I used the HX Stomp on Bass for a Year: An Honest Review
I used the HX Stomp XL in my bass signal chain for a year. Here are my honest observations…
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#Stomp #Bass #Year #Honest #Review
Originally posted by UCfRlprx-BEhwuVTWlHVyN6A at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW1tsy1HDLA
The first legit multi effects I owned was the Lexicon MPX G2 from the late 90s. It sounds fantastic and the R1 pedal was really well integrated, it was just a bear to program and doesn't really have spillover. I've had a Stomp for about year now and it's working out really well. In conjunction with an H90, I've got all bass stuff I do covered, from meat and potatoes playing to far out soundscapes (playing in a Grateful Dead tribute band allows for a lot of freedom). My other secret weapon is the Osiris Philter.
If you were to pair this with a monitor for a minimalist/practice speaker rig, what powered speaker would you go with? I'm on the fence about a QSC CP12 with it for that ultra mini rig/straight into the pa gig/practice situation.
Great for portability and as a back up rig but as a digital environment I prefer the Source Audio pedals. To me the tone and stacking possibilities are limitless with the app and I actually prefer the sounds. Of course you still need a board but with 5 SA pedals and my Ampeg preamp it’s easily put on a board I can take on a plane. I actually have the smaller Line 6 Stomp though as a backup rig and it’s hard to beat for that purpose.
What preset are you using on Ohio?
I tried the stomp but found the Source Audio environment better for me. It’s far more tweakable and reliable which as a pro player gives me the option for creating truly unique and sonicly more complex dialed in sounds, especially for synth and filter sounds. Yes you need more pedals. So the stomp gives you a bit more versatility in that sense. But as a tone chaser for pro applications of almost 50 years now the SA environment is my digital choice with the Neuro App and a midi controller for endless sonic options and hundreds of stored custom presets. I also found the stomp can freeze up and that’s no bueno.
Thank you. Bassist, gig every weekend and debating getting one of these instead of a new amp setup. The convenience for the price, saving room in the van, plus all the guitar stuff for fun seems worth it. My only debate is if it’s going to sound good when I go direct to the board running my own sound and I don’t have a sub setup. I may need to buy a few more things with it ????
Freaking hipsters, man. I hate them.
You asked whether bass players are using the stomp very much. I think they very much are around here.
I play in Nashville, and we all have to get set up and then packed up very quickly. We all use the same gear: either an amp we plug into, or going direct. Tons of bassists here have the HX stomp because it checks off every box. It's all-in-one so it's fast and easy to set up or pack up; it's versatile enough to go into either an amp or a DI, and it has all the basic sounds we need. You can nitpick and gripe about modelers vs dedicated pedals, but getting 95% of the way there is perfectly fine for playing live shows. On top of that, it's a hell of a value. It's not like everybody has one, but they're pretty common.
I ended up picking up a used Hotone Ampero stomp. People say the learning curve is way easier, and the amp sims are actually pretty comparable to the Helix, and the presets are actually better. I also am learning guitar, and had the same thought about not wanting to buy tube amp and all the "real" guitar gear. Haven't got it yet, so we'll see how it goes. I just don't have the patience to mess with gear beyond a certain point, I just want to play at the end of the day.
“Did I make a mistake getting this for free” ????
You covered my mindset perfectly when it comes to multi-fx units. I have tried them in the past and have never been impressed with the presets; however, I have heard great sounds coming from the Stomp by other bassists. I like pedals that do one thing well, which has worked for me. Also, if I need to make a change, I want to be able to see my pedal, know what is going on, and make adjustments on the fly. Dealing with menus turns me off so much. I am sure if I spend a lot of time with the stomp, I will get cool sounds from the unit, but my current setup is still working well for me, and I don't feel the need to change it up.
I had used a friends Helix Native VST for recording some ideas. I was so enthralled with how easy I could make great guitar tones, and how easily I could make awful tones. Which just showed me the flexibility of it. I also have a very old school, plug and play style. 1Bridge passive pickup – tuner – EQ – AMP – CAB – DELAY. EQ and DELAY is only for leads and solos. However the Native style of block effects allows me to really be creative and have a lot of room for tone changes even with just IRs and AMP tweaking. Graet product, great video.
Bass in Space!
The musical and rhythmic collaboration of Guthrie's; P. Conrad & Rhett Shull is always top-tier.
I’m six months late but I’d say that in a weird way the stomp completely kills my GAS. I do pair it up with some of my favorite analog drive pedals, and a ce-1 clone. Aside from that, it just has all the effects and amps in the world. I used to hate that because I have option paralysis. But every time I see something new being released, I just come to terms with the fact that I already have it in some way or another. Lol.
