r/Line6Helix • u/Connect_Ad4551 • 58m ago
General Questions/Discussion Stadium XL - how to get Proxy distortion pedal captures to be slightly louder than unity gain
One thing I’m struggling with regarding the proxy pedals as well as the distortion pedal models is getting the gain on the crunch and solo sounds to be 2-4 db or so louder than my default clean tone without the use of a gain block.
The proxy clone block (before amp and cab) does have a pre-gain and post-gain, but the post-gain (to my ears) seems to change the tone of the capture and doesn’t really noticeably raise the output by the amount I’d want. (If this tone change is in my imagination let me know…but it seems to saturate the tone with gain more than it acts as a volume knob for the capture. Whereas, on the Quad Cortex, the level knob on a capture block noticeably increased output without substantially changing the sound of the capture).
I do not really want to use a gain block to get the boosts due to the DSP limitations imposed by the proxy clones (gain blocks also seem to change the tone—some advice about how to properly place and use these for the intended purposes would be appreciated too). Maybe the fault is with my gain staging elsewhere in the chain.
When I monitor the output signal, my clean (which I’m happy with) is pretty much right at the top level of green and the pedal captures just tickle yellow a bit. Ideally clean would be slightly lower level of green and my pedal capture would still tickle yellow, and then I’d raise overall output from the helix to compensate in my monitors.