Setting up H90 with Quad Cortex

[DustyF92]

I just placed an order for an H90 and intend to use it with my Quad Cortex. I’ve done some investigation as to the best way to incorporate it into my setup, but I thought I’d ask here in case anyone has other ideas on how to configure my setup. If you use the H90 with a QC, please let me know how you’ve set it up

I would like to run the H90 in stereo if possible in order to keep my signal chain in stereo but also use an external distortion pedal with my QC. The QC has two mono FX loops that can be linked for stereo. I currently have my dirt pedals going into FX loop 1 and a Strymon blue sky in FX loop 2. The H90 will take place of the blue sky.

Does anyone have suggestions on how to set this up? Ideally I’d still like to have some sort of flexibility with routing my dirt pedals before the amp (hence using FX loop 1 currently).

Thanks!

[tbskoglund]

Congrats on the new H90!

You could try using the H90 in the stereo loop of the Cortex, and then using the dirt pedals in the loop of the H90. That would allow you some flexibility of whether the dirt pedals are before/after the H90.

Otherwise, it sounds like you will need an additional switcher to be able to change where the dirt pedals are in the signal chain. Or you can use the H90 as a mono insert in the Cortex FX Loop 2 as you are doing already.

[joebonn]

I also just got an H90 (incredible unit!) and am figuring out how to best incorporate it into my QC workflow.  Right now, for ease of use and to maintain the stereo functionality of the H90, I am simply using the two mono loops of the QC and using the inserts of the H90 as suggested above.

However, there is a way to separate Preset A and Preset B so that A is mono and B is stereo.  You need to put the H90 in Dual Routing Mode with and then set the path to Pre/Post .  The signal chain looks like this:

QC Send 1 > H90 Input 1 > H90 Out 1 > QC Input 2 (instead of Return 1)

QC Send 2 > H90 Input 3 > H90 Out 3/4 > QC Return 1/2

On the QC grid you would have Row 2’s input set to hardware Input 2, and presumably have it before your amp block, and Preset B (Return 1/2) after the amp block.

I tried this and it works… but it’s kinda fiddly and makes programming patches on the QC a lot more laborious.  I personally favor the freedom of being able to just put the “FX Loop 1/2” block (or the separate mono blocks for before/after amp).  It’s a shame they didn’t give us two stereo loops on the QC but it’s totally doable if you’re willing to invest the time.

[DustyF92]

Thanks for the replies, I will experiment with both methods. My H90 should be here today so I think I will start with using the inserts on the H90 for my dirt pedals and connecting both FX loops to the H90.

[DustyF92]

Ok so I’ve got my h90 and I’ve been trying to get it to work the way I was hoping for over 2 hours at this point…

Essentially with the Quad I was hoping to use both FX loops, connected to ins 1/2 and outs 1/2 and then use the insert on the H90 (in/out 3) for my drive pedal… I was hoping to be able to split the signal coming out of the H90 into outs 1 and two separately (dual mode) but then I can’t add my insert….

My hope is to run my drive pedal and path A to FX loop 1 and then Path B into FX loop 2. Is that doable?

[DustyF92]

Ok so I ended up running the H90 in dual mode and going FX loop 1 send to OD pedal, OD pedal out to In 1 on H90, Out 1 of H90 to Return 1 of QC, then Send 2 of QC to In 3 on H90 and Return 2 of QC to Out 3 on H90

Is this the best way to run this setup for what I want to accomplish?

[joebonn]

Your setup is kind of similar to the last reply in this thread. Check this out:

Setting up H90 with Quad Cortex

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