Settings guide for Tonex/NAM capturing with an HX Stomp

[Progressive_disclosure]

Tagging @Byrdman who might be interested in this info!


Here's a guide/preset for routing in Tonex Modeler for how I do capturing using an HX Stomps L Loop. The plus side with this setup is you can play your guitar and tweak the settings of your amp to better suit the DA/AD conversion that the Stomp introduces before you do the capturing and the normal outputs (1 and 2) are available for hooking up monitors to hear the results quickly.

Requirement: If capturing a full amp, a Line Out jack or a way to tap off a line out before a load is needed.

WARNING: ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOUR AMP HAS A LOAD ATTACHED TO A SPEAKER OUT, AND DO NOT CONNECT A SPEAKER OUTPUT FROM AN AMP INTO YOUR STOMP, EVER.

Also be wary of hum and ground loops when doing hi gain captures. The Stomp is susceptible to noise over USB, so test to unplug stuff from your computer if it's noisy. Also disable any noise gates on the amp or signal chain, since they might interfere with the capturing and aren't actually modeled.

My preset on the HX is simple with FX Loop L-block, a Volume block for if I want to mute the regular outputs and an IR block. You can download the preset here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/z5e2...ey=ohr7op62loz33tfpnptklbvja&st=n0zblg6t&dl=0

I put a +6 dB boost on the output to feed a stronger signal when doing captures. There are differing views on this so try it out yourself if you want it or not.
Make sure you have "Instrument" level selected in the global settings for Loop L on the Stomp as well.

And in Tonex Modeler the settings are like this:

Hardware-wise make sure to plug in what you are capturing into the Send and Return on the Stomps side, send into amp, return from the Line out or similar:

(Image courtesy of GuitarChalk)


Continue the process in Tonex Modeler and you will be able to test out playing your guitar through the Stomps Send and Return.

Let me know if something can be made clearer and I can try to improve this small guide. It also works the same way for NAM capturing, just set up the same inputs/outputs in your DAW to send a sine sweep or dry guitar signal, and record Input 7 on a new track.

 

[Richard_G]

Cool.

What is the maximum dBu output level of the FX send (when set to line level and when set to instrument level) on the Stomp? And what is the maximum dBu input level on the FX return?

Mildly off-topic, but still relevant: How is the Stomp regarded as an audio interface, in general? And how about the FX loop?

(Edit: I bought a used HX Stomp not long ago, but haven't gotten around to use it much yet - and certainly not as the audio interface.)

 

[Byrdman]

@Progressive_disclosure Thank you!!

 

[Progressive_disclosure]

What is the maximum dBu output level of the FX send (when set to line level and when set to instrument level) on the Stomp? And what is the maximum dBu input level on the FX return?

I believe the max input is the same across all inputs, which is 11.5 dBu. I tried measuring the output with a multimeter but didn’t get understandable readings, so someone else can better answer that one.

Mildly off-topic, but still relevant: How is the Stomp regarded as an audio interface, in general? And how about the FX loop?

I do think it is regarded as pretty good when it comes to quality of converters and such but it’s not great when it comes to latency. What I usually go for when recording guitar is to record both wet and dry, or dry only, and monitor via the device itself instead of via the DAW. That said the latency isn’t a big problem for me so I usually run plugins etc using the Stomp as well. But that is very personal.

Since I also use Helix Native the input gain is perfect from the beginning with a Stomp when recording dry.

 

[Progressive_disclosure]

Edit in main post: added that a Line Out or similar is needed for full amp capturing.

 

[Byrdman]

Edit in main post: added that a Line Out or similar is needed for full amp capturing.

If only interested in a DI capture, this is not needed right? Or am I confused again

 

[Progressive_disclosure]

If only interested in a DI capture, this is not needed right? Or am I confused again

Are you capturing both preamp and power amp? Then a line out/DI jack or similar is needed on the amp. As far as I’ve understood there are also utility boxes available with speaker cable passthrough to a speaker/load you can use to get a signal from the amp. And on reactive load boxes an output jack is of course available.

Otherwise you can of course do captures of just the preamp if you have an FX loop on the amp.

I’m just doing DI captures of my amp. What amps are you capturing?

Edit: on my amp I run the Line Output seen in the image into the Return of my Stomp. If you don’t have something similar you’ll need to add that functionality somehow.