Line 6 Helix

simonk

@Vaiai There are loads of them to choose from. Maybe start with one of his “dialling in” vids relevant to the amp you favour... I think he’s covered most of the different amp models. Then have a browse through the “how to create a great tone” selection where he covers all sorts. It’s all good stuff so you can’t go wrong really, and he’s a tasty player.

RMJ

Vaiai said:

Can someone point to a specific Jason Sadites vid as I am using Michael Britt presets but interested to see what Jason't tricks are as I moved from using it in an amp with real cab to using it in the Laney LFR in the last few weeks but I need to tweak it a bit as it's very different from my 1x12 cab.
The Britt presets are all set up for use direct to PA (which I do at rehearsal) but live I used an amp on stage and went in FX return. Now with the Laney it's just a single cable and it's FRFR so different response and sound

EDIT: Is it this series? Anyone got a synopsis

The video where Jason builds a template is the one you want...

Cirrus

I've been working on a patch that'll work as the basis for the range of tones I need - then I can copy it out and tweak it on a per-song basis with snapshots, but also have it in single-stomp mode as my tonal pallet for situations where it doesn't need to be song specific.

It's an A/B amp setup. Vox AC30 (the Fawn brilliant model) and the Soldano lead channel with the gain really low - that SLO channel reminds me a bit of my old Mesa Stiletto Ace set to fluid mode, with this beautiful mid-heavy compressed grind that still reacts great to playing dynamics. I went back and forth between the two Vox Fawn models and the Essex-30, settled on the Fawn brilliant because just like the comparison between real top-boost and non-top boost Voxes, the Fawn had more dynamics in terms of being reactive to playing, and could be driven into something more raw with a volume boost in front of it, while also having more open bass and low mids.

They both go into an Ownhammer IR - Bognor 2x12 with V30s, miked up with a 414.

Then around that I stuffed the preset with the various effects I've come to use over the years; "Red Squeeze" Dyna-Comp model, SD1 with the gain down and volume right up, Proco Rat for nasty dirt, Clean-ish boost from the Kinky Boost.

Then Wah and volume pedals, an analog style delay in front of the amps, digital delay after, and two reverbs - spring & particle verb, the latter for the big soundscape stuff. A 6-button looper too.

Rounded out with the inevitable hi/low-cut EQ block at the end to shave off some subs and treble above, IIRC, 12kHz.

I'm pretty pleased with it. It responds differently to my 3 guitars (Explorer, Gretsch & Strat), and though I'm sure it'll need tweaking once it's being used alongside a live drummer, I have been using it to add some finishing touches to an album I'm mixing.

 Ran into DSP issues until I set it up so the amps were on different processors - the A/B split happens on path 1, 1st amp is on Path 1A then both paths go down to 2a and 2b, with the 2nd amp on 2B then the signals re-combine. So I've got a footswitch set to make the split block on path 1a simple go 100% A to 100% B, I was pleased it let me do that.

John_A

Just been piddling about with mine.  We going to be doing 'Streets have no Name ' so had an idea to use the 3 Oscillator synth for a drone behind the intro.  as it's only 4 chords, but sounds a bit sparce without keys, I'd never used it til now.  Sounds pretty splendid

Another take-away from this is that playing a part and sounding like The Edge is harder than it appears!

hubobulous

What are your settings for the synth? Struggled to get anything usable out of them so far

John_A

hubobulous said:

What are your settings for the synth? Struggled to get anything usable out of them so far

Just left everything at default and popped in three notes for D, G, Bm, Asus4 then had another block running a saw tooth wave with just the root down an octave.  Doesn’t sound great on its own, but behind the guitar it’s OK, only spend 10 mins on it, if I get it sounding fab I’ll share the patch

rorytaylor54321

I've joined the club and bought a Helix LT. So far I'm really impressed, played through my IEMs and through a Mackie DLM8 and got some really lovely sounds. Will get the second Mackie out and try some stereo stuff when I've recovered from Tuesdays hernia surgery! Pretty sure there will be a for sale thread soon for some pedals, watch this space!

