Those who have gigged with modellers... what do you plug them into?

John_A

timmysoft said:

Cirrus said:

Think I'm going to get a Helix. Can't decide between Floor or Rack+Controller.

The decision is pretty much split between the convenience of having everything in a pedalboard weighed against the thought that having most of the value off the floor at the back of stages in a rack case is probably safer.

In hundreds of gigs I've done, my pedalboard has usually been fine but it *has* been kicked and walked on.

One practical question. When you go direct, do you let the soundguys plug their XLRs direct into the unit or do you take a DI box to go between? Just thinking a DI might provide an extra level of protection against wear and tear, broken mixers blasting voltage down the cable and ground loops...

I went rack, it’s much cooler and it means that people don’t think you’re using a zoom4040

I have a look and thought about changing to a rack, but the floor is just so convenient.  Tuner isn’t behind you, 1m cable to monitor with a volume control in easy reach

agree the rack looks cool!

sweepy

Rack every time, keeps the spendy bits off of the floor 

timmysoft

John_A said:

timmysoft said:

Cirrus said:

Think I'm going to get a Helix. Can't decide between Floor or Rack+Controller.

The decision is pretty much split between the convenience of having everything in a pedalboard weighed against the thought that having most of the value off the floor at the back of stages in a rack case is probably safer.

In hundreds of gigs I've done, my pedalboard has usually been fine but it *has* been kicked and walked on.

One practical question. When you go direct, do you let the soundguys plug their XLRs direct into the unit or do you take a DI box to go between? Just thinking a DI might provide an extra level of protection against wear and tear, broken mixers blasting voltage down the cable and ground loops...

I went rack, it’s much cooler and it means that people don’t think you’re using a zoom4040

I have a look and thought about changing to a rack, but the floor is just so convenient.  Tuner isn’t behind you, 1m cable to monitor with a volume control in easy reach

agree the rack looks cool!

The tuner also appears on the helix control, so it doesn’t have to be behind you! 

John_A

timmysoft said:

John_A said:

timmysoft said:

Cirrus said:

Think I'm going to get a Helix. Can't decide between Floor or Rack+Controller.

The decision is pretty much split between the convenience of having everything in a pedalboard weighed against the thought that having most of the value off the floor at the back of stages in a rack case is probably safer.

In hundreds of gigs I've done, my pedalboard has usually been fine but it *has* been kicked and walked on.

One practical question. When you go direct, do you let the soundguys plug their XLRs direct into the unit or do you take a DI box to go between? Just thinking a DI might provide an extra level of protection against wear and tear, broken mixers blasting voltage down the cable and ground loops...

I went rack, it’s much cooler and it means that people don’t think you’re using a zoom4040

I have a look and thought about changing to a rack, but the floor is just so convenient.  Tuner isn’t behind you, 1m cable to monitor with a volume control in easy reach

agree the rack looks cool!

The tuner also appears on the helix control, so it doesn’t have to be behind you! 

Bugger, didn’t know that

Cirrus

Ordered, went for the rack version. Looking forward to diving in!

timmysoft

Cirrus said:

Ordered, went for the rack version. Looking forward to diving in!

I love mine, it’s changed the way I play and write

Cirrus

Ok, I'm *really* impressed with this. Spent a couple of evenings last week just playing with it, trying out different things, seeing what was possible, and yesterday I recorded a song's worth of guitar parts. Loaded up some Ownhammer IRs, and... it just sounds great.

And today, I've been rehearsing for some gigs I'm doing in Italy in a fortnight, so I plugged it into the power amp - in of my 30w EL84 combo, played with turning the IRs off and fine-tuning the EQ going into the amp, and again it sounded really impressive.

I know it's old news, but Line 6 really knocked it out the park in terms of the user interface for this thing.

jeztone2

The other guitarist in my band uses a HeadRush with its own FFFR cab. It sounds quite good. 

bloodandtears

jeztone2 said:

The other guitarist in my band uses a HeadRush with its own FFFR cab. It sounds quite good. 

What do you use? I'm curious to know as I've tried using a modeller and FRFR monitor type before but in bands with other guitarists with traditional set up I get a sense of less volume/spread and revert back to my head/cab rig.

I do wonder how others get on in similar multi-guitarist bands that have mixed approaches.

Beexter

bloodandtears said:

I do wonder how others get on in similar multi-guitarist bands that have mixed approaches.

