Helios 100 Question

[Catthan]

I've been drawn to it since I heard Luke and Danhage of Evergrey play one and really like how Reinhold voices his amps. The chewy low mids and fuzzy top end, both in varying degrees depending on the amp..

Question is, is the Helios 100W toothy and grainy? Hard to describe in more detail in my non native english but I hope folk here understand.

Eg, The 101b won't get overly grainy no matter how much you open it up by diming the presence.
The Shiva el34 has a bit more tooth than the boosted blue but not more gain. Just a different "toothy" texture.
The eclipse I tried briefly was 1 up the Shiva in "toothyness''. I hear the 20th Shiva being like that too.

Let's use different brands as an example..
CAA SE+ vs PT100. Latter is more grainy but both are fast - so the opposite of toothy/ grainy is not always sludgy and saggy. something with how compression works in the circuit.
The Soldano Hot Rob 50 also falls in that category too imho.
An old Boogie Mk2 or 3 can get like that if you dime the presence. Might also knock the wifi down 3 blocks down the road..

I know the helios is faster, rawer and more open. So.. does this mean it's grainy??
Some Jose mods also sound a bit like this and I think the Helios might have a bit of Jose in the circuit..

The Helios 100W is rare in the UK but I'd be willing to import one from the US and tap the Mains tranny but hesitate bc if it's

(sorry, few beers in and aware the post reads somewhat stupid with the toothy/ grainy thing.. won't be offended if you take the piss at me with memes or whatevs..)

 

[motorboy1]

Its a bright amp. Not quite the upper mids of a Marshall but close.

 

[lessarti]

It is very very nice, lots of mids but upper mid dominance. It has that fizzy high that is smooth but searing, but you get a raw sounding amp. Not as polished sounding as the XTC.

 

[VHTStark]

By virtue of the Helios being more raw, open, less polished and having more upper mid content (compared tonsay, an Ecstasy), it is what I would call "grainy" in its overdrive in 70's mode with the volume up. I think I know what you mean by that. 80's mode, with its more diode oriented, Jose inspired thing adds some gain/compression, which smoothes things out a bit. I pretty well lived in "hot input 70's mode" when I had my Helios 100w.

That said, my favourite Bogner ever is still my old '96 Ecstasy 101b. That amp on the blue channel, with the treble and mids up could get me close enough to the Helios that I was happy. And with a good boost? Good grief...monster!

 

[skoora]

Well if you got to hear one be played and also tried an Eclipse which will tell you a lot about what the Helios does you probably have a lot more than what can be expressed in words on here. In my experience playing one a fair bit in stores, they are a good Marshall derivative but plug into a 6 knob Marshall after and it’s all over for the Bogner. I I’ve never tried one in person but I actually like the clips of the Goldfinger SL I’ve seen/heard better than the Helios.

 

[Catthan]

thanks for the replies so far, they align with what I was suspecting.

 

[Catthan]

Well if you got to hear one be played and also tried an Eclipse which will tell you a lot about what the Helios does you probably have a lot more than what can be expressed in words on here. In my experience playing one a fair bit in stores, they are a good Marshall derivative but plug into a 6 knob Marshall after and it’s all over for the Bogner. I I’ve never tried one in person but I actually like the clips of the Goldfinger SL I’ve seen/heard better than the Helios.

really liked the GF 90 but hated the 80s mode diode volume drop. also one reason why i’ve hesitated with the Helios.

 

[skoora]

really liked the GF 90 but hated the 80s mode diode volume drop. also one reason why i’ve hesitated with the Helios.

I don’t think you can channel change between 70’s and 80’s mode in either amp so your picking which dirt you want and adjust the volume accordingly, compared to your clean.