Switching from Helix to Axe- anyone have experience?

i ended up getting too good a deal on a helix to pass it up. I don’t make a ton of money so spending nearly a grand on a helix was a big difference compared to spending on an axe fx plus controller and expression pedal. I know you can use inexpensive midi controllers but it’s still an added expense on the more costly used price of axe ii. Just saying I had always thought axe sounded a bit better

Anyways. I’ve gotten some great sounds out of the helix. But I’ve also been severely disappointed. I play mostly ambient style stuff and rock. Like post rock ed o Brien from Radiohead is one of my heroes.

I thought helix was supposed to be the winner in regards to effects. But I can’t get a really good shimmer verb or delay. The pitch shifter is not good. And the fender blackface cleans are pretty terrible.

So has anyone switched from helix to axe fx ii? (I’d get the iii for sure if money wasn’t an issue). Are the amp sounds that much better? Im especially interested in fender cleans and slightly broken up blackface tones/marshall Plexi’s. I also and in a doom project but I feel like the huge amps and cabs are almost nescessary for that genre.

How much better are the sounds? How is the shimmer ability? Can it do pog sounds/eventixe harmonizer stuff? Or am I just gonna have to buy those pedals?

I’m sure this has been discussed previously. I tried searching but couldn’t find too much so if you know of a thread to link that’d be cool too
 
i ended up getting too good a deal on a helix to pass it up. I don’t make a ton of money so spending nearly a grand on a helix was a big difference compared to spending on an axe fx plus controller and expression pedal. I know you can use inexpensive midi controllers but it’s still an added expense on the more costly used price of axe ii. Just saying I had always thought axe sounded a bit better

Anyways. I’ve gotten some great sounds out of the helix. But I’ve also been severely disappointed. I play mostly ambient style stuff and rock. Like post rock ed o Brien from Radiohead is one of my heroes.

I thought helix was supposed to be the winner in regards to effects. But I can’t get a really good shimmer verb or delay. The pitch shifter is not good. And the fender blackface cleans are pretty terrible.

So has anyone switched from helix to axe fx ii? (I’d get the iii for sure if money wasn’t an issue). Are the amp sounds that much better? Im especially interested in fender cleans and slightly broken up blackface tones/marshall Plexi’s. I also and in a doom project but I feel like the huge amps and cabs are almost nescessary for that genre.

How much better are the sounds? How is the shimmer ability? Can it do pog sounds/eventixe harmonizer stuff? Or am I just gonna have to buy those pedals?

I’m sure this has been discussed previously. I tried searching but couldn’t find too much so if you know of a thread to link that’d be cool too
Don’t ;-) have you tried th AX8? Mostly same effects as Axe FX II but in a pedalboard unit. Effects are very good. Disclaimer: I have not tried the helix.
 
It's weird that the Helix can't do a decent shimmer. I've used a Verbzilla for shimmer for years and to me it did the trick to satisfaction. And that sound has to be in the damn thing. Also nice to someone else appreciate Ed as well. I used to play in a Radiohead tribute band for years, and sometimes I did the Jonny parts, sometimes Ed's. Studying him he became my favorite Radiohead guitarist as well.

Don’t ;-) have you tried th AX8? Mostly same effects as Axe FX II but in a pedalboard unit. Effects are very good. Disclaimer: I have not tried the helix.

Methinks the AX8 is probably not his thing, considering that Ed O'Brien is his big hero. Who has like a gazillion guitar pedals. The AX8 just does not have the DSP to run something like that. When I had one I was constantly running into DSP limitations. Hell, even the II is straining it in that regard, and it has shitloads more then the AX8.
 
My progression was Line6 HD500 --> HD500X --> AX8 --> Axe2XL+ --> Helix LT --> Axe3

Each of the units has a sonic signature. I found that I was buying commercial patches for the Line6 gear to get decent sounds. My impression with the Helix is that EQ/Cab IR is critical to getting it to sound decent.

Starting with the Axe2 I was feeling content with the sound quality and DSP power. I was able to hit the DSP limits on the AX8 doing ambient experiments.

My approach on the Axe2 and Axe3 is very different than the Line6 gear. I find myself using stock presets and adding a multi delay and bigger reverb for ambient stuff.

If you already have the Helix you might try putting an H9 in it's effects loop.
 
I went from HELIX to axe fx II xl+ and never looked back.the difference in amp modelling is huge.the HELIX had some effects and the compressors that I really liked but when it comes to the amp tones (which to me is the primary reason for using a modeler
instead of an actual amp - cab)there is no comparison.
 
I used a Helix live and in the studio for about a year and a half. It's a great box and it served me very well (and still does as my back-up rig...). I bought an Axe II XL+ in October of last year. In comparing the Helix to the XL+, I've found the Axe to simply be more. More amps, more cabs, more effects, more ability to dial your tone in...Pretty much more of everything (including quality IMHO). That being said, there are two features of the Helix that I miss, both being convenience items. First, the scribble strips on the Helix are great, but the Axe III is in my near future, so the FC will take care of that (I think...). Second, the Axe only operating at 48K is sometimes an inconvenience if I'm doing a session where they're not recording at 48K (most of them). Not a huge deal, just extra conversions if I'm in a situation where I can/would keep the signal chain digital all the way into the DAW.

