Why did I not do this earlier? - Helix

Jumping to the end robs you of learning opportunities. Understanding how to build a tone makes life with a modeler much more enjoyable.

Early in the Covid shutdowns, I was working at home, and as a way to break up the day, I did something that had become rather rare in my life.

I reached for my guitar (it hangs on the wall) and started playing it at lunch time. I would choke down my sandwich and whatever else, and afterwards, I would flip on the amplifier, plug in my trusty Tom Anderson, and begin playing.

Prior to Covid, I might have picked it up once a month. My calluses were gone, so 20 or so minutes would lead to soreness, and my arthritis in my left hand combined to make it painful enough that after 20 minutes, I would put it back on the wall, and then wait for the next month.

But daily playing reduced the pain from the arthritis (it is still there, but an annoyance, instead of a sharp agony) and the calluses came back.

This led to several changes in my gear. First was the retirement of my Fender Super 60 amp. It was WAY too loud for my room. I got my better half on board with a 15 watt Orange Rocker 15, that frankly sounds awesome with the power shunted down to 1.5 watts through its 10” speaker.

Then I went tone hunting. I bought a slew of pedals to try to build a sound that suits me, my style, and my playing. And frankly, I got a pretty solid set of sounds that I was (and am still) very pleased with. But there are limitations. If you want a EVH “Brown” tone mirroring the first couple of albums, it is hard to do without a Marshall Plexi head into a 4x12 cabinet with 1960’s vintage Celestions, a Variac to crank the voltage to 130 volts or so, and the tape delay with a flanger and phaser in front of the amp.

My old Line 6 pod had this tone on tap by twirling a dial, and pushing a button, but to get that from my lil’ Orange was a tall order.

Furthermore, I went the discrete stomp box route so that I could play with the order, and stacking various tone components in a variety of configurations. This has helped me understand the basics of getting a good sound.

That said, all through this effort, I kept one eye on the Line 6 Helix processors. The Helix Stomp, the Helix Effects, and the Helix Floor (the grand-daddy) knowing that buying any of these would be:

a) Cheaper than buying pedals, even cheap used or b-stock and

b) Quicker to get good sounds, but less understanding of the basics of chaining together a signal chain.

A few weeks ago, I began looking for a used Helix Floor. Sure, I could afford the $1500 list price, but I am a hobbyist, so something slightly used is a good way to save a few bucks. And I did, I saved almost $300,

A week ago Friday with the UPS delivery, it arrived. Packed perfectly in the original packaging with all the case candy, I got it on my desk, and began playing with it.

First observation, I plugged it into my el-cheapo Presonus Eris 4.5 powered studio monitors, and while it sounded OK, it was clear that I needed better studio monitors.

Some searching Reverb, and a set of Yamaha HS-5’s - used - were inbound. About $300 shipped with tax (probably a $150 savings over new) for perfect condition monitors was a score, and holy moly, they are amazing compared to the Presonus monitors. Not to diss on the Presonus unit, I bought them in 2014 for like $90, and as a steppingstone, they worked well. But the Helix deserves better, and the Yamaha’s are a huge uplift.

Also, am I glad I didn’t go bigger. These little monitors are LOUD for my tiny office/den/music room. Worth ever penny.

My first preset

Since I mentioned the EVH “Brown” tone, I figured that was the baseline. I mean, who doesn’t want to drop their tuning a half step, and play along with some of the Van Halen I songs, right?

Fortunately, the Line 6 channel on Youtube has their technical marketing people in videos that show how to get the Van Halen sound (and also a cracking good Jimi Hendrix sound), and I followed the tutorial to a T.

This is the Van Halen sound at it basis. A slight overdrive that has almost no gain, just used to boost the signal when Ed wanted to cut through the mix (like he *EVER* had a problem with that), a flanger, a phaser (the classic MXR phaser) into a 60’s vintage Plexi Marshall with the sag jacked to the max (to replicate the effect of the Variac on the input voltage) into a pair of cabinets, with two delays, one a short-ish bucket brigade delay, and the other a tape loop delay (both added in the booth after the amplifier and mic’ing). Last was a plate reverb, a staple of the engineer’s bag of tricks to add some wetness to the tone.

It is that simple. That outro from Eruption, with the long delay? That is the tape loop delay, and used just for that specific effect.

And folks, watching a 6 minute video on Youtube, fiddling with the knobs on the Helix, and I have unlocked my inner Van Halen.

Just amazing.