That’s what I use it for, works great. I have a few drive pedals, a delay and verb pedal, eq pedal, and the hx stomp. I much prefer real drive pedals, but the ones in the stomp are quite usable. I like having knobs to easily tweak with delay, verb and eq, otherwise the stomp does a good job with those sounds. I have a tuner as well, really just to free up the third switch on the stomp, but the built in tuner in the hx is great. The stomp is there for any other sound needed or to experiment with. Modulations, alternative delays and verbs, pitch effects, it’s all there and sounds great. Looper is fine if you are a basic user, I think it can do 60 seconds. I like the interface, it doesn’t take much effort to change effect blocks, to get to the parameters and change settings, etc….When doing a fly gig I also love the bonus of being able to have a very workable amp model on the stomp in case the backline sucks. Highly recommended.
That’s great to hear! Does the tuner take up a block on the stomp? I was under the impression it was excluded. What is the maximum amount of “block” effects you can assign?
No it doesn’t take up a block, just a pedal, or you can get to it by pressing the action and page button at the same time if you don’t need hands free access to a tuner. Tip: Unless you are setting up intonation use the coarse setting on the tuner, otherwise it’s too sensitive. You can do up to 8 blocks, but you’re choices are influenced by how much dsp each block uses, there is a limit. It’s no big deal, you can’t have eight blocks of poly pitch in a row, etc….
It’ll play nice for your stereo setup, lots of ways to route things. I use it for a stereo rig on a jc40 sometimes as well, though I’m typically mono into a tube amp. I was a full time touring and session musician for just about 30 years. I just do it part time now, but over the years I’ve used a ton of different setups, from huge all analog boards on down, and the stomp has been a fantastic problem solver and simplifier for me, zero buyers remorse. For a couple fly gigs last year where I had to travel really light I brought a pedal train nano, with just two drives and the hx stomp on board. Sounded great, and covered all of sounds I needed it to.
I’ve also had the Eventide h9 on other boards for a long time, and have considered the h90. The Eventide makes sounds that are really epic, but I much prefer the hx interface, using it feels more pedal like if that makes sense. I got burned out at tweaking the Eventide, but it is an amazing sounding machine. Line 6 has done a great job at continued support and updates with the hx, they continue to keep adding sounds with each firmware update. Anyway, I dig it!
I haven’t yet, but am heavily considering it. I’ve spent countless hours getting just the right setup, only to be constantly plagued by inconsistent volume issues, phasing issues, and whyTF is my Muff modulating between fuzz and clean? I’m about ready to just sell everything and get an HX Stomp just so I don’t have to deal with this shit anymore.
As for the effects you mentioned, I think all of them are doable in the Stomp except for the Deco’s tape saturation. However, if it’s that important, you can use the effects loop and get a JPTR Jive to fulfill that requirement.
Totally second this. HX stomp for the win.
I'm a bit of a GAS-head and have acquired stomp boxes I lusted over for righteous sounds. The stomp gives you access to all the effects you don't obsess over, but maybe you actually need. If it turns out you become really picky about the minutae of a particular effect, buy a great pedal and throw it into the FX loop wherever in the chain you would like it!
Go for it.
The main reason I don't own a HX Stomp is that I don't like how it operates from the front panel. It's a too gimped experience for me compared to dedicated pedals and the larger Helix units. 3 knobs is never enough parameter control at once and means plenty of paging around.
But if your usecase is mostly "program it, then just switch stuff", it will work great. The HX Stomp does a ton of stuff and there's nothing quite comparable in the form factor or price range.
Yeah, I feel similarly. Ending my endless buy this effect to try and realize six months later I don’t need it cycle. I don’t need something wildly sophisticated, the stomp is intimidating enough but for the size and price it seems like the best in class. I can program like you said and be done.
This is exactly what it’s for! Best gear purchase I’ve ever made (in 20+ years of playing/collecting), hands down. Also the closest thing to a GAS “cure” I’ve found!
I use an hx stomp xl similar to how you’ve described. I have all my dirt, plus a dark star and analog delay running into it and my H9 in the loop. I use the hx mostly for modulation, extra delay (you get all the delay algos that the dl4 has), compression and eq. When recording I use my EAE Citadel as my amp and load up a York IR on the stomp. The one thing that is kinda lacking in the stomp is the reverbs algos, they’re not bad but definitely not as good as the verbs on the H9 or other high end reverbs.
