I don’t know why it took me so long to get around to rigging up my Helix with my tube amp! And yeah; the four cable method template messed up slightly at first, but then after I looked at the super serial template I sorted out what I needed to do. I ended up using the Helix 3/4 to do the final ‘send’ to the amp’s fx return, instead of using the Helix 1/4″ out. I suppose if I was doing two amps to get stereo the 1/4″ mains would make more sense. I ended up routing a direct out from my amp back to the Helix to go through path 2B, so I make 1A > 1B > 2A all serial, with the Helix fx loop 1/2 in the middle somewhere, not sure path it’s on, I think in the middle of 1B. You can split those up however you like, and in whichever way you are best likely to use having redundant or extra fx blocks that you can toggle on and off using snapshots when there are not enough footswitches to assign every effect to an individual on/off state.
I typically have a compressor, noise gate, barely noticeable reverb and delay, eq, timmy, etc. ‘always on’ or on/off based on snapshot only; then add additional drive, boost, delay and verb to individual foot switches. Ten switches mode is great! Just got there last night actually..
Instrument level I think for all the send and returns. And I love being able to change the amp channel with snapshots! Hard to beat amp gain; though the Helix overdrives sound really good when you dial them in for your rig.
I might experiment with putting some delay and reverb pedals in the remaining fx loops; have a Strymon Blue Sky and SA Nemesis that might be intriguing..
I also like that the master volume doesn’y have anything to do with the signal that way; just set up volume pedal blocks where needed.
I imagine you could get very deep using ‘transparent’ IR’s to place after the preamp before the poweramp to color your actual amp tone using an IR.
I messed about using EQ, high and low cut, and the global EQ; you can seriously dial in your rig with this thing. It’s impressive. I’ve had it for quite some time, only ever did the FRFR / direct, etc.
Eye opener to say the least! Can’t wait to go home and jam on it tonight
cheers!
