Live Rig Set-up

[ddmilne]

Over the past week or so I have gone from blasting Helix to making headway. It , for sure , is a lot of work. Can we have a discussion that pertains to rattiness on overdrives and getting clear tight sounds out of most amp models. I have finally had some success and I am encouraged. But I could use the benefit of everyones experience in getting to understand what parameters have the best affect with bring clarity to the amp models and distortion models. I guess I am still struggling with warming tones up, but no where near as has been the case when I started. So I am not bashing the product , it has tons of great features.Also, I am presently using a powered P.A monitor form L&M that is apparently full range. SO we are not dealing with the amps. But I do need to find out how to run this as a live rig . Thanks to everyone that has seen past the frustration and focused on providing me with constructive feedback. 

[aaronlyon]

Make sure you have amp, cabinet, and mic modules in the signal path. Set the high cut for the cabinet model in the range of 6K-10K to taste, to remove fizziness.

 

That’s all I’ve had to do. I send XLR out, line level, to our Behringer X32 mixer, out to whatever PA system we’re using.

 

I also use a second path in the Helix to send a signal without the cabinet and mic emulation to a 400 watt solid state power amp into my 1x12 guitar cabinet for on-stage volume.

 

[DunedinDragon]

One of the more common problems I see for many users is the overuse of gain and overdrive.  Once you step into the world of full range speakers where there's a lot more clarity and less mushiness, too much gain and overdrive can have some annoying artifacts.  So a little restraint can get you what you want without the trashiness.  If you're dealing with high gain sounds the amp BIAS can also be a great friend for either increasing articulation by turning it up, or increasing warmth and blending by turning it down.  That applies as well to clean and mid-gain tones as well.

 

When you say clear, tight sounds I immediately associate that with compressors, and mostly with the LA Studio Comp when placed at the end of a signal chain.  This is a very common technique used in studio recording, but applies just as well to live performances with Helix using a full range powered speaker.  It takes a little bit to understand how to best use the parameters.  The default parameters are reasonably close other than gain which I normally need to bring down to between 4.5 to 6.  The idea being to have roughly the same overall volume as you have when it's off.  But when it's turned on everything is much more full.  Peak Reduction is the key parameter for how much compression you want.  The default value is pretty good although I will often go higher or lower depending on the sound I'm after.  The Mix parameter is particularly useful in determining how much compression you want mixed with the uncompressed signal and that's one that I vary quite a bit depending on the type of sound I want in the patch.  Bear in mind that higher gain tones are already pretty compressed so it won't be as useful on those types of sounds.

 

Everyone is a bit different in how they approach building their patches, but for me I'm much more effective if I get most of my overall tone dialed in with the amp, cabinet, mic choice(s) and mic placement(s).  This is where starting with the best amp for the sound you want is crucial.  You can spend a ton of time tinkering to get the tone you want when a simple change in the amp, or cab, or mic choice and placement would fix it.  If you get those things correct, everything else tends to fall into place after that.

 

If you haven't yet viewed Jason Sadites video on building great tone, you really need to familiarize yourself with his techniques.  They're very simple, straightforward and very effective at getting the tones you're after.  This one is particularly good.