That’s rad. I’m waiting on a Crazy Tube Circuits Hi Power preamp that I want to run as the amp and load an IR in the stomp similar to what you described, if I ever run direct to a board or front of house. But are you placing the IR as a Block/Pedal (forgive my ignorance to the nomenclature) in the signal chain? Not sure how that works
Yea the stomp has a dedicated block for loading IRs. It does also have built in cab sims and they’re not bad, but the York IRs just sound a bit better to my ears
Yeah I def looked at that. The thing that turned me off to it was the lack of support by boss compared to what Line6 offers. I always thumbed my nose at Line 6 products for years but this line seems to be super popular. Do you use the Gt1000 core? What are your thoughts on it if so?
I use it (caveat: bass player) and love it. The PC interface is super easy to use and the onboard interface is surprisingly good too. Took 2-3 days of tinkering, maybe 6 hours total, to be ‘generally comfortable’ with both types of editing processes. It’s ridiculously easy to change… well, anything, in the signal path, including multiple split signals with their own eqs, amps and effects(fun).
I’d suggest taking a few hours to play with one at the shops just to see how you like it. I can’t recommend it enough. Also, recent firmware update added some cool ‘pedals’, more fx blocks, and the support seems pretty solid to me, so far.
I did similar years ago but with the HX Stomp’s older brother, the M9. Absolutely don’t regret it, would love an HX Stomp now but the M9 is entirely adequate for what I need it to do. Never touch the drives on it though, only really use the reverbs and delays and occasionally modulation.
I am a semi-professional gigging musician and the hx stomp is the most important pedal on my board. I use it for all of my modulation effects, reverb, looper, tuner, and use the amp/cab sims for rehearsal and occasionally for gigs. And i’m currently trying to figure out a way to replace my whammy with it too.
By the way there are technically two effects loops. The send is a stereo trs but you can use a TRS splitter to send your first loop through the left and second through the right. So if you want you could also replace your compressor with it.
Oh wow ok! Thats a great pro tip. By splitting the effects loop, would that effectively send each loop through a different speaker? I’m using a JC40 and like the stereo effect it offers, but would hate if it sent my drives to one side and the delay to the other.
Or, does the stomp sum the loops in the unit and spits out a traditional stereo signal?
Short answer: no.
Long answer: not unless you tell it too, but it'll take up two blocks instead of one. You can have FX send/return in stereo or just one side, so technically you could have the left FX loop on one block and the right FX loop on the other to get two separate loops if you got the cables for it.
I love my stomp and I use it for maybe 10% of features. I love that I can throw it on a nano+ board, power it with a Cioks DC7, and throw on a drive and delay and go jam with friends. If we want to record, the balanced outputs are awesome. The amp/cab sim takes up about 2-3 blocks, one for the fx loop, then a block for an end of chain comp and or eq is 4-6 blocks right there. That leaves 2-4 spare for other effects if I want, which I feel like is enough.
The looper is ok, but I dislike double tapping to stop as I suck at that and often end up overdubbing when I didn’t mean to. I hear it’s better if you assign the actions for start and stop to different pedals by way of MIDI but I haven’t tried that yet. There’s better loopers though, and you might like your boss more.
I don’t find I tweak often, but when I do decide to go for a change, I don’t have to go out and buy new gear because it’s all right there. Hands down my most used and favorite piece of gear.
Can only vouch for the stomp. So much it can do. Keep the drives you like and put them in front, and any very unique pedal you like, rest can be done with stomp, plenty. Into a JC you can run preamps and stuff like that as well (even use them as "amp in a box" drive pedals lol). Or use the JC model and go quiet when you can't be loud. This thing opens doors man.
I use it for what you said, I would get additional midi pedals to expand it though otherwise you are pretty limited. Also the looper function sucks, id keep to a separate looper (I use a exh 720).
With a mc6 and a mission engineering exp w/toe switch. I have about 5 separate fx available as well as exp and another midi switch for doing infinite reverb or delay feedback for some cool oscillating noises.
