Eleven tips on lowering fizz in Helix direct to PA

[garybradley]

Hi y'all

 

I have also experienced the DI fizz when connected straight to a PA. Here's 11 tips. 

 

1. Change the amp. Try a Cali Texas Ch2. They're a really brown sounding amp and take an overdrive pedal really well.
2. Change the cabinet. Different speaker makes a big difference!
3. Change the mic type and placement. A 160 ribbon @ 1" off centre can calm fizz nicely.
4. Dial back the distortion! Too much distortion creates too many nasty digital harmonics and isn't musical. 
5. Filters: Roll off high frequencies (low pass filter) to about 7-8 kHz. There are several places to do this: cabinet, EQ block, global EQ or the mixing desk. Tilt/10 band EQ all give different 'flavours'.
6. Add an IR before the amp! Loading an IR after ther speaker can remove the fizz (but sounds muddy to me). Loading before seems to improve the fizz but retain the character.
7. Use Controller Assign (CA)... to create a simple 2 channel amp: Add a high gain amp, use CA to program the Drive parameter for minum and maximum drive levels and assign to a Controller (footswitch). Also set the master volume, treble, presence etc to min/max levels to compensate for higher drive.
8. DI (My personal preference): I use  Palmer PD1 03 JB (Joe Bonamassa) DI between the Helix and the mixer input (with pt 6.). Set 1/4" jack line output to instrument (not line). Helix out at line level gives a level drop which is normal for a DI. Setting 1/4" out to instrument level gives a 1:1 ratio. Compensate level drop by increasing the Helix output and/or mixer pre gain. Mix and match with the above points. 
9. Listen at a reasonable volume to get the full effect. At low volume levels speakers will not produce as much body so you'll hear more fizz! (it's all perception!) and then diall the top end down too much. BUT, make quick decisions and rest your ears every 20 minutes as you won't hear the differences after that. 
10. My personal approach: Do 1 to 6 first. Listen. Play. Get to e.g. three amp/speaker + modifcation combinations that get you close to your sound and tweak these. DON'T keep changing stuff at random, you're wishing your life away!  
11. Most important!!! Play you chosen settings IN CONTEXT. Context is i.e. with backing tracks, jamming or rehearsal. The sound of your room and your mood or health status in that moment matters too. Isolated tweaking (absence of contect i.e. without playing to tracks or with others) is ok up to a point but context ALWAYS changes how you perceive your sound so just deal with your frustrated emotions and learn to compromise!   

 

Disclaimer: These options work for me. The sound you prefer is determined by your preferences, context etc. Tweaking as in points 1-7 seems to work for a lot of players. It's a process of experimentation but you have to start with knowing what sound you are looking for. 

 

Happy playing muchachos!

 

G  

 

[SaschaFranck]

Why would you put a speaker IR in front of an amp? If you really wanted to tame fizz there, you could use a simple EQ.

Also, what would an additional DI offer to you? The Helix has a built in one. Ok, using an external one would help avoid the phantom power issue, but others than that?

 

On 6/13/2023 at 11:33 PM, garybradley said:

At low volume levels speakers will not produce as much body so you'll hear more fizz!

That's quite an awkward statement. Usually, at low levels your hearing will also perceive less high end. This has been proven in numerous listening tests and is the reason for a "loudness" button to exist on cheap HiFis (which is enhancing the low and top end). It's also kind of the base idea behind the "Fletcher Munson Effect". And as a result, it's usually the best idea to check for highs and lows at rehearsal or gig volume.

 

[craiganderton]

A steep notch filter at the output, tuned to the fizz frequency, does it for me. I wrote an article (with audio examples in a YouTube video) 13 years ago for Harmony Central. I recommend checking it out to solve the majority of fizz problems.

 

(FWIW because of this article, Avid released an Expansion Pack for the Eleven Rack that included a parametric notch filter at the output. And, a company I consulted to recently on some amp sims held off the product introduction to notch out the fizz frequencies in their amps after I pointed them out. So it's not just in my imagination!)

[PierM]

You forgot the most important of the rules;

 

Be sure the fizz isnt caused by a bad mixer, or wrong mixer track setup, or input/output level mismatches.

 

In fact, I never had any fizz as soon as Im also doing my own mixer things. :)

 

For some reason people tends to forget how important is what's coming after a modeler...

[DunedinDragon]

Personally I think the vast majority of "fizz" problems come from trying to fix it in isolation.  It's only a problem when it sticks out and interferes with the end mix of things.  Personally I can't remember the last time I ran into that problem, but then I don't overabuse distortion in any situation which is the most common source and I also only listen to it through my live PA with other instruments when I'm dialing in my presets.  And I haven't even come close to having that problem using the new Helix cabs and mic placements.

[craiganderton]

On 6/14/2023 at 7:19 AM, DunedinDragon said:

It's only a problem when it sticks out and interferes with the end mix of things.

 

It's the kind of sound that indeed, is more obvious in isolation. But it's also the kind of effect that you don't notice initially. When you get rid of the fizz and then re-introduce it, you'll wonder why you didn't notice it before.

 

In the video I linked to, if you don't want to take the two-and-half minutes to check out the whole thing, skip ahead to 1:55. The sound includes two notches to remove fizz. Compare that to the original sound, which for comparison, plays after the sound with the notches. I'm sure you'll hear the difference. When you play the original sound for most people, the first reaction is "I don't hear anything wrong." But when you add the notches, and then remove them, then it's easy to hear what I'm talking about. 

 

I certainly agree the new cabs and mic placements greatly reduce fizzing, but it can still show up with various settings and be identifiable in the context of a mix.

 

 

[SaschaFranck]

Fwiw, my method to remove fizz and boom from any sound I'm using live is to use IRs that have both ends of the spectrum removed almost brutally.

In the end, there's hardly any musically useful information in any kind of typical guitar sound above, say, 5-6kHz. So I cut there. I don't trim everything out but I'm using an extremely steep high cut. In the end, there's still a bit of the range above there, so should I ever need it, I could get it back with some EQ. Usually doesn't happen. As said, we're talking live purposes here. And fwiw, I'm doing this destructively straight on the IR.

 

Admittely, with the new cabs, I don't have to do it when using the Stomp, but in my live rig it's for delay and reverb only, still need IRs for my other amp sims (Amplifirebox and Amp Academy).