PZ456789 Posted August 6, 2019 Share Posted August 6, 2019 Hi friends, this might be covered already but I didn't find a thread that really helped. I got my new HX Stomp yesterday and I'm not really able to dial in a clean Fender tone. I have a Fender Super Reverb and it's really hard to make it sound bad. It starts clean and slowly gets crunchy as you turn up the volume. That works perfectly with may Tele, Strat and SG. My Stomp is plugged into an Alto TS308 active speaker and the output is set to line. But all of the Stomp's amps sound thin and flat while the Super Reverb is very dynamic. Could anyone give me some guideline to make the Stomp sound closer to my Super Reverb (or a Twin or Bassman or ....)? Obvously the handling of a modeller is much more complicated in compaisin to a guitar amp. Many thanks in advance! Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rd2rk Posted August 6, 2019 Share Posted August 6, 2019 1 hour ago, PZ456789 said: Obvously the handling of a modeller is much more complicated in compaisin to a guitar amp. Yes. Yes it is. You need to think like a FOH engineer. You're putting a mic on a speaker cabinet, then sending the sound through a board to a full-range speaker. Simplest way to start is with an AMP+CAB block. This gives you a speaker cab that's appropriate to the amp. Later, you can try using an AMP block and separate CAB (or IR) block , so you can mix'n'match. If you're on the latest firmware, there are default high and low cuts (80hz/8khz) applied to the cabs. This is because a typical guitar cab's frequency range is around 70hz-6khz, and the cuts prevent (in theory) boominess and fizziness. Different mics at different distances from the speaker have large effects on the sound. The Redwirez site has lots of good info about the characteristics of different mics and using mics with IRs (the Helix cabs are also IRs): https://www.redwirez.com/tutorials.jsp?l=25 Jason Sadites has a very good video on using mics in Helix, as well as many good "dialing in" videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvhdK4-QIzo76Y_RIbxZctg The above should keep you busy for a while, and I'm sure that others will chime in with their own tips. A few words about FRFR speakers. Your guitar amp doesn't have a tweeter. Even with the default cab cuts, a LOT of frequencies are going to be going to your TS308's tweeter. IIRC, the crossover on that is 2.5khz or thereabouts, and you can't shut it off or control it's volume. There's a certain distance from the speaker where the woofer and tweeter "come together" for the best sound (that's why some FRFR cabs use coaxial speakers). Being a little off-axis to the speaker also helps. The volume control has two ranges: from 0 to 50% is for use with a LINE level signal. After 50% the unit's preamp starts to cut in to support a MIC level signal. If you're using LINE level on the Helix OUTs, don't go above 50% or you'll get distortion. Lastly, although Helix emulates the way a given amp's tone-stack works, the physical dials (or sliders in HX Edit) don't necessarily successfully emulate the action of real world pots. IOW, 5.0 is not necessarily the equivalent of 5 on your amp's pot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PZ456789 Posted August 6, 2019 Author Share Posted August 6, 2019 rd2rk, you got a friend!!! If you ever come to Vienna, I'll invite you for 25 beer! Really useful advice. Meanwhile I went down into my basement studio, installed Helix Edit and started from the scratch - starting with the amp/cab block, as you said. I also found the hicut slider. Everything is much easier with the software. I came a long way during the last hour. When I installed HX Edit, all my presets were gone. That was the best thing that could happen. I feel like an idiot, because I'm sure the presets have been programmed by experienced professionals but for some reason I didn't like a single one! Maybe I'm just too old for those overloaded patches. After starting with the La2a compressor at the beginning of the chain, I put it after the amp (like on a record) and like it so much more there. BTW, do you know if there is a simulation of the Boss CS-3 compressor included in the Stomp? For now I couldn't find anything the sounded close to it. Maybe my next setting problem. I thought I know something about gear but this modelling is a complete different world! Will look very closely at your tutorials and youtube video this night! Thank you once more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rd2rk Posted August 6, 2019 Share Posted August 6, 2019 15 minutes ago, PZ456789 said: you got a friend!!! If you ever come to Vienna, I'll invite you for 25 beer! Glad I could help. My family is from Northern Italy, so who knows, maybe when I win the lottery! 16 minutes ago, PZ456789 said: After starting with the La2a compressor at the beginning of the chain, I put it after the amp (like on a record) and like it so much more there. Me too. That's a tip I got from a Jason Sadites video. 17 minutes ago, PZ456789 said: BTW, do you know if there is a simulation of the Boss CS-3 compressor included in the Stomp? No. If you go over to Ideascale (https://line6.ideascale.com/) and do a search for CS3, I'm pretty sure it's been requested, and you can vote for it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.