Helix Floor/LT/HX/Stomp/PodGo owners' Club - Tips, Ideas & Patches

[dave_bass5]

2 hours ago, javi_bassist said:

Of course, if I use my amp, I don't use any amp in the HX. But I play ampless 90% of the time.

I always used headphones at home as I live in a flat. I use the same patch for that as well, although I might put a comp at the start to hopefully help protect my ears. 

[uk_lefty]

On 31/05/2021 at 10:07, javi_bassist said:

I switched the SVT amp to the B15 and made a few adjustments. It sounded incredibly good. The tone was just exactly what I wanted. However, I have to say that it's a 6-block preset for a clean sound. My original preset for clean was just 4 blocks (Comp, Little overdrive with a crossover, Amp and IR). How do you guys create a "clean" patch?

 

The presets I've got from elsewhere for a clean sound tend to have multiple blocks of compressors and EQs. I have paid for the bass essentials pack on 3Sigma Audio because it was quite cheap and I expected it to be pretty good. I had a lot of the Dr Tone ones but frankly found most of them either unsuited to my gear and playing style or just completely unusable. I have removed all but one of the Dr Tone presets now. 

There are two things in the effects world that puzzle me. The assumption that every bassist wants a "dirty" sound and you don't need to create good quality clean tones, and the assumption that "synth" means the noises of industrial Middlesbrough fighting against Megatron. 

[dave_bass5]

Anyone seen these IR’s? Seems like a good idea to me, seeing as how great their cabs are. 

https://www.celestionplus.com/products/backline-heroes/bergantino-cabinets-impulse-responses/

Edited June 4, 2021 by dave_bass5

[funkle]

Very cool. Pretty expensive though!

[dave_bass5]

8 minutes ago, funkle said:

Very cool. Pretty expensive though!

I’m going to buy the NXV210 one. Just that one on its own to use in Cubase when I’m recording bass. Not expecting it to sound like a real rig but it might give me the Berg vibe….maybe.

[Dood]

1 hour ago, dave_bass5 said:

Anyone seen these IR’s? Seems like a good idea to me, seeing as how great their cabs are. 

https://www.celestionplus.com/products/backline-heroes/bergantino-cabinets-impulse-responses/

I hadn't, but I absolutely know that I've had a long conversation with Jim Bergantino about using the system that Bergantino employ to create the B|Amp profiles could produce IR's of all of their cabinets. Of course, as Celestion make the new NXT drivers, they can do this process in house and, well, it looks like they have!

[Dood]

51 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

I’m going to buy the NXV210 one. Just that one on its own to use in Cubase when I’m recording bass. Not expecting it to sound like a real rig but it might give me the Berg vibe….maybe.

I can profile my HD112 cabinets (when I get round to it) and I'll be comparing the IR with the real thing.

[tauzero]

HX Edit is now up to v3.11, as is HX firmware.

[dave_bass5]

1 hour ago, Dood said:

I hadn't, but I absolutely know that I've had a long conversation with Jim Bergantino about using the system that Bergantino employ to create the B|Amp profiles could produce IR's of all of their cabinets. Of course, as Celestion make the new NXT drivers, they can do this process in house and, well, it looks like they have!

That cab profile feature the B|Amp has is pretty cool. 

[Dood]

21 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

That cab profile feature the B|Amp has is pretty cool. 

Definitely one of the reasons why I love B|Amp! - and there are plenty more.

[dave_bass5]

6 minutes ago, Dood said:

Definitely one of the reasons why I love B|Amp! - and there are plenty more.

Thank god i dont play bass these days. Just talking to you normally costs me loads of money, this would not help 😂

[Dood]

1 minute ago, dave_bass5 said:

Thank god i dont play bass these days. Just talking to you normally costs me loads of money, this would not help 😂

I'm sorry for the difficult conversations you have had to have with your bank manager 🤣

[dave_bass5]

16 minutes ago, Dood said:

I'm sorry for the difficult conversations you have had to have with your bank manager 🤣

He disowned me 😂

Anyway, its not him i worry about, its the GF 😎

Edited June 4, 2021 by dave_bass5

[SumOne]

I had a Helix Effects with the mindset that it was replacing effects pedals and being used in a traditional 'one-footswitch per effect' type way, but when I compared them directly it didn't quite cut it against separate Fuzz, Octaver, Envelope Filter, Synth so I returned it. 

