Anyone here taken delivery of a Helios yet?

[glip22]

Hey Erock, how's the master volume on the Helios? Is there a lot of headroom on this amp or do you have to crank the master to get a decent volume? In the Bogner videos it looked like the amp was cranked but not that loud.

I really like the master on this amp. The highest gain hot 80's is the lowest vol setting. It's got a nice sweep for lower vol under 9:00, where it gets great low vol tones. It starts to thump around 10:00, and by 12:00-1:00, it's moving enough air to play with a drummer IMO. The other settings all get progressively louder faster, with the bypass eq setting being the shortest sweep between off and ear bleed.

Cool. Typical zener trait. How does it sound E compared to a Cameron Jose with the clipping on? Funny no one made any Koodos to Jose. I know Reinhold can do a a killer Marshall. He's an amp artist. Without clipping is it a spin on high gain Plexi? How's the noise floor? If you get a chance after the Holiday can you open it up? I'd like to know your thoughts by PM on what coupling caps he uses? Filter caps also. Usually he uses quality. Just your thoughts on the build itself. Take a look where the clipping hits the pretube(V2A). Shielded lead? Lead dress? Gut shots would be nice I wanna see the amp before I drop the coin. I would expect it to be good based on the four Bogners I owned.

 

[Erock]

Hey Gary, yeah man, I'll look it over this week. Just from what I can see so far, it appears to be typical bogner high quality. No jacked up headshell or any odd issues, everything cosmetic is perfect. Noise floor is excellent for me, but I have a dedicated circuit for my amps. I do have a couple fluorescents though.

As far as the high gain plexi and Cameron comparison, I'm gonna have to take some more time with it to really have a valid opinion. Initial gut impression, hot feels more JCM, where plexi obviously feels more classic. I'm enjoying the lows just a bit more with this amp over the Jose's I've had, but the bottom control really taylors how the lows react, so it could just be how I'm dialing it. I love the Jose sound and grind, but this seems to have a bit less smear, and a bit tighter punch in the low. I lean more to the AIC side than EVH side, so I really dig it for my style.

I'll hit you up this week, and you can tell me what I'm looking at, lol.

 

[Mailman1971]

Damn Eric.....that amp really does sound great.
I really dig the aggressive tone with out getting all sloppy/mushy.

 

[glip22]

Hey Gary, yeah man, I'll look it over this week. Just from what I can see so far, it appears to be typical bogner high quality. No jacked up headshell or any odd issues, everything cosmetic is perfect. Noise floor is excellent for me, but I have a dedicated circuit for my amps. I do have a couple fluorescents though.

As far as the high gain plexi and Cameron comparison, I'm gonna have to take some more time with it to really have a valid opinion. Initial gut impression, hot feels more JCM, where plexi obviously feels more classic. I'm enjoying the lows just a bit more with this amp over the Jose's I've had. I love the Jose sound and grind, but this seems to have a bit less smear, and a bit tighter punch in the low. I lean more to the AIC side than EVH side, so I really dig it for my style.

I'll hit you up this week, and you can tell me what I'm looking at, lol.

Who knows what Reinhold did. Might not even have any zeners. He could hAve something else going on. Would be cool to know what he did, only because it's Marshall based. I never cared to comprehend the other Bogners.

 

[Erock]

Damn Eric.....that amp really does sound great.
I really dig the aggressive tone with out getting all sloppy/mushy.

Hey thanks Dan. It's a really fun amp. I feel like I'm talking too much in the honeymoon phase though, peoples expectations are going to be through the roof, lol. Of course, mine were already high before I got it, and I'm pretty damn giddy still.

Who knows what Reinhold did. Might not even have any zeners.

Hehe, he is kind of nuts. It would make sense for the feel and the vol drop to have diodes. I'm impressed with however they are incorporated in the circuit though, I'm really liking the options it's given me. I wouldn't be that surprised if it wasn't using them either though, it does feel quite a bit like the xtc red channel in the B2 setting from what I remember. I will be hittin you up brother.

 

[MississippiMetal]

Steve K. better than the original
CCV or any of the Cameron modded Marshalls I owned or my friend owns.

Not that similar at all.

Thanks for the input. Hard to tell from the vids. But, thought there was some overlap.

That's because they're all Marshall derivatives.

 

[Jer]

Eric single handedly changed my opinion of the Helios....He clearly knows how to dial it in.

 

[Erock]

Eric single handedly changed my opinion of the Helios....He clearly knows how to dial it in.

Thanks man, really appreciate that. Its not me though, the amp is very straightforward to dial in. I was a bit worried it was going to eq like an uber, but the controls all do what they are supposed to, lol. I think it's just the close mic'ing they did, and they are professional players dialing it in for a mix. The first vid of Doug playing it in that hotel room is the closest to how I hear the amp in the room. I think I just like dialing in a bit more low/low mid because of the the tuning and style I play.

 

[glassjaw7]

I think it sounds great in this clip too. Not a high quality recording but I like the tone.