Are people happy with the Firehawk?

[nremondelli]

With a few people complaining of slow patch changes, I was wondering if the majority of people are happy with their purchase. Reason I ask is because mind is sitting in the box still. Deciding if it's worth it before opening it up.

[stmclee]

If I may express my opinion:

 

I am very happy with the quality of FX's tones. I am not so happy with bluetooth connectivity. I am unhappy with the lock-ups, a lag and artifacts when switching patches.

 

Aa an enthusiastic user of M13 for the past couple of years, I would be happier if FX had M13's 'easy to use' during gig and without problems listed above. I guess Helix is going to be such a multi-effect unit.

[stevekc]

Ive had Firehawk FX since mid June 2015
Yes reading the numerous complaints here makes me wonder if we are all talking about the Firehawk FX.

The Firehawk FX + my iPhone 6 Plus has became my "go to" rig for learning new songs on headphones here is a copy of my review below.
http://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=13416.0
--
Ive been playing with a Firehawk most of the evening. There is a lot to like about it.
http://line6.com/support/page/kb/_/effects-controllers/firehawk/firehawk-faq-r715

1st thing I did was install the Firehawk FX ASIO USB Driver on one of my Windows 7 machines, install the Line-6 updater 1.03 app, launched and updated the Firehawk FX to latest Firmware 1.10.
Ive been using my Audio Technica ATH-M50X headphones, and JTV-69 Guitar, and Installed the Firehawk Remote IOS app on my iPhone 6 Plus - the patch change delay is not bad @ 100ms ( much faster patch to patch changes compared to the sluggish Roland GR-55) and when changing patches while streaming music backing tracks over bluetooth into the Firehawk, there are zero audio dropouts!

(The FireHawk's Audio over Bluetooth wireless transfer exhibits the lowest latency I have ever experienced for an iPhone Bluetooth Audio Connection!)

The LCD Display is very crisp and legible from all off axis viewing angles, and I really like that there is a dedicated Reverb knob and FX Tweak knob, without need to dive into menus if working without the Firehawk Remote Editor running an iPhone/iPad. Many factory Preset Tones are quite usable for a gig.

When no Tablet or iPhone / iPad is available, the latest FireHawk FX firmware 1.10 added a "Live Edit" mode - which allows adjusting all FX parameters in stand alone mode using the Expression pedal / data wheel.
Firehawk FX Factory presets PDF
http://line6.com/data/6/0a06438916a4755651e331a025/application/pdf/Firehawk%20FX%20Factory%20Presets%20-%20English%20(%20Rev%20A%20).pdf

Its very lean on I/O compared to HD500/HD500X, ( I really miss the lack of a 3.5mm TRS Aux/MP3 input jack), and no "L6 Link", no XLR mic input, no 1/4" Aux Input - and NO Compatibility with VARIAX WORKBENCH (?) as found on every HD500/HD500X) - but having access to the nice Firehawk Remote Editor on my iPhone or iPad AIR makes for a fast / easy setup / teardown and minimal cables. The Firehawk is a bit more advanced compared to the AMPLFI products - Firehawk comes with a mix of PodFarm and HD Amp models, and the FX are decent. there is even the monophonic Synth FX from the HD500.

the cool thing is that once the Firehawk is paired via Bluetooth with my iPhone 6 Plus , I can use any IOS music app - even synth apps like bs-16i. I can play the bs-16i keyboard on the the iPad screen and the audio output streams wirelessly over Bluetooth to Firehawk under 100 ms - which is rather amazing, considering all my prior Blutooth 4.0 LE audio streaming experiments had huge 300ms-600ms latency .

Already I prefer Firehawk over my HD500. Firehawk is whisper quiet, excellent dynamic range - no Hum, even when I used the Normal Mag Single coil PUs on my JTV-69, and I'm in a rather noisy EMF environment in an industrial building.
The Tone Matching tool actually works rather well, I was surprised that when I played arcane odd ball tunes in my iTunes library, the Line-6 Firehawk FX Tone match tool would suggest 6 or 8 patches from the cloud, and in seconds I was "in the ball park" for playing along with the tune.

http://line6.com/support/topic/14293-latency-half-a-second-at-preset-change-on-firehawk/
So my questions to those who are suffering 1/2 second patch changes on Firehawk FX :

* Have you updated to the latest 1.10 Firmware?

