The Line 6 Helix HX Stomp is the smallest in the range is incredibly powerful for what it is. It has 300+ effects and amp and cab models to give you a rig in a tiny pedal format. The difference between the Line 6 Helix HX Stomp and the HX Multi Effects is that the Stomp has got amp and cab modelling which means you plug it directly into an interface or PA system and get great guitar amp sounds whereas the HX Multi Effects has tons of effects to go on your board and replace your pedals or serve as a utility pedal.
The HX Stomp has the same HX modelling technology as the main Line 6 Helix! It runs 6 processing blocks at one time (so you can run a few effects in the chain as well as amp modelling) but on the Helix you can run 12. So you’d need to decide which is best for your needs. This pedal is most certainly a gamechanger as it can sit on the end of your pedalboard and serve as amps and effects OR it can be your whole rig in one box.
Here are some key features:
- Utilizes the same HX Modelling as Helix
- Over 300 effects and models from Helix, M-Series, and legacy Line 6 products
- Up to 6 simultaneous amp, cab, and effect blocks (including a looper and IR loading)
- 3 capacitive-sensing footswitches with colour-coded LED rings facilitate fast editing
- TRS dual expression pedal/footswitch input extends creative control capabilities
- Stereo inputs & outputs
- Stereo effects loop (mono/stereo TRS send + stereo returns)
- MIDI compatible
- USB Connectivity
What About the Line 6 HX Multi Effects?
The Line 6 HX Multi-Effects unit was released to give users the ability to get all of the effects of the Line 6 Helix without any of the amp modelling or cab emulation functionality. The HX Multi FX can be used as your standalone pedalboard or easily integrated into a pedalboard setup to give you access to pretty much any effect that you can think of.
You can run up to 9 effects at once in a number of different ways. The drives will stack beautifully with each other or with your already driven amp. Normally analogue effects are very difficult for digital processors to replicate however digital processing has come a long way since inception and the powerful DSP chip in the Line 6 HX is now able to replicate the dynamics you’d expect from an analogue pedal.
It’s worth mentioning that one of the hailed features of the Line 6 Helix was the quality of the effects and having these all available in a single unit was something that Line 6 fans and users have been calling for since the Helix was released.
It’s also got the ability to host 4 different ‘Snapshots’. These Snapshots are essentially different settings for your pedals that you have loaded up and a Snapshot can allow you to hit a single button and change the settings on all 9 pedals at once – if needed.