Muppet

Brilliant, thanks both for the tips.

Elme Hall, bloody difficult sound in that place! Is this band still going?

This thread's gone unusually quiet! Anyway, reading all this has finally convinced me to swap out my current IEMs for some custom moulds and I have booked an appointment next month. I booked a demo slot too with the Custom IEM Company and they've asked me to bring along some test tracks and preferred source. Does this mean I should bring my wireless system, preamp? What kind of test tracks should I sort out? Any advice gratefully received! Steve

Spot on. If Fender hadn't named it as such and if I hadn't raised it initially, we'd probably be debating the qualities of the pedal itself! I wouldn't complain if it was Rumble based including the overdrive circuit. I think it looks nice too.

A stuffed owl, left behind at The Barton Arms in Birmingham. The landlady kept it on the bar and I collected it the next day as I was lucky enough to be back in the city for a meeting. She bollocked me for scaring the cleaner....

Yeah I'd still want a tuner though. Nice touch with the toggle to reverse OD/Comp order.

Have we covered this already? New 'multi effects' pedal from Fender looks interesting. Not really a multi effects pedal really, but looks interesting nevertheless. I wonder what the circuits are modelled on. Bassman? Rumble? Price isn't too bad. https://www.andertons.co.uk/fender-downtown-express-bass-multi-effect-pedal

On Scott Devine's latest techniques course one of the lessons focuses on this. He talks about floating thumb but also recommends (and provides a practice structure for) moving the right hand thumb anchor point, from pickup when playing the E string to E when playing A, A when playing D and also to D when playing G. The muting occurs from the right hand as @chris_b already describes.

This is actually for my IEM system rather than wireless so after the Gator recommendations above I found this on that I've ordered. If it turns out to be no good I think I'll go down a case with shaped foam. https://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/Gator-GM-1WEVAA-EVA-Foam-Single-Wireless-System-Case/D3M

Hi thanks for that suggestion. Could work although I have the Helix backpack already but maybe the case could be a better idea!

I do use a boost (MXR Micro Amp) but only when the bass needs to be more prominent, rather than for filling in space. For that, I do what @Aliwobble does.

What are people using to transport their IEM or wireless systems? Mine is standard half rack size with rear antenna. Racking isn't an option as I use a Helix floor and play in multiple bands so need something more flexible. I use a generic camera case at the moment so have to unpack and set up for each gig but are there any better options? Steve

Fret buzz in the upper registers normally indicates the need for a straighter neck (less relief) but if you say that the neck is already straight and the string height is adjusted appropriately then perhaps your frets are not quite level?

Following on from my patches post, I've recently switched out the IR/cab blocks when playing live with FOH. I'm still using them if I'm relying on backline only or recording. Our Yamaha desk has limited EQ control and using the IR or cab sims added a level of boominess that I've been struggling to dial out using the mixer, so for now they go. I'll modify the patches eventually to add a split path for onstage monitoring and maybe I'll add them back in then. Interested to know how others are doing it with their patches.

I had a BA115 HP which was the higher powered version and whilst the tone was great, the output was still quite poor which was a shame. I ended up selling it as if was only good for quiet rehearsal or recording. I'm not sure you're going to be able to increase the output enough to make a big difference.

I've pinged you a PM @Jack!

I started off building the signal path in the same way as I would in 'real life' but the beauty of the Helix products is that you can move stuff around anywhere you like to get the sounds you want. As I said above, the result that you get when using headphones can be quite different to the sound you get live though.

VERSION: Floor TITLE: Basic amp patches DESCRIPTION: Basic Live tones set up IN DETAIL: Here are six patches for the Floor. SVT normal, Mesa 400+ Channel 1, Mesa 400+ Channel 2, Aguilar DB 751, GK 800 and the B15 Portaflex. The 'SW' in the preset name are my initials. These are optimised for my live sound with a Fender Precision. I send XLR to FOH and the 1/4" to a Barefaced FR800 for monitoring. I reduce the XLR output by 16db and use the volume knob to control the 1/4" output only. The sounds through headphones is slightly different. I initially created them using headphones (AKG 702) but then had to tweak for live use. Also in the patch is an IR block directly after each amp block. if you load these in to your Helix the IR is missing but ping me a message and I'll let you have it, or you can just select a cab block of your choice. There are a basic set of effects too. I included the graphic at the end of the chain just in case I needed to make any room adjustments but in the presets they are currently all set to flat. For me, the inclusion of the 3 band compressor at the beginning makes a huge difference as it tames the live sound and reduces boominess. The compressor settings are the same across all patches. The SVT preset has three snapshots too - clean, drive and distortion. Steve SVT SW.hlx Mesa 400+ Ch1 SW.hlx Mesa 400+ Ch2 SW.hlx DB 751 SW.hlx GK 800 SW.hlx Flip Top SW.hlx

I saw their ad, looks like a great setup, you're going to be busy, congratulations!! Steve

Can you transfer existing Helix floor patches, snapshots and all, to the Stomp? I realise the footswitch assignments won't be kept but apart from that?

Slight aside - Have you checked out the FR800 through the power amp's software? It's a long way off being set on full whack - there's a lot of headroom there! I also have FR800 and I've used it with a Sansamp, a Zoom B3n, a Helix and a Tech 21 Bass Fly Rig and they all work really well. You're only sticking an external preamp in front of a power amp and cabinet after all, so just like a combo... The only slight problem is exactly what @jrixn1says around easy access to a volume control..

You don't even need to set different patches or blocks - you use snapshots. This allows you to remain in the same patch but switch between different parameter settings for the same effect (or amp sim). Any effects you then kick in are applied to the selected snapshot. For instance I have a SVT setting with a clean snapshot, a snapshot using higher gain and lower volume for more crunch then another with even higher gain and lower volume for a dirty sound. A quick press switches the pedalboard from stomp/effects mode in to snapshot mode. I also dial in a little increase in bass in each snapshot to to compensate. It's very very clever.

For me , as @ambient said, playing the notes made sense as did learning the fretboard off by heart. I used to struggle to transpose a song I've learnt from scratch on a 5 string over to a 4 string, but learning the notes and then practicing the same songs on both guitars made it easier.