Leavon Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 Hi, I posted about this problem in the Helix forum but it's better placed here. I have run into a problem when running the Helix stereo XLR's into the Monitor inputs on the back of the Firehawk, the sound is extremely compressed/hard limited and the volume is very low. If I run it in mono it sounds great, plenty of volume and great dynamics, as soon as I plug in the 2nd XLR the volume is halved and super compressed. Can anyone suggest what might be causing the problem in stereo? I've run the helix in stereo into a P.A. with no problems, it's just the Firehawk, I've also tried different volume configurations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zivdud Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 I had the same problem but as soon as I ran the 1/4" out from the helix straight into the guitar in and the XLR outputs to the inputs for the Firehawk 1500 and adjusted the gain knob in the back I was able to get amazing tones out of it. Hope this helps! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verlew Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 I think I'm having this too...any resolution? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miurajef Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 I'm having a similar problem. I connect the 1/4'' outputs of the Helix to the monitor inputs (with two 1/4" jack to jack cables, regular guitar cables if you will), and the sound 'modulates' from muffled to sharp, like it's being sent through a heavy phaser or autowah, which is not the case. We don't rehearse extremely loud, but still I have to crank it to 75 % in order to get sufficient volume. Weird. Any ideas? Could this be a phase problem? Update: the problem seems to disappear when I turn the monitor input's gain to maximum. Only at maximum gain the 'wobbling' goes away. Weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmntshredder Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 I'm having this exact same problem. If I plug my Helix into the Firehawk with left and right XLR cables, the sound varies between muffled and normal across all volumes. Additionally, it is not very loud at all. If I run in mono, the problem disappears completely. The amp sounds as if it's possibly attenuating the signal due to clipping, but I have adjusted everything from the gain on the Firehawk to the volume of the Helix to the output level of the cab I'm using. The problem occurs no matter what unless I run it in mono. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miurajef Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 Have you tried sending an extra signal to the guitar input of the FH, for instance by using a send block right after the amp block in the Helix? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PierM Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 The best sound with the Helix + Firehawk1500 is when you use the Amp modeling in the FH1500 and use the Helix just as effect board. Yes, that's it. I'm not saying the FH1500 has better modeling than the Helix (I would be just stupid saying so), but the way that amp it's engineered, doesn't really work great with the Helix, because the particular speaker scheme and assignation...and the way it does manage the stereo when using external sources. It's like everything goes compressed once you plug left and right, whatever trick you use, isn't working good as when you use all speakers engaged by its own Amp blocks, in the HD version. To barely solve the problem you are forced to push on the gain (and that is producing noise), setting up the Helix in a odd way just to make it sounding as you'd hope, with the FH1500. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verlew Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 I think this is the answer I've been looking for, (although it seems to limit using the FH1500 in STEREO MODE to lower-volume situations): In Stereo mode the monitor inputs only power the smaller coax speakers, this is why the limiter kicks in early, because you're only using the smaller speakers and you don't want to blow them. Stereo Wide utilizes the center speaker for full power. Mono mode also uses all the speakers for full power. Let me know if you have any other questions.Thanks,Will - Line 6 Support 0 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miurajef Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 I think this is the answer I've been looking for, (although it seems to limit using the FH1500 in STEREO MODE to lower-volume situations): In Stereo mode the monitor inputs only power the smaller coax speakers, this is why the limiter kicks in early, because you're only using the smaller speakers and you don't want to blow them. Stereo Wide utilizes the center speaker for full power. Mono mode also uses all the speakers for full power. Let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks, Will - Line 6 Support 0 Thanks Will, this certainly explains a lot of issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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