* Are you using a recent IOS device that employs Bluetooth 4.0 LE ?

i suspect if you are using an older IOS device or Android device that does not employ Bluetooth 4.0 LE (Low Energy), (like an older 1st or 2nd gen iPad) you may suffer longer patch change times.

On my Firehawk FX - some patches do take a bit longer (but never more than 200milliseconds - it depends on what FX are changing between the two patches.
http://line6.com/support/topic/13511-time-between-preset-swtiching-unbearable/page-2

Occasionally I hear a momentary 50 millisecond burst jump in volume, and short chipmunk sounds if I change from a patch with long delay to a new one with short delay. but Id much rather suffer these minor anomalies instead of a painful 300millsecond silent gap on every patch change ( as occurs on VG-99, GR-55) in exchange for zero dropouts / zero mutes on Firehawk FX when streaming my Audio backing tracks over Bluetooth

No lockups here , never had the "A/D" Death" lights ( which I assume is not pilot error while experiencing the new Firehawk FX "Live Edit" mode in Firmware 1.10) - but I did my research and upgraded Firehawk FX to latest firmware before I even plugged any guitar into it ( recommended) acceptable patch change Lag ( typical for competing DSP Guitar FX Modeling gear)

Like all my other Line-6 gear, after two or three firmware updates, the user experience improves a lot

Good Job Line-6 !

[mcbeddall]

I recorded with mine for the first time a few nights ago and I had a really good experience doing that, it was super easy to set up, zero latency and the tracks sounded exactly how I intended,and I intended them to be awesome!

The sounds I'm getting through headphones are incredible, I literally could not be happier with the sound of this thing, going through my amp takes a bit more tweaking but the end results are very very good

for live use however I find the firehawk a struggle, the patch changes are too long and noisy with pops,crackles,warping sounds etc they are noticeable even with a full band blaring away so if you switch patches often it is sure to be a big frustration, they are fixing it though so who knows? By the time you open the box and programme all your tones into it the fix might not be too far away

[Varialogue1]

It's the most phone I've had with my clothes off. Open it up, get stuck in. The sounds are marvellous and you can gripe with us about lag issues which is also cathartic. I think line 6 will sort these lag problems. Join us!

[mcbeddall]

Not sure if that was an intentional phone pun or not lol

[Varialogue1]

We'll let that stay forever a mystery...

[Paultm]

I very happy with the tones, the app & bluetooth are great but really need the switching latency resolved ASAP, I have faith in Line 6 to fix the bugs.

 

I would also like a bit more flexibility to move the built in dynamics, have just bought a L2M which sounds great and plan to get a JTV-59. Not sure why L6 link was left out as this would have been the complete package.

[kevell99]

I'm similar to everyone else - I love the sound of it, and I couldn't ever go back to editing either on a tiny onboard display or trying to wire the thing up and use a clunky program on the computer now that I've been using the FH app. (I've recently owned the boss me80 and the boss tone studio program is awful to use).

 

I've the same gripes - the lag has to be no1, along with some software bugs and little things (having to play back a second of a recorded loop before it clears, argh! The very separate output modes - what if I want to send to an amp and to a pa?).

 

But these are little things that can be fixed or worked around, and L6 have confirmed they're working on the lag.

 

I like mine a lot for what I do (wedding band).

[mcbeddall]

+1 to the above summed it up perfectly

[tommygunn]

Since I just picked mine up only a few days ago, I really don't have my feet fully wet yet but so far I am extremely impressed.  I first had the Amplifi FX100 and upgraded to the Firehawk when I realized it would connect directly with my Variax.  Love it so far.

