Switched from Helix to Axe Fx III

Just curious, what was it about the Helix that you didn't like tonewise?
It's hard for me to put the way tones make you feel into words, but here's my attempt to explain: I found the Axe-Fx III tones to sound very inspiring. It's kind of like if you have ever plugged into a guitar rig that sounds so cool that it draws you in and you somehow connect to it in away that inspires you. I was never able to achieve this connection with the Helix, even after many hours of tweaking.
 
...It wasn't that it was particularly bad, and in fact he quite enjoyed it, but he just felt there was something missing.
I'm an FM3 user, but that statement perfectly sums up my view of L6 (and Boss) modelers I've used in the past. Once I pulled the trigger and got my Fractal, it was a thunderbolt moment.
 
I switched from a Helix to an Axe-Fx III and absolutely love the Axe-Fx III. For a while I owned both units so that I could compare them. What motivated me to purchase the Axe-Fx III was that I kept noticing how many of the professional artists that I admire ( @Larry Mitchell ) use the Axe-Fx III.

I’ve spent many hours tweaking the Helix and was never able to get it sound anywhere near as good as the Axe-Fx III. The Axe-Fx III produces the kind of tones that inspire creativity. It’s addictive. Everything sounds great from clean to high-gain amps.

I’m now in the Fractal Axe-Fx camp and highly recommend Fractal’s to anyone who is creatively inspired by great tones and effects.

As someone who is still using a Helix, I recommend Fractal too lol.. you should post this on the Helix forum! I'm waiting to make the jump, just undecided between FM9 and FM3. In the meantime, I've done a lot with the Helix to see how good I can get it to sound, and it has got better, it's certainly not bad, but I think the Fractals have a better, warmer depth of sound like a real amp. The Helix is either very harsh with too many highs or it's too boomy. Some people have said they can get the high gain amps on the Helix to sound just as good as the fractals - I would question that because no amount of dialling on the Helix amp models gives you that, you may improve what you had but end of the day, Helix tones produce too many harsh highs.

It gets better if you cut the highs to around 5 to 6khz, don't know if you guys are doing the same on your fractals, but it's better on the Helix, but then it's still missing warmth and depth.

I tend to agree with what Steve has said above, when you get a unit that sounds good even before you start tinkering, that inspires you to play guitar and I think it may also be the main pull of the fractals for me. Helix inspires you to tweak endlessly and play a little bit. We just had an update on the Helix and they added some more dynamic effects etc but I can't help thinking, would it not be better to just concentrate on making the amp tones better? That seems more important to me.
 
It's hard for me to put the way tones make you feel into words, but here's my attempt to explain: I found the Axe-Fx III tones to sound very inspiring. It's kind of like if you have ever plugged into a guitar rig that sounds so cool that it draws you in and you somehow connect to it in away that inspires you. I was never able to achieve this connection with the Helix, even after many hours of tweaking.

Totally. Sometimes I dial in a tone I like in the evening, and by the following day i feel unsatisfied again. Bottom line is, you know when you plug in, if it sounds great or not, and if it does, you just want to keep playing. I can't honestly say I've felt like that with the Helix. It is a good, versatile unit, no doubt, it's just not great at high gain tones - not as good as the fractals in my opinion.
 
Totally. Sometimes I dial in a tone I like in the evening, and by the following day i feel unsatisfied again. Bottom line is, you know when you plug in, if it sounds great or not, and if it does, you just want to keep playing. I can't honestly say I've felt like that with the Helix. It is a good, versatile unit, no doubt, it's just not great at high gain tones - not as good as the fractals in my opinion.

Mate, we've talked about this. Just get on the Fractal train, you wont regret it!
 
Mate, we've talked about this. Just get on the Fractal train, you wont regret it!
I know.. it will happen but it wasn't a straightforward choice in the end because just as I was about to pull the trigger on an fm3, the fm9 was announced so I put it on hold thinking the 9 would suit me better. I'm still weighing that up.
 
Hmmmm, I take your point but I'm not sure about the claim that it is a rip off. It's not really revolutionary to put other DSP effects inside the feedback path; we did that on our Bloom plugin (when I worked for FXpansion) back in 2013. Not with reverb, but the principle is the same.

Also I'm reasonably sure there are plenty of other plugins and pedals that do a similar thing?? IE: Process the delay feedback loop through a reverb separate to the dry path???

But I do like the Zephyr Delay all the same; I especially like the Graphite Delay on the Axe. I've not sorted through the more adventurous reverbs yet; still stuck on medium hall!
Discovered the Graphite Delay a couple days ago - it is THE BALLS
As well, also tried the (I think) Wandering Delay - also amazing.
I can pull those up, adjust the mix a touch (maybe)....and done.
 
Hello folks, new to the Fractal family! I just got my Axe 3 about a week ago after a brief trial with an AX8. I also came from the Helix and there's a few things said already I 100% agree with. But the biggest thing for me is the difference in feel when playing. I hate to say it, but for as nice as it is the Helix kinda feels like playing a toy by comparison. I feel a much better connection to the rest of my signal chain on the Fractal stuff. It really is much easier to get a sound dialed in I'm happy with for longer periods of time too. Dialed in a few patches now, but I still keep coming back to the 1st patch I made with Das Metall and thinking it's the best tone I've ever had. That was the one I remembered liking the most after a quick run thru on the AX8, so it made a terrific starting point that I still keep ending back on. So.Many.Amps.Tho...lol. Which model stands out the most to the other Helix converts here?
 
