Line 6 Helix Stadium Talk

Report back on the combo platter with the VP4! Plex Verb is an elite level ambient effect. My experiences are limited but that lushness is unmatched in the modelers I've used at least. By far. To the extent that I might just order a couple of cables to see what chocolate and peanut butter do together with the FM9 :LOL:

My thoughts consolidated from rambling posts along this thread:
Stadium is a blast to play through. No disembodied distortion. I will say the need to turn some of these master volume values lower ala James is still there. There is a thickness to the sounds that can't quite be dialed out. I am finding I need to use EQ blocks and apply low cuts in as many blocks as I deem necessary because the low end is THERE. Some additional note definition will hopefully come as they develop Agoura.

I used my old reliables of the Cali Rectifier and OG 5150. They sound and feel fantastic. I'm interested to see what Agoura brings in their direction. I greatly prefer the OG to the EVH models.

There are some good effects but <ducks> I kind of see tim's point on some of this stuff; fx wise at least. Some of the effects sound brash and just not good when loaded at default. Found some great chorus/pitch stuff and a solid flanger. My revisit on the phaser situation was not enjoyable and the rotary blocks available are really bad. Unless I am missing some model that is the go to that I passed over for whatever reason? FAS rotary is :love and like the Plex Delay block is going to be tough to beat.

Ease of use is great and setting up footswitching is comparatively simple. I am definitely itching to see what amps get Agoura'd next and will be happy to see what other fx and cabinets get that same Agoura treatment.

Do you prefer the og 5150 that much to the evh in real life too?

I think I had the best luck on the rotary with it in parallel to the cab as well. The FAS rotary sounds better no matter what I did though. Similar to most effects that I compared…

D
 
I will say the need to turn some of these master volume values lower ala James is still there.
No clue who James is ... but this has always bugged me about the OG. And I find myself having to reduce Master, increase Channel on every preset. It's like all the presets start with a digital hard clipping sound. I've read 100 different times what the Master/Channel are supposed to do, but I can't get it to work that way. Can someone explain it to me? LOL
 
How are you setting up the rotary in your preset? I find running it in parallel with a regular speaker cab works best for myself.

A quick question for everyone, I can’t seem to find the controller/footswitch assignments in the app, am I just blind and missing the tab or does it have to be done directly on the Stadium at this point.
After the cab. It's fantastic as is and requires no tweaks, deep or otherwise.
I’m sorry this isn’t working brother. I will tell you, I was in your exact spot, with my Stomp. My lady was going crazy, listening to all my footswitching and subsequent frustration.

I don’t know or remember how, but I DID get it to work. For some reason it took WAY longer than it should have, and I was following instructions just like you are.
I got it working. Just not on the Stomp page for whatever reason. I'd actually like to be able to nuke the Bank and Tap switches and have a clean slate switch config. Haven't seen if that can be done but not in a rush so no biggie.
Do you prefer the og 5150 that much to the evh in real life too?

I think I had the best luck on the rotary with it in parallel to the cab as well. The FAS rotary sounds better no matter what I did though. Similar to most effects that I compared…

D
I do prefer the original irl as well. FAS rotary for me is about on par with the Plex Delay as far as how great sounding it is out of the gate.
 
How are you setting up the rotary in your preset? I find running it in parallel with a regular speaker cab works best for myself.

A quick question for everyone, I can’t seem to find the controller/footswitch assignments in the app, am I just blind and missing the tab or does it have to be done directly on the Stadium at this point.
On my OG Helix I run the vibe rotary in parallel after the amp block with the output of the parallel chain phase reversed (that parameter is in the output mixer for the parallel chain). Reversing the phase kills alot of the low end mud and makes the rotary effect much cleaner and closer in tone to the dry signal. The other usable rotary is the newer triple rotary block but I still prefer the vibe rotary.

Here's the full write up from my post on TGP: https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/helix-leslie-tones-revisited.2247901/
 
No clue who James is ... but this has always bugged me about the OG. And I find myself having to reduce Master, increase Channel on every preset. It's like all the presets start with a digital hard clipping sound. I've read 100 different times what the Master/Channel are supposed to do, but I can't get it to work that way. Can someone explain it to me? LOL
Master volume is the master volume control of the amp itself if it has one irl. It would generally induce "power tube distortion" as you increase the level. Among other things. Channel volume in the amp block is so you can balance the volumr levels between one amp and another without distorting or changing the tone of the amp itself.
 
On my OG Helix I run the vibe rotary in parallel after the amp block with the output of the parallel chain phase reversed (that parameter is in the output mixer for the parallel chain). Reversing the phase kills alot of the low end mud and makes the rotary effect much cleaner and closer in tone to the dry signal. The other usable rotary is the newer triple rotary block but I still prefer the vibe rotary.

Here's the full write up from my post on TGP: https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/helix-leslie-tones-revisited.2247901/
I'll give this a go. Thanks!
 
No clue who James is ... but this has always bugged me about the OG. And I find myself having to reduce Master, increase Channel on every preset. It's like all the presets start with a digital hard clipping sound. I've read 100 different times what the Master/Channel are supposed to do, but I can't get it to work that way. Can someone explain it to me? LOL
Channel volume is a straight digital volume adjustment. No change in tone. MV is a power amp distortion control especially when it comes to higher gain amps. Vintage amps with no actual MV on the hardware should be set 10 to mimic the real amp.
 
This is the part that doesnt seem to work that way. I primarily use Fender stuff. Having the Master at 100 sounds like shit.
In that case just set it where you think it sounds best. Is this on the OG Helix or the new Agoura models? I've noticed in the vids that the Agoura fender models have less gain than the Helix versions. I always thought the fenders had too much gain on the OG.

FWIW I gain stage my Helix by starting with my base fender clean tone and A/Bing it with the amp block on and off. I'm looking for unity gain when I turn the amp block off. That ensures theres no clipping going on in the signal path. Typically that means the clean fender channel volume is around 5. I set all my other presets volume around that base clean tone.
 

There are no reverbs in the Helix that do this.
Yeah now that I've tried them for my self, I agree - the reverbs in the FM3/FM9/Axe-Fx III are just on another level at this time. I find myself wanting more control over the delays as well.

The Dynamic Hall/Plate are nice and you can certainly get good sounds out of it though.

I'm still on the Panama RED amp - and the built in cabs are just not doing it for me - like I can get a sound that will work on a mix but I'm missing a certain oomph and growl and kerrang while playing it - adding hype (around 2-4) adds a little bit of spice to the palm mutes that I like.

With the DynaCabs in the Fractal I could get something I like straight away.

I imported a bunch of IRs
  • Are they normalized? They don't seem normalized. I can get some drastic variations in volume depending on who produced the IR.
  • I like that you can just import them into folders and don't have to deal with "slots" like in the Fractal universe. In here its just a bunch of IRs get them into the device and it just does it fast.
 
In that case just set it where you think it sounds best. Is this on the OG Helix or the new Agoura models? I've noticed in the vids that the Agoura fender models have less gain than the Helix versions. I always thought the fenders had too much gain on the OG.
I mean that's what I do .. I just never understood it. Technically at 100 it should be totally neutral. It is not. Not even close. And it isn't like tube distortion, it's like the clipping from a cheap Peavy solid state even with the actual volumes set super low. So every single preset I had to juggle. Anyhow, just one of those things that never made sense to me.
 
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