At its core, the Line 6 HX Effects Pedal uses the advanced Helix sound engine and is designed for guitarists who already have amp(s) and don't need amp modeling. The HX Effects Pedal has eight footswitches that use the same LED backed capacitive-touch sensitive switches found on many of the current Line 6 products. The footswitches are bright and easy to see in any lighting condition. The rear panel has two pairs of send and return jacks, two pedal Pedal/Ext jacks (for external amp control), MIDI In/Out/Thru jacks, a USB jack, power on/off and stereo input and output jacks.
The HX Effects pedal uses the Helix' mono and stereo effects and impulse response loading blocks plus the loop interface. You also get dozens of effects from Line 6 legacy effect processors. The patches are organized into: distortion, dynamics EQ, modulation, delay and reverb categories plus you get a variety of pitch, synth, filter and wah pedal effects.
HX Effects can be used as a studio effects processor or as a multi-effects stomp box. You can rename the patches you use most frequently and engaging an expression pedal allows for "hands-free" editing.
Just scroll through the various banks to get started or select and assign patches that fit your music and the way you play. The effects must be selected, assigned, and edited via a central control knob; reorganizing the order of patches made for easier on-stage usage.
You may also edit and create your own patches via the logically laid-out sub-menus or just connect HX Effects to your computer via USB and use the included HX Edit software to edit, load and save presets as well as edit and load impulse responses.
Bottom line, the HX Effects is a great sounding, flexible guitar effects processor suitable for studio or stage. It sells for $599.99 MAP.
Barry Rudolph is a recording engineer/mixer who has worked on over 30 gold and platinum records. He has recorded and/or mixed Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hall & Oates, Pat Benatar, Rod Stewart, the Corrs and more. Barry has his own futuristic music mixing facility and loves teaching audio engineering at Musician’s Institute, Hollywood, CA. He is a lifetime Grammy-voting member of NARAS and a contributing editor for Mix Magazine. barryrudolph.com
