something to do with the voltage level, whereas a normal 9v setup might show a difference (tho I'm not going to rewire the guitar to experiment further - I decided on 18v after experimenting on tube amps long before the Helix).

 

As an aside, I also use a Relay G50 when performing. Cabled when practising. It works just as well with the actives as with passive pickups.

 

YMMV, of course, but regardless of your pickups you should be able to find an input setting that works.

[Ka5par]

I have actives too, but the output is so low that I have to add a gain block to every patch.

[PeterHamm]

Active pickups are evil. :ph34r:

[mkornell]

Active pickups are evil. :ph34r:

 

Curious... why?

[TheDaveDaveDave]

If you *do* have problems with driving the Helix input too hot a signal from active pickups, the first thing you should look at is adjust guitar's internal trim pot.  Chances are you'd be driving everything too hot (except a real tube amp, of course).   

 

Some folks don't like the way active pups sound because the resonance of the complete pickup-to-tube LC circuit is different than with passive coils.  Into the right gear, weak passive pickups tend to sound more "vowelly" too me.   Active pickups are basically like using a buffer pedal bolted onto the pickup, and they can be waaay punchier sounding and more linear in response without the cable and other junk in the way, without as much comb-filtering.       

 

It's always about the right tool for the right job.  Different pickups, pedals and amp combinations make me play differently, and of course, conversely, what I want to hear makes me choose different gear and settings for the task at hand.