Do you suck at building guitar tones?

[@NickHillMakesMusic]

My most heartfelt thanks to Dean for the collab and just as special are all the warm and sweet comments of praise. I do truly love being able to help others be creative and get to writing and playing more music. Can’t wait for the next one!

[@GearStuffandThings]

Sooo you’re gonna blow up now boss. One day I’ll be cool too hahaha

[@mattywrecks8727]

Thanks to both of you mad dogs! Glad i found your channel nick, subbin to it now you tone fiend!

[@apoplexiamusic]

Dude! This is awesome! Big ups!

[@JD-vj4go]

Your channel helped me so much to understand stuff. I still suck but now I know why. 😀 Thank you.

[@TristanJCumpole]

Ahoihoi Nick! I've been a follower for a while, so it's great seeing the collab. Good work. Here's something I'd like to add to the dual cab block thing, and a little on Bias even though I think Sag and Bias-X have no real use in a MetalContext. I prefer to use two paralleled single cabs with a split crossover to control flub, so that one cab/mic produces the tighter fartless low portion of the spectrum and the other has the high end with sear and squeal or whatever silly adjectives make me feel better about my shitty playing. It also allows for a couple of blocks to be added on these paths such as time-based in the high end and dynamics in the low end. Nobody likes a bassy reverb. I mean yeah, by this point the two DSP paths start topping out and you've got to consider distributing that stuff....maybe I should comment _after_ the full vid, right? Right.

[@catnipnapkin3329]

If I'm being honest, I think a large part of what makes Dean's sounds so tight and heavy, is how he treats his guitar strings as if he were a rough laborer from 1892 disciplining his kids after a long day in the mines.

[@adamperigo1044]

My guitar has to smoke a cig after im done beating that badboy every evening.

[@jacketyt6992]

John Browne wants to know your location.

[@cgoodiefunk]

well said, sir. I think he looks like such a badass when he plays. He conveys so much passion, confidence in his band, and most importantly, testosterone.

[@KukuicanMurder-jl6gj]

That is the 💁‍♂️👨‍❤️‍👨🏳️‍🌈🌈👬 most 🏳️‍🌈🌈👨‍❤️‍👨👬💁‍♂️💋 comment ever possibly 👶🎤🙏👶🎤🙏👹🎤🙏

[@monsterfukk7737]

Can't stop fucking laughing at the dumb toes shooped in next to the floorboard at 0:30

[@mathumphreys]

This was really helpful, even for a non-Helix user, the principles can be transposed to other processors. I'll be following Nick for sure!

[@MrAdriftplays]

Nice. I've been subscribed to Nick Hill for a while. He helped tremendously when I got an HX stomp. Even his tone videos like the meshuggah/spiritbox tone videos are helpful for learning new things. Understanding you needed IR's before helix 3.0 seemed like an easy to understand thing but it was definitely not easy to understand imo.

[@ChainsawChristmas]

Nick drastically enhanced my understanding of metal tones in Helix over the years. Cool to see him here.

[@waterbottle2963]

16:44 He explained that the fret wrap is to prevent those harmonics. But even if he did to mute strings, what's the issue? String muting is cheating? What is this? A sport? There's this guitar technique where you mute the strings with your right hand on the neck, and shred with the left hand, is that cheating? It's not a sport!

[@sebguitarist345]

Yeah bro, ppl be thinking that writing and recording music is like the Olympics lmao Some of the greatest guitarists use fret wraps, such as Michael Angelo Batio, John Petrucci, Steve Vai, Guthrie Govan, just to name a few. And you'd have to be hella dumb to try and call out those guys for "cHeAtInG" lol

[@DBrown_XD]

@ 4:00 "Flex...." comment. Laughed for 3-5 minutes straight.

[@ethanhall6910]

I’ve never heard of Nick Hill before this video. I definitely need to check his other stuff out. I always enjoy your selection of background music, Dean.

[@killian36]

That "save it first" from Nick felt like it came from experience lol

[@jesseknorr9052]

Nick Hill is the fucking GOAT! Such an awesome fucking dude, I don’t even know where to begin with how much he has helped me the last couple years.

[@TeaspoonUlysses]

Lmao, Nick's "FLEX" hit my soul.

[@schecterdiamond177]

This was great. Thank you two.

