RipperShred
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- 460
So, after months of waiting to get my hands on it, finally arrived. Now, about a month ago I got to try out the platform in the floorboard, but all I did with it for the few days I had my hands on it was through my normal poweramp/4x12 setup.
Today I set it on my desk, ran it through my Focal Alpha 50s (if you haven't tried a pair of Alpha 50s, do yourself a favor and make sure you do the first chance you get; They're pricey for a 5" monitor, but by gosh they're so accurate it's uncanny! Seriously, demo'd them against monitors twice the price both big and small and they come out on top every time!) and did the direct FRFR thing for the first time with the Helix Rack, and I could not stop playing. For 4 hrs. Until my fingers were raw. And my back was starting to ache from being hunched over my guitar.
It was better than any amp sim software solution I've tried. It could be that the guitar input tech on the Helix is just better than any audio interface I've used (and I haven't used the primo-top-of-the-line interfaces by any means, so maybe I'm losing something in AD/DA conversions) but the feel, tone, and response just blows away the competition.
And I've tried/demo'd at one point or another most of the commercially available amp sim software out there; amplitube, Th2/3, brainworx, guitar rig, LePou, etc etc. And I can honestly say that I love various amp options in all of the aforementioned amp sims (and ones that I didn't bother mentioning, but still love) and nothing has sounded as good, or felt as good as the Helix did this evening.
I wasn't sure what was missing until now, but I can honestly say it now "feels right", as cheesy as that may sound.
And I love the form factor. It may be 3U high, but it's surprisingly shallow (eye-ballin' it it doesn't look more than 8" deep minus handles on the front of the faceplate), and light. It'll fit nicely in my 6U shallow rack, and the weight won't be an issue. Love the I/O options on the back, and will have fun with all those routing options.
And updating the firmware was a breeze. Glad they ironed those kinks out of it by now, as I was just a teency bit worried that it was going to brick on me from all the horror stories I've read here. Took maybe 3-5 minutes from start to finish.
Now the Control; Other than pulling it out of the box and plugging it into the helix via the included cable, powering it up to make sure it's operational, I haven't done anything with it yet. Love the size of it. The footswitches are a bit smaller than the ones on the Helix Floorboard unit, but that's not an issue for me at all. In fact I rather like the control's much smaller footprint compared to the floorboard. And it's a sleek looking unit.
In fact the rack/control is a really sleek looking pair if I may say so! Love the look of the two! It definitely gives that luxury electronics vibe! I can definitely forsee the "OOoo, what's that?" conversation frequently in my future.
I may have lost my mind a few times over the CONSTANT delays ( @Digital Igloo @Frank Ritchotte my apologies for any grief I've caused you guys) but that's only because I knew I'd be enjoying the unit as much as I am now, and my ADD was getting the better of me.
And this is just my INITIAL impressions of the unit. Pictures of it very soon. and an in-depth review and demo will follow. Helix Rack/Control combo for the win!
Today I set it on my desk, ran it through my Focal Alpha 50s (if you haven't tried a pair of Alpha 50s, do yourself a favor and make sure you do the first chance you get; They're pricey for a 5" monitor, but by gosh they're so accurate it's uncanny! Seriously, demo'd them against monitors twice the price both big and small and they come out on top every time!) and did the direct FRFR thing for the first time with the Helix Rack, and I could not stop playing. For 4 hrs. Until my fingers were raw. And my back was starting to ache from being hunched over my guitar.
It was better than any amp sim software solution I've tried. It could be that the guitar input tech on the Helix is just better than any audio interface I've used (and I haven't used the primo-top-of-the-line interfaces by any means, so maybe I'm losing something in AD/DA conversions) but the feel, tone, and response just blows away the competition.
And I've tried/demo'd at one point or another most of the commercially available amp sim software out there; amplitube, Th2/3, brainworx, guitar rig, LePou, etc etc. And I can honestly say that I love various amp options in all of the aforementioned amp sims (and ones that I didn't bother mentioning, but still love) and nothing has sounded as good, or felt as good as the Helix did this evening.
I wasn't sure what was missing until now, but I can honestly say it now "feels right", as cheesy as that may sound.
And I love the form factor. It may be 3U high, but it's surprisingly shallow (eye-ballin' it it doesn't look more than 8" deep minus handles on the front of the faceplate), and light. It'll fit nicely in my 6U shallow rack, and the weight won't be an issue. Love the I/O options on the back, and will have fun with all those routing options.
And updating the firmware was a breeze. Glad they ironed those kinks out of it by now, as I was just a teency bit worried that it was going to brick on me from all the horror stories I've read here. Took maybe 3-5 minutes from start to finish.
Now the Control; Other than pulling it out of the box and plugging it into the helix via the included cable, powering it up to make sure it's operational, I haven't done anything with it yet. Love the size of it. The footswitches are a bit smaller than the ones on the Helix Floorboard unit, but that's not an issue for me at all. In fact I rather like the control's much smaller footprint compared to the floorboard. And it's a sleek looking unit.
In fact the rack/control is a really sleek looking pair if I may say so! Love the look of the two! It definitely gives that luxury electronics vibe! I can definitely forsee the "OOoo, what's that?" conversation frequently in my future.
I may have lost my mind a few times over the CONSTANT delays ( @Digital Igloo @Frank Ritchotte my apologies for any grief I've caused you guys) but that's only because I knew I'd be enjoying the unit as much as I am now, and my ADD was getting the better of me.
And this is just my INITIAL impressions of the unit. Pictures of it very soon. and an in-depth review and demo will follow. Helix Rack/Control combo for the win!
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