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Auto impedance


coachz
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Personally, I never pick "auto" but pretty much always go for 230k. Seems to work best with pretty much all of my guitars and the vast majority of HX drives, IMO even plain amps profit from it. But then, these days I usually have my Stomp (had a Floor before) running in a buffered environment, so that pretty much equals a constant 1mOhm impedance anyway.

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I didn't know about the whole impedance when I was building my presets.  So I left it set to "auto" and never changed it.  In my case, the first blocks in all presets happen to have impedance value of 1M.  It sounds pretty good, and I tried experimenting with different values and did not like the results.  In some cases certain notes started popping out.  You can experiment with different values.

 

Also, there's a glitch on the Helix that if you switch between 2 presets with different explicit impedance setting, it'll make an annoying loud sound -- something I definitely do not want or need. 

 

Here's a chart of the virtual impedance of various blocks: https://line6.com/support/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=10395

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Thanks for the excel spreadsheet.  So take for example "Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster    22-32k".  If you set it for auto and have first enabled set then it should automatically switch to the 22-32k impedance but if you have your impedance set manually to 1M then you would be mismatched.  So when does it make sense to not be just on Auto ?

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On 11/11/2022 at 9:50 PM, coachz said:

Would that have the same effect as using a tone control ?  Example please.  Thanks !

 

Not really, it's changing the way the guitar and amps/pedals interact. Just try for yourself. Gets pretty obvious when you turn down your guitar volume.

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On 11/11/2022 at 4:27 PM, coachz said:

Yeah, I knew about that but was wondering about the thought process others use.  

 

I just use mine on the automatic first enabled setting. It took years for that feature to arrive as it used to only work automatically on the first block and would set the impedance to it whether it was active or not. Auto first enabled just makes a lot of sense to me from a convenience standpoint. I don't want to have to, as I used to on some of my presets, particularly with fuzz pedals, research the impedance of the first block on my chain (e.g. fuzz), and then change the impedance manually via snapshots depending on whether it was active or not in that scene.

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On 11/11/2022 at 3:47 PM, coachz said:

So when does it make sense to not be just on Auto ?

When I'm connected to my amp in 4CM, I have to dial the input impedance down to 230k to make it sound the same as when I'm plugged into the amp on its own (it sounds "screamy" at 1M...  it's barely audible but it feels different). 

 

But I'd prefer if the Loop block had its own impedance setting that would tell the Helix what setting to use when it's the first active block, because in order to use, let's say, a fuzz in front of my amp, I have to set the impedance back to Auto to make it sound as intended, and any Bypass Assigns or Snapshots that control that block have to also put the Input Impedance back to 230k when the block is off. So in 4CM it partially defeats the purpose of the Auto setting, since, for me at least, one of its main functions is to help me recreate the natural sound of my amp. 

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On 11/12/2022 at 2:24 AM, zappazapper said:

But I'd prefer if the Loop block had its own impedance setting that would tell the Helix what setting to use when it's the first active block,

 

Did you post that on Ideascale? Not that I'm using any loops much anymore (also, as said, I usually stick with 230k), but I'd vote that up instantly because it's an excellent idea.

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Yes. The issue with that is that the input impedance of my amp is somewhere around 470k, so if my guitar isn't plugged into it, the pickups of my guitar aren't loaded the same and I guess they output more high end (I'm no electrical engineer, that's just my understanding of the issue as explained to me on this forum). Using an input impedance of 230k on the Helix sounds closer to what I'm used to than 1M.

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