IDEA: Helix Lunchbox Amp Head

Orvillain said:
You can make a SS based modeller look like a tube amp. If it sounds crap... then you can't save it.

BTW - I had the powered Kemper. Hated the built in poweramp. It sounded utterly gash.

I want to try the Orange Pedal Baby. I keep hearing good things about it. So far the best poweramp for modellers I've heard is the Fryette Powerstation 100.

I'd be quite curious about picking up a Spidervalve too, and plugging into the power amp input. (In fact those Spidervalves sounded really good as standalone amps!)

None of my comments are based on guitarist mythology or conservative ppinions. They're based on experience.
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I’m debating between the Orange PB and the SD170 atm myself. (Or racking the SD700) Wish there were more SS power options tbh.
 
The Kemper powerrack amp is great IMO. Plain old ICE power module as far as I know?
 
jellodog said:
No EQ knob detents on the SD170. The SD200 has 'em. Perhaps your OCD isn't as bad as mine though.
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I owned it once upon a time and don’t recall it driving my anxiety too bad, though I’m like you…

“Check the dial, I swear to gawd there is a 0.25db bump in the low frequencies!”
Nobody Magnify GIF by Mitski
 
dbagchee said:
The Catalyst is actually a pretty great platform and technically it is running HX Amps and some HX effects - I'd be down for the Catalyst XL/Head that made some refinements to the platform:
  • Able to swap in any 6 of your favorite HX amp models
  • Use the same power as the Catalyst 200 with stereo option (it's loud)
  • Revise the FX implementation - 3 simultaneous with any HX effect model (could also use a swap in a favorite set approach)
  • Footswitch support - support both the HX Control and a more stripped down $199 foot controller (no scribbles, maybe just colored lights and assignable with expression pedal input)
  • IR/New Cab Models support for direct out
  • Better build quality
Everything else would be more or less the same as the Catalyst - deep edit with the app (mobile!) if needed, headphones, direct out, wattage switch etc. Seems like it might be doable for $1200?
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I'd be down with this!
 
paisleywookiee said:
Hey, how about dialing back the smug responses? This isn’t TGP.
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See it was the smugness of him asserting a problem that doesn't exist, and worse yet, one that had zero relevance to anything we were discussing that pissed me off. Showing up just to piss. So he got what he was dishing. Did you chide him?

This place has quickly proven to be like TGP, or maybe it's that certain people can be dicks and that's cool? I don't know. Not worth it.
 
FPFL said:
See it was the smugness of him asserting a problem that doesn't exist, and worse yet, one that had zero relevance to anything we were discussing that pissed me off. Showing up just to piss. So he got what he was dishing. Did you chide him?

This place has quickly proven to be like TGP, or maybe it's that certain people can be dicks and that's cool? I don't know. Not worth it.
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No, everyone is a dick and we laugh about it because it’s guitar stuff and actually getting mad about it is silly.
 
FPFL said:
See it was the smugness of him asserting a problem that doesn't exist, and worse yet, one that had zero relevance to anything we were discussing that pissed me off. Showing up just to piss. So he got what he was dishing. Did you chide him?

This place has quickly proven to be like TGP, or maybe it's that certain people can be dicks and that's cool? I don't know. Not worth it.
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You really haven’t noticed that nearly everyone on this forum, including you (and me), is a dick?

Confused Vince Vaughn GIF by Curb Your Enthusiasm
 
Why the hell did this morph even further into obscurity with wanting the head to be a weak ass lunchbox? What are you gonna do with that you can’t readily do with a powered monitor or studio monitors?

Loud 50-100 watter or gtfo.

Even then, I still won’t buy it…. But I’d at least think about it…

D
 
dk_ace said:
Why the hell did this morph even further into obscurity with wanting the head to be a weak ass lunchbox? What are you gonna do with that you can’t readily do with a powered monitor or studio monitors?

Loud 50-100 watter or gtfo.

Even then, I still won’t buy it…. But I’d at least think about it…

D
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There are 50W lunchbox amps.
 
FPFL said:
See it was the smugness of him asserting a problem that doesn't exist, and worse yet, one that had zero relevance to anything we were discussing that pissed me off. Showing up just to piss. So he got what he was dishing. Did you chide him?

