Helix - Kemper - Axe Fx II XL+ JCM 800 Comparison

Jonathanthomas83

gibsongretschfan said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

@gibsongretschfan don't suppose you have any clips of you working your magic on a Dual Rectifier style Helix patch? My tastes are quite varied but I like a very tight and percussive DR tone. Just wondering what kind of tones you'd get as you seem to know how to get good results.

I'll be honest and say Im getting waaaay out of my depth and have zero experience with either heavy tones or that particular Helix model so can't make any predictions (although im thinking the Axe would be hard to beat because it sounds great!) although im not sure which is closer to the real thing as I also have very limited experience with the amp in real life

However, I shall give it a shot over the weekend for shits and giggles and see what I can manage! Not really got a suitable guitar either but ill see what I can do

Absolutely fair enough, fella. Be interested to see what you manage anyway. Always good to hear! :-)

TTBZ

@gibsongretschfan & @Cirrus - both your Helix JCM800 clips sound great! Way better than I was able to get out of Helix Native when I tried it, either with stock cabs or the free Ownhammer Mesa IR pack. Hearing stuff like that keeps making me want to try it again!

For some reason I seem to be determined to make a HX Stomp work for me - I'm getting to the stage where I can't really be arsed with amps most of the time now as I just don't get to crank it up, even at rehearsals it doesn't always seem worth lugging a combo. I've just been disappointed each time I've tried it so far. Hoping there will be some up to date units with Placater models to try out at NAMM next month!

Fiftyshadesofjay

Quick update - After using the Axe Fx 2 live last night I must say that I much preferred the Kemper. It could well be that I've lived with it longer and I know it better but the tones weren't even close in a live setting for me.

Also despite not 100% getting on with the Helix models I am now running native on my PC. It's a fantastic tool to get ideas down without unpacking the Kemper after gigs and it's also great for effects.

Axe Fx is now in the classifieds.

gibsongretschfan

Jonathanthomas83 said:

@gibsongretschfan don't suppose you have any clips of you working your magic on a Dual Rectifier style Helix patch? My tastes are quite varied but I like a very tight and percussive DR tone. Just wondering what kind of tones you'd get as you seem to know how to get good results.

Ive probably got ear fatigue by this point and wonder wtf I posted this in about 20 minutes time but I think it at least sounds better than the Helix clip posted above. I had to use a little creative license as I'm playing that Gibson semi with the Tv Jones pickups again so a little eq and boost here and there was needed. Stuck it through Ozone for a little gain matching again in post. Its double tracked but both guitars panned centre like the other Rec examples and just used the Mesa V30 cabs that are the free samples from Ownhammers website.

gibsongretschfan

Actually just realised you said tight and percussive lol, I was going for a slightly looser feel like in the original clips. Fail

I was thinking more Down than Hetfield 

TeleMaster

I thought 1 sounded most like a real miked amp.

John_A

gibsongretschfan said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

@gibsongretschfan don't suppose you have any clips of you working your magic on a Dual Rectifier style Helix patch? My tastes are quite varied but I like a very tight and percussive DR tone. Just wondering what kind of tones you'd get as you seem to know how to get good results.

Ive probably got ear fatigue by this point and wonder wtf I posted this in about 20 minutes time but I think it at least sounds better than the Helix clip posted above. I had to use a little creative license as I'm playing that Gibson semi with the Tv Jones pickups again so a little eq and boost here and there was needed. Stuck it through Ozone for a little gain matching again in post. Its double tracked but both guitars panned centre like the other Rec examples and just used the Mesa V30 cabs that are the free samples from Ownhammers website.

That sounds really good, as did your JCM800 one, just shows how much ears have to do with getting a good sound out of anything 

gibsongretschfan

John_A said:

gibsongretschfan said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

@gibsongretschfan don't suppose you have any clips of you working your magic on a Dual Rectifier style Helix patch? My tastes are quite varied but I like a very tight and percussive DR tone. Just wondering what kind of tones you'd get as you seem to know how to get good results.

Ive probably got ear fatigue by this point and wonder wtf I posted this in about 20 minutes time but I think it at least sounds better than the Helix clip posted above. I had to use a little creative license as I'm playing that Gibson semi with the Tv Jones pickups again so a little eq and boost here and there was needed. Stuck it through Ozone for a little gain matching again in post. Its double tracked but both guitars panned centre like the other Rec examples and just used the Mesa V30 cabs that are the free samples from Ownhammers website.

That sounds really good, as did your JCM800 one, just shows how much ears have to do with getting a good sound out of anything 

Thanks dude, Im pretty out of my depth but I usually have a pretty "upfront" guitar sound that isn't the best sounding in isolation but usually works well in context. This is the exact same guitar tracks apart from being panned hard left and right with smidgen of plate reverb added mixed with some drums and sampled bass. The dryness in the isolated tracks usually works well when added to a full band I find

TTBZ

^yeah I like that tone a lot! Sounds like the sort of thing I'd go for for the sort of music I play. Do you keep your patches pretty simple? One thing that put me off is the patches that require split crossovers, multiple EQ etc to sound good (Jason Sadites style) - I wanted to be able to get good tones with just an amp model and an IR, possibly some room reverb for space. More so because I wanted to get a HX Stomp and fit it all in the 6 block limiter.

gibsongretschfan

TTBZ said:

^yeah I like that tone a lot! Sounds like the sort of thing I'd go for for the sort of music I play. Do you keep your patches pretty simple? One thing that put me off is the patches that require split crossovers, multiple EQ etc to sound good (Jason Sadites style) - I wanted to be able to get good tones with just an amp model and an IR, possibly some room reverb for space. More so because I wanted to get a HX Stomp and fit it all in the 6 block limiter.

I didn't even EQ the amp or change the gain or master although I did take the Hum and Ripple down to about 1 but I do that as standard.

With Helix if im going into a guitar cabinet I don't use any extra EQ or anything but for going direct I do stick the Studio Compressor at the end of the chain and use a separate Hi Lo Cut block because the one in the IR and Cab blocks sucks

The only thing I done in this patch that was a little different was the EQ at the start of the chain but that was just for a little gain boost and a little boost in the treble and bass frequencies because my pickups are seriously low output and wanted to give the guitar a fighting chance

I honestly can't stand when things get complicated. It feels like cheating. If you are using a guitar cabinet then you should be able to get a good sound with just an amp model going into it and nothing else and like I said if im going direct then I treat it a little more like a decent sound engineer would after the guitar amp/effect bits are done with some compression and hi lo cut etc but thats it