Line6 HX One - Fixing it’s problems...and my opinions

Line6 HX One at Sweetwater: sweetwater.sjv.io/DKre3j
Hi, my name is Michael Nielsen. I'm a composer/producer. I write music for movie trailers, video game soundtracks, commercials, movies and tv shows. This channel is dedicated to guitar related gear and music production. My production and publishing company is called Ninja Tracks. My guitar sound design is available for Kemper, TwoNotes, THU Overloud, IK ToneX, and IR's.
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00:00 HX One
00:32 TAP tempo trem
01:59 TAP tempo delay
02:31 FLUX Rotary/Leslie speaker
03:55 Noise Gate
04:27 Tuner
04:39 Preset Mode
05:25 Why did I buy an HX One
06:56 Negatives
#ElectricGuitar #effects #line6

[@RabihSaadguitars]

The more i approach 50, the more i like going back to Turning knobs.

[@eddiejr540]

I bought a Tonex and it took me over 3hrs to get it connected to the computer…and it still wasn’t right…after a weekend I gave up and sent it back…I don’t wanna be a computer programmer just to play guitar!!!

[@BigHairyGuitars]

I totally understand guys! I’m sick of learning new interfaces. Guitar is fun. Computer GUI is NOT fun

[@RabihSaadguitars]

@@eddiejr540 im with you on that.. I have digital equipments dont get me wrong.. Some are user friendly and some are made for engineers. The later I get rid off. Like you said, we need to play the instrument and not programing stuff.. Dont you love a pedalboard?? Hehe..

[@EddieVanAidan]

Yeah I've had a ToneX for a couple months and the software does my head in

[@c.g.vonhagenstein7576]

Don't feel bad guys/gals. I actually *am* a programmer and some of the computer/digital interfaces on some of the modern gear/software is just maddening and drives me up the wall too. In some ways, having programming and some UIX (user interface) design experience makes it worse, because you know how much better it *could* be. So yes, heres to good ole knob turning. 🍻

[@ShawnTubbs]

I've been looking at this pedal for a bit now! Great work Michael!!

[@gerrykavanagh]

Good review & some nice tips. I see people complaining a lot about the 'limitation' of 1 effect. What is being neglected, though, is how Flux would be implemented in a multi-effect device. Flux is basically the same as snapshots, but with a smooth transition between states. Implementing this where there are more than one effect would greatly increase the complexity of the code. I say this as a software developer of 30 years.

[@Tone-Quest]

Awesome insight as always. I would love to see you compare the Line 6 HX One to something like the Zoom MS-70CDR.

[@rogerYT69]

thx for the tap tempo tip! helped me a lot 😉

[@MrAntpre]

Greats i started to think mine was faulty. Tks a lot

[@coalfacechris1336]

Thanks Michael. Had an M5 in a rack-rig years ago as tend not to use any more than one effect at a time pre-gain. Stuff like analog chorus, flanger and trem. The M5 had terrible MIDI implementation but otherwise worked great and have been eyeing an HX One for a while. No editor no problem for me. Sick of PC's and USB cables to make minor adjustments and no harder than programming 80's/90's rack gear from the pedal's interface.

[@Lizzieware]

Great video Michael. This is the small foot print multi effects pedal I’ve been waiting for. It replaced the tuner, Phase 95 and Chorus on my board and so created space. I now have a decent Flanger, dual pitch shift (for EVH tones), Dimension (for Zakk), Leslie (black hole sun) and a whole world of quality effects that I wouldn’t otherwise have access to. Good quality effects. I’ve kept my Halo and Red Dirt pedals so don’t currently need it for more than 1 effects at a time. Just wish they’d fix the midi thru!

[@BigHairyGuitars]

Awesome. Can’t believe a company like Line6 had a midi problem! 🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️I’m sure the MIDI will get fixed though

[@Lizzieware]

Just checked for firmware updates and there it is, released on 8th Feb. Downloaded, installed and now the midi thru works! 😀👍

[@marco.savini.128]

i'm looking to buy one soon, just sold my wampler terraform for it, this was greatly helpful, thx!

[@LeadByExample2911]

I’ve had the hx stomp for a few years now, and while it’s an impressive piece of equipment I would definitely suggest the Two Notes Revolt and/or the Two Notes Opus. Much better sounds, effects, emulations, cab sims, customization (especially if you have the revolt or revolt bass AND the opus!), etc. It was also much more user friendly, just an all around phenomenal piece(s) of equipment, imo.

