mattonium Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 Hey all, thanks for having me here. I'm new to the HX, just got it yesterday. I've been playing around with it going into a '66 Bassman head with an orange cabinet. A couple of observations and maybe someone can tell me if I'm doing something wrong or my expectations are out of line. 1) Most of the distortion units sound quite harsh. Not much low-end or warmth. Some of them are unusable to my ears. 2) Just plugging my guitar in to the input and output to amp input seems to degrade the signal and thin it out, while bypassed too. 3) It also seems like when you use any effect, the overall sound becomes somewhat brittle and harsh. Lemme know if any of you experienced folks have any comments. I'm all ears! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverhead Posted June 22, 2023 Share Posted June 22, 2023 It would help to know a few things before answering: - What Helix device are you using? - Does your amp head have an FX Loop? - How, exactly, are your devices connected? Provide cabling/routing details. - If your Helix device has amp/cab modeling, are your presets designed so that you avoid using two preamps or two cabs at a time (both modeled and physical simultaneously)? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schmalle Posted June 22, 2023 Share Posted June 22, 2023 If you use input 2 of either channel of your Bassman and want the same more mellow sound set the input impedance in the input block to 136kOhm. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theElevators Posted June 22, 2023 Share Posted June 22, 2023 If you are running your HX device with a distortion into an amp that can easily get overdriven (like the Bassman), then if your signal is too hot, it will sound harsh. Try lowering the output level (in global settings, set it to instrument, or mic), or simply turn down the volume knob of HX Effects so it stops being harsh. I think you are overdriving the amp with the very hot signal, that's what's happening. Some amps are very clean, no matter how hot the signal, others have that warm sound, especially if you really crank it. Even an effects loop can add a certain harshness to your sound on some amps (for me, all Marshalls do that). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattonium Posted June 23, 2023 Author Share Posted June 23, 2023 Hey all, thanks for all of the tips and I will try them. My bassman is really old so no effects loop. I'm using the HX Effects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattonium Posted June 23, 2023 Author Share Posted June 23, 2023 On 6/22/2023 at 4:56 AM, silverhead said: It would help to know a few things before answering: - What Helix device are you using? - Does your amp head have an FX Loop? - How, exactly, are your devices connected? Provide cabling/routing details. - If your Helix device has amp/cab modeling, are your presets designed so that you avoid using two preamps or two cabs at a time (both modeled and physical simultaneously)? No FX loop and I'm just plugging my guitar straight into the HX Left input and the left output straight to the amp. Amp has channels jumped so the 2 input feeds the bass channel. I usually have my bassman set in the 3-5 range and use a Weber Mass 100 attenuator. I will probably be using my analog overdrives and fuzzes but would obviously be interested in getting just this unit to sound as good as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schmalle Posted June 23, 2023 Share Posted June 23, 2023 On 6/23/2023 at 8:45 PM, mattonium said: No FX loop and I'm just plugging my guitar straight into the HX Left input and the left output straight to the amp. Amp has channels jumped so the 2 input feeds the bass channel. I usually have my bassman set in the 3-5 range and use a Weber Mass 100 attenuator. I will probably be using my analog overdrives and fuzzes but would obviously be interested in getting just this unit to sound as good as possible. When you jumper channels the amp's input impedance is lowered, too. Try 230kOhm input impedance so that your guitar's electrics "see" the about the same load as if you'd plug into the amp directly. That will reduce "harshness" a little. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverhead Posted June 23, 2023 Share Posted June 23, 2023 On 6/23/2023 at 2:45 PM, mattonium said: No FX loop and I'm just plugging my guitar straight into the HX Left input and the left output straight to the amp. Amp has channels jumped so the 2 input feeds the bass channel. I usually have my bassman set in the 3-5 range and use a Weber Mass 100 attenuator. I will probably be using my analog overdrives and fuzzes but would obviously be interested in getting just this unit to sound as good as possible. With no FX Loop on your amp you can’t use the 4CM so you are always going to be feeding the HX device output into your physical preamp section. You still haven’t told us which Helix device you have. It matters if it has amp/cab modeling because then you need to manage feeding one (modeled) amp output into a second (physical) amp. That generally won’t sound good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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