HX Stomp

siremoon

Please could one of the "I'm disappointed with the latest Helix unit and I'm sending it back because the Kemper/Axe/whatever amps/fx/whatever are superior and I'm qualified to say this because at some point  I've owned every model of Helix" people explain why they keep buying new Helix units?   Doesn't make any sense to me.

Fretwired

siremoon said:

Please could one of the "I'm disappointed with the latest Helix unit and I'm sending it back because the Kemper/Axe/whatever amps/fx/whatever are superior and I'm qualified to say this because at some point  I've owned every model of Helix" people explain why they keep buying new Helix units?   Doesn't make any sense to me.

In reality they must be dissatisfied with their tone or have too much money to burn as by owning one of every unit on the planet they somehow become Internet gurus.

I'm something of a Line 6 fanboy having bought an original POD when they were launched, upgraded it to a POD 2, gigged with a Flextone II amp, got a POD XT, POD X3 and have used a POD HD Pro (not an X) for years. Learn how to use them and you can get useable tones. I've been told everything is shite and what you need is a big tube amp - whilst a tube amp will sound really good I'm not sure my house can cope with me recording a mic'd tube amp whereas a modeller is ideal.

I'm not sure if a Kemper is better sounding or not - it seems more complicated - but let's say it is along with the Axe-FX (based on the number of pros who use the unit). So what? Once in a mix I doubt anyone will notice. And since I've never owned a Soldano amp I'm not 100 per cent sure what they should sound like.

Liking the HX Stomp tones so far.

Wazmeister

siremoon said:

Please could one of the "I'm disappointed with the latest Helix unit and I'm sending it back because the Kemper/Axe/whatever amps/fx/whatever are superior and I'm qualified to say this because at some point  I've owned every model of Helix" people explain why they keep buying new Helix units?   Doesn't make any sense to me.

That'll be me then... and chill your boots a bit, IT'S ONLY AN OPINION

Right, let's see what I've actually said, if you'd read the thread...

1.) I'm not 'disappointed' with the Helix. Not at all. It is a great sounding, versatile FX unit, with unparalleled routing options and superb creativity.

2.) The amp sounds are not as good as the Kemper; nowhere near it, imho, ymmv, for my needs etc etc

3.) The reason that I have bought them is NOT for the amp modelling; I've historically used them with 'real' amps as FX and creative devices. BUT, the Helix has many, many uses - not least as an input into your PC/Mac whatever. Vocals can be added too, which appeals to me...

4.) At some point, maybe soon, I will buy a Helix Floor for the above uses, just not for amp modelling unless I can 'learn' how to set those amp tone correctly.

Fretwired said;

In reality they must be dissatisfied with their tone or have too much money to burn as by owning one of every unit on the planet they somehow become Internet gurus.

Not an internet guru, just my opinion

And yep, probably have had too much money to burn historically (although not now)... but then again, I'm not alone there an I ?

simonk

Ha! Facebook just reminded me of this from seven years ago... what a rig! Gives me a headache just thinking about it! As I recall the fire extinguisher was a standard issue with the G System for when it caught fire (which it eventually did, more or less).
Amazing, and truly liberating, that I’ve replaced that lot with the Helix, and now the diminutive Stomp.

Fretwired

Wazmeister said:

Fretwired said;

In reality they must be dissatisfied with their tone or have too much money to burn as by owning one of every unit on the planet they somehow become Internet gurus.

Not an internet guru, just my opinion

And yep, probably have had too much money to burn historically (although not now)... but then again, I'm not alone there an I ?

I wasn't having a pop at you. Your posts are civilised compared to some on here in the past and some of the groups on Facebook. There's a guy with basically one of everything and as far as he's concerned Line 6 sucks .. he's American so you can imagine the Trumpesque ranting.

At the end of the day (to quote Blackstar) it's about the 'sound in your head' ... I get different units are better are doing certain things. I like the ease of use of my HX Stomp. I also get why someone would like to use a Kemper to profile a particular amp. And I get why pros like Clarky use an Axe-FX.

smudge_lad

Mine arrived late last night so couldn’t really crank things up. I had a quick play around to get a feel for how the unit works, into the front of my Badcat, set as clean as possible. I’ve got no previous experience with any of the other amp modellers.

I really liked what I heard straight out of the box without any tweaking (which I will do extensively, eventually). I’ve got quite a few IR’s to upload too, which I’ve been told should make even more of a positive difference to the sounds.

