Line 6 Hx Stomp

I never thought I would buy one. I did, it works!
Still very new to give a decent feedback, never tested it live, but yesterday I sent 3 samples to the producer to ask him which sound he likes to work with. One- direct DI bass, and 2 with some clean, compressed sound with cab sim from HX Stomp. He got them as "sample 1,2 and 3", not knowing what's behind. His answer was : sampla 2 no way, I like 1 and 3. Sample 2 was DI, LOL. I didn't see that coming honestly, I was about to send it back when he called me.
Can't wait to test it live.
First impressions:
- It still has that digital vibe to it, a small tiny latency, but it seems it is only a matter of getting used to it, the audience is hearing a good sound.
- It is different than the analog way, what gets out is a 100% ready bass sound more like a good keyboard bass, the sound guy has very little to do with the signal.
- It is hard to get a good balanced tone out of it until you understand it better, it has a learning curve. I was about to send it back, but I gave it a last chance and downloaded a free patch from a youtuber, and that worked. First impression was "Oh, just another digital toy...", but after spending some time with it you realise you can create pretty much any sound you like. It has that PC editor, so it is really easy to tweak using my computer, you can split the signal, with a crossover, add compressor to lows distortion to highs, and at the end of the chain it has some pretty awesome amp and cab sims.
Is anyone else using one?

 

George Michael's bassist used one (XT Live), and the sound was great!
I was about to return it to the shop, but since I am tracking for a new album I recorded some tests named A B and C and sent them to the producer. A was HX to DI to interface, B was pure DI sound, C was HX to interface. I was pretty sure the producer will tell me "stop playing with toys, just send me the DI".
His answer was: I like A a lot, C is pretty much what I will do with your bass in the end but I prefer starting with A, and sample B- NO WAY, I don't want to work with that
So I kept it...

I think I have to get used to playing with the "final sound" you know what I mean? For 30 years now (OMG!!!) I am used to play with the sound that the sound engineer use to build the final sound. It is different. With this one, the sound guy will only set the gain, like a keyboard bass.
I will come back with news after first show. Not very soon unfortunately (studio time)

 

BTW, I don't think Kemper will deliver more than HX, I tested one before. Same "amp profiles". Yesterday I bought an Ampeg SVT profile (IR) from Lancaster Audio, and it is so much better than the stock ampeg sim. And if this is important, HX has 4 bass distortion (Sans Amp, B7K, Ampeg and another one), all sound pretty good. Also the Octabass clone, and at least 2 pretty good compressors.

 

After 3 more weeks, playing it feels natural. I don't feel any latency anymore, perhaps it was only in my head, or I got used to it.
This Saturday I will have my first gig using my new pedalboard made of HX Stomp, a wireless and IEM, wish me luck, you never know how it sounds live until you are there
So far I am VERY impressed.

 

- In my IEM it was heaven
- Bandmates complained it was too dark in their monitors, it was a large indoors venue, with a powerful PA, so I suppose it was the woofers acting during the soundcheck. With full house sound was OK on stage.
- Soundguy was really happy with the sound, he said he cut a bit in the 100 hz area, and that's it.
- A musician friend of mine said the higher pitch passages were not audible, but the riffs, breakdonws etc kicked ass. I asked him and sound guy: would you describe my sound as dark/ muddy?. They said it was perfect.

For the first gig with the sound created in my headphones, I think it was great. I had 3 levels of sound, I think one of them was too quiet, I also think I overcompressed a bit, but sound guy said he was OK with the compression.
My band sounds like this:

So if a digital thingie with IR's had enough power to cut through those really dense guitars, it means It is OK.
My conclusion is: I still have minor tweaks to do, but way less than expected, and the pedal worked far better than I expected at the very first gig. Considering all the things I can do to produce the sound inside the box, I can conclude it is an amazing piece of gear.
For 400-ish EUR, I have:
Sans Amp BDDI clone
B7 clone
Octabass clone
Wounded Paw Battering Ram clone
At least 3 really nice compressors, inluding a multiband compressor (I love those), and a clone taht starts with "LA"
4 ampeg amps, aguillar, GK, 2 Mesa Boogie clones. Pedal clones are identical, amps are really close.
It has some really cool cab sims, but I bought some IR-s and those are really good. Ampeg 8x10 and Orange 8x10, and also some nice cutom cabs. I piad like 30 EUR for all my IR's

A cool thing, I found Jbass and Pbass IR's, that bring a touch of those instruments in my Warwick sound. In the mix you wouldn't know it wasn't a Fender Those are especially useful for studio gigs I have occasionally.

I think it is the most useful piece of gear I've ever bought so far.
I think if you have a lot of gear, and people around you to carry it, put mics, take care of phasing, mixing, etc, you can get slighlty better results. But on a recording nobody will tell the difference, this little box fits the gigbag pocket, and I don't have to play loud on stage and I don't get microphone feedback.
Happy camper

 

Thanks buddy. That's the former bassist, I think it is a thumb bass with DI and mic, yes.
I can pretty much to this mix inside the box for live, or I can send a DI or sub line via "send". This is one of the first tests I did, I kinda overused some features, but you can hear the 8x10
It is a fretless Streamer LX.

 

I saw an interview with him, at a studio session, and he insisted on relying on technique for your sound. Today I sent another track to the studio, and this time I used the Stomp for a cab sim (IR) only. No pedal mentioned by you is capable of handling IR's, and those are becoming really really good now, at the end of the day for me this is the true benefit of using the STomp. YOu have your sound, but via an amp and cab of your choice, and those are awesome now. Some are using it at the end of the pedalboard for IR only.
@JamHandy , I don't know about the price, I find it reasonable for what you get, but it is really easy to use IF you are using it with the PC/Mac editor. You plug the Stomp with an USB to your computer, install HX Edit, and pretty much move things around and do settings like on a real pedalboard. Without HX Edit I would not use it at all, so I hear you!

 

I don't really use the amp or cab modelling inside, you can get some good sounds with some (major) tweakings, usually using dual cabs for best result. I am using IR's though, and those are really really good. Everything else I could live without. Does HX Effects support IR?

 

I was eyeballing those to use for my fretless. Are they doing the job? I bought the Jbass and Pbass Ir's from them they are really cool, hahaha!