robertgoddard

There is no 2 amp setting, if you want that then Helix is the way to go, not sure if HD500X has dual amps or not. As far as controlling gain with the pedal, you can do that. You can place the volume pedal in front of your overdrive pedal or amp model and increase/decrease "gain" that way, similarly to how you would with a volume pedal right after a guitar. That's what I do. I set the minimum pedal position to 10% so it's a no-brainer and start from there to build my sound. I get a great clean and transition into dirty that way. I use a Screamer HD as a boost to get even more dirt and a great lead tone.

Well, if you don't like the compressor afterwards, don't use it? There are compressor effects available... I mean the functionality is more limited than the HD500X and is priced accordingly. I hate sounding like a fanboy, but I really do enjoy my FHFX. It's great as a pedalboard replacement or whole rig replacement, depending on venue. I get the sounds I like out of it, and it is easy to use. Small details like an immovable compressor block and EQ don't bother me, if I don't want them there, I turn them off. If I want compression before the amp model, I'll put a compressor there.

I create all my patches to be the same level as each other. So it's not really an issue for me. Even the stock patches I will modify and save on top of itself it it's too loud/quiet. If you work within the limitations of the unit, you will find what you're looking for so much easier.

What version of the firmware is on the device? When you power it on, it'll say which (V1.01, V1.10, V1.20, V1.30). If it's not V1.30, I recommend flashing that firmware ASAP.

I've been using mine live for the last few months. The limitations of the device are the routing options, but the live sound is good, if you accept the fact you only have a simple setup. I use it either as an effects device using 4-Cable Method with my tube amp (not using any amp/cab sims) or as a standalone system with no amp, direct to FOH/PA/Mixer. Got it used for $280, not complaining one bit. If I had bought new for $500 when it came out I'd be upset, but it's a great piece of gear for what I use it for. As far as having a compressor after the amp block, I think if it more as an aid than a hindrance. From experience, to get a great balanced sound in a live setting, you're going to add compression to your channels. If you have a simple PA setup with just volume mixing, you're not going to get any compression. Having that compressor after the amp/cab sim is just like having a mic'd cabinet going to a mixing board with a compressor. Your soundman will compress your signal. You won't hear it in monitors because that's unprocessed (usually pre-fader signals). Things like reverb and delay you don't want compressed anyway, so having them after the compressor placed after the cabinet makes sense. I was frustrated with that fact for a bit until I spoke with a sound engineer and he was like, "Dude, if you use that compressor, I don't have to use mine! And you'll hear what you sound like at FOH" So that's what I do now. If you think that compressor block is hindering the amount of effects you can run, look up the No FX Loop patch. It replaces the FX Loop block with an additional assignable block. It takes away your FX Loop, but you gotta give a little to get a little.

I looked at the specs of that amp. The fact that it has a Line In for anything, tells me it's a solid state stereo amp, which will reproduce any signal you give it pretty accurately. I'm sure the speakers in it have been selected to be pretty close to FRFR to help with sounding good if you play a backing track through the amp.

Have you downloaded any patches from the cloud to the Firehawk? I think there may be some corrupt patches or some patches have too much DSP being used, causing the unit to crash. Try a factory reset and only create patches on your own, or only use patches with the FH label from the cloud.

If you gave a detailed description of what you were trying to do, it would be more helpful.

What do you mean placing the cab elsewhere? You can move every effect in front of the amp. You just can't simulate an effects loop between the amp/cabinet.

From all of your other posts, the Firehawk doesn't seem like the right equipment for you. You should upgrade to a Helix LT and you'll get all the routing options your looking for, including loading IRs. You could sell the Firehawk for about $280-$300 and get a used LT for about $900.

There's 2 ways you can do this. The first method is the easier, more beginner method. You can run the Firehawk as a full modeling rig, with the amps/cabinets in the Firehawk. Just plug your guitar into the Firehawk, run the XLR out to the soundman, run a 1/4" to your FX Loop return on your amp for monitoring. If you don't have an FX Loop, just plug it into the regular input and set all your tone knobs to 5, on the clean channel. The second way is to go with a hybrid 4-cable method. If you really like the sound of your amp (well, the pre-amp section anyways), you can plug your guitar into the Firehawk, run a cable from the Firehawk FX Effects Send to your amp Guitar In. Run the amp FX Send back into the Firehawk FX Return. Make sure you place the FX Loop block before the amp block in the app. Also, you can add stomp boxes in front of your real amps pre-amp, like adding a tube screamer or whatever. For your amp, select Tube Instrument Pre-Amp (under clean types) with all settings at 50% and select the type of cabinet you want to emulate. Then run a 1/4" out to your amp's FX Loop Return and also an XLR out. You will need to be in Line mode for XLR to work. The house won't hear your cabinet, but they will hear your pre-amp and the emulated cabinet from the Firehawk. There's no parallel path to allow you to hear the emulated in the house and non emulated in your amp.

The wah switch on my Firehawk is pretty easy to engage and reliable. You can't be heavy footed for the reasons of softswitch styles you mentioned. You could also set up 2 identical patches with the wah on and wah off, so you would have definite engagement, but you'd have a 50-100ms delay when switching patches. Could be even shorter since it's the same patch, just one parameter change.

