Is Helix good enough for direct recording?

[geomusicmart]

I've been studying my Helix for about a month now.

My intention is to record directly into DAW using the Helix as an interface, so far so good, it works nicely.

I tried a Fender Strat (single coils) first and now I'm on a PRS C24 (humbuckers). With the Fender I could dial a few clean and crunchy for rock/blues decent tones that I'm happy with, although no overly impressed with the amp/cab combinations.

Now with the PRS is a different story, for the life of me I can't find decent clean and crunchy tones without them being very harsh for the bridge pickup, and the funny thing is that they sound harsh on the higher strings and muddy on the lower ones, so harsh and muddy at the same time! The heavier distortion ones I've tried sound in order to lose the muddyness on the lower frequencies end up sounding really thin.

I'm thinking I'm going to have to use an amp head after the Helix and then an interface, and just use the Helix as a glorified multi effect unit.

Any help will be really appreciated before I give this up.

[phil_m]

I think it’s pretty evident that the Helix is not only good, but great for direct recording. It can take a little time to find your sound, especially if you’ve not used modeling a lot in the past. I suggest checking out some of Jason Sadites’ videos. He covers a wide variety of tones and walk thought how to get them: https://www.youtube.com/c/JasonSadites

 

What are you monitoring the Helix with?

 

 

[Schmalle]

48 minutes ago, geomusicmart said:

Any help will be really appreciated before I give this up.

If you think it sounds bad, try to record your amp with a mic and evaluate whether that sounds good to you.

If a Helix amp sounds muddy, it's because the real amps sound muddy when dialed in like that.

If sth. sounds good in a mix it usually sounds mediocre isolated.

If sth. sounds muddy and harsh at the same time, can you guess what's missing? (Hint: A tube screamer might be the cure for overdriven and a klon for clean tones)

 

[gk001]

I use mine as a USB interface to record multiple guitars (inc several strats and PRS’s, Active and passive basses) and it sounds great

The main thing is to setup patches that you are happy with for each guitar

[SaschaFranck]

If you want, post:

- a snipplet of your sound right now, so we have an idea about what might be wrong (words only go this far...)

- a link to someone playing with a sound you'd like to achieve

- a snipplet of your guitar playing, recording only the DI portion (provided by Helix' USB outs 7/8)

- a patch that you're not happy with yet

 

That way, people could have a go at your patch.

 

I should actually put that into some text document. No idea how often I've posted that or something similar already. For whatever reasons, nobody ever takes that offer...

[cruisinon2]

A "real" mic-ed amp, even if it sounds glorious as you sit next to it, does not automatically sound the same once recorded... in fact, it's more or less a guarantee that it will sound nothing like what's hitting your ears directly from the amp itself. So if you're looking to that option as a magic bullet, you're likely to end up just as frustrated as your are now. Also, it's very common that a tone that sounds just perfect in a mix will sound somewhat less than inspirational (if not downright horrible) on its own, and vice versa. Everything in a mix is just one piece of a large and very complicated puzzle.

 

Mic choice and their placement are critical, and getting a good recorded tone is an art all by itself. And whether you're using real or virtual gear, the philosophy and required skill set are the same. A month with Helix, or any other modeler for that matter, is nothing if you're new to the game. If you approach this like a guitar player, you'll fail... you have to think like a recording engineer. And that means developing a thorough understanding not only of EQ, but which kind of mics (and their placement) impart what characteristics to the final recorded sound, and how to use tthose choices to shape the tone you're looking for. And even then, most of the time you're still not done. EQ is your friend... and more often than not that means getting rid of problem frequencies, not automatically boosting those you may perceive to be absent. Otherwise it's very easy to end up with too much of everything, and then you've got a bigger mess than what you started with.

 

It's not something that you'll master inside a month... hell I've been at it for years, and I still learn things anytime I sit in the control room next to somebody who really knows their $hit.

 

Experiment, experiment, experiment...

It's the only way.

[Schmalle]

Also things to keep in mind regarding your guitar:

- string age (old wound strings sound muffled compared to the others)

- pickup height

- it has a tone knob

- it has a volume knob

- cable length

 

With a real amp I use tone and volume on 7 on my guitars when I dial in tones. Same with Helix.

[Schmalle]

And

1 hour ago, phil_m said:

I think it’s pretty evident that the Helix is not only good, but great for direct recording. It can take a little time to find your sound, especially if you’ve not used modeling a lot in the past. I suggest checking out some of Jason Sadites’ videos. He covers a wide variety of tones and walk thought how to get them: https://www.youtube.com/c/JasonSadites

In particular this video is worth watching, comparing apples to apples (real amp signal vs Helix).

