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Post by Paul G on Jul 30, 2019 23:42:17 GMT -7
So I got the Empress+ working in the Effects Loop of the MAZ. So far so good, no drop in signal and no degradation. My Maxon AD999 is not a friendly pedal when in the "off" position. When disabled, either in front of the amp or in the loop it seems to change the sound, so that pedal is the culprit.
For giggles just to make sure the Maxon was the offender, I put a Supa-Trem in the loop and that was fine. No noticeable difference, except a slight drop in signal, but Empress boost button and knob took care of that.
So, if you have an old Maz, an Empress+ will undoubtedly be a good add to HX Effects if you opt to put existing pedals in the HX FX loop going to front of amp and also use the 4 cable method for time based effects through the loop.
For me, I'm changing my mind and will keep traditional pedals going into front of the amp, that way I can just switch between the MAZ and CG (no loop) as I've always done it. Keep it simple and use the Z's for more linear playing.
I'm half tempted (after medical bills are paid) to look at an HX Stomp w/ Powercab 212+. I also still have my Eleven Rack from years ago.
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Post by daddyelmis (Greg) on Jul 31, 2019 9:41:59 GMT -7
Well, I pulled the trigger. Should arrive this week. I’ll let you know how it goes.
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Post by mrcapers on Jul 31, 2019 11:15:59 GMT -7
Just received my Helix HX last week with the intention of using it as a rehearsal board. haven't done anything more than set it up as a 6 effect stomp box so far. It's replacing a KOT, spring reverb, wah, delay, tremolo and chorus. I've been an analog guy - completely! The best stomp boxes. But this thing was close enough that I used it at a gig Saturday. I'm mightily impressed. V2.8 adds the KOT to the HX and it's VERY close. I'd say that it gets 95% of the way to my analog setup, without the fuss of all the cabling, power supplies, size, etc. I'm taking it on the road this weekend. I might add that there are parameters to the HX that the analog pedals don't have. This thing is really good!!!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2019 8:32:34 GMT -7
I'm thinking i might run it via 4CM with my Friedman on Saturday. So basically just a boost, comp, flanger (we're doing White Wedding, so...), tremolo, spring reverb and delay. Will run a wah between guitar and HX, probably.
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on Aug 1, 2019 14:25:46 GMT -7
I'm thinking i might run it via 4CM with my Friedman on Saturday. So basically just a boost, comp, flanger (we're doing White Wedding, so...), tremolo, spring reverb and delay. Will run a wah between guitar and HX, probably. Jon, I know you said you didn't care for the wah models but... Did you try tweaking the "Throaty" model? I played with it a little and I ended up liking it quite a bit. I pulled my Clyde Deluxe off my board and used it instead at a gig this week, and everybody else liked it too. There's more than first meets the eye; I missed the Mix and Volume controls at first.
I set the low freq to 310Hz, high freq to 1.7kHz, mix to 63% and volume to 0dB, and put the wah after the drives in the effects order. It sounds great with the Mission pedal. I didn't realize it had the extra two parameters until I touched the pedal switch long enough to light up the two windows that had the extra settings. It was the Mix part that I liked the best; you can make it intense or mellow. I'm really liking this thing as I learn more about it.
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Post by daddyelmis (Greg) on Aug 1, 2019 18:14:52 GMT -7
Well, I pulled the trigger. Should arrive this week. I’ll let you know how it goes. Unit arrived today. Updated firmware and then played with it for about an hour through the ZPlus. First impression is that it is indeed a very good unit. The digital effects are very good. The ODs less so on first pass but that was at stock settings which are always pretty bad - so some tweaking should put the 808, OCD and Klon in very workable mode. Will still use my Plimsoul in front, and probably the Clyde wah. VERY intuitive unit in stompbox mode. Easily set up a “new board” and assigned the 6 effects I wanted. Easy to adjust settings and switch out units to hear how different things sounded alone and together. The stock settings are generally way over the top (which is typical of these digital multieffects units - I know they want to show off the effects with some extreme settings, but Jeez it would be nice if they included several “boards” that were useful right out of the box). Had to google to figure out getting the tap switch to work, but that was easy. I’ve no interest in the 4CM - only my ZPlus has a loop, and I’ve never been an effects loop guy. So hookup was easy. I use a Lehle 1@3 to switch between up to 3 amps (ZPlus, Therapy, and Z28), so straight in works best for me. Looking forward to diving in deep to set up a “gig ready” selection and playing with the band next week.
