I have been eyeing the Helix ever since it came out, but have been on the fence because I didn't want to cough up that much money. Well, Zzounds and their 12 payment plan finally pushed me over the edge and I ordered a Helix Rack.

I've only had the chance to play it a few times, so I've only scratched the surface. But here are my initial impressions.

First off, I think the Achilles heel is the Line6 IRs. They aren't the best, IMHO...far from the worst, but they could be better. So I'll definitely be getting some Ownhammer IRs in the near future. But for now, the factory IRs are usable.

Overall, though, I think this is a great unit. It seems to have that tactile feel that tube amps have. It especially sounded great running through the power section of my Splawn when I decided to try it through my 4x12s. I also discovered how crappy that cheap Alesis poweramp I got in a trade with some other stuff really is, but that's another subject. But back to the Helix. Going through the factory presets, there is some real off the wall stuff a guy can do with it. There are synth and pitch effects, which I didn't expect to like, but I do. And the Tri-Chorus on it is flat out awesome. Actually, all of the effects are great. And the tweakablity of the effects rivals my long gone DigiTech RP20 that I loved so much because it was so tweakable. The Helix seems to be very flexible in this regard.

I haven't gotten into building up a preset yet, which has a myriad of options. I'll be sure to post more after I've had the chance to really delve into the Helix. But so far, so good.

I want one but can't seem to justify the cost even though I have more than that in my pedal board..
I have checked out all the vids and it is really amazing what it can do...keep the thread up to date as you gain more experience with it I would like to hear you thoughts on it.


 

Will do. Updates will take time, though, since my job keeps me pretty busy and I don't have much time at home.

Oh free financing, the bane of musicians everywhere.

I've been watching so many videos about it.  I'm wondering how well it works just doing effects with the 4CM.  The live editing ability of that vs the AxeFX is what interests me.  Please keep us updated.

I like the ability to run vocals through it and have separate effects control over all the inputs. Other than my Boss ME70 I have been very

 
disappointed with all the combo effects units I have used in the past. The Helix is very interesting to me but at the price point and past experience

I will wait for some real world feedback here.

I don't know about live editing, but if you make a quick change, all you have to do is hit the save button twice. Plus there's a global EQ, which would allow you to adjust the whole rig for the sound envenviromnt. The effects are superb and I have no doubt that it would work well as an effects only unit. And much like the TC Electronic G System and Axe FX II, you effectively put your amp's preamp in a loop in a 4CM setup, which would allow you to bypass or to insert that loop anywhere in the signal chain in any given patch. Also, every amp model also has a preamp only model as well, which allows out to insert any of them in the signal chain in place of your amp's preamp.

So anyway. I had some time while I was getting loaded this afternoon, so I hooked the headphone out to the front and input of my truck's head unit. This made the Helix sound much better than it did through headphones, so much better that it made me reconsider my first observation about the factory IRs. But I'm still intent on going with Ownhammer later on. This also made me really hear why so many guys just go with full range monitors and call it good. The only exception being when you want to hear a guitar cab in person and not through a microphone and mic preamp, which is exactly what an IR is: a guitar cab as heard through a microphone and a mic preamp.

I've also been thinking more about possible poweramp alternatives to my Alesis. I remembered that those '90s Marshall Valvestate poweramps come up on the used market once in awhile, and I remembered those little Electro Harmonix 44 Magnum poweramps. I don't know if they'd color the sound too much to the point that I couldn't use full models or not. For this reason, I'm leaning more towards the EHX 44 Mag, because if it didn't work out, I could always use it for the preamp pedals I have, throw 'em on all a pedal board, and have a handy jam session rig that would fit in a bag.

Yes, I have too much crap and think too much.

http://www.mesaboogie.com/amplifiers/electric/all-tube-stereo-power-amps/stereo-simul-class-2ninety/index.html
or
https://peavey.com/products/index.cfm/item/667/118436

We need a smiley with earmuffs on.

If go with a tube poweramp, I'll just build one, and if I go solid state, it'll probably be a Matrix.

Remember how I said I actually liked the synth effects? I did some messing around with the dual pitch shift effect, set one to a 5th up and the other to an octave up and set the mix to 50%. I also put a compressor in front of the effect (a little trick that helps pitch effects track better), and it's going into the 5150 model. It sounds awesome!!! I think I played the main riff from Smoke on the Water for over a half hour with a big grin on my face. It tracked notes wonderfully when I singulated them (no pitch effect will sound good if you ham fist notes), and even worked well with power chords.

Needless to say I named the patch, John Lord.

I have not played smoke on the water since back in the 80's..even then by the time it came up I was half smashed. I don't think I even remember how to play it.

 

It took me a couple minutes to get it right, because I hadn't played it in I don't know how long either.

