FireHawk 1500 connected to Digitech trio plus

[TomEBoy6]

I recently picked up the Firehawk 1500, which I am pretty happy with. I am thinking of picking up the new trio plus looper. I'm trying to figure out if I can use any other connection then just amp out to the guitar input. I as thinking of using the effects loop then maybe the stereo output to the moniter input.

 

What I'm looking for is replacing the experience I have with my spider Jam. I'm thinking that the Digi Tech Trio Plus and the Firehawk 1500 would be a good match.

[ColonelForbin]

Looks like the Digitech Trio Plus has an amp out, a mixer out, and an fx loop mono send / return. I looked at the TrioPlus quick start guide, and I am guessing the path might be something like:

 

guitar -> digitech guitar input -> digitech fx send -> FH1500 guitar input -> FH1500 [pre fx + amp model + post fx] -> FH1500 fx send -> digitech fx return - > (to use the digitech looper) -> digitech amp out -> FH1500 fx return *-AND-* digitech mixer out -> FH1500 monitor input.

 

This would send your guitar through the digitech for tracking / chord analyzing. Then it sends your guitar signal to the FH1500 for fx + amp modeling. Then it sends that signal back to the Digitech, so you can use the looper. Then it sends all of that to the FH1500 - you might need to mess with how the Digitech routes it's content - ideally you can tell it to ONLY send your guitar signal + looper content to guitar out; and send the Trio 'band' to the mixer out - this will give you individual control over the two levels, and will put your guitar through the center speaker system with the horn; and put your backing tracks through the other speakers.

 

That would also help prevent any phase cancelling by duplicate 'dry' signal being sent to both the guitar in and monitor in. I also have an FH1500, and Helix - have been trying to do wet/dry/wet with Helix+FH1500, and I've been doing it wrong! I was getting phase cancelling because I was sending dry amp model to the guitar in; while also sending some amount to the monitor inputs in stereo. 

 

Anyway, I digress! Sounds like it should work; and I can tell you from my experience using the FH1500 at home, it sounds really good with backing tracks going to it - bass, drums, etc. I use it at home as a stereo monitor / speaker, connected to Helix as soundcard, using ProTools to record, and Superior Drummer as the drums. 

 

Lots of loud, and lots of bass! The app is very useful - and easy to use - I delayed using it, and I should have started with it. Lets you control the bass cut (speaker mode) for the FH1500 - which is very, very useful for taming the amount of bass. It also gives you access to the FH1500 volumes, so you can easily balance the levels. And it controls the global EQ, which is also an excellent feature.

 

EDIT#1 - reading the more in depth manual it says the outputs are auto-sensing on the Trio Plus, and functionality will change depending on what is connected..

 

1. FX SEND Jack Connect this output to the input of an external guitar effect stomp box or pedalboard. See 'Using External Effects Connected To The FX Loop' on page 16 for more information.

 

2. FX RETURN Jack Connect the output of an external guitar effect stomp box or pedalboard to this input. See 'Using External Effects Connected To The FX Loop' on page 16 for more information.

 

3. AMP OUT Jack Connect this output to the input of a guitar amplifier. Note that the output jacks are auto-sensing and output functionality will change depending on which outputs are connected. See 'Output Jack Operation' on page 15 for more information.

 

4. GUITAR IN Jack Connect your guitar to this jack. The guitar signal fed to this jack should be unprocessed. If using external effects, they should be connected to the FX SEND and RETURN jacks.

 

5. MIXER OUT Jack Connect this output to the line input of a mixer. Note that the output jacks are auto-sensing and output functionality will change depending on which outputs are connected. See 'Output Jack Operation' on page 15 for more information.

 

http://rdn.harmanpro.com/product_documents/documents/3738_1453332231/TrioPlus_Manual_5064509-A_original.pdf

 

http://rdn.harmanpro.com/product_documents/documents/3729_1452288323/TrioPlus_Quick_Start_5064507-A_original.pdf

 

EDIT#2: check this out!

 

NOTE: When only the AMP OUT jack is used, an inverse cabinet emulation is added to the bass and drums signal. See 'Output Jack Operation' on page 15 for more information."

 

EDIT#3: when connecting both guitar out and mixer out, it automatically does what you need - guitar only to guitar out and backing tracks only to mixer out..

 

NOTE: When connected to both the MIXER and AMP OUT jacks, the guitar signal will be fed to the AMP output and the bass and drum parts will be fed to the MIXER output. See 'Output Jack Operation' on page 15 for more information

[TomEBoy6]

Wow, thanks Colonel. I have the Tri-plus on order. Once I have it I'll see how it sounds. Once I figure it out I will update, it

