the input pad / impedance setting

[MarkSalore]

Looking for some guidance and opinions with two parameters in the helix.
1 – the input pad
2- the impedance setting on the input Block

I have never played around with either one of these and I was wondering what people suggest.
I have a telecaster with a Joe Barden pick up which is technically a humbucker.

I’ve always been utilizing my high cut in the speaker cabinet and the EQ block anywhere between 3.5 and 6K. 
I’ve always had a hard time cutting out the harshness on the high end.
I’ve noticed both of these things seem to cut off the brashness and the high end.
The input pad when on the seams to get some of the edginess up off the high end....nothing too drastic, but pleasing to my ear since I’ve spent so much time trying to dial out the harshness of the high end. 

Does anybody know exactly what the input pad does in terms of how it actually affects the sound?
Also how does the impedance variations affect the sound as well?
Looking forward to your responses

[DunedinDragon]

On Auto your input impedance is determined by the first block in the signal chain, otherwise it's set to whatever impedance value to set on the input block.  I personally leave mine set to Auto and I've never had any problems with any of my guitars.  It could be that on very hot pickups it could make a difference, the most dramatic difference in getting rid of high end harshness will be your cab/IR, mic, and mic placements.  Getting that part right is your best first step.  From there I would suggest a technique promoted by Jason Sadites of placing a Parametric EQ toward the end of your signal chain and using it's high and low cuts and possibly tweaking other areas to get rid of harshness and polish your tone.  The reason for that is the  high and low cuts in the Parametric EQ are steeper than those in the cab blocks.  Using these two approaches (cab/IR + mic, Parametric EQ) if I need high cuts they generally are around 8 to 9 Khz and sometimes aren't even really  needed at all.

 

Just for your reference I most typically use a mix of an R121 ribbon mic and MD421 dynamic mic for most of my presets.  On stock cabs increasing the distance removes harshness.  On IRs selecting a distance further out from the cap of the speaker has the same effect.

[MarkSalore]

Thank you for the reply

What’s your opinion on using the input pad?

[BBD_123]

1 hour ago, MarkSalore said:

What’s your opinion on using the input pad?

 

I'd be surprised if you needed it with the Joe Bartons. AFAIK it's really for silly-hot humbuckers of the metal persuasion. It should be enough if you do what Dunedin suggests (per Sadites) and cut the overbite with your careful choice of cab and mic and mic distance, and if necessary a further high cut with a PEQ rather than the speaker block. You can use the Hi/Lo Cut EQ block instead of the PEQ if you want, as it has the same steep cut IIRC. 

[cruisinon2]

1 hour ago, MarkSalore said:

Thank you for the reply

What’s your opinion on using the input pad?

 

Personally, I've never found a need to use the pad. It's usually only necessary if you have active pickups, but a higher output passive pickup might drive some amp model(s) a bit too much under certain circumstances, resulting in the harsh high end you've experienced. 

 

But active pickups or no, the end result is all that matters. As you can see, there are numerous ways to deal with brittle highs that modelers sometimes produce... and in the end, there's really no "best" way to do it...trust your ears, and use whatever method is easiest to wrap your head around. If you like the way things sound with the pad on, leave it on...

[themetallikid]

Not to hi-jack the thread, but the input pad has captured some of my thoughts as well.  I play through a Sennheiser EW172 (?) wireless.  At a previous show I noticed that for years I've had the output set to +18db (it goes in 6db increments) and this attributed to a lot of my signal/noise issues I'm guessing.  I knocked it back to 0 for the sake of recalibrating. 

 

I'm playing with EMG's and it seemed like with it at 0, I was not getting the same signal strength as with a cable direct....so between sets I bumped it to +6db.  This got me closer, but it still seems to be lacking in some signal punch reaching the Helix compared to cable.  I'm afraid to go to +12 and it being overkill....

 

with that in mind, would the input pad help balance going up to +12? or am I reaching for a solution in the wrong area?  

[MarkSalore]

if I put the input pad on and I notice some of the very high-end seems to be diminished does that mean I I am clipping the input?

I'm not sure if it is digital distortion or not but I can clearly notice a difference in the very high-end

I guess my question here is if I can notice a difference in the tone quality with the input pad on does that mean it should be left on and I should I just might settings and tones from there?

[cruisinon2]

2 hours ago, MarkSalore said:

I guess my question here is if I can notice a difference in the tone quality with the input pad on does that mean it should be left on and I should I just might settings and tones from there?

 

Again,  it's really not a "right" or "wrong" thing. Every nip and tuck t that you make will impact your sound to a greater or lesser extent...and no, merely noticing a difference in the sound doesn't "prove" that you're clipping the input. Plus, the absence of onboard input metering in Helix makes it basically impossible to prove one way or the other anyway. It doesn't much matter though..."Does it sound good?" is the only question that really needs answering. As long as the answer is "yes", who cares how you got there? 

 

Regarding any individual parameter setting, there are precious few situations to which the one and only answer is "No, you can't do that"...