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Post by Rhythmark on Aug 2, 2019 6:58:39 GMT -7
You all who bought this unit. Keep us posted after a month or when ever and let us know if you keep it. I had a fractal fx unit that was awesome. Loved it in the first month, Great sounds... but i just got bored with it and Back to pedal board.
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on Aug 2, 2019 8:31:42 GMT -7
You all who bought this unit. Keep us posted after a month or when ever and let us know if you keep it. I had a fractal fx unit that was awesome. Loved it in the first month, Great sounds... but i just got bored with it and Back to pedal board. That's what has always happened to me too, but I'm 3 weeks in and so far so good. It's amazing bang for the buck, and it has a relay inside that lets me go full "True Bypass" if I so desire. Or buffered, my choice. I haven't even tried the '4 wire' method of hookup yet, it sounds great on the front end just like my pedal board. Fingers crossed...
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2019 19:40:24 GMT -7
Well, I pulled the trigger. Should arrive this week. I’ll let you know how it goes. I’ve no interest in the 4CM - only my ZPlus has a loop, and I’ve never been an effects loop guy. So hookup was easy. I use a Lehle 1@3 to switch between up to 3 amps (ZPlus, Therapy, and Z28), so straight in works best for me. I've set up two "boards" on the HX--one that runs straight in for use with my Z-Lux, and one using the 4CM for my Friedman, which has a well-designed loop and really excellent natural breakup--no need for a dirt pedal except maybe a boost or comp to get my lead sound. If I had to pick a winner, I'd probably go with my regular pedalboard for the Lux by a nose, but the HX's flexibility gives it the edge if I'm running the Friedman.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2019 12:17:38 GMT -7
Gigged the HX last night with my Friedman, using the 4CM. Ran it with boost, comp, a couple of mods, spring reverb and tube delay. Sounded good, I thought--there's a few things I might tweak for future shows but it was generally pretty solid, plus the advantage of being smaller and lighter than my regular gigging board. The only slight issue I ran into was that the power cord's on the short side, so I had to move things around a little during setup.
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Post by daddyelmis (Greg) on Aug 8, 2019 13:27:41 GMT -7
So I’m re-doing my pedal board after having messed around with the HX Effects for about a week. Got the hang of it quickly - they did do a very, very good job of making the unit intuitive without 20 levels of menus. Watched a few “how to” vids and pretty quickly I had 2 “boards” set up to start tweaking some key effects to see if I could get to where I wanted.
As predicted, the digital effects are excellent. Quickly found a reverb, delay, chorus and phaser that work as well as anything I have. Also pretty quickly figured out how to stack effects on one switch, so for example I have a slapback delay with the chorus that are both triggered by one switch and it sounds great.
The ODs took more work, and I’m going to keep my Plimsoul on the board ahead of the HX. That said, there are some good ODs and I’m finding that stacking some makes a big difference - the Klon into the 808 seems to work very well. Also, it seems that most of the ODs shine when the Z is set just at breaking up - the ODs in front of a perfectly clean amp seem to have a harder time delivering the dirt without a lot of gain, which introduces noise.
Also discovered putting “always on” effects on the board but not linked to a switch so you have more total effects, just not all switchable. For example, I put an LA2A compressor on the front end in always-on mode to provide just a bit of light compression. I also put a noise gate at the end in case I have to use any of the ODs with a lot of gain.
The other interesting trick was to put the delay in the “B path” of the board so it’s a lot like a loop - running parallel to the main signal. This makes the delay much less “in your face” and more subtle.
I’m also keeping my Polytune because I really like it, and I may keep my SP compressor to use as a boost. Lastly, I’m debating if I keep my Clyde wah or not - the HX wahs are not that good, but I use it rarely (White Room anyone?) so I may just go without.