[@LeadByExample2911]

P.S. I do realize this is the HX One, not the HX Stomp, but they’re essentially the same.

[@ElmerFerrer]

Always love your videos man. Big fan here! The HX One sounds good, but has serious issues that hasn’t been fixed in almost a year now. Midi issues, the tuner doesn’t work in true bypass mode. etc etc.. You can’t save the effects in Off or bypass, (like you can do with the M5) what makes the scrolling unusable in a live situation. I contact them and their only answer is “we are working on it” It’s amazing that some companies these days can release an unfinished product, not fixed it for almost a year, charge money for it, and get away with it. I will love that pedal once they upgrade the firmware. (hopefully some day) Now is not a tool. It’s a toy.

[@AkiraSpectrum]

Cool video! Was looking for one of these to cover #1 Noise Gate #2 Tuner #3 Delay or Reverb. Can you enable the noise gate without having an effect on? Do you find the unit has a lot of 'tone suck' in front of a tube amp?

[@BenBreard]

Yup, line6 is the perfect catch-all pedal. I basically use my stomp lx and a delay pedal and everything else is just in case. The m9 worked really well for me before that. It's not "the best", but totally good enough IMO!

[@LeonTodd]

07:50 - Yep. Give me a software editor for EVERYTHING.

[@RudolfZ]

I ended up buying two of them. Reason why i didn't get stomp was because i got Opus for preamp/amp/cab. So i just put HX One before and one after Opus. Basically use one for delay/reverb/mod/eq and the second one as boost/overdrive/fuzz etc. Would love if i could combine two effects and make it as preset so i can ditch additional pedals delay+reverb and boost+overdrive and use flux to activate the "+ pedal". They do cover some two pedal effects as a preset like flager+chorus so we know it is possible. That said, I am absolutely pleased with the device.

[@c.g.vonhagenstein7576]

My favored approach to tap-tempo is for it to be always on. Which they could have done with a dedicated tap-tempo button that did nothing else. Guessin they were trying to keep costs to a minimum. Having to go into a tap-tempo mode, and then selecting between triplets, or dotted 8ths, etc. or whatever is too much futzing around for my personal tastes. But that's just me. HX One still seems to have some use cases for some people, as you demonstrate. I will say that watching this makes me want to put together a compact pedal board of my own. Alas now's not a good time $$-wise for me to be contemplating such a thing lol. Cheers.

[@steveliberty]

I have the HX Stomp as my main rig, and the HX One in the loop. I did this for 2 reasons. First, there are some very DSP hungry fx, like 12 String and Digital Capo, that would be much too restrictive if I used them in the HX Stomp. So having the HX One is like extending my DSP. Second, I use about 1/2 dozen modulations, and since you can't put them all in the same preset, I would have to manage and maintain lots of presets. Ex: 6 versions of my Vox preset (one for each modulation I might need), 6 versions of my Fender preset, 6 versions of my Marshall preset, etc. But by extracting the modulations to the HX One, I can have 1 Vox, 1 Fender and 1 Marshall, and just change presets in the HX One to select the modulation I need for any given song. Its working out very well for my use case. And the price is an interesting topic. At first, I thought $299 was a lot for one effect at a time. But then, I realized that people were spending twice that on H9's which are (for the most part) one effect at a time also. Andthen, when I thought about how I might use it, I realized it was well worth the $299 to extend my DSP and simplify my preset maintenance.

[@fabiol.9161]

Had it and sold after 1 day.. It absolutely change the tone in my mark v 35.. Didn not find any Z or other parameters that fix the problem.. Had also the m5 which i like more but it was only instrument level.

[@swaffy101]

Yes! I never had this problem with M13 or the HD500x. As soon as I switch to the helix it made my amp sound anemic.

[@jakestewartmusic]

Are you planning on a comparison with Eventide? There's a surprising lack of quality videos comparing the Line 6 HX stuff to Eventide H9/H90

[@emilianoibarra3537]

is it possible to determine min and max values for parameters to control with an expression pedal? just like you control the bar underneath the knobs on the eventide h9

[@artysanmobile]

So, it is possible to leave a program in the right mode, right? I would want most temporal presets to be in tap tempo when I recall them.

[@deeseen3495]

How does the effect quality compare with the old M5 Mike?

[@thurmanjuan]

Too complicated fir me. But you can still make noise with me anytime you want, even if you have tiny complicated pedals on your board.

[@geralltwilliams2811]

This is no different to the original M5 it replaces. Tap temp is engaged by selecting the beat type.