[@IfSwineFlu]

I use the legacy screamer in front of the badonk and it gives it just a little more upper midrange grunt than the scream 808.

[@chainsawmoshpit8918]

that tone was so scrongly, really loved when you widened the scringo and added bonkle to it

[@ConstantineM]

Noise gate -> Screamer -> Amp > Cabs/IR's -> Delay for leads -> subtle Room reverb to give some space to not hear bone dry sound. DONE :)

[@denny.h776]

Thank you dean

[@lobito81799]

23:18 Tom from Tom and Jerry screaming

[@davidjoel111]

I made a new patch following this video and it made me value stock cabs, this sounds better than my patches with 3rd party IR’s. Will definitely play more with stock cabs and mics.

[@majesticpbjcat7707]

21:11 Jason Sadites. His channel is basically the Encyclopedia Brittanica for the Helix. Check it out if you've got questions. He's basically covered EVERYTHING.

[@NickHillMakesMusic]

Dude! I ALWAYS forget how to say Jason’s name.

[@majesticpbjcat7707]

@@NickHillMakesMusic 🤣🤣🤣 all good

[@majesticpbjcat7707]

@@NickHillMakesMusic does he pronounce it like "Sad its?" I think he actually says his name in one of his earlier videos but it's been long time since I've seen it.

[@NickHillMakesMusic]

It would be polite for me to find out lol

[@MrNickRowe]

Love nick hill got a few of his packs and watch his videos to help me with my patches on my stomp

[@pod7450]

this was excellent. I bought a Stomp because Nick showed how one can get a killer tone out of it. Most of my settings are based off of his patches that he sells (and shows you online).....and i couldn't be happier with the results direct.....and even into a power amp and cab.

[@antonmarek6377]

This is just an excellent work flow, and the format of the video makes it very comprehensive

[@reav3rtm]

Very useful indeed!

[@EliPorterMahn]

If you want a more cold and mean sound turn the bias down is cool too!

[@christopherknox1124]

Nick got me into the Helix, glad to see him here!

[@gudjon_jonsson]

What a fun friend you have. Jolly good show🙏

[@bassist12345]

I love Nick Hill. His videos taught me everything I know about dialing in Helix tones, he's such a treasure.

[@ori2085]

I really need some patches for the Pod Go

[@Metaldad87]

Love Nick, been watching his stuff since before he was monetized if I'm not mistaken. Very helpful and informative videos on tone and audio production

[@gripphillips]

badonk is a good amp it really is , but the archon with a bogren low tune ir is the champ .

[@norwardradtke1361]

According to Marten Hagstrom (MESHUGGAH) their newest album uses a precision drive into EVH 5150 iii and the EVH stock cabs for that head, fyi

[@13flaws18]

Nick is a tone and riff machine!!

[@oscarcastellon7398]

Nick Hill is the GOAT. And yourself of course

[@oscarcastellon7398]

And Jason Sadites tilt EQ trick makes wonders for metal tones in helix. Is in all of my patches

[@imvengeance666]

This was no lie, insanely educational.

[@jonnylawless6797]

Nick and I are the same in the hunt for tone: we don't have a lot of experience with real amplifiers but we reference stuff we've heard to emulate our favorite sounds.

[@iamcyndelaq3515]

I struggle with this as well. I don't have the cash to buy something like Helix, everything I have is in the 100-400 CAD range, so I just have a bunch of cheap stuff that I'm trying to work with. I definitely will check Nicks channel out, though!

[@NickHillMakesMusic]

That can feel like a hurdle, but there are a lot of great plugins and some even free that you can apply some of these principals too. I have some videos on that very topic. I’m hoping there is something on my channel that can be helpful to you!

[@toemasmeems]

i love you dean, also i found nick from Solar Guitar/Dimarzio vid and he's nice fella

[@shredenvain7]

Oooohh I love a big long headstock!!!

[@DentoxRaindrops]

Great video, thanks!

[@ChadBoondocks]

Very informative video! I have always struggled with getting tones I like so the video was quiet helpful for me. Will definitely be checking out more of Nick's vids. Thanks!

[@dynatwenty]

Yes

[@wesleytrott6397]

Good stuff! A great follow up to this could be Fractal or Neural DSP stuff. Or Kemper I guess. But if I’m not mistaken, the highest percent of people recording at home are using Neural DSP products.

