Line 6 Helix

guitargeek62

@Welshboyo - depends how complex you want your effects rig to be? If you're using 4CM with the Boogie then any of the range should be able to manage it, but if you want more than a handful of pedals then you're mostly limited* to the Helix LT or full-fat models.

Otherwise: 

• HX Stomp - up to 6 blocks (soon to be 8 in v3.0 iirc). You can expand the footswitches quite easily with a MIDI controller, but by the time you add the cost of one to the Stomp, you're looking at paying LT prices anyway. This is the one I'd recommend for anyone primarily wanting just amp/cab/IR modelling, and a digital interface, plus only a few effects at a time.
• Pod Go - more restricted workflow and DSP, but the same models and sounds as the rest of the range.

*not quite sure how either could be "limiting" for most people, but...!

Cirrus

I've found the best way to use something like the OH libraries where there are hundreds of options to chose from is to spend absolutely hours finding the ones that work for you, then just accepting that you've done your homework and stick with them for aaaaages. The problem is that it's a moving target if you let it be - because different IRs will make you dial in the rest of the sound differently. So you can go round in circles unless you pin at least some things down - for example "I will be using this guitar and stick to these two amp models to do my tests today".

I tend to ultimately pick about 20 irs to load onto the Helix. There will be maybe 4 I would chose from most of the time, that give me a range of different sounds, and the rest are just slight variations of those 4 in case a particular patch needs to be slightly darker brighter, thinner, thicker etc.

So I almost always use a particular multi-mic 2x12 Bogner V30 ir for stuff I want to be punchy and above a certain gain level, but maybe sometimes I'll want a thinner sound to insert in a busier mix... so there's also a few more IRs loaded from that same cab; a single SM57 in a couple of positions that sounded good to me, and a 121 if I want a thicker single mic sound, or want to do a 2xIR blend but be able to chose my own mix.

Then there's a particular Silver Alnico Vox 2x12 IR I love, again a multi-mic option, then also a couple of variations just in case.

Then there's a few character options, which are there just for those times I want to let lose with something different, or as a way to lean a sound in a particular direction.

My absolute favourite patch at the moment is based around the Fender tweed bright channel, into that Silver Alnico IR, but also with a 1x12 "F55" fender speaker IR in parallel with that, which is mixed quieter but just fills out and punches up the lows a bit.

Jota

One of the things I like about the Celestion IRs is that they use 3 main combination of mics: 121+57, 421+57, 421+121. Than you have all 3 mics combined and a couple of room mixes but that's about it.

3 classic mic combinations instead of 50 different options with little to no difference between some of them it's way easier to work with.

NelsonP

Ownhammer GNR Basketweave are my favourite IRs for anything Marshally. The choice can be overwhelming so you have to read the instructions which tell you to head for the summary folder. I never went any further and generally use the OH1 mixes, which sound great to my ears. 

If I were starting from scratch now I'd probably buy the ownhammer (r)Evolution pack and be done. I don't need or want thousands of different mixes 

I use them on an Amplifire, rather than a Helix. Not sure whether that makes much difference.

IMC1980

The (r)Evolution pack is more IRs than anyone could ever need....

colourofsound

Can you buy individual amps from Ownhammer? I can only see collections on their site (maybe I'm being blind). Just want a decent Deluxe Reverb IR.

Speaking of which - Anyone tried to recreate the 68 Custom Deluxe Reverb in HX Stomp/Helix? That is my real-life amp; I plan to recreate it in my Stomp for silent playing

chris45

@colourofsound link is here:
https://www.ownhammer.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=188_178&products_id=428

chris45

I'm a classic rock guitarist and I have found that I use:
- 8 to 10 of the MBritt IRs that come with his Helix set (30 in total)
- The 4 Ownhammer summary files or perhaps 5-6 of the OH1 mixes (the "classic" mic mixes) that come with the Core Town Bundle (over 1000 in total!)
So I use maybe 2% of what I have purchased.
I've found what I like and that's it - granted that my tone is pretty generic.  If I was looking to come up with a unique sound for myself then the options are indeed there.  There are whole categories of mixes and individual setups that I have not explored.
Playing with IRs has given me a huge appreciation for amp miking...

Teetonetal

siremoon said:

Plenty of people eulogise over IRs so I assume there's something to be said for them.  However I've tried some of the well known free ones and they all sounded absolutely hideous compared to the tweaked stock cabs I find acceptable so I'm clearly missing something somewhere.  At the very least my experience suggests that they are not guaranteed to be plug and play improvements in every situation.  I should perhaps caveat this by saying I have the same experience of other peoples presets too.  They sound good on you tube then truly awful when I download them.

