This Helix thing then....

John_A

BRISTOL86 said:

John_A said:

There's a full fat Helix in the classifieds for very little more than a new LT (not mine)

Thanks for that. I don't want to do anything until I've had chance to see it in the flesh and work out if it's what I want. I also get 10% off at PMT so that will take the price of an LT to around £600 with warranty which is decent!

That's very decent indeed

meltedbuzzbox

I've owned a helix twice now.
First time I bought it to replace my pedal board and being to the point I thought it was awful in terms of an effects only platform (in its defense it was an early firmware version). I went back pretty sharpish.

Second time I bought it was for recording. I have got on with it a lot better. I really like it for recording (after some tweaking).
However I am still not overly impressed with the onboard effects. They are usable and there are a few good ones but generally on the whole I still find it all a bit meh. I tend to run pedal board into it.
For playing in the room I dont think its in the same league as my amp and pedal board. Don't get me wrong, I've heard worse amps (Hello blackstar) but for me it lacks that certain magic a proper valve amp has.

Just try to go in with your eyes open and fully decide if it works in the situation you want it to work in.

All my opinion of course.

BRISTOL86

Thanks @meltedbuzzbox ;

I’m definitely going in with an open mind and will be led by my ears  

meltedbuzzbox

Do you guys have a fretboard jam down your way? It might be worth spending some time with a fellow FB'er to see whats what and get some guidance?

Bridgehouse

meltedbuzzbox said:

Do you guys have a fretboard jam down your way? It might be worth spending some time with a fellow FB'er to see whats what and get some guidance?

No, not yet. The SW really needs a local organiser

meltedbuzzbox

Bridgehouse said:

meltedbuzzbox said:

Do you guys have a fretboard jam down your way? It might be worth spending some time with a fellow FB'er to see whats what and get some guidance?

No, not yet. The SW really needs a local organiser

well volunteered @Bridgehouse ;

Bridgehouse

meltedbuzzbox said:

Bridgehouse said:

meltedbuzzbox said:

Do you guys have a fretboard jam down your way? It might be worth spending some time with a fellow FB'er to see whats what and get some guidance?

No, not yet. The SW really needs a local organiser

well volunteered @Bridgehouse ;

I have more than enough Jam organising to do in a radius I can actually get to in a day. The SW and Scotland are not within my means.. 

Someone else needs to step up to the Jam organising plate...

Bridgehouse

And there's a reason I said local

BRISTOL86

All being well in about 5 years time I should be willing to make sounds on a guitar in front of other people  

Bridgehouse

BRISTOL86 said:

All being well in about 5 years time I should be willing to make sounds on a guitar in front of other people  

Your name is in. You responded first. Thus, you are now SW Jam organiser.

Congrats!

BRISTOL86

Bridgehouse said:

BRISTOL86 said:

All being well in about 5 years time I should be willing to make sounds on a guitar in front of other people  

Your name is in. You responded first. Thus, you are now SW Jam organiser.

Congrats!

Haha! If you knew me then you’d definitely not be suggesting I organise anything  

Bridgehouse

BRISTOL86 said:

Bridgehouse said:

BRISTOL86 said:

All being well in about 5 years time I should be willing to make sounds on a guitar in front of other people  

Your name is in. You responded first. Thus, you are now SW Jam organiser.

Congrats!

Haha! If you knew me then you’d definitely not be suggesting I organise anything  

Ah but it's too late now.. look @TTony - a volunteer!!

meltedbuzzbox

Bridgehouse said:

And there's a reason I said local

@Bridgehouse you lack commitment mate :-p

Teetonetal

NelsonP said:

I wouldn't discount headphones, if you get a decent pair. Something like the Audio Technica ATH-M50x's would see you right.

One other thing to be prepared for. The sound is equivalent to a mic'ed cab. Basically the sound you hear on a record rather than what you hear when standing in front of a Marshall stack.

If you have headphones or small monitors then the experience is different. But then it is also different for whoever you share your house with!

