alitz Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 Just thought I would throw this out there since the Helix HX Stomp is brand new and the Firehawk 1500 is oft mentioned as an FRFR option. I have the Firehawk 1500 and have the Helix Stomp on the way (hopefully) and I am still a little fuzzy about how to complete the connections from the Stomp which is a complete but slightly limited I/Os and the Firehawk, which has a myriad of I/Os which effect the amps speaker outputs. I have sent inquiries directly through L6 support tickets and I have some confirmation concerning these hookups, but I do not know exactly which I/Os to use on the new Helix Stomp to get the W/D/W response from the amp. I'm just looking for some clarification since everything published on this so far has not mentioned either the Stomp specifically or the Firehawk 1500 specifically. Below is the question I posed to L6 in the support ticket section and their response. Me: "Ok, simple question. I assume that since the Firehawk is a stereo amp and the Monitor inputs are L/R, that the 4 cable method would now be a 5 cable method with the Helix stomp L/R outputs in the back going to the L/R monitor in on the Firehawk and that the guitar would then go into the Mono input in and then out from the side panel send to the guitar input of the amp. Would this activate all the speakers on the Firehawk and give a W/D/W sound from the amp?" L6: " You are correct, you are free to utilize the stereo inputs on the back of the Firehawk making this a 5 cable method of sorts. You are also correct as running an input to these monitor ins will be a dry, unprocessed signal and will only take the modeling from the HX Stomp itself." As you can tell, informative, but not specific. Hopefully, I can get some input that will help anyone that happens to already own the Firehawk 1500 and is considering upgrading the preset capbility to that of the Helix via the aquistition of the Stomp. It would be really helpful if anyone could include the diagrams since those in the new Stomp manual do not mention the Firehawk 1500 connection option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richiecat Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 I am also interested in this - I would imagine that it would work as you described, with the stereo outputs from the Helix HX Stomp connected to the stereo ins on the firehawk 1500 amp and a mono cable from the guitar out to the guitar input on the amp, but you would need to setup your patches on the Helix so that they send a dry signal to the guitar output and stereo with effects etc to the stereo outputs, is this possible on the Helix HX stomp? I have a Firehawk 1500 and the FBV3 foot controller, so im wondering if the MIDI out from the amp was connected to the Helix's MIDI in, would this allow patches to be selected and effects to be switched on/off using the FBV3, also would it be possible to use the expression pedal on this controller for Helix effects? If this works in this way you could just have the Helix Stomp pedal on top of the Firehawk 1500 connected with short patch cables and control everything from the FBV3 foot controller - could be quite a cool setup ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilrahi Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 3 hours ago, richiecat said: I am also interested in this - I would imagine that it would work as you described, with the stereo outputs from the Helix HX Stomp connected to the stereo ins on the firehawk 1500 amp and a mono cable from the guitar out to the guitar input on the amp, but you would need to setup your patches on the Helix so that they send a dry signal to the guitar output and stereo with effects etc to the stereo outputs, is this possible on the Helix HX stomp? I have a Firehawk 1500 and the FBV3 foot controller, so im wondering if the MIDI out from the amp was connected to the Helix's MIDI in, would this allow patches to be selected and effects to be switched on/off using the FBV3, also would it be possible to use the expression pedal on this controller for Helix effects? If this works in this way you could just have the Helix Stomp pedal on top of the Firehawk 1500 connected with short patch cables and control everything from the FBV3 foot controller - could be quite a cool setup ... I also have the Firehawk and the FBV, and am thinking of buying this. My understanding of the FBV is that it ONLY controls Firehawk settings, so based on what I know you could not do some of the above, unfortunately. I also use a Variax so the idea of losing the Variax control just isn't worth it to me in MOST scenarios since I'm perfectly happy with the Firehawk's amp/cab settings (as you know, they're pretty thorough). I'm mostly interested in getting the stomp to increase the Firehawk's effects chain out. This would essentially add six, and so most of the time I'll simply be using two cables to attach the stomp to the Firehawk's effects channel. Either way, I'll be experimenting in multiple methods and I'll be sure to share what I experience here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brue58ski Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 1 hour ago, Kilrahi said: I also have the Firehawk and the FBV, and am thinking of buying this. My understanding of the FBV is that it ONLY controls Firehawk settings, so based on what I know you could not do some of the above, unfortunately. I also use a Variax so the idea of losing the Variax control just isn't worth it to me in MOST scenarios since I'm perfectly happy with the Firehawk's amp/cab settings (as you know, they're pretty thorough). I'm mostly interested in getting the stomp to increase the Firehawk's effects chain out. This would essentially add six, and so most of the time I'll simply be using two cables to attach the stomp to the Firehawk's effects channel. Either way, I'll be experimenting in multiple methods and I'll be sure to share what I experience here. One possibility with the Variax with a caveat. The caveat being can you program your Firehawk so that only the Varaix is before the FX send loop? If it is, you could send the Firehawk FX send directly into the HX Edit. This would allow you to maintain control of the Variax and still have it go into the HX Edit. I don't have either so I'm sure this isn't the only way to work around the Variax control issue, just one idea. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilrahi Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 18 minutes ago, brue58ski said: One possibility with the Variax with a caveat. The caveat being can you program your Firehawk so that only the Varaix is before the FX send loop? If it is, you could send the Firehawk FX send directly into the HX Edit. This would allow you to maintain control of the Variax and still have it go into the HX Edit. I don't have either so I'm sure this isn't the only way to work around the Variax control issue, just one idea. That's an excellent point because yes, the Variax is ahead of the FX send loop no matter what you do. With that being the case, plugging the stomp into the FX loop of the Firehawk should solve the problem in most cases. What I don't know, though, is what the dry signal of the Variax does in the Firehawk. Does it travel through the FX loop or is it separated before that even happens? Or does it matter where in the chain I place the effects loop? Those details would impact whether/how I'd ever be able to take advantage of the amp/cabinet models of the Stomp through the Firehawk while still keeping the Variax connected to the Firehawk, and not the Stomp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spikey Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 Just plug the output of the "Stomp" (mono) into the FH-1500's FX Return. That's what I do with Helix (via a mixer with a sub out). Sound great too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alitz Posted October 10, 2018 Author Share Posted October 10, 2018 It seems that one thing is for certain. Having the Firehawk, Variax, FBV3 and Helix stomp will pose several interesting connection possibilities and possible results. Since the HX Stomp doesn't have a Variax input, I plan on using an external Variax power supply to avoid worrying about batteries and connect my Variax through a regular guitar input. And as Spikey just mentioned, I think you don't have to fuss with the Helix patches by using the mono output directly into the FX return on the Firehawk. I'm not sure what the FBV3 will do with the signals if you are using the HX stomp to bypass the Firehawk effects and presets. I would be really nice if you could set somehow get this setup to switch back and forth with the HX Stomp and Firehawk presets. Perhaps the easiest way of accomplishing this might be Kilrahi method of just hooking the Stomp into the FX loop of the Firehawk, but I'm afraid that will loose several options from the Stomp such as new Bass and Acoustic presets. I think the only presets that will work in the FX loop would be those designated FX but until I start hooking things up, I won't know. It would be nice if one of the Line 6 guys chimed in to answer some or all of these questions. Listening guys? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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