Old School Steve
Member
My Helios JB45 just arrived via UPS and I've set it up and played through its various settings for an hour (guitars: Gibson LP R9, PRS Custom 24 35th anniversary; cabinet: Bogner Goldfinger semi-open back 2x12).
Initial thoughts & settings:
Back of Amp
* Excursion setting: I like Vintage Focus most but will experiment with the other two settings in the future (Extended Loose increases the volume significantly)
* Variac: made no noticeable difference in the volume level or tone
Front of Amp
Tone Controls
I've found the following to work well across all 3 channels given my guitars & cabinet:
* Presence - 8
* Bass - 6
* Middle - 5
* Treble - 6
Green Channel (cleans up incredibly well)
* Voicing: Beano (Hugh is my second favorite, as "Bright" is too thin for my taste)
* Shizo I - 8 (more Shizo = more warm/forward tonal goodness)
* Loudness - 5
Purple Channel (this is my "Billy Gibbons" channel)
* Voicing: Classic
* Shizo II - 8 (more Shizo = more fat/woody tonal swell & immersiveness)
Red Channel
* Voicing: Brown (more sizzle)
* Shizo II - 8 (it's shared with the Purple channel)
Overall, the sound variations are awesome (compliments of the Shizo + voicing options). My new Universal Audio Del Verb sounds awesome in the FX loop. My new Strymon Cloudburst sounds great on the green/clean channel.
For those thinking about the JB45, it seems to be really versatile in terms of tone options and the clean channel is can be used as a pedal platform. I can definitely understand how jazz or instrumental purists will say the Goldfinger SuperLead might be preferable for them, but given that I don't play clean guitar instrumentals much -- I think the JB45 is a better fit for my desire for thick/rich tone Plexi-style tone.
Initial thoughts & settings:
Back of Amp
* Excursion setting: I like Vintage Focus most but will experiment with the other two settings in the future (Extended Loose increases the volume significantly)
* Variac: made no noticeable difference in the volume level or tone
Front of Amp
Tone Controls
I've found the following to work well across all 3 channels given my guitars & cabinet:
* Presence - 8
* Bass - 6
* Middle - 5
* Treble - 6
Green Channel (cleans up incredibly well)
* Voicing: Beano (Hugh is my second favorite, as "Bright" is too thin for my taste)
* Shizo I - 8 (more Shizo = more warm/forward tonal goodness)
* Loudness - 5
Purple Channel (this is my "Billy Gibbons" channel)
* Voicing: Classic
* Shizo II - 8 (more Shizo = more fat/woody tonal swell & immersiveness)
Red Channel
* Voicing: Brown (more sizzle)
* Shizo II - 8 (it's shared with the Purple channel)
Overall, the sound variations are awesome (compliments of the Shizo + voicing options). My new Universal Audio Del Verb sounds awesome in the FX loop. My new Strymon Cloudburst sounds great on the green/clean channel.
For those thinking about the JB45, it seems to be really versatile in terms of tone options and the clean channel is can be used as a pedal platform. I can definitely understand how jazz or instrumental purists will say the Goldfinger SuperLead might be preferable for them, but given that I don't play clean guitar instrumentals much -- I think the JB45 is a better fit for my desire for thick/rich tone Plexi-style tone.
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