Line 6 HX Effects

[smeet]

Very similar to my setup! I run the Cali76 CB first in my chain, always on. I have mine set pretty subtly, I doubt anyone in the audience would notice. But I sure hear it, especially in my in-ears, which I use nearly every gig. Also rocking that Future Impact, which isn't super friendly to use without some programming. No tips other than download some presets from the threads about it here on TB and start there.

As for the send/return, you're talking about the FX Loops, right? Those absolutely are 1 block each. It sounds like maybe you're using one block for send and one for the return, making for 2 blocks? You could do that but I don't see a great reason to do so unless you were doing a wet/dry setup or something.

Doh! I’ve been using a send block and a return block. I’ll switch over to an fx loop block.

It’s funny, when set right the Cali76 can absolutely crush your signal and still sound subtle to the audience. I’m thinking Cali76 into FI into HX, with Aftershock on an fx loop.

 

[Chace90]

Doh! I’ve been using a send block and a return block. I’ll switch over to an fx loop block.

It’s funny, when set right the Cali76 can absolutely crush your signal and still sound subtle to the audience. I’m thinking Cali76 into FI into HX, with Aftershock on an fx loop.

Sounds pretty awesome to me!

I actually have my FI hooked up to the MIDI on HX too, so I can send patch changes and on/off messages. Very easy to do. Currently have 1 preset on the HX with 3 switches setup to send patch changes for the 3 sounds I use on the FI the most. It's awesome. If you got the Source Audio Hub you could do the same thing with the Aftershock.

 

[Ryan L.]

Quick question (which I’m sure has already been answered here):

How easy is this thing to set up/program? Is it something that a multi effects noob can handle, or is it complicated as hell?

Effects-wise, it looks like it checks all the boxes for what I’m looking for. Plus it’ll save a ton of money over buying separate pedals (again). So I’m just curious as to how bad of a learning curve it takes to set it up.

 

[Chace90]

Quick question (which I’m sure has already been answered here):

How easy is this thing to set up/program? Is it something that a multi effects noob can handle, or is it complicated as hell?

Effects-wise, it looks like it checks all the boxes for what I’m looking for. Plus it’ll save a ton of money over buying separate pedals (again). So I’m just curious as to how bad of a learning curve it takes to set it up.

This is all subjective of course, but I personally found it pretty straight forward. Choose switch, pick effect, tweak knobs and move on. The more complicated things it does (MIDI, split path, etc) are maybe not as obvious to get going. But the manual explains things pretty clearly and, generally speaking, once you learn how to do something once--it sticks!

Check out the Line 6 vids on youtube that explain the various features. They're all short and straight forward. Anything else, you can always ask us! I still discover new things it does all the time, it's great. But the basics are very easy to get going.

 

[gregmon79]

Quick question (which I’m sure has already been answered here):

How easy is this thing to set up/program? Is it something that a multi effects noob can handle, or is it complicated as hell?

Effects-wise, it looks like it checks all the boxes for what I’m looking for. Plus it’ll save a ton of money over buying separate pedals (again). So I’m just curious as to how bad of a learning curve it takes to set it up.

It is super easy to program. You just have to dive in, with the manual in hand, and mess with it. You will most likely be surfing through it in a couple hours time or less. I barely needed the manual at all except to see what certain models were based on.

 

[gregmon79]

I haven’t had a chance to get into the Aftershock yet. I found one sound I really like and didn’t have time to mess with it any more.
Hopefully this weekend.

So right now in my very time-limited life I’m trying to learn the HX, Aftershock, and Future Impact. Along with fitting them together with my Cali76 CB. I’m hoping this will be my do-everything board.
I wish the send-return was a single block, so I could swap pedal order in my presets.

