Headroom / digital clipping on Reverbs

[superficialt]

I seem to be running into a problem of digital clipping on the Reverbs & delays in the Helix. It seems to happen with several of them, but in particular the (stereo) Dynamic Plate is the one I use, typically with quite a lot of Reverb dialled in. The dry amp / cab tone is as it should be, with no digital clipping, but if I add in a Reverb (after the amp/cab), I'll get some clipping and horrible high pitched hiss / crackles when I dig in.  

 

If I run the amp / cab on path 1, into path 2 with the Reverb on it, I can see that the signal indicator in the output block (end of path 1) is not hitting the top (hitting perhaps 80% when I dig in). I.e. there shouldn't be any clipping within the Helix. Moreover, the Reverb level isn't boosting the signal dramatically, and signal indicator at the end of path 2 (after the 'verb) is also fine .

 

If I reduce the level of the cab block (I.e. reducing the signal going into the reverb), the clipping disappears and life is good. I can either increase the level on the Reverb to gain the signal back up or run a gain block, or just increase the output volume. But this is annoying because I've got various presets dialled in otherwise.

 

It seems to me like the Reverbs / delays are prone to clipping, more so than other blocks and can distort (in a bad way) at much lower signal levels than other blocks. Has anyone else experience this? What am I missing? Is there supposed to be clipping as part of the effect*? I can't imagine a scenario where it sounds good! 

 

*I know some of the effects have headroom modelling built in (E.g. the transistor tape) but this is a different issue. I always set headroom to max, but IIRC the Dynamic Plate doesn't have this setting anyway.

[silverhead]

Have you tried setting the Cab’s Hi Cut parameter to a lower level, e.g. around 6Khz?

[Schmalle]

On 6/16/2023 at 1:31 PM, superficialt said:

I seem to be running into a problem of digital clipping on the Reverbs & delays in the Helix. It seems to happen with several of them, but in particular the (stereo) Dynamic Plate is the one I use, typically with quite a lot of Reverb dialled in. The dry amp / cab tone is as it should be, with no digital clipping, but if I add in a Reverb (after the amp/cab), I'll get some clipping and horrible high pitched hiss / crackles when I dig in.  

 

If I run the amp / cab on path 1, into path 2 with the Reverb on it, I can see that the signal indicator in the output block (end of path 1) is not hitting the top (hitting perhaps 80% when I dig in). I.e. there shouldn't be any clipping within the Helix. Moreover, the Reverb level isn't boosting the signal dramatically, and signal indicator at the end of path 2 (after the 'verb) is also fine .

 

If I reduce the level of the cab block (I.e. reducing the signal going into the reverb), the clipping disappears and life is good. I can either increase the level on the Reverb to gain the signal back up or run a gain block, or just increase the output volume. But this is annoying because I've got various presets dialled in otherwise.

 

It seems to me like the Reverbs / delays are prone to clipping, more so than other blocks and can distort (in a bad way) at much lower signal levels than other blocks. Has anyone else experience this? What am I missing? Is there supposed to be clipping as part of the effect*? I can't imagine a scenario where it sounds good! 

 

*I know some of the effects have headroom modelling built in (E.g. the transistor tape) but this is a different issue. I always set headroom to max, but IIRC the Dynamic Plate doesn't have this setting anyway.

Your amp / cab levels are too high as you found out yourself.

 

Yes, the delays and reverbs have upper limits (fixed headroom) like real hardware reverbs and delays. Deal with it and lower the block's input signal level.

[superficialt]

I’m sure you’re right but it’s weird that I’m finding those limits. I’m using low output guitars, default levels (channel vol) on the amps/ cabs. It’s not like I’m boosting the signal loads. 
 

I will just have to turn the levels down across all my patches.