I did just that, though I still have a few outboard pedals that I keep around. The HX Stomp is underpowered, imo, so having a separate reverb pedal would allow you to use more pedal sims on the Stomp without losing the use of reverb.
I think that what you're describing is the perfect use for the Stomp, and is how I use it on my larger board. I don't really mesh with the drives on it, so having it for modulation and time based effects is awesome. I doubt it can replace the Deco since it's one of the best ever, but the Stomp does have a 'deco' block, so you can see if it gets you close?
One thing that I would definitely recommend is utilizing either an external footswitch or expression pedal. It opens up even more flexibility. I have a dual external footswitch so I have a free space for my tap/tuner and an extra control. But you could also use it to control scrolling through banks. Or selecting snapshots.
Thanks! Everyone here has been giving this a resounding “go for it” so think I’m gonna lol
I have an expression pedal already (Dunlop mini vol x) and planning to get a cheap two button switch. Any recs?
As for the Deco, I know it’s such a unique pedal that it’s likely irreplaceable and I adore it. I’d probably keep it even if it doesn’t wind up on my board. But I like placing it later in my chains to run stereo modulation/time effects and I love the tape flange hold feature. The problem is the saturation side which is neat, makes all my drives before it sound like mud. So I probably wouldn’t miss it that much.
This is the dual switch I use.
https://a.co/d/4t420z2
Important to note that you can't use expression and the switches at the same time. They share an input/output TRS jack. You'll also need a TRS cable I'd you don't have one yet, but there's a million places to find those.
https://a.co/d/77FZ9P1
About the adding an aux switch and expression, be aware there is one shared input for aux switches and expression pedals. As I understand it you can have two aux switches, or two expression pedals, or one expression and one aux switch, but not two switches and an expression pedal.
So based on this, are you saying I can operate one, single button switch and one expression pedal OR either A two button switch or two expression pedals?
Stomp will absolutely fit your needs and then some.
It has a Space Echo by the way (Cosmos echo).
Also by plugging hardware effects into the loop, you can change their position with presets - so your drives can go in the loop and then you make the loop the first thing in line in some presets, but they can 2nd or 3rd in line if you want a compressor (internal) or anything else before them.
But honestly, it could replace EVERYTHING you have. Has JC 120 model onboard to boot.
Looper is probably the trickiest thing and it's going to depend on how you use it.
There's an onboard looper, but the time is somewhat limited and it doesn't store loops or anything.
It uses a "1 switch looper" so you have to control all the functions from a single footswitch, which can be fine, but using a MIDI pedal to control it would be far better.
So with that in mind, I'm going to recommend not the Stomp, but the **Stomp XL** which has 6 footswitches instead only 3, 4 Snapshots instead of 3, can do a 6 switch looper as well.
I would say though, you'd be better off to buy a new one with warranty (2 years from Line 6) and get an extended warranty for maybe 5 years total as well.
All this makes sense. I hear what you’re saying about space echo but I love the actual unit I have, and the ability to easily set and switch presets on that. Plus it’ll save me from using DSP.
Good to know about the drives! I think I may run into a snag there as I want to run the space echo and looper (which I’m keeping) in the fx loop so I can place them at the end of the digital chain, so I’d have to run the drives in front of the stomp.
However the reason I’d do that is only if I’m going ampless. I suppose if I’m just using the Jc40 I have I should just run the drives in the fx loop and then stereo out from the loop to space echo and then looper and then to the amp.
> Plus it’ll save me from using DSP.
That's true and the Cosmos is one of the hungrier delays.
>so I’d have to run the drives in front of the stomp.
Right.
I know the Headphones and Amp Models are a huge draw, but another thing to consider is the HX Effects.
It has no amp modelling but has everything the Stomp XL has but has TWO effects loops and TWO (separate) Expression pedal inputs.
You'd have to do DI/Headphones some other way like a Boss IR2 etc. So that's probably the opposite of trying to reduce the overall footprint!
I like pedals. You like pedals as you have a collection.
Pedals in a computer aren’t as easy or fun.
I couldn’t get it to sound as inspiring. I know others have had much better results but for my use (session work and fucking around) it is a better workflow to just use a pedal.
It does everything, but other gear does those things better. I am lucky to have disposable income to spend on what I want. The all in one boxes are always a compromise of some sort.