They are the exact headphones I have. Horrible with helix, no idea why. I got really nice results with the cheaper M30 version. I guess the voicing is different, but I found the M50's to have no balnce, really push the mids and be very harsh - in comparison. They were the main reason I nearly took helix back, they sounded great with Sgear, so I assumed they would with helix. i tried my old 30's by accident.

Also the direct headphone out on helix is really hot. @Digital_Igloo was recommending high impedance (300 ohm) headphones on TGP.

BRISTOL86

I’m going to get some advice from the guys at PMT but do you think I’m barking up the right tree looking at studio monitors rather than an amp of some kind, given my bedroom only application?

Sporky

I use mine with monitors (Eris E8s) and like it. An amp will give a different flavour and feel but can also be set up to work well.

It depends, I'd think, on whether you want to use it mostly as an FX unit or if you want to take more advantage of the amp modelling.

BRISTOL86

Sporky said:

I use mine with monitors (Eris E8s) and like it. An amp will give a different flavour and feel but can also be set up to work well.

It depends, I'd think, on whether you want to use it mostly as an FX unit or if you want to take more advantage of the amp modelling.

I think it’s the versatility that appeals. My musical taste varies quite a lot and I like the idea that - in theory - I can pretty much get any sound I want out of one unit. I’m keen on simplicity (not from a user friendly standpoint but in terms of least gear possible - that appeals about the Helix)

I like that I can use it as amp modelling, fx, looper, recording interface etc all in one unit. 

At the end of the day I’m fairly apathetic about what gear I have - I’m not really a gear lover as such - I just want to be able to choose a sound, pick up the guitar and go. 

I appreciate that there’s a lot of tweaking to be done to get those sounds you want initially, but I imagine that once you’ve been using it for some time you can get back and forth between the different sounds you want very quickly and easily. 

Sporky

It is by far the easiest multiFX thing I've ever used in terms of being able to tweak settings without reading the manual (though I keep forgetting how to move blocks or create the parallel paths). No deep menus.

Sounds like you'd get on fine with monitors. I went for big speakers to get a bit more "push".

guitarfishbay

Teetonetal said:

NelsonP said:

I wouldn't discount headphones, if you get a decent pair. Something like the Audio Technica ATH-M50x's would see you right.

One other thing to be prepared for. The sound is equivalent to a mic'ed cab. Basically the sound you hear on a record rather than what you hear when standing in front of a Marshall stack.

If you have headphones or small monitors then the experience is different. But then it is also different for whoever you share your house with!

They are the exact headphones I have. Horrible with helix, no idea why. I got really nice results with the cheaper M30 version. I guess the voicing is different, but I found the M50's to have no balnce, really push the mids and be very harsh - in comparison. They were the main reason I nearly took helix back, they sounded great with Sgear, so I assumed they would with helix. i tried my old 30's by accident.

Also the direct headphone out on helix is really hot. Digital_Igloo was recommending high impedance (300 ohm) headphones on TGP.

M50x's are 38 ohms, the M30x's are 47 ohms though I'd be guessing if I knew how much difference that would be making but my guess would be not a lot.  I have wondered if the low impedance (thus making them louder) is a part of why people like the M50x over some competitor products.  I have a pair myself and while I like the sound, I don't use them too much anymore as I find Beyerdynamic headphones so much more comfortable and they also typically block a bit more sound which is very useful to me when recording a loud singer in the same room.

BRISTOL86

Sporky said:

It is by far the easiest multiFX thing I've ever used in terms of being able to tweak settings without reading the manual (though I keep forgetting how to move blocks or create the parallel paths). No deep menus.

Sounds like you'd get on fine with monitors. I went for big speakers to get a bit more "push".

Thanks! I’m hoping they’ll set it up with the actual speakers I’m looking at in store for me so I can try and get a good feel, and I’ll ask them to talk me through alternative options as well. 

A bit of a minefield when you’ve only ever used a plug in and play modelling amp!