Do I need a Seymour Duncan PowerStage?

[adagosto]

Hi all,

About a year ago I went back to playing mostly tube amps. The amp I use every day is the Amp1 and occasionally a Vox AC30. My son stole my Supersonic 22 otherwise I'd use that a bit too. So my ear has just gravitated to a amp and can.

I don't even use my Stomp or ToneX anymore. I have a Powercab Plus, but I just don't like the vibe. 

Do I need to get a PowerStage? Will that breath new live into my Stomp/ToneX?

Does anyone have experience with the PS that can speak to the marriage between Helix and the PS?

 

Thx!!

[theElevators]

I still stand by my preference to use a real guitar cab and a small compact power amp -- Mooer Baby Bomb (30 watts) for stage volume.  I have been doing this for about 3.5 years. 

 

I was initially afraid it would be too gritty, or not reliable enough... but nope!  I even bought another one as a backup.  For 90 USD (fraction of the cost of PowerStage), it's so simple.  It's PLENTY loud for any bar gig to use as the only amp for the venue, and more than enough to play the stage of a big theater.  Most of the time you don't want the amp on stage to overpower the PA sound, sound guys always ask you to turn yourself down...

 

After I tried it on stage for the first time, I realized that I no longer needed my tube amp.  I went and sold my Peavey Classic 30 and bought myself an Orange 12" cab.  You can get something that is a lot lighter, no need for this "tonewood" that weighs like a bunch of bricks.  You need to check the impedance of the speakers, otherwise Baby Bomb can start cutting out... that's the only caveat.  But it works with Marshall 4x12s, or a single 12" speaker.  Fender Twin cabinet has different impedance, so that will give you issues. 

 

I toured Europe running Helix into Baby Bomb into the cabinet of a Fender Deluxe and it sounded great.  So now this tiny box is always in my Helix backpack.  If the venue has a cab or an amp where I can tap into the cab, I use it.  Some combo amps have the speaker hard-wired to it, on some you can simply disconnect the little 1/4" cable.  That's the cable you plug into the output of the Baby Bomb.  Otherwise I use the "return" of an amp, or as a last resort, just go into a very clean amp like the Fender Deluxe.

 

 

[benriddell]

I use a Helix Rack into a Palmer Macht 402 power amp and pair of Zilla cabs loaded with Celestion F12-X200 speakers and it sounds like an amp in the room. With the flat characteristics of the amp and speakers (both designed to be used with modellers) you can utilise IRs or the Helix cabs with no tonal colouring - my understanding is the PowerStage and the Palmer are one in the same so your choice of speaker will be the deciding factor. I had a HX Stomp into a Laney Laney Ironheart IRT-X powered cab/wedge prior to the rack and while it sounded good it was definitely small and boxy

You've also got to factor in the 8 block limit in the Stomp so there's not much room for tone shaping with EQs/compression if you want to use want an array of drive and effects too "in the box"

[adagosto]

Thank you guys. I'm checking in to these suggestions.