HX Stomp, input impedance, muddy amp sound, other pedals etc!!!!

mark_jwedge

I have recently got a HX stomp and I’m very pleased with it.

Most of the time I will use it as a multi fx on a simple board:

polytune mini > revival drive compact > Greer light speed > HX Stomp 

into the front of a 50w Top Hat Emplexador into 8ohm 2x12 with a vintage 30 and g12H 70th anniversary.

All wired up with evidence audio SIS cables. 6ft lead to the board, 10ft lead to the amp, Van damme cable and neutrik plugs.

So eventually to the point - the sound of guitar into the amp is brilliant, and sounds the same with the revival drive, poly tune and lightspeed in the chain. When the HX stomp is in line too there is a loss of vibrancy and sparkle to the sound which I wonder is some kind of impedance issue?

Stomp is set to auto impedance, would altering this help? Any tips?

I don’t think a buffer before would help as the revival drive is buffered bypass but would a buffer after help?

I have had a play with the global eq on the stomp so maybe I just need to keep tweaking this?

Wazmeister

I found a buffer before really helped 

mark_jwedge

Wazmeister said:

I found a buffer before really helped 

What pedals did you have before it Waz, were they all true bypass? I have got a buffer in a bright onion loop switcher that I’m not using anymore so I could connect it before and after the Stomp and try it 

ICBM

It could be a level issue - it's remarkable how a tiny, by itself imperceptible, drop in signal level seems to rob that 'vibrancy and sparkle' from the sound even when there is actually no change in the tone itself.

If the Bright Onion doesn't fix or at least identify the problem...

Do you have access to, or would be willing to buy to test it, a loop-switcher with adjustable levels, such as a Boss LS-2? If you do, put the HX in the loop and adjust the level carefully until you're certain there is no change in volume when you bypass the loop, then see whether there's still a tone change.

mark_jwedge

ICBM said:

It could be a level issue - it's remarkable how a tiny, by itself imperceptible, drop in signal level seems to rob that 'vibrancy and sparkle' from the sound even when there is actually no change in the tone itself.

If the Bright Onion doesn't fix or at least identify the problem...

Do you have access to, or would be willing to buy to test it, a loop-switcher with adjustable levels, such as a Boss LS-2? If you do, put the HX in the loop and adjust the level carefully until you're certain there is no change in volume when you bypass the loop, then see whether there's still a tone change.

I could probably mock up something like this by putting the HX stomp in a loop on my bright onion loop switcher - with the buffer in the switcher turned off - then slowly boost the output level of the stomp and compare to having it switched out of the chain completely?

ICBM

mark_jwedge said:

I could probably mock up something like this by putting the HX stomp in a loop on my bright onion loop switcher - with the buffer in the switcher turned off - then slowly boost the output level of the stomp and compare to having it switched out of the chain completely?

Yes, that will work to test it.

mark_jwedge

@ICBM Sorry to pick your brains on this again, I’m just going to try a buffer before and after the HX stomp. 

I have switchable buffers in my bright onion loop switcher which although I’m not currently using it, it is attached to another board and wired in.

I have got a spare Boss CS3 compressor/sustainer. I’m sure I read somewhere that Boss compacts are buffered bypass and that the buffer sounds decent, is this right? Just wanted to know if I could use the Boss as an initial test on the effect of a buffer before I rip the other board apart to get the bright onion switcher!

tone1

I always find the same with units like this...I had a TC Nova System that just sucked all the life out of everything 

shuikit

Check the input and output levels in the global settings are set to instrument.  I would also set the volume knob so that it does not change the main output level, so the main output is always set at unity.

Auto impedance means that the impedance will depend on what you have in your first block.  This might help https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/so-this-helix-impedance-crap.1967794/#post-26983042

Note - I have a full fat Helix not a stomp, so I'm assuming that this is true for the stomp!

Jota

Auto impedance is sh!t.

I use the last one before the 1M (can't remember the value) and it helped but, even then I had to adjust the Global EQ so the true bypass and the Stomp sounds are close.

I still think it takes away some of the mid frequencies but it's a lot better with this settings in front of my amps.

ICBM

mark_jwedge said:

@ICBM Sorry to pick your brains on this again, I’m just going to try a buffer before and after the HX stomp. 

I have switchable buffers in my bright onion loop switcher which although I’m not currently using it, it is attached to another board and wired in.

I have got a spare Boss CS3 compressor/sustainer. I’m sure I read somewhere that Boss compacts are buffered bypass and that the buffer sounds decent, is this right? Just wanted to know if I could use the Boss as an initial test on the effect of a buffer before I rip the other board apart to get the bright onion switcher!

The Boss buffer is good in terms of output impedance so it will drive even a low-impedance input with no loss - but it also has that little gremlin of the slightly-below-unity gain, so it will introduce another potential cause of the tone 'suck'.

You really do need to try it with something where you can adjust the level while switching it in and out of the circuit.