tolgakt Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 Hey everyone, I am new to digital modeling world and bought a Helix LT couple days ago. I’m hoping to get some advice on dialing in my overdriven tones. I can dial in clean tones to my exact taste without much issue, but I hit a wall as soon as I start building my crunch and overdrive patches. My main setup right now is a Schecter Solo-II Custom running into the Placater amp model. The problem is when I play open chords with overdrive, the sound turns into a muddy mess with very little string clarity. However, when I try to fix this by rolling off the bass frequencies on the amp (or using and EQ block), the tone completely loses its body and weight. I can't seem to find the sweet spot Has anyone else struggled with this specific balance using humbuckers and the Placater? I know the standard advice is to put a Tube Screamer or Klon (Scream 808 / Minotaur) in front to tighten the low end before it hits the amp. I’ve tried this, but I'm still struggling. It just isn't giving me that balance of string clarity on open chords while retaining the low-mid weight. I'd love to hear your strategies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waymda Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 How do you dial in your overdriven presets? With my ears - not meant to be facetious, but really that's all that matters. 'Standard practice' is BS, it's just doing what others do and may not work for you. You may want/need to change your mic/cab approach for dirtier sounds, or even the amp settings. Luckily you can do all those changes with one button push using snapshots. I think you need to throw away analog approaches (which frankly were always a massive compromise (amp + cab with pedals in front) and embrace what digital offers in terms of clean and dirty and 'disgusting' can all be highly independent. You are no longer bound to amp/pedal/can settings based on what you have onstage. Play and learn, and have some fun. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverhead Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 I agree. Not only is there no ‘right’ way to dial things in, there’s also no ‘right’ overdriven sound. I’m not a fan of hi-gain and I’m pretty sure my idea of a good overdriven sound would be considered crystal clear and clean by many others. Similarly their idea of an overdriven tone would sound like a can of angry bees to me. Experiment. Have fun. Go with what your ears tell you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverhead Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 Another suggestion: use Customtone (see link at top of this page) to filter the sort of band/guitarist/songs that appeal to you. Perhaps you’ll find some presets you can use as a starting point for tweaking to your own taste. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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