 

[donkelley]

Helix is being used professionally all the time for direct recording.  In fact, I'd venture to say that during the epidemic, it's one of the primary reasons to buy a Helix.

[rvroberts]

I've got both a strat - well a few - and a PRS CE.  I get tones with the CE that I love better than the strats.  Obviously it all depends what you are after, but a Litigator running down around 1 on the gain gives me a totally transparent clean - push it up to about 1.7 or so and the volume on the guitar lets me move from gentle drive to clean and back with nice touch control.  Different cabs vary the thing a bit - but even greenbacks sound nice.  I'm wondering if you have the basics set up well?  The standard high and low cuts. I'm often got my high cut down around 6K and still getting articulate "HiFi" cleans.   You do need those cuts or any distortion on any device sounds harsh.

Finally, if you see all the stuff on great sounds by other people, and what you hear sounds good to you too - you have to figure you are doing something wrong?

[karlic]

I would encourage you to try some 3rd party IRs. If I was limited to the onboard cabs, I would have returned the Helix personally. Even just trying a few free IRs showed my how good this unit can be with the right cab tone.

 

There are quite a few free ones available and I think Justin York has one trial pack for $1 so you don't have to make a big commitment.

 

I also have a Kemper and now I would happily use either for studio or live.

[SaschaFranck]

5 minutes ago, karlic said:

I would encourage you to try some 3rd party IRs. If I was limited to the onboard cabs, I would have returned the Helix personally. Even just trying a few free IRs showed my how good this unit can be with the right cab tone.

 

Fwiw, after using IRs almost exclusively ever since I bought the Helix, recently I finally started to explore the onboard cabs quite a bit more carefully. Gotta say that they're very good for most things I need - and quite obviously, they're incredibly more flexible. Unfortunately, the EQ on the cab section isn't done too well, so I have to slap an extra EQ block in, but that's true for the IR block as well (just that in that case I can at least pre-EQ my IRs). I wish the IR/cab block had an EQ section similar to that in Atomic products, which is really efficient and flexible, yet easy to handle.

[karlic]

1 hour ago, SaschaFranck said:

 

Fwiw, after using IRs almost exclusively ever since I bought the Helix, recently I finally started to explore the onboard cabs quite a bit more carefully. Gotta say that they're very good for most things I need - and quite obviously, they're incredibly more flexible. Unfortunately, the EQ on the cab section isn't done too well, so I have to slap an extra EQ block in, but that's true for the IR block as well (just that in that case I can at least pre-EQ my IRs). I wish the IR/cab block had an EQ section similar to that in Atomic products, which is really efficient and flexible, yet easy to handle.

Good to hear you managed to squeeze something out of them. I have been back a couple of times because of these kind of comments, but nothing has changed for me. I always feel you shouldn't have to work hard to craft a cab that is deficient. Better to get things right at source.

[Schmalle]

1 hour ago, SaschaFranck said:

 

Fwiw, after using IRs almost exclusively ever since I bought the Helix, recently I finally started to explore the onboard cabs quite a bit more carefully. Gotta say that they're very good for most things I need - and quite obviously, they're incredibly more flexible. Unfortunately, the EQ on the cab section isn't done too well, so I have to slap an extra EQ block in, but that's true for the IR block as well (just that in that case I can at least pre-EQ my IRs). I wish the IR/cab block had an EQ section similar to that in Atomic products, which is really efficient and flexible, yet easy to handle.

Pretty much my experience, too. I forced myself to play around with the cab block and started to like it. Now I'm really happy with what can be achieved, especially in the dual cab mode. The two things on my wish list:

- a mono switch or pan knobs in the dual cab block

- support of dual cabs in the amp/cab block

[SaschaFranck]

31 minutes ago, karlic said:

I always feel you shouldn't have to work hard to craft a cab that is deficient

 

Well, it's not harder than fooling around with real cabs and mic placements. In fact, it's way easier, everything's phase aligned already (important for dual cab stuff). With IRs, unless you're using one of the big collections, you're pretty much at the mercy of the vendor.

Fwiw, I started using IRs for guitar recording duties around 2008, have around 50k IRs on my drives (the Redwirez Big Box being an extremely well sorted collection), have captured my own, know how to mangle and re-save them, etc. I have as well organized all the IRs as Space Designer presets (Logics IR loader), which makes scrolling through them a breeze (works via my keyboards up/down/L/R arrows, most comfortable solution when dealing with IRs inside a computer).

