Disappointed with my HX Stomp w/ Drive Pedals

[StevenLaumer]

Hey all, 

 

I've had my Stomp for about a week and while the UI is great, I'm really disappointed with how its taking my already existing pedal board, specifically, my overdrives.  

 

Signal chain is Guitar - Walrus Deep Six, EHX POG, Walrus Julia, JHS Superbolt, Kilt and Morning Glory into the front of the Stomp. Im using the stereo fx loop for Strymon Timeline and Bigsky and placing that after the IRs in the Stomp. 

 

Inside the Stomp, I'm running either a mono Fawn, Deluxe Vib, Matchstick Ch1 or Ch2 into parallel OwnHammer IRs (although I've tried just one IR) into the stereo FX loop and out to either flat response reference CIEMs at home, or out to the big PA at the places I play.  

 

I've attached an example of my AC30 patch. No global EQ is engaged. I've got low cuts on the IRs at 80-90hz and hi cuts at 10kHz - but as soon as I start gain stacking into the HX, it just falls apart into compression. I've got my drives set at or below unity gain. I'm not pushing crazy levels into it. 

 

What am I doing wrong with this thing? 

Vox AC30ish.hlx

[Kilrahi]

I'm having a hard time understanding what your dilemma is.  What do you mean by, "It just falls apart into compression?"

[StevenLaumer]

1 hour ago, Kilrahi said:

I'm having a hard time understanding what your dilemma is.  What do you mean by, "It just falls apart into compression?"

 

Like the input of the Stomp can’t cope with the signal it’s being fed. Like the amp is caving in when it gets too much signal but in the worst way possible. 

 

 

[Kilrahi]

I'm not to where I can check the path yet.

 

What kind of tweaks have you tried already? Have you tried bypassing most of the pre stomp pedals and slowly building up to see when the problems begin? 

[Kilrahi]

6 hours ago, StevenLaumer said:

 

What am I doing wrong with this thing? 

Vox AC30ish.hlx

 

Well, I just tested your preset and I didn't see any immediate problems that would cause what you're describing.  There were a few small things I noticed though that you may or may not have reasons for.  It's just preference stuff sometimes, but especially the first one. I hate that IRs default to -18 DB. Probably some obvious reason they do and a pro gets it, but it always messes me up.  it's screwed some of my presets before and I've hunted for hours to fix it only to finally be like . . .  DAMN IT.  So it may impact you . . . then again it may not. 

 

1. Your IRs were set to the default -18 decibels. I like going up to zero but seems most presets I see go around - 3 or -4. Eh . . . you might want to make sure that you REALLY do want them at -18 DB. 

 

2. FX Loop - You didn't really put it between any other effects so this seemed like a pointless block - and it may not be! Maybe your pedalboard can only fit it that way, or whatever, but assuming there's nothing else going on, all things being equal I would just plug those in AFTER the Stomp and save on a whole block. You could pack in an EQ or a delay which may be a lot more useful. 

 

Other than that the Stomp preset seemed fine. I liked it even. Whatever you're facing has got to be fixable.  

 

I still think the next step would be to test it adding one distortion before it at a time, aggregating them, and determine the precise point at which it sounds like lollipop. 

[jmp22684]

You may have already done this but it doesn't hurt to check.

 

In global settings are your sends and such set to instrument/Mic and not Line level. Line level can be too much and can cause what you're describing.