dave_bass5

Thanks, and this is my question. Is the GK head different to other heads? Are send/return chains normally like this? According to the manual the Return impedance is 50k. Obviously i can check specs if i buy another head, but was wondering if this is the norm.

Thanks but my question isnt really about the Helix, its about why the drop in power and is it normal. if i was using normal floor effects the result would be the same. Im wondering if i needed to have Gain 2 level up (its always kept low). Im not good at reading diagrams but the one in the GK manual looks to me like the signal comes in before level 2.

Last night i had a rehearsal with the above amp and my new F112 cab. I was running my Helix Stomp in to the return of the amp. Tone wise it was a bit lacking but volume wise it was very quiet. I had the master very high and was still struggling to keep up with the drummer. I ended up plugging in to the front input and had the full volume back. Lowered the master from 1 'o clock to around 9, and the same setting no the input. Please ignore the settings here, im just explaining how the volume jumped and not questioning where the knobs were set. My question is, is this a GK thing or should i expect this with any amp? What am i missing here? It seemed to me the power stage needs a lot of power to drive it. EQ was all at 12 (im not saying neutral). I know GK suggest turning the master right up and adjusting the volume with the input stage, but it just seemed strange that i was hardly getting any power out of it. Helix was set to instrument out and the volume level was pretty much what ive been getting when not using it

I do agree with all this. My comment about the tone was really more about the character of the tone, rather than the end result sounding the same if that makes more sense. I like that the SH is not based on an Ampeg tone, which I’m personally getting bored with hearing in my preamps Should add, my BDDIv2 is my all time fav pedal and it’s not going anywhere, it’s just that at the moment I’m bored with it.

Yep, totally agree, but I do find the SH tone much nicer than the Geddy pedal demo.

What I mean is the artist has already got the tone, therefore they get the tone using existing equipment rather than the new box.

This is the thing with these boxes. Obviously the artist doesn’t use one, the tone, although maybe close to the finished tone the artist already has, can obviously be achieved using other means, quite often off the shelf items. Saying that, I can see the attraction of having something like this for recoding at home etc.

Totally agree. It’s Just not,worth that sort of money. I did notice over on TB someone posted a pre order link on Sweetwater for $299. Maybe the original figure is a mistake.

Ive got a few Zoom pedals (B3n, B1-on, B1 Four) and yes, the Helix stuff is step up. They seem to have more depth and life compared to the Zoom stuff. Just wanted to point out that with the Stomp and a cheap 3rd part duel foot switch (about £11 on amazon) you actually have 5 foot switches available, and these can be used to turn on and off 5 effects'. Still not a match for the HX Effects, but might be worth thinking about it if you want to save some money and space.

This is exactly what ill be doing, although i may well end up taking the Preamp out of the Helix presets and just using it as a multi stomp box. I still need to figure out how easy it will be to adjust EQ on the Stomp over doing it using the amps knobs.

Also adjusting the microphone section of the cabs seems to make a nice difference. Although i have no idea what each mic is supposed to sound like, i can definitly hear a difference when going through them

Cheers. ive seem those IR's mentioned quite a lot, along with the Ownhammer ones. Still cant quite get my head around if its worth paying for them, as im only using one IR at home. My backline will also supply the out front sound at my gigs, as they are only small clubs and pubs, so ill need to see how well my new F112 cab works with and without an IR.

Think that’s the one. It comes up when I scroll though a lot of Ampeg ones. Seems cleaner and less muddy.

I get what you are saying. Ive found some of the cabs to be too much when using headphones. The free IR’s I’ve used are even more so unless tamed. For home use, learning songs etc with headphones on I now use the BDDI sim with a Fender bassman IR. seems to get the right balance of tone, punch and clarity.

well if you saw my post a couple of days ago, i was asking the same thing 😉 Saying that, i guess Google will bring up some suggestions (i genuinely dont have any links)

Yes.

Theres no doubting a PA sounds better with proper subs, but that doesn't mean a band cant sound good without them IME. Logistics also come in to play as adding two subs can make a big difference if space is at a premium in the cars, and ive never had anyone comment about lack of low end on the dance floor.

Id like to have seen Bruce Foxton on that list, but i appreciate they cant list them all.

I thought the Q/strip was too expensive at over £300, and that's basically just an EQ pedal in a standard Tech21 Sansamp box.

My current band don't, and we dont feel the need. our PA 1x15 speakers have a nice low end kick, which helps the bass drum punch through the backline and over the heads of the crowd, but we dont mic anything else other than that and the vocals. I think we would have a better quality of sound/mix if we did use them, but the added expense/weight and space needed are outweighed by the fact that we dont 'need' them as such. My old band used to use just one of those Peavey powered Subs, but again, space constrictions meant it got left at home or often than not. We used it for functions but not the social clubs.

Crazy price, thats the cost of a head. Maybe the street price will be lower.

I love From the Jam. Good to see they are still flying the flag, while Weller gets more and more boring and MOR.

If the foot switches were too close it would be difficult to use in a live setting if you have large feet. At least, that's my experience.

Excluding the Bite, speaker sim and different EQ, its similar to how my COG 66 works, which i really like for its switchable Gain/level stages, but using just one EQ path. Do we know RRP yet?