HX Stomp - how to handle amp, PA, and headphones

[chris_one]

Hi all,

I got the following problem/challenge with my HX Stomp where  I'd really appreciate your help.

 

So the Stomp makes all my sound and works well. These nice sounds shall than be handed to:

- my guitar amp, so that I hear myself. During rehearsal that's how I get loud, during gigs it's kinda like a monitor. This signal needs to be *without* cab simulation or IR.

- the PA, so that the crowd hears me. This signal needs to be *with* cab sim.

- occasionally my headphones for silent practicing. This signal needs to be *with* cab sim and should match what the PA gets.

 

What I tried is using the Send for the amp-signal, and putting the cab sim later so that the regular Out goes to PA. This has the disadvantages of wasting one block for Send (as opposed to just splitting the signal), and the Global EQ doesn't affect my amp signal. To me this is bad, because low and high cut work really well, also for the amp signal.

 

I also tried splitting the signal, using the R Out without cab sim, going to the amp. The L Out gets a cab sim and goes to the PA. Works like a charm but I can't use the headphones as one side is cab sim'd and the other not.

 

So does anyone face a similar challenge, and even if not, how would you handle it?

[Schmalle]

Split the signal late in the signal chain and put the cab block on Path B which you route to Stereo Send L/R ( manual p.19 "Setting path B's output").
Use Global Settings -> Ins/Outs -> Phones Monitor to listen to it via headphones.
 

[chris_one]

Cool, that saves me one block AND solves the headphones thing!

Will the global EQ apply to both outputs? So Send and regular Out?

[Schmalle]

Global EQ is never heard from the Send or USB outputs.

[chris_one]

Hm I see. Out of curiosity: Do you high and low cut a signal to your amp? For my ears that's quite beneficial...

 

Or do you do that differently and reserve the Global EQ for PA only?

[Schmalle]

It depends. I'd like to eq my in-ears (Phones Out) exclusively with the Global EQ. But that's not possible right now.

 

It makes sense to eq your amp to your needs - to add or cut some imperfect frequencies from the amp or to adjust to the room / space your playing in.

It makes less sense to eq the PA sound with the Global EQ. That is what a mixer should do.

 

Low and high cuts are in the cab and IR blocks. Adjust these in a rehearsal at volume in band context.

[lou-kash]

I'm using a similar setup since years, but rather than wasting a block on FX Send, I'm simply splitting the path by dragging a parametric EQ to path B, and routing the latter to the Send jack directly. The Cab remains on path A after the path split.

That means:

• global EQ affects Main out, goes to FOH
• headphones still have the Cab
• the Send output to the (power) amp on stage has a separate EQ block for fine tuning

Works for me with bass as well as with guitar.

 

Only recently, while doing multitrack recording with our bands using Logic and my multiple audio interfaces in the Aggregate Device mode, I have used a modified preset with FX Send and Return, so that I could monitor the others' instruments via my Stomp headphone output while hearing my bass with an amp/cab sim as well (the actual recording of my bass was just DI via USB, to be processed in the mix via Helix Native). It was relatively complex to set up, because of shuffling analog – and thus latency free – signal between multiple interfaces, but it worked… :)

[chris_one]

Thanks, guys.

 

For me it really makes quite the difference to use the global eq both for amp as well as for PA. Low and high cut seems to benefit both of them.

So I went with a left/right signal, one with IR and one without.

 

Sure I need a separate mono preset for practicing with headphones, but apart from that it works ok.

 

Only weird thing is that there is a little bit of crosstalk between the channels. I get a small but audible difference in the non-IR channel when I turn of IR in the other channel.