[@bretrich]

I had this for about 2 days and had to return it. The problem came when I put it on my board and was standing directly above it. When you are scrolling the patches looking for a preset, they put 3 lines of text on that tiny screen and it's impossible to read from that distance. My eyesight is in good shape too.

[@BigHairyGuitars]

I still have it on my board. I definitely agree, there’s some room for improvement. Hopefully some other company will learn from this and make a perfect one

[@beargonefission6160]

Hadn’t realized that they weren’t doing a full PC editor. That’s a let down given the promise of a single serving edition of the Helix/HX ecosystem. I really hope they fix that. Still on the verge on it. As opposed to the HX Stomp, it seems like doubling the investment gets you a ton more, but I’m still on a paradigm of using a bunch of boxes each of which may do a bunch of different algorithms but only giving me one or two at a time.

[@Margilio5150]

The only 2 in 1 effect it must have is the Halo Delay (Delay + Reverb)

[@RICO_SUAVE21]

Man sounds great, but it’s completely unintuitive for me to use. I’d go nuts trying to use it 🤷🏽‍♂️

[@AndreAmeli]

plethora 3x is the best in this category for me, little bit bigger, but do so much

[@Smart-Alex]

Agreed!

[@Smart-Alex]

No drives but super easy versus all this menu diving.

[@BigHairyGuitars]

I do have a Plethora x3. It’s great. BUT it’s much bigger on a pedalboard than the HX. And there are some FX in the X3 that I find ‘ok’ at best. But for Reverb and Delay the X3 is excellent as a 1 stop fx unit

[@JustAGuitarPlayer]

One thing I wish they would change or put in the HX One is a model of their analog delay sound from their own Line 6 echo park pedal (an excellent delay pedal, used by many including session guitar player Tim Pierce). On the Line 6 Echo Park pedal, the analog delay trails are darker and fade away very musically, whereas on the HX One both the analog delay and analog w/mod delay trails are bright and stand out. I wish there was some suggestion box for line 6 where I could suggest that they model all of the sounds from that Echo Park pedal cause they’re just more musical than what’s in the HX One in my opinion after 48 years of playing guitar (I own 2 HX Ones). I was hoping the HX One would replace my echo park pedal cause the switch is worn out. I’m using the HX One mostly so far for the Klon patch (Minotaur) and the Timmy Patch (Teemah). But there are plenty of great useable sounds in the HX One pedal.

[@BigHairyGuitars]

I’m with you 100%

[@abheceshabemuskk3531]

On the other helix devices there are all the legacy effects..maybe they will include them..or maybe not because there is a lot

[@LaMarrBrewster]

Do you think the pedal gains any more functionality with the addition of a fs3/4 switch? It looks like a lot of holding and menu diving, which I would like to avoid.

[@herve.franco]

On my side I paired it with the Hotone Ampero control midi foot switch. It transforms it in a "almost" multi effects pedal. Sure, you still cannot activate several effects at the same time, but you are able to switch from one effect to another as if you were having several pedals on your pedalboard.

[@benallmark9671]

So if you have the Line 6 HX FX do ya need this and which one you recommend between the two ?

[@BigHairyGuitars]

I think you're good with the HX FX. This is just 1 FX version of that.

[@mekonium7843]

Wonder why its called HX One

[@user-by6eb6zo7g]

Sounds are good, interface and ease of access are poor. Big line 6 fan, but this really seems borderline anachronistic even when compared to older to similar pedals like the M series.

[@ProfVonW]

This vs H9 for catch all utility pedal?

[@BigHairyGuitars]

This for sure! Based entirely on the fact that I don't want to turn on an iPhone app to change patches and settings

[@timothy5974]

My budget told me to buy the Zoom MS50G.🤷‍♂️😂

[@jimsimmons2674]

Whats wrong with the screen the scrolling bars are distracting?

[@jakobn1234]

that just happens when you try to capture such a screen on video due to the difference in hz

[@BigHairyGuitars]

Yeah. I actually corrected it as much as I could. It actually shows up really flashy in cameras, just like the 2290 and Triaxis screens

[@jjdubois6101]

Just get an hx stomp

[@alguitarchristie]

I'm 3 minutes in and I hate it! All the pressing and hold bollox! I guess I'm just too old for this shit! The plethora x3 by TC is surely a more user friendly option, ok it takes up more space, but still less than most!

[@stephenchow5161]

hmmmmm. first!

[@BigHairyGuitars]

Hi Steven! You might be the first AND only person to watch this vid 😂🤣

[@skoneal007]

Looks like a complex pain in the a$$ system.