Can the Helix Floor do this....

[adagosto]

Can someone confirm if this "rig setup" is possible using the Helix Floor? I'm pretty sure this is doable, just not sure how it would work.

 

I would like to have two amps connected where both are in a "4CM" setup. Is this called 7CM? AND I want to connect my acoustic amp as well. So in all I'd have three amps connected and in theory they could all be working. 

 

My use case is this...

I would want my Mesa Boogie Express connected using the 4CM and I am contemplating buying my buddy's Vox AC30. His is old and has an effects loop. So, I would want to bounce back and forth between the the two, but I really don't want to move cables around each time. Is there a way to set them up where both amps can be connected in a 4CM manner and not have to move the cables around? Then, in addition I would want to connect my acoustic guitar amp so that its connected all the time as well. All it really needs is a 1/4" input or and XLR input. It also happens to have an effects loop as well, but I don't think I really need that. My guitar has a dual output with one being a humbucker and the other is the piezo. So in this case Guitar 1 might be the humbucker and Aux In would be the piezo. I would think I could build presets that direct the outputs to their appropriate amp.

 

Can you do this and how would that work? 7CM for the Mesa and Vox and XLR out to the acoustic amp?

 

Thanks for the guidance!

 

 

[bobcoss]

I think it's doable.  I've messed around with 7cm a few times and while possible, it was a hassle.  I don't even mess with 4cm much any longer.

 

It sounds like you are not necessarily attempting to have both the MBE and AC30 going at the same time, but you can, and you can have patches setup to use only one or the other at a time.  There are 4 separate paths in the Helix, so you have flexibility to do whatever you want just by changing a patch.

 

Electric guitar in -> HX Guitar In ->  {Path A} [Some effects blocks] ->   

{Path A} Send 1 out -> guitar in MBE, MBE Effects Send -> Return 1 -> [more effects blocks] -> HX output L -> MBE Effects Return

{Path B} Send 1 out -> guitar in AC30, AC30 Effects Send -> Return 2 -> [more effects blocks -> HX output R -> AC30 Effects Return

 

Acoustic guitar in -> Aux In -> {Path C} [some HX effects] -> HX XLR L -> Acoustic Amp.

 

You could do some variations where the two preamps are summed up to Path A with stereo effects and out L and R for cool stereo sounds.

 

Now what I would do with all of that setup, I would create some patches that use helix amp/preamp models instead of the tube amp models and have the output go to the tube amp power sections.  I use the full amp models in the house because I can't really turn up the volume very often to get saturation of the power amp tubes, but also the preamp models are all over the place volume wise.  You could even setup patches where you use preamp models from your tube amps and send the output to your acoustic via the XLR as an "FRFR" speaker.  Heck, you could create a cool wet/dry/wet patch with all three amps also!

 

The possibilities are endless.

 

Have fun

 

 

 

 

[adagosto]

 

3 hours ago, bobcoss said:

I think it's doable

 

Thank you for the feedback!! That's what I was thinking, but, then.....

 

3 hours ago, MGW-Alberta said:

Unless the purpose of this elaborate setup is to create some kind of comparison video that is of great personal importance to you I think you will probably find it to be more trouble to sort out and think through  and program than just simply swapping cables once in a while, especially if you build yourself a colour coded snake to simplify the process.

 

HAHA!!

Great point. An no this is not to do a video comparison. It's just home use stuff. I guess at the end of the day it boils down to trying it and seeing just how much of a pain it is. I think you are right in that "preset management" will be more difficult. But at least its possible.

 

[errxn]

On 3/1/2022 at 10:18 AM, MGW-Alberta said:

Unless the purpose of this elaborate setup is to create some kind of comparison video that is of great personal importance to you I think you will probably find it to be more trouble to sort out and think through  and program than just simply swapping cables once in a while, especially if you build yourself a colour coded snake to simplify the process.

 

 

Hey, where'd you get that cool bundled cable?

[brue58ski]

On 3/1/2022 at 3:57 PM, MGW-Alberta said:

 

My philosophy is:  I didn't buy this gear to spend my life fiddling with it.  I bought it to make music with.

That's where I am now.

Not everyone gets there and that's okay too.

 

Food for thought as you try to sort out how to use your Helix with more than one amp.

 

I agree with this and am absolutely guilty (still) of trying to try everything. I try to look at it like a room full of all of this equipment. I'll bet after trying everything eventually, I would settle on only a few things. Oh, I'd run back to the room to try a bunch of stuff every now and then, but I'll bet I would only use a few things consistently. I have to keep reminding myself that I don't need to, nor have the time to setup and tweak every iteration of FX and amps in the Helix. I still do try every now and then (it's so much fun). But, eventually I wind up spending my time on one amp and a bunch of different effects usually.

[bobcoss]

I do a lot of fiddling around trying different things.  That's how I knew what Agosto wanted to do would work.   It is pretty cool that if you are just a bedroom/basement/studio player, you can hook up a bunch of options to your Helix and activate the configuration just be changing the patch and turning on the desired amp.

 

But....  We have to remember to play the guitar!

[adagosto]

Thank you all for the feedback.

 

UPDATE:

I bought the Vox AC30. It's the CC2 version.

Its even more outstanding than I thought it would be especially for how I like to hear my sound. It's a great match!!