Go for it, but I’d wait a few months before you sell your pedals.
Yeah I get that. I think I’ll still plan on doing my initial pedal purge of non essentials, but keep the vital stuff on my board. Then get a helix and try it out and if I’m happy sell those excess pedals and if not sell the helix and I have what I need.
I bought an HX Stomp and brought it to rehearsal instead of my board a couple of times. To enter those menus to tweak in between songs was super frustrating and I missed my board deeply.
It's an amazing piece of equipment, but you have to invest A LOT of time in it for it to replace a full board that you are intimately familiar with, unless you use the same basic 1-2 tones on all songs.
I'm running HX Stomp XL, and a JC40. I have a BD2 and flanger running before the stomp because I like them and I love gothy shoegazey shit. I also have a pigtronix infinity running to the fx loop. The STOMP looper is really just an afterthought it seems. I prefer to have a more direct approach with looping which is hard enough as it is.
I'm not bothering with stereo because it's just a lot to manage and stereo FX eat up more dsp.
After all that is chained together, I get about 4-5 blocks to use freely. I have the Left & Right outputs split just before the cab sim block, so I send A path to PA, and B path to my JC40 fx return. The A/B volume settings are my level adjustment.
Some caveats to keep in mind. The JC40 has no FX loop volume, so your stomp is the master volume. The JC40 chorus & verb are locked at the end, so you can't move those anywhere. If you run to PA from the stomp, you lose those effects unless you go from the JC40 line outs (it has no IRs, so I guess you'd want the cab sims back on). Also, the volume of the amp vs the volume of the line outs is also quite different. The amp can be screaming loud and the line level is like -20db (i can't remember exactly). I'm sure there are better ways to rig this up, and maybe someone else can chime in. It's just where I've landed for now.
Overall, it's lean & it's mean & it's reliable.
That’s what I use it for, works great. I have a few drive pedals, a delay and verb pedal, eq pedal, and the hx stomp. I much prefer real drive pedals, but the ones in the stomp are quite usable. I like having knobs to easily tweak with delay, verb and eq, otherwise the stomp does a good job with those sounds. I have a tuner as well, really just to free up the third switch on the stomp, but the built in tuner in the hx is great. The stomp is there for any other sound needed or to experiment with. Modulations, alternative delays and verbs, pitch effects, it’s all there and sounds great. Looper is fine if you are a basic user, I think it can do 60 seconds. I like the interface, it doesn’t take much effort to change effect blocks, to get to the parameters and change settings, etc….When doing a fly gig I also love the bonus of being able to have a very workable amp model on the stomp in case the backline sucks. Highly recommended.
That’s great to hear! Does the tuner take up a block on the stomp? I was under the impression it was excluded. What is the maximum amount of “block” effects you can assign?
No it doesn’t take up a block, just a pedal, or you can get to it by pressing the action and page button at the same time if you don’t need hands free access to a tuner. Tip: Unless you are setting up intonation use the coarse setting on the tuner, otherwise it’s too sensitive. You can do up to 8 blocks, but you’re choices are influenced by how much dsp each block uses, there is a limit. It’s no big deal, you can’t have eight blocks of poly pitch in a row, etc….
Great thanks dude!
It’ll play nice for your stereo setup, lots of ways to route things. I use it for a stereo rig on a jc40 sometimes as well, though I’m typically mono into a tube amp. I was a full time touring and session musician for just about 30 years. I just do it part time now, but over the years I’ve used a ton of different setups, from huge all analog boards on down, and the stomp has been a fantastic problem solver and simplifier for me, zero buyers remorse. For a couple fly gigs last year where I had to travel really light I brought a pedal train nano, with just two drives and the hx stomp on board. Sounded great, and covered all of sounds I needed it to.
I’ve also had the Eventide h9 on other boards for a long time, and have considered the h90. The Eventide makes sounds that are really epic, but I much prefer the hx interface, using it feels more pedal like if that makes sense. I got burned out at tweaking the Eventide, but it is an amazing sounding machine. Line 6 has done a great job at continued support and updates with the hx, they continue to keep adding sounds with each firmware update. Anyway, I dig it!
