|'m currently playing through a fairly recently acquired Line 6 M13, and whilst I like a lot of the non-drive sounds, the overdrive ones aren't perhaps as great as they could be. I've recently sold a guitar so have a few £ burning a hole so is it worth the upgrade to a HX Effects? I haven't got enough dosh to get to a Helix LT so that's a non-starter...unless the wisdom is to save up and get one of those when I can?
Are the drives considerably better on the HX Effects than the M13 and is the dosh worth it? Is this just GAS talking?!
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Definitely a step up.
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Just because you're paranoid, don't mean they're not after youPlus there is a KOT in th next update.
It all depends if you’re gonna gig with it or sit in a bedroom wondering if the drive sounds are as good as the latest boutique pedal that came out.
YMMV different strokes etc
Definitely gigging with it...I'm not a drive snob by any stretch of the imagination, but I was partial to my Klon Klone (stupidly sold!) so if it can get close, it's definitely worth more consideration
Yep, same with the M13, drives seem fine at home, but once at rehearsal it doesn't sound as good. But...if they are 'close enough'.......
Interesting...wonder if anyone else has had that issue of steeping on a few at a time...I'm not the most careful player! I play ion a covers band so need to be able to do all sorts of things/ sounds
The flexibility of routing and choice of effects open up all sorts of possibilities.
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My favourite thing about it is that you can go as deep into it as you want. Set it up and have 6 stomp box type effects and be done with it, programme all the songs in your setlist into the banks, go down the midi route with channel switching etc, use it as a hub for a bigger board, the list goes on and on. Almost infinitely flexible
I know a lot of people have doubts about the drives.. I tend to use a Broadcast (or any preamp/drive - Lightspeed, Timmy etc etc) in the loop (Low gain side always on, and then the high gain side is always there if I want fuzz or more gain), which I then put drives before or after to shape however I want. Need a solo tone to cut through, pop the Klon style drive before it, and a volume boost after! I was told by a friend and he made me very aware that the thing with HX FX is EQ, and I think that's why people struggle with it when they get to rehearsal or gig volumes. Book a rehearsal room for an hour or 2, take your set up, and play.. Also, if you don't like the drives, use 'real' ones and use the HX FX for everything else!?
I 100% recommend it!
Before you do any of the IR stuff tho - just try it as you would pedals - I'm tempted to just use HX instead of LT now as I don't have too many sounds to jump between but as with most modelling stuff you have the option to do a LOT more.
@markslade07 covers it tho - I like mine best thru PA but in smaller gigs I use it in the FX return of a Katana (backup there if needed!)
They are fantastic for gigging players and a lot less hassle for teardown etc - and you can just grab an HX and go to rehearsal with it in your guitar gig bag.
I'm using it with a conventional split between "in front of the amp" and "in the effects loop" 4CM setup and getting results I'm happy with. I'm using their versions of a Timmy and an OCD for drives. There's also an Obsidian preamp model that is very flexible.
Something I really like is the way I can put a drive pedal and then an EQ pedal and gain staging into the chain and tie them to the one button in stomp mode. Having the drive at really high volumes to get the basic tone, then shaping the EQ and taming the gain so it isn't louder than everything else on just one button. With a real OCD, the best tones were just too loud.