Going back to an old-fashioned all analogue board after running a Helix for the past 2 years

John_A

Dug out a load of pedals and stuff yesterday that I had fond memories of, 3 hours later I had a pretty inflexible tangle of wires that sounds OKish.  Don't know why I bothered

thecolourbox

I saw a helix the other day though and it was massive, much bigger than my pedal collection. I appreciate it is good and sounds brilliant but for my space available and use case, pedals still win to be honest

John_A

Yes, it is a big lump.  Not bad when that's all you  are taking to gigs, but size was one of the reasons I put a new board together for when/if I fancy using a real amp.  Think a HX effects is on the cards

robinbowes

thecolourbox said:

I saw a helix the other day though and it was massive, much bigger than my pedal collection. I appreciate it is good and sounds brilliant but for my space available and use case, pedals still win to be honest

"massive" ??

For sure, it's bigger than 2/3 pedals on a small board, but it's hardly "massive", especially if you remember it's replacing your amp(s) & cab(s) too.

R.

Wazmeister

John_A said:

Yes, it is a big lump.  Not bad when that's all you  are taking to gigs, but size was one of the reasons I put a new board together for when/if I fancy using a real amp.  Think a HX effects is on the cards

I'm trialling the HX and Helix Floor at the moment... the HX is amazingly good

Winny_Pooh

Wow, two years since the Helix came out!?

Musicman20

I'd personally try the HX effects, but I found the Helix too much, too large, and I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. At the moment though, I love my individual pedals. I'll never ditch them.

EricTheWeary

thecolourbox said:

I saw a helix the other day though and it was massive, much bigger than my pedal collection. I appreciate it is good and sounds brilliant but for my space available and use case, pedals still win to be honest

I had a look at the HX effects at the Birmingham guitar show and it is pretty small. 

I know it's stupid but it wasn't sexy ( although I don't know why a random mess of pedals and cables would be) and buying one seemed to fall into the same category as paying to have the boiler repaired - sensible but ideally you'd have more of a thrill ride for several hundred pounds. But, quite small. 

flying_pie

Helix isn't that big when you consider that they are not just replacing pedals but also include a multi pedal and amp channel switcher and back up amp with DI and power supply. If you need all those things then it's a lot smaller than the analogue equivalent. 

robinbowes

I still have pedal GAS, and I don't get particularly excited about my Helix, but it's a superb tool for gigging and makes my life so much easier.

R.

John_A

Yes, the stuff I cart to a gig has drastically reduced since I got the Helix.  Don't really know why, but felt I needed a 'normal' rig too, forgot how much I hate patch leads!

Also, if you add up the cost of my very small 'normal rig, pedaltrain, PSU, 5 pedals and a switcher, I could have a HX effects, some change and never look at a patch cable again!  Think I've just sold myself on the idea

digitalscream

I found the Helix LT a bit big, but then I considered the size of my board and the off-board wah and....it's no more than an inch bigger in each direction.

Since then, my only GAS has been for the ideal power amp - I now have a Velocity 120 and my old R&R SOLO 1U valve head, which means I'm basically covered for everything.

Funny thing is, I know the Helix isn't sexy, but it's done everything I've asked of it (including reproducing the clean, rhythm and lead sounds in my head perfectly, which no amp has ever managed). On top of all that, the whole idea of getting a bunch of new pedals every six months or so - for free - has completely blown my mind.

Can't even remember what pedals I've got left. Might have a Flashback Mini somewhere, dunno. Can't see myself ever going back, except perhaps to put together a backup rig just in case.

guitarfishbay

I've been using a pedal based rig for band writing/rehearsals the past couple of months, leaving my Axe FX 2 at home to do the recording with.

All it's done is increase my GAS for a second digital unit.  It's so inconvenient switching everything manually, some sounds are taking 3 clicks which there is no way to do smoothly.  Maybe when the used value of the 2 drops further once 3's are more readily available in the UK.

guitarfishbay

Also I'm developing an intolerance to cabling.  The less cables the better.

Jalapeno

Gone from a monster board (loads of pedals for one tune), to a few micro pedals (tuner, overdrive, distortion, fuzz, chorus, autowha - and fuzz/autowah are on borrowed time)

Idea was to use PoD HD 500 for specific tunes with complex FX setup if needed, but as we've not adopted any multiple delay/modulation tunes it's not currently needed at all.  Might migrate to a HELIX LT in due course, but not pressing ......

thecolourbox

robinbowes said:

thecolourbox said:

I saw a helix the other day though and it was massive, much bigger than my pedal collection. I appreciate it is good and sounds brilliant but for my space available and use case, pedals still win to be honest

"massive" ??

For sure, it's bigger than 2/3 pedals on a small board, but it's hardly "massive", especially if you remember it's replacing your amp(s) & cab(s) too.

R.

But PA or FRFR amps are bigger than the amps I have as well so the combined space they'd take up at home would be huge still.

I totally get it for some use cases and yes the HX is small (I was considering one when I saw the full size helix) but my board of a drive pedal, fuzz, octave plus Zoom G3 gives me loads of stuff as well but is smaller and i can take out the G3 for when I have less floor space

Sporky

The Helix (full-fat) is smaller than my Pedaltrain, I'm pretty sure. And it does vastly more and sounds at least as good.

revsorg

The other day I went on a trip down memory lane and watched this 2014 interview with Jeffrey Kunde talking about his pedalboard.  I can't believe how complicated his setup is. Hard to imagine going on stage and not experience some kind of problem.  The sort of problem you'd never experience with a Helix.

John_A

@revsorg You have to admire someone with the patience to put something like that together, but as you say, when a 'red lead' fails pre-gig you'd really be sweating it!  

All my remaining pedals up for sale, I'm never going back

sweepy

That pedalboard needs a BOSS ES8 loop switcher

Lebarque

No doubt the Helix is convenient and flexible, but it's a compromise on tone compared to good quality analog pedals IMO. Not to mention 'death by digital menus' syndrome. Maybe I'm just old and like a simple pedal with three knobs, so I can focus on playing.