I bought a smaller board (RockBoard 4.2 with the I/o module) - couldn’t go smaller because I have a Lehle 1@3 to switch amps and it’s a bigger pedal. Will start assembling tonite - looking forward to a smaller yet equally capable board.
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Post by daddyelmis (Greg) on Aug 9, 2019 5:26:54 GMT -7
Quick question for the HX Effects owners - anyone using a Voodoo Pedal Power 2 Plus to power the unit? Apparently you’d use a current doubling cable and a 2.1mm to 2.5mm adapter. The Line 6 FAQ references it but does not “officially” support it.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2019 6:32:00 GMT -7
Haven't tried it with a PP2+, no, but glad to know it can be done. I don't mind using the Line6 power supply since I'm using it as a stand-alone unit, but I do wish they'd make one with a longer, stouter cable. They put so much attention into the models--the KoT sounds *exactly* like every KoT I've ever owned, etc.--but then they give you a cable that's maybe 3' long and you're like, dude. Just as a side note--I sold my brand new KoT for roughly 87% of the cost of the HX. One pedal. Crazy.
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Post by daddyelmis (Greg) on Aug 9, 2019 8:36:01 GMT -7
Agreed - given they market the HX Effects as a live board (unlike the Helix) the power supply is simply a WTF moment.
Looking at the power requirements for HX Effects, seems like it probably will not work because the most current I can get doubling the high current outputs on the PP2+ is 500ma (250ma each), and it looks like the HX Efx needs 1000-1200ma steady and as much as 2000-2500 peak on boot up.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2019 13:59:33 GMT -7
Fiddling with it a bit just now, running it straight in to my Lux. That Zendrive model's definitely growing on me. Sounded great!
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on Aug 11, 2019 2:17:31 GMT -7
I like the Zendrive model too. I mounted my power supply to my pedalboard, and use a "Y" AC cable to power the HX and my 9 volt power supply. Worked out nice and clean, plus I ran a thorough check for hum or any other noise with the power supplies near each other or near other effects on the board and it's dead quiet. That's with the excess cable curled up and wire-tied too. I expected noise and I'm real happy to say it wasn't an issue at all.
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Post by daddyelmis (Greg) on Aug 11, 2019 7:55:00 GMT -7
Edited to Add: Wait ... what Zen Drive model? Nvm - the Dhyana Drive
Yeah - I too ended up mounting the God awful HXFX power supply under my board along with the PedalPower 2+. I’m using the PP2’s courtesy outlet to power the Line 6 power supply, and that works fine. More weight and cables, which is unfortunate, but no other good solution other than dropping several hundred more on one high current power supply and using current doubler lines.
As has been posted all over the internet, it’s stunning (in a bad way) how Line 6 positioned the HXFX as a pedal board item but didn’t design a pedal board friendly power supply.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2019 15:45:03 GMT -7
Have you seen the Euro/DC version? Even clunkier, if you can imagine that. I'm guessing the makers of pedalboard power supplies will recognize a niche when they see one and step up, as they did eventually when Eventide and Strymon DSP-based effects got to be a thing. More processing power requires more juice, I guess, and it's likely that boxes like the HX are just the front edge of the next wave of digital gear. But in the meantime--yeah, WTF? In all, though, it's not that big a deal--a minor annoyance, given all the other stuff they got right.
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on Aug 12, 2019 6:23:31 GMT -7
Have you seen the Euro/DC version? Even clunkier, if you can imagine that. I'm guessing the makers of pedalboard power supplies will recognize a niche when they see one and step up, as they did eventually when Eventide and Strymon DSP-based effects got to be a thing. More processing power requires more juice, I guess, and it's likely that boxes like the HX are just the front edge of the next wave of digital gear. But in the meantime--yeah, WTF? In all, though, it's not that big a deal--a minor annoyance, given all the other stuff they got right. That's for sure. 3 amps is a pretty good load, so until that time I mounted my power supply with velcro right behind the XH on top of my board. It takes up some room but I've got it to spare with all the other pedals that are now off board. I got an IEC connector Y cord and then used an IEC-to-regular AC converter (pic below) to mate up to the HX AC plug. Then I just use another Y adapter at the AC outlet for a couple of Z amp power cables; one to my amp, the other to the board and my whole rig runs off one outlet spot. It sounds clunky to read but in use it works out great, and everything is quiet and hum free.
