Line 6 Helix - How To Create A Great Tone - Pt. 4 - Using Sag, Hum, Ripple, Bias etc.
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- Опубліковано 20 сер 2024
- / jasonsadites
In this installment we take a look at some of the deeper tone shaping functions within the amp and cab settings of the Helix. We discuss the Sag, Hum, Ripple, Bias, Bias X and Early Reflections controls and how they can help us dial in the tone we want. Hope you enjoy and please subscribe to my channel if you are so inclined...
Jason...these vids are 3 yrs old but still relevant today...these are a valuable resource since guitarists like myself are coming into modeling in their own time...thanks for all you do my brother!!!!!
An important aspect of biasx and sag is that they are dynamic - meaning they have more effect on tone as the amp is driven harder. For example, if you bias the amp hot (higher bias), it will have a bit less gain and the distortion will be a bit warmer, incliding more even order harmonics resulting from tube saturation instead of cutoff. If you set biasx high, the the bias voltage will sag when the amp is driven hard, make the amp biased even hotter (less negative voltage). What's cool about this is you get a nice warm tone from the power amp when it distorts, but if you turn your guitar volume down (or reduce the drive), the power amp will clean up, the bias will be colder, and them brightness will come back. Just what you want - a dynamic tone control in the power amp. Negative feedback is another interesting amp control, but Helix doesn’t provide that yet. So these power amp controls won’t have much effect if the master is turned down and the power amp isn’t distorting.
+Jim Amsden thanks for your comment. I mentioned in the video that with lower master and gain settings these controls would not have as much of an effect. Thanks fo4 your summary here :-)
Can we just take a moment and acknowledge how badass this amp sounds without even trying. I don’t ever even use the Brit models, but this tone is just damn good.
I agree it sounds terrific on his rig. I am wondering if perhaps intervening changes made to the firmware has changed the qualities of these parameters.. when I follow along on my Helix/Powercab I get a hissy tone that is very different..
Wow man! Thanks for clearing that up for me! Also I love that their is a new debate with my friends who prefer the sound of an analog amp.
My pleasure and glad it was helpful :-)
This is gold. Thank you! I definitely prefer the higher/vintage settings. Sounds more like a real amp to my ears...
I feel like the “stiffness” that is often ascribed to digital processing can be eliminated by upping the sag and can be further softened by raising the Hum and ripple. Whereas the “digital artifacts” that are often associated with digital gear can be removed by upping the Bias and Bias X. Together I believe these settings will result in a more authentic amp sound.
My pleasure and thank you! I like your summary of the settings, I couldn't have said it better myself :-)
i know this is a very old comment
but the low settings sound like EVH and i LOVE it
@@JasonSadites What settings do you recommend to get it close to the 65 deluxe reverb? Also why don’t they just match them as close to the amp as possible?
Thank you for such an incredibly useful video. I'm a teacher (art) - you have an excellent teaching manner yourself. Very clear and easy to follow.
Thank you so much for the kind words and so glad you enjoyed :-)
What a great video again! Really learning a lot on this channel, not only about my Helix LT but also about amps in general, thanks so much!
Thank you so much and I am very happy to hear the videos are helping out :-)
I love this. Why? Getting the right sound by choosing the right as “early” in the chain as possible does wonders. The player followed by the the guitar and amp choices has such a drastic impact upon the sound. Once those bits are “right,” choices of EQ, compression, or other pedals are the icing on the cake (still important but they’re not holding the cake together).
Great video! Thanks Jason!
My understanding of Bias x = Bias Excursion, so they just shortened the name a bit. As you mentioned, it's essentially the same concept as sag, but applied to the tube bias current instead of the entire power supply. It changes how much the bias current deviates on transients as you dig in.
My pleasure and thanks for watching and glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for pointing out about the Bias Excursion, I didn't know that and that makes a lot of sense! And your description matches up with what I heard as I messed with it. Awesome...thank you!