Thanks for this, I got mine arriving tomorrow and my brain sounds like it works the same as yours, also your intro music was so nice! You got a new Bass sub here ????????????
I think your servant take is lame. Either everyone is serving the song or no one is. The vintage hipster thing is in style for a while longer but hopefully we will turn back to young players continuing to innovate the instrument
At this price point it should absolutely have an xlr output. Passing on this model.
Great video! Got Helix Floor in 2017, used that until Stomp came out. Used HX Stomp for years until XL came out. Sold the stomp to my guitarist, now that’s his rig (controlled via MIDI), and I use the XL with only the Digitech Bass Synth Wah as an additional pedal in the loop (gets that “Pony” sound really well – if we didn’t play that song, I’d just use the HX Stomp XL). I use a combo DI/amp-cab blended rig in the Stomp and love my direct tone so much I don’t even consider bothering with amps anymore, though obviously I still love them.
$600 for a pedal is too rich for my blood.
the cost for the amount of sound is insane. i love the Stomp!
I'm graduating from the HX Effects to the Stomp XL soon. I'm a bassist and started with a very analogue purist mindset but I'm beyond that. I don't find the architecture that intimidating – excepting the whole mic placement thing. I don't use the pre-loaded presets, only use my own.
The Zoom B6 is the better value in my op.
I currently don’t own a computer that works with HX Edit. That’s really the only reason that I don’t have an HX Stomp.
Excellent review of the HX Stomp, you nailed all the questions I had , and I'm getting it for the same reasons you mentioned. Thx
@philipconradmusic how does the HX’s B-15 model compare to the real deal? Which effect (HX, Capo, Ampeg, Origin 64, etc) does the best B-15 tone? Love your videos!
Lol. Yea guitar is the dark side, bass is the light.
I have tried Stomp, Did not like – but that is me, not the Stomp. I just cant be arsed with this level of complexity; I use TC electronic Plethora. There are no distortion effects on Plethora but there is a huge number of compressors, octavers, choruses, pitch shifters, reverbs and delays. This is to me a more accessible product. No hate on stomp. I just like my things simple.
Recently considering the Stomp and even the POD Express as an option to a noisy pedalboard while giving me lots of options. What is your take on the noise level and using the nee POD Express for recording? -Thank you for all you do!
I’ve had a similar path, but I went H90 instead of a STOMP- Starting to really like this Eventide
I bought one of IMA's preset packs for the same reason: IMA is Fabulous, Seeing how he set up his presets helped me tremendously as I continue to learn programming for my own sounds
I got the helix initially as a guitar player doing musical theater and teaching, so I need a lot of sounds, flexible I/O, and reliability, so for me using it for bass as well just makes sense. For bass I just keep it on an SVT with a little compression and EQ and just kinda "set it and forget it."
Lewis Points
I recently migrated to digital and I've been wondering the same thing. I guess in general bass players use less pedals and we don't want to go through the hassle of learning computer programming to use a digital equivalent ????. Also I feel like it's a bit of overkill every time I sit to configure the patches or…. I'm just a boomer
I play bass for one year after a twelve years brake. During these years I played guitar a lot and I tried a lot of guitar pedals and multi-effects. When l had the opportunity to play bass in a band last year, I sold all my guitar pedals and multi-effects and bought a HX Stomp (the small one) I wanted something good for bass and guitar. I use it for quite one year now, plugged in a DI box with the band or plugged in my computer at home for both guitar and bass. I just add a midi footswitch from ampero to get more switches. It's a really great tool with great sound (for my needs) and as we are playing rock/pop covers the presets are really useful to switch from one song to another. I actually use 3-4 presets for a 15 songs set. But now I need an amp to play in little bars, clubs (I saw your great video about bass amps rigs ????).
Great video dude! I have owned a stomp for 5 or 6 years now and have rarely used it for bass. My filter pedal just died so I threw it on my board for a rehearsal and ended up using it for a few different effects that night. I will probably need to sit down with it for a few days and do a deep dive so I understand how to use it best for my situation.
I will not use the HX Stomp for bass until I can get a meter for the compressor.
I had an hx stomp xl…didn't find myself in it mostly because I didn't know how to approach it. Wound up buying both Bassrigs from Origin Effects (LOVE THEM), but I am back to considering a DSP setup as well and for the price, the HX stomp XL is the best value in gear. Looks like I am heading over to reverb.