sablejon Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 I need help!!! After playing acoustic guitar for 35 years, I am pretty new to electric and amplifiers, etc. I absolutely love my Helix and the tones are perfect through the headphones. But, when I plug it straight into my Fender Twin Reverb Amp, Fender Deluxe Reverb Amp, or my Kustom Profile Portable PA System; the tone is missing a lot of the tone distinctions like the ambience effects, etc. I run the amps very clean, but it is still missing something. I would be very grateful for any suggestions to help. Equipment that I need, different amplifiers that work well, Helix adjustments that I need to make. Anything that could make the sounds that I hear through the headphones come through. Thanks!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinon2 Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 1 hour ago, sablejon said: I need help!!! After playing acoustic guitar for 35 years, I am pretty new to electric and amplifiers, etc. I absolutely love my Helix and the tones are perfect through the headphones. But, when I plug it straight into my Fender Twin Reverb Amp, Fender Deluxe Reverb Amp, or my Kustom Profile Portable PA System; the tone is missing a lot of the tone distinctions like the ambience effects, etc. I run the amps very clean, but it is still missing something. I would be very grateful for any suggestions to help. Equipment that I need, different amplifiers that work well, Helix adjustments that I need to make. Anything that could make the sounds that I hear through the headphones come through. Thanks!!! Anytime you change how you're monitoring your sound, your tone is gonna change... sometimes drastically. Headphones and the kinds of speakers found in the typical guitar amp have frequency responses that are worlds apart... they're just not designed to do the same thing. You wouldn't wasn't to listen to music, or mix a multitrack recording through a guitar amp. Similarly, the wider range and flat response of most good studio reference headphones are generally not all that friendly to a guitar modeler without some fairly steep high and low cuts, at a minimum. As such, you'll never have much luck taking a patch tweaked for headphones and running it into a guitar amp... you won't get anything close to the same tone. It also sounds like you're running straight into the front of the amp, as opposed to going into an FX return... this further complicates things, as you now have a modeled amp, cabinet, and microphone being pumped through the tone stack of another amp...coloring everything you went to the trouble of tweaking through your headphones. It's not really the ideal way to run this kind of device... not impossible either, but it comes with its own unique set of issues. Going into your PA should produce results closer to what you get with your headphones, as the frequency responses should at least be similar...but even then, some adjustments will likely be necessary. And of course, the volume that you're doing all of this at will factor in as well. There are no "one size fits all" fixes for this problem... it's something we all deal with. For two monitoring methods as different as the ones you're attempting to use, you can expect to have to rework the patches considerably to make it work... the same way you went about dialing in sounds that you like with the cans, is what you'll have to do with the amp... through trial and error, EQ-ing to suit the output device until you like what you hear. Most of us end up with different sets of patches for use with different monitoring methods....I keep 3 set lists going... one for headphones, another for my studio monitors, and the ones I use live. It's really the only workable solution, unless you want to be constantly editing ever time you plug into something different. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rd2rk Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 If you want to use the Helix with your Fender amps (no fx loop), think of the Helix as a traditional pedal board. Don't use Helix amps or cabs, just use the fx. Running through your PA gets you into the realm of FRFR (Full Range Flat Response). In theory, FRFR systems are designed to not color the sound - what comes in is what goes out. In real life, however, it doesn't work out that way. Even if the amplifier section is clean, all speaker cabs color the sound to a greater or lesser extent. You didn't specify which Kustom Profile system you have, so I've no idea of the speaker configuration, but if you're a play-at-home/jam with friends only person it should be ok for starters. If you want to get the best out of the Helix and/or you play professionally, you'll definitely want a better system. L6 has just released the Powercab series. The Alto TS310/312 powered speakers are decent and affordable. The Headrush FRFR112 (what I have) is essentially a TS312 without mic preamps. Lots of people here use the Yamaha DXR10/12 series as well as the JBL EON and QSC K series. If you've got really deep pockets, there's other guitar specific FRFR solutions available (Friedman ASM12. Atomic CLR, others). Bottom line - what are your needs (amateur/pro) and how much ya wanna spend? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sablejon Posted August 27, 2018 Author Share Posted August 27, 2018 Thanks Cruisinon2! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sablejon Posted August 27, 2018 Author Share Posted August 27, 2018 Thanks rd2rk! That helps a lot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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