Diving into the taboo settings, thanks for taking us along. Once again a very useful lesson 🤓
My pleasure! Glad you enjoyed :-)
Thanks Jason. I've used the Helix for 3 years now but learned a few things here for sure. Don't know if you teach professionally, but I find you thorough, clear and basically have a nice, down to earth vibe in your presentation. That and killer chops to boot, which sure don't hurt. I'm new to your channel but look fwd to watching more and have subscribed as well. Much respect and best wishes to you.
+John Keane , thanks so much for the kind words! I did teach guitar professionally for a long time and very glad to hear that you find the videos easy to follow :-) Thanks for the sub and stay tuned for much more...
Jason. This whole series has been phenomenal! Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge and experience with the rest of us! And to your comment later in the video about guitar lessons and approaches to lead playing, yes Yes YES please!!!
+James Perry ahh thanks so much! Hearing it is helping some folks makes it all worth while. Thanks for the kind words and stay tuned :-)
Thank you a lot for this series! i just moved from real amp to helix and i love your tutorials. Grat, amazing job! Best for you!
Thank you Jason. These effects are quite subtle. I like running the bias 'hotter' makes for a much warmer tone in my opinion and a more pleasing tone to my ears. Of course tone is a subjective thing, what suits one may not suit another. This is what makes the helix such a superb 'toy'. I would to love to hear and see anything you have to offer regarding helix/guitar playing and music in general. Having devoted so much of my life to this art, some 50 years now and still counting, I find I have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge on the subject. Thanks again for the time you give and look forward to the next instalment...regards James 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
+James Rushton thanks so much and so glad you are enjoying the videos! I agree wholeheartedly on your comments about the Helix and your tone preference. Thanks again!
I actually like all of the parameters near-zero. Love this coldness
Honestly same. I like more progressive djenty tones though. I think the rep that line6 gets for artifacts could possibly be dialled out through hum/ripple settings because I’ve honestly heard direct comparisons with some of the real amps and the helix models and there’s virtually no noticeable difference. Certainly nothing you’d notice live or in a full band mix.
Lower the bias and bias x makes the amp model sounds like typical “cold” class AB amps such as mesa boogie, engl, peavey etc
Magically makes the amp model closer to the real high gain amp tones, it has clarity, tight, dynamic, thick and less compressed guitar tones (or said, sounded like fractal amp,model)
And don’t forget to lower master volume parameter (I’m personally set to 1 or 3 at max) and compensate its low volume with raising channel volume and IR level parameter
Wow, I never expected those to make such a difference!
top Man Jason !!! i have a much better understanding now, i have always used tube amps but came to the conclusion I would rather a shit load of amps than just a couple, this has helped me dial in the sort of sounds I want, be well brother
This is one of the videos I watched before I got my Stomp. It helped convince me to buy it. But at first I was using it on a pedal board and messing with these features didn't really translate. Now that I'm using monitors I can really tell, so revisiting this video is going to help a lot. I've just worked with one preset and am so much happier with it.
Thanks!
Really cool and interesting experiment. The final parameter test tones were very interesting: warm and dynamic (almost vintage) v cold and sharper (a little bit more modern). Just shows you that those parameters are there for a reason.
Thanks Tony and really glad you enjoyed :-)
@@JasonSadites Absolutely... and I think your philosophy is correct: unless you try stuff out, you'll never know. What's the worst that can happen: a factory reset?
I never used the sag to the more extreme settings and then turned up the channel volume to compensate and I have to say although I was happy enough it has changed everything for me! I am getting the more compressed sounds and attack and clarity that I like now! The Helix has been one of the best if not the best gear purchase I've ever made.
Also the higher Bias settings really cleans up the character of the amp distortion as well.
Thank you. I’ve had no idea what any of that meant. This helps a great deal.