Would agree with this. IRs just don't add anything over what I have with the stock cabs. Also had the same experience when looking at presets... Very few work for me. Much easier to dial in what you need yourself.

duotone

I have avoided buying IRs atm, as I just don’t want the additional choice.  For me it’s a can of worms I don’t want to open yet.

boogieman

I’m debating whether to sell on all my pedals and amps and go for a Helix, possibly with powered monitors. It’d just be for home use, I don’t gig these days. I’d ideally like to have a one box space-saving solution rather than keeping my favourite pedals to use in the loops. I’d need to raise the money for the Helix by selling off the majority of my FX gear too. So, a couple of questions for owners. 

What are the reverbs like? Does it have preset ambient style reverbs or would it be a case of building those from scratch? I’ve got a Big Sky and love the cloud and shimmer settings, will the Helix do this kind of thing? Can you buy patches like this or are there good freebies?  

Is the Univibe setting any good? I notice it’s got one in the legacy patches, but my memory of that particular univibe patch in the M13 was that it wasn’t that great. 

How are the wahs? I’ve currently got a CAE wah that’s probably the nicest sounding wah I’ve owned. Again can the Helix get close to the red Fasel sound? Thinking of getting an LT, does the built in pedal have a decent amount of travel for wah or would it be better to use a separate expression pedal? 

sweepy

boogieman said:

I’m debating whether to sell on all my pedals and amps and go for a Helix, possibly with powered monitors. It’d just be for home use, I don’t gig these days. I’d ideally like to have a one box space-saving solution rather than keeping my favourite pedals to use in the loops. I’d need to raise the money for the Helix by selling off the majority of my FX gear too. So, a couple of questions for owners. 

What are the reverbs like? Does it have preset ambient style reverbs or would it be a case of building those from scratch? I’ve got a Big Sky and love the cloud and shimmer settings, will the Helix do this kind of thing? Can you buy patches like this or are there good freebies?  

Is the Univibe setting any good? I notice it’s got one in the legacy patches, but my memory of that particular univibe patch in the M13 was that it wasn’t that great. 

How are the wahs? I’ve currently got a CAE wah that’s probably the nicest sounding wah I’ve owned. Again can the Helix get close to the red Fasel sound? Thinking of getting an LT, does the built in pedal have a decent amount of travel for wah or would it be better to use a separate expression pedal? 

Don't, you'll regret it and have to buy amps and pedals again,

boogieman

sweepy said:

boogieman said:

I’m debating whether to sell on all my pedals and amps and go for a Helix, possibly with powered monitors. It’d just be for home use, I don’t gig these days. I’d ideally like to have a one box space-saving solution rather than keeping my favourite pedals to use in the loops. I’d need to raise the money for the Helix by selling off the majority of my FX gear too. So, a couple of questions for owners. 

What are the reverbs like? Does it have preset ambient style reverbs or would it be a case of building those from scratch? I’ve got a Big Sky and love the cloud and shimmer settings, will the Helix do this kind of thing? Can you buy patches like this or are there good freebies?  

Is the Univibe setting any good? I notice it’s got one in the legacy patches, but my memory of that particular univibe patch in the M13 was that it wasn’t that great. 

How are the wahs? I’ve currently got a CAE wah that’s probably the nicest sounding wah I’ve owned. Again can the Helix get close to the red Fasel sound? Thinking of getting an LT, does the built in pedal have a decent amount of travel for wah or would it be better to use a separate expression pedal? 

Don't, you'll regret it and have to buy amps and pedals again,

@sweepy ;That coming from personal experience? 

chrisj1602

@boogieman I sold my pedals and got a HX Stomp, it’s working very well for me. I love pedals and I know they will always tempt me but ultimately I have every sound I need.

I have kept my amp, but the amp sims are fantastic, so I can either use the amp sims or not. HX Edit is great for creating your sounds, and the headphone out is great for late night practice. I also use it for recording and that is also super easy.

sweepy

boogieman said:

sweepy said:

boogieman said:

I’m debating whether to sell on all my pedals and amps and go for a Helix, possibly with powered monitors. It’d just be for home use, I don’t gig these days. I’d ideally like to have a one box space-saving solution rather than keeping my favourite pedals to use in the loops. I’d need to raise the money for the Helix by selling off the majority of my FX gear too. So, a couple of questions for owners. 

What are the reverbs like? Does it have preset ambient style reverbs or would it be a case of building those from scratch? I’ve got a Big Sky and love the cloud and shimmer settings, will the Helix do this kind of thing? Can you buy patches like this or are there good freebies?  

