So after a day of owning it, and putting it through its paces. Here's where I'm at:
- It sounds great. At least as good as my Axe FX III. I've done a bit of comparison across a couple of models, and there's nothing lacking from the Agoura models. I've deliberately not even touched any of the legacy amps right now.
- There is a feel and sonic difference to the amps that I do not remember having from OG Helix. I'm going to plug the old unit in at some point today and compare them, for kicks.
- I don't perceive any kind of mid to high frequency nastiness, whether aliasing or crossover distortion or whatever it was on the OG unit. These Agoura amps seem very clear and open sounding; without any distracting frequencies that shouldn't be there. A lot better than the legacy ones from memory.
- I really wish there were more high-gain Agoura amps though. I'm trying not to be greedy, but Agoura is good and now I want Axe III quantity! Really wish we had a good Recto and Mark option.
- I really like the Z PrePost knob. That gives you access to some really good tones, and so if you find an amp a bit too stuffy or 'vintage' voiced, you can try cranking the Z knob and get something with a bit more bite to it.
- I hate to say it, but Hype is actually cool. Again, I find that on the whole it just does "nice" things. You don't need to crank it. Usually going up to 2 or 3 will be enough to just give a bit more oompf to a tone.
- I spent a good chunk of time yesterday comparing the 2203 to some clips that
@MirrorProfiles sent me. Using his IR, I was able to get a good sounding tone, but I wasn't really able to match his tone. The fundamental gain texture was just too different. I was happy with the sound, but we were both wondering why the difference. Probably just the fact the actual HW amps are different; tubes, bias, circuit differences maybe.
- I find it so much more fun to use than the Axe FX III. I setup a block. I like the sound of it. I save it as a favourite. I make a new preset. I compile the preset from a list of pre-existing favourites. Piece of piss to use. I setup snapshots. Dead easy. Putting together a 3 amp + effects preset took less than 5 minutes to do, and I didn't need to be connected to a computer to do it.
- I had a patch with a Boss SD1 and the 2203, and I got a really chunky Pelican-esque tone out of it. Took no time at all.
- There isn't a reverb that sounds anywhere near as good as Fractal's Plex Verb (in the Plex Delay block), Cumulonimbus, or any of the Shimmer options. In fact, as much as I think they are usable in your average circumstance, the reverbs on the Helix are by far the weakest area. A lot weaker than the delays. Your lowly Boss RV-5 has more punch and presence and cut to it than any of the Helix reverbs, and it was made in 2002!
- Sometimes certain delays and reverbs... it's hard to find the right mix where the guitar and effect signal sound as present as each other. I have a very strong feeling that the mix algorithm changes from block to block, or that there's some internal compensation that is lacking. 50% should always give you an equal mix between the two, except it just doesn't. Consequently, it takes a bit more to dial those effects in.
- The touchscreen is amazing. Best in class for a device like this. Feels so smooth and responsive. QC is good, but Stadium is WAYYYYY better.
- I did have 1 crash. For some reason I thought I could turn the bottom right encoder to scroll through IR's. But you can't. Instead what it did was scroll the IR block to the next effect, which was a Kinky Comp, and I got a huge burst of noise and the unit reset. Hasn't happened again.
@Digital Igloo
- Today I'm going to get the Stadium and VP4 connected VIA spdif, and see if I can do some cool stuff with that pairing.
