Been using iem and ampless setups almost exclusively for five years now and I absolutely love it
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Line 6 HX Effects
- Thread starter ChubbyJerk
- Start date
RevGroove
Commercial User
- Jul 21, 2002
- 2,411
- 173
- Disclosures
- Regional Account Services Supervisor @ Long & McQuade or ON & Atlantic Canada
I did this at church...with an HX FX and some other outboard stuff (Wireless receiver, Volume Pedal, Wah, Bass Whammy, GK Plex DI...) Pretty tasty set up!
I love my HX Stomp for ampless gigs (and just about any other music or audio job that calls for lots of signal processing and quick load-in/load-out).
However, I left my ampless church gig of 10 years a while back, for a small church plant with acoustic drums and hand percussion, with powered wedges for monitoring. Light PA support, mostly just for vocals and keys.
It took a bit to get used to, and I continued to bring my own in-ear setup until I acclimated to working off the room sound again.
However, I have to say that it's great to be back to an amp in the room. When you can work with people who have good control of their dynamics, and you have personal control over your monitor feed (Behringer X-Air stage box), it's so nice to have the best seat in the house, standing right in the middle of a big, natural sound field.
However, I left my ampless church gig of 10 years a while back, for a small church plant with acoustic drums and hand percussion, with powered wedges for monitoring. Light PA support, mostly just for vocals and keys.
It took a bit to get used to, and I continued to bring my own in-ear setup until I acclimated to working off the room sound again.
However, I have to say that it's great to be back to an amp in the room. When you can work with people who have good control of their dynamics, and you have personal control over your monitor feed (Behringer X-Air stage box), it's so nice to have the best seat in the house, standing right in the middle of a big, natural sound field.
The new Line6 Ventoux amplifier available with firmware 3.15 is GREAT for bass. Use a proper cab for bass (or IR or good EQ emulating a simple cab) and it is very easy to get different tones a beautiful crunch levels without using the expression pedal or the bass volume, just the fingers. Then the new "Mid" control, the HPF and the drive control (or your volume knob in the bass) work so well to modify how this model reacts to the dynamics in your fingers.
The only bass amplifier that I liked before for this "tubey" feel and sound was the SVT. What I use most time to get this sound besides SVT is not an amplifier model but a combination of bass-friendly distortions plus cabs (or IRs or EQs). Mainly Teemah!, Obsidian and sometimes Clawthorn Drive for controllable Fuzzey sound. There are a few guitar amplifiers that work well with bass (changing settings and without their default cabs), but with the time I spent I cannot beat the SVT and the 3 overdrives mentioned.
Ventoux is a solid candidate to get ALL these sounds (well, except the Clawthorn), all the sounds in the middle and many new good bass tones... with the twist of only 1 knob!. Simple as an old favorite real tube amplifier. It is NOT an emulation, Line6 describes it as a "creation" to get this tube sound without imitating anything already built. "Sag" control is magic for bass (I recommend low values or zero for "normal" situations).
I need to try live!
The only bass amplifier that I liked before for this "tubey" feel and sound was the SVT. What I use most time to get this sound besides SVT is not an amplifier model but a combination of bass-friendly distortions plus cabs (or IRs or EQs). Mainly Teemah!, Obsidian and sometimes Clawthorn Drive for controllable Fuzzey sound. There are a few guitar amplifiers that work well with bass (changing settings and without their default cabs), but with the time I spent I cannot beat the SVT and the 3 overdrives mentioned.
Ventoux is a solid candidate to get ALL these sounds (well, except the Clawthorn), all the sounds in the middle and many new good bass tones... with the twist of only 1 knob!. Simple as an old favorite real tube amplifier. It is NOT an emulation, Line6 describes it as a "creation" to get this tube sound without imitating anything already built. "Sag" control is magic for bass (I recommend low values or zero for "normal" situations).
I need to try live!
I'm not gonna read the 174 pages of this thread.
Short story: I REALLY like it so far.
Long story:
I just bought an HX Effects last year to pair with an Atomic Firebox for my guitar needs, as a backup for my Avid Eleven Rack.
I pre-ordered a Tech21 YYZ MF40 (40th year of Moving Pictures limited edition), for no other reasons that's because of Geddy Lee if I started on bass. I told myself that I could pair it with the HX Effects for my (very limited) effect needs and also as a backup to my Eleven Rack for bass. But the YYZ couldn't be the sound I want for every songs so I looked at the effect models on the HXFX and discovered there's the Zeroamp (BDDI), the Obsidian (Darkglass B7K), the Ampeg Scramb(l)er, and some EQs. I listened to countless BDDI reviews on youtube in the past and it was not my cup of tea at all, but decided I can give it a try knowing I'm more an Ampeg SVT guy.
OMG: this is the perfect sound I was looking to complement the YYZ. More than that, I can definitely gig with just my HXFX. Putting a Simple EQ after the Zeroamp to add the missing mids. And with the Ampeg Scrambler, the LA Studio Comp, the Bass Octaver, the Tilt and the builtin tuner I'm all in!!!
