XLR outputs gain controls

Quad Cortex
1

Hello all. I did find a topic from ages ago that talked about the volume difference between XLR and Jack outputs, and I’m having the same thing: XLR outputs are consistently about 8db quieter than the Jack outputs, when I monitor both through my audio interface.

As I understand it, from searching online, the jacks offer more headroom, and that’s why they’re louder (although I thought +4db line level was a fixed standard :man_shrugging:). So my question is, can I just turn up the output for the XLR outputs? It won’t clip the Apollo because I have plenty of headroom there, but I’m concerned about it altering the tone, and clipping the outputs of the QC… which I might not notice on an overdriven guitar. I can just bring up the gain on the audio interface, but then I also bring up the noise floor.

Thanks in advance for any help.

1 Like
2

Thanks for all the help :joy:

…but for anyone interested, no you can’t just up the gain on the outputs (as in the swipe down ins/outs section), without it clipping the output stage. What you can do, provided your interface allows it, is set the inputs on your interface to consumer level -10 rather than pro +4 level. This way I get a good signal level that seems to correlate with the metering in my interface software and DAW, and I can now monitor with verb and delay effects through the XLRs, whilst recording just the signal from the cab block into Pro Tools from outputs 3 or 4 which appears to be behaving normally in terms of levels.

Weird though. The Helix I had before was definitely operating at +4 on the balanced outputs.