Tweet
Now that I've had my Helix for awhile, I've come to some conclusions, and have added a piece of gear that I think is vital to making it sound better. Here's a couple posts from an ongoing thread about it I have on another forum:
10/17/2016
Been home since Saturday and went ahead and picked up a Peavey Classic 50/50 poweramp off of Craigslist. I know I said that I would build a tube poweramp if I decided to go that route. But when I saw this posted, I did a little research and some guys in an Axe FX II thread raved about these little poweramps. According to them it's a fairly linear sounding amp, so it allows you to run the full amp models (minus the speaker IRs, of course), but still adds that tube warmth that even the best modelers need. And since it was only $150, it was kind of a no-brainer.
So today I had a chance to try it out, and they're right! I ran the full models and they sounded good. I only had time to run it for a few minutes, so I haven't been able to really dial things in, but so far it's really promising.
Been home since Saturday and went ahead and picked up a Peavey Classic 50/50 poweramp off of Craigslist. I know I said that I would build a tube poweramp if I decided to go that route. But when I saw this posted, I did a little research and some guys in an Axe FX II thread raved about these little poweramps. According to them it's a fairly linear sounding amp, so it allows you to run the full amp models (minus the speaker IRs, of course), but still adds that tube warmth that even the best modelers need. And since it was only $150, it was kind of a no-brainer.
So today I had a chance to try it out, and they're right! I ran the full models and they sounded good. I only had time to run it for a few minutes, so I haven't been able to really dial things in, but so far it's really promising.
10/28/2016
I'm home for a couple days, so this morning I took the time to save a few of my presets to another "setlist" file. That way I can have the same general presets with one setlist having the cabinet IRs and the other without for use with the Peavey poweramp. Once I got that done and deleted the cabs from the signal chains, I started tweaking things. It went well, although I don't quite have things dialed in quite yet. Also, once you have the noise gate dialed in, it's excellent. And the effects are superb, as usual.
This poweramp was definitely a good way to go. Through it, the Helix gets some of that liveliness that it does seem to be missing. I won't go so far to say that it nails the feel of the amp models perfectly. The overall tone is there, but the "feel" isn't quite there.....but I'd say it's about 85-90% there, especially with the tube poweramp.
So I've concluded that the Helix will work well for getting ideas recorded quickly without having to fuss with mics (one of the main reasons I bought it), and will sound good enough for gigging and band practice now that I have the poweramp thing figured out. But to scratch that real tube amp itch and for recording something that I would want to put out, only a real tube amp will fit that need.
I'm home for a couple days, so this morning I took the time to save a few of my presets to another "setlist" file. That way I can have the same general presets with one setlist having the cabinet IRs and the other without for use with the Peavey poweramp. Once I got that done and deleted the cabs from the signal chains, I started tweaking things. It went well, although I don't quite have things dialed in quite yet. Also, once you have the noise gate dialed in, it's excellent. And the effects are superb, as usual.
This poweramp was definitely a good way to go. Through it, the Helix gets some of that liveliness that it does seem to be missing. I won't go so far to say that it nails the feel of the amp models perfectly. The overall tone is there, but the "feel" isn't quite there.....but I'd say it's about 85-90% there, especially with the tube poweramp.
So I've concluded that the Helix will work well for getting ideas recorded quickly without having to fuss with mics (one of the main reasons I bought it), and will sound good enough for gigging and band practice now that I have the poweramp thing figured out. But to scratch that real tube amp itch and for recording something that I would want to put out, only a real tube amp will fit that need.
Comment