1st band rehearsal with the Helix

[cclement]

So last night was my first night practicing with the band* since I got my Helix about 3 weeks ago. We are getting ready to record a few tracks soon, so I’ve only spent my time recreating the specific tones I had already built in my HD500x in my Helix. For monitoring at home, rehearsal and live, I’ve been using a set of the Alto TS10As that many of you have.

 

First observation – It took SO little time to recreate them in the Helix.. and then taken them farther than what the HD500X could do or sound. Absolutely awesome. I was goofing around with a patch I made at home that was unrelated to one of our songs. But.. with a few tweaks at rehearsal last night, I was able to use it for another song that we just added… and it really brought the song to life. Building/tweaking tones on the Helix – even without the editor – is just so dang easy.

 

Second Observation – the Helix definitely has more of a “real feel†as compared to the HD500x. Don’t get me wrong, the HD500X is a great bit of gear… but the Helix is just SO much more. It really seems to react more like a real amp. Nice!

 

So if any of you are still running the HD500X and luring around on the Helix forum trying to figure out if you really should/shouldn’t upgrade to the Helix… just do it.

 

I'm just absolutely smitten with my Helix!

 

 

*We really are just a bunch of old farts that get together and play a few gigs now at then. At 48, I’m the “young guy†in the band.

[johnplanetz]

Great to hear!

My story is nearly identical, coming from an HD500x to a Helix, late-40s, cover band :)  Except that I got my Helix and EON 610 last night, and the first rehearsal using it with the band is tomorrow night!

Last night was "try all the presets" and finding my way around. Early this morning before work was trying to reproduce the 3 channels of my Blackstar Stage 60 so I can go completely ampless for the first time!  This was surprisingly easy, and I'm psyched I won't have to lug my 70 pound Blackstar around anymore.

Next, I need to make a bunch of special song-specific presets (for songs by Beatles, U2, Billy Idol, Black Keys, etc).  I'm still not sure what the best approach will be for making these presets, but I'm excited to do the work and find out.  I'm loving the snapshots, the scribble strips, and how much dsp power is available!

Are you finding that you are missing anything from your HD500x? One thing I noticed is that there's no talk box sound. Even tho a bit gimmicky, I used that in Beverly Hills. I guess I can just use a wah wah for now...

 

-John

[madteto]

Well, I never play my POD HD so much in the last years as Helix in the last 5 months, totally awesome!

[Joepeggio]

Seems to be a common demographic we are in. Im in mid 40s and youngest in the cover / some originals band.

 

I find the setting up the old way of tube amps and pedal boards not too bad. For me its after the show. The break down, load the car, then unload at home at the 2am. I just want to go to bed!

[AlexKenivel]

Welcome to the party, pal

[DunedinDragon]

I too am an immigrant from the POD HD500X and came to the Helix a little over a year ago.

 

Aside from the nice surprises I uncovered similar to the OP, what's become the most interesting part of the Helix for me is how much I've matured in understanding and exploiting the capabilities of the Helix.  Although most of my patches remain relatively simple, thanks to many of the discussion here and on the Helix Facebook page I've incorporated lots of new ideas into many of my patches that have supercharged my patch building.  Some examples are:

 

- The use of IR's and how to combine them in parallel to fine tune a tone.

 

- The differences in compressors and how to effectively incorporate them to give some polish to my tones.

 

- Discoveries about how to best use some of the amp models that I had previously overlooked and how to effectively use the deeper bias and sag controls to manage articulation and blending.  Along these lines a deeper understanding of what made those amps distinctive in their day which has lead me to differences in the way I construct the signal paths for them.

 

- The use of the tempo to better control the parameters of effects.

 

-  Better and more effective ways of equalizing the output volume of different patches as well as managing the EQ of the guitar tone using cabinet parameters.

 

I'm sure there are many other examples I'm overlooking, but it's almost as if there's an endless box of new things to discover and learn, which makes life with the Helix very interesting.  It reminds me a lot of how I uncovered new ideas and ways of playing the guitar when I was learning to play guitar.  I'm now learning how to better "play" the Helix now.

[FlyingsCool]

I haven't had a chance to test it out myself yet, but several people have also found that adjusting the Guitar Input Impedance has an appreciable effect.

[Leftzilla]

Pretty much the same experience here.  Ran HD500-HD500X for quite some time.  1st 2 albums of Elephants of Scotland were recorded with Variax (JTV59 on 1st JTV89F on second).  Lined up for Helix and then used it for the 3rd album.  Same as OP 1st job was recreating HD patches for Helix.  Very easy and a more natural sound along with imporved effects.  Keybaord player who is also our sound engineer LOVES the Helix.