 

Now if it had the same looper the JM4 Looper has built into it then to me it would be the ultimate.  Maybe Line 6 would be able to add this looper into the next firmware upgrade. 

 

Since I am to old now to carry heavy amps and I enjoy going to open jam sessions, the JM4 Looper does it all for me.  All I do now is take my James Tyler Variax and the JM4 Looper, get to the jam and plug the looper into the house PA.  Simple and light to carry....lol 

 

I am a big fan of Hank Marvin and the Shadows and have a couple of preset tones close to his sound saved on the JM4.  The fact I can record and save a backing track on the JM4 and then play it back and jam by myself is the ultimate to me. (Probably to many others too)  ;)

 

Now if the Firehawk could do the same  :) then Line 6 that would really and truly be the ultimate.  What blew me away was the Bluetooth editor on my Ipad, being able to search by typing in "Hank Marvin"  and suddenly I have tones instantly and I do mean instantly.  Well you all know that already but that is one of the big selling points for me.  I already have a couple of tones saved that are much better than the ones I have on the JM4, thanks to those users who created them.  Now only if it had the looper the JM4 has?

 

Line 6 please please please incorporate the looper from the JM4 into the Firehawk? 

[jaumick]

It's kinda lollipop for the price the website sucks I kept losing blue tooth connection... Then had the update msg come on that took forever and failed I wish I stuck with my old Dunlop pedals.

[stevekc]

It's too high risk to update FireHawk FX firmware over Blutooth

 

I used a Win7 PC and Firehawk USB DRIVER and Windows Firehawk FX firmware updater app

[DonPf]

I love it. Hands down the single best piece of guitar gear I've purchased over the years. Having it make me want to sit down and play guitar more often after a busy day of work.

 

I play in worship bands around my city on a fairly regular basis. I've loved that I can sit down in the evening when my kid is asleep and practice with headphones and then get exactly the same tones and sound over in-ear monitors when I take it to the live stage. 

 

The switch lag hasn't been an issue for me as I've been able to control my sound pretty well via the pedal selections during individual songs, and only switch patches between songs. If they improve the latency and the funky delay/reverb warping that happens when switching I'll be excited, but honestly, keeping the function of all 4 pedals in front-of-brain memory is enough to juggle in a song for me. If I had to buy new gear again, I'd still buy it even with this issue.

 

I love the user interface and it's been wonderful to play songs straight from my phone or iPad and practice right on top of them.

[Jazzmandan]

I love the Firehawk FX sounds and most of the workflow. But I don't take it live.  I use it for practices and studio.  No quick changes need by me, so I have not seen the problems with delays or sound bursts.  I do look forward to the next firmware upgrade which is coming?? this month.  I hate to see all this bad press since someday I will want to sell this thing and I don't want it to have a bad rep. 

[interstelllla]

Hi, 

 

I've bought mine few days ago and my first impressions are: 

 

- "user experience" in editing tones is great and easy

-  get patchs from "the cloud" is easy

- Effect seems great but I did not passed a long time on it

 

But : 

 

At home I play with my amp : combo Marshall JCM800 so:  the mix "amp modeled" from the device on the naturally mono-crunched-channel from the JCM is not wonderful.
Moreover there's a difference of tone between : only the JCM and the Firehawk dry (without any amp modeled and / or any effect activated)

i'm still trying to manage the situation : I'm searching the setting to plug the Firehawk and here my JCM when there is not amp modeled or effect activated.

 

>> I've done the test with an A/B box.

 

My best result is on a blank patch, with no amp modeled and effect activated and with all buttons turned to 0.

 

I'll try it with my headphones, maybe it's the best way for that kind of use.

 

BUT, I purchased the firehawk to play in rehearsal studio for not carrying my pedalboard.

So I'll try the device direclty in the mix console to give you my feedback.

 

EdDy
 

[mcbeddall]

Try running into the fx return of the jcm800 you will bypass the preamp and then the modelled amps will sound better

You may also find that selecting "no cab" in the amp model will improve it further as you already have a cab in your signal chain (the jcm cab)

[jakers1975]

I love mine. I am a Flextone III and Pod X3 Live owner. By far the best modeler I've used. I use mine 3-4 weekends a month for worship music. Also have a Variax Standard which compliments the Firehawk amazingly.

