Using HX Stomp 4CM in stereo with Quad Cortex as amp

[coleb]

I've scoured but haven't seen anything on this (apologies if it does exist!). I'm using a Quad cortex as an "amp". Note, the QC's send/returns jacks are mono.

 

The signal after my amp is stereo. But I'd like to a have a pre amp effects and post amp FX maintaining stereo. Has anyone ever attempted this? What was your setup on both?

[datacommando]

On 12/27/2023 at 9:39 PM, coleb said:

I've scoured but haven't seen anything on this (apologies if it does exist!). I'm using a Quad cortex as an "amp". Note, the QC's send/returns jacks are mono.

 

The signal after my amp is stereo. But I'd like to a have a pre amp effects and post amp FX maintaining stereo. Has anyone ever attempted this? What was your setup on both?

Hi,

 

You do realise that, generally speaking, most guitar amplifiers are mono pieces of equipment?
 

Yes?

Your guitar has a single mono cable to connect it to the amplifier, either ITRW, or digital realm. You also have the option of using a Y-Splitter box to send the mono signal to two amplifiers, but everything prior to hitting either, or both, amps will be a mono signal.

 

If you have the digital amp model signal from the Neural Quad entering the HX Stomp mono Return socket, then any processing after it hits the HXS can be stereo FX blocks and will then leave the Stomp outputs in stereo, or can be collapsed to mono by sending from the Left 1/4” Output Socket only.

 

Hope this helps/makes sense

[coleb]

Quote

You do realise that, generally speaking, most guitar amplifiers are mono pieces of equipment?

 

Of course! This changes once someone mics said amp with two mics (which is what I'm doing cab wise).

 

This is what I'm hoping for:

 

------------mono-------------------|---------------stereo-------------------------|

guitar -> HX effects -> QC effects -> amp & cab (in QC) -> HX effects -> QC effects

 

or

 

------------mono-------------------|---------------stereo------------------------|

guitar -> QC effects -> HX effects -> amp & cab (in QC) -> QC effects -> HX effects

 

I'm just wanting to augment what the QC has with HX effects.

 

But I'm getting lost in the routing...

 

[theElevators]

When I build my presets, I pretty much only run the following effects in stereo: ping-pong delay, panner, panner tremolo.  Everything else is mono.  I use stereo for special effects mostly, and to add some 3D to my sound, to mimic studio production.  In the studio, those effects I mentioned are at the end of the chain.  That's the easiest way to take your mono sound and make it sound like a CD.

 

So assuming that's what you want to do:

 

HX effects will have the following blocks: (all mono) wah, distortion, phaser, tremolo, vibrato, spring reverb, send 1, return 1... then stereo ping-pong delay, panner, etc.

 

You will connect the QC in the effects loop.  QC will only have an amp and cab block, or maybe you can run a mixture of 2 amps/cabs, but still it will be running in mono.

 

So:

guitar output cable -> input of HX -> patch cable from send 1 of HX to input of QC -> patch cable from left/mono of QC to return 1 of HX -> Left/Right out from HX to FOH

 

Honestly, QC is such a powerful machine, that it would be a shame to not just use QC for everything.  Plus QC can even profile your effects if you REALLY want to do that... SO if HX has some amazing distortion, you can literally just profile it and use it... plus if you have 2 digital devices you add up the digital lag, and you also lose quality because of the double amount of analog/digital conversion. 

 

 

[coleb]

Quote

guitar output cable -> input of HX -> patch cable from send 1 of HX to input of QC -> patch cable from left/mono of QC to return 1 of HX -> Left/Right out from HX to FOH

This would result in mono after the amp if I'm imagining this correctly. The LA comp after the cabs sounded sooo good in stereo... it adds a subtle presence my headphones pick up immediately - hence this post ^'_^

 

Quote

Plus QC can even profile your effects if you REALLY want to do that... SO if HX has some amazing distortion, you can literally just profile it and use it... plus if you have 2 digital devices you add up the digital lag, and you also lose quality because of the double amount of analog/digital conversion. 

Honestly didn't think of profiling the line 6 effects till you mentioned that! Though there are effects that would be great at the front that I simply can't duplicate: envelope filters, feedbackers, 4 more compressors, etc.

 

Didn't know about the quality loss from conversion but that makes sense. However, I know there are quite a few digital pedals out there, I think at most 3 wouldn't hurt the quality too bad (if I get 2 HX stomps to accomplish what I mentioned).

 

Regarding latency, if this guy is accurate, 2 ms for the HX stomp shouldn't be too bad. I'd imagine the QC with 2 HX stomps would be sub 10? These units would minimize other digital pedals in the chain. The only other pedal I'd have is a tc spark for a global preset DB boost.

 

However, something that will influence if I get two HX stomps or maybe a single LT to accomplish the original goal (if one won't do): can I have the QC and the 2 Stomps give midi commands to each other? I'll for sure need the QC to be able to tell the HX stomps what preset I'm on. But what if the HX stomps could control my scenes whilst I'm in preset mode with the QC?

 

 

[datacommando]

On 12/28/2023 at 1:43 AM, coleb said:

This changes once someone mics said amp with two mics (which is what I'm doing cab wise).

 

But I'm getting lost in the routing...

Nope! “Once someone mics said amp with two mics”, what you have is still a mono signal captured by two different mono microphones that can then either be processed as 2 separate audio paths to which stereo effects can be applied as required, or mixed and balanced into one signal ready for stereo processing.

 

Therefore, as noted by @theElevators in the post above, no matter how you chose to run your signal through your digital boxes, all effects before the amplification stage should be MONO (these are generally distortion fx). Any processing after the amp(s)/speaker(s)/mic(s) would generally be modulation/time based STEREO fx blocks, which could also have a stereo LA compressor last in the chain. The final output to FOH, or whatever will be a stereo mix. You just need to patch it all together.

Hope this helps/makes sense. 

[theElevators]

Not to open another can of worms... but some people like to have a stereo dual amp setup (left speaker Vox, right speaker Marshall).  Or mix the 2 cabs, or 2 different mic placements on the same cab differently in left/right ear.  While for studio work it seems like a good idea, for live use, it's absolutely useless IMO.  Live you want to have left/right be absolutely identical in their sound with the exception of the ping-pong delay and sometimes special effects like panning.  Otherwise, there will be balance issues for sure.  Trust me, I played a lot of gigs and know what to do and not to do... learned things the hard way.