Bottom line...Once the Axe III gets here, it becomes my main rig, the XL+ will become my back-up rig, and the Helix likely gets sold. I have Helix Native, so any Helix tones that I might want to keep hold of (for session purposes), I can get from Native.

One other thing...I've found this forum to be more helpful than the Helix forum. The fact that Cliff (and other Fractal folk) monitors and contributes to this forum on a regular and frequent basis speaks volumes!
 
I went from Gigrig G2 (and loads of pedals) -> Helix (then very quickly) -> AX8 -> Axe FX III

I found the Helix very easy to use, and had some nice design touches - but at the same time unintuitive in quite a fundamental way. I could get good sounds out of it - but it was like I was fighting the box, often having to do things which didn't mirror my real world experiences. For example experimenting with the input impedance, having a compressor right at the start of the chain, setting the controls to values way different to the 'real world' etc.

Also, having to be aware of the DSP of the machine (there are two DSPs and you have to choose which chain to put the effect on to maximise available power) - was a disappointment.

When I got an AX8, that completely changed, ok there were less options in terms of clear pedal models - but the sounds are all in there, I could follow a much more traditional path, putting pedals where I would normally, setting the values as I would normally and it sounded great out of the box. With the AX8 I would have to work hard to get a bad sound, with the Helix it was the opposite.

But I would and could often max out the DSP, relatively easily - you can get pretty skilled at working around this, but you are aware of the DSP limits pretty quickly in my experience, that said I built some really nice patches and could always make things work - but that was an issue for me even just doing traditional guitar/amp sort of things.

That's been one of the big joys on the III, the new OS sounds amazing - and being able to create patches with high quality reverbs etc. a dream

So my advice would be get the best rack mount Axe you can afford, it will be worth it
 
The 2 things that you have mentioned should push you toward an Axe-FX II or one of the floor pedal units (I’m not very familiar with them).

The amps are much better in the Fractal.

The pitch shifting in the Helix is almost notoriously poor. The Axe-FX II does the shimmer thing quite well.
 
Hi Clayton.

I have worked personally with a number of artists who have helped pioneer ambient and ambient rock styles. I am proud at how very happy these players are with our products. I hope and expect that you will be very impressed by the shimmer and delay sounds in the Axe-Fx. The crux is that the QUALITY of the effects is extremely good. I could give you specific examples, but I really think you should experience the unit for yourself. Should you choose the Axe-Fx, and if you need help or inspiration, let us know :)

It can definitely do everything you've listed above.
 
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Something Ive found that really annoys me about the helix. The latency. I don’t really play fast at all but I had felt it when trying to pull off faster riffs.

I then did a wet dry wet thing with studio monitors and my tube amp dry. And the latency was terrible. Not 2004 terrible but definitey bad enough where I don’t get how metal guys use these. They must really use it more like s reamping unit. Because the difference was pretty obvious. And keep in mind that my dry signal was running through the helix- and like 4 compression and od effects before splitting running a send out to my external amp before the internal amp.

I could see how using an aby box before the helix entirely would make latency very obvious but the signal was going through the ad da converters and it wasn’t like I was using an fx loop or even multiple fx loops where you are ad/da’ing all over the place. That would be more understandable.

How is the axe fx regarding latency? I may push it with lots of reverbs and delays but I really don’t play much fast enough when maxing the dsp.

I’d for sure get the axe 3 if I could today. Anyone wanna buy a helix, american strat and a vintage Ampeg? But I’ll have to get an axe ii until I save some monies. Or maybe an ax8 and a Strymon or two pedal to throw in the loop? That may be a legit solution.

Can you run parallel cabs in the ax8? I find that almost nescessary in the helix for getting a good sound. It doesn’t seem like it’s something u gotta do in the ax8.

Oh one more question. I read that the original axe 2 will not load presets from xl or plus? Is that true?
 
Have both .The Axe FX sounds a lot livelier. It's not that the Helix sounds bad (3rd party IRs are a must though), the Axe just sounds and feels better.
 
I spent several months with a Helix
what it does well it does very well.. it's a great unit..
and I have a real need to make it work for me so I wholeheartedly wanted it to succeed

however... it didn't

I could not get it to jump through the hoops at all that my Axe-II jumps through with ease..
because it's not powerful enough, not as flexible and some of the fx fell short
 
what about the latency? with the helix I am getting some slightly annoying latency issues. I really noticed them when running my amp out after the drive effects and some eq in the helix and the wet through some studio monitors after amp modeling and delay/reverb. So the "dry" amp actually went through a/d/a conversion so there should have been some latency on the dry to make the difference less between my "dry" and "wet" less noticeable. because I wasnt running through a splitter and having my dry going straight from guitar to amp- which would give a more severe latency between dry and wet.

So even with that setup I was hearing a noticeable latency- not just feeling it.

how is the axe's latency when bogging down the processor- can you feel it very much? I dont even play fast at all really. just a little bit and I'm not even good at it. So I cant imagine how these metal shredder guys are using the helix and direct monitoring it. Seems crazy. Maybe they just dry monitor on their DAW?

Thanks for the replies so far. I'd love to hear more about the axe fx latency.

Also- is it true that the earlier versions of the axe ii are not compatible with newer axe ii xl and axe iii presets?

Thanks!
 
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