'Line 6 HX for acoustic' question
 

Friends,

Like many of you I am obsessive about good plugged in acoustic tone. I am considering selling off my electric guitar pedals and buying a Line 6 HX Effects box and I'm considering using it also for my acoustic rig.

My main gigging guitar, Mcilroy A25c with a Trance Amulet in it.

I am selling my Taylor and I just bought a sweet Martin 000-18 which will need a pickup. I will likely install an SBT solution of some kind. If I can overcome my aversion to superglue I'll probably try a K&K. I love how light the Martin is and don't want to add much internal weight (battery bag etc.)

I have a friend willing to make IR patches for the Line 6 based on recordings I send from each of my guitars, so I know I can load custom IRs into the Line 6 for each guitar.

Here are my 3 questions:

1) I've never really understood impedance, but I understand it can be an issue with some pickups like K&K. Does anyone forsee any issue with a K&K straight into a Line 6 HX?

2) Anyone have experience with the HX eq and its ability to dial in an acoustic pickup? My experience with the K&K is it requires some surgical EQ to behave well.

3) Has anyone replaced decent acoustic outboard gear with the Line 6 Helix line and found the quality to be comparable?

thanks much

It should actually be perfect. Due to Leo Fender's (and likely other less memorable designers of that era) choice of a 1M ohm grid bias resistor on the input stage of his amps, the "standard" input impedance for electric guitar amps and pedals is 1M ohm. 1M is the ideal load for a K&K (or JJB) SBT.

Ok, great thanks very much. I'm keen to see if I can use the HX as a 'one solution for all' gig scenarios. The reviews seem promising

It’s great for acoustic, except for the looper. You can’t record a loop and then stop recording without playing it. I do that a lot, so I had to use my Ditto X2 with the HX Effects.

Keep in mind that if the auto-impedance detection does not work you might lose a lots of low end.

In this case, you will probably need to set the impedance manually to 1Mohm. Given the following links, it should be possible.

https://line6.com/support/topic/2035...dance-setting/

https://line6.com/support/page/kb/ef...ut-specs-r901/

Fantastic, thanks Cuki.

I will likely buy a used HX effects, but I am looking at the Helix LT too. It is a good bit more $$, but might be a better option long term.

I use a Helix for my 'one solution for all' gig scenarios. It covers all my acoustics, my dual-source acoustic AND electric. The HX Effects is basically the same thing without the amp/cab modeling, only 1 DSP instead of two, fewer jacks on the back and no expression pedal. Honestly if it had DI out the back I might downgrade to it.

Your 3 questions:
1) No problem.
2) Lots of EQ options, my dual source is K&K + Lyric. Sounds GREAT!
3) Sound quality is as good or better than most acoustic pedals. It replaced a Felix for the same money and has about 1000x more options.

Helix is $1000 used. HX Effects is probably 1/2 that. You can't go wrong. It does so much more than any pedal board you could put together.

Would the HX Stomp not be more suitable as it can load IR's also ?

I think all of them can load IR's... Helix, LT, HX Effects and Stomp. I think...

I use 3Sigma IR's on my acoustics and they sound great.

This is outstanding, thanks. Yeah, I think the HX Effects is the way to go. Nice flexibility and scribble scripts, small footprint. I can easily connect it to a DI with XLR if needed and the used price sure is hard to beat - south of $500.

I have a replica vintage Marshall Plexi I built for my electric rig and I like it, so I don't think I need the various amp options, although maybe the HX will end up being a gateway into deeper Helix addiction.

The IR loading is really exciting. And I recently went to a concert with a solo acoustic player and he ran through some Strymon effects and also dry through some condenser mics. 3 signals to the board and the sound was huge. I was thinking the HX could probably route a wet and dry signal and get a pretty big effected sound if I needed it.

Stomp
 

The HX Effects can't load IR's as it has no amp or cab blocks. The Stomp can and does so very well. I play acoustic through my HX Stomp and my Kemper. I prefer the Kemper but you can't beat the size and package the Stomp has for around $500.

Actually, the guys on the Line 6 forum suggest that you can load IRs into the HX Effects and I think a few different forum guys say you can. Are they wrong?

https://line6.com/support/topic/3376...ffects-do-irs/

IR's
 

OK I guess there are IR's for things other than speakers. I have some I've downloaded and put into my Stomp but I don't really see a great benefit or sound improvement. It's a rabbit hole I'm going to try and avoid. Please forgive my erroneous post.

No probs! I've really enjoyed this learning journey. Our church has a ToneDexter and I'm impressed by it, but I can't afford to put that amount of money into a singular piece of kit, but selling off some electric pedals and getting 'one kit to rule mankind' with acoustic IRs, eq and effects if I want, that might just be the bees for me.

Correct. All can load IRs.