Schmalle

You are probably wrong with this speculation. On my AxeFx II the pitch shifter takes about 4% processing power in whammy mode regardless of mono or poly mode and 6% in intelligent harmony mode.

Headphones will always sound clearer and more direct when you directly compare headphones with speakers. This is because HPs exclude the room from the signal. Rooms can make a guitar sound better or worse. Impact of the room on floor monitor sound Say you have a wedge monitor on the floor. You (1.5m tall) stand 1m before it. Your room might be 2.5m high. While the direct signal arrives at your ears after 5ms of travel through the air, you get an early reflection from the ceiling after about 12ms . So there already is a short delay of 7ms (12-5) that adds some perceived phase shift (gets louder @140Hz but tamed @70Hz). If you move to 3m away from the monitor the relative delay between direct and reflected signal gets down to 5ms so that 200Hz is perceived louder and 100Hz less loud. This is just one of many reflections you get from the room. They add up to something that alters the sound significantly. Experiment that simulates the impact of one room reflection: Use headphones, put a looper as first block, play something and let it loop. Add a simple delay with no feedback and sweep through low delay times 0-50ms and try to evaluate what it does to the original sound of the guitar.

Iif you refer to the output block turning black/green/red: Sadly that's not true, it gets red 12dB above the max USB output level. That means you are only safe from output clipping if your volume knob is max @12o'clock (= -12dB) and you're not using Global EQ to boost.

The Level parameter of Output Main L/R block is fine for that purpose.

Wrong. Research 4CM. You may, but that doen't change the FACT that it does. You can find out easily: compare HX's amp models vs their preamp counterparts. Comparing different power amps is not comparing power amp to no power amp. .Research and you'll find MUCH cheaper solutions. The BluBox is NOT a load box. My suggestion was 4CM with left out to power amp, right out to FOH.

The power amp contributes a considerable part to the amp sound. It interacts with the preamp and the speaker. Also presence / depth / resonance are situated there. Doesn't mean that it will sound bad after the preamp, but almost certainly different. By all means, experiment. Since you probably use the left out, you mix an IR only to the right out by putting it on path B as the last block and then using the mixer to pan the unIR'ed signal left and the IR'ed right. Those speaker signal ready DI boxes don't make a speaker obsolete. It's still needed. I personally own the BluGuitar Blubox which can be put between speaker out and speaker. It has inbuilt IRs that are VERY good, but it's not cheap. Others without IR capabilities are, but I didn't use them so I won't comment on them.

NOOO! Speaker out is high voltage. Don't fiddle with this unless you absolutely know what you are doing. Your DI needs to be prepared for that power. Not all DI boxes can handle these amounts of power. Make shure your device is prepared for this.

Best sound: DI box that transforms the speaker signal from the power amp into a line level signal => 2nd return of the stomp => IR block. This gives you the full amp sound. But that means that you have only 3 blocks left when you include the FX loop block for 4CM (now 6CM). There will be two additional blocks available with firmware 3 though there is no announced release date for that yet.

-18dB seems to be a good middle ground / ballpark for an overall gain reduction from power amp output level to studio level: Consider +4dBu (studio gear level) as an ideal mic-ed signal level which is defined as 1.22V. +18db amplification would bring you to roughly 10V. A Fender Deluxe Reverb i.e. can provide up to 13.3V AC RMS to it's speaker.

If a bypassed block seems to introduce noise, it's because it is set up in a way that attenuates the signal when it's engaged.

Is the difference between direct and amp in the ball park of this?:

This video Thomas Blug shares his take on several approaches on how to get the Santana tone:

Well, not to forget that there are lots of good bass presets on CustomTone.

"I saw a guy on the internet building a bass metal patch around an IR that he bought. Therefore my HX Stomp can maximally sound half decent! WTF?!" Is that what you're asking? LOL.

If you set up levels via USB in your DAW (recommended) and the signal stays below 0dBFS the analog outputs will not distort even with cranked volume knob. -Unless you use Global EQ to further boost frequencies. If you want headroom (for Global EQ or just to be save) lower ýour preset level at least by the max amount of boost that you want to be able to add. It may well cause distortion on following devices though. Comparing analog vs digital output levels: A USB signal level of about -14dBFS will be about +4dBu (aka studio gear level) given Output is set to Line Level and volume knob is cranked. Vice versa a USB signal level of 0dBFS (full) will produce +4dBu on the outs when the volume knob is set @ about 11 o'clock. Switching Output Level from Line to Inst decreases the signal by 7dB. Leveling on the HX stomp device: The output indicator (symbol of output block getting black/green/red) works at exactly +12dB relative to max USB level. Why? -Ask the bug living in it. At least I cannot come up with an explanation why it does that (v2.92). If you want to use the output indicator back off volume to less than half, add a 12dB boost (best in the output block), check if the indicator turned red and level your preset until that it doesn't, then undo the 12dB boost. If you want say 6dB headroom (for Global EQ or just to be save) do that procedure with 12dB+6dB =18bB. If it doesn't get red your presets are ready for USB recording and a cranked volume knob will not distort the analog outputs.

Delays do that by default: Try a Tube Echo with 100% drive and listen whether the dry signal is colored. Hint: It's not. Investigate the delay models. Maybe start with Vintage Digital and Lo Res. For reverb or delay/reverb combos use the suggested split strategy.

The number of speakers in a cab is a very broad generalization that doesn't tell you much (if anything) of how it sounds miced/ captured in an IR. The dimensions and whether it's open back ( and how much) would tell you more. But then add mics with their characteristics, placement and mixing strategies to the equation. I'd suggest to think like this: FRFR is supposed to be a neutral canvas. No distortion, flat response. Amps are designed in conjunction with certain cabs. IRs are supposed to emulate the frequency response of those cabs through a neutral system. Problem is there are many frequency responses, depending on where you listen. There are different approaches to choose one of those - another story. Bottom line: Trust you ears, craft sounds that fit the musical context and of course: “If it sounds good, it IS good.” ― Duke Ellington

That's HX Stomp's DualPitch. Your settings are quite like mine: 38% mix level +3db pitch +10,-11 cents delay 13ms Done purely by ear.

Glad to hear that it's of use for you. I've put it on CustomTone.

Got a bit closer I think. Baluchitherium.hlx VH '95 Sample on SoundCloud

Quick and dirty ballpark preset! Baluchitherium.hlx EDIT: Worked on more accurate version, see post below

Balance is the '95 album, the one with 'Can't stop lovin' you'. Well, drenched in chorus all over the place. I have no patch but a suggestion for the chorus: Dimension with only Switch1 on and 50-60% mix, placed after the amp.

Yes, the volume knob has no effect on when the output indicator turns red. If it does turn red your signal is at least 12dB too hot. Therefore you have to use the volume knob and subtract the appropriate amount which results in a position @12 o'clock or lower. I use the term indicator to distinct from meter (a measurement tool that has a scale).

Well, it seemingly is: The point where the output stage distorts can only be switched between two levels. These only depend on whether Output Level is set to Line or Inst. It sounds and behaves like D/A conversion overload, too. From no audible distortion to pretty drastic at a specific tipping point. At a point where slight boosting with either a block or volume knob leads to distortion adding 12dB in a block and subtracting via volume knob (and vice versa) has neutral effect.

The long press is intentional, because it's a double purpose switch. Short taps will enter the tempo i.e for delays etc. I'm not aware of an option to access the tuner directly by short press.