Line 6 HX Stomp XL
THE HX STOMP IS A STRIPPED-DOWN VERSION OF LINE 6’S HELIX, BUT THE XL VERSION ADDS A FEW FLASHY ACCESSORIES AND IMMEDIATELY CHANGES THE WHOLE VIBE.
Ever since the early days of multi-effects units, the market has understood that it makes good sense to offer the same basic product in a variety of simpler and more complex configurations. The Line 6 Helix is a revolutionary piece of kit, but if you need something much more stripped down, there’s the adorable little HX Stomp, with a smaller footprint than most tablet computers but loaded with over 300 amps, cabs and effects from the Helix. It’s a riotously fun piece of kit, limited only by its control configuration which is based on a trio of footswitches.
The HX Stomp, which uses those same great sounds and features as a starting point, sees you regarding Helix with envious eyes and decides to meet you halfway there with an expanded footswitch layout and more stageworthiness, and while the footprint of the unit is now longer, it’s still a very small, portable unit that you can chuck in the front pocket of a gig bag. In fact probably the only thing missing now is a leather strap for you to bite down on and carry your HX Stomp XL into the gig in your mouth like a dog’s chew-toy while you hold your guitar in one hand and a bag full of merch in the other.
The HX Stomp XL has the same SHARC DSP chip as the Helix, and it can run up to eight processing blocks at the same time. It does pretty much all the stuff you’d expect a state-of-the-art processor to do in 2021, but it addresses my only complaint about the diminutive little HX Stomp, which is the layout of the I/O.
The HX Stomp has inputs, outputs, USB and a expression pedal jack on the back edge of the unit, an effects loop on the right, and a headphone jack and MIDI In and OutThrough connections on the left. If you have a complicated setup and you’re using most of those jacks with big ‘ol chunky plugs to hook everything up, you’ve effectively wiped out a bunch of the unit’s space-saving benefits. The HX Stomp XL takes all that stuff and puts it around the back, with no connections on the sides at all. Now it’s easier to hook up your gear in four-cable method, connect other units via MIDI.
You still get the colour LCD display, capacitive-touch footswitches and colour-coded LED status rings found elsewhere in the Helix range, but compared to the HX Stomp’s three multi-purpose buttons you get dedicated Menu Up and Down buttons, four assignable switches, a Mode switch (which doubles as Edit/Exit) and a Tap Tempo switch which also functions as the tuner button.
You get your choice of DSP or True Bypass, thirdparty IR support, USB connectivity, and audio interface capability (although a lot of players have reported finding the setup a bit fiddly when used in this way, so factor in a little extra setup time if you rock up to a recording situation on an unfamiliar computer).
All the expected amp and effect models are there, including a ridiculous number of distortion stomp boxes based on everything from the Analogman Prince of Tone to the Z.Vex Fuzz Factory. We can almost play the A-Z game with amps too, from the AC-15 to the
Dr Z Route 66. There are also dozens of bass models, including Billy Sheehan’s favourite Pearce BC-1, and a studio mic preamp model. Basically, it’s all here and if you can’t pull a great tone then you probably pissed off a demon somewhere along the line and that’s on you.
So how’s it sound? Well, godly of course, because Line 6 absolutely nails this stuff, with their Behavioural Modelling which replicates the unpredictable qualities of analog circuits, its great IR section (and yeah you can load external Impulse Responses too, of course: that’s so obvious a feature that we probably don’t need to spell it out when we talk IR). The capacitive touch switches mean you can use them as a form of expression pedal if you want to, which makes things really fun and physical.
I tried the HX Stomp XL in a variety of configurations including with powered speakers, as an interface in my DAW, direct into a combo’s clean channel and in four-cable method with my Marshall DSL50 half-stack. Interesting to note: one of the output configurations in Line 6’s literature shows the HX Stomp XL used in the loop of a line drawing of what is unmistakably a Kemper Rack. Line 6 is quietly but confidently saying, “We know you’re gonna prefer our effects to theirs.” Shots fired!
If you’re the kind of player who rides their guitar’s volume knob to vary your gain, the HX Stomp XL will feel immediately familiar and responsive. If you’re a progressive metal player who likes everything compressed and heavily gated, it’ll feel like exactly the kind of modern rig you want. And if you fall anywhere in between, like say you used to have a bunch of analog pedals but now you want something a little easier to maintain and transport, just think of this as a pedalboard.
VERDICT
Whatever your need, the layout and I/O here makes more sense than the smaller HX Stomp and it’ll integrate with more complex rigs with complete ease.
PROS
Convenient layout.
Flexible signal routing options. The sound!
CONS
No ‘reach and tweak’ knobs.
CONTACT
Yamaha Australia Ph: (03) 9693 5111 Web: au.yamaha.com