Using Helix as effect pedal only...Help

[bubba871x]

I know to many of your this is a super basic question but I am fairly new to Helix. So if want to set different effects chains for various songs and to run into my EVH 5150 III head in the effects loop, is it as simple as creating a patch with no amp and no cabinet? Can you even do that?

 

 

[amsdenj]

There's really three basic options. The simplest is to use Helix as a front of the amp pedalboard. Do this like you would any pedalboard. Jeff McErlain has a nice course on guitar effect pedals for front of the amp. I highly recommend it for a lot of good ideas. In this case, there will usually be no amp or cabinet models, that's what your amp is doing. Also, depending on your amp and channel setup, you might use quite different configurations for gain staging and distortion.

 

At the other extreme, if your amp has an Effects Return or Poweramp input, you can bypass your's amps preamps altogether and use Helix for your whole signal chain - except for the cabinet. This is different than the previous case because you are using a Helix amp model and have more choice about where you put effects before the amp/distoration and after the amp. Your guitar amp is still providing the speaker model.

 

Then there's the 4CM hybrid approach where you are using Helix for front of the amp effects, using your guitar amp's preamps and distortion channels, and putting other Helix effects (after preamp distortion effects) between your amp's preamp and power amp. This is very flexible and makes the most use of Helix and your guitar amp.