SUPER THUNDER TM – Line 6 HX Tone Match Patches (Helix, HX Stomp, POD Go)

IMPORTANT NOTES

1. UPDATE YOUR FIRMWARE: Please upgrade the firmware on your HX hardware (Helix, HX Stomp, and POD Go)  and the HX Edit/POD Go Edit software from Line 6 to the latest before installing this patch. Even if your hardware is up to date, the ‘Edit’ apps need to be updated as well. If you get an error, it most likely means the hardware/software needs to be updated.

2. IR’s INCLUDED: Our downloads include impulse responses that act as the cabinets. For Tone Match (TM) patches, the IR(s) act as both the cab/speaker portion of the signal chain, and the tone matching that makes the patch sound just our real amplifiers.

Here are the IR(s) included:

• WT Super Thunder TM HX – This IR is meant to be used in all IR blocks across these patches. Helix, Stomp, and POD Go should recall the IR based on its name, so you can import it into any open IR slot on your hardware.
  

3. TONE MATCH PATCHES: These are part of our ‘Tone Match’ line of patches. To create these patches, we make custom IR’s that ‘match’ the HX amp models to our real-world amp. The result is the HX models sound almost exactly like our actual amplifiers.

PATCHES

This download includes patches for Helix, HX Stomp, and POD Go. Please make sure to import the appropriate patch for your hardware – they are not interchangeable.

• SPR THNDR TM WTs – This patch uses the IR’s and is meant for guitars with single coils.
• SPR THNDR TM WTh – This patch uses the IR’s and is meant for guitars with humbuckers.
• NOTE: The HX Stomp and POD Go folders include ‘FX” patches. These patches include the additional effects blocks from the full Helix patch.
  

HOW TO IMPORT THESE PATCHES AND IR’S

1. Connect your Helix/Stomp/POD Go to your computer using a USB Cable
2. Download and instal the ‘HX Edit’ or ‘POD Go Edit’ app from Line 6
3. In the ‘HX/POD Go Edit’ app, drag and drop the patches 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(s) into the an open slot.
5. PLEASE NOTE: If you do not have the IR’s 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’s into the IMPULSES column.

OUR VINTAGE SUPRO THUNDERBOLT, NOW IN YOUR LINE 6 HARDWARE

For this preset, we tone-matched the Soup Pro amp model in the HX hardware to our Vintage mid-60’s Supro Thunderbolt amplifier. The result is an impulse response that completely transforms the HX amp model – it sounds exactly like our amp, and the microphones, preamps, and EQ chains that we use to record it.

The Thunderbolt is a huge sounding amp. Ours features the original Jensen 15” speaker which delivers some massive low end, but still remains refined when pushed with gain. Cleans are big and rich, and driven tones have tons of harmonic character. It’s very vintage sounding, but surprisingly versatile.

SIGNAL FLOW AND EFFECTS

1. Input
2. Compressor
3. Drives: KOT, 808, Timmy 
4. Volume – mapped to EXP 2
5. Tremolo
6. Retro Reel
7. Delays: 1/8 delay, Dotted 8th delay, Dual stereo delay
8. Reverbs: Hall (subtle), Dynamic Hall (huge)
9. Amps
10. IR (Tone Match)
11. EQ
12. Solo Boost
13. Output

The HX Stomp and POD Go patches cannot fit all the effects into a single patch. For those platforms, we include the amp and essential effects in the main patches, and then we include the additional effects blocks in the ‘FX’ patches. Feel free to mix and match the additional ‘FX’ blocks into the main patches to suite your needs.

SNAPSHOTS

• Snapshot 1: CLEAN. Base clean tone
• Snapshot 2: DRIVE. Stage 1 drive tone
• Snapshot 3: DRIVE+. Big rhythm tone
• Snapshot 4: P&W LEAD. Lead tone with lots of delay and verb
• Snapshot 5: AMBI CLEAN. Clean tone with lots of delay and verb
• Snapshot 6: TREM CLEAN. Clean tone with tremolo
• Snapshot 7: AMBI MOD. Ambient clean with Retro Reel
• Snapshot 8: SWELLS. Big ambient swells tone

POD Go:

• Snapshot 1: CLEAN. Base clean tone
• Snapshot 2: DRIVE. Stage 1 drive tone
• Snapshot 3: P&W LEAD. Lead tone with lots of delay and verb
• Snapshot 4: AMBIENT. Ambient clean tone

NOTE: The HX Stomp patches do not include Snapshots

USAGE TIPS

Helix and POD Go patches are designed to be used in either Snapshot or Stomp modes – you can configure your footswitches to utilize either modes to suite your playing style. 

WET EFFECTS IN FRONT OF THE AMPS

All the wet effects (reverbs and delays) are positioned in front of the amplifiers in this patch (HELIX ONLY). This recreates the experience of using a stereo pedalboard into stereo amps. The character of the reverbs and delays is greatly affected by the amps themselves. 

STEREO:

Our patches are designed to be used in stereo, but can also be used in mono with no issues. If you are able to run stereo, the reverbs and delays (and the amps in dual amp stereo patches) will sound huge. If you need to run mono, simply use only the Left output of your hardware and the patches will automatically be summed to mono.

EXPERIMENT

We design our patches for maximum usability across a wide range of styles and gear. We also realize that every player and every setup is different. Feel free to experiment with different effects and settings within the patches. We recommend copying the patch into a new slot before experimenting. This way you can always revert to the original if you’d like.

MAKING ADJUSTMENTS FOR YOUR SETUP

SETTING THE PATCHES UP FOR YOUR GUITAR

All guitars are different, so you may want to make changes to suite your playing style and guitar.

We recommend making a copy of the patch and changing the copy just in case you want to revert back to the original. To make adjustments, we recommend starting with these parameters:

• Amp Gain: Adjust the gain on the amp block (sometimes you’ll need to adjust the min/max values if the parameter is mapped to a button or snapshot) 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 patches 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

Initial Release (1.0): 2022-07-13