fretmeister

the rehearsal studio PA system, whatever it is. I did have a Yamaha DXR10 for a while as a personal monitor and that was very good for guitar and bass but tech has moved on and I’m sure there are more modern units. A few guitarists I know really like the Red Sound powered units but they are guitar only. Not tried one myself yet. I’m in the process of exploring forming a new rock band with some friends and I’m thinking of helix with a power amp into a Barefaced cab. The 12inch cabs are suggested by Barefaced to be a great choice for modelling units as they are very flat response. I have a Super Twin but I’ve never actually tried it with the helix yet! Haven’t needed to. But for the rock band - probably going to be a power trio - I might want a physical cab for feedback options instead of IEM. But we haven’t decided what to do about PA yet. Buy or hire as needed etc. Or just try for support gigs for a while to use the headliner’s PA to see if the band actually lasts!

The golden age of amps was also the most random. 2 same model amps built next to each other sounded different. Component tolerances were nowhere near as good as they are now. For all the latest modellers there is a Plexi, or an SVT, or a B15, or a Twin that sounds identical to the ones in the modeller (when mic'd up) because that's what was used as the reference amp. The reason why a Helix Plexi sounds different to a Fractal or Kemper Plexi isn't because 2 of them have got it wrong - it's because their reference amps sounded different in the first place. This is also why those who get the best results out of a modeller throw away consideration of a model based on what inspired it. Just because the real Dual Rec I had was amazing doesn't mean that the Helix model of a Dual Rec sounds the same and I might get a better result with a different model, and as it happens I do. Ignore the model names and trust the ears.

Definitely a matter of taste and they do need learning more than an old fashioned rig. I don't think a warning is needed against something that isn't claimed. It's clearly not an amplifier. If anything most people think of the modellers as a multi-fx and that is wrong too. And it will sound like an amp and cab that is mic'd up. With many bands moving to In Ear Monitors the people on stage are only hearing a mic'd up sound anyway. I don't think it is any more difficult than using other kit that was designed this century. PC plug-ins / DAW / Tablet controlled PA systems etc. But it still needs a bit of time I swapped to Helix very soon after launch - so about 6 years ago. I use it for almost everything live guitar and bass, sometimes live vocals. The only gig I don't use it for is my jazz big band because we don't have a PA at all. 20+ trumpets, trombones, saxophones, clarinets, etc etc + drums and an electric piano is very loud without needing a PA. I take a head and cab for that. But everything else is helix - it's also my recording interface and my day-to-day sound card. I don't even own a guitar amp anymore and in the past I was the guy that always bought a JCM800 or a Mesa Dual Rec even for a 50 person Tuesday night gig! I think it's amazing but that doesn't mean it's the right thing for everyone. The main bits of advice I can give for people struggling with it are: 1: Design your sounds at full gig volume. The stuff that sounds great in the house will sound like crap at gig volume mixed with other instruments. Have a rehearsal specifically for getting that right. 2: The HPF and LPF controls are often where the magic is found. They remove the flub and the fizz. 3: Professional FOH engineers who work in a lot in a location will keep records, or if the kit is modern enough, save their basic settings for a specific venue as a starting point. All the new generation modellers have more than enough memory slots to save venue specific patches. When you take a Marshall from the 250 person pub gig into a 1000 person hall you don't use the same settings so you can't expect that from any modeller either. But unlike the Marshall, if you play at that venue a lot, you can save a template for that venue to make soundcheck far easier next time. I love standing in front of a big amp with a big cab. It's a great feeling. But some amazing cabs that retail at £1000 or more can be bought for peanuts on ebay because the world has moved on. Everything goes in the PA, IEM keep the stage volume down, and the FOH guy can make a far better mix when he hasn't got to deal with mic spill and unwanted feedback. It might not be as rock n roll as it used to be, but the audience get a far better sound than ever before. Our hearing might last a bit longer too.

Not a new one!

ported- more boomy bang sealed - less boom more gronky grindy squidge

Can you stretch to a Barefaced 6x10? Even on their website it says "get the 6x10 instead of the 8x10" There's been a couple come up on here over the last year. Never seen a BF 8x10 on here though. Sealed cabs do sound quite different to ported ones. Ampeg sound is a lot to do with the sealed cab. Not sure you'd be happy with a ported one.