The Herbies
The Hooks
59 Bassguy Jumped
Various Class As
JTM 45
AxeFX III
Will have to check those out! I'm also really impressed with the cabinet/IR flexibility. The stock cabinets are miles better too, but I still like the Mesa cab from the OH Heavy Hitters 1 pack. Tried a tone of IR's and that's the one that just does what I need with little to no tweaking.
 
Will have to check those out! I'm also really impressed with the cabinet/IR flexibility. The stock cabinets are miles better too, but I still like the Mesa cab from the OH Heavy Hitters 1 pack. Tried a tone of IR's and that's the one that just does what I need with little to no tweaking.
Have fun!

Re my faves, we all have some bags we hang out in more than others, and FYI, no disrespect of anyone intended, I'm not a super high gain guy, mostly. When I am, it's not metal djent growly downtune stuff.
 
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Have fun!

Re my faves, we all have some bags we hang out in more than others, and FYI, no disrespect intended, I'm not a super high gain guy, mostly. When I am, it's not metal djent growly downtune stuff.
Sweet I appreciate the insight on the non high gain amps! I need those sounds too and had no idea where to even start.
 
First stop for you is Yek's Amp Guide. Click the Wiki link above.
And the factory presets. There's some novelty stuff, but there are also a lot of just plain demos of the different amps. Check em out, and don't be afraid to save a copy and tweak, or completely refrabulate even.
 
Hello folks, new to the Fractal family! I just got my Axe 3 about a week ago after a brief trial with an AX8. I also came from the Helix and there's a few things said already I 100% agree with. But the biggest thing for me is the difference in feel when playing. I hate to say it, but for as nice as it is the Helix kinda feels like playing a toy by comparison. I feel a much better connection to the rest of my signal chain on the Fractal stuff. It really is much easier to get a sound dialed in I'm happy with for longer periods of time too. Dialed in a few patches now, but I still keep coming back to the 1st patch I made with Das Metall and thinking it's the best tone I've ever had. That was the one I remembered liking the most after a quick run thru on the AX8, so it made a terrific starting point that I still keep ending back on. So.Many.Amps.Tho...lol. Which model stands out the most to the other Helix converts here?
My personal favorite is the 50W Plexi and the Friedman Models, but there are many others that I like too. You might want to check these guides out, if you haven't already: https://wiki.fractalaudio.com/wiki/index.php?title=Yeks_Guide_to_the_Fractal_Audio_Amp_Models and https://wiki.fractalaudio.com/wiki/index.php?title=Yeks_Guide_to_the_Fractal_Audio_Drive_Models
 
Hello folks, new to the Fractal family! I just got my Axe 3 about a week ago after a brief trial with an AX8. I also came from the Helix and there's a few things said already I 100% agree with. But the biggest thing for me is the difference in feel when playing. I hate to say it, but for as nice as it is the Helix kinda feels like playing a toy by comparison. I feel a much better connection to the rest of my signal chain on the Fractal stuff. It really is much easier to get a sound dialed in I'm happy with for longer periods of time too. Dialed in a few patches now, but I still keep coming back to the 1st patch I made with Das Metall and thinking it's the best tone I've ever had. That was the one I remembered liking the most after a quick run thru on the AX8, so it made a terrific starting point that I still keep ending back on. So.Many.Amps.Tho...lol. Which model stands out the most to the other Helix converts here?
Yeah, I have a Helix and the AxeFx III is in a totally different class. My Helix and pedalboards are collecting dust most of the time.
 
I switched from a Helix to an Axe-Fx III and absolutely love the Axe-Fx III. For a while I owned both units so that I could compare them. What motivated me to purchase the Axe-Fx III was that I kept noticing how many of the professional artists that I admire ( @Larry Mitchell ) use the Axe-Fx III.

I’ve spent many hours tweaking the Helix and was never able to get it sound anywhere near as good as the Axe-Fx III. The Axe-Fx III produces the kind of tones that inspire creativity. It’s addictive. Everything sounds great from clean to high-gain amps.

I’m now in the Fractal Axe-Fx camp and highly recommend Fractal’s to anyone who is creatively inspired by great tones and effects.
I think the massive upper hand that the Fractal has are the really good factory presets, whereas Helix’s factory presets sound like garbage. The factory presets can psychologically make a player think a unit is really good or really bad. I think the Helix can be tweaked to sound good, but modern modelers should sound good out of the box and shouldn’t require as much tweaking as the Helix does. I honestly never could get Helix amp modeling to sound good at all and Fractal has some really cool models like the JMP-1, CAE preamp, and Atomica stuff. Some of the Helix’s effects are good, but I think the UI and parameters are laid out strange. And the pitch effects in the AxeFx, like detune, etc. are 100x better. I do think Helix has an excellent Tri-Chorus. IMO, Atomic Amplifire has the best modelling behind Fractal, it’s just unfortunate that Atomic abandoned the product.
 
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