Loving your series. So helpful with me getting to know the Helix. A lot of these settings were on the HD500 as well, but I never really messed with the power amp settings. Thanks for going over them in such detail!
Thank you and my pleasure :-)
Was looking for a detailed explanation and demo of all these parameters and found this gem of a video. Great explanation and demoing Jason sir. (and that's coming from someone with a PhD in Physics and Electronics.)
Thanks so much and glad you enjoyed :-)
I've been playing guitar for 40+ years but I always love getting a different perspective and / or learning about a player's style. Would love for you to do some lesson videos.
That is great! I will be getting to this in the near future! Stay tuned :-) And thanks for you interest!
Very cool, educational, in-depth analysis of these deep features! Well done. Thanks!
Thank you and my pleasure Kelly :-)
Love HUM 10! Adds a good kind of nasty to my sound.
Nice vid--I've played with those parameters a bit, but you went much deeper...loved the extreme examples. Thanks!
My pleasure and thanks for watching! Glad you liked it!
Great video-thank you for making my move from tube to Helix this year a less cumbersome.
I use to love when my old marshal would sag...it felt like it gave me a split second to adjust my fingering if I kinda missed a chord...it is more if a feel thing...I loved that about a tube amp!!!!
That vintage sound vs the modern sound in the full parameter test really showed off just how versatile Helix can be. Those P90’s sounds gorgeous and warm on the vintage snapshot but really came to life with bite and edge on the more modern settings.
Crazy how much difference it all makes. Especially with the master cranked like that. I never crank the master on any of my settings, but perhaps now when I'm dialing in a sound I'll start with it that way, and then back off the master a touch once I've dialed those settings in to my liking. Bias x however seems very apparent at most settings on the master. I used it to add some warmth to the otherwise very sharp sounding peavey 5150 model.
Yes , those parameters really do make a difference and can really help shape the sound. Hope they help :-)
Thanks Jason, that is a really helpful guide to demystify these settings. Quite subtle on their own but in combination as you showed at the end you can tune the sound from warm vintage to a more modern aggressive distortion. I've only recently got a Helix LT and my mind is boggled with the attention to detail that line 6 have put into this device. Some inspiring playing there too!
Thank you so much for this! I’ve been confused about these parameters but the way you demonstrated them answered all my questions!
Thanks for your hard work, Jason! Awesome and very useful :)
My pleasure and thank you for taking the time to watch! Very glad you are finding them useful :-)
Thanks so much! Just got a Helix and love the explanations you provide! Great video man!
Nate Weeks my pleasure and so glad you liked the video :-)
makes a huge difference in dialing in an amp.
I also use just one guitar in one setting typically on my Pod Go, so I used the global noise gate to clean it up and save a pedal space, but often still use horizon gate instead.
Fantastic Jason, thank you. Would definitely love to see some videos on how you approach lead playing
Rob Groden thanks so much! And I am going to get to some guitar instructional videos in the very near future :-)
Very interesting video Jason it will really help fine tuning the amp output. I have also heard Increased Sag and Bias helps improve the sustain. Personally I would love a sustain block as I set up patches with my guitar volume on 4 and don't get much unless I crank the volume. Sometimes that's undesirable.
Thanks again for all the work you put in to help us Helix users get the workings of our patches sorted. Cheers Mike
My pleasure and thanks Mike :-)
Great video these help alot to understand all the helix controls and parameters
Thank you so much MetalDad :-)
Great videos Jason, clear, friendly, very informative and helpful. Thanks so much.
Thank you so much and so glad you enjoyed it :-) I appreciate the kind words!
Great demo. Very significant.
Thank you so much and so glad you enjoyed it :-)
Awesome video! You helped me a lot with dialing in my Helix-Sounds. Thank you very much for your great work man!
