Best alternative to Big Sky?
- Thread starter zionstrat
- Start date
PFDarkside
of the Forum
Re: Best alternative to Big Sky?
H9 has an algorithm that will do Delay + Reverb + Modulation, but its a little limited. If you really want those crazy reverbs I’d just get a Blue Sky or Neunaber and the mod pedal of your choice. Otherwise you are looking at Boss style multi effects.
H9 has an algorithm that will do Delay + Reverb + Modulation, but its a little limited. If you really want those crazy reverbs I’d just get a Blue Sky or Neunaber and the mod pedal of your choice. Otherwise you are looking at Boss style multi effects.
Re: Best alternative to Big Sky?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk
Interesting regarding m9. Probably an inaccurate bias but I tend to group Line 6 in the budget category. Considering your style, I'm Guessing this one goes into high quality deap and diverse verbs?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk
PFDarkside
of the Forum
Re: Best alternative to Big Sky?
Line 6 reverbs are pretty good. I used a Verbzilla before I got a Blue Sky.
Line 6 reverbs are pretty good. I used a Verbzilla before I got a Blue Sky.
RorySquier
New member
Re: Best alternative to Big Sky?
Line 6 is a very good brand. I've got the POD and a battery powered Line 6 amplifier that sound simply great.
;>)/
Line 6 is a very good brand. I've got the POD and a battery powered Line 6 amplifier that sound simply great.
;>)/
Re: Best alternative to Big Sky?
Line 6's reverbs are really nice. They have a Particle Verb, as well as an Octoverb (and various pitch transposers) that can do that Big Sky thing. It may not be Eventide quality, but they are really really good. Nothing 'budget' about them.
Line 6's reverbs are really nice. They have a Particle Verb, as well as an Octoverb (and various pitch transposers) that can do that Big Sky thing. It may not be Eventide quality, but they are really really good. Nothing 'budget' about them.
Re: Best alternative to Big Sky?
If you want a multi-effects, I'd look at a Line 6 HX Effects, or even the Helix outright [or a Fractal Audio AX8 or FX8]. Helix series have a great collection of effects, with more coming periodically. Line 6 employees recently confirmed they hired a team of polyphonic pitch shifter experts... And they have a lot of other improvements in the works. Though it's already pretty strong, until then you may have to stack or run parallel delays/reverbs to get lusher sounds that don't overwhelm.
I'm impressed by how good the recently added legacy effects are. Legacy effects being the ones ported from older models to the Helix line. I've recently been going wild with fuzzes--Muff and Tone Bender are different beasts when you add treble/mid/bass controls. I prefer many of the legacy algorithms to the designed-for-Helix ones, not because they sound better at modelling the device they are based on, but because of the extra features (lower CPU/DSP use is also handy for being able to have a wide selection of effects in one patch, even if you only use a few at a time).
And then there's the new amps. I'd managed to avoid finding out just how fun the Friedman BE-100 is to play until Helix 2.50.
I have Helix Native, but no personal experience with the floorboard or rack version and how much floorboard space they'd take up. [Only thing Native is seriously missing, at least with my cheap audio IO, is selectable input impedance which is needed for perfect behavior with different pickups/effects/amps. IMO they ought to do a good computer interface that supports the floor controller from the rack version.]
If portability is a bigger issue, PFDarkside's advice about verb/delay plus mod pedals is close to what I keep running across on effects forums [heck, there are some people who use them with a Helix, though many are ditching them now that Helix has more options].
If you want a multi-effects, I'd look at a Line 6 HX Effects, or even the Helix outright [or a Fractal Audio AX8 or FX8]. Helix series have a great collection of effects, with more coming periodically. Line 6 employees recently confirmed they hired a team of polyphonic pitch shifter experts... And they have a lot of other improvements in the works. Though it's already pretty strong, until then you may have to stack or run parallel delays/reverbs to get lusher sounds that don't overwhelm.
I'm impressed by how good the recently added legacy effects are. Legacy effects being the ones ported from older models to the Helix line. I've recently been going wild with fuzzes--Muff and Tone Bender are different beasts when you add treble/mid/bass controls. I prefer many of the legacy algorithms to the designed-for-Helix ones, not because they sound better at modelling the device they are based on, but because of the extra features (lower CPU/DSP use is also handy for being able to have a wide selection of effects in one patch, even if you only use a few at a time).
And then there's the new amps. I'd managed to avoid finding out just how fun the Friedman BE-100 is to play until Helix 2.50.
I have Helix Native, but no personal experience with the floorboard or rack version and how much floorboard space they'd take up. [Only thing Native is seriously missing, at least with my cheap audio IO, is selectable input impedance which is needed for perfect behavior with different pickups/effects/amps. IMO they ought to do a good computer interface that supports the floor controller from the rack version.]
If portability is a bigger issue, PFDarkside's advice about verb/delay plus mod pedals is close to what I keep running across on effects forums [heck, there are some people who use them with a Helix, though many are ditching them now that Helix has more options].
Last edited:
Re: Best alternative to Big Sky?
If you have a computer and a decent audio interface, you can demo Helix Native for free. savihost is a really easy environment to run a single plugin, much easier to set up than most of the cheaper DAW software packages. [just copy the exe and rename it to match the plugin it should run]. May wind up being more of a test of your interface quality [particularly impedance for guitar] than of the software, though.
I wasn't a fan of any of Line 6's older amp modellers [though to be fair, I think the issue was speaker cab modelling more than anything else]. Helix is a very different beast for realism and audio quality. Being able to load 3rd party IRs [and multiple ones, at any stage you want] is ridiculously powerful, people use it to implement tone matching, instrument mimicry [particularly acoustic/pickup modelling], all kinds of fun.
Helix often doesn't have updated firmware [latest being 2.50] on store models, so may be missing nearly half the effects options and a good number of my favorite amps. Of course, if you only care about effects, the HX Effects is a lot cheaper, $600 IIRC. HX Effects only has the release firmware so far, but it doesn't have the amps and a lot of the IO of the higher end Helix line. But if all you care about is effects, it's cheap for the number of effects it has.
If you have a computer and a decent audio interface, you can demo Helix Native for free. savihost is a really easy environment to run a single plugin, much easier to set up than most of the cheaper DAW software packages. [just copy the exe and rename it to match the plugin it should run]. May wind up being more of a test of your interface quality [particularly impedance for guitar] than of the software, though.
I wasn't a fan of any of Line 6's older amp modellers [though to be fair, I think the issue was speaker cab modelling more than anything else]. Helix is a very different beast for realism and audio quality. Being able to load 3rd party IRs [and multiple ones, at any stage you want] is ridiculously powerful, people use it to implement tone matching, instrument mimicry [particularly acoustic/pickup modelling], all kinds of fun.
beaubrummels
Well-known member
Best alternative to Big Sky?
Zoom MS70CDR is worth a look for the money and profile size. I went with an MS50G simply because I needed amp sounds also, but it replaced my Strymons.
Zoom MS70CDR is worth a look for the money and profile size. I went with an MS50G simply because I needed amp sounds also, but it replaced my Strymons.
