Bass Man – Line 6 Helix Patch

IMPORTANT NOTES

1. UPDATE YOUR FIRMWARE: Please upgrade the firmware on your Helix and the HX Edit software from Line 6 to the latest before installing this patch. Even if your Helix is up to date, the ‘HX Edit’ app needs to be updated as well. If you get an error importing a patch, the problem is most likely outdated firmware on your Helix/HX Edit.

2. IR CABS INCLUDED: This download includes premium IR cabs. Here are the IR’s included:

• WT Match LC H12 H 160 (top row)
• WT PrinceVerb P10R SR25 (bottom row)
• With Firmware 2.90, Helix should recall the IR based on its name rather than slot number, so it shouldn’t matter which slot you import the IR into.

PATCHES

This download includes two patches as well as the IR cabs. The patches are:

• Bass Man WT SC – This patch uses the IR cab and is meant for guitars with single coils or low output humbuckers
• Bass Man WT HB – This patch uses the IR cab and is meant for guitars with more traditionally voiced humbuckers
• Bass Man WT – This patch uses stock Helix cabs rather than IR’s (uses the single coil settings)

HOW TO IMPORT THIS PATCH AND IR

1. Connect your Helix to your computer using a USB Cable
2. Download and instal the ‘HX Edit’ app from Line 6
3. In the ‘HX Edit’ app, drag and drop the patch into a slot in the ‘PRESETS’ column
4. To import an IR, switch to the ‘IMPULSES’ column (next to the PRESETS column), and drag & drop the IR into the an open slot.
5. PLEASE NOTE: If you do not have the IR loaded into the ‘IMPULSES’ column, the patch will not sound correct, even if you have the IR block on – you must drag and drop the IR into the IMPULSES column.

SIGNAL FLOW AND EFFECTS

1. Input
2. Deluxe Comp – not mapped to a switch, always on
3. Heir Apparent – Prince of Tone (voiced to sound like Bradford’s KOT, Yellow side) – mapped to switch labeled ‘Heir Apparent’
4. Teemah! – Timmy — not mapped to a switch
5. Scream 808 – Tube Screamer  – mapped to a switch labeled ‘Scream 808’
6. Volume – mapped to EXP 2 
7. Tremolo – mapped to a switch labeled ‘Tremolo’
8. Amp – Tweed Blues Brt
9. Cabs/IR – see above for IR info
10. Cali Q Graphic – Always on EQ – Use this EQ to make tonal tweaks for your guitar/setup. These controls will affect your tone differently than the amp controls. See below for recommended settings.
11. Transistor Tape Delay – 1/4 Delay – mapped to switch labeled ‘1/4 DLY’
12. Transistor Tape Delay – dotted 8th Delay- mapped to switch labeled  ‘1/8d Delay’
13. Dual Delay (1/8d + 1/8) – mapped to switch labeled ‘DUAL ST DLY’
14. Plate – subtle plate reverb – mapped to a switch labeled ‘Short Verb’
15. Dynamic Hall Verb  – Ambient reverb – mapped to switch labeled ‘Big Verb’
16. Glitz Verb – bigger modulated verb – mapped to switch labeled “Swells Verb”

USAGE

This patch is meant to be used in either stompbox or snapshot mode. We recommend setting up your Helix to use all ten stomps (stompbox mode) or all eight snapshots (snapshot mode). The Helix LT does not allow 10-button stomp mode, so you’ll have to re-arrange the button assignments to suite your preferences.

STEREO:

Everything after the cab block (all the wet effects and the EQ) is in stereo. If you only use the L/Mono output of the Helix, everything will be summed to mono automatically.  

‘CRANKED’ switch:

This switch controls four parameters in the amp block – Drive, Bass, Mid, and Treble. Basically it’s like turning the amp up to 10, and it sounds great for lead and big chords.

DIRT PEDALS:

Feel free to stack drive pedals for bigger sounds. Using all three drive pedals at once might get a bit mushy, though – we like to stack either the KOT or the Timmy drive with the 808 for lead tones.

SNAPSHOTS:

There are eight snapshots included in this patch to get different sounds (all patches feature the same snapshots).

They are:

• Snapshot 1: CLEAN. This is the base clean tone with delay.
• Snapshot 2: DRIVE. Light overdrive.
• Snapshot 3: DRIVE+: Bigger overdrive.
• Snapshot 4: P&W LEAD. Big drive and delay/verb
• Snapshot 5: CLEAN AMBI: Lots of delay and verb
• Snapshot 6: TREM AMBI: Ambient clean with tremolo
• Snapshot 7: ROCK LEAD: Lead tone without big verb and delay
• Snapshot 8: SWELLS: Huge ambient swells

MAKING ADJUSTMENTS FOR YOUR SETUP

SETTING THE PATCH UP FOR YOUR GUITAR

All guitars are different, so you may want to make changes to suite your playing style and guitar. We set this up with a variety of guitars, including both single coils and humbuckers (primarily a Telecaster style guitar). If your guitar has humbuckers, please refer to the suggested settings below.

We recommend making a copy of the patch and changing the copy just in case you want to revert back to the original. 

We’ve included both single coil and humbucker voiced patches to serve as starting points for your guitars. To make adjustments, we recommend starting with these parameters:

• Amp Gain: Adjust the min/max values of the amp gain so that your guitar is slightly breaking up with big chords on the bridge position (without any drive pedals on)
• Amp EQ controls: Adjust these to suite your individual guitars/taste
• Cali Q Graphic EQ block: This is a simple way to adjust the overall tonal characteristics of the patch.

VOLUME CHANGES

If you would like to make this patch louder or quieter without affecting tone, the following adjustments can be made:

“Ch Vol” control on the amp module. This will increase or decrease volume without affecting the tone of the amp. This is the primary level adjustment tool I use for changing patch volumes.

Output block level. Changing the level control on the output block (the very last thing in the signal chain) will increase or decrease overall volume. We typically have this set at zero, but feel free to adjust this as you see fit.

CHANGELOG

Version 2.0: 2021-08-27

• Updated IR cabs (Worship Tutorials IR’s)
• Update amp block settings (better tone)
• Added Dynamic Hall reverb

Initial Release (1.0): 2020-05-15