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Line 6 HX Effects
- Thread starter ChubbyJerk
- Start date
+1, thanks for your time and input today, @Digital Igloo! It's much appreciated!
RE: Models
I know it's a bit "90's," but I'd put in a vote for a Bass Balls model! ha ha!
Cheers to the whole team at Line 6 for putting out such a cool platform. I had some brief exploration time with a friend's Helix Floor and thought it was great, but was a bit much for my current needs/goals. I have yet to really get the HXFX integrated into my rig, but so far it seems like the ideal Helix for me. Right now I do a 50/50 mix between in-ear monitors and amp/cabinet stuff, so I don't particularly need the amp/cab models. Integrating the HX into my board seems like a perfect blend. And so far I'm TOTALLY impressed by everything it can do, and how well thought out it is. You can tell that Team L6 put a lot of thought and design into the Helix family.
5sg.
Well it def broadened my horizons/mindset. I could easily see myself going from the HXFX to a Helix Floor within a year. And the helix has been out a while now. I barely batted an eye at it all that time till a few months back when a good buddy started swearing by his helix door after selling off his whole board. That spoke loud and clear to me. And the HX has spoken even louder to me now that I have one. WAY loud. It’s amazing.
I also can’t remeber who it was wondering about the bass octave and if it could replace your Aggie. But yes, I’m pretty sure you’d be more than happy with the bass octave on the HX. Very mono and rich and lovely.
Oh, @TheLowDown33. Yeah. It’s really nice.
Oh, @TheLowDown33. Yeah. It’s really nice.
I just used GC as an example. No dealers want to stock multiple SKUs if they can sell the same number (or close to the same number) of a single SKU.
Fret not—we have plenty of stuff in the pipeline for modeler guys. Let the amp and pedalboard guys have their fun for at least a month, will ya'?
I would like to thank you guys for making a multifx that "handles" like a pedal board. I don't want/need any modeling capabilities as I've got bass heads and cabinets that sound exactly how I want when I play live (and if I"m in the studio I'm either using a rack pre or software). What I don't have is unlimited floor space for sonic experimentation, and invariably I will use effects sparingly on many gigs - but for that one tune of the night, I really want a nasty flanger. Then for another band I'll want a univibe and a couple different dirt sounds. And delay - always have to have delay available. HX solves all of that elegantly. Nice job.
I’ll try to do a rudimentary demo tomorrow if no one beats me to the punch. Just to get an idea.
I’ve owned an M9, an M13 and two M5’s (maybe three!) and the Octaver in these was the best tracking/sounding I have ever used. YMMV, but if the Helix version is as good I’m in. I’m leaning toward the Helix Floor, as I’m fully committed to the modeling platform through an FRFR system.
The bass octaver from the M series got ported to Helix with the last firmware, so if you liked it, you'd be able to use the same one on the Helix.
I can see how the LT may attract some. It doesn't do anything for me. The absence of the scribble strips really kills it for me. But the LT is obviously used for different reasons by different people. I'm just not one of them.
Scribble strips are one of those thing you didn't know you needed until you had them. And then you get used to it and take it for granted and go back to not having them and you're sad.
The ergonomics of the Helix and HX are just so well thought out. The scribble strips are just the tip of the iceberg. The menus, the capacitive switches, the color-coded rings. These units take the most painful parts of multi-fx pedals (like the B3n, which is, in most respects, a fantastic pedal) - patch setup and live usage - and streamline it, simplify it, make it fun and easy. This, even more than the sound quality (which is stellar), is what really sells me on the Helix family.
The HX is just slightly larger than the B3n. An inch wider and an inch taller maybe? I looked at them side by side but didn't measure them. It fits in my gig bag pouch. But the HX gives you 6 switches in stomp mode for turning things on and off. And those can be assigned to anything in the chain - or multiple fx per switch. The B3n gives you 3 switches for fx on/off, and those 3 must be contiguous effects in the chain, and it takes a live-usage-prohibitive number of switch presses to move from one end to the other. And the HX can still switch patches with just as few button presses too.
Well, it's official. I picked up an HX on reverb, so it should be here early next week. Very, very excited to start delving and seeing what I can do with it.
Dumb question, I've been reading the manual, I'm guessing snapshot is where you can tailor a set of effects for a song and just hit that snapshot? If so, I'm in. That would make recording and playing live so much easier
I haven't delved into snapshots too much. A snapshot is the stored state of the signal chain. So you can set up several snapshots per patch. You could change volume levels, which effects are on or off, what the drive level is set to, the tempo of the delay, etc. Save the snapshot. Change them around a bit and save another snapshot. Then you can change between them and it's like bending down and tweaking a bunch of different knobs as easily as stepping on a single switch.
That's the gist of it. I think? Like I said, I haven't done much there. I prefer to operate in stomp mode.
