Line6 HX Stomp

Hi, first of all i want to say that i fought over having digital stuff in my rig. I was a tube amp guy, expensive boutique pedals, expensive pedalboard, good cables, stereo routing, etc etc. But the truth was that i was always afraid of the amount things that could fail in a live situation. Unfortunately that happened and it was really frustrating. So after years i finnally decided to give a try and i bought the Stomp. The goal was to have a reliable pedalboard, with great sound, no more tons of cables, something almost plug and play. The first impression when i got the Stomp was how tiny but sturdy and weel built it was. Also very good looking. i tried some factory presets trough the PA system and i knew instantly that it would soung as good as my analog rig. Of course that some tweaking had to be made but he sound was there. At the present moment and after some rehearsals done and exploring the Stomp i have to say that my rig chanved completely. Now it?s Guitar into STOMP, midi switcher that i had already and an expression pedal (very needed in order to have flexibility, options and to take advantage of the full optential of the Stomp) straight into de mixer and PA systems. No more Amp, cabinet, pedalboard, mics and spare tool kit. It?s my guitar and my case with the Stomp in it. Simple, light, reliable and with a 3D sound as i?ve never had!
Also the software is really really user friendly. One of the best if not the best.
Don?t compare this with Helix floor. Their purposes are different. The only downside is that right now you only have 6 blocks. i can manage with that perfectly. Line 6 has confirmed that is going to release an update which allows 8 blocks. It?s going to be awesome and enough for 98% of players.
And the price for this little and powerfull tool is a must. So much money spent in boutique...not worthy.

Ok Here is little story. I've tried lot of units. I originaly started with pod hd500x back when it was the hottest modeling unit out there. Then I started to experiment with other units and effects, went through Boss GT-100, TC electronics nova system, analog effects pedalboard, back to GT-100 and then Helix and Helix LT came out. It was perfect. Had everything I ever needed but it was little on the large side of floor units. So I sold my Helix LT and tried smaller Boss GT-1000, which was, for me as Boss fan, one of the greatest let downs ever. I was back with large and for my three and half (ambient clean/drone sound, overdrive, hi-gain) simple presets overly capable Helix LT. So what now?

Long story short, I sold the LT and bought this little piece of greatness.

There are few things worth mentioning if you are still deciding on buying:

1) It is built like tank. No bendy, soft sheet but thick casted metal stombox
2) Sound quality of amp models is, as with whole Helix family, exceptional
3) Controls and UI are amazingly intuitive. You really don't need to use PC to create sounds (except for updloading IRs)

And some little flaws I just mention so I won't sound like payed Line6 fanboy:
1) It gets warm after some time of use - lots of circuitry cramped in small metal box
2) Some of the effect models are little lacking compared to others
3) Powersource is almost as big as the unit itself and you can't use your pedalboards powersource out of the box thanks to HX stomps power demands and inverted polarity. Might be issue if you want to use it as part of bigger pedalboard.
4) It really could use some controls cover or software lock to prevent accidental switching when you misstep.

I use it for both home recording and live situations and if you are looking for all-in-one pocket solution or want to expand your pedalboard look no more. This thing is no-brainer.

There's really nothing more to say about this amazing HX Stomp. Before I have this Mooer pedals for my modulations, it sounds good also and very small which is I like because I want to have a small pedal board that is easy to carry when travelling. But I decided to change it with this HX Stomp as it has a lot more to offer than just the modulations. It's Amp and Cab simulations are so awesome, that is also another main reason why I got this baby. I used the FX loop to integrate it with my Flyrig RK5, and Dunes OD and all the modulations, compressor, and Amp&Cab sims from the HX Stomp make everything sound so complete. And the tone from my pedal board is really really awesome. Tweaking the HX stomp is really easy but it is much easier with the the software that can be downloaded on the Line6 site called HX Edit.

Pros:
-The Stomp is very well built, really cool looking device and it does what it should do, you can also use 4 cable method on it, Stereo or Mono and integrate it with the existing analog pedals on your board by using the FX loop's Send and Return.
-Not that heavy and it doesn't feel cheap.
-Value for money.
-The possibilities on this device are endless.

Cons:
-The power adapter is nice but not good position if you want to plug it under your pedal board, that is why I got the current doubler so that I can plug it in my existing pedal board power supply. It says that it needs 3A but it runs under 1A when it is powered on so I use to 9v on my board's PSU with both 500ma each isolated and it works perfectly.

As a bassist, I had a pedalboard with octaver, delay, tuner and a couple of more effects, and they sounded great. But when I bought HX Stomp, in about a month I sold all of them, leaving only the tuner (using it when i setup my instruments). I've got M-audio expression pedal with this, needs to be a bit modded but then works great (you can use two of them, but I use only one)

The effects are great for my taste. I compared OC2 with Boktaver and it's not the same, but if you put a Bass oktaver (from legacy) in parallel, and blend them you can get even better sounds than OC2, so equal and different. You can get more or less fuzzy, more or less bassy.

It's great for practicing as well, I use iPad to play the songs via USB, use headphones out to listen to it, and I'm waiting on Zoom r4 multitrak to record it like that (so I don't have to use iPad). Also when using iPad you can get quantiloop for cheap, which is a great looper and you don't even need pedals then. Cool for home, never played with it live.

I also like the send/return for adding pedals to the chain anywhere, and I did use ditto looper first, so I can mute it without pausing, it's a cool effect, but you have to time it right. So it can be creative way to use some pedals, like additional features.

So far what you get is a lot, a tuner, tons of pedals, audio interface, midi controller (though limited one), practice "amp", etc. I also like the simple programming of the unit, I don't use it with a computer, I know my way around the interface and it's just so easy.

The only dislike but I don't mind that much, is that it uses 2.5mm instead of 2.1mm barrel, so you have to make an adapter for it. I bought 5v to 9v adapter on ebay and changed it's 2.1mm barrel to 2.5mm so I can play on power bank instead of included power supply which is chonky.

Overall can't find anything better for bassists that's in this price range.

Pros. 1. Amp simulation is just beyond for the price. The unit support custom IR loading, for high gain sounds I definitely recommend doing that, but bluesy, crunchy tones and cleans sparkle out of the box. 2. Recording with it is a dream: I use USB 5 channel for the dry signal and USB1/2 stereo for the processed sound. Dry signal can be later ‘reamped’ with Helix Native (discounted with this unit). 3. It has four inputs, no XLR, but for that I use external preamp. 4. It’s small and light.
Cons. 1. Adjusting the presets on the unit is tricky, I use HX Edit for desktop. 2. Looper handling requires crazy fast double tap. 3. Bulky power supply. 4. 6 blocks per preset sometimes are not enough: almost every amp I use requires additional EQ block, that means 3 blocks are taken by IR, EQ and the amp itself.

This is a very good machine with good sounds that you can use as standalone machine or like a pedalboard expander beside others pedals. I'm using it in a pedalboard and this machine has replaced my bass octaver, overdrive and chorus reducing the pedalboard dimensions, adding a lot of possibilities in term of routing and sound combinations! DarkGlass B7K is a really good simulation, pretty indistinguishable from the original, really good chorus, delay and reverb (really analog tone, if you are looking for!), very good cab and amp/preamp simulation with IR also!! Filters and Compression sections are less convincing for me, but pretty good to use.