[@BlazinLow305]

Brenden Small used a Line 6 Pod Pro to record the original Dethklok album, and I think those were some good tones. I think the older line 6 stuff gets a bad rap because it was popular with high school gets that would put it on Insane, dime the gain and scoop out the mids so thats what everyone remembers about it.

[@creepypastaprojectCPP]

that's the cringe about it! scooping the mids out almost completely if not all the way but for me i tend to dial on my peavey amp the mids about 1-2 from the middle of the spectrum increasing it not too much.. heard at one point in time that line 6 amps particularly the spider 4s if im not remembering it wrong sound a bit too 'digital' but otherwise everything else is typically the same to adjust accordingly! 😊😊

[@jonnylawless6797]

I have a Spider with tubes in it, I use the Insane channel for deathcore. My gain is at like 6 though lol I'm not fucking insane

[@ConstantineM]

I bought your Helix preset and it's great. It little too loud and if I use it live, I set aggressive high cut. But tone is great. Thanks :)

[@chrismartinguitar]

Just got off of a tour with a couple of Helix advocates and have been thinking about diving in…..now I see this.

[@kurdtjohn]

The Badonk amp model is very underrated in my opinion. That's what I use for mid-gain tones + a V30 IR.

[@cowardpunch]

RADICAL BROTHER! FEEL THE HEAVY METAL THUNDER SPEWING FROM MY SPEAKERS. WOULD LOVE TO SEE A LEAD CHANNEL VIDEO STAY METALLLL BROOTTHHERRR

[@nj1255]

I've really tried to like the stock cabs in Helix, but they just don't cut it for me. Cab modelling, like the Helix cabs, don't sound nearly as detailed as good IRs do. I could use them for playing live, but I would not use them for recording. Line 6's cab modelling has certainly improved since the POD days, but it's still not as good as IRs. I get that convolution based processes was very CPU and RAM intensive back in the day and therefore cab modelling was the only choice, but the processors in today's amp modellers should easily be able to run some IRs for the cab blocks. The amps and effects in Helix sound great though, so with a good set of IRs Helix is an absolute monster!

[@Bjornsguitarspecials]

Really cool video. I have a helix myself and this video is really helpfull

[@thepresidentslab]

Now I have to use these techniques on my helix later on today. 😬😂

[@xdeath3037]

This was super helpful dudes, like im saving this video for later reference when building stuff on my Headrush. Thanks guys for being fuckin awesome.

[@steveharris1222]

I've been holding off on buying one of these due to the overwhelming amount of options and settings. After watching this I think its time to get one.

[@Theblotchknows]

This video is so fucking sick. Good stuff.

[@norwardradtke1361]

Signal path also includes the audio interface that you’re using and the DAW you use just friendly FYI! like even if you’re plugging your helix outputs directly into your sound card lol. Some people run their guitar into a mixer before their audio interface (coughME) because the preamps are better on *some* mixers etc etc and you get another level of gain staging and EQ. Anyhow tl;dr: signal path includes everything from the initial input to the final output.

[@rocketproductions1441]

There is so much good information in this video that could have its own 20 minute video elaborating on it. Of course a tone expert would say "keep it simple stupid" when he acknowledged himself that there is option paralysis with guitar modelers and acts like its something that's BAD ... guitar tone rabbit holes are only bad when you are a producer and you're in a rabbit hole while a client is there trying to actually produce something

[@ScotianBlooded]

i currently play a 73 twin reverb with a rat and tube screamer its decent still missing a modern amp

[@geartweaker8518]

Great content Dean, enjoyed Nick's vibe and have subbed. A joy to hear you riffing as ever 🌚

[@joostravesloot6125]

Would love to see a video on how to make a great lead tone or clean tone with the helix!!!

[@XeLYoutube]

LOL the sand drawing

[@BenEaton88]

Feels good

[@UndeadBed]

I'm a gentleman and the editing is superb

[@TheSaintedOne]

I've been using the "big-bottom" amp in my Line-6 Firehawk since I got it. I'm assuming that's the "badonk". Das ist brootal.

[@norwardradtke1361]

Ahahaha my second digital pedal was the HD500 as well…not the x model tho. Had the Pod XT the red bean before that. Man that red thing sounded like ass lmao

[@PERPowns]

good stuff boiz

[@thedarksun86]

That was amazing video, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge! Dean, would you mind sharing your patch so people can play around with it?

