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Reference
Reference

Rig setup

Pick what you're plugging into. You get the cabling, what the cab block should be doing, and the thing that goes wrong.

Get this one right first

The cab block rule

Cab block ON into anything full-range — headphones, an FRFR speaker, the desk, your computer. Cab block OFF into anything that ends in a real guitar speaker. A cab block is a speaker simulation, so using one into a real cab gives you two speakers stacked, and leaving it off into a full-range system gives you a raw amp with no speaker at all. Nearly every “my new modeller sounds terrible” post is this one rule.

Helix 3.80 Owner's Manual

There is a Preamp version of every Amp model. It is the preamp stage only, without the power amp — which is what you want when you are feeding a real power amp, whether that is your amp's effects return, a Powercab, or a DT-series amp over L6 LINK. It also costs less DSP than the full Amp block.

What are you plugging into?
Cab sim

Turn it off

There's a real guitar speaker at the end of this chain, so it must not supply a second one.

The simplest way to add it to a rig you like.

No amp models — your amp stays the amp, and all eight blocks are effects.

Hook it up
  1. GuitarINPUT L/MONO
  2. OUTPUT L/MONOAmp input
Set it up
Cab block
Off
Amp block
None
Start from
A preset named FX