Al Krow

Excellent little video running through the new comp metering. He gives a pretty decent explanation of: threshold, ratio, attack, release and make up gain plus touching on 'transients', along the way. Done by a pick playing guitarist, so may be of particular interest to pick users.

Blimey! Ok that's going on the "to do!" list for tomorrow then! PS a little birdie has told me that there are some amp sims for the HX Effects in 2.91. If true, clearly Line 6 aren't in total agreement with some of the earlier posts today around it being a cost issue and / or what the HX Effects is for

Haha fair! So, to summarise it took two super experienced BCers: - one, a whole year while hating it, and - the other, never while he owned it to actually work out how to use the thing, and you then got just one really good sound by dialling it exactly right? Well it took me exactly 24 hours to dial in a sound I really like on the VTDI and it's one of half a dozen great aounds. Which is why Tech 21 issued the deluxe version with presets, as they cottoned on to its versatility. Dave - you clearly have the patience of a saint, mate. Which, given that you generally don't do "waiting around", is quite surprising 😂 Lozz - are you saying the Paradriver no longer trumps the BDDI for you?

Most pointless preamp I've ever had the pleasure of using. Now a VT Bass DI on the other hand...

Had the Mk1 and have moved on to the AO900. Not really more complex - you get some additional versatility on the EQ and a few bells and whistles on the rear which you may or may not use - headphone out with independent vol control is one nice touch. Key point is whether you have a preference for the B3K / VMT drive (then a Mk1 will be fine) or prefer the the AO drive (in which case go for the AO 900) or are not a particular fan / positively dislike DG drives or have got your own fav drive pedal => effectively spending your cash on just the power amp, which is excellent, but maybe better spending your coin on something that doesn't have £300 of DG drives built into its front end.

Just picking up on this excellent mini review on this thread so we don't lose it. And which btw I very much agree with. @The GroovyPlucker - be good to get a couple of your favourite settings to try out, and I'll do the same.

Hey - did you find a fix for this?

I trust that it's an essential journey? 😁

Not sure that the tort works on that? 😁 ... and yup the crap description is entirely relevant when it comes to hags... https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hagu

Yes for sure. But to me it's more a marketing ploy than a cost issue - the marginal cost to Yamaha of including a few decent amp and cab sims onto the HX FX, once they have been developed for the rest of the range, would be the square root of zero. And frankly if Zoom can include on their cheap as chips multifxs that kinda demonstrates that cost isn't the driver here. Tbf most of us are pretty content with our amps and cabs, so no biggie and I'm certainly still not tempted to go back to the Stomp given the easier to use live set up on the HX, for my purposes, with the 6 stomp switches and scribble strips / ability to scroll through a bank of patches etc, but it would be a nice to have when rounding off a particular tone on a drive or other effect patch we're creating. However, no one can accuse Line 6 of not being very clear about what they are and are not making available on each of their products!

Speaking of uniformity, be interesting if they put a few decent amp and cab sims in the HX Effects. Seems to me that it's been a purely commercial decision to try to delineate the various pedals in the Helix range. I'm not sure it would particularly impact Stomp sales given its more compact form, but I guess it may mean fewer folk stepping up to the LT other than the fact that it provides all of the key benefits Woody mentioned... Obviously hard to resist something with more knobs that gives you instant rock star appeal.

Brilliant - thanks! I thought I detected a touch of Ampeg / Sansamp + P Bass. @dannybuoy has just got himself a Leeds and is also raving about it, having persuaded me to get a VT Bass DI beforehand - lol! (No regrets btw - the VTDI is an excellent pedal!). You guys mainly do original material? And gig in and around London? If so, be great to come and see you in action post lock down!

Completely agree that an overly polite filter kinda defeats the point! As you note, it does seem to be a completely updated circuit. From the 3Leaf blurb: "The Proton is an optically controlled analog envelope filter. The circuit has been completely redesigned to offer better tone and a more musical response. It has a new detector circuit based on the one in the Chromatron, and the familiar control layout has a greatly expanded range that can get the classic 1970s filter sounds and well beyond. The new range switch allows for much deeper filter sweeps, and the reworked tone knob covers every soundscape from cocked wah to laser beams." Must admit I thought it sounded great on Zach's review.

Interesting - I've had the same issue.

Just picking up on your filter setting query earlier. I suspect we'd all agree that it's often helpful to have a good example of the sound we're after from a dedicated pedal to A/B, when we're trying to come up with an emulation on the Helix or other multifx. I came across this excellent review by Zach Riser on the recently released 3Leaf Proton v3 (2020) envelope filter earlier today (partly 'cos there's one in the FS right now!). Along the way he provides one of the better explanations of how each of the filter dials impact the filter tone. The review also gives a good example of [octave down + fuzz + filter] = synth (at 12.38 in his review), as an alternative to using a purely synth setting on the Helix.

3Leaf Proton (2020 release). Just seen this review by Zach Rizer. Looks good! Has both down up and down sweeps and also a new range switch allows for much deeper filter sweeps (07.35 on Zach's review). There's one in the FS right now for a reasonable price - I reckon they're probably going to be around £300 new in the UK inc. shipping and taxes, which is hefty chunk of change.

Well it's been put together by the bassplayer magazine team. I'm guessing they will have a fair few bassists rather than geetariats on their payroll. And, frankly, I would be very impressed if most of the guitarists I know would be able to come up with a quarter of the bass players on that list!

Er hmmm...I think you must be on the wrong thread? All that being a rock god is clearly resulting in confusion.

Oh to be a rock god like you 😁

Tbf I didn't spot this first time around!

When you get to our stage in life, Woody, we need all the help we can get, right? Somewhat surprised, given these advantages, that you are even considering letting yours go 😁

Be interested to get @GisserD's thoughts on the Helix filter patches and whether this one, in particular, is any good as he's a bit of an expert filter fanboi and has been through a lot of the top filters in his day. Wonder how well this stacks up against his favourite, the MXR BEF or indeed mine - the 3Leaf GR2, I'll see if I can feed back when I've had a chance to audition. Higgie - what setting have you got your on? That would be good starting point!

From bassplayer magazine. Thought this looked really interesting, particularly with the included clip from each - I'm going to be enjoying working through the list during lock down. Here's the link in case of interest to anyone else: https://www.guitarworld.com/features/the-100-best-bass-players-of-all-time Have they missed anyone off the list that you would include?

Jay - great track and very professionally put together.

+1 ^^ @rze99 - great bass tone. What was your full signal chain to deliver - in particular any pedals / preamps?