Lets talk about Helix, and bass for a moment.

[Lachdanan0121]

I don't think the Helix gets quite the attention it deserves with regard to bass guitar.

 

I don't have an actual bass guitar, I use AmpleSounds bass guitars, and their acoustic guitars. (I will prolly get a real bass guitar later on someday, but for now they are quite sufficient)

 

I typically use EZ Mix2 (with other plugins) to ReAmp my bass, and I get good results. Then I started using Helix native in front of EZmix for things like the Clawthorn, and Obsidian drives with even better results. Finally, on the last couple of songs I have done I decided to use Helix Native for the grand majority of my bass guitar chain, and I am pleasantly surprised with the results.

 

Part of it is that I am getting better with mixing, and dialing in sounds. Part of it is a growing acquaintance with Helix.

 

I get excited, and look forward to every new firmware that brings additions. (Especially if they are high gain flavors, or high quality reverbs) But from now on I will be really excited to see any more additions for bass guitar in the future updates.

 

The Helix is one hell of a platform. We all know it can sound phenomenal with guitar, but I wanted to say it can with bass guitar as well.

 

How about any of you guys? What results have you got from amping/ReAmping bass guitar with Helix?

 

[enjalt]

Hey

As a bass player it's nice to see this post.

From what I can tell you from my own experience is that I have now sold my 2 amps to keep
only the Helix and I am fully satisfied.

It is true that there is still lacks in modeling of amps but it should expand with the
next updates

I play mainly in a group of covers and it's a pleasure to play on Helix.
The amp's models are pretty good (the whole thing is to spend time on it to create presets)

[craiganderton]

What I love about Helix for bass is the parallel processing. Something like an envelope filter sounds horrible with bass because of how it thins out the sound, but putting it in parallel gives the effect AND keeps the bottom end. Same with distortion.

 

Helix can also do amazing things with drum machines :)

[Heavyville]

I love that it has stuff for bass in the Helix.   

As a song writer in a hobby studio (i do this only for me) the helix is the bomb. 

 

[william5849]

I've been using the Helix on bass for quite sometime now. It replaced my entire pedal board. The best feature is being able to run dual channels for you bass. So you have the modeled sound with the plain sound. It's pretty awesome!

 

[teo-torriate]

I rarely use my Helix Floor for playing with bass (as I am actual a guitar player) - but meanwhile I exclusively use Helix Native for my bass recordings. After years of using Amplitube it's a major step! The sounds are more than I ever had expected and I much appreciate the features, the routing and the endless possibilities in creating great tones. The slightly overdriven sounds of tube amps are exact that what I've been searching for over all those years.

 

What a killer machine! :-)

[bassbene]

I use a Helix LT as platform for bass, live as well as in the studio. For a couple of years I switched back and forth between modeling/multis and a fully analog pedal boards. It is astonishing what progress was made in terms of technology over the last years. Some years ago, modellers (Pod XT, Boss GT10B..) mean that you lose sound quality in exchange for flexibility. But nowadays, the loss of sound is near to not existing.

After two days I was capable to reproduce the sound of my former analog signal chain (Darkglass Compressor & Preamp). Ok, there was still a difference: The Helix was less noisy O_O

What I like best about the Helix is the parallel processing, the possibility to add EQ/Compression wherever I what to shape the sound and last but not least the great usability to handle the feature overkill. 

[soundog]

22 hours ago, craiganderton said:

What I love about Helix for bass is the parallel processing. Something like an envelope filter sounds horrible with bass because of how it thins out the sound, but putting it in parallel gives the effect AND keeps the bottom end. Same with distortion.

 

Helix can also do amazing things with drum machines :)

 

Agreed on the parallel processing. For recording tracks, I've found using a direct (DI) bass track into the DAW always sounds best (though I use the REDDI plug-in by Kush for bass "preamp"). If needed I use a parallel track with Helix on the bass, so can blend in distortion or effects as needed.