CloreenBaconskin

I have a Firehawk 1500. I love the speakers, but I am not a fan of the amp models--I play through an empty custom channel most of the time. (The "uncolored" preamp tone is decent in my opinion.)

I am ordering a KRS Orthos head. I want to play my KRS through the Firehawk's 1500 speakers. My understanding is that I could load the amp with a reactive load, send the single through cabinet emulation, and then use the preamp in the Firehawk 1500 to re-amplify the amp through the Firehawk 1500. 

This would work, correct?

Thanks so much for your time reading this!

Horn works when XLR and guitar-in are connected. I'm not having phasing issues because I change up my signal for the center speaker. It's pretty cool; there's a different texture.

The Firehawk 1500 is big and heavy. It's loud, too. If possible, I'd try to test it out along with other FRFR speakers. Because of where I'm located, I only had the Firehawk 1500 available to me. However, I do think having a choice between different speakers for different tones is cool.

I haven't done much with WDW yet.

I couldn't hear the horn. I may call Line 6 and ask them when it should function when using the 1500 as a monitor.

Update. I just read this;

Helix 1/4" Mono Out -> Firehawk 1500 1/4" Guitar In (with an UN-EFFECTED, Neutral Patch) PLUS Helix Stereo XLR Outs -> Firehawk 1500 XLR Monitor Ins (again, controlled by the Monitor Gain Level Control). This engages use of the Firehawk 1500's mono horn, which apparently is not engaged in Scenario's 1 & 2.

This will be tomorrow's experiment with different amps and IRs going to mid and side speakers.

Cool. Appreciate the updates!

 

I know it may or may not be desireable, but does just running Helix 1/4" left output mono into the guitar input come through both the horn and the 12"?

 

I realize that it may not come through the 6" coax speakers, but I could be okay with that. It would simplify live hookup, and I may not even miss the coax stereo in a live situation. This would just make FH about the same 12" + 1" horn format as the other FRFR solutions (Friedman ASM12, Matrix FR12, etc.), but of course give you a whole other HD modeller for backup, and 6" coax stereo if you really wanted to use them.

I'll listen for the horn and see if I can hear it.

Got stereo separation working. I can run three amps and IRs through different speakers now. Going to experiment with that later, too.

Actually in this case, you would need to move the merge block in path 1a down to 1b and then move the A/B-block from 2a down to 2b to get a proper stereo seperation.

I need a picture...

Today, I sent one tone (dry AC30) through the center speaker and another tone (twin deluxe) through the side speakers. The two tones are on separate volume controls (AC30 controlled by 1500's volume and twin deluxe by Helix), so it's easy to mix the two together. Sounds good. No phasing issues as far as I can tell.

WDW also sounds good.

What I'm trying to figure out is how to send one tone to the right speaker and a different tone to the left. I haven't been able to get the two sides to operate individually yet.

I got the Firehawk 1500. It's good. No phasing issues yet. I'm going to experiment with different cabs and different amps going to different speakers. I'll update results in a few days.

Here's the solution to phasing issues.

I should take my Mark V into my reactive load back into Helix into the same IR and AB it. Wouldn't be surprised if Helix sounded better.

I'd be interested in the results of such a test.

Thanks! I'm looking forward to hooking everything up. I'll start in stereo as you suggest.

Sweet! thanks. I'll be sure to try those out.

I think the horn is a key piece and don't want to lose it. I really don't want to mess with splitting the paths, summing stereo, etc. As I would have to go back through a lot of patches, many of which already have splits. Plus it sounds like levels and phasing may be an issue.

 

I have the same question.

I think the horn is a key piece and don't want to lose it. I really don't want to mess with splitting the paths, summing stereo, etc. As I would have to go back through a lot of patches, many of which already have splits. Plus it sounds like levels and phasing may be an issue.

 

I have the same question.

