My Opinion Has Changed! | Line 6 HX Stomp for Bass [Re-review]

[@GuitarUnderground]

I've gone through a similar thing with the stomp. The versatility of the stomp can definitely be hindrance to creativity. I think the key is to figure what you want from it and scale your use down to fit that specific case. I want the stomp to be for amp emulation, cab sim, and studio effects. I wish there was something similar to the Strymon Iridium for bass, but nothing quite fits the bill yet so I'm trying to find ways to use the Stomp for a similar purpose. Now I'm moving towards a set up where I'm using it in snapshot mode with a few of my favorite amps (B-15, SVT, Acoustic 360) and for each amp, the snapshots are mapped mostly by EQ settings-Bass boosted, Mid boosted, and one "special tone" to match a legendary player associated with it. There's no reason why there needs to be a billion presets that you'll never use. Getting rid of extraneous stuff can definitely help you to focus on the good parts.

[@JonnyDibble]

I totally resonate with this! I've found my patches becoming more and more simple and stripped back over time. Just got to find the way it works best for you - Sounds like we both have 😄

[@Terrible_Peril]

@@JonnyDibble my bass presets range from dead simple to unorthodox, but usually to more closely sonically reproduce a particular sound and feel (see Jon Willis' latest dual amp/path presets before he moved away from the platform). I find the DSP is often best spent with time based effects and pitch effects for me. I pair my Stomp with a Jet Micro and a mini expression pedal as well as a C4 synth in the loop (and an audition pigtail for whatever else I feel like throwing in there). Unfortunately I have particular power requirements and the C4 doesn't always play nice so I may change it out. It sucks, but I can't justify turning away from running my whole board on a USB battery pack just for the (amazing) C4.

[@aaronl7669]

The Stomp is awesome! I have revolutionized my sound over the last year. Other devices may also be good. This is all I have tried and have never even had a pedal board or a single pedal! This thing can do so much and takes up almost no space and costs very little compared with several pedals.

[@Terrible_Peril]

it's fabulous for what it is. If you A/B the models with a real-world version of them, you'll of course find the Stomp simulations lacking. The good news, it still sounds great, and if you don't miss it, you won't miss it. But these nuances have been hammered out to death by some very kind and dedicated people over the years (I always shout out Jon Willis aka Dr Tone, website funding ran out but there's a Facebook group with files and loads of info). So yeah, what a bit of kit.

[@rhitosparsha]

Cool tones! But whatever's happening with HX Edit definitely shouldn't be happening. You should try contacting Line 6 support about it. Very well might be a rare bug and they should be able to fix it.

[@JonnyDibble]

Hoping so! I''ve a contact there so I'll reach out. Cheers!

[@jaredthenuhn]

Interesting. I have not had the same issues with HX Edit, luckily. I bought my Stomp to replace my pedalboard and amp and it’s perfect for me. I plug straight into a poweramp and that goes into my Ampeg 610. All I need is a tuner, compressor, distortion, and amp sim and I’m good to go. So it replaces a much bigger footprint for me and works great. Like you said, consistent tones.

[@JonnyDibble]

I'm glad! I don't think it's a common thing tbh, I struggle to find other people with similar software issues 🙃 What power amp are you using?

[@jaredthenuhn]

@@JonnyDibble I plug into the return of the effects loop of a Behringer Ultrabass BX4500H.

[@abolit]

Thanks for the video. This box is basically a small computer with emulation software inside. Since I don't gig I can easily do same thing on my mac.

[@bill4510]

I have a G&L L2000 tribute..I was not getting a good sound with it, until watching your review of it with the hx stomp. So I just got an HX stomp.

[@alexskibicki2262]

Cool demo, Johnny. I like the distortion patches on this multi- effects processor.

[@JonnyDibble]

Yeah they sound great! Thanks man

[@ichiban5]

I just found this channel. Excited to watch the videos! Trying to learn the guitar.

[@Oscaraha]

Dont understand why a huge company like Line6 dont just hire one pro bass player that knows what natural sounds means for a bass. I sold mine because I couldnt really get a basic neutral sound. It should be as intuitive as plugging in an amp to get that, and if you want the distortion that should be an OPTION. Still incredible value for the money, so I hope they sort out this and come back with something thats much easier to use.

