Helios switching between clean and high gain?

Yeah, because the sounds are in there. One relay and one scoop switch. I would have also liked it had the JTM30 mode not required halving the ohm load. I can only imagine how pillow-soft and comfy JTM30 mode at 16ohms into a 4x12 would have been.
 
Seems like an easy mod in concept but if the circuit boards are mounted such that you'd have to cut them up then I can see why it's not a popular mod.

Also, I don't know this amp but if you think about using the amp as a two-channel amp then you need separate Gain controls and separate Master volumes for it to really work right. Don't know if it already has those or not but in any case, that's more relays/optos/complexity.
 
I understand why RB chose to do it the way he did, I just think it was 20 years late. He wanted it to be completely handwired and sonically clean, perceiving that relays/jfets/etc would add unnecessary clutter (and perhaps cost). This amp in '94 is probably huge.
 
The Helios was his answer to the 1st gen BE100 and to fit that particular niche that wanted a modded Marshall Bognerized. Then Dave did the absolute brilliant thing and updated the BE from a simple clean 2 input setup to a true channel switcher with a 2 band EQ clean. For you guys that had the 2 input BE, how was the simple clean in the HBE input?
 
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