This is a stripped-down version of my Helix Plexi v2 preset.

The six blocks are: whammy for Eb tuning and Tom Morello-style solos, lead boost, amp model, dual cab block, vibrato, and Plate reverb. This is an extremely versatile rock preset and can cover classic rock/metal, modern country, 90's punk, etc. It is designed to integrate into your existing pedalboard as a direct amp+cab replacement, or function standalone as your entire rig.

This download is a zip file which contains two preset files: the main plexi preset, and a preset with 6 effects from the full Helix preset. Unzip the zip file, load both into your HX Stomp, and copy blocks from the effects preset as necessary.

Stomps:

1. Toggles the gain on the amp so you can go from cleanish Marshall to cranked screaming Marshall with one footswitch press.

2. Toggles the mix and decay on the plate reverb. This preset is designed for use before your wet effects, but if you’re a “pedals into clean amp” person and have your HX Stomp at the end of your pedal chain, it will of course work, but I would recommend not running heavy delays and reverbs into the front of a cranked Marshall.

3. Humbucker / Single Coil switch - Toggles some parameters to adjust for single coils and humbuckers. LED off is for humbuckers, LED on is for single coils

4. Vibrato on/off - you’ll notice that the vibrato block is always on. Because of the block limit on HX Stomp, I am using the vibrato block to sum the dual cab block to mono, so instead of toggling the block on and off, fs4 toggles its mix between 0% and 100%. The vibrato does not affect your dry tone when its mix is at 0%.

5. “More Drive” switch. Toggles a “transparent” overdrive for more gain on the amp. Useful for solos or other higher gain rhythm parts.

Snapshots:

1. General rock pedalboard setup. Use stomps as above.

2. EVH - high gain, bright rock tone with a big clean plate reverb

3. AC/DC - lower gain, darker, dry rock tone

“Tom Morello Whammy Solo” - Expression pedal 1 is assigned to the whammy block’s position. Enable the whammy block and set the Toe Pitch parameter to +24. Hit the stomps for “Amp Drive” (#1) and “More Drive” (#5).

If you want to use an expression pedal and stomps 4+5 at the same time, you’ll need to switch at least one of these over to midi because the exp jack can only support two footswitches, two expression pedals, or one of each. FS4 and FS5 can be emulated with midi by sending to the Stomp cc# 52 and 53, respectively, with any value 0-127.

Please also read the HX Stomp notes on the main HX Stomp page for recommended settings, placement, usage, etc.

Recommended IR: Impulse responses are not necessary to achieve good tones on Helix/Stomp. All the demos on my website and YouTube channel were tracked with the presets as they come out of the box with stock cabs, but if you’d like to use an IR with this preset, please follow the instructions on the page for my Plexi Helix preset.