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Mini Helix - HX Stomp...


Musicman20

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Guys, check out the 3 Sigma Audio IRs. Remember with IRs, they are sampled, so if you buy an IR you will get many different samples, based on microphone and microphone positioning and sample quality - the differences are subtle but there.  I get good results with both the Mesa and Orange cabs. The Ampeg 810 IRs I always find too muddy. 

I do split my signal too and for live work I send a non IR affected signal to the PA, effectively simulating taking a DI out from an amp head, as this is far more common nowadays that actually miking a bass cab.  My second path actually has an IR in it and this is the one I send to my FRFR cabinet onstage, in order to emulate an 'on stage' sound.  If I were sending to a traditional amp/cab setup for monitoring  (as opposed to my FRFR cab) then I'd not use the IR. 

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58 minutes ago, Muppet said:

Guys, check out the 3 Sigma Audio IRs. Remember with IRs, they are sampled, so if you buy an IR you will get many different samples, based on microphone and microphone positioning and sample quality - the differences are subtle but there.  I get good results with both the Mesa and Orange cabs. The Ampeg 810 IRs I always find too muddy. 

I do split my signal too and for live work I send a non IR affected signal to the PA, effectively simulating taking a DI out from an amp head, as this is far more common nowadays that actually miking a bass cab.  My second path actually has an IR in it and this is the one I send to my FRFR cabinet onstage, in order to emulate an 'on stage' sound.  If I were sending to a traditional amp/cab setup for monitoring  (as opposed to my FRFR cab) then I'd not use the IR. 

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.

 

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Most of the built in cab models are for classic tweeterless cabs, so they might indeed sound overly dark if you're used to a tweetered cab.

Options would be, find a new IR of a brighter cab, whack up the treble of the modelled amp, or use a LPF and EQ to create a curve that suits you instead of a full cab sim.

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39 minutes ago, dannybuoy said:

Most of the built in cab models are for classic tweeterless cabs, so they might indeed sound overly dark if you're used to a tweetered cab.

Options would be, find a new IR of a brighter cab, whack up the treble of the modelled amp, or use a LPF and EQ to create a curve that suits you instead of a full cab sim.

Good point - I think most of the third party IRs are also modelled on classic cabs.  Worth noting is that the IR block function has parameters covering low and high cut, level and blend so if it is too dark you have plenty of options available.

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42 minutes ago, dannybuoy said:

Most of the built in cab models are for classic tweeterless cabs, so they might indeed sound overly dark if you're used to a tweetered cab.

Options would be, find a new IR of a brighter cab, whack up the treble of the modelled amp, or use a LPF and EQ to create a curve that suits you instead of a full cab sim.

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

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3 minutes ago, la bam said:

If you're using your bass rig and not going through the pa, the easiest way is to just choose your chosen amp sim, add in an eq sim and go straight into your cab. Then adjust eq until you have the sound you want.

yeah this,  and Helix to Amp Effects Return!

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9 minutes ago, la bam said:

If you're using your bass rig and not going through the pa, the easiest way is to just choose your chosen amp sim, add in an eq sim and go straight into your cab. Then adjust eq until you have the sound you want.

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.

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Duel cabs is another nice way to brighten up the stock cabs if you feel they are to dark, the 810 with a guitar cab high passed and blended in to taste works well. Got some really clear yet big tones from the 810 blended with the 1x8 guitar cab on there.

It's quite DSP hungry and you have to stick a mono block of some kind after so it may not suit everyone's patches.

Ownhammers Ampeg pack has the clearest and brightest ir'sI've used, not free but really good eq'd and not eq'd  cabs with different mic mixes.

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I'm looking for a clean and articulate modern rock sound. I'm currently using a Grabber with fresh strings, the 400+ model and the darkglass b7k sim. I'm looking for lots of zing with a nice bottom end.

When I say I'm using headphones - I'm actually using IEMs. 

My real life rig is a Mesa 400+ trough a Fender 610 (tweeter off) mic'd with a 57.  **I'm not using this with the helix** 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I tried the stomp today in the shop (I have an HX effects on a 14 day trial, which is about to expire, so wanted to see if I should swap)

It was a bit more fiddly to use vs the HXFX but on the flip side I did quite like the SVT amp sims.

The thing I was struggling with, is bypassing the unit when I don’t want any effects/amp sims. On the HXFX you just press the tuner+mode Footswitches together and it is completely bypassed. As far as I can tell you can’t bypass the stomp with the Footswitches. Is that correct? Not so practical in a gig to bend down and start pressing buttons to bypass it.

I think that might be the deal breaker for me unless anyone can advise a way to do it?

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5 minutes ago, 41Hz said:

I tried the stomp today in the shop (I have an HX effects on a 14 day trial, which is about to expire, so wanted to see if I should swap)

It was a bit more fiddly to use vs the HXFX but on the flip side I did quite like the SVT amp sims.

The thing I was struggling with, is bypassing the unit when I don’t want any effects/amp sims. On the HXFX you just press the tuner+mode Footswitches together and it is completely bypassed. As far as I can tell you can’t bypass the stomp with the Footswitches. Is that correct? Not so practical in a gig to bend down and start pressing buttons to bypass it.

