Most creative pedal you have ever owned

[thodrik]

BBE Two Timer Delay. 

Got it thrown in for free when I bought a Peavey 6505 guitar combo from a shop in Glasgow. 

So much fun and opened up a lot of sounds that I never access to. Not all of them good. 

Never really been into multifx myself, however the Helix stuff is incredibly impressive compared to the old guitar and bass pods. I would certainly consider one as do-it-all guitar and bass rig. 

[WinterMute]

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.

[Kiwi]

On 08/11/2022 at 17:41, BigRedX said:

Alternatively the Linn Adrenalinn, the only effect I use that the Helix can't replicate, but it doesn't spend as much time processing my bass as the Helix does.

I have one of those... the III.  It really is a Swiss Army knife. 

[BigRedX]

14 hours ago, WinterMute said:

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.

 

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).

[WinterMute]

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.

[BigRedX]

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.

[fretmeister]

On 15/11/2022 at 08:59, WinterMute said:

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.

 

 

Kemper is still going strong after 10 years. 

 

Line 6 have just done a core firmware re-write to massively lower DSP use (over 60% for some blocks!) so I'm sure it will still be around for at least another 5 years before Helix 2.

 

Supply chain for chips and other parts is likely to be a bigger influence in designing a new version.

[fretmeister]

Accuracy in a modeller is a fools errand.

 

No two Marshall plexi amps ever sounded the same even if they were assembled by the same person.

The only thing that matters is whether a pleasing sound can be created from it. Beyond that it doesn't matter if the models are of a JCM800 or a Solex ML10.

[Boodang]

Over the last 2 years I've gone on a bit of a pedal buying spree and the equilibrium has settled at just over 20 units. But despite all the 'interesting' fx,and an honorable mention has to go to the Walrus Slo, the most inspirational has been the Aguilar Grape Phaser. 

In theory quite a 'plain' pedal but it's taken the place of all my envelope filters and set me on a path to fully exploit it with a flurry of rhythmic pick playing aka Chris Squire style.

[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.

[Linus27]

On 07/11/2022 at 14:20, SumOne said:

I'd probably say the C4. It can do things like sound like an upright bass (thanks to patches by  @Quatschmacher), which encouraged me to play Jazzy DnB stuff that I wouldn't usually do with the Bass Guitar, or things like a droning synth or Rave stabs which encouraged me to use the Bass Guitar to play along with House and  Techno beats and play in ways that I wouldn't usually do. 

 

I've owned and then sold C4s twice as the lack of hardware control frustrates me for anything other than home use.....tempted to get another one though!

 

 

 

 

I've just watch a demo of the C4 and it looks super interesting. Are there any video clips of the upright bass patch anywhere as this would be handy for me also?

[LukeFRC]

9 minutes ago, Linus27 said:

I've just watch a demo of the C4 and it looks super interesting. Are there any video clips of the upright bass patch anywhere as this would be handy for me also?

paging @Quatschmacher....

[Quatschmacher]

1 hour ago, LukeFRC said:

paging @Quatschmacher....

Not done a video clip but there’s an audio clip with the preset file on the Source Audio Neuro website/app.

 

 

Edited November 17, 2022 by Quatschmacher

[Linus27]

8 hours ago, Quatschmacher said:

Not done a video clip but there’s an audio clip with the preset file on the Source Audio Neuro website/app.

 

 

Excellent, thank you

[Quatschmacher]

1 hour ago, Linus27 said:

Excellent, thank you

Lots of C4 clips and FI clips on my Soundcloud. 

[Owen]

Just now, Quatschmacher said:

Lots of C4 clips and FI clips on my Soundcloud. 

A link would be handy....

[CJPJ]

25 minutes ago, Owen said:

A link would be handy....

 

 

[Quatschmacher]

1 hour ago, CJPJ said:

 

 

Thanks. Was actually fun to listen to some of my old C4 clips; I got some mad sounds out of it and plenty of useable ones.