Another Speaker/Amp Question

[justinsavs]

Hello! I recently bought a Line 6 Helix, and am absolutely in love with it. There is way more that I want to do with it, including getting myself more pedals to go with it outside of it's preset tones and effects.  I also have a Spider Valve MKII That I've used in the past (and love it almost as much as the Helix) and was wondering If it would be okay to use the effects return part of the amp to use as a practice speaker since I do not have the finances to go and just buy a speaker at the moment. I know that it isn't ideal since the Helix works best with an FRFR Speaker cab. It's got the Celestion Vintage 30s in it. Anyone think that it would color the sound too much from what it would sound like in a FOH situation? I play for a church and my tones are pretty much perfect for what I want there. I haven't tried this yet since I'm typing this up on my lunch break at work. Anyways thanks all who reply to this!

[jws1982]

No, the spider valve will not make a good pa-style speaker sound.  Use it for practicing by turning off your cab sim or IR on the helix patch, then plugging into the effect return.   Many people do this for their main setup.    I used a pod hd500x and a spider valve 112 together on stage for years.   

[ADBrown]

Running Helix intro your Spider Valve MKii will be a different sounding experience than running to FOH. As jws1982 mentioned, try turning the cab sim off on Helix and running into your effects loop. A lot of players will use the 4 cable method when going this route, using a digital preamp in Helix with the power section of your amp. This also lets you put effects in front of your amp as well as in the effects loop. There's plenty of diagrams online for "4cm" and also a 4cm preset in the templates setlist.