This place has quickly proven to be like TGP, or maybe it's that certain people can be dicks and that's cool? I don't know. Not worth it.
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Genuinely, you need to chill out. Go back and look at the post I made that you got so butthurt about - it was clearly hyperbole for the purposes of humour. You're the problem here, nobody else.

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I happen to be a big fan of the Duoverb and Spidervalve amplifiers that Line 6 did. The DT50 was pretty good too. Now I personally don't know how well they did for Line6, but @Digital Igloo will obviously have a much clearer idea on that. I'm just voicing my opinion like anyone else has been: I wouldn't be interested in a class D powered Helix amplifier. Because across the board the class D amplifiers I've used have all sounded flat and lifeless with modellers. I personally think my Helix and Axe FX 3 have always sounded the best into a valve poweramp like the Fryette Powerstation, the FX loop return of my Dual Rectifier or JVM410HJS, and my Diezel VH4.

I have heard the Matrix Amplification poweramps too. They are okay. Better than the Seymour Duncan Powerstage and the Kemper Poweramp. But still lacking something for me. I've used a few others too, and the lack of low-end impact and "ooomph!" when compared to a valve poweramp is just night and day to me.

So once again - I wouldn't be interested in such an integrated poweramp in a Helix head.

Ultimately - nobody else seemed to have a problem recognising the humour in my post. Only you. That is on you, not me.
 
Whizzinby said:
Yeah imagine a JVM styled amp (4 channels with independent controls for each channel) where you could have any Fractal model on any of those four channels, entirely WYSIWYG, (aside from some beed to scroll to select the model for each channel) a high quality SS power section, that looks and functions exactly like a traditional amp. I think there are modeler fans who would like that, and I think there are probably non-modeling fans that may show interest in the same way the TM series appealed to some traditionalists.

I think it’s a potentially interesting way to leverage digital in a way that still looks and feels traditional, and that you build a rig (cab/pedals) around in a traditional way.
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So sort of an inverse HX Effects.
 
Not suggesting that anybody would buy the following Class D amp to power a guitar cab because it's very expensive and probably wouldn't have enough power available for that anyway. Also, it would never end up in a L6 powered HX device for that cost reason because it wouldn't be viable; but I'm linking the Hypex NCx500 module here just to demonstrate that not all Class D power amps are trash or sound the same.

The THD figures are excellent.

www.audiosciencereview.com

Hypex NCx500 Class D Amplifier Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Hypex NCx500 NCOREx reference design amplifier. It was sent by the company and kindly assembled by our local expert, @Rick Sykora. As you see the sample is a "monoblock" configuration (one channel) driven by Hypex SMPS1200 switching power...
www.audiosciencereview.com www.audiosciencereview.com

There are a good deal of poorly designed Class D amps out there and / or they often contain cheap components and are usually built to a price point - and that might be the majority of them; so I can see why there is a dislike of them out there.

The point here is that the topology of Class D isn't inherently the problem in terms of the dislike that they receive. It's just a topology that reflects an approach to amplification.

In terms of cost, I'd still like to believe there's a sweet spot out there and the odds are improving all the time.
 
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jellodog said:
Not suggesting that anybody would buy the following Class D amp to power a guitar cab because it's very expensive and probably wouldn't have enough power available for that anyway. Also, it would never end up in a L6 powered HX device for that cost reason because it wouldn't be viable; but I'm linking the Hypex NCx500 module here just to demonstrate that not all Class D power amps are trash.

www.audiosciencereview.com

Hypex NCx500 Class D Amplifier Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Hypex NCx500 NCOREx reference design amplifier. It was sent by the company and kindly assembled by our local expert, @Rick Sykora. As you see the sample is a "monoblock" configuration (one channel) driven by Hypex SMPS1200 switching power...
www.audiosciencereview.com www.audiosciencereview.com

There are a good deal of poorly designed Class D amps out there and / or they often contain cheap components and are usually built to a price point - and that might be the majority of them; but that is a different discussion.
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Yeah I've seen that one recommended a few times on the Fractal forums too. Never tried it!
 
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