Sold Helix got Atomic Amplifire

RandallFlagg

Just sold my 2nd Helix and got the Atomic Amplfire. I wanted a modeller that can sit on the desktop next to my computer and the Amplifire fits the bill nicely as it's about the same size as the old Pods.

Plugged in and went straight to a blank preset, opened the editor and quickly dialled the Friedman HBE on a low gain Strat neck pickup just crackling nicely tone, with some tremelo, delay and reverb, within a few minutes and have to say that it sounds really good.

I love the smaller footprint of the Amplifire and the sound is great right off the bat with the amp tone controls set where I woud expect them to be on a real amp, without the need for any of this cab lo cut hi cut nonsense that plagued me with the Fractal and Helix gear. 

Impressive little peice of kit.

cbellanga

RandallFlagg said:

Just sold my 2nd Helix and got the Atomic Amplfire.

Good stuff! Did you go for the standard 3 buttons, the 12 or the newer 6 model?

meltedbuzzbox

Interesting that you mentioned the hicut low cut thing. That really bugs the shit out of me on the helix

RandallFlagg

cbellanga said:

RandallFlagg said:

Just sold my 2nd Helix and got the Atomic Amplfire.

Good stuff! Did you go for the standard 3 buttons, the 12 or the newer 6 model?

3 button, I don't need it on the floor, I use it on desktop with Editor

Boromedic

You tried any other IR's yet? The Marshall/Friedman stuff came alive for me with the Ownhammer Marshall ones.

Jonathanthomas83

Interesting, I may take a look at one whilst I wait for them to ship a Fractal over.

monquixote

It's a very good box provided you are prepared to use a laptop.

The one thing that really let the Amplifire down for me was trying to edit patches at gigs as the UI is terrible.

Editing on device is where the Helix wins hands down.

Strat_a_tat_tat

What is the 'low cut high cut' thing on a Helix?

RandallFlagg

monquixote said:

It's a very good box provided you are prepared to use a laptop.

The one thing that really let the Amplifire down for me was trying to edit patches at gigs as the UI is terrible.

Editing on device is where the Helix wins hands down.

Agreed but I don't gig, I wanted something small that sits on the desktop for home use only and I use the editor all the time, the Helix was too big for my needs.

Teetonetal

Strat_a_tat_tat said:

What is the 'low cut high cut' thing on a Helix?

If using inbuilt cabs lots of people add an eq block to remove high and low frequency. For me it makes a huge difference.

meltedbuzzbox

Teetonetal said:

Strat_a_tat_tat said:

What is the 'low cut high cut' thing on a Helix?

If using inbuilt cabs lots of people add an eq block to remove high and low frequency. For me it makes a huge difference.



I'd argue it's a must. Most of the amps have a harshness in the upper frequencies that only seems to go away after you roll the hicut to 7k ish

It's quick enough to fix but it's a bit annoying

Jonathanthomas83

It's not an inherent amp problem in modelling, it's due to the mic placement in the IR. As players who usually listen to amps on the floor a few feet away, the sound of a mic close to the cap will sound too harsh...so we need to compensate using High/Low cuts to make it sound like it's an amp in the room again.

That's my understanding anyway.

mistercharlie

@RandallFlagg ;
Is it this one?

menamestom

How do you find the modelling compared to the Helix?

duotone

mistercharlie said:

@RandallFlagg ;
Is it this one?

@mistercharlie I think it's this one he bought

http://atomicamps.com/amplifire-pedal/

mistercharlie

Cheers

Legionreturns

My only experience of these is when Andertons completely trashed it against a 30 year old pod and a kemper. I've long suspected they get the tone they want to sell stuff, but this pretty much confirms it. Enjoy! 

Cabicular

I liked mine but I couldn’t get it to sound good at proper volume
and then editing it without a PC is like trying to paint your house through the letterbox 

NelsonP

Legionreturns said:

My only experience of these is when Andertons completely trashed it against a 30 year old pod and a kemper. I've long suspected they get the tone they want to sell stuff, but this pretty much confirms it. Enjoy! 

I have a POD XT (which superceded the POD used in the Andertons vid) and an Atomic Amplifire
The Amplifire is about a million times better. I have no idea how they made it sound so bad in that comparison.

They seemed to do a little better with it here

cbellanga

I’m waiting for the AA6 to arrive in the UK. The size factor, extra switches and dedicated exp pedal sound perfect for my needs.
Great to have a good-sounding modeller that fits on my guitar gig-bag.