[ppiluk]

I love mine. I have tried loads of multi-effect pedals and modelling amps and the Firehawk is by far the best of the lot. Only the POD's and the TC Electronic Nova System stacked up to the Firehawk. Here is a list of everything I have had in the past 2 years.

 

1. Fender Mustang 1 v2
2. VOX VT120+
3. Line 6 Spider Valve MK1
4. Line 6 Spider IV 75 Watt
5. Line 6 POD HD400
6. Line 6 POD HD500
7. Line 6 Amplifi FX100
8. Zoom G3
9. Zoom MS100BT
10. * Zoom 50G
11. DigiTech RP355
12. * DigiTech RP360XP
13. TC Electronic Nova System

* Indicates I still own these

[Varialogue1]

I've grown to love mine. The Bluetooth capabilities using a phone or tablet is what really makes this thing sing. I play a metronome app even through the Firehawk. Even if I had the money the Bluetooth thing would stop me buying a helix. It's soooooo convenient. And it sounds pretty good.

[mcbeddall]

Same here, I never want to go back to adjusting real knobs bizarrely

Thing I really love is when I have a spare few minutes at work I can set up a new patch to try later or search for tones and add them to my tones

[Varialogue1]

Creating a new patch totally blind on the app is a lot of fun. Sometimes they work more or less, sometimes they are terrible. I've never owned a 500x but I'm pretty sure I would have thrown it off the wall because of the amount of work just to create one patch. I'm not a great tweaker. Firehawk and me were made for eachother. The 500x would have mocked me and made me feel inadequate.

[fgubbels]

I love mine, too. Great multieffect and great editing tool. All amps model are not 100% equal to the original sounds but it is possible to use most of them and tune them to make them sound very close to the originals.

 

So I think this is the future but a few updates have to be done for making this tool the best:

 

- There should be a way to test the sound without a guitar plugged in in order to edit the sounds and the effects on the app offline.

- There should be a computer version to be able to edit this on a bigger screen. There are limitations of using a ipad

- There should be a way to enter the tempo by a number not only using tap.

- There should be more tuning options for the wah pedals.

- Pedal volume is almost like switch. There should be a way to tune the response curve (ie non linear)

 

More amps, more effects please

 

Thanks. This is a lot of fun

[ppiluk]

Creating a new patch totally blind on the app is a lot of fun. Sometimes they work more or less, sometimes they are terrible. I've never owned a 500x but I'm pretty sure I would have thrown it off the wall because of the amount of work just to create one patch. I'm not a great tweaker. Firehawk and me were made for eachother. The 500x would have mocked me and made me feel inadequate.

 

The best thing the Firehawk has over the POD HD500X is the ease at which you can create and edit patches. The POD HD500X patches have greater depth than those of the Firehawk but for most people the depth is unnecessary.

[Varialogue1]

ppiluk you're right. Ultimately we want to spend as much time getting better at actually playing. I don't want to waste valuable time tweaking. Get a decent sound(don't chase the philosopher's tone) and get on with playing. I've been playing for 20 years and I still see the fretboard as a strange land, impossible to navigate. Most people will forgive your tone but hitting the wrong note can hurt people.

[rkersem]

Hi,

 

I love the sounds of the device, amped indeed is a bit more difficult then via headphones. My only complaints are:

 

- also make it possible to make the top button usuable for patch switching

- please make a PC editor as I can then also use it in a normal recording situation with a multi monitor PC. Now I always need a tablet or phone around, Whilst I have one large touch screen at a PC which can be simply used for editing, with the same ease

- better volume control over patches, there tend to be volume difference which are difficult to sort out.