[@eltonjohnson]

Honestly, I think it's just a DI thing. I've never heard a DI bass signal that didn't sounds like it traded in half its low end for upper mid range....Completely lackluster. I only ever got them sounding good by pairing it with a bass synth that compensated for the low end. No amount of EQ will make a DI bass signal sound like a proper mic'd up bass cab and amp...

[@Bluewaterboy]

Thanks for talking me out of buying one for playing live

[@RobertoAlferi]

I like the idea of having a Stomp, a lot… but I guess I will go for a PodGo. I will probably miss the double chain option (I am a bass player, too) but I like the idea of being able to tweak parameters on the fly if needed when I am on stage. More buttons… I’d like your opinion on this…

[@BassMonstrum]

I completely understand when you're talking about "tactile" and "control". There's something about twisting knobs instead of opening up software. As much as it offers endless possibilities, I prefer analog pedals.

[@JC-jx9se]

yeah seems like the software is buggy. Might want to contact customer support. Also, I REALLY loved that Aguilar amp model. It was dark for sure, but I loved the drive section. I'm soooo tempted

[@AskiaSuper]

It's buggy, becouse it wasn't updated as it should have done. You follow the update procedure manual, and it will run well. I had the same problem.

[@RumblinMan]

Great views in this vid. Loved it. While the Stomp / Helix can be great for bass, using the amp sims rather than an actual amp can be a bit over-rated. Excited though that we finally have a bass chorus in the new update.

[@JonnyDibble]

Thanks mate! Looking forward to getting it all updated 😄

[@ConstantineM]

Good stuff here. I enjoy your sounds. Nice bass btw. I'm guitarist, but I want bass now :)

[@JonnyDibble]

Thanks! I don't want to be a bad influence but.... DO IT

[@jimalbruzzess2445]

Hi Johnny, great video !!! For your purposes, I can see how it's useful to you. I think that the software would send me over the top. I do love just plugging in to my amp and bass galore. This is a very useful video, because rarely do you ever get to hear about what a piece of gear is like after the honeymoon phase is long gone. Cheers Johnny!!!! 🍻🍻

[@JonnyDibble]

Cheers mate! Yeah its a funny feeling to describe, I get the same thing, with the addition of pedals

[@rapeter3382]

I was kinda new to multi fx units - so I started slowly progressing with a zoom B3 as there is tons of patches out there and I liked the old school design and literally 3 fx in a cluster thing. when I was looking for an upgrade so many people swore on the hx stomp but being stubborn I choose the boss core unit. Quite like it. It has it´s flaws as you point out for the stomp. what I didn´t expect is the user friendly editing ability an the fly. so no tone studio. also i quite like the monochrome design but thats just me. sure the stomp has obviously more bass amps modellers and way more patches etc. Actually the core tought me better understanding od what each parameters achieves for the overall fx. bought a book a while back - pedal crush. what a source! built quite a few patches based on the input given from this book.

[@Emma-en5nb]

It seems like what's happening with your copy of HX Edit has something to do with the display scaling on your Mac. Do you have a Mac that has a monitor attached/included (like a Macbook, or a iMac all-in-one), or a Mac with an external monitor (like a Mac Mini or Studio)? If it's the latter, your OS (Mac OS X) might be rescaling all of your programs and OS elements to appear correctly on your monitor. It's possible that HX Edit is not programmed for your particular UI/Display scaling settings. This would cause both of the problems you're experiencing. You'd see crashes because your OS would be redrawing the UI elements of HX Edit as many times per second as the refresh rate of your screen (so if you have a 60hz screen, that's 60 times a second that the UI has to redraw the program - very taxing! A 120hz display would be even worse.) You'd also not be seeing some elements on the screen if HX Edit is redrawing incorrectly; they'd be "off screen" so to speak because the program would not know where your screen starts and ends. Definitely reach out to Line 6 support, because something weird is happening, and if it's happening to you it might be happening to other people as well.

[@JonnyDibble]

It was an iMac I was using at the time. I've now got a macbook pro and I have zero issues!

[@stephenmcgrathbass]

I had lots of trouble with HX edit myself. It would not work on my macbook no matter what but runs perfect on my I mac. Both on the same OS. This is all very techy for a guitar pedal. The sounds are great though and its the first multi effects I've heard with good fuzz/distortion sounds . Oh one tip never plug it into a usb hub has to go direct into your device

[@JonnyDibble]

Sounds like we've had similar experiences! Does it top the Zoom for you though?