And yet, I find the Helix offerings pretty great. IMO, what you really need to explore is the different mics, IMO many of the default mics (when you call up a cab) aren't ideal (or their position isn't).

As said, for me the major downside is the EQ section of the cab block. They could at least offer some different slope options, such as -6dB, -12dB, -18dB, -24dB - from all I know (I could actually measure it...) the cuts in the cab block are -6dB, which pretty often results in "cuts into the flesh" rather than just eliminating unwanted boom or harshness.

 

26 minutes ago, Schmalle said:

- a mono switch or pan knobs in the dual cab block

 

For mono operation, you could just insert a mono gain block. Won't allow for panning, though, so I would agree with you (even if I never use dual cab blocks myself, maybe because I was mainly on IRs until recently).

[Schmalle]

1 hour ago, SaschaFranck said:

For mono operation, you could just insert a mono gain block. Won't allow for panning, though, so I would agree with you (even if I never use dual cab blocks myself, maybe because I was mainly on IRs until recently).

That's what I do if I don't use (mono) post EQ.

[karlic]

2 hours ago, SaschaFranck said:

 

Well, it's not harder than fooling around with real cabs and mic placements. In fact, it's way easier, everything's phase aligned already (important for dual cab stuff). With IRs, unless you're using one of the big collections, you're pretty much at the mercy of the vendor.

Fwiw, I started using IRs for guitar recording duties around 2008, have around 50k IRs on my drives (the Redwirez Big Box being an extremely well sorted collection), have captured my own, know how to mangle and re-save them, etc. I have as well organized all the IRs as Space Designer presets (Logics IR loader), which makes scrolling through them a breeze (works via my keyboards up/down/L/R arrows, most comfortable solution when dealing with IRs inside a computer).

And yet, I find the Helix offerings pretty great. IMO, what you really need to explore is the different mics, IMO many of the default mics (when you call up a cab) aren't ideal (or their position isn't).

As said, for me the major downside is the EQ section of the cab block. They could at least offer some different slope options, such as -6dB, -12dB, -18dB, -24dB - from all I know (I could actually measure it...) the cuts in the cab block are -6dB, which pretty often results in "cuts into the flesh" rather than just eliminating unwanted boom or harshness.

Listen, if you are happy with your sound, I really cannot argue with that. One thing is for sure, the onboard Helix cabs sound different to any IRs I have. I also made my own IRs with a 6505 power amp section and Mesa 4x12 to get me to where I am used to.

 

I will definitely give it one more go with the Helix cabs and try what you suggest though:-)

[SaschaFranck]

53 minutes ago, karlic said:

I also made my own IRs with a 6505 power amp section and Mesa 4x12 to get me to where I am used to.

 

Fwiw, if you use those a lot, it's not making me wonder the Helix cabs sound quite different in comparison, simply because yours contain power amp coloration, which, depending on the kind of poweramp, can be quite a thing. Pretty much the reason all dedicated IR vendors use linear solid state power amps for IR captures. I borrowed myself such a thing as well and the differences were quite noticeable, compared to, say, using a Twin poweramp for capturing (I compared the two versions, the Twin added quite some high mids).

[Schmalle]

56 minutes ago, SaschaFranck said:

 

Fwiw, if you use those a lot, it's not making me wonder the Helix cabs sound quite different in comparison, simply because yours contain power amp coloration, which, depending on the kind of poweramp, can be quite a thing. Pretty much the reason all dedicated IR vendors use linear solid state power amps for IR captures. I borrowed myself such a thing as well and the differences were quite noticeable, compared to, say, using a Twin poweramp for capturing (I compared the two versions, the Twin added quite some high mids).

While this is true, modern amps that are more preamp based tend to be have a more neutral poweramp. A 6505 poweramp (like Friedmans, Revvs etc.) is much more neutral compared to a vintage style amp like a Twin (depending on the Depth and Presence controls of course - I'd guess they should be at noon for the most neutral sound).

[SaschaFranck]

3 hours ago, Schmalle said:

While this is true, modern amps that are more preamp based tend to be have a more neutral poweramp. A 6505 poweramp (like Friedmans, Revvs etc.) is much more neutral compared to a vintage style amp like a Twin (depending on the Depth and Presence controls of course - I'd guess they should be at noon for the most neutral sound).

