Line 6 helix vs Tube Amp (AC30)
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
- I cloned my AC30 in the Helix, did I get close?
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Pickups used in this video:
seymour-duncan...
Any difference was less than subtle.
Fantastic !!
Sure, until you wanna hear it in the room, and not out of headphones or a monitor. Then you want the real amp.
That’s the shitty compromise we face. Doesn’t matter how good they sound if you can’t find a way to happily play the guitar with it.
@@justinTime077
That is obviously true..It still sounded great.
As a Kemper owner I can say the Helix is really appealing! Indistinguishable tones
Would love to try a Kemper!
I made the switch after having both to Helix. The Kemper is great if you profile your own amp set for your style and taste. Which after going through a lot bought and free profiles. I wasn't happy until I profiled a couple amps myself that I borrowed and bought. I did find one Marshall freebie profile that was epic but I was always searching until I profiled my own profiles. Great unit but I didn't want more rabbit holes for tone.. Helix has been my main go to for over a year now. Love it. Love the updates for free, love the flexibility and especially the tones. Which don't really take long to get where you want. If you want to tweak for hours you can but not necessary. I use mine as a preamp into a Seymour 700 poweramp into either my 2-212's or my 412 depending on my moods. Lol. The Kemper was a great unit but it takes work if you don't own a lot of amps to profile.
I switched from Kemper to Helix not because the kemper didn’t sound good but rather the interface with the helix is much easier for me.
Finally, I saw great words from Kemper user about Helix. Looks like Kemper users don't like Helix for some reason :D
Thank you very much for the video, I'm own Helix LT, and have to say this is one of the most technically correct comparisons of a real amplifier and its digital clone on the entire UA-cam I've ever seen. And they sounds exactly same, which is make me more and more respect modern digital guitar sound technologies . Very good job!!!!
wauw! that is incredible. THAT is the tone I have in my head. Just today I ordered a Les Paul and I already have the Helix. Thanks for fun to come playing with this preset.
Super sound from your real AC30 with the Screamer, but the Helix does the job also very nice! Thanks for sharing!
You really nailed it on the Helix. Close my eyes and easily get lost...I'm nowadays really exploring the AC30 model and came across your video. Thanks.
The bias function is really important here + Third party IR. I've got really great tones on my HELIX :-)
why would irs be better than whats actually from the people who built the unit and have 20 years or more experience .... imo irs mostly are useless. Out of say 50 I have tried, one is good, the rest, crud, new vintage audio, tone junkes, and others all really bad.
@@pauljosse I use a cab mix software to make my own IR mixes, mainly of Celestion IRs, and I've been able to tune to perfection the combinations I want. My ears are very experienced FYI
I came across this video a bit late. But wanted to give me two cents. The video is a good comparison. Thanks.
Is Helix sounding as the real things. Well in a video production or in a recording definitely yes. Live in front of the amp, things can get tricky. Some will notice something typical of the old electronics fluctuations that are difficult to reproduce. Some other will prefer the accuracy of today's electronics and software. But this is for the purists: agree that my Helix will never do exactly the same that your three or four 20 Kg amps and your one square meter complex pedal board does. But you must agree with me, in order to be fair, that your rig can never do all what my Helix does. Pick that! All in all, Helix is convenient, flexible, "easy to use" and sound good enough to save your pocket and your back when building a rig for a gig.
Really close. Modelling technology is getting too a point where there is so little difference that you can't tell. The ac30 with tube screamer sounded epic. That said the helix took the pedal better than I thought it would
it didn't took the pedal, it was the simulated TS model inside the helix.
Pretty good comparison! Honestly felt like the Helix actually sounded better somehow, definitely fuller.
Same
Yea your helix preset sounds nicer to me too. It’s got a smoother top end and more pronounced mids
Guarantee it doesn’t feel as good to play though
Great demonstration, thank you. You have to listen really carefully with good headphones or monitors to spot a difference in tone. I‘m in doubt if you can spot it through the mix in a blindfold test.
You’re right. I feel the only way to have a chance at hearing the difference is in a back back test like in the video. Even then, The only folks who could hear the difference are other gear heads who have lots of experience with various types of gear.
