NPD Line 6 HX Stomp

[jonfields45]

I played my first gig today with the HX Stomp and it worked perfectly. I'm using it for minor EQ, compression/boost, and a bit of plate reverb for my HFN equipped guitars. There was direct sunlight on the pedal and it gets warm all on its own. By the end of the gig it was pretty warm but operating with no issues.

Like all complex pedals the UI is a learning curve, but I had no trouble making adjustments between songs today. I really like that nearly all the parameters are in Hz, mS, dB, or %. Almost no arbitrary scales. The PC patch editor is excellent but clearly that does not relieve you from learning the UI to make changes at a gig.

The pedal claims it needs 3 amps at 9 volts (!!!). I am having no trouble powering it with a 2 amp Godlyke Power-all (though I am not maxing out the DSP). I bought one of these adapters on Amazon as the HX Stomp comes with a negative tip (good since you don't need to reverse polarity) 5.5/2.5mm OD/ID plug (bad since the stomp box standard is 5.5/2.1).

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The looper is adequate for my needs (60 seconds mono). The pedal can load IRs (I am going to get to that shortly).

It is probably too expensive if you don't plan to use it for electric guitar too. I have a nice patch running a TS808 to a Fender 63 Reverb to a mic'ed Fender
black panel Deluxe Reverb amp (vibrato channel) for my Strat.

I think the days of electric and acoustic guitar amps are numbered. This pedal plus my CP8 is very compact, nicely light (certainly compared to tubes), more powerful, more flexible, and (IMO) as good sounding as any integrated dedicated amp.

I am not impressed by the knobs. They seem relatively fragile. The overall pedal is in a good cast aluminum case and seems sturdy and light.

So far so good. I'll report back when I get the IR thing going (I'm getting some help on that but first need to make some recordings of my guitars).

[Bob Womack]

Congrats on the first outing with the Stomp! Nice review, too.

Bob

[jonfields45]

A few more comments:

The tuner is best I've ever used. The display is stable and the tracking is fast even on an open low E string.

Everything appears programmable (so far) except I've not figured out how to move the tuner footswitch to the other side of the pedal.

When using the UI to make changes touching the footswitches brings up footswitch bypass assignment menus for whatever blocks (effects) you've assigned to that footswitch. It is easy to touch a footswitch by accident when using the three knobs below the screen which will jump you out of whatever you were adjusting.

[Foss38]

I've added one of these for more control ~

https://reverb.com/item/16583727-dua...ton-aux-switch

[varmonter]

I get some looks dragging a laptop to my gigs to run my stomp. But it is so much easier to use a mouse than the stomps small ui. Plus it keeps me from touching the user assign buttons accidentally. Only wish it had a better preamp.
I may try using it just for effects and my felix
As the preamp section.

[dcopper]

I have been using mine for a while now and really have come to appreciate the Stomp. I use it with my K&K equipped Taylors and My K&K equipped T5. I really like the LAComp to add that crisp presence to the guitars. I agree with all jon said and it is sweet to have everything in a small compact pedal that takes up only a small bit of real estate on stage.
I did not add the additional 2 buttons switch - I use one switch for modulation (chorus/flange) and one for delay. I considered adding the mission engineering pedal for effects/volume but right now still don't see the need.
I bought a power source XT1000 from amazon that has a 2amp/9-12V output and it powers it fine for about 4 hours or so.
The more I use it, the more I like it. The tuner is excellent too.
davidc

[Peter Z]

I had 4 gigs with my new HX Stomp in the last 2 weeks. Last saturday I played a Telecaster into the HX in a Rock`n`Roll and Bluesbrothers band and later - at the same event - a Gibson L4a with my 6-piece acoustic band.
A guitar player from another band was amazed that the HX Stomp was all I used, while he had an amp and a big pedal board.

For my acoustic I use this chain:
Deluxe Comp - IR - Parametric EQ - Plate Reverb

The sound qualtity depends very much on the IR and the IR mix. I use an IR I created with the ToneDexter. I also made IRs from my Fishman Aura and bought some from 3 Sigma Audio.
The IR from the ToneDexter works best but I'm still not totally happy with the sound. I will make more WaveMaps to improve my sound.

