Helix 2204 Mod

[MirrorProfiles]

I’m not the biggest fan of the sound of the Lee Jackson modded Marshalls, but thought I’d try and educate myself a little better about them to try and get more out of the “2204 Mod“ emulation in Helix. It definitely seems like it’s a Lee Jackson modded circuit, both in sound, features and how it behaves.









What I’ve found:

- The sound is not my thing at all, but it seems that they need to be dialled in quite a specific way to do it’s thing. I was trying to dial it like a stock 2204 and that’s absolutely not the way. When dialled in right it does it’s thing.

- Bass low, treble and presence cranked. Most people seem to crank the mids too on the real amp. On the amps with the mid shift circuit, most people favour the lower side of it.

- Not entirely sure how the Helix Model matches up knob wise. Presumably they’ve made the mid control continuous rather than fixed values (might be cool to know the fixed values?) Also, on Helix there’s 2 mid controls (vs the amps which AFAIK just have the one mid knob), and only one master (I think the Lee Jackson mods sometimes have a 2nd master that could be disengaged).

- Lee Jackson’s soldering work and lead dress looks pretty grim (like someone’s sneezed hotsnot all over the PCB).

- The amps are really noisy and need weird settings. Also ridiculously loud instantly. Not really my idea of a finely tuned circuit.

 

[James Freeman]

I declare this thread as the "Will Helix ever get an accurate JCM800 model? (MK.II)".

The Vitriol quenched my desire for a 5150III model (the Crunch channel is totally broken btw), but no way in hell I will accept a "close enough" replacement for a proper JCM800.

They fixed the Rat, they fixed the DS-1, now it is time to admit the 2204 model is shit and model a proper BONE STOCK NORMAL JCM800, both High and Low inputs as the Low input bypasses a 12ax7 gain stage which is not just a pad.

Don't let the Helix EOL without a kick ass JCM800 ffs, that' the ultimate sin.

 

[SeeD]

Helix User be like 800...800........800 Plz

Line6 be like

 

[MirrorProfiles]

I declare this thread as the "Will Helix ever get an accurate JCM800 model? (MK.II)".

The Vitriol quenched my desire for a 5150III model (the Crunch channel is totally broken btw), but no way in hell I will accept a "close enough" replacement for a proper JCM800.

They fixed the Rat, they fixed the DS-1, now it is time to admit the 2204 model is s**t and model a proper BONE STOCK NORMAL JCM800, both High and Low inputs as the Low input bypasses a 12ax7 gain stage which is not just a pad.

Don't let the Helix EOL without a kick ass JCM800 ffs, that' the ultimate sin.

Ha I really like the Vitriol model but it’s all the more frustrating that the crunch channel is fucked because we already had a solid 5150 Red Channel emulation.

IMO the various EVH circuits have their own thing going on, the 5150II/6505+ is closer but I wouldn’t mind a Line 6 take on it. Makes more sense to go for the EVH circuits as they’re further from the OG. That said, I’m happy using Neural Gojira, Fractal and even Audio Assault have a pretty good take on it (that you can buy for about £3). I sold my EVH as I found it a bit of a one trick pony and prefer the original Peavey circuit most of the time. Emulations scratch my itch with that amp.

And as much as I completely agree about Helix needing a solid stock 2204 emulation l, I would also love to see some (other) nicely modded ones in there too.

A Friedman JEL or SIR 36/39 are better sounding jcm 800 mods than LJ IMO and I think would be quite appealing for people. The LJ mod sounds worse than a stock 800 to me

 

[JT]

 

[James Freeman]

Too much hammers for one day.... I question the meaning of this and I must protest.

 

[JT]

Too much hammers for one day.... I question the meaning of this and I must protest.

Sorry I was just trying to counter the nice Gosling with the Drive Gosling. My favorite movie from him

 

[Fireproof]

I’ve heard forever people begging for an accurate JCM800 model.

So what is the “excuse” for why we don’t have one yet?

 

[JT]

I’ve heard forever people begging for an accurate JCM800 model.

So what is the “excuse” for why we don’t have one yet?