Totally my pleasure and thank you :-)
Thoroughly Enjoying this series of Videos. You have a wonderful approach to teaching. Thanks. I just picked up the Helix LT and a Headrush to give them a try. I love the Helix for its flexibility and its ease of use compared to my POD HD500X. However, I love the interface and construction of the Headrush, however it lacks the amount of flexibility and options the Helix Provides. . I still have a month to decide which I want to keep.
Thank you so much! So glad you enjoy the videos! I cannot speak for the Headrush as I have not tried it at this point, but I can certainly vouch for the Helix and Helix LT as being absolutely spectacular pieces of gear...good luck in your decision making and thanks for the comment and kind words!
Tremendously useful...thank you!
My pleasure :-)
Thank you very much for your series of videos Jason! It helped me already to find the tones that I want to hear, but did not know how to get on the Helix LT.
You mentioned that you are considering doing some lesson on your approach to playing, e.g. lead playing - I would be really interested in that!
My pleasure Harald! SO glad you are enjoying the videos and finding them useful....I have more on the way shortly :-)
The lessons videos will also be coming in the near future...thanks so much for you interest and stay tuned :-)
Thanks for all the information!
My pleasure and thank you Dean :-)
8:40 when he finally starts switching between snapshots.
Very informative Jason! Thank you
Thank you so much and glad you like it :-)
Thank you very much for this great explanation 👍🏻 helps a lot.
My pleasure and very happy you enjoyed :-)
Great video, brother! Great way of explaining these ambiguous parameters. Somewhere between an audiophile and a regular guitar player. Cheers!
Tony, thanks so much brother! Really appreciate it :-) Hope you are well!
THANK YOU! This was what I was looking for. So after watching this one Jason, I cannot help but wonder if I should be using these rather than our beloved EQ at the end. One line of thought would be to make it sound eq'd like a recording. The other line of thought would be, try to get that tone in 6 blocks. I think, I am going to experiment with these effects demonstrated here to remove the EQ block at the end.
My pleasure Eric and so glad you enjoyed :-) I would not think of these as a replacement for EQ in anyway at all, but it is easy to dial in a great tone without the use of the eq at the end. These are fun parameters to mess with though for sure...
Jason, thank you for sharing your skills, cheers!
My pleasure and thank you for watching and your kind words :-)
Nice tutorial Jason.
Thank you very much +Jerry Reff!
so nice comparison Thanks!
You're doing such a nice thourough job. It helped a lot! Thank you so much! I suscribe.
My pleasure and thank you so much :-)
Really good video! Thanks
Golden! Thanks again!
Thanks so much :-)
Brilliant! Thanks so much for this!
Thank you so much Peter and so glad you enjoyed it :-)
I've noticed even with a bare-bones patch, the tone in your videos is very nice. At home I run the 1/4 inch out from the Helix to a little Rolls "mixer" and from there to headphones ( AKG K 240 Semi-Open Studio Headphones ). The Rolls allows me to mix in an mp3 for the song I'm rehearsing. I could use the headphone out from the Helix but I thought using the 1/4 is what I use at church and would be best for dialing in tones. Doesn't sound as good as what I'm hearing here -- good, just not as good. I have a decent powered speaker but need to use that when the wife isn't home :-)
Could just be newbie issues since I've only owned the Helix 3 weeks.
Hmmm, not too sure what could be the problem. Have you downloaded any of my patches to test if they sound any better through your system? You also have to make sure that in Global settings you have whichever outputs you are sending your sound out of is set to the appropriate setting. Hope the helps :-) Let me know!
wonderful walkthrough:-)
Thank you and glad you enjoyed it :-)
wow, to my ears the Bias X, makes an Amp. sound much Sweeter sounding. Getting rid of some of that Nasally sounding stuff. I know there was also such a thing as SAG with the Rectifier tube vs. a Solid State Rectifier, which really only had an effect with Amps. pushed to breakup and beyond .
Ripple and hum on high settings work pretty good for heartbreaker eh? Nasty and rock and roll for sure.
This is so great. Thanks man!
