It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
I’ve got an Axe FX 2 and the Helix Native plug-in, when it comes to speakers vs headphones there’s no appreciable difference in their respective performances with each delivery medium, if that sentence makes sense.
I’m guessing some of the headphone issues are due to using lower impedance consumer types. The Helix works best with higher impedance studio headphones. Furthermore like a real amp things sound better with a little distance from the sound source. Adding a bit of room reverb I find can improve headphone sounds.
Also with the helix rolling off higher frequencies, say above 6khz makes things sound better, certainly if you just plug in consumer headphones and none if the above it wont sound amazing. A bit of tweaking it can.
I found the dedicated output very agressive and harsh. It hated my headphoes but others say it's fine. Might be better has FW goes on.
Good luck!
I guess my first step is trying the Helix native demo with some external IR's and seeing how I get on with that.
3rd Party IRs are good if you are looking for a specific sound but there is a lot to be said about the flexibility of the onboard cabs
changing mics can make a massive difference
use the hands free floor control to change the parameters while you play
If IRs work for you then of course that's cool too but it's not the only way with helix.
And I find I have to use a condenser or a ribbon microphone (or both) or it sounds a bit dull and lifeless.
I find cab models and Ir's a bit flat. I like to split the path post amp, add in two cab/speaker types that go well together, use two different mike types and then merge the path before hitting post fx. At that point I sum to mono. I think this gives you a greater range of frequency response. You can then add an eq block to tailor further (I don't). Another trick with this is that on 1 cab, set the mic distance to around a foot. Then add in room reverb, quite low mix on that cab before the path merge.
My ears prefer the above vs having a single cab or using a dual cab block. I also prefer it to blending two IRs. You just have more control and more options. I had to play around with the cab / speaker types a bit, but I always got better results with that method.
I didn't like IRs. I felt like it was jumping from one preset to another and I was constantly looking for something in-between. Your ears may vary
Its easy enough to use either IRs or the cab block, but the stock cabs don’t cover the sounds I want and the IRs I have sound the way I’d expect from having owned the same or similar cabs and mics.
I only use cab sims for recording. I’ve not mic’d a cab in a long time now, IRs sound so close to the real thing that the tech isn’t the weak link in getting a guitar sound, and the other benefits massively outweigh micing a cab for me.
Cab block, IRs, either is a much more practical solution for direct guitar tones for most people these days.
Having seen Pete Thorns demos of the Celestion IRs I'm pretty sure I'll never mic up an amp at home again, I can't tell the difference.
Edit - got helix native running. Only had a quick play but it's better than any modeling software I've tried so far! Not had a chance to give it a proper run but first impressions are good through my monitors.