They revisited the cabs. Time to take another drive to M-Town?

 

[James Freeman]

Sorry I was just trying to counter the nice Gosling with the Drive Gosling. My favorite movie from him

Oh, I haven't seen that one, the joke flew over my head...... JUST LIKE THE JCM800 OVER LINE 6.

 

[JT]

Oh, I haven't seen that one, the joke flew over my head...... JUST LIKE THE JCM800 OVER LINE 6.

Dude. KILLER flick. If you like silent dude going ham in a synthwave soundtrack action flick.

 

[James Freeman]

Dude. KILLER flick. If you like silent dude going ham in a synthwave soundtrack action flick.

Blade Runner 2049 was excellent, I expect the same kind of vibe from Ryan Gosling in this?

 

[JT]

Blade Runner 2049 was excellent, I expect the same kind of vibe from Ryan Gosling in this?

No sci-fi. Just crime flick with Reyfn touch. Gosling is silent most of the film. It's got VIBE.

 

[James Freeman]

I’ve heard forever people begging for an accurate JCM800 model.

So what is the “excuse” for why we don’t have one yet?

 

[bigcupholder]

Ha I really like the Vitriol model but it’s all the more frustrating that the crunch channel is f****d because we already had a solid 5150 Red Channel emulation.

IMO the various EVH circuits have their own thing going on, the 5150II/6505+ is closer but I wouldn’t mind a Line 6 take on it. Makes more sense to go for the EVH circuits as they’re further from the OG. That said, I’m happy using Neural Gojira, Fractal and even Audio Assault have a pretty good take on it (that you can buy for about £3). I sold my EVH as I found it a bit of a one trick pony and prefer the original Peavey circuit most of the time. Emulations scratch my itch with that amp.

And as much as I completely agree about Helix needing a solid stock 2204 emulation l, I would also love to see some (other) nicely modded ones in there too.

A Friedman JEL or SIR 36/39 are better sounding jcm 800 mods than LJ IMO and I think would be quite appealing for people. The LJ mod sounds worse than a stock 800 to me

Try the free ML Amped Roots 5153 (EL34 version). It sounds great to me but I'm curious how it compares with other plugins.

Did we ever get confirmation which amp+channel the PV Panama is a model of?

 

[Mongillo19]

Did we ever get confirmation which amp+channel the PV Panama is a model of?

Seems to be the peavey 5150

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Did we ever get confirmation which amp+channel the PV Panama is a model of?

Yeah, 5150 Red Channel. Can get fairly close to the Green channel with weirder settings. Vitriol Lead can coax the same Red Channel tones exactly (I’ve had a real Invective in the studio and managed to match it to my block letter 5150, the same is the case with plugins).

I’m not really into the ML approach but some of their stuff sounds ok. I don’t mind the 5150EL34, Diezel VH4 or Jubilee. In every case I prefer other options though.

Has anyone here got a Lee Jackson modded (or designed) amp?

 

[la szum]

I snagged 2 of the Crate Stealth (Lee Jackson designed) 100 heads years ago. I think I have
less than $300 into both of them. They are heavy, ugly, and not sure how reliable they are.
They do sound f'ing awesome, though.

They appear to have all the Marshall Mods Lee was known for---including that extra tube-driven
gain stage (that is footswitchable on the Stealth). Cheap as fuck build quality.

The ad speak on the Manual is f'ing hilarious.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

I snagged 2 of the Crate Stealth (Lee Jackson designed) 100 heads years ago. I think I have
less than $300 into both of them. They are heavy, ugly, and not sure how reliable they are.
They do sound f'ing awesome, though.

They appear to have all the Marshall Mods Lee was known for---including that extra tube-driven
gain stage (that is footswitchable on the Stealth). Cheap as f**k build quality.

The ad speak on the Manual is f'ing hilarious.

View attachment 2433

Ah nice! I’m pretty sure this same circuit has made it into various amps from him.

Do you happen to have a Helix (or Helix Native plugin) that you can compare this to?

 

[shanesiegle]

I had a Led Jackson amp for about three days. Not bad, not great either.