 But I am in my Early 50s

[amsdenj]

I'm also an HD500X convert (and POD2.0, XTLive, X3Live), and I really tried to make it work. But I always felt one small tweak away from something that would work, but could never get there. With Helix its the opposite. There's a wide range of things that are just different but work just fine.

 

And I'm way beyond you guys in age - late 60's. But I run almost every day and can keep up pretty well.

 

My message to you all is that there's always hope. I'm a cancer survivor, and had a pulmonary embolism late last year caused by unprovoked blood clots in my left leg that I wasn't remotely aware of. Seeing my running speeds drop off saved my life. Here I am at this late age having the time of my life: still working full time, playing in two bands, a new grandchild, and having the time of my life. Keep kicking!

[DunedinDragon]

Does anyone else see the irony in the fact that all of us "older" musicians (I'm 64) choose to use the hi-tech modeling approach while all the "tech-savvy" youngsters are still playing around with tube amps and vinyl records???

[Ichil]

Does anyone else see the irony in the fact that all of us "older" musicians (I'm 64) choose to use the hi-tech modeling approach while all the "tech-savvy" youngsters are still playing around with tube amps and vinyl records???

I think it's a matter of how much our back hurts after moving around amps and cabs for so many years :D

[duncann]

I came from the HD series around October 2015. At first, I was a bit underwhelmed with the sounds Helix produced. Over time, as I untrained myself from the HD, is how the magic happened for me. There was no sudden moment of wowness (well, maybe when snapshots came along). A year and a half later, I can say that there is significant difference between the two on all levels and if I had to go back the HD, I'd have a very hard time of it.

 

 

I'm also an HD500X convert (and POD2.0, XTLive, X3Live), and I really tried to make it work. But I always felt one small tweak away from something that would work, but could never get there. With Helix its the opposite. There's a wide range of things that are just different but work just fine.

And I'm way beyond you guys in age - late 60's. But I run almost every day and can keep up pretty well.

My message to you all is that there's always hope. I'm a cancer survivor, and had a pulmonary embolism late last year caused by unprovoked blood clots in my left leg that I wasn't remotely aware of. Seeing my running speeds drop off saved my life. Here I am at this late age having the time of my life: still working full time, playing in two bands, a new grandchild, and having the time of my life. Keep kicking!

 

Your story and outlook is greatly inspiring.

 

Also, people that do not run don't know what they're missing. I can hope I'm able to continue running every day at age 70, and beyond.

[jbuhajla]

Does anyone else see the irony in the fact that all of us "older" musicians (I'm 64) choose to use the hi-tech modeling approach while all the "tech-savvy" youngsters are still playing around with tube amps and vinyl records???

The magic of "vintage" has worn off long ago. I love having everything I need in one box. If it's not in there, I really don't "need" it anyway. 

[silverhead]

....

 

Also, people that do not run don't know what they're missing......

 

I can appreciate where you're coming from. But I know exactly what I'm missing by no longer running. I'm missing great pain and inflammation in my arthritic knees and ankles, reduced mobility, increased limping, a substantial diet of prescription pain medication, and an earlier-than-necessary knee replacement.

 

Good luck with your goal. I'm under 70 and I can still golf but walking the course is increasingly difficult. A cart is now my friend. Running is out of the question.

[duncann]

I can appreciate where you're coming from. But I know exactly what I'm missing by no longer running. I'm missing great pain and inflammation in my arthritic knees and ankles, reduced mobility, increased limping, a substantial diet of prescription pain medication, and an earlier-than-necessary knee replacement.

 

Good luck with your goal. I'm under 70 and I can still golf but walking the course is increasingly difficult. A cart is now my friend. Running is out of the question.

 

I can see you've learned a new perspective about running. I'm sympathetic to losing something you've gotten enjoyment from because of conditions beyond your control. Hopefully I won't have to learn what you have. Although my mom has gone through two hip and two knee replacements. If I have any of her genes that inflicted that upon here, I won't be a happy camper. So far so good.

[bsd512]

I'll be 51 in May, and also a cancer surviver - well, the verdict is still out on that, I have a few years to go before they declare me as "survived".  But just wanna say - running is great, I do that - but racing dirt bikes is an immensely intensive cardio, core, legs, and arm workout. Nothing like a 2-hour race in full sprint mode over rough terrain on a dirt bike to totally and completely drain you. Not to mention it completely frees your mind from the stresses of the outside world due to the focus required which is immensely therapeutic. For those able, I highly recommend it. :)

 

I don't gig, but I can imagine that the feeling of butterflies and adrenaline of being on the starting line of a dead-engine start, total silence - you can hear a pin drop, then hearing the "30 seconds" call-out over the megaphone, then "10 seconds", then anticipating the flag drop to kick the bike to life and lay on the throttle to beat your buddy's to the first turn must be similar to the feeling of stepping out on the stage.

