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Hey folks,
Got a free 15 day trial of the Helix plugin and so far, I’m still on the fence with it.
Pretty sure Brian uses the Helix stomp so this is basically the digital version of it.
What I’m not liking is the slightly tinny tone and also the ghost notes ringing out – If you listen you’ll hear what I mean.
Went with EP 636 for the test and I’m using their version of an AC30 preset so no tweaking.
On the plus side, you don’t need an amp and just plug in your cable to the interface and guitar and off you go.
Be interested to know thoughts.
Liam.
26 May 2026
“We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams. “
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My colleagues gave it to me as a retirement gift and for the life of me I couldn’t get good tones out of it. Not sure why it should be any different than the Helix multiprocessor units.
John -
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I agree with Andrè…need to add some delay or reverb or something else to give it some depth. Your playing was excellent!
Joe
The sight of a touch, or the scent of a sound,
Or the strength of an Oak with roots deep in the ground.
--Graeme Edge -
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I’m an amp and stomp box guy Liam so no expert. As always your playing is great but I do think the tone is a little thin and ‘artificial’ sounding. Good luck with your decision. 😎🎸😎
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I bought the Helix Stomp a few years ago and hardly use it anymore. It’s too complicated for me; none of the amp simulations or effects sound like the real thing, and I feel like everything is more or less geared toward metal.
My go-to pedal is the Strymon Iridium, which only offers Fender/Vox/Marshall in three variants each and three cabinets, and it covers my needs perfectly.
Every now and then I also use the excellent Universal Audio Dream, which exclusively simulates the Fender 65 Reverb, but I find it a bit more complicated to use.Dieter
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Thanks Dieter.
I had a look at the stomp before native and agree 100% with you that it is far too complicated.
I’ll have a look at the audio dream.
“We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams. “
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I can vouch for the Dream65 too. I’ve got this and Universal Audio’s Ruby. I’ve used these pretty much exclusively for any recording I’ve done over the last few years.
I’ve found them easy to use with excellent recorded sound and you can get a variety of tones out of them without the overwhelming choice of something like Bias or Helix.
I did have the Walrus ACS1 for a while which is similar to the Iridium but found it not as rich in sound as the UA pedals, though it was still decent.
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Interesting Liam. I have only ever used an amp with a pedal board so I cannot claim any knowledge of those “non-amp” setups. For what its worth, I agree with your assessment.
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A few years back, I used to use Positive Grid’s software amps and effects pedals (BAIS Amp and BIAS FX) as I didn’t have an amp and living in an apartment, it made sense. Although I did manage to get some decent tones out of it, most of the time the amps sounded thin or distorted in an unpleasant way. Getting a reasonable tone was hard work.
I assume that Positive Grid’s Spark Amp uses the same software too, but the tones AMers have got out of these sound superb and they seem to just pull them out of a hat! So maybe the Helix pedals and software have a similar disconnect in the way they sound or maybe it takes a lot of knowhow to get the best out of the software.
Top playing in the demo though 👍 -
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Dear Liam!!!!As I told John H. whenever you all write about equipment it’s all Greek to me🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣I have no clue at all!But whatever you play I simply enjoy listening to❤️🩷and that matters 🥰You have chosen a great lesson and you did absolute justice to it!!!🥰🥰
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Your going to have to make your own decision based on what you can and cannot do with it. My suggestion is to build up the sound your going for from a mostly clean or on edge of breakup sound by dialing in the amp directly and not relying on any presets. Always dial it in yourself and then add in effects as needed.
Go slow and practice correct technique, and your abilities will dramatically improve.
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Well, first of all, great rendition of the EP636, Liam! About the tone, also for me it sounds a bit tinny. I’m using free amps ad effects plugins, and yes, experimenting and tweaking is always a long process, but necessary for achieve a good tone, and I think it’s the same for commercial products (even if you pay them 😅) .
Our Italian new guitar hero Matteo Mancuso uses a Helix 6 Line stomp (as well as Brian), so at least the hardware version shouldn’t be bad, but eventually I think that everyone has to experiment and find what suits to his personal tastes, according to his budget and goals.
Guido
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Thanks Guido.
Yes it’s a constant headache when it comes to tone isn’t it.
I’m just about at the end of the free trial with Helix and I think I will end up buying the plugin.
I would recommend you give the free trial a shot if you are in the market for something new.
“We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams. “
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