My new mindset is that the Helix Stomp is best for me as it will replace the 'always on' type pedals that don't need so much clicking on/off and hands-on control (selling Tuner, EQ, Compressor, DI will pretty much cover the Stomp cost,) and I'll keep the effect pedals that I'm picky about and want to be able to control with individual footswitches and knobs. 

But now to confuse things I'm considering if the extra £166 for the Stomp XL is worth it....if the Stomp isn't something I'll use as a replacement pedalboard 'one switch per effect' type thing then extra footswitches probably aren't needed, but have Stomp users found that they really do need extra controls? Is it just frustrating to only have 3 switches (even if it's not to replace your whole pedalboard)?  I think I might get frustrated with it and want to buy extra controls - in which case it seems going straight to the XL is an easier (and possibly overall cheaper) option. £566 starts feeling a bit steep though as I'd only just convinced myself about £400 for the stomp! 

 

 

Edited June 7, 2021 by SumOne

[Hugsonic]

You can add two more is a flash with the expression port

I think someone is selling a switch and cable on here at the mo. Or you can use midi. 

[uk_lefty]

On 07/06/2021 at 12:44, SumOne said:

My new mindset is that the Helix Stomp is best for me as it will replace the 'always on' type pedals that don't need so much clicking on/off and hands-on control (selling Tuner, EQ, Compressor, DI will pretty much cover the Stomp cost,) and I'll keep the effect pedals that I'm picky about and want to be able to control with individual footswitches and knobs. 

I don't think you'd need the extra knobs from what you say in your post. You can have two effects assigned as on/ off on the same button too, so I made one yesterday where pressing the footswitch engages both chorus and Reverb, so it's quite flexible. The only things it really doesn't have is wah and bass synth. 

[SumOne]

13 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

I don't think you'd need the extra knobs from what you say in your post. You can have two effects assigned as on/ off on the same button too, so I made one yesterday where pressing the footswitch engages both chorus and Reverb, so it's quite flexible. The only things it really doesn't have is wah and bass synth. 

Cheers, that sounds good.

I'll get a Stomp without any expectation of it replacing my whole pedalboard: Selling my Tuner, Compressor, EQ, Preamp/DI will cover costs, so as long as it does a decent job of replacing them then that's all good. They aren't pedals that need turning on/off much and are a bit more 'set and forget' so I hopefully shouldn't miss the hands-on control too much.....and it has the benefits of routing options and amp & cab sims and IRs that also don't need much switching control. I could see me using most of the blocks just for those things so think the Stomp XL might be unnecessary for me as I'll keep most of my separate effects pedals to put in FX loops which hopefully means not wanting for additional controllers.

[SumOne]

Stomp arrived very quickly (thanks Andertons), first impressions are that it's really good. 

I like that you can now have 2x blocks per footswitch that you go between with the footswitch 'touch' (rather than 'click'). Having re-assigned the Tuner to a stomp footswitch that means 6x blocks to turn on/off in stomp view which is about all I need or that are available with 6-8 block limits. 

My only gripe is that the 'Page> (next footswitch mode)' button isn't a footswitch, or at a minimum it can't even be assigned to FS3 (but can be assigned to additional footswitches so I assume it's an easy programming thing to add) that would mean you could click FS3 as 'Page>' to scroll through menus, then use FS 1 & 2 to scroll through presets/snapshots and then control blocks on stomp mode, that would mean most of the important stuff for playing live could be done via the three footswitches. As it is though you can scroll through presets via footswitches but if you then want to go into a snapshot or into stomp mode to turn blocks on/off you need to bend down and press the 'Page>' button. I was tempted to try and physically stick something on the button to make it foot switchable but  decided that a £15.99 dual footswitch plugged into the expression input is less likely to break things! One switch will work as the 'Page>' button and one to do 'tuner/tap tempo' leaving FS 1, 2, 3 free as stomp switches and to scroll through things. I think that will give plenty of control.