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Post by daddyelmis (Greg) on Aug 12, 2019 7:39:36 GMT -7
I ended up getting a rockboard 4.2 to replace my Holeyboard wide. Wanted to reduce size. The Rockboard uses a patch bay called the Mod 1 which I really liked. So I run main power to the patch bay, then under the board I’ve mounted the Pedal Power 2 and the HXFX power supply. An IEC-IEC power cable connects the patch bay to the PP2x then the HXFX power adapter connects to the courtesy outlet on the PP2. This way everything is under the board, and I just have a standard power connection to the front of the patch bay, along with guitar in and 3 outs from the Lehle. Here’s the Rockboard with the Mod 1 Installed: Here’s a close up of the Mod 1: And here’s the reconfigured pedalboard. I’m putting a Crybaby mini in that space on the lower left (the downside of being left-footed):
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2019 17:08:16 GMT -7
Anybody uploaded 2.81 yet? I feel like I just did 2.80 so I'm not in a hurry, unless there are some super-cool new effects in the package.
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on Aug 12, 2019 17:23:07 GMT -7
From the Line 6 website, here are the details of 2.81. It appears to be only bug fixes, no new effects:
Bug Fixes in 2.81
The active EXP Pedal (1 or 2) was not saved with the preset On Helix LT, the XLR Outputs would reset to Mic level upon power cycle After loading two presets in a row containing a Looper block on Path 1B or 2B, audio could sometimes drop out In rare cases, restoring a backup made on 2.71 could cause headphone audio to be lost In hands-free Pedal Edit Mode, moving an expression pedal could also affect any Wah, Volume/Pan, or controller assignments Changing IRs via controller or snapshot could sometimes result in an audible crossfade between IRs Presets with Input > S/PDIF blocks would not pass audio until another preset with a different input block is loaded When Global Settings > Preferences > Snapshot Edits is set to "Discard," tempo would not reflect this setting when set to "Per Snapshot" Command Center > MMC > Record, Punch In, and Punch Out commands could not transmit correctly In rare cases on Helix Floor, Helix Rack, and Helix LT, FS6 (MODE) could fail to toggle between footswitch modes Adjusting certain Frequency parameters (typically those below 1kHz) could change at different increments between hardware and HX Edit In HX Edit, assigning both a block and Command Center command to the same footswitch could result in erratic behavior when attempting to change the LED color Snapshot-controlled Command Center > CC Toggle or CV Toggle values could sometimes not import correctly from older presets In rare cases, undoing a footswitch assignment remotely from HX Edit could result in a firmware crash In HX Edit, repeatedly pressing Up/Down arrows could inadvertently jump to the bottom of the controller parameter list In HX Edit, attempting to undo hardware changes after a Global Factory Reset could sometimes reload preset data from before the reset In HX Edit, performing an Undo/Redo function could sometimes cause a Cab > Dual block to change to a Cab > Single block In HX Edit, performing an Undo/Redo function could sometimes cause a stereo effect block to change to a mono effect block In HX Edit on Windows, the Edit panel's sliders could sometimes fail to appear In HX Edit on Windows, customized Command Center text could sometimes be truncated On Windows, the Win Defender pop-up could block installation of Helix Native or HX Edit
Known Issues in 2.81
On Helix Rack/Control, connecting an expression pedal to Helix Control could sometimes cause the pedal position display to behave erratically Pitch/Synth > 3 OSC Synth, 3 Note Generator, and 4 OSC Generator are louder than in 2.71 In rare cases, the Dynamics > LA Studio Comp model can sometimes cause a drop in preset volume In HX Edit, applying a custom color to a Snapshot footswitch can sometimes not be reflected on the hardware. For now, apply snapshot footswitch colors from the hardware In HX Edit, if the current preset has not been saved, importing a different preset, setlist, or bundle does not currently clear the Undo history In rare cases, Helix/HX devices can become disconnected from HX Edit. If possible, always connect your Helix/HX device directly to the USB port closest to your computer's power connector. Never use any sort of USB hub, which may include the front USB ports on the front of towers Helix Native will not open in hardened runtime builds of Cubase 10.5 Some tempo synced effects can act authentic with the global setting set to transparent if tempo