John_A

@hubobulous heres the finished patch with some help from @Cirrus it sounds pretty good

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AssMZbf-8nny-zIoCOiiiFvPUQhU

Edit - a few bugs removed, and some imrovements here:

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AssMZbf-8nny-zIoCOiiiFvPUQhU

hubobulous

Do you have a soundclip I can hear? Thanks for doing this

John_A

hubobulous said:

Do you have a soundclip I can hear? Thanks for doing this

I dont.  Bit busy at the moment but will try to do one later, or you could download the patch and have a listen

Cirrus

I did a quick vid to show a mate, this is the patch as I sent it to @John_A yesterday - didn't do anything at all guitar-sound wise, this is just the synthy bit.

John_A

Thanks for that @cirrus Since getting the patch I've put a guitar on the second path independent of the synth, added an octave lower root using a saw wave to give it a bit more oomph and just re-voiced the Bm chord, but still sounds very much like the above

Cirrus

The Bmin gave me some trouble, actually - can you remember how you changed it? There was something about the minor 3rd that the following pitch block really didn't like, it was a struggle to stop it being too glitchy.

John_A

Cirrus said:

The Bmin gave me some trouble, actually - can you remember how you changed it? There was something about the minor 3rd that the following pitch block really didn't like, it was a struggle to stop it being too glitchy.

I think I put the B root (down an octave) and the D in the other block I added and made the high B in your block in to an A as the 7th and reduced the volume of that a bit.

I'll upload my finished patch this afternoon, and confirm the above

simonk

That sounds really good chaps! I’d love to take a look at the finished patch if you don’t mind sharing.

John_A

Here's the finished (for now) preset

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AssMZbf-8nny-zQrWppQEI5peAZ_

Actually I think I prefer the original one from @Cirrus

hubobulous

That does sound excellent. I need to get to grips with that I think. Thanks

nickp

I am having a bit of spare time so I played with the helix - it came with some presets made by Greg DeLaune.  Only at lowish volumes in home.  going direct into the power amp section of my blackstar.  They sound interesting and are really good but seem to me to be over-processed.  I'm guessing that it's all a bit much for live use and are better for recording?

So for live use in a covers band i'm probably better starting from an amp model and just creating a basic preset (following Jason Sadite's videos to some extent) and going from there?  (that's a question not a statement)  

they do show how versatile the unit can be when you know what you are doing!

simonk

nickp said:

I am having a bit of spare time so I played with the helix - it came with some presets made by Greg DeLaune.  Only at lowish volumes in home.  going direct into the power amp section of my blackstar.  They sound interesting and are really good but seem to me to be over-processed.  I'm guessing that it's all a bit much for live use and are better for recording?

So for live use in a covers band i'm probably better starting from an amp model and just creating a basic preset (following Jason Sadite's videos to some extent) and going from there?  (that's a question not a statement)  

they do show how versatile the unit can be when you know what you are doing!

Building presets from the ground up whilst taking inspiration from knowledgeable guys like Jason S and Glen D is the way to go IMHO. I find most of the user contributions on CustomTone sound universally terrible (they probably aren’t... well, some are... they’re just not the sound in my head).

Cabicular

simonk said:

nickp said:

I am having a bit of spare time so I played with the helix - it came with some presets made by Greg DeLaune.  Only at lowish volumes in home.  going direct into the power amp section of my blackstar.  They sound interesting and are really good but seem to me to be over-processed.  I'm guessing that it's all a bit much for live use and are better for recording?

So for live use in a covers band i'm probably better starting from an amp model and just creating a basic preset (following Jason Sadite's videos to some extent) and going from there?  (that's a question not a statement)  

they do show how versatile the unit can be when you know what you are doing!

Building presets from the ground up whilst taking inspiration from knowledgeable guys like Jason S and Glen D is the way to go IMHO. I find most of the user contributions on CustomTone sound universally terrible (they probably aren’t... well, some are... they’re just not the sound in my head).

I put it (and the presets) down to being built on different speaker setups.
I wonder about people who jump straight in to something like a Helix
Most of us here (including yourself presumably) have a strong pedal/amp background so modelling our own favourite setup is a good start. But what if you didn’t have that... it must be really overwhelming