HX Stomp big volume loss when using 4CM help please!

[beltjones]

I have an HX stomp running 4CM into an Engl Fireball 25, which is running into a Revv 112 cabinet. With a normal pedal chain (ODs in front, delay in the loop) everything is fine - and the amp is a fire breather.

If I use the Stomp in 4CM with a preamp swap I'm getting a huge volume drop. The volume knob and the channel volume are at maximum. In global settings I have input level at Inst, output level at Line, Send/return (r&L) at Inst (doesn't seem to do anything to switch to Line), and return type set to Return.

I'm hoping there is just something dumb I'm missing. I really really want this to work.

[Schmalle]

Preamps in the Helix are quiet: they are turned down by 24dB because some of them are so loud in the real world that they would clip during the output DA conversion.

 

I'd do the following:

Set input, send/return and output level to Inst, max out the VOLUME knob. This way there should be unity gain, meaning a vanilla 4CM patch should have the same level as the pure (no 4CM) amp has. Verify that this is the case.

Set the patch's output level to +20dB, set the fx loop block's return level to -20dB. Now the preamps are usable without struggling with their level.

 

Hope that helps!

[gbr13697]

Amp effects loops are notoriously variable.  Some pre-amps output a reasonable level to their power amps, and other pre-amps have a very high output, which their power amps expect as an input for them to work effectively. This is particularly so with amps that have cascading gain stages. Some are known to pump out 30 volts from pre-amps, and this will be what they output from their Send.  Obviously, their power amps are expecting a similar level to their Return, to match what they would get direct from the pre-amp without the effects loop, but no digital modeller is going to deliver that sort of level. If you have one of these amps, all you can do is to max out everything short of digital clipping as advised by Schmalle. You could try using an "always on" conventional boost pedal between the HX Stomp output and the amp Return.