Create a patch that responds differently to the neck and bridge pickups without using snapshots or clicking effects.

[RobBaartwijk]

Hello to all,

I could use some help ;

When we see someone like Joe Bonamassa playing his Les Paul, we can see that when he selects his bridge pickup the sound is rhythm and quite clean but when he then switches to the bridge pickup he immediately has a soaring lead solo sound. Without touching anything except the controls on his guitar. He often does not activate/deactivate any pedals for this; he just switches the pickup selection and the other sound is heard.

I program my own patches, and that goes very very well(and is enormous fun), but I am trying to emulate the behaviour of the amp sound based on the pickup selection. I am getting there slowly but I wonder if you have any tips.

So my ideal situation would be that I can switch pickups and get two distinctly different sounds without using snapshots etcetera. So the way people like Joe Bonamassa and other professionals work; they hardly touch the effects(or snapshots) and are still able to switch the sound by just using the controls on my guitar.

All input is welcome. Please keep in mind that I am now quite experienced in programming the Pod Go and the Helix(I am also a software developer in real life...). So extremely basic hints and tips, as welcome as the help is, probably will not be very useful.

If anyone has a patch I can use as a starting point that would be even better!

Hope to get some tips here, thanks in advance.

[SaschaFranck]

- Optimize the volume controls on your guitars. There's no single solution for anybody, I personally prefer using a treble bleed cap on most of my guitars. Other people like the socalled "50s wiring". And yet some others like it stock.

 

- Don't overgain your sounds. Too much gain and the sound won't react too much to your playing and/or guitar volume and/or pickup switching.

 

- Use a very dynamic amp. In the HX series, the Grammatico GSG is excellent.

 

- If you want more "sustain" (it actually is decay, but hey...) without raising the amp gain, you might want to try a little compression before the amp. I like the legacy Vetta Comp for such stuff.

 

- Get used to play accordingly. This is possibly the hardest part.

[RobBaartwijk]

Some additional info for you all ; chatgpt is useless in this case. It advises settings that are not even on the Helix, so that is not perfect.... :) 

[RobBaartwijk]

On 10/24/2025 at 11:50 AM, SaschaFranck said:

- Optimize the volume controls on your guitars. There's no single solution for anybody, I personally prefer using a treble bleed cap on most of my guitars. Other people like the socalled "50s wiring". And yet some others like it stock.

 

- Don't overgain your sounds. Too much gain and the sound won't react too much to your playing and/or guitar volume and/or pickup switching.

 

- Use a very dynamic amp. In the HX series, the Grammatico GSG is excellent.

 

- If you want more "sustain" (it actually is decay, but hey...) without raising the amp gain, you might want to try a little compression before the amp. I like the legacy Vetta Comp for such stuff.

 

- Get used to play accordingly. This is possibly the hardest part.

Thanks. I am already working with that solution yes, I may need a treble bleed on my ES335 style guitar. For the rest I am indeed working more and more with the volume and tone controls.
Sometimes it is easier to just make a snapshot for both pickups but I am trying to get it so that I can do exactly what the great guitar tone folks do. Call it a hobby! :) 

I have several Pod Go patch packs for sale and now that I have switched to the Helix Floorboard I want to start creating packs for that beautiful machine. And to have something in there that would respond to your pickup settings would - I think - be a great patch for people to work with.

[RobBaartwijk]

I am taking a dive into the split settings(dynamic) so I can use two cabs for a mix of the sound. Apparently you can select a frequency to 'split' the sound into the two cabs. That way I should be able to control the tone with my tone control know on the guitar. Add more high and the other cab kicks in.

And when/if I can get that to work I can even put the split before the amp and add one more amp to respond to the dynamic split.

To be continued... :) 

[SaschaFranck]

On 10/24/2025 at 12:32 PM, RobBaartwijk said:

I am taking a dive into the split settings(dynamic) so I can use two cabs for a mix of the sound. Apparently you can select a frequency to 'split' the sound into the two cabs. That way I should be able to control the tone with my tone control know on the guitar. Add more high and the other cab kicks in.

 

This is defenitely not working just as easy as it seems to be. I'd try to keep it simple for a start. The right combination of compression, boosts, drives and amps can take you a long way already.

 

Here's a little silly thing I recorded when someone asked for a somewhat fuzzy yet dynamic sound out of the HX ecosystem. It's not exactly like a rhythm/leads thing, but think it works pretty well.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nhNYRGXFWBFEs1ZEeykXW4RTtScjlsnI/view?usp=sharing

 

[RobBaartwijk]

On 10/24/2025 at 12:50 PM, SaschaFranck said:

 

This is defenitely not working just as easy as it seems to be. I'd try to keep it simple for a start. The right combination of compression, boosts, drives and amps can take you a long way already.

 

Here's a little silly thing I recorded when someone asked for a somewhat fuzzy yet dynamic sound out of the HX ecosystem. It's not exactly like a rhythm/leads thing, but think it works pretty well.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nhNYRGXFWBFEs1ZEeykXW4RTtScjlsnI/view?usp=sharing

 

Oh it does not have to be easy! :) I have all the time in the world(well... sort of)... 

Thanks for the link by the way! I'll check that now.