Just Wondering about connecting my HD500x to FH1500

[guitarplaya2000]

OK, now that I've gotten used to my Line6 HD500x (and I love it!)

 

I am a church guitarist and I use my newly acquired HD500x mainly at church, so it doesn't travel. I also play for a gospel quartet who travels to different churches and I've been eyeing and drooling over the FH1500 since its release. It'll be great to use my various tones on the road as I do at my home church. The thing that had me wondering was that I've read somewhere online that the Firehawk FX pedal is highly recommended.

 

However, I've invested many hours on tweaking customtones and creating my own tone for my HD500x and I would love to take my tones with me. Can I still connect my HD500x to the FH and still enjoy my tones? Or Is it possible that I can copy my tones to either the FH1500 or FX and I can continue to use my favorite tones on the road? Or do I have to start from scratch and tweak the included tones in the amp?

 

 

I hope my question isn't too confusing and thank you in advance for your input!! ;)

[mcbeddall]

Yes you can connect your hd500 to the firehawk 1500 and thereby use the firehawk 1500 just to amplify the pod

You may or may not find that you can recreate your tones using the firehawk modelling, really depends on what effects and amps you use etc

 

However with time you should get tones close to what you get on the 500 so it would serve as a great back up should you ever have a problem with the pod

 

The only way to copy the tones would be to make a note of how you have them set up on the hd500 and then manually recreate them on the firehawk, again, depends on what you use , the firehawk has more limitations than the hd500

[guitarplaya2000]

Yes you can connect your hd500 to the firehawk 1500 and thereby use the firehawk 1500 just to amplify the pod

You may or may not find that you can recreate your tones using the firehawk modelling, really depends on what effects and amps you use etc

 

However with time you should get tones close to what you get on the 500 so it would serve as a great back up should you ever have a problem with the pod

 

The only way to copy the tones would be to make a note of how you have them set up on the hd500 and then manually recreate them on the firehawk, again, depends on what you use , the firehawk has more limitations than the hd500

 

Valuable info McBeddall, thank you so very much for your reply!

[amcevoy]

Not sure if you've got a FH1500 yet, but mine arrived this week and so far I'm really impressed. I also have a HD Pro X which I've been looking for suitable amplification for. So far I've relied on keyboard amps which are decidedly sub-optimal (in my experience).

 

I've been a little jealous of the Helix users who have a dry output option to give Wet/Dry/Wet sounds. However, you could do this with the HD500x with a little effort.

 

I run the guitar into the POD and then the effected(?) signals into the XLR inputs to give the 2 wet components. Then run the 'dry' out of the POD (which is essentially the same signal as from your guitar as it doesn't hit the signal chain) into the guitar in on the FH1500. I set up an 'un-effected' version of the amp to get the 'dry' component on the FH1500 and then balance the sounds up to taste. It works really well as you have the same amps (more or less) on the FH1500 as you do on the POD. Not sure what connections you have on the 500, but if you split your signal into the 500 and run one end to the FH1500 - you should get the same result.

 

Once that worked, I set up MIDI signals from the HD Pro x to flip to the corresponding dry amp models on the FH1500. In its default mode, the selected patch on the POD HD will trigger select the corresponding patch on the FH1500; i,e, selecting 1A on the pod will select 1A on the FH1500, but you can override that.

 

Works a treat. We have an outdoor service coming up - looking forward to it.

[ColonelForbin]

Yeah, you can use the FH1500 as a powered speaker with HD500; just run either the 1/4" or XLR from HD500 to FH1500 monitor input (they are combi jacks).

There is a trim control on the back of the FH1500; you will need to juice this up a bit if you are using the XLR from HD500, since it's mic level, but that works fine.

 

There are also random options for doing things as others above suggested, with sending a copy of your guitar to be processed by the FH1500. I am using Helix with FH1500 and didn't spend too much time trying to do the wet/dry/wet thing - I was doing it wrong and causing phase cancelling, and never got around to working out a Helix patch to make it work - one of these days!

 

I've been mostly using it for tracking / ProTools at home - using Helix as soundcard, sending the XLR stereo to FH1500 and the 1/4" to a pair of small M-Audio monitors. Works really well! I am tempted to get the FBV3 for controlling the FH1500 to use it's modeling and FX, but don't have any immediate need to do that, still have the HD500x as backup, and Helix is taking the majority of my attention anyway.

 

FH1500 has similar offerings to HD500x; has some things not in HD series, and other amps that are in HD model packs and such that are not in the Firehawk collection. Similar, in general, same basic modeling, but the character of the speaker makes them more accesible, in that you are not worried about how to amplify the HD500. It is fun to feed a dry guitar copy to the FH1500 and run it parallel with stereo HD500 / Helix patches.

 

In terms of high powered, all in one stereo speaker systems, it's priced well, weighs alot! 63 lbs - heavy, but not impossible to move around. 