You will need an additional cable, because you need to put the loop pedal in the FX loop. Move the FX loop block to the end of the chain, right before the unmovable reverb block. Make sure to turn it on and set the mix properly. 50% will be 50/50 blend of signal and looper, 100% sends all signal through the looper and back into the Firehawk.

If your battery pack has a 9V output with a negative (-) tip and positive (+) sleeve capable of 3A (3000mA) then it should work. I think the 3000mA may be overkill, I think it will work on 2A (2000mA). I had a hard time finding any battery packs that supply more than 2000mA, so you could always try.

I'm assuming you are running a DI box to convert from a 1/4" (6.35mm) cable to XLR (balanced cable, 3 pin) to run to the soundboard. The Firehawk has these outputs, which you can use, make sure the Line/Amp switch is set to Line. Or you can use the 1/4" out to the DI box, but that's an unnecessary step. The Di box has an XLR going to it, just unplug it and run it to the Firehawk, unless the cable isn't long enough. At my church, I had a pretty cool sound person who would let me do that kind of stuff.

.1 second is equivalent to 100ms, .2 second is 200ms... so about 100ms to 200ms of a delay, about like what you said, no more than 300ms delay time for patch switching.

When read carefully, you can see that I stated .1-.2 seconds

The outcome of sound? I'm assuming you mean what exactly is the patch switch latency sound like? The volume drops/cuts out for about .1-.2 seconds, so it's noticeable. I also play a Tele, and you can get some decent higher gain sounds from it, it depends on the amp and the overdrive/distortion/boost pedals you put in front of it. When I say amp, I mean amp model, and when I say pedals, I mean virtual pedals. I use my FirehawkFX straight to the soundboard/mixer with XLR out. No real amp unless I need one, like if the main sound system is down, like last week. Then I use a nice 30W tube amp in 4CM (4 Cable Method) with no amp sim. There's lots of demo videos on YouTube with the FirehawkFX and the types of sounds you can get. This is probably the best video out there for it: Happy shopping!

I like the Firehawk, I got mine a good price. The sound is great, and comparable/on par with the HD500X. The only thing is, even with the newest firmware, there is a slight gap in sound output when changing patches. I use mine in church as well, and carefully timed switching is a must. I usually just use the stomp feature to change tones instead of changing entire patches.

This is essentially using the 4CM (4 Cable Method). Yeah, it's really easy to do and you can keep your amps sound.

The "Amp" setting on the switch disables any Bluetooth audio going out the 1/4" or XLR outputs. I also believe that it reduces the audio level to be inline with the output levels of any effects put into the effects loop of your amp. You can run the output of the Firehawk directly into the Effects Return of your amp (if it has one) and bypass the pre-amp in your amp if you want. The modelling is still happening in your Firehawk, and you will hear it in your amp. If your amp doesn't have an Effects Loop, then run it into the instrument input, set all your EQ to 5 (or straight up) on the clean channel. This should get you a neutral sound from your amp. The To get the most accuracy of what the Firehawk sounds like, you could get a 1/4" to RCA cable and run it to any stereo receiver with RCA inputs. Most stereos are full range and will more accurately reproduce the sound/tones the Firehawk makes. Just to let you know, the sound you hear coming out of your amp, regardless of method of connection, will not sound just like the sound coming out of the outputs of the Firehawk. For example, If you have your 1/4" out going to an amp (either method of connection) and you hook up XLR to FOH sound (soundboard). The amp will change your sound, including the speakers, preamp, and power amp. FOH sound will be model sound only. Lots of things to consider when hooking up different ways.

Editing on a phone screen is pretty easy. I do, but my phone is an Android with a 5.5" screen, not sure what iPhone you have, but even on a 4" screen it wouldn't be hard to navigate through. The interface was designed with phones/tablets in mind, so I'm sure it would work well. The Mac/PC portion of functionality of the device is limited to the USB Audio interface that the Firehawk FX provides for you, so there's no need for an additional audio interface for recording.

Unfortunately, it's something you'll have to deal with unless you're willing to change the way you think of your signal path. For years before any modelling, I've always put the volume pedal as the first part of my signal chain. This way I can control the "gain" into the OD/distortion pedal or amp, similar to using the guitar volume knob. I've found that I never use the wah pedal unless I'm full on anyways (solos and what not). So using the wah right after going to full volume... makes sense. The standard way most, if not all, of the presets in the unit have the volume pedal after the overdrive/distortion/amp stage, which i find to be a horrible idea. There is also the fact that you can limit the volume to 50% if you use the app and set max volume level. Touch the Volume block and slide the max volume down to you preferred level and you're good to go. This may be the answer you were actually looking for.

Just bought a used Firehawk FX from a friend. I have a question about the outputs. If you aren't running stereo effects, do the L(Mono) and R outputs have the same signal? Does the R output even produce anything if there is no stereo signal? I ask this, as I am looking to run the L(Mono) output 1/4" to a mixer and the R 1/4" to a personal headphone amplifier for monitoring. Clarification: The house only has 1 aux mix for the whole band, I can run both signals to my personal amplifier and adjust the aux mix and my guitar levels independent from each other. This prevents having me cranked in everyone's mix if they don't need it.