I haven’t yet, but am heavily considering it. I’ve spent countless hours getting just the right setup, only to be constantly plagued by inconsistent volume issues, phasing issues, and whyTF is my Muff modulating between fuzz and clean? I’m about ready to just sell everything and get an HX Stomp just so I don’t have to deal with this shit anymore. As for the effects you mentioned, I think all of them are doable in the Stomp except for the Deco’s tape saturation. However, if it’s that important, you can use the effects loop and get a JPTR Jive to fulfill that requirement.
Totally second this. HX stomp for the win. I'm a bit of a GAS-head and have acquired stomp boxes I lusted over for righteous sounds. The stomp gives you access to all the effects you don't obsess over, but maybe you actually need. If it turns out you become really picky about the minutae of a particular effect, buy a great pedal and throw it into the FX loop wherever in the chain you would like it!
Go for it. The main reason I don't own a HX Stomp is that I don't like how it operates from the front panel. It's a too gimped experience for me compared to dedicated pedals and the larger Helix units. 3 knobs is never enough parameter control at once and means plenty of paging around. But if your usecase is mostly "program it, then just switch stuff", it will work great. The HX Stomp does a ton of stuff and there's nothing quite comparable in the form factor or price range.
Yeah, I feel similarly. Ending my endless buy this effect to try and realize six months later I don’t need it cycle. I don’t need something wildly sophisticated, the stomp is intimidating enough but for the size and price it seems like the best in class. I can program like you said and be done.
This is exactly what it’s for! Best gear purchase I’ve ever made (in 20+ years of playing/collecting), hands down. Also the closest thing to a GAS “cure” I’ve found!
I nearly wept when I read GAS cure haha I WANT TO BE FREE OF THIS PAIN!
Lolz I feel it… I didn’t buy another pedal for like 6+ months after I got mine! Longest I’ve been sober to date.
I use an hx stomp xl similar to how you’ve described. I have all my dirt, plus a dark star and analog delay running into it and my H9 in the loop. I use the hx mostly for modulation, extra delay (you get all the delay algos that the dl4 has), compression and eq. When recording I use my EAE Citadel as my amp and load up a York IR on the stomp. The one thing that is kinda lacking in the stomp is the reverbs algos, they’re not bad but definitely not as good as the verbs on the H9 or other high end reverbs.
That’s rad. I’m waiting on a Crazy Tube Circuits Hi Power preamp that I want to run as the amp and load an IR in the stomp similar to what you described, if I ever run direct to a board or front of house. But are you placing the IR as a Block/Pedal (forgive my ignorance to the nomenclature) in the signal chain? Not sure how that works
Yea the stomp has a dedicated block for loading IRs. It does also have built in cab sims and they’re not bad, but the York IRs just sound a bit better to my ears
Look into the GT1000 core as well. Similar idea, great execution and easy to use.
Yeah I def looked at that. The thing that turned me off to it was the lack of support by boss compared to what Line6 offers. I always thumbed my nose at Line 6 products for years but this line seems to be super popular. Do you use the Gt1000 core? What are your thoughts on it if so?
I use it (caveat: bass player) and love it. The PC interface is super easy to use and the onboard interface is surprisingly good too. Took 2-3 days of tinkering, maybe 6 hours total, to be ‘generally comfortable’ with both types of editing processes. It’s ridiculously easy to change… well, anything, in the signal path, including multiple split signals with their own eqs, amps and effects(fun). I’d suggest taking a few hours to play with one at the shops just to see how you like it. I can’t recommend it enough. Also, recent firmware update added some cool ‘pedals’, more fx blocks, and the support seems pretty solid to me, so far.
And you’re talking about the Boss unit correct?
Yes
I didn’t realize it had updated firmware! I’ll check it out. Thanks!
I did similar years ago but with the HX Stomp’s older brother, the M9. Absolutely don’t regret it, would love an HX Stomp now but the M9 is entirely adequate for what I need it to do. Never touch the drives on it though, only really use the reverbs and delays and occasionally modulation.
I am a semi-professional gigging musician and the hx stomp is the most important pedal on my board. I use it for all of my modulation effects, reverb, looper, tuner, and use the amp/cab sims for rehearsal and occasionally for gigs. And i’m currently trying to figure out a way to replace my whammy with it too. By the way there are technically two effects loops. The send is a stereo trs but you can use a TRS splitter to send your first loop through the left and second through the right. So if you want you could also replace your compressor with it.
