Am I really going back to ITB with Helix???

[Bruce]

So much this.

So much time is spent scrutinizing small aspects of tones/effects in one application. I get it if a guitarist is just jamming alone in their house and doesn’t really get into recording/playing live, because all they’re hearing is their self and small things can draw a lot of attention. But take that same tone and drop it in a mix, recorded or live and you’ll find you’ve got to tweak it all over again because the reverb isn’t sounding the same now that there’s other stuff going on, or it’s buried, or the delays are too loud and stomping all over a vocal, etc.

I’ve had times where I’ve felt almost guilty or like I wasn’t playing the ‘proper’ role of a guitarist by not scrutinizing every little detail, but I spend more time sitting behind Logic recording or mixing and once I hit the mix phase, that’s when I scrutinize everything.

YMMV and if someone is getting their fulfillment from tone chasing, more power to them!

For me, thats how my chops go to shit. I spend a few hours playing and a week producing and mixing. Then my gig rolls around and I drop my parts.

 

[vino_buono]

Looks like we’re all on the same page here for delays. Transistor tape, vintage digital, elephant man, and Adriatic are some of my faves. Mod chorus echo is really useful too as a low dsp option that is really versatile.

D

Same here. For me, Adriatic is the one that gets less in the way of the original tone. Transistor tape has a modulation that started to bother me.

 

[DrewJD82]

For me, thats how my chops go to s**t. I spend a few hours playing and a week producing and mixing. Then my gig rolls around and I drop my parts.

I hear ya, I’m in a constant game of catch up between bass/drums/guitar/vocals, spending a week or two on either one lets everything else drop just enough to require a week of playing to get back to ‘normal’.

 

[Bruce]

I hear ya, I’m in a constant game of catch up between bass/drums/guitar/vocals, spending a week or two on either one lets everything else drop just enough to require a week of playing to get back to ‘normal’.

Add in work and fitness. The macro struggle for me here is I can always have 2 but not all 3. Im either a slob with disposable income and good chops, or my chops go to shit but I fit my pants and have money, or Im a broke ass but a guitar god and a size 32 waist. There just isnt enough time in the day.

 

[DrewJD82]

Add in work and fitness. The macro struggle for me here is I can always have 2 but not all 3. Im either a slob with disposable income and good chops, or my chops go to s**t but I fit my pants and have money, or Im a broke ass but a guitar god and a size 32 waist. There just isnt enough time in the day.

The only fitness in my life is fitness pizza down my throat. I recently got my diet back under control after a year hiatus, these days it’s just grilled chicken, rice and broccoli, every single night until I drop a few pounds. I never want to buy new clothes because my existing ones don’t fit and I’m riiiiiiight on that cusp.

 

[Jarick]

Ive been on the diet rollercoaster so long that literally nothing works anymore. My hormones and appetite are completely out of whack. Only thing that makes me lose weight now are medical issues.

Back on topic, if the Helix had a better dimension chorus and eventide micropitch it would be all set for effects. I could totally see running an hxfx with a tube amp combo. The new cabs are great too. But the amp sims are ultimately why I went back to the axe fx 3 when I downsized and decided to go back to fully ITB.

 

[Bruce]

The only fitness in my life is fitness pizza down my throat. I recently got my diet back under control after a year hiatus, these days it’s just grilled chicken, rice and broccoli, every single night until I drop a few pounds. I never want to buy new clothes because my existing ones don’t fit and I’m riiiiiiight on that cusp.

This past summer I did great on intermittent fasting. Was getting back into my jeans again. Fast forward to the holidays and Im back in sweats. I have a NYE gig and really dont know what the hell Im going to do. I know I need to get back onto the treadmill but work has been kicking my ass. There is a treadmill at work but Im admittedly lazy. The scale is already showing a number I know I need to do something about.

 

[Bruce]

Ive been on the diet rollercoaster so long that literally nothing works anymore. My hormones and appetite are completely out of whack. Only thing that makes me lose weight now are medical issues.

Back on topic, if the Helix had a better dimension chorus and eventide micropitch it would be all set for effects. I could totally see running an hxfx with a tube amp combo. The new cabs are great too. But the amp sims are ultimately why I went back to the axe fx 3 when I downsized and decided to go back to fully ITB.

Helix has no micro pitch? That is surprising. I have the plugin but rarely use it in favor of my AxeFXIII.

 

[DrewJD82]

This past summer I did great on intermittent fasting. Was getting back into my jeans again. Fast forward to the holidays and Im back in sweats. I have a NYE gig and really dont know what the hell Im going to do. I know I need to get back onto the treadmill but work has been kicking my ass. There is a treadmill at work but Im admittedly lazy. The scale is already showing a number I know I need to do something about.

Oh this is easy; sweatpants under ass-less chaps.

