Bass Players

[ErikH1973]

How is the Helix for Bass players? I play a lot of Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, and Metallica. Can I get close to those tones on the Helix or is the Helix more geared for guitar players?

[rd2rk]

For recording purposes, Helix has all of the bass amp and cabinet types (including thousands of IRs of the included cabs), modeled using the same modeling tech as the guitar amps, that you need to get most any sound you want.

 

For live performance, I personally do not like any of the usual FRFR type cabs that work fine for guitar.

They just don't get that THUMP that I want out of my bass. 

BUT... keep in mind that NO modeler will do that. LIVE, it's purely a function of the physical cab.

 

When I played bass with bands I always used either a BIG 2x15 cab or a BIG 4x10 cab.

I even used a CV 1x18 for a while! That sucker was LOUD!

These days I'm just jamming with friends and unless they're REALLY LOUD I can get decent enough (modern) sounds out of my HR FRFR112, but...

 

If you're going through FOH with a pair of BIG bass bins, that'll work.

If not and you MUST go FRFR, get at LEAST a 1x15 in a WOODEN enclosure.

 

IOW and IMHO, bass is HEAVY, and it takes a BIG, HEAVY cab with a lot of watts to do it right!

[DunedinDragon]

On 2/20/2025 at 1:48 AM, rd2rk said:

For recording purposes, Helix has all of the bass amp and cabinet types (including thousands of IRs of the included cabs), modeled using the same modeling tech as the guitar amps, that you need to get most any sound you want.

 

THIS is why it works so well if you go direct to the mixing board in a live setting.

[ErikH1973]

On 2/20/2025 at 1:48 AM, rd2rk said:

For recording purposes, Helix has all of the bass amp and cabinet types (including thousands of IRs of the included cabs), modeled using the same modeling tech as the guitar amps, that you need to get most any sound you want.

 

For live performance, I personally do not like any of the usual FRFR type cabs that work fine for guitar.

They just don't get that THUMP that I want out of my bass. 

BUT... keep in mind that NO modeler will do that. LIVE, it's purely a function of the physical cab.

 

When I played bass with bands I always used either a BIG 2x15 cab or a BIG 4x10 cab.

I even used a CV 1x18 for a while! That sucker was LOUD!

These days I'm just jamming with friends and unless they're REALLY LOUD I can get decent enough (modern) sounds out of my HR FRFR112, but...

 

If you're going through FOH with a pair of BIG bass bins, that'll work.

If not and you MUST go FRFR, get at LEAST a 1x15 in a WOODEN enclosure.

 

IOW and IMHO, bass is HEAVY, and it takes a BIG, HEAVY cab with a lot of watts to do it right!

I do have a GK410RBH cab but for now I just want to use the helix with my interface and headphones. Are the tones realistic?

[rd2rk]

I think so. YMMV. Buy your Helix somewhere with a proper returns policy.

[lou-kash]

On 2/21/2025 at 2:25 AM, ErikH1973 said:

for now I just want to use the helix with my interface and headphones. Are the tones realistic?

 

Bassist with an HX Stomp here.

On the Helix side, the headphone sound is the least issue of all. You can dial in whatever you like, as long as your headphones will correctly "translate" it directly into your ears.

 

So e.g. for practicing, I like the no-name fancy headphones from the collection of my late father which are so bass-heavy that I found them absolutely unsuitable for almost any other "normal" music listening pleasures. But for practicing, their bass sound is very "pronounced".

 

Whereas when I need accurate sound, e.g. when recording with our bands, I'm using my trusty AKG K271. Those are very linear, but in this scenario it's a good thing because me usually being the sound engineer at the same time, I need to hear everything clearly.

[Osse]

I've not tried in a while, don't fully remember if I've tried the amp head models into my bass cabs but I think so, imo my stomp only works fairly well for headphone practicing, it lacks low end needed for recording for some reason, I can not find the low end which I need compared to some vsts or when recording a cab. I don't think it's the front end as iirc I've used it as recording interface with vsts without problem. Maybe the new cab models remedies the lack of low end I perceived about 2-3 years ago when I tried extensively last time. The parallax vst had the low end i was missing in the helix models for example.

[DunedinDragon]

When it comes to recording a bass track I don't think there's anything better than using virtual instruments.  I finally sold off my Fender precision bass a couple of years ago because it simply pales in comparison to the flexibility and control I get using various plugins for standard electric bass, upright bass, picked/plucked bass, even orchestral bass sounds I can get through using my MIDI keyboard and various sampled bass and professional EQ'ing tools like iZotope's Neutron 5.

[lou-kash]

On 2/21/2025 at 5:37 PM, Osse said:

it lacks low end

 

The Stomp by itself doesn't "lack" anything in this regard, unless your actual hardware device is broken by some means.

 

Everything else is a matter of multiple factors in series, starting with the input impedance, over the parameters you've applied to all the blocks on the signal path, over the headphones or speakers you're using to monitor the signal, up to the acoustic factors of the room you're in.

So in fact it's likely the other way around, in that some of the other external components in the signal chain may lack low end. If that's the case, the Stomp actually provides various tools to compensate for these deficits: EQs, compressors, you name it.

 

Been there done that, many times… ;)