 

Regards, Rob

[jdebiase]

Has anyone had any issues with the vast differences in volume control from one patch to another. I've only had mine for a week and I love the ease of use with my Bluetooth phone and the remote app. But, it seems that even if I try to adjust the volume of a patch, I'll go back later and it does not save my adjustments. I'm using the white and pink volume adjustments. It only seems to make a difference when you go into an amp to edit, adjust the volume, then save. Also, why is there no save option in the app? I have seen some L6 videos that show saving your edits. I do not have that feature. I have to save manually by using the footswitches, etc. Also...I would love to be able to incorporate my own amp's tone into the patches, and I have used the 4CM. But it does not seem to have much depth and I resort to using my wonderful amp as powered speaker for this thing. Thoughts anyone?

 

[jdebiase]

I love the tones but I'm concerned about lack of experience. I do not see anywhere in the manual or in these forums any info about saving new tones from the "Library". It says I don't have any tones in my library. I thought I could go on-line and download them.

[Varialogue1]

In your library where there are no tones you should select the cloud tab which then allows you to search through the various online tones

[silverhead]

Has anyone had any issues with the vast differences in volume control from one patch to another. I've only had mine for a week and I love the ease of use with my Bluetooth phone and the remote app. But, it seems that even if I try to adjust the volume of a patch, I'll go back later and it does not save my adjustments. I'm using the white and pink volume adjustments. It only seems to make a difference when you go into an amp to edit, adjust the volume, then save. Also, why is there no save option in the app? I have seen some L6 videos that show saving your edits. I do not have that feature. I have to save manually by using the footswitches, etc. Also...I would love to be able to incorporate my own amp's tone into the patches, and I have used the 4CM. But it does not seem to have much depth and I resort to using my wonderful amp as powered speaker for this thing. Thoughts anyone?

The volume levels made by the big knob are not saved with the preset. The idea is that you use the level controls within the presets (e.g. Amp and channel volume) to balance all your preset levels. Then you use the big knob at the beginning of each session to set the overall Firehawk volume to match the room/band/venue. You set this just once at the start, then leave it for the duration of the session.

 

You can save your editing changes by using the SAVE feature of the app. I think it appears as a square block with an upward arrow icon, consistent with iOS look and feel. You then choose to save the modified preset to My Tones or to the Hardware (the Firehawk device).

 

There's lots of info in these forums about 4CM. I don't know what you mean by 'not much depth'. If you have things connected properly you'll have to be more specific about the issue.

[jdebiase]

The volume levels made by the big knob are not saved with the preset. The idea is that you use the level controls within the presets (e.g. Amp and channel volume) to balance all your preset levels. Then you use the big knob at the beginning of each session to set the overall Firehawk volume to match the room/band/venue. You set this just once at the start, then leave it for the duration of the session.

 

You can save your editing changes by using the SAVE feature of the app. I think it appears as a square block with an upward arrow icon, consistent with iOS look and feel. You then choose to save the modified preset to My Tones or to the Hardware (the Firehawk device).

 

There's lots of info in these forums about 4CM. I don't know what you mean by 'not much depth'. If you have things connected properly you'll have to be more specific about the issue.

Thanks Silver. With Th 4CM I'm not sure how to get just the sound of my amp. It appears as an effects block that gets adjusted like a stompbox. Also just plugging into the front end yields terrible results! Sounds like an old transistor radio! I must be doing something wrong. My M9 just worked like a stompbox. Sometimes I want to just hear my clean amp alone. Or be able to use one of the presets. All the videos show this device used going into a computer setup for recording. The 4CM produces good results so far but then I don't know what I need to do with the app. You are really helpful thanks!!

[silverhead]

If you want just the sound of your physical amp your Firehawk preset should be configured to use No Amp, and should have the FX Loop present and turned on.

[drake_st_milan]

In your library where there are no tones you should select the cloud tab which then allows you to search through the various online tones

I wonder how many pages I read trying to find this information? 

