Helix Talk

[banned]

I like a general HX thread!

Yesterday night, after I believe about 2 years, I've brought my helix floor, 2x12 with greenbacks and SD power amp into a rehearsal space and played some rock with real human beings. Can't explain how good it felt.

Anyway the Helix sounded so good I couldn't believe it and real cabs are the thing. I'm so glad I've bought this 2x12.
I don't know why on earth I've decided to buy an ""FRFR"" when I did it, I mean they are good but... come on. ...
I really regret selling my 4x12 now. ""FRFR"" are good, are versatile and all but they are not what I love to hear behind me.

I've spent the night with a Plexi Trem and Park 75 and they both delivered a great fat hard rock tone.
I use a very simple signal chain (inside articulated presets) hi pass to tame the lowend of my Gibsons, Pillars for boosting, Amp, a touch of reverb).

Bottom end: Helix into real cabs is more than awesome.

This is what I've been saying from the beginning. Infact, that's the setup I go with almost all the time - Park 75 into a 2x12.

The Park is amazing - but the 2x12 is what seals the deal. "FRFR" is ok at best and often not even that to my ears...if you want to compare to an amp through a cab.

 

[mercifulfuzziness]

Yesterday I deleted all my presets to start over. I only had 4 so nothing crazy. I followed my intuition and bought the York Princeton. Put the amp in and only dialed the drive a but up. For now this will be the amp.

It seemed to work differently than the deluxe EQ wise. I think stock it’s already good with the bass low and treble high. Mid I did not touch (the real amp has no mid so this is how it “should” sound?)

 

[timbuck3]

Talking about QC, I wonder why some amps have similar names to Helix's (Marshall-Brit, Fender-US).

EDIT: just browsed through all QC blocks. I'm missing so many amps and effects from the Helix. I might enjoy the QC amps, but in its current state it's not sexy enough.

And yes, I too wonder if there's that much difference in terms of amps.

https://www.laney.co.uk/blog/5-reasons-the-laney-lfr-is-the-best-"FRFR"-cab-for-quad-cortex/

 

[molul]

https://www.laney.co.uk/blog/5-reasons-the-laney-lfr-is-the-best-""FRFR""-cab-for-quad-cortex/

Broken link, and wondering how is it related to my quoted post

 

[Sascha Franck]

Broken link

Try this. The forum software will always put "FRFR" in quotes.

and wondering how is it related to my quoted post

Are you really wondering? I'm not (and no, it wasn't related, but that's Mr. Buck for you).

 

[mercifulfuzziness]

Please believe me, first of all, when I say, all you guys say I take in account. So also that I should listen and I when its good to my ears, it's good.

So, I playing around with a TS on the advice to put it in front of a nice amp. I picked the AC30.. a bit of a dirtier channel..

Does this seem super off to you guys?

I like it.. but it's still a bit too muffy for my taste.. but maybe that is what it supposed to be a bit with a TS?

 

[mercifulfuzziness]

The amp settings are from a super friendly forum member here.. I like it with my strat.

 

[holoholo]

If it sounds good to you then use it. The trip to shitville is someone else telling you your settings suck. Only you know your guitar, rig, and ears.

 

[mercifulfuzziness]

If it sounds good to you then use it. The trip to shitville is someone else telling you your settings suck. Only you know your guitar, rig, and ears.

so there is no way like in a realistic forest painting where a pink color just looks really weird in it?

So, in this case …”why in the hell is that gain so low compared to the tone knob? That is not something you see often!”

 

[pablo retamal]

Please believe me, first of all, when I say, all you guys say I take in account. So also that I should listen and I when its good to my ears, it's good.

So, I playing around with a TS on the advice to put it in front of a nice amp. I picked the AC30.. a bit of a dirtier channel..

Does this seem super off to you guys?

I like it.. but it's still a bit too muffy for my taste.. but maybe that is what it supposed to be a bit with a TS?

View attachment 35483

Try adjusting the threshold of the input noise gate (if you have it activated it may be detracting from your gain)

 

[GTR37]

Broken link, and wondering how is it related to my quoted post

it never is ........

 

[laxu]

so there is no way like in a realistic forest painting where a pink color just looks really weird in it?