I agree with you. You would think there would be a tutorial on how to hook up and set your patches up. Luckily chad Boston in the line 6 helix group on Facebook helped me out. I have mine set up with the helix's send 1 going to the 1/4 guitar input on the 1500. Then I have the xlr output of the helix going to the 1500 inputs. As for the patch, I put a send 1 block after the amp+cab block. The one tip Chad gave me was to bypass the the send block and get my sound dialed in. Then turn it on and tweak the settings for the send block. I hope someone makes a video on tips for setting it up soon but I am extremely happy with how it sounds. It's a steal at $1000.

So the send block is dry? All the wet tones go through XLR? What kind of settings do you tweak? I'll get my Firehawk 1500 tomorrow.

New question: would you mid sharing the Helix names of those patches? I'm guessing it's not called Mark IV...

Thanks for your input. I believe guitar in alone, with a neutral preset (or empty preset), just goes to the center speaker. I'm guessing that when running the Firehawk 1500 without the Helix, the computer will automatically decide which speakers to use based on what's in the patch. Howeve, since we are bypassing the computer by using an empty preset, it will just go to the default speaker, and we engage stereo manually through XLR. We then need to make sure we send the right signals to the right places; that is having a WDW patch.

I am curious in general, but perhaps in practice it doesn't matter. Just do guitar-in or left XLR for mono. XLR L and R for stereo and both for WDW with a WDW patch. Behind this is the assumption that each method will sound good. Reviews seem to unanimously support this assumption. The only issue I've seen is when people don't set up a true WDW patch, with stereo wet, and dry to the center, but that's user error, and wouldn't work in any WDW rig. I am still particularly curious what happens if you send the same signal through both XLR and guitar in; that is, having the center speaker and side speakers sending out the same tones.

SECTION ONE: Problem

Firstly, I really enjoy the Helix, but I have been running it through one of those portable, battery powered speakers that came with my cellphone. I know...

SECTION TWO: Solution

I've been all over the web reading about FRFR solutions: Atomic CLR, Matrix, Yamaha, and the Firehawk 1500. All of these are priced about the same, and all of them are highly rated as FRFR solutions for modeling devices. The Firehawk 1500 has some features that put it at the front of the pack: mono,stereo,and WDW options; Firehawk FX modeling tones as a back up; and I found one on this tiny island nation where I reside. The only one here unless someone had one sent over from Amazon, but that would be a lot more expensive than going through the distributor. It will be available for pickup on Monday... As you may have guessed, I bought it.

SECTION THREE: Questions

1) Now, I figure I will also need to buy two XLR cables and an additional guitar cable. Is there anything else I would need?

2) Regarding connections (these are my assumptions),...

Mono: guitar input with a neutral preset, or left XLR cable into monitor input. Only central speaker is used.

Stereo: both L/R XLR cables into monitor input. The central speaker cannot be used in stereo. Only side speakers are used.

WDW: Guitar input and XLR L/R monitor inputs. A WDW patch would need to be set up for this to work without phasing issues.

Am I correct regarding these connections?

3) Which speaker does the BT signal go through?

4) Which connection type (mono, stereo, WDW) is best with a BT backing track?

5) When is the top 1" speaker for high tones used?

6) Is there a way to use all the speakers in mono? What about in stereo?

Thank you for reading!

yes, they sounded the same. My son is actually in Nashville Tennessee this week. Yesterday they recorded a demo CD with a guy named Jim Furrow down there. Jim commented to my son that it was the first time he had ever not mic'd an amp to record the guitar for a song. My son said, that Jim said it sounded great coming out of the 1500FH and going straight into his studio recording equipment. Then he wanted to know all about the amp, how long it had been out, what all it could do, bla bla bla... said he was considering buying one for the sudio....

 

They go to another studio today and do the same thing, will pass along what this guy says as well.

 

T

Since these amps have FRFR speakers, you wouldn't want to mic them. Same with a Kemper going to a FRFR speaker. You would just send the signal from the Kemper to your recording set up, and not mic the speaker....The cab tone is part of the simulation. FRFR speakers shouldn't have a tone themselves, or at least that is the idea.