I have a DXR10 on it's side as a monitor in front of me. I only use it to hear myself and the other guitarist is on the other side of the stage with a conventional amp behind him.

Boromedic

Anyone gigged with an Atomic Amplifire, either model? I'll be back in the UK soonish and I'm looking at something to play it through at home without headphones, as well as use at a gig. Looking for feedback on the different methods mentioned above, although I'm sure the results will probably be similar with any modeller.

I quite like the idea of using a powered PA speaker, however as much as the Yamaha looks great not sure the budget can stretch that far! I think I'm looking more at a budget The Box model from Thomann theres one with a similar speaker setup to the Yamaha with DSP but less watts: https://www.thomann.de/gb/the_box_pa_10_dsp.htm , or an Alto TS210 or something. Did anyone try different speaker sizes before settling on a 10" speaker with these also? Was wondering if the speaker size would make a difference?!

Cheers all.

Edit: Those using the DXR10 with the Helix, do you run stereo 1/4" outs into it or just mono?

onyir

@Boromedic ;I regurarly gig with an Atomic Amplifire 3. I've had it for nearly 3 years now. At the start I was plugging it in the effects return of my amp (a tubemeister 36) for hearing myself and to front of house from the atomic itself with a suitable cabinet IR. This year I bought a reasonably priced second hand Atomic CLR and that's all I'm using for monitoring purposes. Main sound still comes from the PA, though.
On rehearsals I put the CLR behind me as I'd do with a guitar amp and I'm yet to turn it up above 1/3 volume wise. Very happy with the setup.
For context we play mostly classic rock. Our drummer is a bit heavy handed, but i've seen them worse! The other guitarist in the band plays a Helix through the effects return of a 100W H&K Switchblade.

Boromedic

Thank you for the info @onyir , very much appreciated, I know Satchel has one as his live rig as do a number of cover bands so figured it would work. Although I was trying to avoid the CLR route as a monitor as they aren't cheap!! 

Anyone used the Alto or similar as above?

kennedydream1980

@Boromedic ;

I gigged with an Atomic Amplifire 12 for about 6 months. I had 3 units in all as the first 2 developed faults with random footswitches. Both were replaced under warranty. The 3rd unit was fine.

Soundwise I really struggled with the high end. The way the high end is voiced on it really started to grate on me. I tried to dial it out to where it was okay but then it didn’t cut through live at all.

Also the effects are pretty complex with the amount of parameters and are a pain in the arse to dial in.

Also it bugged me that all the amp models on the Atomic have exactly the same controls.

On the Helix you get all the features of the actual amp, for example on the Helix Friedman you get the 3 way bright switch on the clean and the fat, c45 and sat on the dirty channels.

Updates and support were also few and far between and pretty lacking on the Atomic. Line 6 are absolutely bang on with their updates and really seem to listen to their customer base.

I feel the sound of the Helix plus the user interface is streets ahead of the Atomic. The Helix just sounds so much more natural.

I paid £500 for my Helix LT and it’s hands down the greatest gear purchase I’ve ever made.

digitalscream

Boromedic said:

Thank you for the info @onyir , very much appreciated, I know Satchel has one as his live rig as do a number of cover bands so figured it would work. Although I was trying to avoid the CLR route as a monitor as they aren't cheap!! 

Anyone used the Alto or similar as above?

I've used the Alto TS210 for on-stage monitoring (with a direct feed to FoH) with my Helix...it was good, but very bass-heavy and a bit indistinct in the low-end. I have the DXR10, which is orders of magnitude better and has much more headroom, so you can use it easily for rehearsals on its own even with a gorilla of a drummer.

Unfortunately, the DXR10's on the block because the band are complaining (as noted earlier) and I'm tired of arguing.

Boromedic

kennedydream1980 said:

@Boromedic ;;;

I gigged with an Atomic Amplifire 12 for about 6 months. I had 3 units in all as the first 2 developed faults with random footswitches. Both were replaced under warranty. The 3rd unit was fine.

Soundwise I really struggled with the high end. The way the high end is voiced on it really started to grate on me. I tried to dial it out to where it was okay but then it didn’t cut through live at all.

Also the effects are pretty complex with the amount of parameters and are a pain in the arse to dial in.

Also it bugged me that all the amp models on the Atomic have exactly the same controls.

