What I've learnt from Helix HXFX so far...

thecolourbox

Got one of these in order to replace my pedals, but it's been...interesting. What I've learnt so far:

1. The drives don't do what I expected them to. They don't sound bad, just they  don't sound like the drive sounds I like, ie Scratchy "amp about to explode"  Jack White style rhythm sound. Appreciate this kind of sound is better achieved with an amp about to explode, but still. Need to experiment with an eq pedal before the drives maybe?

2. The Legacy drives seem better for my purposes, especially the Big Muff which is much more versatile and less "woolly" for want of a better word. The Industrial Fuzz I like though, and there seem plenty of other new meaty sounding overdrives but that just isn't for me. It's just taste though I'm sure.

3. Dual Chains are good. Putting complementary IRs on each trail (one trebley, one bassy, panning left and right, reverb on one of them, into my studio type monitors via a mixer to ensure panning.

4. Levels on drives/boosts seem very high when going into a digital preamp (in my case GSP1101) so had to keep them low, but you have to turn them up when going into an amp or into a pedal preamp. The added gain or volume or whatever it is makes things very noisy indeed. Need to try with my wireless (mmore cables and plugs to plug in!) as that's hlped with noise before.

5. I should have been patient, the HX Stomp looks much more suited to my requirements but it's a bit late now!

6. I'm already planning out the feasibility of selling the HX FX and just getting the exact pedals I use from it, though of course the HX has the benefit of being powered by one supply - to power a Whammy, Switcher, preamps and reverbs seems to require a pretty hefty PSU, so the usability of the HX will count in its favour. Plus the Whammy is not great on the HX.

7. Pedal order sems much less fussy on the HXFX than in reality. For example a Fuzz Face or Fuzz Factory don't seem to need to be first in the chain, no buffer-into-fuzz issues etc.

8. This list is even longer than the process seems to be in order to create presets from scratch on the unit, as HX Edit doesn't allow drag and drop editting yet

Disclaimer - I'm not saying the HX FX is not good, I'm fully aware the "shortcomings" I have seemingly enjoyed listing are more than likely either user error or unrealistic expectations.

shuikit

Does the HXFX do the same as the Helix with the auto impedance setting?  ie it 'auto' sets it to whatever is first in the chain regardless of whether or not this block is active or bypassed.  Makes a difference with some of the fuzz pedals.

thecolourbox

shuikit said:

Does the HXFX do the same as the Helix with the auto impedance setting?  ie it 'auto' sets it to whatever is first in the chain regardless of whether or not this block is active or bypassed.  Makes a difference with some of the fuzz pedals.

I'm afraid I have no idea on that to be honest. I'm a bit dim so not really sure if that's the case but may make sense why the pedal models are less fussy

shuikit

I don't think I was being clear, I was referring to point 2 about preferring the legacy fuzzes and 7 about the pedal order.

If it's the same as Helix if you put the fuzz face (other pedal with a low impedance) in the first  block with the 'input-z' = auto then the fuzz will sound as intended but when you bypass it then everything else will sound dark.  You can get around this by setting the input-z on the same footswitch that switches your fuzz on/off.  If you have the fuzz behind other blocks then it doesn't really make a difference, unless all the blocks before the fuzz are bypassed then the impedance is still dictated by whatever is in the first block, it won't sound the same as if the fuzz was in the first block

I don't know if this is relevant for the hxfx

These might help.

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/so-this-helix-impedance-crap.1967794/

thecolourbox

OK cool I will watch that, but I think the only in/out options on the HXFX that I've seen are where you can select instrument or line level. I'll have a look on the video and investigate later on. Thanks

thecolourbox

I think from a bit of googling the impedance thing doesn't exist on the hxfx.

On the plus side, the wireless has worked it's magic on the noise killing front, no hissy gain noise any more! Boom

gibsongretschfan

thecolourbox said:

I think from a bit of googling the impedance thing doesn't exist on the hxfx.

On the plus side, the wireless has worked it's magic on the noise killing front, no hissy gain noise any more! Boom

Well that’s a strange decision. A lot of the effects sound a lot better with their original impedences, especially the some of the fuzz models and even some delays. I wonder if the Stomp has the variable input impedance  thingy