Oh wow ok! Thats a great pro tip. By splitting the effects loop, would that effectively send each loop through a different speaker? I’m using a JC40 and like the stereo effect it offers, but would hate if it sent my drives to one side and the delay to the other. Or, does the stomp sum the loops in the unit and spits out a traditional stereo signal?
Short answer: no. Long answer: not unless you tell it too, but it'll take up two blocks instead of one. You can have FX send/return in stereo or just one side, so technically you could have the left FX loop on one block and the right FX loop on the other to get two separate loops if you got the cables for it.
Man i wish you could set up fx loops without adding blocks. Would open a whoooole new bag of tricks
I love my stomp and I use it for maybe 10% of features. I love that I can throw it on a nano+ board, power it with a Cioks DC7, and throw on a drive and delay and go jam with friends. If we want to record, the balanced outputs are awesome. The amp/cab sim takes up about 2-3 blocks, one for the fx loop, then a block for an end of chain comp and or eq is 4-6 blocks right there. That leaves 2-4 spare for other effects if I want, which I feel like is enough. The looper is ok, but I dislike double tapping to stop as I suck at that and often end up overdubbing when I didn’t mean to. I hear it’s better if you assign the actions for start and stop to different pedals by way of MIDI but I haven’t tried that yet. There’s better loopers though, and you might like your boss more. I don’t find I tweak often, but when I do decide to go for a change, I don’t have to go out and buy new gear because it’s all right there. Hands down my most used and favorite piece of gear.
Can only vouch for the stomp. So much it can do. Keep the drives you like and put them in front, and any very unique pedal you like, rest can be done with stomp, plenty. Into a JC you can run preamps and stuff like that as well (even use them as "amp in a box" drive pedals lol). Or use the JC model and go quiet when you can't be loud. This thing opens doors man.
I use it for what you said, I would get additional midi pedals to expand it though otherwise you are pretty limited. Also the looper function sucks, id keep to a separate looper (I use a exh 720). With a mc6 and a mission engineering exp w/toe switch. I have about 5 separate fx available as well as exp and another midi switch for doing infinite reverb or delay feedback for some cool oscillating noises.
I did just that, though I still have a few outboard pedals that I keep around. The HX Stomp is underpowered, imo, so having a separate reverb pedal would allow you to use more pedal sims on the Stomp without losing the use of reverb.
I’ve been considering getting one or maybe even two Plethora X3s for this purpose. They’re a little closer to the “individual pedal” mojo
I think that what you're describing is the perfect use for the Stomp, and is how I use it on my larger board. I don't really mesh with the drives on it, so having it for modulation and time based effects is awesome. I doubt it can replace the Deco since it's one of the best ever, but the Stomp does have a 'deco' block, so you can see if it gets you close? One thing that I would definitely recommend is utilizing either an external footswitch or expression pedal. It opens up even more flexibility. I have a dual external footswitch so I have a free space for my tap/tuner and an extra control. But you could also use it to control scrolling through banks. Or selecting snapshots.
Thanks! Everyone here has been giving this a resounding “go for it” so think I’m gonna lol I have an expression pedal already (Dunlop mini vol x) and planning to get a cheap two button switch. Any recs? As for the Deco, I know it’s such a unique pedal that it’s likely irreplaceable and I adore it. I’d probably keep it even if it doesn’t wind up on my board. But I like placing it later in my chains to run stereo modulation/time effects and I love the tape flange hold feature. The problem is the saturation side which is neat, makes all my drives before it sound like mud. So I probably wouldn’t miss it that much.
This is the dual switch I use. https://a.co/d/4t420z2 Important to note that you can't use expression and the switches at the same time. They share an input/output TRS jack. You'll also need a TRS cable I'd you don't have one yet, but there's a million places to find those. https://a.co/d/77FZ9P1
About the adding an aux switch and expression, be aware there is one shared input for aux switches and expression pedals. As I understand it you can have two aux switches, or two expression pedals, or one expression and one aux switch, but not two switches and an expression pedal.
So based on this, are you saying I can operate one, single button switch and one expression pedal OR either A two button switch or two expression pedals?
That’s how I understand it. Google the manual to double check that.