Looking forward to trying it through a more neutral amp/PA speaker also, and also hooking up my MC6 as well

dangriffiths

IRs - where do I start to give that a try?

simonk

dangriffiths said:

IRs - where do I start to give that a try?

Start with Ownhammer’s free pack.

siremoon

Wazmeister said:

siremoon said:

Please could one of the "I'm disappointed with the latest Helix unit and I'm sending it back because the Kemper/Axe/whatever amps/fx/whatever are superior and I'm qualified to say this because at some point  I've owned every model of Helix" people explain why they keep buying new Helix units?   Doesn't make any sense to me.

That'll be me then... and chill your boots a bit, IT'S ONLY AN OPINION

Right, let's see what I've actually said, if you'd read the thread...

1.) I'm not 'disappointed' with the Helix. Not at all. It is a great sounding, versatile FX unit, with unparalleled routing options and superb creativity.

2.) The amp sounds are not as good as the Kemper; nowhere near it, imho, ymmv, for my needs etc etc

3.) The reason that I have bought them is NOT for the amp modelling; I've historically used them with 'real' amps as FX and creative devices. BUT, the Helix has many, many uses - not least as an input into your PC/Mac whatever. Vocals can be added too, which appeals to me...

4.) At some point, maybe soon, I will buy a Helix Floor for the above uses, just not for amp modelling unless I can 'learn' how to set those amp tone correctly.

Fretwired said;

In reality they must be dissatisfied with their tone or have too much money to burn as by owning one of every unit on the planet they somehow become Internet gurus.

Not an internet guru, just my opinion

And yep, probably have had too much money to burn historically (although not now)... but then again, I'm not alone there an I ?

Ok but that doesn't answer my question as to why you bought the stomp and sent it back.

Your original post said:

"Well, my Stomp will be returned back to Guitar Guitar.

Love the Helix routing, like the FX, but still think the amps are way behind the Kemper."

Given your point (3) above it seems you knew already that the amp modelling didn't appeal to you so why buy it?  My inability to understand the bleedin' obvious is legendary but notwithstanding that it still doesn't make any sense to me.

Fretwired

The HX Stomp sounds awesome through my IK Multimedia iLoud monitors .. great portable practice rig.

Jonathanthomas83

siremoon said:

Please could one of the "I'm disappointed with the latest Helix unit and I'm sending it back because the Kemper/Axe/whatever amps/fx/whatever are superior and I'm qualified to say this because at some point  I've owned every model of Helix" people explain why they keep buying new Helix units?   Doesn't make any sense to me.

Mainly because they're appealing units. People like the features, UI, routing and the implementation. It's unparallelled. As much as I'd love to, I can't say that about the tone, just can't...sorry!

@fretwired, Kemper isn't more complicated, IMO.

Fretwired

Jonathanthomas83 said:

siremoon said:

Please could one of the "I'm disappointed with the latest Helix unit and I'm sending it back because the Kemper/Axe/whatever amps/fx/whatever are superior and I'm qualified to say this because at some point  I've owned every model of Helix" people explain why they keep buying new Helix units?   Doesn't make any sense to me.

Mainly because they're appealing units. People like the features, UI, routing and the implementation. It's unparallelled. As much as I'd love to, I can't say that about the tone, just can't...sorry!

@fretwired, Kemper isn't more complicated, IMO.

I've never used one - I'm basing my comments on a video with Lee Anderton and Chappers and co doing a demo of modellers.

I still use my old POD 2 for practice as I can dial up a decent tone without needing a computer in about 30 seconds.

gibsongretschfan

dangriffiths said:

IRs - where do I start to give that a try?

The free Celstion V30 IR from their site gets used on almost everything by me and i own a lot of their packs. Again remember to use a seprete eq blacklist for hi and lo cut because the IR block ones suck

dangriffiths

Will try a few out and see how it changes things - thanks @gibsongretschfan and @simonk ;

drwiddly

After yesterday's fiasco trying to create an account with Line 6, I managed to download everything I needed and update the HX Stomp to the latest firmware before I ran out of 'fiddling' time.

Had a bit of time today so have been checking out some of the factory presets and tweaking a few of those to get me close to the sounds I need for gigs. Lots to do yet - setting up midi, importing IR's, level matching and lots more tweaking.

Does the HX Stomp sound as good as my Kemper? I doubt it, even after lots of tweaking but I think it will provide a great gig backup unit (which is what I bought it for). Be interesting to try it at gig volumes through my frfr rig.

Fiftyshadesofjay

siremoon said:

Please could one of the "I'm disappointed with the latest Helix unit and I'm sending it back because the Kemper/Axe/whatever amps/fx/whatever are superior and I'm qualified to say this because at some point  I've owned every model of Helix" people explain why they keep buying new Helix units?   Doesn't make any sense to me.