 

There are classes for every age and skill level - I race the old man class. It's still very competitive and you have to be in really good shape to be competitive.  Those old guys have a lot of experience and can really haul the mail, and, of course, age and treachery beats youth and enthusiasm every time. :)

[mrkphpps]

I didn't get the POD, but did come through XT live, X3 live and HD 500. I did gig for a while (still remember the day I was using HD through FOH with monitors and the monitor conked out). But I can't claim cancer or pulmonary embolism - more life to you Amsdenj - however you choose to live it. Hope to see a grandchild myself someday.

[cclement]

I'm also an HD500X convert (and POD2.0, XTLive, X3Live), and I really tried to make it work. But I always felt one small tweak away from something that would work, but could never get there. With Helix its the opposite. There's a wide range of things that are just different but work just fine.

 

 

Definitely this. Tweaking the sounds I had on the HD - while at rehearsal - was such a PITA. Typically I would just take notes and then fix stuff later at home with the editor. But with Helix.. it's just super easy. I had a new patch that I needed to add a gain boost at the end of my chain for solos...BOOM... done. Assign it to the foot-switch... BOOM.

 

I started with the Ax-Sys 212, then to the AX2 with a chip upgrade and new knobs/sticker (firmware update.. whats that?), then the Vetta II, then HD500X.. and now the Helix. Various Fender and JC120 rigs pre-date all this Line 6 shenanigans ;)

[specracer986]

Does anyone else see the irony in the fact that all of us "older" musicians (I'm 64) choose to use the hi-tech modeling approach while all the "tech-savvy" youngsters are still playing around with tube amps and vinyl records???

I felt this irony this morning. I left my Variax off to get some work done. I told him that I needed it for a gig next Friday and didn't want to have to go back to using a regular guitar because I had all of my volume, tone, models and tuning, programmed into my Helix. As I left, I thought, that must sound odd coming from a 66 year old guy.

[silverhead]

I recently met a 20-something year aspiring musician who was describing how thrilled he is to have found some old analog 4-track cassette recording system (Tascam or Fostex - can't remember which. Anybody remember those?).

 

He was marvelling at the saturated sounds he is able to get but lamenting that his supply of cassettes is limited. Apparently it's not that easy to find the old double-sided stereo cassettes in Bias-II format. I looked in my old storage cabinets and found an unopened pack of 8 cassettes and gave them to him. He's thrilled!

[tedulrich]

Does anyone else see the irony in the fact that all of us "older" musicians (I'm 64) choose to use the hi-tech modeling approach while all the "tech-savvy" youngsters are still playing around with tube amps and vinyl records???

 

The novelty of the "quick fix".  A lot of them think they can jack straight into that Page or Hendrix sound but don't realize the amount of experimentation and tweaking those guys did to get their sounds.

 

I think it's a matter of how much our back hurts after moving around amps and cabs for so many years :D

 

2x12 combos were my drug of choice for ages, the last of which was a Mesa Boogie Heartbreaker (Backbreaker).  While I was a tad sad to see it go, I wasn't sad to know it was the last time I'd be sore for a week after getting that beast in and out of my Jeep. 

 

The magic of "vintage" has worn off long ago. I love having everything I need in one box. If it's not in there, I really don't "need" it anyway. 

 

THIS.  For someone like myself that gets "tone bored" in a hurry and likes to play with a lot of different styles and sounds, I could go broke getting separate gear for 10% of what I like to mess with. 

 

I recently met a 20-something year aspiring musician who was describing how thrilled he is to have found some old analog 4-track cassette recording system (Tascam or Fostex - can't remember which. Anybody remember those?).

 

He was marvelling at the saturated sounds he is able to get but lamenting that his supply of cassettes is limited. Apparently it's not that easy to find the old double-sided stereo cassettes in Bias-II format. I looked in my old storage cabinets and found an unopened pack of 8 cassettes and gave them to him. He's thrilled!

 

Oh I CLEARLY remember those little four trackers, especially as a teenager lamenting about how 'expensive' they were, especially when the high dollar tapeless digital units first started appearing.  It's so amusing now to see one of these things pop up on Craigslist for $20 or $50 or so depending on model, generally from someone that found one in a storage unit auction.