Start Here: The Wickham Anthem Tone in Five Blocks:
- Amp: Matchstick (Matchless) or Essex A30 TB (Vox), bright, edge-of-breakup
- Drive: Minotaur (Klon-style), low gain, always on — the RC Booster stand-in
- Octave/Lead: Pitch Wham/Harmony octave-up shimmer (POG-style) + Scream 808 for leads
- Delay: Vintage Digital (dotted eighth) — the melodic-hook engine
- Reverb: Plate / Searchlights, controlled mix
The Anthem-Worship Lead
Phil Wickham's songs — "Living Hope," "Great Things," "Battle Belongs," "This Is Amazing Grace" — sit in modern anthem-worship territory: bright, confident cleans under the verses and a cutting, melodic lead carrying the big hooks. It is less ambient than Bethel and less rock-forward than Lincoln Brewster — the guitar's job is to be hummable and to lift the chorus.
On the Helix, this is one snapshot-driven preset, built here from empty and portable across Helix Floor, LT, HX Stomp, and Native.
The guitar work behind Wickham is well-documented: Taylor Johnson is his longtime touring electric player, and several records (including the Living Hope title track) were cut by session guitarist Casey Moore. Both work from the same palette — a chiming British amp (Matchless HC-30 or Morgan AC20), an EHX Micro POG for octave-up shimmer, a Strymon Timeline / Line 6 DL4 for dotted-eighth delay, and a clean boost (Xotic RC Booster). That maps cleanly onto the Helix blocks below.
I run this lead on songs like "Living Hope," and the hook is the whole point live — with the mid-push and the dotted-eighth delay it stays hummable and cuts over a full band, so the congregation locks onto the melody instead of it disappearing into the mix.
The Clean: Bright British Chime
Wickham's players run Matchless HC-30 and Morgan AC20 amps — chiming, British-voiced, with great clarity. On the Helix, use the Matchstick (Matchless) model, or the Essex A30 TB (Vox AC30) as a close alternative. Keep it bright and at edge-of-breakup, with the Minotaur (Klon-style, standing in for the Xotic RC Booster) on at low drive across the cleans for body. Their guitars run bright too — Jazzmaster, Duesenberg, and Filter'Tron Gretsch.
| Block | Setting | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Matchstick / Essex A30 TB | Drive ~0.40, Bass ~0.30, Mids ~0.50, Treble ~0.60 | Bright clean chime |
| Minotaur | Drive ~0.20, output up | Always-on body/sustain (RC Booster stand-in) |
| Octave-up (POG-style) | Octave +1, Mix ~15% | The Micro POG shimmer on big moments |
The Lead: Mid-Forward Cut
For the anthem hook, stack a Scream 808 (Tube Screamer) — Drive low (~0.15), Tone ~0.55, Level high — for a mid-push that makes the line cut. Optionally add a Parametric EQ bump around 1 kHz for extra lead presence. The goal is cut, not saturation; the hook has to be clear over a full band and a singing room.
Time and Space: Controlled
- Vintage Digital delay — dotted eighth (375 ms at 120 BPM), Feedback ~25%, Mix ~20%. This drives the melodic hooks.
- Plate or Searchlights reverb — Mix ~15–20%, low cut 120 Hz. Kept controlled so the hook stays forward.
Snapshot Layout
- Clean — amp + Minotaur, delay/reverb low. Intimate verses.
- Anthem — fuller delay and reverb, driven rhythm. Big choruses.
- Lead — Scream 808 + mid-EQ, dotted-eighth delay up. The hook.
- Build (optional) — between anthem and lead for pre-chorus lifts.
Set the Lead snapshot +1 to +2 dB so the hook lifts musically.
On an HX Stomp
Keep Amp · Minotaur · Scream 808 · Vintage Digital · Plate across three snapshots — Clean, Anthem, Lead — folding the mid-EQ into the amp mids and the Tube Screamer tone.
Want the anthem lead prebuilt? Get the Phil Wickham-style Helix preset with the clean, anthem, and lead snapshots ready.