[@JimDewdGuitars]

wow everything I did on my kemper profiles is wrong.

[@raymondmiller8664]

To quote Yngwie J Malmsteen..."how can less be more? That doesn't make sense. More is more."

[@TheM00ndawg]

a funny thing to do, was if dean just played the starting clip, every time he played. and then talked about it as if it was changing.

[@witheredmedia]

i am really hesistant to get a Helix but with your presets and walkthroughs like this i'm getting more tempted to try one... i'm getting old and lifting heavy cabs/heads is getting tiresome

[@Henysipper]

Sounds like Dean is looking for a Fear Factory like tone.

[@jeale778]

Sounds Huge

[@Fast4VVard]

I see you drinking lime bubly. Thats my favorite drink right now haha

[@mikeflanders1292]

So could I use one of these through one of my tube amps, and speaker cabs, and just use it as a preamp and effects?? Like run it through the loop or something? Basically just to get multiple different amp tones without using a computer and stuff?

[@PERPowns]

There are ways to do that for sure. There are a ton of videos on how to use your modeler through a cab

[@ElmarSprong]

Absolutely, I've used mine for that a couple of times, There are preamp blocks available, plug the output of the helix into the fx-loop return, and you're golden Just be careful with the output levels

[@norwardradtke1361]

One thing I like about deans tone and other more forward thinking DM players is using way less gain than you think they do.

[@draleigh8881]

feel the amp, be like wahtah my friends....

[@masaharumorimoto4761]

I'm still spinning in circles looking for my 1st guitar, I'm in Canada and Lefty so I'm fucked basically :( Looks like LAMusic has a JS32 lefty in stock, that's about it, shopping up here sucks, I'm almost defeated before starting.

[@chaoticneutral1090]

FIRST guitar? Dude this your chance to buy a right handed guitar and learn right handed, I'm a lefty but play right handed, it saves you money, gives you more options, I really can recommend it.

[@xavierouellet3748]

The feet at 0:34 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@quadblaster69420]

Of course I do. I have Cubase and no plug-ins.

[@JnJsw18]

are you talking baout jason stallworth

[@blackmetalbreadstick]

dean signed the inside of my shorts

[@Will-sg1qq]

me watching this vid with a pod go under the stairs like the ppl in harry potter :0

[@raichoo]

Cool! Now do Jared's tone. Pretty please?

[@marcoahonavarro3060]

Question here, ¿How can we avoid to lose pick attack when your sound is very tight?

[@grubz5011]

How bout the thr10x settitngs

[@ethanbean5479]

did you have any issues with your LED "Canada" light not being washed out on camera?

[@Abear138]

*Borat voice* MAAAH WIFE

[@MrNickRowe]

I love nick but not happy that he is trying to make me read the manual 🤣

[@NickHillMakesMusic]

I’ll read it for ya! Just hang out and learn

[@MrNickRowe]

@@NickHillMakesMusic sounds like a plan to me buddy

[@ADoughnut]

holy shit

[@danischeesus]

Question! Will these work with the POD GO?

[@NickHillMakesMusic]

You can get close, I forgot how many blocks we used but the POD Go is SUPER capable

[@masonta587]

"Cananda"

[@somarriba333]

So you don't just crank every to 10?

[@NickHillMakesMusic]

Sometimes!

[@nubinshred]

Close your eyes and listen to Nick’s voice. Sounds almost exactly like Tom Segura

[@NickHillMakesMusic]

Tommy Buns

[@botond6087]

Do you guys know if Dean’s line 6 tone pack is compatible with the pod go?

[@NickHillMakesMusic]

It is not. They aren’t interchangeable unfortunately. I do have some POS Go content as well as a preset pack.

[@botond6087]

@@NickHillMakesMusic Thank you, Nick! I’ll definitely check it out.

[@markstrauss3330]

axe fx tones plzzz :(

[@DeanLamb]

They're up on my website! :D

[@toemasmeems]

also the "Cananda" sign is so triggering >_

[@mmsL125]

If your tone is bad enough you can just say your genre is noise

[@Nopquar]

Oh I’m so telling your wife

[@ryantrogdon3667]

Are you sitting on Darth Vader???!

[@TheVermifuge]

Nick looks like OG Majestic Lion AKA OG Geezer kzbin.info