[@stephenmcgrathbass]

@@JonnyDibble I still use the zoom more and really if you're not going to use the potential of the hx it's a waste of money and yeah the zoom is better

[@themigwel6185]

Just bought one last week. Great for my as My tastes change often, so having almost everything in this box is really nice. To next year if I feel the same about it.

[@chriscuthbertson]

I bought an HX Effects instead of a Stomp, It gives me more effects blocks and I just use the sans amp or darkglass pre amp models with a cab IR in place of the amp and cab models in the stomp. I love the extra footswitches and the scribble strips, and it was cheaper than the Stomp.

[@JonnyDibble]

Ideal! The HX Effects is such a great idea 👍

[@mr.bluenotedoobop]

your pedal board should be able to power it. I think you just need a splitter cable, Rhett Shull has a video on it on his channel for guitar.

[@RossHoekman]

Man, the glithces you're running into with HX Edit would drive me nuts as well! But I wonder if it's a Mac thing... As a person who floats between both platforms, I know stuff like this on Mac always has more issues. I've use HX Edit on Windows and haven't had ANY of those issues (hopefully I didn't jinx it). LOVE my Stomp for bass!

[@AskiaSuper]

You haven't followed the firmware update manuals carefully enough. If you'd done so, the errors would have gone! Say this by experience, so try the procedure again!

[@RossHoekman]

@@AskiaSuper Please note that I'm not the one experiencing bugs. ;) ;) I know Line 6 in particular has had some pretty definitive "you need to do this first" type updates, so I'm always careful. I don't have any personal experience with HX Edit on Mac as I'm currently PC based for my personal music setup. Never had any issues with the Windows HX Edit, I was just saying that those bugs would drive me nuts as well.

[@AskiaSuper]

@@RossHoekman I see!

[@johnmichaelroblesgarcia6435]

Hey man prob a little late but i had that same prob with hx edit and i just unistalled it and updated miy hx stomp and hx edit to the latest version and made some patches from scratch and everything fixed itself

[@JonnyDibble]

Amazing! I've done the same several times and still got the same issue 😢

[@mkwaterstone]

GREAT OPINION...Thank you

[@d77sauce]

Awesome video. My HX Edit is crazy too. Good to know.

[@JonnyDibble]

Thanks! Sorry to hear 😪

[@bengalinsky4300]

Tip - the heavy loud music all the way through is really distracting from what you’re saying

[@coppehermans5535]

It had loads of features, but that software? Has that been written by an intern? Those sound are awesome! I love the Ampeg sound as well and got myself the SVT suite, very sweet!

[@coppehermans5535]

By the way, great video Jonny!

[@JonnyDibble]

Thanks mate! Ooh I really want to try the SVT suite.

[@daveandrews5485]

Nice update Jonny. Not convinced this is something I would invest in if I’m being honest. That said it’s great that you feature these things and I’m sure there will be people watching who will go out and buy one. Keep the videos coming sir. 👍🏻

[@JonnyDibble]

Not for everyone! A great product overall though. Cheers!

[@SillerJorge]

The first sound seems to have a late response .. maybe I'm wrong .. just saying Another thing .. does clean sound means flat eq? cause I hear this term a lot in other videos and their clean sound is not clean at all...

[@drasgum]

Good video man, i have the darkglass adam and use it for comp/eq/overdrive/dist/fuzz/amp sim/tunner and its great, but i need another multi fx to get some reverb/delay/chorus/mods/oct/pitch/envelope/etc sounds to play with, and this is looks like something i can really use, How it works in that way?

[@JonnyDibble]

This has all of those effects and more 😄 I e got a whole series of videos on the HX Stomp. I recommend checking out my patch creation one 😊 Cheers!

[@drasgum]

Yes i will check those videos, thanks for reply !!

[@alexledford4747]

Are you able to do biamping bass with the HX Stomp? Like putting a LPF on a bass IR/Sim and a HPF on a guitar IR/Sim? I have 2 amps, I'm not worried about the power/cab portions of the setup. I'm just trying to figure out if I would be better suited to go with an ABY and 2 EQ pedals to create a crossover for HI and LO signals. I think the Stomp might be a better piece of gear, but I can't figure out if it will do that.

