Fretness Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 Hi all, I recently acquired a helix stomp and thoroughly am enjoying it! Amps sound great, recording is simple and effects are very musical. I do have a question about routing though, I would use the HX stomp preamp into my own tube amps return loop when jamming as I quite like the amp in the room feeling. The signal chain would be: Guitar -> HX -> Drive block -> Preamp block -> Delay block -> Return loop of amp In a sense, the delay is in the fx loop of an amp, between the preamp section and the power amp section. Is there any way to recreate this chain on the HX itself? I don't see a poweramp block therefore was wondering if I am missing anything out! Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rd2rk Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 No. But don't overthink it. Helix is a VIRTUAL tone machine. All you're doing is amplifying the signal that comes out of it. The main reason that effects are put between pre and power amp ITRW is that there's no practical way to put them AFTER the power amp/speaker, as might be done on a studio recording. Before amps had FX loops, ALL effects came BEFORE the preamp. Also, don't limit yourself. Many of us have found that the preamp by itself is not an ideal sound. ITRW there's an interaction between pre and power amp that you won't get between the Helix preamp and your physical power amp. That interaction is specific to the amp being modeled, and is modeled into the FULL amp model. Again, your physical amp is doing nothing more than amplifying the sound from the Helix and providing the interaction between power amp and speaker, but the two interactions (virtual pre/power and RW power/speaker) are separate happenings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_duberino Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 I think the choice of "amp" vs "preamp" block also depends on your external amp. I run my Helix into the FX return of an Orange Micro Dark, which has a solid state power section. In this case it sounds great using an amp block. I also keep a separate cabinet block that I can turn on if I plug the Helix straight into a FRFR speaker (or play through headphones). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fretness Posted April 4, 2020 Author Share Posted April 4, 2020 Solid answers thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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