Now that I've had my Helix for awhile.....

[Gone_Shootin]

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.

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.

 

[Hank-]

Re: Now that I've had my Helix for awhile.....

I wasn't aware the rack version helix was out. That screen UI concept is stellar, kinda like the digitech ipB10 but w/o an ipad.

What unit is the alesis, like backup pa?

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: Now that I've had my Helix for awhile.....

I wasn't aware the rack version helix was out. That screen UI concept is stellar, kinda like the digitech ipB10 but w/o an ipad.

What unit is the alesis, like backup pa?

That screen and the knobs below it are identical to the ones in the floor unit. I kinda wish it was a touchscreen, but its still easy to navigate with the controls on the front. I still have to fix my laptop, so I haven't used the computer interface, or updated the firmware yet. And I have yet to get the foot controller, but for now, I don't need it since I just don't have the time to play in a band and rarely get the chance to jam with anybody.

The Alesis is a poweramp I got in a trade, along with that rack and the Monster power conditioner. When I first got the Helix, I tried it through the Alesis and it sounded like crap. So I did a little googling and found out that that particular poweramp is pretty much universally hated by audiophiles because it makes everything sound really dry, bland and sterile. And I'd have to say that they're right. I'll probably keep it around for a backup since I wouldn't get much out of it.

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: Now that I've had my Helix for awhile.....

***UPDATE***

Doing some more noodling around through the Helix and the Peavey 50/50, and I made a discovery that I should've realized from the beginning, I was being too nice to the front end of the poweramp. I had the Helix's volume at half, then it dawned on me that I'm just missing some good old fashioned poweramp distortion. So I deduced that turning up the Helix's volume to hit the front end of the poweramp harder might do the trick. So I kept turning it up until I said screw it and cranked it.

It worked, and that little 10-15% of the feel that I thought was missing suddenly showed up. It sounds nothing short of awesome! It made the distortion presets growl and even improved the cleans too. So disregard what I said earlier about the feel, it's there now! :burnout:

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Now that I've had my Helix for awhile.....

***UPDATE***

Doing some more noodling around through the Helix and the Peavey 50/50, and I made a discovery that I should've realized from the beginning, I was being too nice to the front end of the poweramp. I had the Helix's volume at half, then it dawned on me that I'm just missing some good old fashioned poweramp distortion. So I deduced that turning up the Helix's volume to hit the front end of the poweramp harder might do the trick. So I kept turning it up until I said screw it and cranked it.

It worked, and that little 10-15% of the feel that I thought was missing suddenly showed up. It sounds nothing short of awesome! It made the distortion presets growl and even improved the cleans too. So disregard what I said earlier about the feel, it's there now! :burnout:

I find that a cab makes a huge difference. Playing mine through my QSC GX3 and Blackstar 2x12 gives me a ton of the vibe and feel I was looking for.

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: Now that I've had my Helix for awhile.....

I find that a cab makes a huge difference. Playing mine through my QSC GX3 and Blackstar 2x12 gives me a tone of the vibe and feel I was looking for.

In my case I tried it through the three same cabs, but with different poweramps and different settings. The three cabs are my Marshall 1960a with the typical Celestion G12T-75 speakers, my Splawn straight 4x12 loaded with Eminence Governor and Man O' War speakers, and my Avatar Vintage 4x12 loaded with Eminence Swamp Thang and Texas Heat speakers. They have all performed in their own typical ways, as they do with my tube amps. The problem for me has been the poweramp.

When I tried the Helix through my Alesis poweramp, it sounded like garbage (Google up what audiophiles think of Alesis poweramps and you'll find out why). When I got the Peavey 50/50, it was a huge improvement, but wasn't quite there. But today when I started messing around with the Helix's volume, that was the missing link with the Peavey. I'm very happy with this setup.

And I did try getting some poweramp distortion out of the models themselves, but I couldnt get it to sound right. Even on the Plexi and 800 models, which are known for their poweramp distortion, the modeled poweramp distortion didn't sound right to my ears.

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Now that I've had my Helix for awhile.....

In my case I tried it through the three same cabs, but with different poweramps and different settings. The three cabs are my Marshall 1960a with the typical Celestion G12T-75 speakers, my Splawn straight 4x12 loaded with Eminence Governor and Man O' War speakers, and my Avatar Vintage 4x12 loaded with Eminence Swamp Thang and Texas Heat speakers. They have all performed in their own typical ways, as they do with my tube amps. The problem for me has been the poweramp.