Thank you and totally my pleasure :-)
Omg, that is very interesting , should re think the sound I want to get
Hey Jason it would be great if you could create a series like this for bass tones and effects. Using multiple bass amps in parallel, one low and thump and the other high and gritty with different effects and how they effect the bass. I realize the concepts are a lot of the same thing. It would just be cool to see you put jam it and put it together. - Cheers DDE
I don't own any basses at present so not really something I could do, plus I feel there is probably somebody far more qualified out there to do the bass side of things :-)
Great video, more please :)
Thanks so much! I have another one almost ready to go with Stock Cab vs IR comaprison...thanks for watching!
Thanks Jason! The Sag values is what I was searching for, and I learned a lot more about the other settings along the way.
My pleasure and thank you Tommy :-)
Great job Jason ;0)
Thanks so much +dax chenier!
the bias lower is less headroom and quicker amp break up. Higher bias is more headroom. Bias X Compresses the power amp. This is my understanding of it.
I think it's the other way around, high bias makes the amp work in "class A" (more vintage) it breaks up easier and compress more, less bias makes the amp work in class A/B and gives more headroom, therefore "colder" with more headroom.
If I had to guess, "Bias X" might have something to do with the crossover distortion of a tube poweramp.
cool man
this is so useful 🙏
Very helpful
Very Informative Thanks.
Great Video, thank you.
Thank you and my pleasure :-)
I just watched the whole series... gotta say best tutorial out there.
That is great to hear :-) Thanks so much for watching and letting me know!!
I definitely preferred zero sag, hum and ripple, but maximum bias. and I think maximum biasX
Cool...it sure is nice to have the ability to make these little adjustments as desired :-)
For the modern metal players out there. You're going to want the SAG between 0.1 to 2.0 the lower the SAG the tighter the sound is. Hum and Ripple at 0 to give you a tight low end for rhythm stuff and the bias settings in the middle at 5. Bump up the Hum and Ripple to 5 for solos as they warm the sound up.
Great stuff
+Trevor Grant thank you :-)
Thx a lot sir... nice explanation
I think bias is make tube sound like tonelab's vr gain.
I love vr gain.
so i will love bias knob
Really good job!! ;)
Thanks so much :-)
Thank you :)
David Dexter my pleasure and glad you enjoyed :-)
Any Chance of a video explaining EQ Jason parametric and the likes MID Q, High Q low High cut and the likes ...
+paulcuban that is a great idea! I have had a few requests for eq and compressor tutorials. I will see what I can do :-)
Jason - this is awesome. Do you think these parameters have the same effect on a clean amp sound as they clearly do on a dirty sounding amp? Thank You!
Thank you and so glad you liked it. Line 6 has stated that since these are mostly power amp controls that will be noticed more with higher master and for some even higher drive settings, I would tend to think that on cleaner sounds they may not be as noticeable. But, I would say give it a try and see if it gives you something you like :-)
Great job Jason,
You said that Helix Native you should have your interfaces input level set to 0 and that was super helpful. So thank you!!!
How would you set the hx stomp going into my focusrite Scarlett interface? I don’t like using HX stomp as my interface I like the sound of the Scarlett much more.
I’m really looking for a slightly broken up deluxe reverb.
Hey Jason. Just wanted to know if it’s normal to hear some scratchy artifacts (maybe clipping?) when on patches with light-medium breakup/OD - especially with chords. I’ve tried unity gain, hi and lo cuts, and turning guitar pad on - but it’s still there. I can’t tell if it’s an intentional sound or I have a defective unit. I’m on a Pod Go, an insight would help, thanks!
So.... what settings should I use?.... :)
F'in Helix!
So appreciate your videos. They've been incredibly helpful. Question, though ... what screen capture software are you using to make these videos? I'm trying to do something for a friend and am having trouble getting my screen capture software to pick up the Helix.
