Helix Newb

[Bursiculate]

I'm a weekend warrior guitarist who plays in a local stoner doom hard rock band. My live rig can basically be summed up as (treble boost, TS9 through orange rockerverb 50 with a dunable usa). Until this week, my home rig was a 15 year old line 6 spider. I took the plunge and bought a Helix LT this week that will serve as a home practice rig to start, but i'd eventually like to use it for small gigs when I don't want to haul 200 lbs of orange amp to play 30 minutes. I have been playing around with it with a pair of ATH-M40X headphones (I did order a Headrush 1x8 FRFR but it hasn't shown up with my candy bag yet).

The problem, everything sounds so fizzy, tinny, digital, awful. I've tried to build a few rigs and downloaded a bunch of customtone tones but can't get an enjoyable tone out of this rig to save my life.

I'm 100% new to modeling and know this is likely user error or lack of understanding. I don't know if there are any good resources online or any advice you can give that could get me started and get good tone.

[silverhead]

You could start here….

Another very useful resource, especially the Tips and Guides area.

 

https://helixhelp.com/tips-and-guides

 

 

When your Headrush speaker arrives make sure you put it on a stand. The word on those speakers is that they sound very boomy when sitting on the floor.

 

Are your headphones wireless/Bluetooth? If so how are you connecting them to the Helix LT? Can you try wired headphones connected directly?

[Schmalle]

On 12/18/2024 at 7:47 AM, Bursiculate said:

The problem, everything sounds so fizzy, tinny, digital, awful.

The main thing that I think you should investigate is the sound of your Rockerverb at different listening angles. Listen to the highs while moving around. You'll notice that when you're straight in front of your speaker the treble content is much higher than in angled positions. Directly listening to the center of the speaker it might even start to sound... fizzy, tinny, digital. 

 

That should give you a clue at what the problem is when dealing with a virtual amp with cabinet simulation: you have the choice of many angles, distances and microphones that all sound different an all pick up different amount of high frequency content.

 

The second thing when using headphones is to use some reverb otherwise it will sound too direct and anemic. Use the Reverb->Stereo->Dynamic Ambience and experiment with Size and Mix until you feel in the right virtual space.

 

Third point to keep in mind: volume. Loud stuff sounds better most of the time. Keep that in mind when comparing two sounds / settings.

 

So I'd start with a Mandarin Rocker amp+cab block, copy the settings from your real amp, put the Distortion->Screamer 808 in front of it, again the settings of your real pedal, add a reverb after it. Then experiment with the cabinet settings: mic, position, distance, angle etc. Focus on the high frequency content - you'll find a lot of settings that aren't fizzy or tinny. The challenge is to find the settings where the sound is balanced the way you like it.

 

The next challenge is to find settings that you like and that also fit in the band mix.

 

And since you like stoner / doom stuff: don't miss out on the Moo)))n amp and the Vital Distortion.

 

Also this article is a recommended read, understaning this will likely save you a lot of pain:

https://blog.line6.com/2023/09/15/eric-klein-at-least-half-of-your-modelers-sound-is-determined-by-your-playback-system/

 

Take your time and have fun!

[CarlosRoss]

On 12/18/2024 at 8:05 PM, silverhead said:

You could start here….

Another very useful resource, especially the Tips and Guides area.

 

https://helixhelp.com/tips-and-guides

 

 

When your Headrush speaker arrives make sure you put it on a stand. The word on those speakers is that they sound very boomy when sitting on the floor.

 

Are your headphones wireless/Bluetooth? If so how are you connecting them to the Helix LT? Can you try wired headphones connected directly?

Hey there! Exploring the Helix is like learning a new instrument or crafting a descriptive essay—detail matters. If you need inspiration for learning structure, free essay samples by GradesFixer can be helpful!

Thanks for the link :)

[rblissett]

you can also dive into the custometone section right here on the line6 site and try to find some doom rock (or whatever style your into) premade importable setups. Be careful of the ones that require separate IRs as you may need to purchase to really get to work. I stick to custom tones that use amps already available for the helix. That said, I always end up tweaking a little and I'm fortunate enough to have a mixer with decent Yamaha powered speakers and also run a separate output to my powercab amp (FRFR) as my stage amp when playing live. As mentioned Jason Sadites has some amazing videos and have even met with him a couple times as he's from a small town close to mine - def knows his lollipop!