When I tried the Helix through my Alesis poweramp, it sounded like garbage (Google up what audiophiles think of Alesis poweramps and you'll find out why). When I got the Peavey 50/50, it was a huge improvement, but wasn't quite there. But today when I started messing around with the Helix's volume, that was the missing link with the Peavey. I'm very happy with this setup.

And I did try getting some poweramp distortion out of the models themselves, but I couldnt get it to sound right. Even on the Plexi and 800 models, which are known for their poweramp distortion, the modeled poweramp distortion didn't sound right to my ears.

I get where you're coming from completely. I'm considering getting a more guitar oriented power amp like a Mesa or the Engl one. I think Carvin makes one as well that might be worth looking into.

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: Now that I've had my Helix for awhile.....

I get where you're coming from completely. I'm considering getting a more guitar oriented power amp like a Mesa or the Engl one. I think Carvin makes one as well that might be worth looking into.

I can't remember if you live here in the states or not, but here those Peavey Classic Series 50/50 poweramps seem to be in the $300 neighborhood on eBay. I lucked out on the price of mine, but even at $300, they're alot of bang for the buck. I also think the fact that there are 4 EL84s per side contributes to the grunt I'm getting out of it. And like I said earlier, the poweramp distortion on the Helix models didn't sound right to my ears, this poweramp makes up for that shortfall for me.

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Now that I've had my Helix for awhile.....

I can't remember if you live here in the states or not, but here those Peavey Classic Series 50/50 poweramps seem to be in the $300 neighborhood on eBay. I lucked out on the price of mine, but even at $300, they're alot of bang for the buck. I also think the fact that there are 4 EL84s per side contributes to the grunt I'm getting out of it. And like I said earlier, the poweramp distortion on the Helix models didn't sound right to my ears, this poweramp makes up for that shortfall for me.

Yeah I'm in the states. I know Carvin makes a very nice one for like $600 or 700. This upgrade won't be happening for a while, but I do like to keep updates in mind.

 

[devastone]

Re: Now that I've had my Helix for awhile.....

If you want to go budget, try one of the old MosValve power amps, they are FET based and sound great. EVH used to use HH power amps back in the day when he was pretty much just using his old Marshall as a preamp.

Those Alesis amps have zero character, before I had powered near field studio monitors I tried a few different power amps and for running monitors I thought that would be a good thing, but it made them kinda hard to listen to. I ended up using a QSC amp and it sounded noticeably better. Running a guitar rig through it would be pretty dry and dusty, and not in a good way.

The point of my rambling is that the Peavey tube amp was a huge step up tone wise, but there are solid state amps out there that would have made a huge difference over that amp too.

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: Now that I've had my Helix for awhile.....

If you want to go budget, try one of the old MosValve power amps, they are FET based and sound great. EVH used to use HH power amps back in the day when he was pretty much just using his old Marshall as a preamp.

Those Alesis amps have zero character, before I had powered near field studio monitors I tried a few different power amps and for running monitors I thought that would be a good thing, but it made them kinda hard to listen to. I ended up using a QSC amp and it sounded noticeably better. Running a guitar rig through it would be pretty dry and dusty, and not in a good way.

The point of my rambling is that the Peavey tube amp was a huge step up tone wise, but there are solid state amps out there that would have made a huge difference over that amp too.

Oh no doubt that there are some good solid state amps out there for this application. I was seriously looking at Matrix and had considered a budget Crown amp, but I don't think I'd get that tube grunt out of them that I'm getting with the Peavey.

 

[Hank-]

Re: Now that I've had my Helix for awhile.....

I thought the big screen display was touchscreen type :chairshot

Atleast its colourful & not boring, dated, calculator like

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Now that I've had my Helix for awhile.....

I thought the big screen display was touchscreen type :chairshot

Atleast its colourful & not boring, dated, calculator like

It's a beautiful display. If/when Fractal releases an Axe-FX III, I really hope that they add a color display. It's a small and mostly purposeless change but I think if you're spending $2000+ on a modeling preamp, you deserve more than a repurposed TI-82.

 

[Stratman]

Re: Now that I've had my Helix for awhile.....

Purchase some GlennDeLaune Helix programs You will be happy!

I play my Helix into a Mesa Boogie 2:90 power amp with two Mesa Boogie ported 1X12 cabinets (With EV's)

Power house setup... But too much expansive gear to be taking to clubs because the Helix is a quick pick-itup and run the of pedal.