Software vs pedal sounds

[idbedave]

How much different are the pedal sounds vs the software? 

 

I'm a former L6 Podhd, firehawk etc. player who is considering the Helix but didn't care for the software recently released when I used it in logic. 

 

I dinked around with a few other pedals but haven't been happy. Headrush, GT100. The boss isn't bad but a bit dated. 

 

Dave

[cruisinon2]

How much different are the pedal sounds vs the software?

 

I'm a former L6 Podhd, firehawk etc. player who is considering the Helix but didn't care for the software recently released when I used it in logic.

 

I dinked around with a few other pedals but haven't been happy. Headrush, GT100. The boss isn't bad but a bit dated.

 

Dave

This question will have any one of a thousand answers, depending on who you ask. Trust me when I say that you'll gather exactly zero insight this way. You hafta spend time with the unit yourself...lots of time.

 

Plus, if you've already fooled around with a bunch of other products and found them to be lacking compared to their analog counterparts, there is the distinct possibility that modeling just isn't for you. Some guys never warm up to it...and that's OK. It ain't for everybody.

[spikey]

Helix was and is the 1st product Line 6 has ever made (besides the Vetta) that made me do a double take when I first heard it. I know you asked about the pedals but with Helix you really need to listen to the "Amp" tones 1st, and the pedals second. Not to say the fx are bad, far from it. Its just that (for my ears) the older PodHD and GT100 cant compare, not even on the same planet as Helix is tone wise. Oh yea, and it has nice FX built into it as well.  ;)

[zooey]

If you didn't like the Helix Native software (that's what you meant, yes?), you probably won't like the hardware either, since they're pretty identical sonically, as I understand it.

 

OTOH, you need to give yourself some real time with it. Took me a while to find my happy place in there, but now I have a lot of them. Great unit IMO.

[rzumwalt]

And if you are testing Helix Native by playing live through your computer, you have to be getting at least some lag, which is nonexistent on the hardware unit.

[shanecgriffo]

monitoring is a factor too, if you are just using small computer speakers to listen to the software you may be missing out

[cruisinon2]

And if you are testing Helix Native by playing live through your computer, you have to be getting at least some lag, which is nonexistent on the hardware unit.

I've had no latency issues with Native.

[jbuhajla]

If you tried Native just on its own with some 3rd party interface as your guitar input, then you are missing quite a bit of the equation. The input on the Helix hardware makes a big difference. 

 

IMO, the effects (especially the drives) are indistinguishable from the original analog. This is the first unit that I have ever played or heard that sounds and FEELS like the real thing. 

[idbedave]

Thanks for the insights folks. When I tested the software it was on the nice 8" yamaha monitors. Forget their name, but their best active. 

 

I've been without amps now for over a decade. I wander from one to another always looking for great basic sounds and easier to use. I do my own sound often either solo or with a band so I monitor the mains while playing with a monitor (not a monitor mix) so I like not using an amp as it would color the actual FOH mix. Plus, I hate dragging around an amp. 

 

Moore came out with a cute pedal called the GE200 with a really big window. Much larger window than the Boss GT1 but I like the Boss's sounds better. 

 

Not real wild about a big pedal. I tried the Headrush but it was huge and heavy. Plus I wasn't digging the sounds for a 1k item. 

 

Used my firehawk for 3 years but would like to be able to reach down and tweak things easier. 

 

I really don't use that wild of effects. I like a basic fender clean, a marshall slightly gritty and then overdrive on both at times. Give me some delay for a solo and the occasional wah and I'm set. 

 

So the bare amp sounds are the most important to me. 

 

I wish someone would focus on a pedal somewhere between the Boss GT1 size and the Helix size. An in between. LARGE window, easy to use and good basic sounds. The GT1 etc. need about 2 more footswitches. 

 

Sometimes I play keys also so I have a keyboard and stand in front of me, my lyrics on an ipad (attached to a mic stand) and then the mic stand for vox, and of course some pedalboard. So a large pedalboard takes up a lot of real estate I don't have. 

 

If this Helix is the ticket I may use it for home recording and stick to the smaller GT1 for live use saving the Helix for the cool gigs maybe. lol! 

[DunedinDragon]

Thanks for the insights folks. When I tested the software it was on the nice 8" yamaha monitors. Forget their name, but their best active. 

 

I've been without amps now for over a decade. I wander from one to another always looking for great basic sounds and easier to use. I do my own sound often either solo or with a band so I monitor the mains while playing with a monitor (not a monitor mix) so I like not using an amp as it would color the actual FOH mix. Plus, I hate dragging around an amp. 

 

 

The underlined statement above is the key thing that struck me.

 

Easier to use can have a lot of different definitions.  One definition can be just plug it in and twist a knob or two and you're done.  Another definition is being able to accomplish some fairly complex things easily.  In the modeling world these two things would be different categories, and Helix would definitely be more in the latter category.

 

Getting a sound you'll be satisfied with can have a lot of complexity to it in the modeling world.  Not all modeling units allow you the freedom to access and change all of those parameters.  High end units like the Helix provide you with the ability to design at a pretty intricate level to get precisely the sound you're looking for, and it does it with an interface that's miles beyond other modelers in this category in terms of making it easy to do it.  That's very different from "plugin-and-play" easy, but far more powerful.

 

There is no doubt you can get the precise sound you want with the Helix if you want to invest the time and effort to master all the elements.  You can achieve a very satisfying sound pretty easily without a lot of effort.  But it sounds like you may have had some history of being disappointed in the sound you've gotten from modelers. In cheaper categories that can happen.  If it happens on the Helix that really falls into your hands because you will have all the tools you need to fix it if you learn to use them.