 

Things to consider / compare with other similar speaker systems:

 

-has bluetooth and an app - very useful! I keep the app on my phone while I am playing - the speaker modes are very useful, to cut bass response, to control the volume of the FH1500, and to access the global EQ. The bass cuts are wall mode (most bass cut), floor mode (medium bass cut), and free field.(no bass cut). There is also a control to set it to mono, stereo, or stereo wide.

 

- has a single 12" speaker + coax speakers- some other options have two 12" speakers - Mission Gemini II, or some have mono so you would need two, IE Friedman ASM 12, Line6 L2, L3. 

 

- tilt back kick stand - cool idea; works well. lately I've been putting it on an amp stand; but the tilt back worked great when I had it set up in front of me more like a floor monitor.

[ColonelForbin]

 

I've been a little jealous of the Helix users who have a dry output option to give Wet/Dry/Wet sounds. However, you could do this with the HD500x with a little effort.

 

There are some threads about this; the Helix rack is the only option with a dedicated dry guitar out. I have the floor Helix, and tried wet/dry/wet with the FH1500, and I did it all wrong, so got weird/bad phase cancelling. Apparently, doing it right yields some really awesome sound though!

 

-First wrong idea: I was thinking I could just run the main XLR from Helix to FH1500 monitors in, and also send mono 1/4" main out from Helix to FH1500 guitar in, on blank patch. NOPE! 

 

Then, I tried creating a send using Helix FX loop/send positioned after the amp model before the post FX; this also caused lots of phase cancelling, since I didn't have the post amp model 'wet' FX set to 100% mix.

 

The basic idea - I think Line6Arne spelled this out somewhere - is you need to send guitar + fx + amp model to 1/4" into the FH1500 guitar in, and have the FH1500 set to blank patch. Then you need to set the mix on the post amp model FX to 100%, IE, delay, chorus, reverb. That signal gets routed to the XLR out and sent to the FH1500 monitor inputs. Then you balance the 'wet' levels with the 'dry' using the controls on the FH1500 (using the app is the easiest way)

 

Arne made a diagram; will see if I can track it down..

http://line6.com/support/topic/19436-helix-firehawk-1500-best-connection-scheme-for-live-frfr-purposes/?p=149192

 

 

ArneLine6

Line 6 Staff

 

Posted 29 March 2016 - 07:31 PM

A lot of fun can be had with a routing where you create a dry send right after the amp/ cab into the guitar in and a stereo send with 100% wet effects into the stereo monitor in. Feeding the same signal into the guitar in and into the stereo in is dangerous in the sense of phasing issues and will probably not always work. The stereo input goes to the stereo system. If only the left side is plugged in it goes to the mono (center) system. The guitar in always go the the center system and the internal stereo effects always go to the stereo system.

[guitarplaya2000]

That was very informative ColonelForbin, especially when you mentioned the weight of the FH1500. When you said, "it weighs alot! 63 lbs - heavy, but not impossible to move around", that was one of my biggest concerns. The FH1500 will be perfect for churches that we visit who doesn't have a sound board that can accommodate instruments - only vocals; musicians had to bring their amplifiers. But after thinking about it, 63 lbs isn't too bad if I only need to handle occasionally. I've been playing and lugging a combo tube amp for many years and now that I'm 57 years old; I don't seem to have the energy as I used to. :)  But in this case, it's always to good to have the FH1500 standing by when I need it! Thank you ColonelForbin!

[afedericojr]

Does this also mean the hd500x expression pedal (wan/volume) and switch assignments / loop work as a controller for the firehawk 1500?

Has anyone verified this, because line 6 phone support just informed me I couldn't use the HD500X as a controller and would need their new controller?

[ColonelForbin]

Does this also mean the hd500x expression pedal (wan/volume) and switch assignments / loop work as a controller for the firehawk 1500?

Has anyone verified this, because line 6 phone support just informed me I couldn't use the HD500X as a controller and would need their new controller?

 

No; in the HD500x (or Helix) + FH1500 scenario, the FH1500 is just acting as a powered speaker only; no Firehawk models/fx - using the HD500x (or Helix) to make all the tones, and the 'Hawk is just the speaker. I don't know if there might be a way to use MIDI to send patch changes from HD500x (or Helix) to Fh1500, but I think that they were correct in saying if you want a foot controller / wah / expression, to pair with FH1500, to control the wah/volume/fx on the actual Firehawk 1500, you would need get the new FBV3 (and maybe a Mission EXP pedal.)

[afedericojr]

No; in the HD500x (or Helix) + FH1500 scenario, the FH1500 is just acting as a powered speaker only; no Firehawk models/fx - using the HD500x (or Helix) to make all the tones, and the 'Hawk is just the speaker. I don't know if there might be a way to use MIDI to send patch changes from HD500x (or Helix) to Fh1500, but I think that they were correct in saying if you want a foot controller / wah / expression, to pair with FH1500, to control the wah/volume/fx on the actual Firehawk 1500, you would need get the new FBV3 (and maybe a Mission EXP pedal.)

 

That is a real disappointment. I posted the idea if you guys want to upvote.

http://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Use-HD500X-HD500-and-Helix-as-controller-for-Firehawk-1500/821366-23508