[@a-bass-player]

I did this by adding a splitter going to 2 amps, then sum the signals together.

[@josemontano7890]

I just snagged one of these myself! I’m running a sams amp bass driver with almost the exact settings as yours. Do you like the way that the sans compliments the HX?

[@JonnyDibble]

Awesome! Yeah man It works well with it! 😄

[@alessiobassguitar]

When you were using filters and pitch, since hd edit was bugged, we’re you putting the effects after or before the amp? Can you explain why?

[@bradfuller84]

Love the demo! Do you know if you can change the tuner to a different effect or is it permanently the tuner/tap? Thanks man!

[@JonnyDibble]

Thanks! Yes. I believe you can change it so be another footswitch in the global settings ☺

[@bradfuller84]

@@JonnyDibble I will try this! Thank you for the speedy response 🤘🤘

[@luisribeiro1155]

Hi! The issue you're having with HX edit is related to the version of the software Vs the hardware firmware. Update the HX edit and everything will be ok, maybe... Hehe. I had issues with my presets when the software wasn't updated after updating the firmware.

[@JonnyDibble]

Now fully up to date and it's still the same unfortunately 😭

[@luisribeiro1155]

@@JonnyDibble well... Factory reset it is..😉

[@brockcollins7761]

Great video as always! Have you tried the ray34? The ray24 looks great but the ray34 looks like a worthwhile upgrade.

[@JonnyDibble]

Thanks mate! Funnily enough I'm on a hunt for a ray34 right now. I was going to buy the quilted maple top one but the seller pulled out and decided not to post 🥲

[@brockcollins7761]

@@JonnyDibble Welcome to used gear shopping online 😂

[@JonnyDibble]

@@brockcollins7761 my Ray24CA arrived in a bin bag! What is it about Stingrays?! 🤪

[@brockcollins7761]

@@JonnyDibble I guess people want them so bad as soon as they get the money the use it on a stingray and can't get a box 😂

[@BTandBR]

What would you recommend this or the valeton?

[@willster7272]

what kind of amp are you using here?

[@alessiobassguitar]

I do not honestly know whether the real cool thing is the hx stomp itself or your majestic beard! Nice video though

[@JonnyDibble]

Haha. I never thought it was good when I had it! Thanks very much

[@canadianguitar-garrettont7368]

do you have a video on your current pedal board and if you do does your current board run to an amp? or just for FOH

[@JonnyDibble]

I will do in the new year! Best place for pedalboard updates is my Instagram page. I was just redoing a few bits on there actually 😁 I go into an amp and then DI from the amp to FOH. Got the ability to got straight from the pedalboard, but that's more of a backup

[@giacomorinaldi]

Could you do the justin chancellor sound ?

[@raphcolina4086]

Since the HX Stomp is out of the board.. are we going to see a pedal board demo soon? hehe

[@JonnyDibble]

When it is ready, yes! 😁

[@thefid89]

Holy auto focusing batman!! lol Still a fun video!

[@JonnyDibble]

Yeah forgot to change some settings for this one!

[@thefid89]

@@JonnyDibble No big deal, keep it up!!

[@freddielamour1392]

Does this unit have a harmonizer?

[@ONealMusicStudio]

No interest at all in something like this. I’m quite happy picking out the exact analog effects pedals I want on my board. I do use a C4 with a midi controller to store and scroll presets but that’s as digital as I’m going. A lot more fun than all the brain damage required with all this digital stuff with computers and software that take so much time away from actually playing and practicing. Give me a good old pedal with just a couple knobs and a foot switch Also a lot more fun trying and choosing pedals and mixing them myself to get the sounds I want. Old school all the way for me!

[@bengalinsky4300]

I used to think so too, running big pedlaboards, then tried this in a friends studio and was blown away, got one a few weeks after. I find it super easy to program, even without a computer connected, and integrates really well with other pedals as the two send/returns can act as loops that you can place anywhere in the chain. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried.

[@bengalinsky4300]

I used to think so too, running big pedlaboards, then tried this in a friends studio and was blown away, got one a few weeks after. I find it super easy to program, even without a computer connected, and integrates really well with other pedals as the two send/returns can act as loops that you can place anywhere in the chain. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried.

[@luigi.zanini]

3:13

[@JakeAikens]

Comments like, "It's running so slowly" and "Where's the amp gone?" are the reason I don't bother with this garbage.