That guy rocked it. I'd love to be able to play like him.

No doubt. He really made organs rock.

By the way, what guitar did you decide on for your studio?

Well you have had almost two months with it now...what's the verdict on this rather expensive floor stomper. I have got to hear two different players using them live and I must say I didn't care for their sound but that could just be personal taste in the way they set things up.

Also curious.

And... buy a Kemper too.  I want a range report on that thing.

These new gadgets almost tempt me to sell my Mark V for a modeler, especially since it's developing some weird "squiggly" high pitched noise in the clean channel. Probably just a bad preamp tube. The coworker that sold me on the MkV just went to a Fractal AX8 and raves about it.

I remember being in looooove with my old (still tube-based) stereo rack setup tones. One side detuned up just a few cents, the other side down just a few with a whiff of delay to simulate overdubs, and it sounded huge. Then I plug into my current tube amp and succumb to that flavor of sonic bliss. "Self," I say, "maybe you should rewire your 2x12 cab to stereo and go wet-dry-wet or put the dry 2x12 on top of your 4x12 in stereo, or recruit the 5150 212 as a slave for stereo, or..."

That's just a really long-winded way of saying "tag for updates."

I really haven't had the time to do it justice. When you're out on the road for 2 or 3 weeks as a time, shit to get done at home piles up and eats up your time off. For instance, the brakes went out on my Bronco about 6 weeks ago, and I still haven't had time to fix it.

And when I'm on the road, I'm so burnt out at the end of the day, all I care about is getting some sleep.

I'll get to more details about my Helix, it's just gonna take some time.

Ok.

Had some down time this morning, so I made a point of getting a little playing time in. At this point, I'm still in love with the effects (especially the modulation effects), except for the reverbs. While they are good, I feel that the reverbs in my G-System are better, but TC Electronic is known for excellent reverb effects.

The dirt box models also sound quite good, and I would say that their OCD V4 model is on par with the OCD V4 pedal that I own.

I also still feel that the Line6 IR/cab models aren't that great. And since I do most of my playing through the head unit in my truck, I rely on those IRs. I still have yet to have the time to fix my laptop so that I can get the Ownhammer IRs I have my heart set on, so I have yet to hear that difference in person. I'm still liking the amp models, but I think the IRs are choking their potential. When I'm home next, I'll try to get some more playing time running the preamp only models through the power section of one or more of my tube amps, but I'm not making any promises since my home time is usually at a premium.

Thanks for the update.

Just browsing on eBay, G systems have really taken a nosedive on the used market. If you decide to mothball your G system and flog it at a stupid low "ARFcom special" price, shoot me an IM.

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I'm not ready to let go of it just yet. It's effects are good enough that it's very much worth holding onto, plus I can use it with my Fender Supersonic 60 head and the preamp pedals I have to make a fairly versatile rig.

And as far as any progress with the Helix, I didn't get to spend much time playing at all when I was home earlier this week. Had some windows put in, so I had to hang around for that, and just getting shit ready for winter in general took up most of my time. And I ended up not taking any guitars in the truck this time out, I just wasn't in the mood to bring anything.

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.







 

I had one of those power amps for my stereo rack setup. It is a great piece of gear. For $150, my wallet would come out of the pocket fast enough to leave a vapor trail.



I ran thru a Samson wireless or cable into a Peavey Tube Fex switched by their bombproof pedalboard, into the 50/50, into a stereo 1960A. The only reason I ditched the Fex was channel switching noise, as the sound of the high voltage 12ax7s was really nice. It was one of the iterations that had glitchy stepper motors.

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Yeah, $150 was a deal. I didn't look at any ending prices on eBay, but the buy it now prices were all around $300 - $350. I lucked out on this one.

And the previous owner had this with a Tube-Fex as well. He said it was his setup for years, but recently decided to move on to other gear.


 

 
You scored a great deal on it.

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 pulled the trigger on the new Spider V 120 and floor controller before Sweetwaters 36 month 0% financing ended. I am hoping it will be able to fulfill my modest needs for a do it all electric acoustic rig. I don't play a lot of electric guitar anymore. I have three tube amps at the house that just sit covered up in my studio along with a dedicated acoustic amp that just doesn't have the wattage to keep up on stage.

Congrats, let us know how it works for you. I was in GC the other day and some kids were playing through a couple of those, and they did sound pretty good.

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!

I think Peavey equipment is made to be abused.  

True.

But this poweramp, for whatever reason, doesn't sound as good when it's volumes are cranked as it does when the volumes are in the 10-2 o'clock area. The tone just falls apart, for whatever reason. But yeah, it does like to have the front end pushed. The Helix's volume at anywhere from about 2 o'clock onward produced these results.