 

True, but still, there's some coloration funkiness going on. I created some IRs from just my Mark IVs power amp section (I explicitely wanted to capture the frequency coloration), which is quite known for being rather neutral when using 6L6s in full power mode, and yet the coloration is very noticeable. I'll attach it (presence control is at noon), so you can listen for yourself. Almost like a tilt EQ in favour of the high end. In fact, the Twin (a redknob "The Twin" model) sounded more neutral (didn't grab an IR).

 

B_PA_FP_P05.wav

[Schmalle]

A power amp's sound very much dependents on the impedance of a cab. Measuring it without a load is useless.

[SaschaFranck]

39 minutes ago, Schmalle said:

A power amp's sound very much dependents on the impedance of a cab. Measuring it without a load is useless.

 

There's been a cab connected.

[Schmalle]

Did you compare that IR with a solid state version using that same method?

How did you do it? Click or sweep?

[SaschaFranck]

18 minutes ago, Schmalle said:

Did you compare that IR with a solid state version using that same method?

 

Yeah, I actually did, but not analytically, just listened.

 

Quote

How did you do it? Click or sweep?

 

Sweep. I noticed cab IRs to not be accurate when using diracs, so I took all IRs with sweeps. Too bad, because otherwise the entire procedure could be dramatically shortened (no deconvolution required). Maybe I did something wrong - or maybe the solid state amp wasn't too accurate (not unlikely, borrowed the first one I could). But the IRs turned out to be quite useable as a tweaking base. Much more than those I captured through guitar poweramps (which I obviously did at first, having no straight access to a solid state poweramp).

[Schmalle]

5 minutes ago, SaschaFranck said:

Sweep. I noticed cab IRs to not be accurate when using diracs, so I took all IRs with sweeps. Too bad, because otherwise the entire procedure could be dramatically shortened (no deconvolution required). Maybe I did something wrong - or maybe the solid state amp wasn't too accurate (not unlikely, borrowed the first one I could). But the IRs turned out to be quite useable as a tweaking base. Much more than those I captured through guitar poweramps (which I obviously did at first, having no straight access to a solid state poweramp).

Same here, if found the bass weirdly overpronounced when using Dirac impulses. As an electrical engineer I'm naturally skeptical of people's measuring methods. Please excuse!

I found your file suspicious, but I've not come to a conclusion yet. I'll think about it, maybe it'll CLICK.

[SaschaFranck]

13 minutes ago, Schmalle said:

I found your file suspicious

 

Suspicious in what way? It's really just the output of my interface back then, straight into the Boogies return, the speaker out running into a DI box (through to cab), from there back to the interface. Using the Impulse Response Utility coming with Logic. I did several captures of several things that way, always worked a treat.

[Schmalle]

12 hours ago, SaschaFranck said:

 

Suspicious in what way? It's really just the output of my interface back then, straight into the Boogies return, the speaker out running into a DI box (through to cab), from there back to the interface. Using the Impulse Response Utility coming with Logic. I did several captures of several things that way, always worked a treat.

All good. I think you measured the effect of the presence control. Sounds like a high shelf @2.5k with about 4dB boost.

[SaschaFranck]

22 minutes ago, Schmalle said:

All good. I think you measured the effect of the presence control. Sounds like a high shelf @2.5k with about 4dB boost.

 

Yeah, I did that as well, took IRs of several presence values.

 

Note: I possibly could've gotten a more neutral response at lower presence values, but it's never been completely neutral, the cab IRs taken with the Boogie power amp always sounded quite different from those taken with a solid state amp (obviously using the same mic placement and signal chain). Apart from frequency coloration I suspect the dynamics to be responsible, too. Yes, I know they're not represented in IRs (as they're only capturing linear processes), but as a result of the tube power amp doing its dynamic thing, while sending the sweep through it, some of the sweeps frequencies might become more compressed than others, hence resulting in a "pre-colored" sweep which will then find its way into the final IR. At least that's the only rational explanation I would have for what happened, even when using the most neutral presence value.

 

And fwiw, because of my suspection, I also (at least more or less) measured the compression of some tube power amps - they're really all compressing the signal, at least to a certain extent, even at very low volumes when power amp saturation should not be happening. The least compressing amp seemed to be my red-knobbed "The Twin" (and btw, yes, I replaced the speakers which instantly turned it from a horribly shrill monster into one of the best pedal platform amps ever - if it only wasn't *that* heavy, I'd probably still be using it here and there), which pretty much proved my findings from playing through it.

