Muad'zin
Fractal Fanatic
Ironically, the other-day, I was thinking of picking up a Helix for it’s form factor. ..There’s a lot to like about a Helix. It’s not a bad piece of gear, at all. And in some circumstances, for some people, it’s absolutely the right tool for the job.
But, I agree, Fractal products, to my ears, just sound better. If the Helix sounded better to my ears, I would have gone that route - unapologetically. Because it’s not about being a “fanboy”, it’s about giving credit where credit is due. There are certain details in sound I can hear with a Fractal that just never shone through with a Helix, harmonic undertones? ?? ..but, “real detail”; which, for me, makes the Fractal stuff better for recording.
For live use? ...where many details are lost? ..for many it comes down to form factor and ease of use.
There’s definitely a place for a Helix. But, given a choice between the two, I’d take a Fractal for its overall capability- studio recording/live use, over a Helix which, for me, might work as well as an all-in-one solution for live use.
If I had the spare cash lying about I'd get a Helix. I don't have the Golden ears of the Gods so I'm sure it will sound fine. Many pro artists use it and seem to do fine with it. But then again if I had that kind of spare cash I'd save it up for a III + controller, because I lust after that one more. And if I had that, then I'd get a Helix.
I don't agree with that at all, live use is where I noticed the major improvement when I switched from ax8 to axe III.
The added punch, clarity and dynamics make the axe 3 cut thru a live mix a lot better than the ax8 (and I suppose helix too).
IMHO it is in recorded tones where all those differences tend to be masked cuz, firstly, you're not playing when listening to a record and, secondly, you can process the hell out of tones to make them sound pretty much identical.
Live you get EQ'ed by the FOH as well. Not to mention that most of us will probably never make it into a venue with a really good sound system anyway, so Helix will do and does fine. And will benefit logistically from not having the whole 'I have to bring both a rack and a floorboard' with me, as its just a floorboard. Logistics is a quality on its own.
So funny I looked at that same vid a couple days ago and I think Mikko did a great job with setting them equally!
That being said, it was easy from the first note of each riff to tell which was which IMHO, I mean yes they sound similar but there is a depth and breadth to the axe iii sound.....and a kind of complexity whilst the helix still sounded 2D.
Great pieces of gear yes, but still a clear winner for my ears.
They both sounded exactly the same to me. Either you have the Golden Earts of the Gods or you have confirmation bias.
The thing that i always tell my students when it comes to comparisons of what sounds better is:
Be happy if you are not able to hear the difference between a 200,-€ and a 2000,-€ guitar - it safes you a lot of money.
Same applies to every other piece gear...and that´s a sentence with which you can always close some useless discussions on social media platforms.
Greater words of truth have never been spoken!
I´d still say - top of the line is Axe Fx and Kemper...and then after a long gap comes Helix and Headrush and maybe the GT 1000 by Boss - but it´s still useful gear and i´d go an a stage with it without hesitation
I agree. So many of these discussions basically boil down to 'I bought a very expensive piece of equipment, now something else comes along which is almost as good for a lot less, now I have to trash it to feel good about my choices.'
Sure, the Axe is better, 2 or 3, I've said it myself. But in the end you can gig with the cheaper modelers and 99% of your audience will never hear the difference, because they A: lack the Golden Ears of the Gods and B: never listen to guitarists anyway. The vocalist is always the band member that audiences will first, second, third and fourth pay the most attention too. Your guitar solos aside the only time people will take notice of what you do is when you f*** up.