 

[Jarick]

Helix has no micro pitch? That is surprising. I have the plugin but rarely use it in favor of my AxeFXIII.

It has a dual pitch that you can set up like micro pitch but it sounds really bad. There's a lot of flanging and phase artifacts. The Fractal one has always sounded awesome, and even the Boss and Headrush versions are great.

 

[Orvillain]

Oh this is easy; sweatpants under ass-less chaps.

Nah, over the chaps. Let's not make him too comfortable.

 

[JiveTurkey]

It has a dual pitch that you can set up like micro pitch but it sounds really bad. There's a lot of flanging and phase artifacts. The Fractal one has always sounded awesome, and even the Boss and Headrush versions are great.

Boss is my fave. Helix is fine and serviceable in a gigging environment but it could use some improvement certainly.

 

[sleewell]

i dont think i could add another board but it would be nice sometimes.

i use 4 snaps and 4 stomps. two of the stomps are octave up and octave down. 1 is an infinite delay. that only leaves one to add some additional flavor to my snaps. my snaps are clean, ambient clean, dirty, and dirty with delay and reverb. more than enough sounds to get by but it would but if i was being greedy i could add a litte more lol.

 

[dk_ace]

i dont think i could add another board but it would be nice sometimes.

i use 4 snaps and 4 stomps. two of the stomps are octave up and octave down. 1 is an infinite delay. that only leaves one to add some additional flavor to my snaps. my snaps are clean, ambient clean, dirty, and dirty with delay and reverb. more than enough sounds to get by but it would but if i was being greedy i could add a litte more lol.

I use the 4/4 layout for live stuff, but the snapshots are song parts so they could consist of all kinds of stuff and changes. I keep 4 stomps up for things that I might punch in within a song section where I don’t really need a whole snapshot change or as options in case I want to go a different direction in the moment.

I’ve never been able to distill what I do down to a few sounds like a lot of people do with the snapshots. My main preset has a switch to change the gain of the amp, plus a boosting compressor, a drive pedal, and a fuzz. There’s a ton of different gain/compression levels and feels available across those 4 stomps plus my guitar controls and picking dynamics. It allows me to do 90% of the stuff I need to in one preset without touching a knob other than on my guitar.

When I’m not performing or I am but it’s improvised (or I was super lazy and didn’t program the songs), I’m in 12 stomp mode wishing I had more buttons and dsp…

D

 

[dk_ace]

Boss is my fave. Helix is fine and serviceable in a gigging environment but it could use some improvement certainly.

I just don’t get this sound. Maybe I’ve just only had units that did it badly so I don’t know what I’m missing? Every time I try it I just hear this instant 80s thing that I’ve never liked. I hear others talk about it as making the guitar sound bigger, but to my ear it always makes things sound smaller. Guess this is one thing I won’t be wishing for in Helix…

D

 

[JiveTurkey]

I just don’t get this sound. Maybe I’ve just only had units that did it badly so I don’t know what I’m missing? Every time I try it I just hear this instant 80s thing that I’ve never liked. I hear others talk about it as making the guitar sound bigger, but to my ear it always makes things sound smaller. Guess this is one thing I won’t be wishing for in Helix…

D

Yeah 80s for sure. Except when you are slapping it on top of tone and doing the 90s EVH/ZW thing. I get the observation on it 100% if you aren't a fan of that type of sound though.

 

[Jarick]

I just don’t get this sound. Maybe I’ve just only had units that did it badly so I don’t know what I’m missing? Every time I try it I just hear this instant 80s thing that I’ve never liked. I hear others talk about it as making the guitar sound bigger, but to my ear it always makes things sound smaller. Guess this is one thing I won’t be wishing for in Helix…

D

It's totally an 80's sound, but if you dial it in right it should make everything sound a lot bigger. The best part about micro pitch is it works with high gain, like Jive said, instant EVH or Zakk or any number of 80's shredders. Chorus can sound sloppy and phasey but micro pitch plays nicely here. Unfortunately the Helix one is not as clean sounding as others so it's still a bit phasey.

A couple keys for this sound...pitch detune tends to drop the apparent output, so I often find I need to boost output level by 2-3 dB. You want to hard pan the pitches left and right and add a little delay to make it sound wider.

Try something like this:

Stereo dual pitch

Interval 1: 0
Cents 1: -9
Delay 1: 3.0 ms
V1 level: 10

Interval 2: 0
Cents 2: +9
Delay 2: 10 ms
V2 level: 10

Mix 40%
Level +3 dB
V1 Pan Left 100
V2 Pan Right 100
Dry Pan Center

 

[JiveTurkey]

Not to beat forum tropes to death; but the HX stuff here again proves it's "sounds like a pedal" vs. "sounds like a rack unit".

 

[holoholo]

I still have no idea what ITB means

 

[Fireproof]

I still have no idea what ITB means

That makes two of us.