Should I sell my Helix?

[McSheesh]

Hallo there,

 

I'm currently playing through a Helix in my home setup.

I'm a casual guitar player that wanted to have every sound available at his fingertip. 

Yet I couldn't really get the sound out of it that I wanted. I've been using it for two years now and never wrapped my head around the options it gave me.

I originally sold my old "loud" Rock/Metal setup for the Helix due to me moving out of my parents house and into a rental apartment. Since then I mainly used it with headphones.

My situation has changed a but now and I don't feel like having to play completely quite no more. So I'm contemplating on getting a more real sounding setup.

A bedroom amp like the Orange Rocker 15 with a few padels for instance.

 

But I don't want to fully quit on my Helix. It's a good option though I'm probably not using it to it's full capabilities and I want to change that!

I like the sound of the effects and some of the amps but I have a lot of problems with the cabs/impulses.

 

Is there an easy way to run the Helix through an external 1x12" cab I have laying around?

 

If that would be an option I would give the Helix another fighting chance instead of changing to a fully analog rig again.

 

Thanks in advance! Your help would be very much appreciated.

 

Keep shredding 

[theElevators]

On 3/31/2023 at 4:57 PM, McSheesh said:

 

Is there an easy way to run the Helix through an external 1x12" cab I have laying around?

 

 

yes, Mooer Baby Bomb power amp

[datacommando]

On 3/31/2023 at 9:57 PM, McSheesh said:

 

Is there an easy way to run the Helix through an external 1x12" cab I have laying around?

 

Hi,

 

As noted by @theElevators in the post above, the Mooer Baby Bomb is a good option, and is listed as “best value” in this gear guide.

 

https://producerhive.com/buyer-guides/guitar-pedals/best-guitar-power-amp-pedals/

 

Lots of micro power amps around do a search, read some reviews, check some videos - then decide - the choice is yours.

 

Hope this helps/makes sense.

[Schmalle]

On 3/31/2023 at 10:57 PM, McSheesh said:

Is there an easy way to run the Helix through an external 1x12" cab I have laying around?

Harley Benton GPA-100 is cheap, loud and sounds good. 230V required.

[robfawcett]

IMO playing the Helix through a good *full range* powered speaker sounds pretty darn real, once you’ve tamed the high frequencies. I have an excellent tube amp, a couple of adequate tube amps, and have owned many more excellent tube amps in the past, but am very happy to gig the Helix when I want or need to travel light.
To get over option paralysis, just choose a single Helix amp you kinda like and stick with dialling that in (just pretend it is 'your amp' rather than one among many): taking top end off cabs/IRs is my usual first step, then tweaking master, sag & bias settings to dial in whatever 'tube' feel I'm looking for.
If you want to use your 1x12, get a cheap class D amplifier and turn off your Helix speaker IR/cab sim. The Harley Benton GPA-100 recommended above is absolutely fine. Even a cheap Chinese amp board in a spare box paired with a old laptop power supply would be enough to test the idea out, though you'd probably need to ground it to prevent hums and buzzes.

[Paulzx]

You just want the Helix to sound good - I wouldn't sell it just yet, at least try some things out first.

It's more involved than it should be, and it would have saved me so much time if i knew at the beginning, the things I know now, using the helix.

No one ever said it, but when i bought my Helix floor, I assumed it would sound instantly good, it's just the perception of buying a modeler, you don't realise there are variables which make the sound what it is. That was my experience anyway.

 

I got within a fraction of selling mine, but I'm glad I didn't, instead I put some time in to getting deeper into what I could do to improve it, and basically with a combination

of things, I got to where I wanted. Part of that process was learning to understand what makes a tone sound the way it does, I thought I knew that but I really didn't, when you do learn to appreciate the amp controls, you can dial in some good stuff. There are limitations, but those can only be overcome with a lot more money or completely different approach.

 

You need - guitar capable of the sound you're chasing. Decent strings. Decent studio monitors (or whatever your output is, research to get something tried and tested).

Then you need to get a handle on getting rid of the harshness, cutting highs and lows, getting familiar with some IR's and new cabs (I always use dual cabs).

Get familiar with some of the EQ blocks, they will help cut the muddy bass that kills tones - I'm talking high gain here.

 

Once you know these tricks you can dial in some nice stuff, minor tweaks on the amp settings can make the difference to get it spot on.

I would be happy to share some tips. When you get a familiar system going, you will know straight away which amps are going to be any good, just by running through

the same procedures on each.