Looks like it should work on paper...I was hoping to split the signal the way you described. I've been streaming audio tracks and I'm really satisfied, I do find the guitar volume is usually much louder and I have to adjust it down to match. I've been playing with the Firehawk 1500 a bit more. I'm using the fbv mkll controller and my iPad mini and I'm pretty happy. As a amp it is more then loud enough to play with the guys. Once a tone is dialed in it sounds good at any volume, that was what I was chasing for a while. I like the sound on my little spider jam but it falls short outside of the bedroom pratice level. I've tried the Amplfi 150 which went back, the Firehawk 1500 is an Amplifi on steroids. I also tried a hd500x plus 2 dt amps. I found it took too much time tweaking the hd500x. There are some great guides out there to help you dial in a sound but that set up did not check off enough boxes. I was looking at the Helix but I felt I was more then I needed. I understand there are limitations on amp modeling, I'm not looking to fill a room with a bunch of equipment to match some studio tone for a couple of tunes. I feel that Once your playing in the mix if you are close most people won't hear a difference. With the Firehawk 1500 I've download a couple of tones from the cloud, tweaked them a little bit to match the guitar. Now I'm spending more time working on playing a song then fiddling around with trying to dial in a tone. I slam on a backing track and off I go, the next thing I notice it's 3 hours later. One suggestion I would make is maybe side handles or 2 handles on top, it is heavy but manageable.

[ColonelForbin]

Once a tone is dialed in it sounds good at any volume, that was what I was chasing for a while. 

 

Yup! Same here; being able to sound good anywhere from really low to really loud is great!

[TomEBoy6]

Finally got the pedal Sweetwater had it on back order.....I've been messing around with it for only a few minutes.

So far Guitar => guitar input to the trio plus. Trio plus out to amp to firehawk 1500 guitar input.

Mix out from trio plus to monitor on the firehawk.

I tried the fx send and receive but the TrioPlus tracks got the amp effects.

Only the guitar signal has the amp effects this way. Interestingly when I loop a guitar, the track is treated like the guitar track, so if you change the amp effects it also changes the guitar backing signal also.

I will update as I tinker with it. It sounds pretty good the bass and drums sound great. I can adjust the volume of the "band" with the monitor level knob.

[TomEBoy6]

I guess it would have helped if I read your 3rd edit that's the way I have it connected and I am very happy. The only issue is when I loop in a rhythm track any changes in the amp settings effect the looped rhythm track and the lead. so if you hit let's say a drive to up the dB both the looping rhythm and lead are changed. I'll figure it out. I think the trio plus acts as a stand alone looper also.

[TomEBoy6]

There is a guy on you tube that did an extensive review of the Trio-Plus. do a search for EytschPi42 and search for his demo.

The set up with the Firehawk 1500 is real easy and really sounds great to me. I'm very happy with the Firehawk 1500, really great solution. I'm still tweaking the tones a bit, the iOS ap is easy and intuitive. I just wish there were more tones in the cloud. I played with the guys on my block and Firehawk was great. Loud enough and it sounded pretty good, just need to tweak a bit more and I'm confident I'll get pretty close to a sound I want consistently. The paring of the Trio-Plus and the Firehawk 1500 have made me a pretty happy camper.

[Joeski13]

Hi All, I am a little confused as to the setup of a Line 6 Firehawk to a Digitech Trio. I just picked up a Trio and I can't get it to work with my Firehawk and amplifier.

Can anyone please give me step by step instructions to set up properly. I am confused. Thank you all that can help!

[richiecat]

I have ordered a Digitech Trio Plus and just wondering if anyone has any updates with how well this works with the Firehawk 1500 and how they have it connected. The method described by ColonelForbin looks good, but Im not sure what this will do to the Firehawk's stereo effects as the amp and mixer outputs from the trio+ appear to be mono?

[TomEBoy6]

Guitar output from the trio-plus to the input of the amp the mixer output to the mono input of the firehawk. It's mono but it sounds good to me. You can adjust the sound of the "band" with the knob on the back of the amp. If you add or change effects and guitar loop of the trio plus will change along with it. So if you have a clean loop on the trio plus and you add a stomp pedal on the firehawk, the loop will change with it. That would be my only complaint with this set up, other then that this is a good set up to work on ideas. I bought a Siamese patch cable from guitar center to make connecting it to the Firehawk 1500 a breeze. I also got the G10 it's a great little set up. The tones of the firehawk are not bad, it's suffenctly loud enough or you can connect into the PA. If you don't want a room full of heads and cabs and a crap load of peddles then this is a pretty reasonable set up for the price.

If I had the money I may have went with a more expensive set up, I'm Not a touring musician, I get together with a few people up the street every so often and I'm not ashamed of my set up. It holds up pretty well compared to some more expensive set ups I've played with. That's my opinion.

[richiecat]

I now have the trio plus and can say it's awesome .. I'm really impressed with this as a songwriting / practice tools..

 

I have trio connected to the firehawk 1500 like this:

 

Guitar -> Trio Guitar Input

Trio Fx Send -> Firehawk Guitar Input

Firehawk Fx Send (Left) -> Trio Fx Return

Trio Amp Out -> Firehawk Fx Return (left)

Trio Mix Out -> Firehawk Aux in (left)

 

The effects loop needs to be enabled, moved to the end of the effects chain and have its mix set to 100% on any patches that you want to use with the Trio Plus..

 

It sounds great setup like this and also has the advantage that loops get recorded with effects so you can switch patches without affecting the sound of recorded loops.. so you can have a recorded loop with a clean sound and then play a distorted lead tone over it ;-) The recorded loops come out in mono (but to both left/right channels), but you direct lead tone is still stereo...