Thanks for doing such a good job tone matching. I feel like a lot of modelers can do cleans and heavy distortion well but fail at that mid-breakup tone, so you just sold me on the Line 6.
There is this 3d depth I notice the real amps have that the modelers and I mean all of them have not figured out yet. In a mix you probably would never notice it or when doing a side by side like this. The convenience alone makes it worth it.
One thing people forget too about modeling...They are modeling the sound of a miced up amp, not the sound of the amp in the room. Nothing beats an amp in a room, the sound is all around you. But mic that amp up and listen back to it through studio monitors, and it's totally different. That's where the modelers are really close. The latest Helix update added a 'Dynamic Ambience' feature, which really makes a difference. thanks.
Great video. Is there a difference? It’s tiny but it’s there. It’s less noticeable in a mix and I doubt anyone would know or care when listening to your tracks or watching your band and the convenience out weighs all the tones differences in a heartbeat.
I sold all my amps ages ago and went full bore on modelers.
I'm actually very interested in knowing the settings you used for the AC30 and how you set up the Helix. Would you mind posting that? And what was the Helix playing through?
If i wasn't told which was which i wouldn't be able to tell. I say you matched them very well. That said, your guitar face said you liked the tube screamer into the amp. Love your playing Clint. Have a great and blessed weekend.
Very Good Job! Both sounds great, Nice Video. Enjoyed it very much.
Based on my gentle low-frequency-boosted headphones, I could notice that you get more depth with the real amp. So the conclusion is simple. Use the real amp for recording when you're gonna release that music to the world, and use the Helix for live and songwriting/recording demos at home. :) Both are great for their purpose!
Tubes more organic and soft. Helix is more sharp.
But is very close. With closed eyes in the end it's need more efforts to hear the difference.
Thx for vid, man.
Helix sounds more AC30 than AC30 :D
It's there but it's lacking the dynamic response of the real amp, just feels like the Helix would be the amp, hard compressed. Kemper has the same issue, albeit even worse, much worse actually, at least the Helix breaths. Helix has updated the firmware to double the oversampling since this video was made, and it did improve quite a bit for people like me sensitive to it. Honestly I am just ecstatic with TH-U becasue it breaths, has a ton of dynamic response, and feels like my actual tube gear that's collecting dust.
This is really good to see. The differences are practically nonexistent, especially when put into the mix with a full band. Clint Curtis, what settings do you have the amp set to if you don't mind me asking?
I usually use a lot of tone cut, almost all the way up, turned back a little to let just enough highs through. The rest is pretty basic, edge of breakup, treble back and bass around middle.
Of course they are differences but I prefer the Line 6 version
but in fact I prefer my sound in my demos and to sound like that too I have different pedals for an AC30
wooHOO! Well done.
I appreciate the comparison although the lightly played short clips don’t bring out free best or worse of either product.
These both sound decent here but without really digging in and playing that guitar the differences between the two units are minimal.
I don’t suspect that to be the case in the real
love the Helix but love even more the real thing.
Wow couldn’t hear the difference 👍🔥🎸🦅
Quite similar, but the Helix is missing the initial attack that the real AC30 has, almost like a noise gate is being triggered at the last second
The only difference I could really tell is that the amp sound I heard a little bit of the room it doesn't sound as close as the Helix. They sound the same though.
Great comparison! Sounds so close. Did you use an IR or stock cab?
IR's, which make a huge difference.
Clint Curtis What specific IR did you use?
@@petemalins on the L6 customtone site he said he used the free OwnHammer IR OH 412 MES-ST V60 it was a free ir but ownhammer took it down from their site. it was there 2 days ago when i looked because he also used it for a Blues Jnr match
@Горел yeah, it puzzles me that he wanted to match the real amp tone but then ran it through an IR of a cab with a totally different character than a vox :/
Great job, really close
indistinguishable by audience but really really close wow.. and this was 3 yrs ago..
Can hear the roundness of the real amp, but the clarity and slight scoop of the digital. But when you jam over the blues track it's almost impossible to hear the difference. Proud Helix owner here 😁
Great video....!!!
