Fabioclaudio Posted July 6, 2017 Share Posted July 6, 2017 Usually I build my presets during night, so most of the time I find myself using Headphones, so as far as I put a Stereo Block at the end of the chain, the sound reaching my ears is wonderful, deep, with no harshness or noises. But if I put a mono block and make the whole path mono, it starts to sound awful, and not "clean" and smooth anymore. What's the best choice to make it sound better? leave it Stereo in headphones? I'm also wondering how it would sound in a Mono FRFR speaker....I'm puzzled.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rvroberts Posted July 6, 2017 Share Posted July 6, 2017 I build my presets much like you do. I have a global EQ that seems to work very well for giving me the sound I expect at volume. Mostly I play stereo, but when the FOH will only give me one channel or is running in mono, I just go out of the left output. (I actually still use my 2 FRFR boxes on stage but I loop from one through to the other so they are both getting mono - means the same volume settings work) That automatically sums the left and right channels and gives a perfectly good mixed channel sound. If you only plug into the left output you get that by default. Still sounds pretty good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DunedinDragon Posted July 6, 2017 Share Posted July 6, 2017 There's not enough information here to give you any feedback. "Awful" is a pretty broad statement and without understanding what your signal chain consists of it's hard to provide anything useful. As far as stereo versus mono, there's quite a few, if not most of us, that use the Helix for live performances that only use it in mono as stereo isn't practical in live environments and are quite happy with our sound. Obviously comparing a stereo effect to a non stereo effect stereo will be considerably fuller, but nothing should be changing in the basic tone of amp, cab, or mic. Maybe just be a bit more specific about what sounds awful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabioclaudio Posted July 6, 2017 Author Share Posted July 6, 2017 There's not enough information here to give you any feedback. "Awful" is a pretty broad statement and without understanding what your signal chain consists of it's hard to provide anything useful. As far as stereo versus mono, there's quite a few, if not most of us, that use the Helix for live performances that only use it in mono as stereo isn't practical in live environments and are quite happy with our sound. Obviously comparing a stereo effect to a non stereo effect stereo will be considerably fuller, but nothing should be changing in the basic tone of amp, cab, or mic. Maybe just be a bit more specific about what sounds awful. It's just like it's not "clean" anymore. atm I'm trying to nail the tone of U2's where the streets have no name and if I play intro arpeggio in stereo mode, it sounds smooth and clean and well defined, while it sounds awful if I put a mono block at the end, making the preset mono in my headphones...less distinct delay repeats and very "noisy" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DunedinDragon Posted July 6, 2017 Share Posted July 6, 2017 It's just like it's not "clean" anymore. atm I'm trying to nail the tone of U2's where the streets have no name and if I play intro arpeggio in stereo mode, it sounds smooth and clean and well defined, while it sounds awful if I put a mono block at the end, making the preset mono in my headphones...less distinct delay repeats and very "noisy" You didn't mention what type of delay you're using, but depending on the delay you will have a headroom parameter. Have you tried adjusting that upward? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabioclaudio Posted July 6, 2017 Author Share Posted July 6, 2017 You didn't mention what type of delay you're using, but depending on the delay you will have a headroom parameter. Have you tried adjusting that upward? I'm using Mod Chorus Echo on main path - 354 ms - mix 50% - feedback 40% - (no headroom parameter) with a simple delay on same path A, but in parallel with a/b split - 236 ms - mix 35-40% - 10%feedback, both merging to a plate reverb before main output It seems quite like a signal overclipping, but even adjusting volume under 0db, doesn't change much. Maybe it's only that Headphones are good for stereo? or maybe that I shall buy higher impedance ones, such as 250ohm? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joepeggio Posted July 7, 2017 Share Posted July 7, 2017 A few suggestions...... 1) Open a blank, "New Preset". Plug in guitar and play with headphones. Any distortion? 2) Put a mono block (mono gain block) in the path, any distortion? 3) How much louder is the preset you made that distorts vs the guitar only version? I always create my patches so that they are about unity gain with just my guitar alone. There is a little boost when i push some drive pedals for leads Etc, but not too much. I find most of the Line 6 default levels are too high. I generally turn done the "Ch Vol" to adjust the output. I hope some of this my solve your issue and its not a hardware problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erniedenov Posted July 7, 2017 Share Posted July 7, 2017 There's not enough information here to give you any feedback. "Awful" is a pretty broad statement and without understanding what your signal chain consists of it's hard to provide anything useful. As far as stereo versus mono, there's quite a few, if not most of us, that use the Helix for live performances that only use it in mono as stereo isn't practical in live environments and are quite happy with our sound. Obviously comparing a stereo effect to a non stereo effect stereo will be considerably fuller, but nothing should be changing in the basic tone of amp, cab, or mic. Maybe just be a bit more specific about what sounds awful. I initially made my patches in stereo with my in-ear monitors, but retweaked them for my FRFR powered speaker in mono. As DD says, stereo is often not practical on gigs; not only because sometimes there's not enough channels on the mixing board, but also because with the 10 to 14 piece bands I play with, there's often not enough room on stage for two powered speakers, especially if I want to spread them apart enough to hear the stereo effect. And for that reason, I don't have two powered FRFRs anyway. At first I just used the left output to sum to mono, but I found that some of the stereo effects just didn't sound that great summed to mono, particularly modulation effects. So I went back and redid those effects from the mono list and with a little tweaking, got them to sound good in that setting. The reverbs don't have a mono option, but they're not as problematic. I know it can be anticlimactic having to hear your glorious stereo sounds reduced to mono, but life can be a series of compromises sometimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinon2 Posted July 7, 2017 Share Posted July 7, 2017 ...but life can be a series of compromises sometimes. Sometimes? Lol... if it were only sometimes, Tony Robbins would be out of a job. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabioclaudio Posted August 10, 2017 Author Share Posted August 10, 2017 A few suggestions...... 1) Open a blank, "New Preset". Plug in guitar and play with headphones. Any distortion? 2) Put a mono block (mono gain block) in the path, any distortion? 3) How much louder is the preset you made that distorts vs the guitar only version? I always create my patches so that they are about unity gain with just my guitar alone. There is a little boost when i push some drive pedals for leads Etc, but not too much. I find most of the Line 6 default levels are too high. I generally turn done the "Ch Vol" to adjust the output. I hope some of this my solve your issue and its not a hardware problem. nice clue! I'll try it. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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