I have a Fishman UST and a Schatten HFN in my guitar. At higher volumes the sound is a little inderect (even with low IR mix settings) thus I unplugged the HFN. Without any IRs the Schatten is far better than the UST but with a WaveMap I think the UST works better.
The parametric EQ in the HX Stomp is a little blurred for some reason. For me it's much easier to work with a hardware studio EQ or a good plugin. Since EQing is so important I wish the parametric EQ will be improved in a future update.

Jon, I think there is no way to put the tuner to footswitches 1 or 2. An additional external footswitch will help. Or, if you don't tune after every song, you can press <ACTION> + <PAGE right> at the same time and the tuner will pop up.

The touch feature of the footswitches can be disabled in global settings/footswitch/stomp select/press.

All in all the HX Stomp is a great tool.

[jonfields45]

I played a second gig with the HX Stomp this time using an IR that Cuki79 made for me from a recording of my main Parlor guitar and its HFN. At home I think it sounds best at 25% and a 150 Hz low cut off. At the gig I pushed it to 33%. For strumming the IR takes that pickup brashness out of the tone. The HFN is fine sounding with no help but the IR took it up a notch.

I've got a patch where I can turn the IR on and off and made some sample recordings. Played back through a speaker the IR goodness is really clear.

While programming the IR patch I tried to insert it twice by accident. Interestingly enough I got a DSP full message when I did that. My current patch is:

Input -> simple 3-band EQ -> IR -> Plate Reverb -> MXR Dynacomp (switchable for single note leads) -> output at line level

Apparently this is pretty near all it can handle... At least I know my 2 amp Power-all is up to a nearly full DSP load.

[EDIT: since posting this I've learned a bit more about trading off the low cut and IR percentage and am at 200 Hz & 33%]

[AeroUSA]

Be careful. You can potentially damage the pedal by under powering it.

[jonfields45]

Originally Posted by AeroUSA

Be careful. You can potentially damage the pedal by under powering it.

I'm a retired EE and I'm trying to figure out how that might happen... Maybe saving a patch with too little power and corrupting the Flash memory (which should be recoverable with a factory reset)???

I'd say in general I'm not too worried about hurting it with too little power.

Low voltage with unlimited current can damage an electric motor as it attempts to get the power it needs by consuming more current and generating more current times resistance heat (until it potentially fries).

[varmonter]

The touch feature of the footswitches can be disabled in global settings/footswitch/stomp select/press.

All in all the HX Stomp is a great tool.

This I will try as I find it quite annoying and dont generally use this feature at all. Thanks

[jonfields45]

Originally Posted by varmonter

This I will try as I find it quite annoying and dont generally use this feature at all. Thanks

I made that global change and the bypass assignment menu still comes up if I brush a footswitch while adjusting something else.

[jonfields45]

I've been exchanging some messages with Cuki79 and he pointed out that there is a tradeoff between low cut frequency (more accurately EQ of the typical guitar resonance between 100 and 200 Hz) and IR percentage. He suggests a possible sweet spot is 40% IR and then adjust the low cut or add parametric EQ.

[jonfields45]

This is not by any means the definitive statement on maximum power consumption.

I used the factory power supply plugged into a home appliance class power meter.

Bypass no signal: 8.4 watts

My most complex patch, which gives DSP full if I add another IR block, with all blocks on:
- No signal: 8.8 watts
- Thumb on floating input cable: 9 watts

It seems to be consuming around 1 amp for a 9 volt power supply. It appears that the power consumption is not strongly correlated with program selection or input signal.

My 2 amp Power-all's seem to be a reasonable match for my usage.

Most modern electronics is protected from "bricking", corrupting the boot code, should power be lost/compromised during a memory update. I suspect your worst case scenario with too little power to the HX Stomp would be a factory reset.

[Cuki79]

Well that is my sweet spot with my HD-28 with TA Amulet and DIY axoloti pedal.

With my DIY pedal I get to tune every possible parameter like intern analog gain... so I guess it might be different for everyone.

From Jon’s previous comments on my pickup thread, I would say He likes a drier and more defined sound that my liking (is this correct English?).

I like the IR added body to the tone... but I am talking about a Martin dread.