cliftonclyde Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 I am in serious need of some help. I have the Line 6 helix. I was playing it through a Mesa Boogie Mark V 35 amp. I spent a whole weekend trying to get a nice, tight metal tone. The tone sounds good, except when I mute chords...I get this muddy tone that I cannot get rid of. I tried using the effects loop, plugging into the return, and even plugging in the front. Messing around with the EQ. I get very little bass, and when I do increase it, it sounds so muddy. I am trying to get a tone like George Lynch...and playing Mr Scary on the beginning muted notes, and sounds like trash. So after paying 1500 dollars for the Helix, and 1800 dollars for the head, I went and purchased the Line 6 power cab. I still get muddy results. I know it must be something I am doing. I have used a Strat with a Shawbucker, An ESP with EMG 81 and an 85. Can anyone give me advice on how to clean up my tone? I just spent the weekend and looking at lots of YouTube vids and just cannot achieve it. So, I just ordered a Horizon Precision pedal that is supposed to help "tighten" my tone...That was also 230 bucks. Help! I am going broke chasing my tone! Charlie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_hotch Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 I also use EMGs, and note that their hot output can often be an issue. Do you have input padding on? Try lowering the guitar volume and see if that makes a difference. Otherwise, I would focus on low-cut filters or more focused EQ cuts. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliftonclyde Posted October 22, 2018 Author Share Posted October 22, 2018 5 minutes ago, j_hotch said: I also use EMGs, and note that their hot output can often be an issue. Do you have input padding on? Try lowering the guitar volume and see if that makes a difference. Otherwise, I would focus on low-cut filters or more focused EQ cuts. Good luck! I will try that. It seems like it does it for all my gutars. I think I tried input padding...I usually play cranked volume on my guitars. Do you lower the volume of your guitar when you play? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunpointmetal Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 11 minutes ago, cliftonclyde said: I am in serious need of some help. I have the Line 6 helix. I was playing it through a Mesa Boogie Mark V 35 amp. I spent a whole weekend trying to get a nice, tight metal tone. The tone sounds good, except when I mute chords...I get this muddy tone that I cannot get rid of. I tried using the effects loop, plugging into the return, and even plugging in the front. Messing around with the EQ. I get very little bass, and when I do increase it, it sounds so muddy. I am trying to get a tone like George Lynch...and playing Mr Scary on the beginning muted notes, and sounds like trash. So after paying 1500 dollars for the Helix, and 1800 dollars for the head, I went and purchased the Line 6 power cab. I still get muddy results. I know it must be something I am doing. I have used a Strat with a Shawbucker, An ESP with EMG 81 and an 85. Can anyone give me advice on how to clean up my tone? I just spent the weekend and looking at lots of YouTube vids and just cannot achieve it. So, I just ordered a Horizon Precision pedal that is supposed to help "tighten" my tone...That was also 230 bucks. Help! I am going broke chasing my tone! Charlie What amp model/cab model/mic model are you using? There's nothing that Precision Drive can do that you can't do inside the Helix (it's basically a TS9 with a gate built in and and a sharper mid-range peak), so you should be able to get 99% of the way there without any additional pedals. Things to keep in mind when you're running with Mesa and a real guitar cab is to turn off cab modeling on the Helix and go into the FX return if you plan on using the amp models in the Helix (stacking preamps and speaker cabs is gonna be mud city) and with the power cab make sure its in Full-Range mode if you're using the cab models on the Helix, or make sure the cab models are OFF on the helix if you're using speaker modeling on the PowerCab. If the Mesa was getting you most of the way there on its own, maybe try running it in four-cable-method and using a boost/comp/OD before the amp and an EQ in the loop to sculpt it. I use EMGs and really hot Seymour duncan pickups on my guitars and the Input Pad can help, but I don't find it to be necessary for a tight tone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_hotch Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 2 hours ago, cliftonclyde said: I will try that. It seems like it does it for all my gutars. I think I tried input padding...I usually play cranked volume on my guitars. Do you lower the volume of your guitar when you play? I usually leave my volume at 8/10, to have a bit in the tank if needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliftonclyde Posted October 22, 2018 Author Share Posted October 22, 2018 Thanks for all the responses...I will try them when I get off from work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiggerOne Posted October 23, 2018 Share Posted October 23, 2018 Have you tried plugging your guitar into the aux in? Which amp/cab are you using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliftonclyde Posted October 23, 2018 Author Share Posted October 23, 2018 Thanks for all the responses. I took all the suggestions here and finally found the tone I was chasing. I used the ANGL METEOR amp, tweaked it some, then added a few pedals. I now have a super tight, aggressive tone. This is the tone that I have been dreaming of. I will post it on the Line 6 site for download when I get a chance. I am really happy that I have been a long supporter of Line 6 since I got the Spider II a long time ago. The Helix is simply amazing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bsd512 Posted October 23, 2018 Share Posted October 23, 2018 Awesome amp! One of my favorites in the Helix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lachdanan0121 Posted October 23, 2018 Share Posted October 23, 2018 4 hours ago, cliftonclyde said: Thanks for all the responses. I took all the suggestions here and finally found the tone I was chasing. I used the ANGL METEOR amp, tweaked it some, then added a few pedals. I now have a super tight, aggressive tone. This is the tone that I have been dreaming of. I will post it on the Line 6 site for download when I get a chance. I am really happy that I have been a long supporter of Line 6 since I got the Spider II a long time ago. The Helix is simply amazing. I am glad you were able to work it out. When I first got my Helix I was having woofy-fart problems with my high gain tones with Helix. I haven't been dabbling in mix engineering very long before I got it, and I was mainly just home recording before that with 11R, and Pods. Now, as I have learn to dial in so much over time I have the best guitar tones I have ever dialed in, and I will continue to improve in that regard. Same with Helix Native, better actually with Native cause I can automate almost anything in it. 1 hour ago, bsd512 said: Awesome amp! One of my favorites in the Helix. I just recently dialed in a tone with the 1 Engl amp in the Helix (the ANGL METEOR) cause it is quite nice. This is also one reason why I really want them to add another Engl Amp to the Helix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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