I just started running 2 rigs with the HX. One dirty, one clean. It’s so much fun! I’m still trying to figure out exactly what I want going to each amp though. That’s the tricky part. There are so many options it’s hard to focus on what I want where. It sounds so good though. My clean is my Peavey Musician into a Fender Bassman 410 and my dirty is the Electric into the GK Neo 410. So so gooooo

 

[smeet]

I just started running 2 rigs with the HX. One dirty, one clean. It’s so much fun! I’m still trying to figure out exactly what I want going to each amp though. That’s the tricky part. There are so many options it’s hard to focus on what I want where. It sounds so good though. My clean is my Peavey Musician into a Fender Bassman 410 and my dirty is the Electric into the GK Neo 410. So so gooooo

That's pretty awesome. So you would switch setups when you switch basses? Why not run them in parallel? Is that setup something you would use live? That's a lot of gear and cables...

 

[EastCoastThump]

(JIC you're not on the HX Stomp thread): HX Edit 2.70 now available

 

[gregmon79]

That's pretty awesome. So you would switch setups when you switch basses? Why not run them in parallel? Is that setup something you would use live? That's a lot of gear and cables...

I’m not really sure if I’m going to use it live yet. It’s a lot of gear to lug period. If I was playing big venues I would totally do it without question. So probably not. I would just use one bass with it. It’s actually not a lot of cables really. It’s just one more out front.


Could you explain the “run them in parallel” to me? I kinda figured that’s how I was doing it…..

 

[smeet]

I’m not really sure if I’m going to use it live yet. It’s a lot of gear to lug period. If I was playing big venues I would totally do it without question. So probably not. I would just use one bass with it. It’s actually not a lot of cables really. It’s just one more out front.


Could you explain the “run them in parallel” to me? I kinda figured that’s how I was doing it…..

Unless I misunderstood, it sounds like you are either playing through one amp or the other, depending on which bass/preset you used. I just thought it would be cool to mix the two amps simultaneously, maybe controlling the balance with an expression pedal?

 

[eyvindwa]

(JIC you're not on the HX Stomp thread): HX Edit 2.70 now available

Yay, it says that the tuner has better tracking for bass now! That's frickin awesome, if true!

• The tuner now accurately tunes notes down to 21.83 Hz (low F) for 5-string basses

 

[smeet]

• Marketplace support—Marketplace is a new online destination that lets users purchase presets and impulse responses created by select third-party content gurus. From the lower left-hand corner of HX Edit, click "My Account" and then choose "Get More Presets..." or "Get More IRs..."
• Three New Tuner Types—From the Tuner page, turn the Type knob to choose between "Fine" (color-changing needle tuner with fine tuning bar), "Coarse" (color-changing needle tuner with no fine tuning bar), and "Strobe".

Nice.

 

[gregmon79]

Unless I misunderstood, it sounds like you are either playing through one amp or the other, depending on which bass/preset you used. I just thought it would be cool to mix the two amps simultaneously, maybe controlling the balance with an expression pedal?

Oh no, I AM running the two simultaneously. I run the dirty out of the main out of the HX and the second one out of one of the SEND outs.

 

[gregmon79]