I'm sure there's less compressing tube power amps than the ones I fooled around with, but once being used in a guitar amp, I wouldn't bet on them to be really close to neutral. After all, their coloration (in one way or the other) is the very reason people are still using them.

[geomusicmart]

Thanks for all the replies. I have watched probably a hundred Jason Sadites's videos on most of the amp models he's gone through.

I honestly don't like his overdriven tones very much at all, his cleaner and bluesy onces are better.

 

The Helix is not giving me any modern saturated tones that are not muddy, harsh or over the top overdriven when using distortion pedals. I tried external IRs and they're slightly better than the Helix ones but they are free ones and I believe not the best. I'm willing to purchase some good ones upon recommendation.

I've even tried with a Radial external cab simulator both in the FX loop and on the XLR and 1/4 outputs, while it does add some bottom fatness to the overall sound, it does not get rid of the harshness, on some settings it's even worse.

 

I've been thinking of using an external solid state amp head for the drive and EQs and incorporate it to the rig, I saw a video by Pete Thorn doing something like this but he doesn't show how he made the connection guitar - Helix - amp head - back to Helix - Daw, so he uses the Helix's effects while using the amps drive channel.

 

Does anyone know how to make this connection work, as in using the Helix as pedalboard and incorporating an external amp to the chain, so you use the external amp instead of the Helix models?

 

[codamedia]

On 9/19/2020 at 9:17 AM, geomusicmart said:

The Helix is not giving me any modern saturated tones that are not muddy, harsh or over the top overdriven when using distortion pedals. I tried external IRs and they're slightly better than the Helix ones but they are free ones and I believe not the best. I'm willing to purchase some good ones upon recommendation.

I've even tried with a Radial external cab simulator both in the FX loop and on the XLR and 1/4 outputs, while it does add some bottom fatness to the overall sound, it does not get rid of the harshness, on some settings it's even worse.

 

IMO.... speaker/cab/mic placement is everything when it comes to solving issues like you describe. It's not the amp models themselves! 

 

Do you know what you really like for a cabinet/speaker? If not... have you researched what your favorite players use? Figure that out, then buy a SMALL yet QUALITY IR set for that cab/speaker combo! By zeroing in on one cabinet you eliminate the wasted time/rabbit hole of a never ending search! What you will get is a cabinet with dozens of MIC Choice and Mic positions.

 

Since the cabinet is no longer changing, you will actually learn what those mics and positions do to a tone! Any sound tech/engineer will tell you that is one the best lessons you will ever learn!

 

Just my 2 cents....

[Schmalle]

On 9/19/2020 at 4:17 PM, geomusicmart said:

Thanks for all the replies. I have watched probably a hundred Jason Sadites's videos on most of the amp models he's gone through.

I honestly don't like his overdriven tones very much at all, his cleaner and bluesy onces are better.

 

The Helix is not giving me any modern saturated tones that are not muddy, harsh or over the top overdriven when using distortion pedals. I tried external IRs and they're slightly better than the Helix ones but they are free ones and I believe not the best. I'm willing to purchase some good ones upon recommendation.

I've even tried with a Radial external cab simulator both in the FX loop and on the XLR and 1/4 outputs, while it does add some bottom fatness to the overall sound, it does not get rid of the harshness, on some settings it's even worse.

 

I've been thinking of using an external solid state amp head for the drive and EQs and incorporate it to the rig, I saw a video by Pete Thorn doing something like this but he doesn't show how he made the connection guitar - Helix - amp head - back to Helix - Daw, so he uses the Helix's effects while using the amps drive channel.

 

Does anyone know how to make this connection work, as in using the Helix as pedalboard and incorporating an external amp to the chain, so you use the external amp instead of the Helix models?

 

Well I'll share my to cents regarding modern sounds:

I think the VH brown sound is a good place to start, because it feels awesome to play, is versatile and inspired generations of guitar players (and amp manufacturers!). 

One way (of many) to get it is using the ANGL Meteor. It is my (wet) dream of a modern marshallesque sound.

The Helix pairs it with the 4x12 XXL V30 cabinet which is a great match. The stock setting mic 409Dyn @2.0" is also great. The only thing I change here is lowering the high cut to 6.7kHz. This will make it less open, but also gets rid of nasty harshness. We can increase the amps treble now which gets us a satisfying amout of definition/attack.

 

Starting with this setting for the ANGL Meteor this brings me in the brown sound ball park:

Drive       3

Bass        2

Mids        2

Treble      7

Presence 4

Master     4

 

I always use a reverb to get a room feeling. Without that I tend to always want to tweak the amp.