I think that might be the deal breaker for me unless anyone can advise a way to do it?

You can reassign FS3 (or FS4 / FS5 if you're using an external switch as well) to a few different functions, and All Bypass is one of the options....

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6 minutes ago, stoo said:

You can reassign FS3 (or FS4 / FS5 if you're using an external switch as well) to a few different functions, and All Bypass is one of the options....

Ah ok thanks, I guess its a pity you couldn't press say FS1 and FS2 together to do the bypass, as if you use FS3 then you are down to only 2 foot switches for changing presets which would be pretty tough. Sounds like the external foot switches are pretty essential if you want to gig with it

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External switches really expand the Stomp. I started off with a basic dual switch. Now I have a Morningstar MC-6 and it's insane. I have loads of functionality available to me now and my board is still way smaller & lighter that a Helix or LT.

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19 minutes ago, 41Hz said:

Ah ok thanks, I guess its a pity you couldn't press say FS1 and FS2 together to do the bypass, as if you use FS3 then you are down to only 2 foot switches for changing presets which would be pretty tough. Sounds like the external foot switches are pretty essential if you want to gig with it

Im not sure if there is a big difference between bypass and not having any effects on (assuming the Global EQ is off). If there isnt you can just turn any amp sim off using a foot switch. To me it seems a bit long winded to use bypass mode, as you would then have to turn it back on if you wanted to use any effects.

 

Edited by dave_bass5
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6 minutes ago, 41Hz said:

Ah ok thanks, I guess its a pity you couldn't press say FS1 and FS2 together to do the bypass, as if you use FS3 then you are down to only 2 foot switches for changing presets which would be pretty tough. Sounds like the external foot switches are pretty essential if you want to gig with it

I don't really use the foot switches for changing presets - I wouldn't expect to need to change presets within a song, and don't mind bending down to twist the upper knob to pick a different preset between songs.

I tend to leave the foot switches in stomp or snapshot mode (depending on the preset) and that usually gives me plenty of flexibility to change sounds within a song.

I do have an external double footswitch, and a home made 8 switch midi controller.... but I rarely end up using either of them to be honest.

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20 minutes ago, 41Hz said:

Ah ok thanks, I guess its a pity you couldn't press say FS1 and FS2 together to do the bypass, as if you use FS3 then you are down to only 2 foot switches for changing presets which would be pretty tough. Sounds like the external foot switches are pretty essential if you want to gig with it

Actually i just remembered. You press both large knobs down together to go in to bypass mode on the Stomp. Easy enough down with the foot..

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I'm still a bit on the fence whether to stick with the HXFX or go for a stomp.

I just looked up the the sansamp v1 manual and got the setting for an SVT sound, tried it on HXFX, it did sound fairly similar to what I remember when I tried the SVT model in the shop, but if any stomp owners want to try it and see how it compares to the built in SVT model, I'd be very interested.

They just gave knob positions in the sansamp manual, which I roughly translated to...

Drive = 5.0

Bass = 6.0

Treble = 4.5

Presence = 7.5

Blend = 10

level = 5.0

Interested how close this is to the SVT model.

Cheers!

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1 hour ago, 41Hz said:

I'm still a bit on the fence whether to stick with the HXFX or go for a stomp.

I just looked up the the sansamp v1 manual and got the setting for an SVT sound, tried it on HXFX, it did sound fairly similar to what I remember when I tried the SVT model in the shop, but if any stomp owners want to try it and see how it compares to the built in SVT model, I'd be very interested.

They just gave knob positions in the sansamp manual, which I roughly translated to...

Drive = 5.0

Bass = 6.0

Treble = 4.5

Presence = 7.5

Blend = 10

level = 5.0

Interested how close this is to the SVT model.

Cheers!

It doesn't sound that similar (to my ears, with my bass and playing style at least) to any of the default settings for any of the SVT models.... I'd be fairly sure that with some tweaking of drive/master/eq parameters you could make the SVT models sound like the sansamp model..... but I'm not sure that's really helping any?

Have you considered downloading the Helix Native free trial? That way you could test any of the amp sim models available and see if there's anything that you prefer in those which you can't replicate with the sansamp model.....

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38 minutes ago, stoo said:

It doesn't sound that similar (to my ears, with my bass and playing style at least) to any of the default settings for any of the SVT models.... I'd be fairly sure that with some tweaking of drive/master/eq parameters you could make the SVT models sound like the sansamp model..... but I'm not sure that's really helping any?

Have you considered downloading the Helix Native free trial? That way you could test any of the amp sim models available and see if there's anything that you prefer in those which you can't replicate with the sansamp model.....

I’ll look into that, I have an irig I use with my iPad for recording, need to see if that would work with it

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25 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

It won't work on an iPad 

I’ve not tried it but I think you can use an iRig straight into a PC as an interface. Would I need to use helix native with something like audacity or will it work standalone?

Edited by 41Hz
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