This is just awesome hahaha

Known Issues

• *IMPORTANT: The three new tuner types only appear for those registered users who didn't complain incessantly about Helix's previous tuner on social media. For those who did complain (AND WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE), the new tuner will be unlocked once you perform ONE of the following:
• Post a photo of yourself on the Helix Facebook Group with the "X" logo written on your forehead in black Sharpie (washable magic marker is acceptable). The admins have been given the authority to unlock units with flagged serial numbers; assuming business hours, please allow 1-2 hours for the new tuner page to be unlocked (NOTE: You may have to restart Helix/HX for the new tuner page to appear)
• Post a meme of Arnold Schwarzenegger from Kindergarten Cop yelling "IT'S NOT A TUNAAHH!" on either the Line 6 Helix—or—The Gear Page > Digital and Modeling Gear forum. Be sure to use the proper Impact font. Memes will not be judged for their artistic merit, although the spelling must be correct. Again, admins have been given the authority to unlock units with flagged serial numbers
• If you'd prefer to participate silently, you may instead manually rename 47 presets "Patience is Key" (NOTE: Will not work from HX Edit; nor can you just copy one "Patience is Key" preset into 46 additional locations. You must manually rename each one. Once all 47 presets have been named correctly, the inspector [or FS5 on HX Effects] will read "Tuners unlocked!")
• HX Effects only—When Tuner Type is set to "Strobe" and your string is waaay out of tune, the graphic tuner nodes may appear a bit glitchy
• HX Effects only—In rare cases, moving an Impulse Response block from Path A to Path B can cause a second IR block to reset its impulse selection
• Importing bundles containing Marketplace assets can take notably longer
• When manually engaging a rebuild presets command (holding FS1+2 or FS2+3), Helix can appear to freeze even though it doesn't. Wait 15-20 seconds for the rebuild to complete and all is well
• Loading a Distortion > Kinky Boost block can sometimes result in an audible thump
• HX Edit currently only supports one or two Helix or HX devices connected at the same time (true multi-device support is forthcoming)
• Wait, are you serious about the sharpie forehead, Schwarzenegger meme, and renaming 47 presets thing? No. This is why you always read the entire release notes

 

[SirMoak]

I have been so stupid. Ever since I got the HX I have been struggling to make to make a good fake guitar tone.
Previously I had a Digitech RP360XP on my board fed by the upper octave of a TC SubNUp.
Right now I have the octaver in an FX loop going through the distortion introduced in patch 2.60 and an IR, but it's just not the same as going through an amp sim.

Then I just remembered: I have you guys here!
Does anyone have a patch with a convincing distorted guitar tone?

PS: I am thinking about getting one of the Mooer micro preamps to solve the issue, but I would rather find a solution in HX.

I've been working on this problem recently and ran into several issues where HX Edit screwed up some blocks and volume settings. Let's hope the new update fixes that as well.

I was really hoping that someone would chime in with some ideas, but in the end I think I have the solution.
When driving some of the distortions really hard, they tend to get that ugly fizzy sound (and still not clip the signal flow in HX Effects) that amps have when taking a direct feed from the effect send. I first discovered this when I put a Minotaur before the Distortion and cranked it. Then I started thinking about how to minimize the used blocks, so I made a custom toneprint for the TC Sub'N'Up where the sub2 control starts cranking a really wideband mid boost up to +20dB.

I put an IR block after it, but I only have the Allure pack and the God's Cab pack uploaded and it wasn't very great. I still had to EQ a lot and the sound didn't sit well in a mix.

So recently I got another idea. As I am the owner of a Two-Notes Le Bass and had several issues with the pedal, I got a bunch of cab licenses for the Torpedo Wall of Sound plugin (much more than you usually get with purchasing a Two-Notes pedal). Here's what I did with it: I ran the upper octave signal without an IR into the plugin, tweaked cabs, mics, positioning, power amp simulation, EQ until it started to sound decent and then slapped a six band parametric EQ plugin on it, popped up a spectrum analyzer and started to EQ out problem spots. After I was done with this, I made my own IR with the demo version of Voxengo Deconvolver and loaded it into the HX Effects.

The result: a really nice distorted guitar tone, options to switch the pure bass tone in and out, noise gates at the start of the chain and after the distortion and still space left for four effects.

 

[Jantelagen]

Yay, it says that the tuner has better tracking for bass now! That's frickin awesome, if true!

At last! I can now take my extra tuner off the board

 

[Chace90]

I've been working on this problem recently and ran into several issues where HX Edit screwed up some blocks and volume settings. Let's hope the new update fixes that as well.

I was really hoping that someone would chime in with some ideas, but in the end I think I have the solution.
When driving some of the distortions really hard, they tend to get that ugly fizzy sound (and still not clip the signal flow in HX Effects) that amps have when taking a direct feed from the effect send. I first discovered this when I put a Minotaur before the Distortion and cranked it. Then I started thinking about how to minimize the used blocks, so I made a custom toneprint for the TC Sub'N'Up where the sub2 control starts cranking a really wideband mid boost up to +20dB.

