Guitar_Player__January_2018

TECHNOLOGY
Multibanding the Helix
BY CRAIG ANDERTON
HARDWARE DIGITAL EFFECTS HAVE
come a long way—which you know if you’ve
tried new technology like the Kemper Profiling
Amp, Fractal Axe-FX, or Line 6 Helix. Lately, I’ve
been particularly fond of the Helix’s ability to
do multiband processing that lets you split the
guitar into four bands (low, low mid, high mid,
and high), and then distort each band individually.
For rhythm guitar and power chords, this
gives a big, clean, focused sound compared to
having all the frequencies go into a single amp.
Here’s how to do multiband amps with the Helix.
Split the Bands. Set both signal paths to
the same input, and then drag a block downward
from each signal path to create a second,
parallel line for their respective paths. This creates
four parallel signal paths.
Each path starts with a 10-band graphic EQ
block. For the low frequency band, I turned the
62.5Hz, 125Hz, and 250Hz bands up full, and
set 500Hz at around -10dB. At the next higher
band, I set the 250Hz and 500Hz bands up full,
with 1kHz down about -4dB. The next band had
500Hz down about -8.5dB, and 1kHz and 2kHz
up all the way. For the highest band, I turned
2kHz, 4kHz, 8kHz, and 16kHz up full, with 1kHz
at about -8dB. The bands overlap somewhat,
because I felt that gave the best sound, but
where to split the bands varies with your guitar
of choice, and the preset’s purpose.
Amp Up. Next come the four Amp+Cabs. I
tend to use the same Amp+Cab in each chain,
but you can also mix and match. To compensate
for multiband operation, you’ll probably
want to turn up the Drive, because there isn’t
as much signal going into each amp. But turn
down the Master, because the output from four
amps adds up. However, note that turning down
Drive for the highest-frequency path can give a
sweet, less harsh sound, and pulling down all
the Drives somewhat can produce some beautiful
clean tones.
Analyze. The next stage is for diagnostic purposes—a
Gain block in each signal chain turned
to zero gain. Enabling the Gain block mutes the
sound, so bypassing a Gain block allows tweaking
a particular path without hearing the others.
After creating your preset, you can delete these.
The last block is for Pan. I usually leave the high
and low bands centered, with the middle bands
A multiband preset template for the Line
6 Helix.
spread a bit to give a cool stereo effect.
And there’s more! Remember that amps
and cabs take a lot of processing power. Still,
with the hardware Helix, you’ll usually be able
to add some more effects. This is where it gets
really interesting. For example, insert chorus,
delay, or auto filter in only the middle two bands.
But the proof is in the playing. Create a preset
with only one Amp+Cab, and then create a
multiband preset using the same Amp+Cab,
and prepare to be blown away when you compare
the two. g
QUICK TIP
BUILD A FOUNDATION
“We have a conceptual formula for our tones. They’re not accidents. There’s a certain combination
of elements that gives us our identifiable sound. At times, we want the chaos and sloppiness of
pure energy, and, other times, it’s about being as tight and precise as possible, but there’s always a consistency
to the guitar tones. For something to be recognizable, there has to be some consistency,
some grounding.” —JARED LETO (GUITARIST, 30 SECONDS TO MARS. ACTOR, BLADE RUNNER 2049)
JANUARY2018/ GUITARPLAYER.COM
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