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#45986 - 02/10/17 02:18 AM Forgive me father for I am a sinner...
Ichil Offline
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Registered: 01/21/15
Posts: 133
Loc: Italy
Ok, I must confess, i just bought a Helix.
I's a huge step up from 11R in terms of flexibility, usability and possibility to create very experimental sounds.
But is a huge step up soundwise?
The internal cabs of the Helix are better than the ones in the 11R, but what if we use the same IR for both Helix and 11R?
I made two very short samples: same DI (heavy riff with a 7 string Ibanez), same IR (Hesu 2x12 with an I5 as mic), different amps (Archon for Helix and Modern Recto for 11R) to see if they are equally good (I didn't try to tone match).
Here are the samples:
1. 11R
https://www.dropbox.com/s/coblu882wzmblsl/recto%20IR%20less%20gain.mp3?dl=0
2. Helix
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0xbrkurrkgfvqzj/Helix%20Archon.mp3?dl=0

What do you think?

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#45987 - 02/10/17 07:53 AM Re: Forgive me father for I am a sinner... [Re: Ichil]
Rushian Offline
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Registered: 01/26/10
Posts: 569
Loc: New Jersey, USA
Neither is bad, but to my ears Eleven rack sounds darker with fewer harmonics/presence. Pretty much my assessment when comparing against the AX8.

Ultimatly we are not comparing apples to apples, the technology in Helix/AX8 compared to the Eleven rack is several ticks ahead. It's like comparing an original Quad Core CPU with the current versions...IMHO

Oh and congrats on NGD!!:D
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#45988 - 02/10/17 08:06 AM Re: Forgive me father for I am a sinner... [Re: Rushian]
Downrazor11 Offline
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Registered: 07/09/14
Posts: 271
Loc: Iowa City
I like the first one better, it sounds more 'raw' and fitting for the piece, like an engine of destruction.. the second clip seems somehow more muted in the highs, less of an edge..

Listening through JBL 305s streaming from the dropbox site FWIW..

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#45989 - 02/10/17 08:31 AM Re: Forgive me father for I am a sinner... [Re: Downrazor11]
Ichil Offline
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Registered: 01/21/15
Posts: 133
Loc: Italy
Wow, two opposite points of view. laugh
I have to relisten to everything with my trusty headphones tonight but it could be that I cutted the presence too much in the helix clip.
The interesting thing is that 11R is fighting well even against helix: if only avid supported it a little more... frown

@thanks Rushian for the NGD smile

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#45991 - 02/12/17 02:18 PM Re: Forgive me father for I am a sinner... [Re: Ichil]
jaminjimlp Offline
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Registered: 02/18/13
Posts: 1052
Loc: Georgia
Lisened to it on my phone couldn't tell any difference at all course it's just a phone speaker right lol will listen later on big set up in the other room... but I would like to say as far as the helix cabinets there's a lot of options with those cabinets like being able to run two single cab blocks in parallel or even with an IR or 2 IR's also duel cab blocks with two independent cabs on each block.... there are some good YouTube videos out there on tweaking parallel cabinet setups on different paths.
I was using a lot of IR's at first I've had it for a little over a year now actually almost a year-and-a-half and if found that the cabinets in the Helix are actually really nice, sometimes you have too many options if you know what I mean, specially with IR'S and ear burnout....
the archon is my favorite amp by far on the helix it's the first I guess that I have noticed I don't even need a distortion box or anything else to use it as a lead tone it just as a nice smooth lead metal sound whatever you want to call it also the clean Channel version is very nice and sounds really really good
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#45992 - 02/12/17 03:18 PM Re: Forgive me father for I am a sinner... [Re: jaminjimlp]
Christophersad Offline
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Registered: 06/08/13
Posts: 690
Loc: Italy
ahahah in the end u did it! what about those lessons u talked about? ;))))))))
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Sometime what you Want aint what you need.

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#45993 - 02/12/17 03:42 PM Re: Forgive me father for I am a sinner... [Re: Christophersad]
Christophersad Offline
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Registered: 06/08/13
Posts: 690
Loc: Italy
helix kinda sounds more organic eve if its darker (maybe some different settings)
but 11r still retain his goodness nontheless
_________________________
Sometime what you Want aint what you need.

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#45994 - 02/13/17 12:08 AM Re: Forgive me father for I am a sinner... [Re: Christophersad]
Ichil Offline
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Registered: 01/21/15
Posts: 133
Loc: Italy
Originally Posted By: Christophersad
ahahah in the end u did it! what about those lessons u talked about? ;))))))))

I'm taking lessons too!
Go big or go home. smile


Edited by Ichil (02/13/17 12:08 AM)

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#45995 - 02/13/17 12:12 AM Re: Forgive me father for I am a sinner... [Re: Christophersad]
Ichil Offline
advanced member

Registered: 01/21/15
Posts: 133
Loc: Italy
Originally Posted By: Christophersad
helix kinda sounds more organic eve if its darker (maybe some different settings)
but 11r still retain his goodness nontheless

I agree with you.
If all the effects and the routing flexibility aren't needed, the 11r can still satisfy many players (with an ir loader in the loop if you use high gain sounds).


Edited by Ichil (02/13/17 12:13 AM)

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#45996 - 02/13/17 12:21 AM Re: Forgive me father for I am a sinner... [Re: jaminjimlp]
Ichil Offline
advanced member

Registered: 01/21/15
Posts: 133
Loc: Italy
Originally Posted By: jaminjimlp
Lisened to it on my phone couldn't tell any difference at all course it's just a phone speaker right lol will listen later on big set up in the other room... but I would like to say as far as the helix cabinets there's a lot of options with those cabinets like being able to run two single cab blocks in parallel or even with an IR or 2 IR's also duel cab blocks with two independent cabs on each block.... there are some good YouTube videos out there on tweaking parallel cabinet setups on different paths.
I was using a lot of IR's at first I've had it for a little over a year now actually almost a year-and-a-half and if found that the cabinets in the Helix are actually really nice, sometimes you have too many options if you know what I mean, specially with IR'S and ear burnout....
the archon is my favorite amp by far on the helix it's the first I guess that I have noticed I don't even need a distortion box or anything else to use it as a lead tone it just as a nice smooth lead metal sound whatever you want to call it also the clean Channel version is very nice and sounds really really good

I've already have my 3 or 4 favourite irs so I'm not overwhelmed with options smile
I found that the stock cabs are good for clean or not too distorted sounds (for classic rock) but for metal they aren't tight enough for my taste.
I already tried 5150, recto, mark IV (I'm not able to make it sound good! My fault for sure), Engl and Archon fo metal and I liked the archon best, followed by the 5150.
For sololing I always use only the distortion of the amp, because I like dynamics.
For cleans I dig a lot the Hiwatt model, but I need to experiment more.

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