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Stomp Signal Chain Question


guitarbloke1980
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Could I get some advice on my chain please?

 

I’m running my Stomp straight into the FX Return of my amp, in conjunction with a few other pedals.

 

This is my current signal chain:  Guitar – Digitech Drop – Digitech Mosaic – Overdrive Pedal -  Stomp – EP Booster – Volume Pedal – Amp FX Return

 

Does that look about right?  The volume pedal is at the end because I want to use it as a Master volume.

 

I guess I could remove the OD pedal from the chain as the Stomp probably has that side of things covered.

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2 hours ago, chasingMango said:

What do you mean by "right"?  What are you trying to accomplish?  Does it sound good?

 

It doesn't sound great - it's really hard for me to describe, but it's like there's something missing  (or perhaps extra something masking my sound).

 

I know I have some work to do with EQ'ing, but I wanted to check if my chain seemed to be laid out in the right order, just so I can eliminate that from the equation - I'm not used to sticking everything into the FX return, it all feels a bit strange to me still :)

 

 

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Not sure that you want to "stick everything in FX return"... the question is which effects do you want on the dry guitar signal before any amplification, and which effects do you want on the amplified signal?  This article lays it out pretty well https://www.dawsons.co.uk/blog/how-to-use-an-effects-loop-on-your-amp

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P.S. I am not sure but I think you might be skipping your pre-amp, if nothing is going into your amp's input jack.  Try plugging your guitar into the amp input, then run a cable form the fx send to your peddleboard, then another cable from your peddleboard to your fx return.

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7 minutes ago, chasingMango said:

P.S. I am not sure but I think you might be skipping your pre-amp, if nothing is going into your amp's input jack.  Try plugging your guitar into the amp input, then run a cable form the fx send to your peddleboard, then another cable from your peddleboard to your fx return.

 

Agreed. It's always helpful to know what your Stomp's actual signal chain is if you want people to evaluate why it sounds crummy. 

 

 

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The EP booster and the volume pedal may not be able to take a hot signal from the output of the HX Stomp.  I could hear a little distortion with a Boss Reverb and a Digi Hardwire Delay after my stomp so I removed them.  You could put the volume pedal in an FX loop of the Stomp if you have room or use it as an expression pedal.  Also, there is an EP boost in the Stomp if I'm not mistaken. Otherwise, the "path" seems OK if it sounds good.

You should be using at least a pre-amp sim of some kind in your Stomp as well since your running into an FX return. A full amp sim might also sound good, just no cab sims.

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53 minutes ago, Kilrahi said:

 

Agreed. It's always helpful to know what your Stomp's actual signal chain is if you want people to evaluate why it sounds crummy. 

 

 

 

Ooh sorry yes I should have mentioned this!!  All I'm using is an amp block (full amp, not just pre-amp), delay and reverb on the stomp (in that order).

 

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3 minutes ago, guitarbloke1980 said:

 

Ooh sorry yes I should have mentioned this!!  All I'm using is an amp block (full amp, not just pre-amp), delay and reverb on the stomp (in that order).

 

 

I have only used the helix with FRFR speakers, so I'm not personally familiar with using it with a traditional amp... but wouldn't you want to use the amp's pre-amp?  I wonder if you would like the tone more if you did what I said above, turning off amp modeling on the stomp?  With an additional two cables you could try it.

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15 minutes ago, guitarbloke1980 said:

 

Ooh sorry yes I should have mentioned this!!  All I'm using is an amp block (full amp, not just pre-amp), delay and reverb on the stomp (in that order).

 

 

10 minutes ago, chasingMango said:

 

I have only used the helix with FRFR speakers, so I'm not personally familiar with using it with a traditional amp... but wouldn't you want to use the amp's pre-amp?  I wonder if you would like the tone more if you did what I said above, turning off amp modeling on the stomp?  With an additional two cables you could try it.


Yes, this is probably your first problem right there.

 

You are essentially doubling up cabs (your real amp's cab and the Stomp's simulated cab). 

 

This is bound to make things pretty muddy.  

 

Start by experimenting with pre-amp only models in the Stomp. See if that is more to your liking. If you still have problems, we can further fine tune from there. 

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16 hours ago, Kilrahi said:

 


Yes, this is probably your first problem right there.

 

You are essentially doubling up cabs (your real amp's cab and the Stomp's simulated cab). 

 

This is bound to make things pretty muddy.  

 

Start by experimenting with pre-amp only models in the Stomp. See if that is more to your liking. If you still have problems, we can further fine tune from there. 

 

Oh no no no, I'm not using any cab or IR blocks - just the amp block.  I use an Amp block, a Delay block and a Reverb block.  I'm using it with my real amp and 2x12 cab.

 

Sorry I should have been clearer!

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On 11/5/2019 at 10:26 AM, guitarbloke1980 said:

 

Ooh sorry yes I should have mentioned this!!  All I'm using is an amp block (full amp, not just pre-amp), 

 

 

7 hours ago, guitarbloke1980 said:

 

Oh no no no, I'm not using any cab or IR blocks - just the amp block.  I use an Amp block, a Delay block and a Reverb block.  I'm using it with my real amp and 2x12 cab.

 

 

Well, I should have been clearer about what I meant too. 

 

You should start with pre-amp models, not the full blown amp models. They're specifically designed for when you're feeding the HX Stomp directly into a power amp, which is what you're doing by going into the effects loop in. 

 

If you use the full amp model (but no cab) you're basically doubling up power amps. 

 

 

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19 hours ago, Kilrahi said:

 

 

Well, I should have been clearer about what I meant too. 

 

You should start with pre-amp models, not the full blown amp models. They're specifically designed for when you're feeding the HX Stomp directly into a power amp, which is what you're doing by going into the effects loop in. 

 

If you use the full amp model (but no cab) you're basically doubling up power amps. 

 

 

Aaah ok I'm with you now!  Thanks Kilrahi!  :o)

 

I will try messing about with some pre-amps in that case - I have a gig this weekend and it would be great if I can get my sound sorted by then!

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On 11/6/2019 at 5:29 PM, Kilrahi said:

 

 

Well, I should have been clearer about what I meant too. 

 

You should start with pre-amp models, not the full blown amp models. They're specifically designed for when you're feeding the HX Stomp directly into a power amp, which is what you're doing by going into the effects loop in. 

 

If you use the full amp model (but no cab) you're basically doubling up power amps. 

 

 

 

Just a bit of feedback on this - Last night I tried replacing the amp block with the equivalent pre-amp instead.  There's not a huge difference to my ears in the tone - the pre-amp perhaps sounds slightly warmer.

 

What I did notice is that (aside from the pre-amp block being waaaaaaaay quieter,) the pre-amp blocks are missing some of the controls that are present on the amp blocks (most noticeably the presence control).  I had no idea until last night that presence was a power amp control only!

 

The volume difference between amp and pre-amp is enormous, so I'm having to redo all of my patches to try and match the levels. One thing that has made a big positive difference is adding a parametric EQ block at the end with a low cut of 110hz and a high cut at 14k.  This has added a lot more clarity to my sound, so I guess it's a step in the right direction.

 

I'm going to give it a go at my gig tomorrow using the pre-amp blocks and see how it sounds :)  Fingers crossed!

 

 

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