I put an IR block after it, but I only have the Allure pack and the God's Cab pack uploaded and it wasn't very great. I still had to EQ a lot and the sound didn't sit well in a mix.

So recently I got another idea. As I am the owner of a Two-Notes Le Bass and had several issues with the pedal, I got a bunch of cab licenses for the Torpedo Wall of Sound plugin (much more than you usually get with purchasing a Two-Notes pedal). Here's what I did with it: I ran the upper octave signal without an IR into the plugin, tweaked cabs, mics, positioning, power amp simulation, EQ until it started to sound decent and then slapped a six band parametric EQ plugin on it, popped up a spectrum analyzer and started to EQ out problem spots. After I was done with this, I made my own IR with the demo version of Voxengo Deconvolver and loaded it into the HX Effects.

The result: a really nice distorted guitar tone, options to switch the pure bass tone in and out, noise gates at the start of the chain and after the distortion and still space left for four effects.

I don't totally understand the process here, but it sounds awesome. Sound clips?

 

[SirMoak]

I don't totally understand the process here, but it sounds awesome. Sound clips?

I'll probably have some time tomorrow to record some.

 

[smeet]

I've been working on this problem recently and ran into several issues where HX Edit screwed up some blocks and volume settings. Let's hope the new update fixes that as well.

I was really hoping that someone would chime in with some ideas, but in the end I think I have the solution.
When driving some of the distortions really hard, they tend to get that ugly fizzy sound (and still not clip the signal flow in HX Effects) that amps have when taking a direct feed from the effect send. I first discovered this when I put a Minotaur before the Distortion and cranked it. Then I started thinking about how to minimize the used blocks, so I made a custom toneprint for the TC Sub'N'Up where the sub2 control starts cranking a really wideband mid boost up to +20dB.

I put an IR block after it, but I only have the Allure pack and the God's Cab pack uploaded and it wasn't very great. I still had to EQ a lot and the sound didn't sit well in a mix.

So recently I got another idea. As I am the owner of a Two-Notes Le Bass and had several issues with the pedal, I got a bunch of cab licenses for the Torpedo Wall of Sound plugin (much more than you usually get with purchasing a Two-Notes pedal). Here's what I did with it: I ran the upper octave signal without an IR into the plugin, tweaked cabs, mics, positioning, power amp simulation, EQ until it started to sound decent and then slapped a six band parametric EQ plugin on it, popped up a spectrum analyzer and started to EQ out problem spots. After I was done with this, I made my own IR with the demo version of Voxengo Deconvolver and loaded it into the HX Effects.

The result: a really nice distorted guitar tone, options to switch the pure bass tone in and out, noise gates at the start of the chain and after the distortion and still space left for four effects.

Very interesting... Would you be open to sharing the IR...?

 

[SirMoak]

Very interesting... Would you be open to sharing the IR...?

Sure, but the whole point right now was to make a proof of concept. EQ tweaks are baked in the IR, so it might not work well with other bass guitars, other octavers, etc. In this regard the TC Sub'N'Up is unique as it offers great options to sculpt the sound with the TonePrint editor.

The reason I wrote down the whole process is that it can be fairly easily replicated if you have a computer and a decent audio interface. You could even capture some of the amp and cab simulations from Helix Native as long as you're keeping the amp clean. It won't behave the same as the amp sim (mostly regarding dynamics and breakup), but I think the primary goal with octavers is to hide the artifical tone of the upper octave.

While I am writing this I just realized that it would be possible to make EQ tweaks to an IR within HX Effects and capturing the modified response by running a test tone through HX Effects, thus eliminating the need to use a separate IR and EQ block.

I plan to refine the IR once I have access to my usual gigging bass as my stuff is spread out over three separate locations in the city.