Line 6 Helix

siraxeman

hmmm me wonders how good one might sound in the back of my Mesa Express or DSL50...(my AC30 will be no use having no FX loop).

John_A

@johnny9fingers when you say it sounds shit in to the front end of a jcm800, do you mean using the amp models? What's lit like as an fx only unit in to the front of an amp?

Cabicular

John_A;1076447" said:

@johnny9fingers when you say it sounds shit in to the front end of a jcm800, do you mean using the amp models? What's lit like as an fx only unit in to the front of an amp?

Lovely
It's just pre amp into preamp that gives it some problems
In rehearsal I stick it through the FX loops of a dsl2000 and a JCM 900 in stereo with 2 4x12s
OMG it's great

John_A

OK,I'm 'almost' sold on the Helix however have one concern:

For all of our gigs we (me ant the other guitarist) currently use backline valve amps and do not put the guitar through the PA, if I want to use the Helix through a FRFR cab how would that sound as a backline amp, both on stage (pub floor) and out in the crowd( 2 blokes and dog)?

handsomerik

i've tried various FRFR monitors but I just couldn't get on with the sound. It sounded too 'hifi' to me with the full range speaker, even with extreme eq tweaking and hi/low cuts to try to emulate a guitar speaker. 

I now use it into the fx return (power amp) of my laney amp and i'm really happy with it. I know it 'breaks the rules' but I am actually using amp head AND cab models into it that way and I prefer that sound to just the preamps models into power amp. Whatever works for you right? :-)

Cabicular

handsomerik said:

i've tried various FRFR monitors but I just couldn't get on with the sound. It sounded too 'hifi' to me with the full range speaker, even with extreme eq tweaking and hi/low cuts to try to emulate a guitar speaker. 

I now use it into the fx return (power amp) of my laney amp and i'm really happy with it. I know it 'breaks the rules' but I am actually using amp head AND cab models into it that way and I prefer that sound to just the preamps models into power amp. Whatever works for you right? :-)

Its funny if enough people are breaking the rules (and a lot are) at what point do they become the real rules

John_A

That's how I use my AMT currently but without cab models)  just seems a bit daft having the latest state of the art bit of kit AND carting a valve amp along as well.

Cabicular

Where it comes in handy is if you want to send the XLRs to the front. Much better than micing the cabs or using a simul box

You can use it through the monitors but I'm not used to hearing the outfront sound under my fingers (if you know what I mean) 

I can't quite get over the response and dynamics of a valve amp for my own personal monitoring

John_A

That would be ideal however would involve getting the other guitarist to turn down and putting him through the PA as well, I'm not sure our PA is big enough for that.  As I said we normally just use our backline for the out front sound

Cabicular

John_A said:

That would be ideal however would involve getting the other guitarist to turn down and putting him through the PA as well, I'm not sure our PA is big enough for that.  As I said we normally just use our backline for the out front sound

Think of it as a very comprehensive FX unit then. You can have 10 buttons assigned to FX and a tone more in the background (for example I always have Reverb on and I always have the Klon on as a clean boost. I don't need footwsitches for them

johnny9fingers

John_A said:

@johnny9fingers when you say it sounds shit in to the front end of a jcm800, do you mean using the amp models? What's lit like as an fx only unit in to the front of an amp?

It's great as an FX only unit, but half the fun is the other amps you can dial up.

John_A

@johnny9fingers thanks for that.  One way I'd planned to use it was as FX only into my JTM45 and the main outs through a JTM model to the PA

johnny9fingers

John_A said:

@johnny9fingers thanks for that.  One way I'd planned to use it was as FX only into my JTM45 and the main outs through a JTM model to the PA

Well you can run loads of pedal emulations at once on the Helix.

johnny9fingers

This has made me wonder about the Helix's abilities as a special fx unit. With two more expression pedals and various parameters assigned to them and the footswitches, you could build patches of awesome bizarreness.

fretmeister

I've spent the morning watching the Tone Tutorials on YouTube and then programming on the helix.

Don't know if I'll use many, but the early Van Halen one is cracking.

Sporky

johnny9fingers said:

This has made me wonder about the Helix's abilities as a special fx unit. With two more expression pedals and various parameters assigned to them and the footswitches, you could build patches of awesome bizarreness.

Especially if one of the expression pedals is a Source Audio Reflex.

To be fair you can build some pretty weird stuff without any external controllers, but they do help...

Teetonetal

I'm getting nowhere. Tried 4 sets of headohones today. All rubbish on anything with gain.

I'm getting nice cleans but anything with gain sounds so harsh and in your face.Yet with very woofy or baggy bass.

Downloaded the free ownhammer IRs and they helped a bit.

Used it as an audio intrrface and ran sgear through it. Sounded ace.

sweepy

What input impedance have you set with the Helix and have you enabled the guitar input pad.?

johnonguitar

Teetonetal;1081056" said:

I'm getting nowhere. Tried 4 sets of headohones today. All rubbish on anything with gain.

I'm getting nice cleans but anything with gain sounds so harsh and in your face.Yet with very woofy or baggy bass.

Downloaded the free ownhammer IRs and they helped a bit.

Used it as an audio intrrface and ran sgear through it. Sounded ace.

See when you use S-Gear do you use the iir's by any chance?

Teetonetal

johnonguitar;1081077" said:

[quote="Teetonetal;1081056"]I'm getting nowhere. Tried 4 sets of headohones today. All rubbish on anything with gain.

I'm getting nice cleans but anything with gain sounds so harsh and in your face.Yet with very woofy or baggy bass.

Downloaded the free ownhammer IRs and they helped a bit.

Used it as an audio intrrface and ran sgear through it. Sounded ace.

See when you use S-Gear do you use the iir's by any chance?[/quote]

I use sgears built in irs