Between this and the C4 I can get 90% of the way to re-creating the sounds of my analogue pedals, I'll be keeping a few of them though for the hands on and footswitch interaction side of things and saving block space....and for where I'm fussy about that extra 10%.

 

Edited June 10, 2021 by SumOne

[javi_bassist]

 

2 hours ago, SumOne said:

Between this and the C4 I can get 90% of the way to re-creating the sounds of my analogue pedals, I'll be keeping a few of them though for the hands on and footswitch interaction side of things and saving block space....and for where I'm fussy about that extra 10%.

 

I've seen many people using the HX Stomp with the C4. I've always been curious about the C4 since it came out. I have the SA Aftershock and I think it's pretty amazing, but the HX can do most of the sounds that I want. The C4 on the other hand... Might be a good combination.

[uk_lefty]

I'm tempted to add something like a Boss SY1 for synth sounds. I've come up with a couple of good sounds that I'll experiment with tonight at rehearsal (synth sounds, one v close to the start of Kids in America, one not like the original but doable for Sweet Dreams are..) but I've found what sounds good through good quality headphones or an amp at low volume does not always translate to the rehearsal room. I'm not taking my laptop to rehearsal to pee around with adjusting effects. 

[SumOne]

3 hours ago, javi_bassist said:

 

I've seen many people using the HX Stomp with the C4. I've always been curious about the C4 since it came out. I have the SA Aftershock and I think it's pretty amazing, but the HX can do most of the sounds that I want. The C4 on the other hand... Might be a good combination.

I don't think the Stomp does the best Filter or Synth sounds- which are the things the C4 does really well, so it is a good combination. 

Trouble with the C4 is look on the threads here or Talkbass and the majority of posts are people trying to figure them out or how to attach additional controllers - perhaps that's a good sign that it's potentially capable of so much, perhaps a bad sign that you need to spend extra time and money to usefully access all it can do. 

[uk_lefty]

17 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

I'm tempted to add something like a Boss SY1 for synth sounds. I've come up with a couple of good sounds that I'll experiment with tonight at rehearsal (synth sounds, one v close to the start of Kids in America, one not like the original but doable for Sweet Dreams are..) but I've found what sounds good through good quality headphones or an amp at low volume does not always translate to the rehearsal room. I'm not taking my laptop to rehearsal to pee around with adjusting effects. 

Sounded poor in a band context and through an amp at volume. Regularly on the lookout for a second hand SY1 from now on! 

[SumOne]

Here are EQ settings very similar to the One Control Crimson Red preamp pedal. If I use my FEA Opti-FET compressor after it (haven't found a Helix equivalent as a warm/vintage tone adding type compressor) and run into a cab sim is very hard to tell a difference.

There is a small difference though - the Crimson Red has a little bit more harmonic stuff and warmth and evenness of tone across all strings that I can't replicate (having spent a couple of hours trying by adding mild tube distortion, reverb, compressors etc). It's annoying me as I can get very close but not enough that I'd not miss the Crimson Red if I sold it. 

 

[Berserker]

I pulled the trigger on a Stomp XL and it's just arrived... now I need to figure out where to start! My first Helix product so lots to learn, but I have to make this work for me!

I'm going in...

Edited June 13, 2021 by Berserker

[krispn]

My advice is get the manual loaded up on and take your time. The UI is pretty intuitive but a little bit of time spent understanding what the Stomp can do will be well served. Figure out if you need it to be an all in one gigging solution or an ex unit of both. It can do all these things and much more. Get familiar with the layout of the system so you feel comfortable making changes on the unit itself but don’t overlook how handy the HXEdit software is. It’s really not that complicated and you’ll be up and running in no time. 😊