changes are controlled via snapshots. In HX Edit, importing a setlist containing Command Center > Instant commands may transmit the messages even if no new preset is loaded Logic Pro X is currently unable to write snapshot or switch automation data for Helix Native In HX Edit, performing an undo after a block cut or clear can delete the block's footswitch and/or controller assignments In HX Edit, moving an effect, amp, cab, or IR block can sometimes inadvertently reposition a Split or Merge block In HX Edit, certain Output > Powercab and DT parameters cannot currently be assigned to snapshots via Alt+click/Option+click. For now, press and turn the knob on the Helix hardware In HX Edit, Ctrl+click/Command+click on certain Output > Powercab and DT parameters may not reset them to default settings In Helix Native, changing models can clear automation assignments of common parameters (such as Amp > Bass or Delay > Time)
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Post by daddyelmis (Greg) on Aug 12, 2019 17:44:16 GMT -7
Anybody uploaded 2.81 yet? I feel like I just did 2.80 so I'm not in a hurry, unless there are some super-cool new effects in the package. I did only because when I bought mine I had to update it to 2.80 and it was very fast just to do 2.81 as well. It is indeed just some bug fixes. 2.80 was the big one.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2019 17:49:41 GMT -7
Huh--weird. The email they sent out says : "This free firmware update for Helix and HX hardware processors and the Helix Native plug-in introduces 8 new amp models, 8 new effects models, QWERTY Hotkeys, remote support for Powercab Plus, DT25™, and DT50™ amps, per-string volume for Variax® guitars, and more." So I was curious about the 8 new effects models.
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Post by daddyelmis (Greg) on Aug 12, 2019 18:15:44 GMT -7
That’s taking about the Helix Native software. All the new effects are in the HXFX 2.80 update - the amps are not since the HXFX doesn’t amp model.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2019 6:50:15 GMT -7
I guess so, but if that's the case it's a pretty poorly written sentence.
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Post by daddyelmis (Greg) on Aug 14, 2019 18:08:57 GMT -7
Well, finally finished the new board. I need to get a few better right angle patch cables to replace the spares I had to use, but everything works and sounds great. Went from this: To this:
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Post by Dan F"i"fe on Aug 25, 2019 16:10:31 GMT -7
I got my HX Stomp Saturday... I don't hate it. lol There will probably be pedals up for sell soon I think.
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Post by benttop (Steve) on Oct 3, 2019 8:27:44 GMT -7
From Stomp to Effects: I've had the Stomp for a few months now, and there are a great number of things to like about it. But I keep running into the same issue - not enough foot switches for everything I want to do. And the Stomp limits the number of modules to 6, whereas the Effects increases that to 9. This becomes important if you run 4 cable method, because you lose one module in doing that (a module position is taken up by a routing module that sends stuff on the left to the front of the amp, and stuff on the right to the loop output). So yesterday I get a notice from Line6 that the HX Effects is $100 off right now, and sure enough Sweetwater has it at that lower price, so I bit. Naturally this means I'll have to completely redo my "tiny" pedal board, but that should not be an issue. Not sure if I'll keep the HX Stomp or not - it does have all of Michael Britt's HX Stomp profiles in it, so it's all set for running amp-less through an FRFR or straight to front of house. And the models he provided sound pretty good. It's just that I like the real amp. Despite modeling's advances, modeling an amp leaves out certain key features. Take the Z28 for example - the tone controls work in a very interesting and key way. But a model of the Z28 would not pick up this feature at all. That leaves you with a sub-optimal experience if you're already familiar with that amp. So I doubt I'll be going amp-less ever. I have amps that rock my world here. And my new Nova has a loop - just the thing for an HX Effects.
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Post by daddyelmis (Greg) on Oct 3, 2019 10:55:19 GMT -7
I’ve wondered if you could run the HXFX through the loop on the Stomp to get both, including the amp models of the Stomp.
Of course, with both you’re getting close to the price of a Kemper Stage.
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