So, in this case …”why in the hell is that gain so low compared to the tone knob? That is not something you see often!”

People run TS pedals all the time with the gain low, but instead turn volume high. Try raising the volume on the model. If it sounds muffled it could be simply that you are reducing the level when you turn it on and that sounds like "tone suck" to your ears.

Tone knob at 6 seems pretty normal. The Helix sliders being so long make it look more extreme.

 

[Aleksi]

so there is no way like in a realistic forest painting where a pink color just looks really weird in it?

So, in this case …”why in the hell is that gain so low compared to the tone knob? That is not something you see often!”

Your guitar tone is not the forest, it's just different shades of the pink color. It does not matter until you put it in the forest . Unless it's a solo guitar forest, where there are no other trees. Then how it sounds isolated matters a lot. But how the settings look still doesn't matter.

What is matter? Never mind. What is mind? No matter.

 

[DieSchmalle]

so there is no way like in a realistic forest painting where a pink color just looks really weird in it?

So, in this case …”why in the hell is that gain so low compared to the tone knob? That is not something you see often!”

This will trick you:
This will also trick you:
This is the evil mastermind behind all that trickery:

Spoiler: Unfortunately you need to use this to get tricked less:

 

[mercifulfuzziness]

Interesting video. The underdrive concept which probably isn't new to a lot (all?) people here. But with the helix you can actually put the Fender Deluxe reverb on drive / volume 9.. and just place a Prize drive before it for those different shades of the pink color. Before this, I was just trying to get that drive from the pedal it self.

 

[Frodebro]

Interesting video. The underdrive concept which probably isn't new to a lot (all?) people here. But with the helix you can actually put the Fender Deluxe reverb on drive / volume 9.. and just place a Prize drive before it for those different shades of the pink color. Before this, I was just trying to get that drive from the pedal it self.

Often times you can get close to the same result by rolling the volume knob on your guitar down a little bit.

 

[sashimi]

Someone here recently suggested using a gain block in front of the amp instead of a boost or OD so I tried it. And now that’s my go-to truly ‘transparent’ boost. I set it to 6 db. If the amp is on the edge of breakup it pushes it into overdrive and it doesn’t change the tone.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Someone here recently suggested using a gain block in front of the amp instead of a boost or OD so I tried it. And now that’s my go-to truly ‘transparent’ boost. I set it to 6 db. If the amp is on the edge of breakup it pushes it into overdrive and it doesn’t change the tone.

Try a simple EQ as well. At its default settings, the output control is working exactly like a gain block, but as soon as you feel like it, you can as well shape things a little bit.

 

[mercifulfuzziness]

Try a simple EQ as well. At its default settings, the output control is working exactly like a gain block, but as soon as you feel like it, you can as well shape things a little bit.

You mean this one: https://www.fluidsolo.com/patchexchange/view-model/Simple-Eq,277 ?

I tried the 10 band MXR but found that to complicated. Zero knowledge about Hz

 

[Sascha Franck]

You mean this one: https://www.fluidsolo.com/patchexchange/view-model/Simple-Eq,277 ?

Yes.
But perhaps one of the graphic EQs is an easier to deal with thing for a start...

I tried the 10 band MXR but found that to complicated.

What's so complicated? Drag bands up and down and listen. Refer to my previous tip of recording something into a "first thing in the chain" looper, so you can concentrate on moving sliders and listening.
Maybe start with the Cali Q Graphic model for a start as it only has 5 bands.
But really:

Zero knowledge about Hz

Absolutely no knowledge required. As said, move the sliders, listen.

One small hint about frequencies, though: For pre-amp tone shaping duties, the mid bands are most important. Using the 10 Band Graphic EQ as a frequency reference, that'd likely be the 250, 500, 1k and 2k sliders.
The lower ones can serve to keep an amp tight by cutting lows, the higher ones might make your amp "sing" a little more but you may have to add another post-EQ for compensation (so the highs don't get harsh), but seriously, I'd stick with the mids for a start. Especially in front of a somewhat overdriven amp/drive they can very noticeably alter the entire drive characteristics.

But as said: Just fool around with it.