[JimPhillip]

I don't actually own one yet but am thinking of buying one to use with JTV - 59. One thing that would clinch it for me, but which I cannot find out about is concerned with pre sets. I get that the firehawk can associate settings with particular guitar models via variax, but all I want to know is whether I can allocate a specific guitar and associated settings so that it comes up when I press button a,b,c or d. From what I have seen these buttons enable someone to alter elements of the selected patch. I do mainly theatre work. Last week, I needed distorted lead, clean lead, clean electric rhythm, and acoustic. If I had had the firehawk, could I have allocated each of these to one of the preset buttons, so that when I want to change from say distorted lead to clean lead I could press button b, then say button d for th acoustic.

 

THe other thug I wanted to know is whether I can have a variax and and another guitar plugged in at the same time, and access all the features?

 

This may be very basic for those of you who already own one, but I cannot find anything which specifically describes this application. Also sorry if some of the terminology is not quite correct. Many thanks in advance for your help.

[silverhead]

Yes, you can assign different Variax models (or the Variax mag pickups) to different Firehawk presets. You could arrange these presets in the same bank (e.g. Bank 1) so that you select and recall these different assignments with a single foot-tap on switches A, B, C, and D. You could have preset 1A be an acoustic tone, using an acoustic Variax model with no guitar amp - just a compressor, EQ, light modulation and delay. Preset 1B could use, for instance, the 12-string Rickenbacker (Chime 2 or 4) model with a Vox AC-30 amp and some suitable FX for a Beatles Ticket To Ride tone. Preset 1C could be a twangy Tele-based country or blues tone for Sweet Home Alabama, and 1D could be a Les Paul model or your JTV-59 mag pickups with a Marshall amp for some heavy Led Zeppelin type stuff. All that is easily achievable.

 

You can have a Variax connected to the VDI input and another guitar connected to the Guitar input simultaneously. Firehawk, though, does not have dual-channel processing so you can only use one input at a time in any preset. But you could switch guitars between songs as you switch presets without having to change any physical connections.

[JimPhillip]

Thanks very much Uber Guru, that's a really helpful reply. Thanks for taking the time to reply. As you can tell I am a compete novice, technologically speaking. I have one further question, if I may? Over the years I have collected lots of music technology. One useful thing that several of these items have is a "set list" function. What you do is allocate successive settings then scroll through them, so that when the next song comes up, you go to the next setting, which calls up all the parameters etc, associated with it. Is it possible to do this on the firehawk, either with the device itself, or maybe with the iPad app? That would be a really useful feature for me. Hope you or someone else can answer this. If it's possible I'll be off to the shop this afternoon!

[silverhead]

Yes you can do that both on the device and with the app. Firehawk stores over a hundred different presets and you can manage and order them in banks of four. You can prepare your setlist in advance and then just step through the songs/settings one at a time during the gig with a single footstomp.

[JimPhillip]

Well thanks again, Uber Guru, that's really helpful. Off to the shop, then. Best wishes

[rockbart]

Is line 6 ever going to enhance the Firehawk FX,  there has been no new update on the firmware or a newer version of the firehawk remote control software(and no windows version either).

 

This was a significant expense to my budget, and I feel I bought an interim product.

 

Thanks,

[silverhead]

Is line 6 ever going to enhance the Firehawk FX, there has been no new update on the firmware or a newer version of the firehawk remote control software(and no windows version either).

 

This was a significant expense to my budget, and I feel I bought an interim product.

 

Thanks,

There may or met not be further enhancement to Firehawk FX. Only Line 6 knows and they only release this sort of information when an update is available. So unless and until it's announced there is no update.

 

As for feeling like you bought an interim product, that belongs to an old and recurring debate that's applicable to all products on this forum. There's nothing new to say about it and no point in starting a new debate. Search the forum for these threads. They all boil down to this: if you bought the product for what it does at the time you bought it, then any further enhancements are a bonus and you're happy. If you bought the product for what it might do at some future date then you set yourself up for disappointment, which you are now feeling.

 

It's your choice at the time of purchase of any product. What are your future expectations for the product? If no enhancements are forthcoming, will you be satisfied or disappointed? If the latter, don't buy the product until such enhancements have been made.