Line 6 Helix Tone | Metal Tone for Standard E and Drop D tuned Guitars using Ownhammer Impulses

[thenickhill81]

Hey guys. I've had some requests for a heavy tone that can be used for a Standard or Drop D tuned guitar. I came up with this. Hope you guys like it. I experimented a bit with this tone using two signal paths to blend together. Each path uses the PV Panama model. Per usual, I used Ownhammer Impulses. It is a blend of OH 412 ENG V30 421-FRED and OH 212 ZLSF V30 OH1-05 More details to come in the tone explanation video later this week. Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and Xmas.

 

 

[jjRocker]

Sounds very good, awesome tone and playing!

What is your signal chain (audio interface, pickups …) ?

Any chance for posting the preset ?

[WarringtonCJ]

If you're just going to use an impulse response then I don't really see a point in using helix native in the first place, especially emulating a 5150. There are a lot of cheaper/free alternatives, so you really only have to buy the impulse. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if the PV Panama head was just straight up reused from the POD HD in all honesty. If I still owned a POD HD and had the native trial I could test this theory.  I'm not bashing the Helix (arguably Line 6's best product) or you, just want people to know that if you're just going to be using 1 or 2 heads (like most metal guys) and using 3rd party impulse responses then the Helix is extremely overpriced in that application and i recommend exploring other options. You'd be surprised how easily something extremely cheap like a TSE50x/Nick Crowe 7170/Kazrog Psycho can compete with something like the helix/axe-fx when using the same impulse response, especially in a mix. 

 

The heads are really easy to get right, the cabs are not and the cab/IR is where the majority of the tone is going to come from. The rest coming from your playing, which as Brian Hood said "Pick like a B*tch, get B*tch tone". I wouldn't really consider this a "helix tone", but it's a good plug for Ownhammer impulses I guess. 

 

As for the guy above me wanting a preset, don't fall for that trap mate. You don't have his signal flow or his picking hand and chances are his preset is not going to give you anywhere near the results in the video without some serious tweaking.

 

Signal chain: looks like some type of passive pickup (although the actual DI track looks crushed like an active but this could be due to the zoom level)and probably a DI box such as a Type 85/Radial. Gain staged to -12 peak to fall in the nominal range of the plugin as described in the manual. Having a DI Box and proper levels is key to a good sim tone.