On the Helix you get all the features of the actual amp, for example on the Helix Friedman you get the 3 way bright switch on the clean and the fat, c45 and sat on the dirty channels.

Updates and support were also few and far between and pretty lacking on the Atomic. Line 6 are absolutely bang on with their updates and really seem to listen to their customer base.

I feel the sound of the Helix plus the user interface is streets ahead of the Atomic. The Helix just sounds so much more natural.

I paid £500 for my Helix LT and it’s hands down the greatest gear purchase I’ve ever made.

Cool, thanks for the input. I've had my AA3 for 4 years now and touch wood have had no real issues yet although one recently surfaced where I downloaded a couple of presets that would knock out the sound for some reason. I deleted them and so far it's been fine afterwards. The AA12, LT and Helix are pretty sizeable so I don't think I'll be switching as I plan mostly to use the AA3 as an amp modeller, with effects before it all changed using a midi switcher, so won't have the issues with the complex parameters which I wholeheartedly agree are very difficult to dial in and needlessly difficult. It's nice to have it there if you need it, but it should have more simple stompbox options too as a basic start point. I actually prefer stomboxes for that very reason, so I can dive in straightaway and tweak. This is clearly better on the Helix.

Soundwise I've got it well dialled in for phones and recording, but have yet to broach actually playing it live hence the question. I personally think it sounds ace, but will concede I've not played the Helix. However it is way better than the previous Line 6 stuff I've played up to the HD range, and to be honest they all had a fizziness which the Atomic doesn't so I was suprised by your issues with the high end. If it sucks when I try it with an amp or PA speaker then I will have to rethink of course although most of the semi pro and pro players I've seen using them in YT vids and stuff sound amazing. I don't want to spend a load on the Helix when I have this and pedals already at my disposal and a switcher. I know if it doesn't work I have enough money in that stuff to get the Helix! 

It's that old horses for courses thing I suppose, I prefer my Timeline, Timmy, Rat and Skreddys to any fx patches I've heard so I'm happy to use it purely for the amps. I don't mind the amps controls or anything, I've found a few patches I like based around the Marshall and BE models with a Fender clean and they sound great. Again with the caveat, so far!! I do like the idea of not having to cart an amp around and have a decent sized board planned. When I'm done though it will still be slightly smaller than the Helix! That being said, I'm still tempted believe me, but would probably go full fat over LT as I like the scribble strips!

Edit: I forgot to mention the firmware stuff, I know the forum and FB groups have a lot of frustration on them with updates but I'll be honest once I was set with the JCM and Fender cleans, plus the Marshall and BE models with Ownhammer IR's I was away and happy. I wasn't too fussed at the lack of new models, or stuff like shimmer verbs etc. but like I said above if that's what you needed then I definitely understand the upset. There's a new update coming any day/week/month now, hopefully it will have some of the stuff people are asking for. They do listen, but it's just a couple of guys vs the likes of a big company like Line 6 who can call in Dan Boul and Pete Thorn to help out, so I can see their side of it to. 

Boromedic

digitalscream said:

Boromedic said:

Thank you for the info @onyir , very much appreciated, I know Satchel has one as his live rig as do a number of cover bands so figured it would work. Although I was trying to avoid the CLR route as a monitor as they aren't cheap!! 

Anyone used the Alto or similar as above?

I've used the Alto TS210 for on-stage monitoring (with a direct feed to FoH) with my Helix...it was good, but very bass-heavy and a bit indistinct in the low-end. I have the DXR10, which is orders of magnitude better and has much more headroom, so you can use it easily for rehearsals on its own even with a gorilla of a drummer.

Unfortunately, the DXR10's on the block because the band are complaining (as noted earlier) and I'm tired of arguing.

Cheers dude, I was worried someone would say that! I really don't want to spend a load if I can avoid it, but can't be dealing with crazy, loose low end either. I noticed the headroom on the DXR is pretty big like, there's a Mackie model that's similar for less money though. I'll have to keep an eye out

Voxman

Vox Tonelab SE and LE. Gigs, straight through the PA with the global EQ set to 'line'; or for band practice I did go through the front of an amp, with global EQ set to (surprisingly!) 'amp'.  However, we're now rehearsing at Mill Hill music complex, and our room has a good PA so we can put our Tonelabs straight through the PA there too. 

Next band practice I'm going to try my recently acquired Zoom G5n through the PA to see how that fares.