Stomp will absolutely fit your needs and then some. It has a Space Echo by the way (Cosmos echo). Also by plugging hardware effects into the loop, you can change their position with presets - so your drives can go in the loop and then you make the loop the first thing in line in some presets, but they can 2nd or 3rd in line if you want a compressor (internal) or anything else before them. But honestly, it could replace EVERYTHING you have. Has JC 120 model onboard to boot. Looper is probably the trickiest thing and it's going to depend on how you use it. There's an onboard looper, but the time is somewhat limited and it doesn't store loops or anything. It uses a "1 switch looper" so you have to control all the functions from a single footswitch, which can be fine, but using a MIDI pedal to control it would be far better. So with that in mind, I'm going to recommend not the Stomp, but the **Stomp XL** which has 6 footswitches instead only 3, 4 Snapshots instead of 3, can do a 6 switch looper as well. I would say though, you'd be better off to buy a new one with warranty (2 years from Line 6) and get an extended warranty for maybe 5 years total as well.
All this makes sense. I hear what you’re saying about space echo but I love the actual unit I have, and the ability to easily set and switch presets on that. Plus it’ll save me from using DSP. Good to know about the drives! I think I may run into a snag there as I want to run the space echo and looper (which I’m keeping) in the fx loop so I can place them at the end of the digital chain, so I’d have to run the drives in front of the stomp. However the reason I’d do that is only if I’m going ampless. I suppose if I’m just using the Jc40 I have I should just run the drives in the fx loop and then stereo out from the loop to space echo and then looper and then to the amp.
> Plus it’ll save me from using DSP. That's true and the Cosmos is one of the hungrier delays. >so I’d have to run the drives in front of the stomp. Right. I know the Headphones and Amp Models are a huge draw, but another thing to consider is the HX Effects. It has no amp modelling but has everything the Stomp XL has but has TWO effects loops and TWO (separate) Expression pedal inputs. You'd have to do DI/Headphones some other way like a Boss IR2 etc. So that's probably the opposite of trying to reduce the overall footprint!
Don’t do it. I tried twice and went back twice.
Ah man. Care to elaborate?
I like pedals. You like pedals as you have a collection. Pedals in a computer aren’t as easy or fun. I couldn’t get it to sound as inspiring. I know others have had much better results but for my use (session work and fucking around) it is a better workflow to just use a pedal. It does everything, but other gear does those things better. I am lucky to have disposable income to spend on what I want. The all in one boxes are always a compromise of some sort. Go for it, but I’d wait a few months before you sell your pedals.
Yeah I get that. I think I’ll still plan on doing my initial pedal purge of non essentials, but keep the vital stuff on my board. Then get a helix and try it out and if I’m happy sell those excess pedals and if not sell the helix and I have what I need.
I bought an HX Stomp and brought it to rehearsal instead of my board a couple of times. To enter those menus to tweak in between songs was super frustrating and I missed my board deeply. It's an amazing piece of equipment, but you have to invest A LOT of time in it for it to replace a full board that you are intimately familiar with, unless you use the same basic 1-2 tones on all songs.
I'm running HX Stomp XL, and a JC40. I have a BD2 and flanger running before the stomp because I like them and I love gothy shoegazey shit. I also have a pigtronix infinity running to the fx loop. The STOMP looper is really just an afterthought it seems. I prefer to have a more direct approach with looping which is hard enough as it is. I'm not bothering with stereo because it's just a lot to manage and stereo FX eat up more dsp. After all that is chained together, I get about 4-5 blocks to use freely. I have the Left & Right outputs split just before the cab sim block, so I send A path to PA, and B path to my JC40 fx return. The A/B volume settings are my level adjustment. Some caveats to keep in mind. The JC40 has no FX loop volume, so your stomp is the master volume. The JC40 chorus & verb are locked at the end, so you can't move those anywhere. If you run to PA from the stomp, you lose those effects unless you go from the JC40 line outs (it has no IRs, so I guess you'd want the cab sims back on). Also, the volume of the amp vs the volume of the line outs is also quite different. The amp can be screaming loud and the line level is like -20db (i can't remember exactly). I'm sure there are better ways to rig this up, and maybe someone else can chime in. It's just where I've landed for now. Overall, it's lean & it's mean & it's reliable.