Digital Models of Vox/Matchless

smudge_lad

Hey guys, maybe a bit of a wormhole question as this will all likely depend on a lot of factors (guitars, pickups, pedals, speakers)

Single coils, Kingsley Page or OD block for added drive, into an SD170. Various cabs/speakers at home/practise space, but all very similar results

Currently running the Matchless amp
block in my HX Stomp, and found the same/similar issue with the Vox and Matchless amps on the QC.

Clean/sparkly/edge of breakup they sound great - but anytime I turn up the gain or try to boost with an OD, I get a really horrible, flubby sound on the lower strings when playing chords. Maybe not the best description, but I guess it’s kinda like overly compressed and for want of a better expression “the amp is collapsing”. 

I’m not even talking about large amounts of gain. Just over the edge of breakup with a nice low to medium gain overdrive.

I’ve tried reducing the bass on the amp block while increasing the drive but it’s not really helping the overall tone. Any bottom end is then gone.

Anyone else had similar issues, and any suggestions on how to get around this? Something else/obvious in my setup that I should look at? 

Anything hidden away in the menu’s of the Stomp I could try changing?

At the point where I’m thinking of ditching this setup and lugging my amp back to gigs

UnclePsychosis

I am absolutely not an expert on the Helix but over the weekend I was watching some videos on how the Sag/Bias controls in the helix work and what they do. Personally I have always left these alone but I think they may help you to fix the problem you describe. They definitely modify the "tight vs loose" feel and compression level(s).

There were some decent videos I found just with a quick search, but I imagine "your favourite helix youtuber of choice" has done one too.

borntohang

Sag and Bias are worth checking. I know L6 say to leave the Master all the way up on the AC30 for original response, but I've found I don't actually like the power section distorting as much and would rather bring the Master down and push the Gain for a bit more drive. Whether that's exactly like a cranked vintage AC30 I wouldn't like to say, but it does rather seem like the sag on a pushed EL84 to my ears.

allen

I have a feeling that this is a 'feature' of the real amps. Have you tried sticking a treble booster in front of it?

John_P

I find this for vox and matchless.    At the moment they are my go to choice for clean and edgy sounds but the only way I can get a useable gain sound is to put a boost in front that takes out the low end before the amp.   With Marshall’s I’m not a big fan of rangemasters and treble boost but with a voxy amp it works great.  

smudge_lad

allen said:

I have a feeling that this is a 'feature' of the real amps. Have you tried sticking a treble booster in front of it?

My amp is a Bad Cat Black Cat and I’ve never heard it respond this way.

I’m talking minuscule amounts of gain, and I’ve no blocks left for a treble boost so I need to figure it out within the current blocks