WinterMute

7 hours ago, BigRedX said:

TBH the "accuracy" of the models and the fact that I can add Impulse Responses of my own are, for me, the least interesting aspects of the Helix.

 

For a start I'm not sufficiently familiar with any of the devices being modelled to be able to say how close they are. All I'm interested in is whether they can make a sound that I like, in which case they'll have a place in my patch. The way I see it is the Helix has several different examples of each type of effect that I am interested in, and at least one of them will produce a suitable sound.

 

Also I hardly use any of the amp or cab sims. Most of the time I think they make my basses sound worse. I have one amp sim that I use on a few bass patches because it has a useful drive sound that can't be replicated by any of the distortion pedals, and for some of my Bass VI patches I use the Roland Jazz Chorus Combo sim because the EQ suits the Bass VI, but otherwise I just have an EQ module instead.

 

This might be because I've never owned a "normal" bass amp. In the 80s I had a cheap generic 100W transistor amp and then went straight to multi-effects with a power amp for all my subsequent bass rigs.

I think you and Fretmeister are right about accuracy, in the end these boxes are a stack of possibilities of tone, and you use the parts that you need to in order to get the tone you want for the music you make.

1 minute ago, BigRedX said:

 

For me the fact that's a single unit was the main selling feature.

 

Replacing mine with individual pedals plus a board/case, PSU(s), and all the leads to wire it up would probably be in the same ballpark cost-wise.

 

And that's just assuming I can get away with just one pedal for each effect type that I use (I can't), don't need instantly recallable user programs with the ability to change settings and effect order for different songs (I do), and some of the time based effects won't have tap tempo let alone MIDI clock synchronisation (a must for both my bands).

I've been a longtime user of midi patch commands for synths etc. in bands, if I was still playing in a band that used click and midi parts, I'd have the QC connected for song and section patches no doubt at all. I'm all in for the one box solution, and the QC is the best one I've found so far, tried the Kemper and didn't like it much, would have bought a Helix rack if the QC hadn't panned out. I'd love to try the Fractal FX3, as I have guitarist mates who swear by it.

It's certainly the best time for choice if you're looking for a big multi-FX modeller/profiler.

474

(or 479 if we add 2pods 5 into the total...)

4 hours ago, BigRedX said:

 

Really? IMO in real terms it's never been cheaper.

 

My first multi-effects was a Roland GP8 plus the foot controller and expression pedal which I picked up for a few hundred pounds in the early 90s. However I'm pretty sure that original new price when it was originally released was closer to £1k. That's for a unit which was essentially 8 Boss pedals in a pre-set order fitted into a 1U rack with a terrible parameter access user interface. 

 

By comparison the Helix Floor which when released was about the same price of around £1k is streets ahead in terms of sounds, configuration, and user friendliness and overall versatility.

Aye, you can make that argument, I know many musicians with pedal-boards and amps that cost many times that, but £1500 is still a lot of money for one unit.

Everything's relative.

I use DistroKid for most things these days, although any of the aggregators will let you choose your platforms for streaming.

https://distrokid.com

Line 6 Bass Pod XT Pro got me started, Stomp HX after that, but the Quad Cortex is the single most interesting and creative tool I've come across.

The Helix is a brilliant board, my guitarist uses one and it's very good indeed, but I felt the playing experience with the QC was better and I really like the capture options. I'll be interested to see where Line 6 go after the Helix, it's been around for a while now.

It's all a bit pricy though.

Very nice, as usual from Alan. Congrats, that's some bass.

It's a well know fact that ZZ Top need somewhere to land their tour jet...

I'm sure it sounded as good as the Furry guitars with the floppy strings.

+1 for the Hercules hanger stand, excellent bit of kit, I've got the double one.

https://www.thomann.de/gb/hercules_stands_gs_422b.htm

1 hour ago, Oomo said:

Thanks, will check those out too.

 

The Apollo X4 looks great...but looks like it costs more than my bass and amp put together

Yup, thats the problem with the serious UAD2 kit... The Volt range is brilliant, particularly the Volt 476, which has very useful 1176 emulations on the inputs. Importantly they sound as good as the SSL or Audient offerings.

Audient iD44 is excellent, but the Volt 4 by UA is very good as well, as is the Apollo X4 if you want to spend some serious cash...

On 25/09/2019 at 11:09, Cat Burrito said:

One careful owner. May benefit from new strings and a setup

That'll buff right out...

11 minutes ago, Rich said:

The last cable I had made for me was a totally bulletproof one by OBBM. These days I make all my own leads & patch cables -- I really enjoy soldering and find it therapeutic, maybe I'm weird  -- but I'll be following this thread with interest for recommendations.