Thank you Diss and glad you enjoy :-) For screen capture, I use a program called ScreenPresso on Windows. Works really nicely. I then edit everything together in Vegas Pro..hope that helps!
Another great video, quick question. I saw u where changing the bias amount thru your snapshots. Are u able to change the amount of gain on the amp in thru snapshots? I tried doing it but it wasn’t moving the level change and was wondering if I was doing it wrong
Thank you so much :-) Yes, you sure can change gain through snapshots. I have a full video on using snapshots here: ua-cam.com/video/nSJefCG70Kk/v-deo.html Hope it helps :-)
Please make a video about using Helix as a pedalboard when plugged in to the front of the amp please I need help.
I believe you'll get more poweramps distortion from a hot biased amp.
I think sag etc is something that you need to be actually playing with, to feel it, more than being a listener
Depending on how dramatic you set it, it is most certainly something the listener will hear.
I'm a new HX Stomp user and was wondering what those settings were 😆
I have an unrelated question if you could help please. I've had to send my Stomp back for replacement because it died on me during a firmware update so now's a good time to find out.
My original firmware was 2.65 and the new update was 2.82. I know that the 2.80 update was a major one, so my question is can I update directly to 2.82 from 2.65? I can't understand why my Stomp developed such a fatal fault unless it was just it's time to die.
So as I can't find much info about my question I thought I'd ask some experienced users.
So what do you think about updating a large leap in firmware? Thanks for any help 👍
I believe you can. Line 6 has provided a VERY detailed update process for going from earlier builds to 2.8.
Thanks Jason. Yeh, the Line 6 website IS very detailed but I don't find things like this, that you have to connect via usb to update, all that easy to follow, and after my first Stomp dying on me during the update, I find it extra daunting now 😆
I'm still waiting for my replacement to arrive so I've been watching a lot of your Helix 'How To' videos. I know they're not exactly the same but they're still informative for me.
I just hope that my new Stomp works fine, the last thing I want are any more issues because with gear like this, it's important that I feel confident that it's in 100% working order. I don't want to have to send the next one back because I'm impressed with the sounds I've heard come out of it, and I've liked hearing the sounds that you've got out of your Helix in your videos.
I'm hoping that I can get such nice tones out of my HX Stomp.
I'm curious if you do anything different when running through headphones versus Poweramp/monitors. I work the night shift so the family sleeps when I come home and start jamming.
Hey Robert, I don't really do anything different when using headphones. I use a pair of Senheisser HD600's which I really love. The patched usually translate nicely to them. Not sure if the helped at all :-)
Cool. I'm using audio Technica m50s, I just wasn't sure if I get entirely different sounds when it gets hooked up to the computer and tracked. Thank you.
It should be fine Robert! Let me know how it works out for you :-)
I just bought the Helix LT , can I use the info in these videos on the Lt? Or is this only for the Helix? Thanks for any info!!
Yes Elliott, all of the tone sculpting tips apply to Helix Floor, Helix LT, Helix Rack and even Helix Native :-)
Lowering Hum and ripple have reduce the noise when playing breakup tones but I lose some of that organic feel and tone. do you find that these parameters affect different guitar pickups instead of the amp model?
Great video, but for modern metal or "djent" tones what would you recommend setting these values at as a general?
Thanks so much Jake! That is a tough question to answer in a general manner. It would really depend on which amp model you are using and where your Master setting is at. All I could really recommend would be to experiment using the suggestions in the video. Not sure if that was of much help :-)
23:48 I thought cleaning up picking is based on the sag
great video sir. but way too many ads.
Jason,its mean that for metal better sag is about 7 or 10?
Hey I noticed that with my Strat my Helix is lacking a lot when it comes to low end, it's as huge and punchy as I want, what should I do?
Strats are going to be inherently thinner sounding, you could always try using EQ to beef it up a bit if need be.
I use the kinky boost for my tele when i need a little more beef, works great! even at low gain settings!