Should I buy an HX Effects?

allen

Hi all,

I know that this is a dumb question to ask here because obviously the answer is yes.

Here's my situation:

I've got a LOAD of gear, but most of it's in storage due to ongoing divorce proceedings - e.g. my kemper is in storage

The only amp I've got at home now is a princeton which I really love, but all my drive pedals are in storage too.

I'm looking for a neat, tidy and simple pedal solution to enjoy with the princeton without hassle of getting it all out, putting it all away in the living room.

i don't have unlimited money.

I'm not playing out, just at home.

Pros:
Small and tidy
Every effect in one
Easy user interface (I don't want anything to tricky to edit as I won't use it)

Cons:
Maybe the sound is not great on any of them (drives?) as I can be a bit of a tone snob (not by choice, it's just that some pedals sound amazing/inspiring and others don't) - that would be a deal breaker
I can't do silent practice with it (no amp modelling for headphone playing)
No aux input for headphone practice
(actually I'm thinking that this is a red herring. If I really want to do silent practice I can do it on the computer)

The other alternative is the headrush gigboard which resolves the amp modelling/headphone thing, but has way fewer effects and doesn't fill me with confidence about future update speed (line 6 seem to be very good on updates/support). User interface is arguably better, but it's more expensive.

I feel like I'm just delaying the inevitable here.

rossyamaha

Yes you should buy one because I said so and if you do my kids eat. And they like to eat. 

On a different point of view, the beauty of anything Helix related is if you don't like a paticular effect or model of, you can just stick the real one in one of the FX loops. Bingo. 

Another way to look at a product like HXFX is that it's an awesome tool. Thats how I use it. I've been through the analog stuff, the Strymons, the racks of gear. What the HX gives me is access to the stuff I'm, well frankly less fussy about. Like many, I am a bit of an idiot when it comes to drives. I've had hundreds of the things. Still use them. But I also use some of the ones in the HX. I have access to pretty much anything I could ever need and then some. 

I would say get it. Enjoy it. Feed my kids and have loads of fun doing it. You might also find that actually get inspired by something in there that you would have never had been able to get before. Or never thought of getting. You should also get a Thorpy Veteran to go with it though. Thats like a really really good fuzz pedal. Need L6 to do a model of it. ;-)

impmann

No

meltedbuzzbox

Reading between the lines a bit here, I kind of get the impression you are mainly after a drive pedal or two?

I personally don't like the majority of the effects on my helix but a lot of people here love them.
I use it as a recording platform, all my effects come from pedals.

If you want a lot of effects and a decent drive you could grab something like an OCD and a zoom Ms-50g or whatever it is called. It will probably cover you for those occasional fiddles with weird noises and a flexible range of drive sounds.

StrummyBrummie

@rossyamaha ; is right in my view , yes absolutely you should do it, it will almost certainly fulfil the requirements you describe. 

I got one a few weeks ago to see what the fuss was about and it is really very good indeed. 

I was hoping to be able to replace my mod, delay, pitch and tuner pedals and I was so satisfied I put them up sale almost immediately.

As far as the drives go, initially (and I'm talking about low to medium gain here, the high gain stuff is great) I was a bit underwhelmed. But with a bit of tweaking and only a bit I became more and more impressed.

If you have a box of posh drive pedals and A/B them with the Helix trying to dial in the same tones you will probably still prefer the pedals, but if you don't play that game and just listen to the Helix on its own merits I'd be very surprised if you weren't impressed too. I suppose with all your pedals in storage that will be an enormous advantage in this respect. You can't do much cork sniffing if you only have one cork.  


PS.   I play through a Princeton too. 

PPS.   Sorry to hear about the divorce. That's a hard road to travel...

chris78

I got one recently and I'm really pleased. The only thing I haven't been that fond of is the fuzz, but fuzz is one of those effects isn't it, where you either love or hate it. I used it in the studio last week and I was pretty pleased with the sounds I got. It was nice and tidy, easy to use and covered a lot of bases for a lot of different musical styles we were playing. At under £400, why on earth wouldn't you. Its the price of 1 1/2 decent pedals these days

carlos

I'm really pleased with mine but also because I found a loony selling it for £200 with only a couple of months of use "I couldn't make sense of the bloody thing, you can have it for half of what I paid".
Pros:

• overall the FX are very, very good. Sure, their tape echo is not as good as my El Capistan, but the difference is more of taste than outright being better. Ditto for the drives.
• it gives me access to all this stuff I'd never try. For instance, I never knew that the Maxon SD-9 would restore my faith in OD's, but the SD-9 equivalent in the HX FX really makes me happy. 
• it gives me access to all this stuff I'd never buy. For instance, I found myself in some solos wishing I had a ring mod just do a few outside bits. Ring mod pedals are expensive and would I buy one, stick it in a pedalboard, worry about the thing just for 15-20 seconds every once in a while?
• very flexible. The snapshots feature is a godsend. I'm currently doing a show where I have very specific settings for my pedals for each song. So far I'm spending so much time tweaking knobs that I've needed a cheat sheet glued to the stage floor. It's a bit ridiculous. With snapshots and the different banks I can just name them after the songs and switch as appropriate.
• it's super small, runs on one power source and is very sturdy. Pedalboards always worried me because if it fucks up it's often hard to spot the issue (many cables, many power sources) in a live situation. Having the HX FX it's one point of failure to fix.

Cons:

• Not all your favourites will be there. I use my EHX Freeze a lot and there's no way right now to do the same with the HX FX. Maybe some clever programming and path assignments?
• I found it super easy to use and program, but some people will hate it anyway. I suspect multi-fx units will never work for those people.

allen

It's too late people.

I ordered one.

Thanks for the input.