In my opinion Helix is just unbeatable for everything except amp modelling. I use a Kemper because the amps sound better which is the main thing, but the Helix is truly next generation in regards to everything else. 

Ive tried Helix a couple of times because I really want it to work but after a while I can’t deny the core amp tone is worse to my ears. And considering it’s updated a fair bit it’s worth a punt now and again, but it ain’t there yet.

gibsongretschfan

Fiftyshadesofjay said:

siremoon said:

Please could one of the "I'm disappointed with the latest Helix unit and I'm sending it back because the Kemper/Axe/whatever amps/fx/whatever are superior and I'm qualified to say this because at some point  I've owned every model of Helix" people explain why they keep buying new Helix units?   Doesn't make any sense to me.

In my opinion Helix is just unbeatable for everything except amp modelling. I use a Kemper because the amps sound better which is the main thing, but the Helix is truly next generation in regards to everything else. 

Ive tried Helix a couple of times because I really want it to work but after a while I can’t deny the core amp tone is worse to my ears. And considering it’s updated a fair bit it’s worth a punt now and again, but it ain’t there yet.

I once bought a 2 channel version of the single channel amp that I owned. Expensive hand made boutique stuff

Took me about a year to start getting constantly good sounds out of the two channeller even when I already had the single channel version sussed

I really banged my head against the wall with that amp and started to question whether I just sucked or not a few times 

Anyone regularly playing a Kemper over a period of a year or more who dips their toe into Helix modelling now and again and declares it worse probably just hasn't put enough time into it

Wazmeister

gibsongretschfan said:

Fiftyshadesofjay said:

siremoon said:

Please could one of the "I'm disappointed with the latest Helix unit and I'm sending it back because the Kemper/Axe/whatever amps/fx/whatever are superior and I'm qualified to say this because at some point  I've owned every model of Helix" people explain why they keep buying new Helix units?   Doesn't make any sense to me.

In my opinion Helix is just unbeatable for everything except amp modelling. I use a Kemper because the amps sound better which is the main thing, but the Helix is truly next generation in regards to everything else. 

Ive tried Helix a couple of times because I really want it to work but after a while I can’t deny the core amp tone is worse to my ears. And considering it’s updated a fair bit it’s worth a punt now and again, but it ain’t there yet.

I once bought a 2 channel version of the single channel amp that I owned. Expensive hand made boutique stuff

Took me about a year to start getting constantly good sounds out of the two channeller even when I already had the single channel version sussed

I really banged my head against the wall with that amp and started to question whether I just sucked or not a few times 

Anyone regularly playing a Kemper over a period of a year or more who dips their toe into Helix modelling now and again and declares it worse probably just hasn't put enough time into it

Ive just got to ask the question mate... have you/ do you own a Kemper ?

Wazmeister

So, to all with some knowledge...

Ive never used IRs, but Im wondering if they will breathe some life into my crap Helix amps (just jokin, just jokin...)

Now, I play mainly clean, edge of break up (no shredding or heavy rock shit). So, where to start ?

gibsongretschfan

Wazmeister said:

gibsongretschfan said:

Fiftyshadesofjay said:

siremoon said:

Please could one of the "I'm disappointed with the latest Helix unit and I'm sending it back because the Kemper/Axe/whatever amps/fx/whatever are superior and I'm qualified to say this because at some point  I've owned every model of Helix" people explain why they keep buying new Helix units?   Doesn't make any sense to me.

In my opinion Helix is just unbeatable for everything except amp modelling. I use a Kemper because the amps sound better which is the main thing, but the Helix is truly next generation in regards to everything else. 

Ive tried Helix a couple of times because I really want it to work but after a while I can’t deny the core amp tone is worse to my ears. And considering it’s updated a fair bit it’s worth a punt now and again, but it ain’t there yet.

I once bought a 2 channel version of the single channel amp that I owned. Expensive hand made boutique stuff

Took me about a year to start getting constantly good sounds out of the two channeller even when I already had the single channel version sussed

I really banged my head against the wall with that amp and started to question whether I just sucked or not a few times 

Anyone regularly playing a Kemper over a period of a year or more who dips their toe into Helix modelling now and again and declares it worse probably just hasn't put enough time into it

Ive just got to ask the question mate... have you/ do you own a Kemper ?

yeah, for an hour and returned it for a full refund so I'm now an authority on all things Helix/Kemper/AxeFX