Is the Univibe setting any good? I notice it’s got one in the legacy patches, but my memory of that particular univibe patch in the M13 was that it wasn’t that great. 

How are the wahs? I’ve currently got a CAE wah that’s probably the nicest sounding wah I’ve owned. Again can the Helix get close to the red Fasel sound? Thinking of getting an LT, does the built in pedal have a decent amount of travel for wah or would it be better to use a separate expression pedal? 

Don't, you'll regret it and have to buy amps and pedals again,

@sweepy ;That coming from personal experience? 

Yes , on my third Helix, had 2 Axe Fx's, happiest now pugged into my Boogie and a Rift 22, still got the Helix Rack as its very handy but for me its not a patch on an amp, but its a personal thing 

guitargeek62

@boogieman the univibe model is fantastic, and there’s enough choice of wah models in there to cover all bases. 

I’ve just done the same as you and sold off my old gear to go to an all-in-one rig, albeit with a power amp and guitar cab as I prefer the amp-in-the-room approach compared to playing through monitors. For me it works very, very, very well and I don’t have any (justifiable) GAS For amps now. There are some effects it doesn’t cover, but for the most part everything you’d need is already in there. 

For context, I also had a Helix when they first released, paired up with some yamaha HS7s. At the time I really enjoyed it, but went back to amps and pedals for a while as I do enjoy the gear churn that a pedalboard allows/encourages. This time around I won’t be moving the Helix on again*, as the amp models alone are utterly worth the price of admission. The changes they’ve introduced over the successive firmware patches are incredible, and have transformed an already great product into an unmissable one.

To @sweepy’s point, sure - if you can have both, then why not? But to me, if you only want/can have one rig, particularly at home, then this is a no-brainer.



*well, until the Helix 2.0 comes out in a few years, or Axe-FX improves their workflow and apps!

sweepy

I agree, lucky to be able to have all sorts, horses for courses etc but i've seen on a lot of modeller forums where its a bit of a rabbit hole, they plug back into a valve amp and it seems to reset what they want from a sound, its very odd indeed.

guitargeek62

Yeah I can totally understand that - it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the selection at hand. I tend to treat it like a traditional rig though, in that I’ll find one or two amp models that I like the most and then stick with them as my “foundation” tone for everything - much like being restricted to one amp at home. I’m not quite set-and-forget, but not far from it I guess! One of the first things I did when I got the Helix again was run through the amp and fx models to find the closest sounds to my existing setup before I sold the old gear on. That way I have a patch which is 99% the same as my old rig anyway!

boogieman

@sweepy @guitargeek62 ;Well that’s made the choice as clear as mud  Tbh I expected something along those lines as modelling does seem to divide opinions. 
More research needed by the looks of it. 

Heartfeltdawn

boogieman said:

I’m debating whether to sell on all my pedals and amps and go for a Helix, possibly with powered monitors. It’d just be for home use, I don’t gig these days. I’d ideally like to have a one box space-saving solution rather than keeping my favourite pedals to use in the loops. I’d need to raise the money for the Helix by selling off the majority of my FX gear too. So, a couple of questions for owners. 

What are the reverbs like? Does it have preset ambient style reverbs or would it be a case of building those from scratch? I’ve got a Big Sky and love the cloud and shimmer settings, will the Helix do this kind of thing? Can you buy patches like this or are there good freebies?  

Is the Univibe setting any good? I notice it’s got one in the legacy patches, but my memory of that particular univibe patch in the M13 was that it wasn’t that great. 

How are the wahs? I’ve currently got a CAE wah that’s probably the nicest sounding wah I’ve owned. Again can the Helix get close to the red Fasel sound? Thinking of getting an LT, does the built in pedal have a decent amount of travel for wah or would it be better to use a separate expression pedal? 

I've done exactly that (Helix LT with JBL LSR305 monitors, although I am mostly using Native at the minute). I have not exactly been complimentary about Line 6 in the past as some aspects were really lacking. 

Helix is wonderful. So to go through your points: 

-reverbs. I think these are really good. I don't think you will find them lacking. 

-Univibe: like all of the modulation, I am very impressed by it. I love chorus: I used to hate L6 chorus sounds. Not any more. The modulation effects are a big step up from the M-series pedals. 

-wahs: not actually tried them yet!

What I have been doing is building up patches relating to specific sounds. A few Saturdays ago I spent the day listening to the Stone Roses gig in Blackpool from 1989 and building up a patch to be able to play it all. Really very impressed with how far you can take this.