So I've been doing my periodic "Why Does My Sound Suck?!? Tweakfest" for the past past 4.5 days. Major complaints - lack of clarity and fullness without getting bloated.
The gear - Synergy SYN2 with SLO II and IICP modules, Synergy SYN1 with Friedman BE DLX, Blackstar Amped 1 for power Amp, Helix in 4CM (well, actually 7 CM since I have the SYNs in their own loops of the Helix) - All into a Mesa vertical 2x12 with the older 70 watt V30s. Why am I not using my 5153 50 6L6 for the power amp, you may ask? Well, unemployment doesn't pay all the bills, so it's going up for sale, even though its a killer amp.
This time i was determined to find the best setting on the Amped 1's power amp settings combined with my Synergy modules. I have gone through this numerous times and it's always lacking, especially compared to the 5153's power amp. Go figure
Ok. Go through all the power amp modes. They are all too exagerated in one way or another, like the 6L6 mode has too much top end and low end. The Amped 1 could really use a way to at least tweak presence and depth in it's software... Back to flat mode.
Next step. Try the 6L6 power amp IRs I downloaded from
https://overdriven.fr/overdriven/index.php/download/power-amp-irs/. Back and forth tweaking. There is something lacking in the bottom end of these for me. not getting good chugs out them.
Wait a minute! I just discovered I was overdriving the input of the Amped 1 all this time! Plug into the FX return and instant improvement in clarity. Ok we made a little progress. Quick review of the modes on the amped 1. Nope, they are still too exagerated. Back to flat mode. try the power amp IRs again. Still lacking the bottom.
Hey! I just discovered the 6L6 power amp option Alex and James came up with here! -
https://thegearforum.com/threads/helix-talk.931/post-71953. download and copy and paste those settings into my test preset. Wow! It's a huge improvement over everything else I've tried (sans actual 5153). The fullnees I've been searching for is there. Finally!
Ok, this morning back to try everything out again. Still lacking a bit of clarity. Hey! when I turn everything off in my preset (including SYnergy loops) except for the Archetype clean amp and the post EQ, it's distorting a bit. I go back to James's preset. Hey! same slight distortion. Hey! Who turned off the global input pad? (Duh, it was me at some point).
Ok, this actually sounds really full and clear now.
ugh. time to do taxes... hopefully everything sounds as good next time!
Special thanks to
@Alex Kenivel and
@James Freeman!
… May as well make use of it in honor of the show tonight haha… 