I'm not sure how close the Zeroamp is to the BDDI but I don't mind as I like the sound a lot, just wished now that Line 6 update the model to BDDI V2 to add the mid control.
I'm ampless for the last 15 years (started with a Peavey tube preamp and then Eleven Rack) so I'm used to direct to FOH sound. The HXFX has everything I need and even more. Really a nice piece of gear. And with the POE plug I made, I'm not tied to have an AC outlet within 1 meters to power it.
Short story: I REALLY like it so far.
Long story:
I just bought an HX Effects last year to pair with an Atomic Firebox for my guitar needs, as a backup for my Avid Eleven Rack.
I pre-ordered a Tech21 YYZ MF40 (40th year of Moving Pictures limited edition), for no other reasons that's because of Geddy Lee if I started on bass. I told myself that I could pair it with the HX Effects for my (very limited) effect needs and also as a backup to my Eleven Rack for bass. But the YYZ couldn't be the sound I want for every songs so I looked at the effect models on the HXFX and discovered there's the Zeroamp (BDDI), the Obsidian (Darkglass B7K), the Ampeg Scramb(l)er, and some EQs. I listened to countless BDDI reviews on youtube in the past and it was not my cup of tea at all, but decided I can give it a try knowing I'm more an Ampeg SVT guy.
OMG: this is the perfect sound I was looking to complement the YYZ. More than that, I can definitely gig with just my HXFX. Putting a Simple EQ after the Zeroamp to add the missing mids. And with the Ampeg Scrambler, the LA Studio Comp, the Bass Octaver, the Tilt and the builtin tuner I'm all in!!!
I'm not sure how close the Zeroamp is to the BDDI but I don't mind as I like the sound a lot, just wished now that Line 6 update the model to BDDI V2 to add the mid control.
I'm ampless for the last 15 years (started with a Peavey tube preamp and then Eleven Rack) so I'm used to direct to FOH sound. The HXFX has everything I need and even more. Really a nice piece of gear. And with the POE plug I made, I'm not tied to have an AC outlet within 1 meters to power it.
I just bought an HXFX from the classifieds here. I've debated on it since they were released, but I'm finally jumping in.
I'm hoping it can supplement, not replace, my current board besides a couple of drives and Zoom MS that I only use with guitar or Bass VI.
What expression pedal do you all use with your HX?
I'm hoping it can supplement, not replace, my current board besides a couple of drives and Zoom MS that I only use with guitar or Bass VI.
What expression pedal do you all use with your HX?
Line 6 EX1 Expression Pedal | Chicago Music Exchange | Reverb
Any expression pedal with a TS jack and a 10k pot.
HXFX is my favorite form factor of the line. I don’t miss amp sims at all
I'm using a modified Cry Baby (TRS jack, with 10k pot): big and heavy but very stable.
I'm also using a Melo Audio EXP-001 (but needed to make a TSR cable): small and light.
Dunlop mini volume/expression.
No complaints here. I like the form factor and it’s rugged. I use it on volume, wah, and whammy settings.
No complaints here. I like the form factor and it’s rugged. I use it on volume, wah, and whammy settings.
I downloaded Jace Nuzback SVT preset for the Atomic Firebox. I tried it but I much prefer the Zeroamp model in the HX FX (not SVT based I know). However, I wanted a cleaner bass amp sound. So based on Jace SVT preset, I replaced the SV-Tee model for the 6L6 power amp model, set the master between 9-10 o'clock, increased the damping to 100% in the amp tab, lowered the rolloff to 10k in the cab tab (for when I activate the boost) and voilà! A nice clean bass sound with just enough tubbiness. You can adjust the global level and/or the amp output level to taste. The (studio) compressor is good and the boost is usable has a little OD but I will probably switch them for HF FX blocks (and add an EQ block) for more control live (when not connected to a computer).
Been noodling with the HXFX when I have some free time and am super pleased. It's already proven it can knock several pedals off my board. But it doesn't really fit well on a Pedaltrain Jr... I don't like anything overhanging the edges and with cabling I can't quite fit a second row of pedals behind the HX.
So I'm probably make the jump to a Temple Audio Trio 21. I'm tired of the limitations of the rails on a Pedaltrain.
So I'm probably make the jump to a Temple Audio Trio 21. I'm tired of the limitations of the rails on a Pedaltrain.
Almost finished my small pedalboard (Temple Audio Solo 18) for the HX Effects. I'm waiting for D-type Neutrik Ethercon jack (for 9v power + midi) to arrive. I wired it for direct to FOH or 4CM depending of the venue.
Should work fine, but there's already a BDDI model in the HX Effects that sounds great. You won't get the XLR DI out though, of course.
Oh cool! So with the Sansamp model I could potentially go direct to PA? I believe the HX Effects has a balanced trs output so I could use that instead of XLR.
Yup, even though the manual doesn't mention it, I've heard others confirm that the outputs are indeed balanced TRS.
Note that the BDDI model in the HX is a version 1 (without the mid controls), in case that matters to you
Or worst case, you could just use a DI box
yeah, I know you can get a 1/4” to XLR adapter and run that out to the FOH. I believe @fivestringgecko has done it this way. I think I tried it once. Can’t remember.