I reckon if it turns up somewhere cheaper on black friday I've got the 14 day return period to use.

allen

StrummyBrummie said:

@rossyamaha ; is right in my view , yes absolutely you should do it, it will almost certainly fulfil the requirements you describe. 

I got one a few weeks ago to see what the fuss was about and it is really very good indeed. 

I was hoping to be able to replace my mod, delay, pitch and tuner pedals and I was so satisfied I put them up sale almost immediately.

As far as the drives go, initially (and I'm talking about low to medium gain here, the high gain stuff is great) I was a bit underwhelmed. But with a bit of tweaking and only a bit I became more and more impressed.

If you have a box of posh drive pedals and A/B them with the Helix trying to dial in the same tones you will probably still prefer the pedals, but if you don't play that game and just listen to the Helix on its own merits I'd be very surprised if you weren't impressed too. I suppose with all your pedals in storage that will be an enormous advantage in this respect. You can't do much cork sniffing if you only have one cork.  


PS.   I play through a Princeton too. 

PPS.   Sorry to hear about the divorce. That's a hard road to travel...

Thanks!

StrummyBrummie

allen said:

It's too late people.

I ordered one.

Thanks for the input.

I reckon if it turns up somewhere cheaper on black friday I've got the 14 day return period to use.

Let us know how you find it.   

Wazmeister

Just get your pedals out of storage  ??

Blueingreen

Gigged mine for the first time last week.  Pretty pleased.  Very simple, just set up one preset with compressor, 2 levels of dirt, 2 different delays , 1 autowah (for 1 song) into a clean amp.  First time I've used digital live, it had a different feel from analogue which will take a little getting used to,  but happy with sounds on the night and that was reinforced by listening to recordings of the gig later.

I'm not a big effects user and I'd been using a Flyrig 5 with good results.  The attraction with the HX Effects for me is:

- greater variety of sounds, instant access to more levels of dirt and lengths of delay, plus other effects like chorus on tap for occasional use

- presets.  the FR5 isn't hard to figure out, but the interplay of sounds between the sansamp, drive and boost mean that it can take a bit of tweaking to find sweet spots.  Hopefully on the HX eventually I'll have a lot of predictable stuff diallled in.

I was a tentative start but an encouraging one.

duotone

No, I would personally get something with amp modelling...like the HX Stomp 

https://www.dawsons.co.uk/line-6-hx-stomp-guitar-multi-effects-processor?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0K3JpIvc3gIViuR3Ch3V7QzmEAQYAiABEgKfwPD_BwE

JimmyWings

I have a Helix Floor, A Helix Floor, and a HX FX. They're all kiillller.

Everyone should definitely buy something Helix related. And yes, this is a shill post.

carlos

duotone said:

No, I would personally get something with amp modelling...like the HX Stomp 

https://www.dawsons.co.uk/line-6-hx-stomp-guitar-multi-effects-processor?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0K3JpIvc3gIViuR3Ch3V7QzmEAQYAiABEgKfwPD_BwE

No point if the OP is so happy with his amp right now:
I'm looking for a neat, tidy and simple pedal solution to enjoy with the princeton without hassle of getting it all out, putting it all away in the living room.

meltedbuzzbox

JimmyWings said:

I have a Helix Floor, A Helix Floor, and a HX FX. They're all kiillller.

Everyone should definitely buy something Helix related. And yes, this is a shill post.

Why?

JimmyWings

meltedbuzzbox said:

JimmyWings said:

I have a Helix Floor, A Helix Floor, and a HX FX. They're all kiillller.

Everyone should definitely buy something Helix related. And yes, this is a shill post.

Why?

I don't quite understand the question my friend.

Wazmeister

Yep, the HX effects is superb

allen

I got it yesterday. 20 minutes with it yesterday and another 20 minutes this morning.

I'm sorry, but I'm generally underwhelmed.

To contrast: I sat down with a Duellist pedal for 3 minutes at the guitar show a couple of weeks ago and was bowled over by the superb sound. It made me sound like a 10 times better player.

I can't seem to get a non-generic overdrive sound out of the hx effects. and actually the reverbs and delays are more novelty than musical.

I honestly think I might be misunderstanding it - although I'm fairly tech friendly.

I'm used to the effects on the kemper which are amazing in comparison.

 

TheBigDipper

allen said:

I got it yesterday. 20 minutes with it yesterday and another 20 minutes this morning.

I'm sorry, but I'm generally underwhelmed.

To contrast: I sat down with a Duellist pedal for 3 minutes at the guitar show a couple of weeks ago and was bowled over by the superb sound. It made me sound like a 10 times better player.

I can't seem to get a non-generic overdrive sound out of the hx effects. and actually the reverbs and delays are more novelty than musical.

I honestly think I might be misunderstanding it - although I'm fairly tech friendly.

I'm used to the effects on the kemper which are amazing in comparison.

 

Maybe they're just not to your taste. I'm 2 weeks into owning an HX FX and I'm quite pleased with it so far. The old-style board looks like history at the mo.  

thecolourbox

I too find the drives a bit generic sounding (but largely so are the pedals they are modelled on) but I keep meaning to have a go with eq pedals before or after them to shoe horn them into my taste which veers more towards scratchy untidy overdrive sound. I think it's a Jack of all trades master of none, however for convenience and the single power supply required they are pretty decent. I've found it gets very expensive to try and get the same routing and loop switching possibilities, also I quite like using preamps with IRs which is also quite expensive to do and requires yet more power supplies.

Edit: I bought mine not long before the HX Stomp was announced, and therefore feel a little like that would have been a much better bet for me in hindsight - has same models and I think routing, option of using amp models or not, but depends how many different sounds you need across the stomp switches I suppose