Check your Impedance!

[KingsXJJ]

Sounds like we need variable impedance on all modelers. Just in case.

 

[SwirlyMaple]

Just a caution: if you set this to a fixed value instead of leaving it on Auto, some things might sound better to you while others might sound worse. If you're not liking some of the pedals and/or amps in the future and you forget you have this on a fixed value, it can bite you in the butt.

For those unaware, the Auto setting configures the input impedance to roughly the same value as the real-life hardware of the first pedal/amp model in your chain. This is meant to improve modeling accuracy and realism.

That's not to say you won't prefer the tone or feel/attack of a different setting. Just be aware it's not a one-size-fits-all thing. The oft-cited example is fuzzes which sound way off with high input impedance values, but many of the other pedal models in Helix also have impedances <1MOhm on the Auto setting.

The one "universal" exception to this is, if you want everything in Helix to behave as if it has a buffer in front of it, set the input impedance to 1MOhm.

 

[James Freeman]

input impedance seems to have much more of an effect besides just a shift in EQ.

It is definitely not just eq.
it is a real electrical load in parallel with your guitar pickup+electronics+cable, that changes the resonance and response of your guitar and interacts with the volume & tone of your guitar.

Modeling an electric guitar with LTSpice | GuitarNutz 2

Here in the future, electrical circuits can be simulated with software before anyone ever has to worry about the practical matter of how they will be made. As electric guitars are literally

guitarnuts2.proboards.com

 

[bigcupholder]

It is definitely not just eq.
it is a real electrical load in parallel with your guitar pickup+electronics+cable, that changes the resonance and response of your guitar and interacts with the volume & tone of your guitar.

Modeling an electric guitar with LTSpice | GuitarNutz 2

Here in the future, electrical circuits can be simulated with software before anyone ever has to worry about the practical matter of how they will be made. As electric guitars are literally

guitarnuts2.proboards.com

Looks like an EQ to me. What am I missing?

As I said in my post, it's different from an EQ block in that the resonance will shift with your volume knob, but there's nothing nonlinear going on here. Everything in that circuit diagram is linear. The change in "response" is because the OP is effectively EQing the signal differently in front of the compression/distortion in the preset.

 

[James Freeman]

What am I missing?

Nothing, you are absolutely right, the result is just an eq according to the electrical response of all RLC elements.
I guess the most significant part is that this eq is automatically changing in response to external physical variables like guitars, electronics and cables.

 

[jay mitchell]

it is a real electrical load in parallel with your guitar pickup+electronics+cable, that changes the resonance and response of your guitar and interacts with the volume & tone of your guitar.

If you're going to model a circuit's response with software, at a minimum you should draw a correct schematic and use correct values for the components.

Your schematic has two major errors. First, you show the tone pot directly in parallel with the volume pot. You need to add a series capacitor and then model the response with different values for the tone pot; that will definitely make a difference. Second, you need to show the volume pot as a series pair of resistors, with the output signal being taken from the junction between the two. Implementing this in a modeling program is straightforward: you specify the value of one of the pair and make the second one the difference between the pot value and the specified value.

I've had this same discussion with folks who had been paid to design input circuitry for guitars and screwed it up. You'd recognize the name of the company.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

I'm using a G10 wireless, so those settings do nothing for me

I get on just fine

 

[gumtown]

Mine's still working.

 

[James Freeman]

Nothing impedes my air guitar.

 

[SwirlyMaple]

folks who had been paid to design input circuitry for guitars and screwed it up. You'd recognize the name of the company.

Pod Go?

 

[metropolis_4]

Just a caution: if you set this to a fixed value instead of leaving it on Auto, some things might sound better to you while others might sound worse. If you're not liking some of the pedals and/or amps in the future and you forget you have this on a fixed value, it can bite you in the butt.

For those unaware, the Auto setting configures the input impedance to roughly the same value as the real-life hardware of the first pedal/amp model in your chain. This is meant to improve modeling accuracy and realism.

That's not to say you won't prefer the tone or feel/attack of a different setting. Just be aware it's not a one-size-fits-all thing. The oft-cited example is fuzzes which sound way off with high input impedance values, but many of the other pedal models in Helix also have impedances <1MOhm on the Auto setting.

The one "universal" exception to this is, if you want everything in Helix to behave as if it has a buffer in front of it, set the input impedance to 1MOhm.

On the HX Stomp it's a per-preset setting, not global. Maybe there's a global setting option I don't know about

 

[SwirlyMaple]

On the HX Stomp it's a per-preset setting, not global. Maybe there's a global setting option I don't know about

In the latest firmware update (3.15), you can set a global value for it, and then in each preset there's an option to use the global value or a different value just for that preset. Brain fart. It's the Input Pad that has global and per-preset settings, not impedance. Sorry!

 

[Fireproof]

In the latest firmware update (3.15), you can set a global value for it, and then in each preset there's an option to use the global value or a different value just for that preset.

That’s a good update!

 

[SwirlyMaple]

In the latest firmware update (3.15), you can set a global value for it, and then in each preset there's an option to use the global value or a different value just for that preset.

That’s a good update!

Oops, sorry, I'm an idiot. That's the Pad I was thinking of. Input impedance is still per-preset!

 

[Fireproof]

Oops, sorry, I'm an idiot. That's the Pad I was thinking of. Input impedance is still per-preset!

Ahh… that makes sense.

Thanks for the correction.