 

Once familiar with that sound keep the cab and change amp to the Archetype Lead, Solo Crunch, Solo Lead, Placater etc and try to dial them in to get a similar sound. That will give you a feeling for each of those and a tonal starting point in your head/ears.

That's at least what I did and got me to really dig the Helix.

 

Then there you can experiment with drives. The Screamer 808 can get you to leads and djenty stuff, the Hedgehog D9 is instant Scorpions sound etc. Much to discover here...

 

Regarding the cab, I sometimes like to use dual cabs and mix in a little of the same cab with a different mic. 121Ribn @6.0" worked fine so far to add a little focus on the mids.

 

If you want to go chugga chugga metal try this: Increase mids in the amp and add a parametric eq after it. Choose MdFreq @ 405Hz, Mid Q @1.4 and cut to taste. This emulates the mid cut section found on a Diezel Herbert.

 

To reduce mud here is on trick that emulates the C45 switch on Friedmans: Tilt EQ block before the amp: Brt50, CenFreq 670Hz, Level +4,5dB.

[geomusicmart]

I'll try that setup. I've tried two cabs in parallel using a split channel to give them some stereo output, and I noticed they completely change sound individually becoming a lot thinner so if I turn one off the one left on sounds terribly thin and hars, why is that? Am I missing something when I split them?

[Schmalle]

30 minutes ago, geomusicmart said:

I'll try that setup. I've tried two cabs in parallel using a split channel to give them some stereo output, and I noticed they completely change sound individually becoming a lot thinner so if I turn one off the one left on sounds terribly thin and hars, why is that? Am I missing something when I split them?

I'd guess you use Split Crossover? Read the manual for what it does. Use Split Y or Split A/B or even better a dual cab.

[SaschaFranck]

On 9/19/2020 at 4:17 PM, geomusicmart said:

The Helix is not giving me any modern saturated tones that are not muddy, harsh or over the top overdriven when using distortion pedals.

 

Did you consider taking the advice/help from my first answer in this thread?

[geomusicmart]

1 hour ago, Schmalle said:

I'd guess you use Split Crossover? Read the manual for what it does. Use Split Y or Split A/B or even better a dual cab.

I've not tried the double cab option. I'll do that.

[geomusicmart]

1 hour ago, SaschaFranck said:

 

Did you consider taking the advice/help from my first answer in this thread?

I'll try paste an example of a patch setup that gives me a muddy/harsh final tone, and see what you guys think might be bad with it.

[geomusicmart]

I'm working on it. By the way, can anyone recommend some external impulse response plugin packages?

 

[codamedia]

3 hours ago, geomusicmart said:

I'm working on it. By the way, can anyone recommend some external impulse response plugin packages?

 

Not without knowing what you like. As I asked earlier, who are your favorite players and what do they use for cabinets/Speakers?

Figure that out, then look at ML Labs, Ownhammer, 3Sigma, Celestion, etc... etc... to see if they have that very combination in there offerings! 

[SaschaFranck]

Fwiw: I think you'd gain a lot in case you don't try to literally copy whatever sounds. Once you forget about that you will find yourself presented with something almost invaluable: Freedom of choice.

In all my "career" (whatever that might be...), I have never even once tried to copy anything 1:1, at least not soundwise. Enabled me to get along just fine with a plethora of equipment that simply couldn't do the copycat job. And as said, it allowed me to chose whatever I felt like.

But then, each to their own.

[Nylander88]

On 9/16/2020 at 7:13 AM, geomusicmart said:

I've been studying my Helix for about a month now.

My intention is to record directly into DAW using the Helix as an interface, so far so good, it works nicely.

I tried a Fender Strat (single coils) first and now I'm on a PRS C24 (humbuckers). With the Fender I could dial a few clean and crunchy for rock/blues decent tones that I'm happy with, although no overly impressed with the amp/cab combinations.

Now with the PRS is a different story, for the life of me I can't find decent clean and crunchy tones without them being very harsh for the bridge pickup, and the funny thing is that they sound harsh on the higher strings and muddy on the lower ones, so harsh and muddy at the same time! The heavier distortion ones I've tried sound in order to lose the muddyness on the lower frequencies end up sounding really thin.

I'm thinking I'm going to have to use an amp head after the Helix and then an interface, and just use the Helix as a glorified multi effect unit.

Any help will be really appreciated before I give this up.

 

 

It may be smart to re amp that way you can get your original performance than you can play with the amp settings afterwards a find what you like to be able to have the best sound possible without muddiness.