I rewired my entire studio after changing over to UAD2 hardware from Focusrite, the only looms I didn't make up were the D-subs from the A16, which came with the unit second hand, but I did clip all the ends and rewire XLR and TRS for the appropriate inputs and outputs, as you say, there's something very therapeutic about it as long a s you have a decent solder station.

Don't think I'd care to get into an EDAC though...

I grabbed a QSC K12.2 from this very parish a while back, replaced a Barefaced Big Twin, which wasn't heavy but was big, not as big as the 8x10 mind...

I ran my Stomp and now a Quad Cortex into it if I need a bit of real-world grunt, it happily keeps up in rehearsal with a lead-fisted drummer, drops into the carry case and into the car with no bother. Weighs about as much as a cased bass, maybe a bit more.

It's got a DI output for live work.

If I'm not making single cables, all my multicore and patch stuff comes from VDC.

They have a bespoke service on the website. They do Neutric, Switchcraft or their own VDC hardware and a wide range of good cables.

https://www.vdctrading.com

Love the grain detail through the centre of the ebony top. 

The last few weeks always go much slower knowing it's nearly finished...

13 minutes ago, Onox said:

Thanks for the replies. 

@WinterMute Not fixed DI Gain but direct monitoring has a fix Volume. I could adjust Volume with my Origin Bassrig but the Overall Volume could be too low.

 

I like the Design of the Volt 2 way more. 

 

Since I want the DI Sound from my Pedalboard, I Do not realy care about 4k or Vintage Preamp Mode but that could change in the Future

Right, I see what you meant, no variable blend for input/DAW.

With a zero latency interface, you monitor through the DAW, the only time you need to blend the input with the DAW is what the DAW can't deliver zero-latency input monitoring.

This kind of parallel master processing is more often seen in Mastering than in multi-track mixing, it allows a more aggressive compression/limiting to be used that can then be blended with the uncompressed master signal to retain clarity but add required loudness.

It's a perfectly legit technique for mixing too however, I tend to run 2 sub-masters, one a return from my summing mixer and one ITB master, the summed return will have a limiter attached and then blended underneath the main mix till I get the loudness I'm looking for, both are then run into the Master I'll add a general EQ to the Master, in case I need it, but it's not used often.

Personally I'd never add time-domain effects to a master, they will be handled in aux sends and returns, and I can EQ or dynamically control the stem signals going out to the summing mixer if needed, this can be very useful to add a bit of control to the drum overheads or the kick generally before it hits the summing mixer.

In the end all you gain is a measure of control of the amount of limited or compressed signal you add to your main mix buss, but that can be invaluable.

Not sure where the idea the Volt has a fixed DI gain comes from, spec says 55db of gain for the TRS input, both UA and SSL use combo input and neither have a dedicated DI input.

I've spent a little time with the Volt 4 and have spec'ed SSL desktop stuff for Uni builds, there's very little to chose between them really. I prefer the "vintage" Pre-amp sound to the SSL "4K" but it's so subjective.

Both will do exactly the same zero latency or direct monitoring. Both come with a range of software, and the Volt include the Ampeg equation found in the Apollo range, which is very useful. What the Volt ange won't do is play with UA's Luna DAW, which is a excellent bit of software that comes free with the UAD2 age of hardware.

2 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

 

That works if you only want one distorted sound. I generally have a base level of amp drive and then use either an overdrive or fuzz pedal on some songs or parts of songs 

I've got the Quad Cortex, there's a bunch of ways to kick in whatever gain or tone changes you want, song by song, section by section, I can change amps for choruses if I need to.

My point was more that fuzz or distortion pedals have never been able to deliver the kind of sound that I want.

I'm another one for amp distortion (or the modelled versions these days) I've never found a pedal that gives me the sound I want, but I have found a couple of amps that sound the dogs.

Don't know if that's an active/passive thing, haven't had a passive bass for 30 years, but all my MM and ACG basses sound great through the QC with nary a distortion pedal model in sight.

The musical context is going to matter, you'd not want Lee Rocker's tone on a Ron Carter session I suspect...

Most (but by no means all) jazz is recorded ensemble, and the room plays an important part in the sound of such sessions. I find getting the best room reverb signature you can for the track and adding it (sparingly) to each instrument can create the illusion of an ensemble playing in a common space. YMMV.

Bloody ridiculous, sort yourself out man...

You need one of these in your rig.

Following with interest, great choice of wood grain.