I'm Looking to Get a Firehawk FX. I need your help!

[abeaton]

Hello All!

 

I am currently looking towards getting a Firehawk and jumping into the world of digital amps and effects. My main use for the Firehawk would be for Praise & Worship on Sunday mornings. I currently use a pedalboard with mostly a few drives and a two delay pedals. This where I need your help in answering a few questions for me.

 

1. In my current pedalboard, I stack multiple drives or delays on top of each other. Would this be something I can do with the Firehawk? I mostly use only one delay, but when comes to ambient-y sounds I stack two together.

 

2. I have only owned one Line 6 item in the past, which is a Line 6 M5. I mainly used it for the reverbs, especially the "Octo" setting, creating an octave Reverb. Does the Firehawk have that effect?

 

3. I know that some people have complained about the reliability of the Bluetooth pairing with an Apple device. Instead of Bluetooth, can I use the Camera Connector Cable (the Lightning to USB cable) with the Line 6 app?

 

4. Lastly, if you were in the position today, would you still by the Firehawk? It is currently listed at $349 from Sweetwater, Guitar Center, etc. That sounds very reasonable for product like this, when compared to others.

 

Thank you for your time! If everything sounds well with this, I would love to add the Firehawk in my collection.

[mcbeddall]

Your best bet is to download the app and try it out, you can set up patches without the unit itself so you can see what effects are available and what you can stack

You can't stack reverbs but everything else you can , though you are limited to 4 effects blocks that are assignable.

Octoverb is in there.

You can't use a connector for connection as far as I know.

I think it's a bargain at 349, I paid that in pounds and I am very happy with it

 

Another consideration is how you intend to amplify your sound, you won't get the best out of it running through a guitar amp in my opinion, I carry a powered speaker around but at some gigs I don't even need that, I just plug into the desk and use the stage monitors, if you haven't considered amplification it could end up costing way more than you might have budget for.

 

If you do get one , save yourself a ton of pain and time by creating all your patches at gig volume , most important thing I learned about modelling

[Gkf9]

I'm really thinking of buying one of these, I've got an Amplifi 75 atm with the Express pedal. But really want a whole in one unit.Will then buy some JBLn305s monitor speakers.

 

Plus will buy a Variax sometime,to accompany it.

 

Hopefully this set up will keep me content for a while?

[abeaton]

Thank you! I went ahead and downloaded the Firehawk app, however I only see that I have 3 programmable footswitches, not 4. Other than that I like the app! I probably would not buy a monitor, maybe a while from now. I use in-ears at church so that shouldn't be a problem plugging in to XLR.

[mcbeddall]

Yeah you're right it's 3 fx blocks, I have a patch with 4 slots at the expense of the fx loop, think it was some kind of bug or prototype patch that escaped the line 6 lab

[silverhead]

Yeah you're right it's 3 fx blocks, I have a patch with 4 slots at the expense of the fx loop, think it was some kind of bug or prototype patch that escaped the line 6 lab

I think that's true! Hold onto that one as long as it works.

[mcbeddall]

Yeah had no problems with it so far, only use it as a special effect for a few seconds in a couple of songs, to be honest I've found the 3 blocks to be plenty for what I'm trying to achieve 99% of the time

[abeaton]

I did some digging in the app, and found one with four presets. Though, I didnt really think the Firehawk had a FX Loop. I like idea of the FX Loop so I can put my Boss DD-500 in it, and that would take care of all my delays.

[Tcamponovo]

You should be able to stack a couple delays in the firehawk. You may wanna do a search on the cloud (in the app) to find some U2 type settings. These will always have a quarter note and dotted 8th delays stacked if the preset is done properly. This will give you a great ambient setting for praise and worship guitar tones. Just look for a setting for "Where the Streets Have no Name" and make sure it has a good rating. This can all be done by accessing the cloud within the app. Then choose the option to store the sound on the actual firehawk. So you can access the preset via the footswitch and not have to fumble with your phone in a live scenario.

[abeaton]

I have been meaning to post a reply, I just haven't gotten around to it. I went ahead and ordered a Firehawk! I was able to buy a new one for under $300 (not including tax), and for that price, it's a steal. I had it for a few days now, and for the most part, I love it! I haven't had a lot of issues with it. I find that the three open effects blocks is all that I need. I have my delay pedal in the FX loop and it sounds great. I have also been working with some of the Line 6 delays, though the DD-500 goes a lot deeper in the setting of the delay. I love being able to go through and find tones from other users. It makes it so much easier to sit down and play through songs, rather than spending a lot of time on coming up with the tones I think I need.

 

Thank you to everyone who helped me! Now if I could only change my name from MaybeaFirehawk to something else.

[fishinggiant]

I do the same thing as you.  Need 4-5 good patches for worship.  Here's a couple of pointers i've learned.

• Other user was right on in creating a U2 type patch with 2 delays stacked.  
• you can choose up to 5 effects per patch not 3 as stated in the thread.  when you connect to the actual FX unit you can turn effects on and off and assign to footswitches.  I usually turn vol off and stack a couple of drives in there
• Check out the Line 6 amps.  They are fantastic for the sounds you are trying to get.  The  line 6 sparkle in particular will give you a GREAT clean tone then stack two delay on with dotted eighth and qtr note each.  Instant worship vibe.  Try J45 line 6 model too (i think that's the name) which gives a great crunch.
• You can overwrite any bank on the unit.  There are 3 "user" banks, 30-32, which are blank but you can overwrite the factory ones if you need more options.  
• remember you can reorder and assign any effect to any of the 5 top footswitches.  This gives tons of flexibility.
• i also run on a quiet stage with in ear and not through an amp.  The XLR outs are really nice for this.  I do all my tone tweaking at home wtih iphone and app then make sure tones are assigned to i can use the unit as a standalone for live performance.  This avoids the app "lag" that is caused by bluetooth that many have complained about. I wouldnt try tweaking tones during live performance with the app.  remember you still have all the flexiblility of a normal pedal board in this scenario with the footswitches. 
• would like to see more good worship patches on the cloud but honestly if you just start with a good basic amp sound then add reverb and delays to taste you get most of what you want and it keeps it quite simple.