I have serious problems.
Basically, I was getting a bit "meh" about the delay and reverb options on the Helix. So I restarted my collection again.... one thing led to another and I got a Boss ES5, coz I figured I could replicate all of the Helix snapshot type functionality with it. And you pretty much can but it's not as user friendly and quick to use. Quick enough though for most people.
Then I wanted a delay that could mimic the Helix's Adriatic Delay, particularly when it's self oscillating. So I ended up bagging an Empress Echosystem. It can kinda do it. It gets better when you put an EQ in the insert loop and use it to carve out the lows and highs.
Then I saw
@BintyTwanger77 was selling his Strymons, so I grabbed them off him. And ultimately.... I've ended up roughly where I was 3, 4, 6, and 7 years ago... all at once!
I'm still using the Helix with the band. But I can't promise I wont be building a megaboard to use instead. I am just that guy - the guy who has 3 delays and 3 reverbs on his board, and only ever used one sound on each of them!
Comments
Unfortunately I keep looking at other delays as well particularly the new Red Panda one.
I've stoped selling pedals off.
I don't have many delay pedals though- just the Timefactor and a TC 4x4, and very few modulation options.
I've got a lot of different flavours of OD/Distortion.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
I share your pain mate. I am currently virtually pedal-free, and don’t even have an amp !! Kemper is king for me, but I might buy a Helix Floor this week (looks like a new one as there’s no in the Forum).
But the draw of pedals pedals is always there !
Its interesting that you are chasing Helix sounds friends m pedals and not the usual other way round...
It shows up the strength of the Helix delays especially for the stranger sounds...
But for me personally, no. The final revelation was that the individual pedals didn’t actually sound quite as good as the models, instead of the other way round - and that’s only with a Boss ME-50.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Fair play if it works for you but like @icbm the hassle of the damn things outweighs the pleasure for me. So whilst I rock a fairly sizable pedalboard at home - if I ever start playing guitar in a band again it'll be a helix or a mini board for me!
They're all quite different from one another. If I had to be honest, I'd say the Nemesis delay was the least used delay pedal, and the Boss RV-500 was the least used reverb.
Also one thing I notice when I'm using the Helix is that I'm actually much less likely to change the sounds I'm using in a sense - you get the whole "I must do it all in one patch so that I'm not constantly banking around" type of thing in your head. Or at least I do.
I did buy a Warwick Rockboard Quad 4.2, but right now I'm not sure what I am going to put on it. So at the moment they're all at home and I just grab whatever I want at any specific time.
I've been getting into Eurorack modular the last year or so and my favourite delay line generator is this:
Runs off CV gate but this can respond to midi foot control- with the Yarns module I can trigger pretty much any function via CC and do so spontaneously, something that I struggle to do with the floor based units, especially the Helix and FX8.
The trigger button can be usefully programmed to do different things, I mostly use it to randomly regenerate new values for specific functions, which means you end up getting unexpected- sometimes really cool, often really weird.
Having knobs and switched for important functions means it is very playable.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
The Big Sky is fairly head and shoulders above the RV500 for reverbs I think. The RV500 is very bread and butter, even on the "special" engines, and the 10second tail limit is just too limiting for some sounds.
I'm gonna do a video going over them all at some point.
@Octatonic - Eurorack isn't something I'm going near right now!
It is incredibly good fun but does tend to take over your life.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922