Modeling is getting better, but, the MAIN problem is that A "real" guitar amp just can't physically reproduce frequencies above say 6k? Where as modellers always go direct into systems that can reproduce frequencies up to 18k quite easily. And when you hear even the slightest tones in those registers it sounds wrong. See even with a mic that can reproduce those frequencies, it can still only capture what the real amp is capable of reproducing. Even with impulses ,the filters just aren't severe enough.
I’m pretty hard on modelers, but that’s silly. All the modelers I’ve tried a,low you to hard cut frequencies you don’t want. If they’re there it’s because you let them through.
@@justinTime077 Of course that's the first thing one tries. But even with the use of high and low pass filters I can still hear vestiges of those frequencies because those systems are capable of reproducing them ,whereas an amp has no chance. Also the curve of a those filters varies from company to company and affect the fundamentals differently depending. I've never heard one actually improve a sound. Just kinda wreck it. In desperation I use a 31 band graphic equaliser because with that I can mess around with a "nonlinear " roll off until it affects the fundamentals in a sonorous way. But, guilty as charged. I'm a pretty silly guy for sure.
There's always that one guy that can hear things outside the human audible spectrum lol
@@Crabfather I never thought 8k to 20k was outside the human hearing spectrum Duke. Pretty sure it's within it. Me no likes any of those frequencies in my guitar tone. Hopefully you don't either.
I do best practise - low cut on tbe cabs at 120 hz, high cut at 5khz. Im actually really picky with my tone and that seems to work really, really well. There are also high and low pass, graphic eqs etc. Id be very surprised if that didnt address your issues. An EQ is an EQ after all.
omg why does the helix have to sound so good. I'm never going to decide between helix and quad cortex. well ok, prob helix because of helix native. but still not sure.
I would love to know your opinion too?
Ohhhhaaaaa
Sorry but the ac sounds considerably more real and less fizzy
Great :o)
Helix not as full sounding. I use Helix live, and love it.
Even with IR's?
@@ConstantineM I don't think it sounds as full in this clip, that's all. I use Helix live, I've only just got home from gigging with it. I mostly use Ownhammer ir's, I tried some Celestion ones today (not sure which I prefer yet). It can sound great, you just need to dial it in to the sound your after. It's a great tool, and can cover a huge amount of styles. Pretty much everything really.
@@stevegardiner8473 agreed, it can sound damn near identical if you put the time into tweaking it.
I can hear the difference, amp is better by just a bit
helix is actually way better lol! hell yeah!
The character is definitely there, but still feel that the helix lacks the depth of the amp.
At this point, anyone who maintains that tube amps are more is just trying to be different. “The AC30 just felt more twangy” or “there is just more of a fullness to the AC30” blah blah blah.
Yeah there's always those guys who have blasted their ears to pieces pushing their tube amps who insist they can hear things no other mortal can.. Its probably tinnitus lol
The Helix does not sound as good (I'm a Helix owner). That also means that in person the difference is greater. Modelers are great pieces of equipment but they are still behind real tube amps.
MegaBrebis they are NOT behind in 2 immediate ways. A. You will never hear that difference in a mix let alone if it’s tweaked properly B. You can’t call dozens of amps and pedals at your finger tips that are THAT close “Behind”. ( and add IRs and some intelligent tweaking) and you really will never need an amp other than the emotional attachment and nostalgia you get from a tube amp. You see if you go and try out 5 Tube Amps at a sound room. I guarantee you will say This amp just doesn’t sound as good as this amp. So you are Right there wiping your argument. It’s what inspires you to play better If that’s a favorite amp, great. Out of all the time you will have owning a Helix and tweaking it l, there is NO WAY you aren’t going to be inspired by at least a few tones. And THEN THE FX! And right there that’s more than one real amp can do. In fact I watched a shootout between guys playing a real AC 30 and a helix and the 1 guy hated the helix from their previous bias and experience ...then that same guy ended up picking the helix as the real AC 30 and this is a guy who plays in AC 30 all the time! There was actually two different guys playing in the vid and one guy who did the controlled set up. Maybe you can find it.
@@LemonmilkMusic Different ears, different opinions :-)
MegaBrebis can’t argue that !!
No diferency
In this case I found the real amp sounded better....
awful
Vox amps suck anyway.