Honestly - when you have that flexibility (I have 4 external loops on my helix and can place them anywhere) you can try it all. A physical rig might limit you to putting a pedal between the preamp and the poweramp / cab, but you can try it after the cab if you want. Depending on what the multi is, you can even build it all backwards. Bass into cab, into FX, then into the amp dead last. There's some amazingly fun / utterly useless sounds to be found this way!

Sorry - we don't have them. Closest we have is a grade 2-3 arrangement of "On broadway."

A lot of the misunderstanding about modellers is shown by the last post ^. Modellers do not claim to be the same as an amp in the room. Only an actual amp can do that so far. Modellers generate the sound of that amp after it has been mic'd up. That is a massive difference. A raging JCM800 in a room sounds like a bomb going off. A raging JCM800 with a couple of mic's in front of it and then into the PA (or into a recording setup) still sounds great, but doesn't have that visceral feel that you get when standing in front of the speakers. Modellers are designed to get the best recording sound or the best Front of House live sound. They are not designed to give the "amp in the room" thing because that's just about impossible at the moment because of the nature of cab sims and IRs. Cabs / IRs are made by using microphones and thus whatever sound you get it has been through a mic set up. That is where the difference is. You can get more of an amp in the room feel if you are willing to do it halfway. Modeller, into a valve power amp, then into a traditional speaker cab for your on-stage tones, and then use other outputs with an IR / Cab sim to the desk. You won't be able to change the cab on your stage sound but you will for the FOH sound, DSP permitting. The on stage rig is your monitor and you can have that gutterall feel, and the crowd still get the best mix due to the more controlled modeller / IR signal path. Loads of pros do it this way - even Metallica who do direct to the PA all the time now with the Fractal units still have a power amp and a couple of 4x12 cabs on stage for personal monitors and for feedback generation. IRs and cab sims are not single items. They are a multi parameter signal chain of their own. Say (1) V30 into (2) Royer 121 mic set (3) 1 inch from the cone but (4) at a 45 degree angle aimed at (5) the edge of the dust cap. Until there is a physical speaker that can change characteristics to move from an old Jensen to a V30, to an EV etc the best that can be done is a simulation of the cab with a load of different mics and mic placements. Even if this fantasy speaker could ever be built you still wouldn't want the same microphones (for the FOH desk) for all the possible settings, just like you might like a SM57 on a V30, you might want a 121 on a Jensen.

You got lucky with something then.

Swap the tuners for Hipshot Ultralites and depending on the tuners you currently have you could save another half pound / 0.226kg.

I don't recall those 3 being in our big box of music but I'll have a look tomorrow at rehearsal on the off chance.

I thought the mudbucker sounded excellent!

same as all modellers and multi fx. Most of the presets are there to demo the capability of the system rather than be useable.

Currently at the final prototype stage apparently. Could be a fun pedal.

Stop picking on me, damnit!

Could just get something like this: And work through it. Loads of styles and you'll get a great education as well as having a pretty good repertoire for a covers band. Don't feel you have to only listen to stuff you want to play though. Get ideas from everywhere. If you go beyond tab and learn some basic notation reading you'll open up your world massively. Piano scores, trombone parts etc etc. Notation has the benefit of being a lot more accurate than most of the tabs on the internet, and it provides time information as well as just pitch.

It's too low causing the string to buzz against the next fret. Either 16-20 will need filing down a bit or 16 needs replacing with a very slightly taller one.

Lovely looking thing. Too heavy for me, alas.

A friend has one of their guitars and it's really nice - and that's for a near to the bottom of the range price wise.

The core helix tone is actually accurate - it's just that lots of amps properly modelled are harsh in themselves. A raging Plexi is horribly harsh with new speakers. With old speakers and 20 metres of curly cable (lots of capacitance and high end roll off) they sound great. I think a lot of cab sims and IRs are based on new speakers that haven't had time to calm down. Getting the tone right is definitely about the HPF and LPF settings. Picking any amp and cab at random can be made to sound excellent by just experimenting with those filters. When people complain about it sounding "digital" what they are actually complaining about is accuracy in the model that we don't find appealing and that we are not used to. The fizz is there on real amps and L6 decided to do them accurately. Other modellers went for a glossed over approach. Sometimes the HPF and LPF settings that work might seem to be excessive but controls are there to be used, and once it sounds good it doesn't matter how the result was reached.

Money / budget / storage space / insurance / spousal pressure. Lots of reasons.

The Dunlop flats are amazing - but they've doubled in price in the last year. I always used to use them, but I'm not dropping £95 on a 5 string set of bass strings.