Best Helix Solution for Home

Barnezy

I have a HX Stomp that I currently use in to the FX loop of my Marshall Origin 20c. It sound alright for practice, but obviously you're not hearing the full potential of the Helix. 

I was considering other options:

1. Studio Speakers - PreSonus Eris 3.5. Benefit of this is I could have the Helix plugged in to the PC at the desk whilst using, which is easier to edit. Low volume. Sub £100. 

2. PowerCab + - Benifit being "amp in the room" and extra block made free on the Stomp. Could also be good for taking out. Around £500. 

3. FRFR PA Speaker - something like the small HeadRush 108. Benefits are it's small and cheap vs the PowerCab. Looks crap in the house though and I've been told it might be too loud. Around £230.

I've been leaning towards the Studio Speaker purely as the are dual purpose.

What are people's thoughts? 

menamestom

I'd go monitors for the house, like you say they serve other purposes also.  I'm not sure what the PreSonus ones are like, they may be okay, I'd be tempted so spend a bit more and look at 5" monitors.

I have ilouds, they are good and sound good with the helix but there's no substitute for bigger cone size.

kennedydream1980

Monitors everytime for me in this situation. I have the Presonus monitors you mentioned and they are great. They won’t go mega loud but they are loud enough for me and perfect if you have neighbours. They sound great and pretty flat eq wise for budget monitors. Plus you get to experience your HX stomp in stereo 

If you wanted something a bit more ‘hyped’ EQ wise the Mackie CR3’s are good. If I was purely using monitors for the HX and listening to music I would probably go for the Mackies, they sound a tad sweeter. 

I went for the Presonus as I wanted something to playback music and to do a bit of mixing as well as play guitar through and dial in presets. So I needed something that had a more neutral EQ.

lysander

One thing to consider with nearfield studio monitors is that they only sound right if you’re sitting at the right height and distance.
If you want to get up and play then you will lose all the highs immediately. 

I find mine a bit annoying for playing the guitar for that reason. 

JohnCordy

@lysander but the opposite is true of PA speakers etc which are designed to throw sound over a much larger space than certainly my bedroom!

John_A

lysander said:

One thing to consider with nearfield studio monitors is that they only sound right if you’re sitting at the right height and distance.
If you want to get up and play then you will lose all the highs immediately. 

I find mine a bit annoying for playing the guitar for that reason. 

I don't find that at all.  Have a pair of Genelec 8020D that I use for monitoring, playing and also general music playback and they work great all over the room

guitargeek62

I ended up selling my Helix because I couldn't find a home setup with monitors that I liked the sound of - it was always missing the "amp in the room" feel to it. This was before the PowerCab was a thing though, and I wonder if one of those would change my mind now.


*edit* I bought another one a week after this

Barnezy

I need some PC speakers anyway, so might go for the Presonus, they've also just released a set with BT which could be handy. 

The space is quite small, a desk in a window bay, so dont need big speakers, nor do I have the space. 

I'll keep an eye out for a second hand PowerCab too. 

Thanks

PolarityMan

helix native...cos i can have like 10 of them at once

fretmeister

Monitors.

I've got a pair of Yamaha HS7 and they are excellent.


I did have a Yamaha DXR10 FRFR and it was very good, but at quieter volume the cooling fan noise was very annoying. 

lysander

John_A said:

lysander said:

One thing to consider with nearfield studio monitors is that they only sound right if you’re sitting at the right height and distance.
If you want to get up and play then you will lose all the highs immediately. 

I find mine a bit annoying for playing the guitar for that reason. 

I don't find that at all.  Have a pair of Genelec 8020D that I use for monitoring, playing and also general music playback and they work great all over the room

Depends a bit on the monitors ( never tried those ) and the room and a bunch of other things, but this is pretty much by definition of near field monitors and how they’re designed to operate.

guitargeek62

@fretmeister they’re what I had too, great monitors but still didn’t solve the amp-in-a-room problem. Have you figured that out by chance? 

John_A

The only way to get the ‘amp in the room’ vibe is to use a real cab and disable cab dims in Helix, the whole point of a modeller is to recreate a polished micd up cab sound.  Now I’m used to it an an amp in the room sounds not as good to me

guitargeek62

Makes sense, that was the problem for me - everything sounded too polished compared to what I’m used to. More like I was listening to a recording of my own playing more than the real thing. I’m still tempted to try for a HX Stomp as part of my pedalboard, focussing just on the amp modelling side, but I’m holding out for an all in one amp option instead - wishful thinking perhaps!

fretmeister

Alas I don’t care about the amp in the room thing so I’m not the man to ask!

Lodious

I use a hx stomp with an amp, but I don't put it 'into' the FX loop, plug the guitar into the stomp and send the output of the hx into the FX loop return. This will bypass the preamp in the Origin (sorry if this is what you are already doing)

I can't get on with PA speakers or monitors.

Barnezy

I've been looking in to this some more and I think I've decided on my route. I'm going to go monitors/speakers as I could do with some anyway, but also think for low volume at a desk they are potentially the best solution. 

Initially I was thinking the Presonus Eris 3.5 as they seem like great value and compact for my desk. iLouds were a consideration but based on YouTube demos and reviews I'm not sure they offered much over the Presonus. 

However I've now looked at the Audioengine A2+. The are £100 more than the Presonus, but are far smaller, have a front facing bass port (desk is against a wall) and look far more stylish. While not technically classed as monitors, they sound pretty accurate and my thinking is they will be much nicer for other applications. 

What are people's thoughts on this? Below is a sound comparison vs the Presonus and iLouds. 

guitargeek62

Hard to tell through YT, but the Audioengine's seem pretty well priced still, and sound better than either of the other to my ears (through my setup!). Worth ordering and trying out at home though, you can always return them if you hate the sound of them.

Wazmeister

John_A said:

lysander said:

One thing to consider with nearfield studio monitors is that they only sound right if you’re sitting at the right height and distance.
If you want to get up and play then you will lose all the highs immediately. 

I find mine a bit annoying for playing the guitar for that reason. 

I don't find that at all.  Have a pair of Genelec 8020D that I use for monitoring, playing and also general music playback and they work great all over the room

I’ve said this so many times with digital modellers...

It the speakers you use that make the biggest difference...

I sold my Genelec 8020 and 8010 but I miss them so much that I’m after another set.

Superb speakers 

chickenchaser

I too have the iLouds. For such a small package they sound great, particularly to boost my electric Piano. They are also great for music playback but with the Helix I think the lack of a big speaker loses that sensation of power. My room isn't big enough to take another set of monitors. The iLouds sit on top of the piano well. 

I've been tempted to buy something like a mkII Katana as a powercab just to give me that 12 inch speaker feeling. 

UnclePsychosis

fretmeister said:

Monitors.

I've got a pair of Yamaha HS7 and they are excellent.


I did have a Yamaha DXR10 FRFR and it was very good, but at quieter volume the cooling fan noise was very annoying. 

Literally just Helix (stomp in my case) into the HS7? No other gear needed?