Helix Vs Princeton

TimmyO

 I'm a paid-up member of the Helix fan club. 

But:

Yesterday I plugged into my Helix, played a bit, and fiddled a bit.

Today I plugged into my Princeton and played a lot. 

I think if the Princeton could do its thing at the vast range of different volumes the active FRFR I use with the Helix allowed I'd be entering a new phase of gear-dom. 

Flexibility is still winning. Just. 

Lebarque

Miked Princeton for the win!

newi123

Redemption is but a small fender amp away.........

richardhomer

Princetons are probably my favourite Fender amps - their core tone is really musical.

noisepolluter

I love my Deluxe Reverb but still really really want a Princeton too.

Chris_J

Love a Princeton. One day I'll get another!

timmysoft

Princeton = Pensioner

HELIX = Great man, popular with hot women and definitely not old. 

Teyeplayer

Princeton: winner every single time it’s plugged in. Nothing can beat it.

Lebarque

timmysoft said:

Princeton = Pensioner

HELIX = Great man, popular with hot women and definitely not old. 

Princeton = Experienced, stylish, proven, suave campaigner. Think James Bond.

Helix = Young upstart with flashy clothes and a big mouth, but questionable substance.

p90fool

timmysoft said:

Princeton = Pensioner

HELIX = Great man, popular with hot women and definitely not old. 

You'd think this guy looked like some kind of young rock god from all his recent "you're old" posts.

Spoiler alert - he doesn't. 

timmysoft

p90fool said:

timmysoft said:

Princeton = Pensioner

HELIX = Great man, popular with hot women and definitely not old. 

You'd think this guy looked like some kind of young rock god from all his recent "you're old" posts.

Spoiler alert - he doesn't. 

It’s cute that you have a crush on me, I’m fine with that.

p90fool

Not at all, I was just curious as to why a rational, informative contributor who'd been here for years suddenly started acting really oddly, just spewing out repetitive insults. 

You always used to have something worthwhile to say, it's just a shame, that's all. 

roberty

noisepolluter said:

I love my Deluxe Reverb but still really really want a Princeton too.

I traded up to DRRI from PRRI, no regerts

TimmyO

A Princeton that switched from stock to stage-volume would be epic, although doubtless unachievable without significant compromises at one setting. 

newi123

How loud are you running it at home Tim?

Jalapeno

TimmyO said:

A Princeton that switched from stock to stage-volume would be epic, although doubtless unachievable without significant compromises at one setting. 

Get two, or more if you plan to gig them at volume

See Ryan Adams create a lovely din with 2 -->

p90fool

I gigged my Princeton miked into a Mackie wedge monitor, effectively giving me the amp at its perfect sweet spot and a master volume control on the wedge. 

I know it's an extra cab cab to carry, but it's also a built in backup if you also chuck an amp sim pedal in your gig bag. 

Cirrus

Strikes me with anything where there's a lot of settings/ flexibility/ options/ ways to approach it, that if you're just sitting down to mess around then those options can be a distraction.

A contrasting story; I spent a bit of time putting a Helix patch together that covers pretty much all the sounds I use - Voxy cleans, relatively compressed, thick sounding but not overly high gain distortion, compressor, sd-1, rat, couple of different delays, spring and particle reverb on rare occasions, wah in front... Favourite Ownhammer IR with 3 or 4 alternatives (basically a 2x12 closed back v30 cab & an open back 2x12 alnico blues cab)...

And for the last week I've been using it to record guitar for an album I'm putting together. Very little tweaking on a song-by-song basis, just hard at work tracking guitars. The immense flexibility of the Helix isn't a distraction at this point because all those extra amps, effects, routing options don't matter to me. I've got a patch that's pretty much there, based on the sounds that suit my taste and style.

TimmyO

Cirrus said:

Strikes me with anything where there's a lot of settings/ flexibility/ options/ ways to approach it, that if you're just sitting down to mess around then those options can be a distraction.

A contrasting story; I spent a bit of time putting a Helix patch together that covers pretty much all the sounds I use - Voxy cleans, relatively compressed, thick sounding but not overly high gain distortion, compressor, sd-1, rat, couple of different delays, spring and particle reverb on rare occasions, wah in front... Favourite Ownhammer IR with 3 or 4 alternatives (basically a 2x12 closed back v30 cab & an open back 2x12 alnico blues cab)...

And for the last week I've been using it to record guitar for an album I'm putting together. Very little tweaking on a song-by-song basis, just hard at work tracking guitars. The immense flexibility of the Helix isn't a distraction at this point because all those extra amps, effects, routing options don't matter to me. I've got a patch that's pretty much there, based on the sounds that suit my taste and style.

Yeah I think distraction takes over cos I don’t have a current real life musical project to focus on - so no ‘need’ for a particular sound, hence lots of faffing. 

Sounds like a good patch! 

TimmyO

newi123 said:

How loud are you running it at home Tim?

Depends - the mood usually takes me in the evening so pretty quietly then 

had a beautiful sound last night with volume on like 2! With reverb and trem

lets do that studio session we discussed! 

Lodious

I'm not too much of a fan of the Helix with FRFR speakers, but fed direct into a valve power amp and guitar cab, I think they are amazing and require very little in the way of tweaking. They are so easy to create patches and have so much functionality. I probably do less tweaking with a Helix than with amp and pedal board setup. 

TBH, I'd choose a Helix / valve power amp / nice 2 x12 over a Princeton any day of the week. Then again, i'd choose a Delux over a Princeton too.