Line 6 HX Effects

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W
e were blown away by
the Line 6 Helix
series when it came
out. We found
ourselves wondering
when Line 6 would follow up with
a unit for those of us that have no
need for amp modelling. The HX
represents Line 6 making that
jump, condensing the rock-solid
build, intuitive user interface and
neat form-factor of the Helix
series into a svelte multi-eff ect
box that will fi t on a Pedaltrain JR
with room to spare.
In order to save on space, the HX
doesn’t have the expression pedal
of its larger siblings, but it has
optional inputs to allow for two to
be connected. By default, the fi rst
is a wah, and the second is a
volume, but these are editable. As
on the larger units, editing is
highly intuitive. Lightly touching a
footswitch opens the edit menu
for that patch, with the large
rotary and left-right buttons used
to switch patch and parameters.
More complex functionality like
editing signal fl ow isn’t far away
from the user – a couple of clicks
through the menu gets you there,
and makes creating banks of your
own a breeze. We found that once
we’d assigned a custom bank and
signal chain, we didn’t need to
bank change often; for function or
cover band work, it’s easy to see
how the large capacity for user
banks would come into its own.
In terms of sounds, the same
high-quality eff ects from the
fl agship units are present and
correct, with a number of
additional eff ects that have been
developed in the meantime.
Perhaps in response to those pedal
nerds that have unique-sounding
boutique pedals we’d want in our
chain, Line 6 has added some
additional ‘out there’ sounds to
the HX. All of the expected
choruses, tape echo, sweep echo,
reverse delays and fi lters are
present, but there are now more
exotic sounds like the gorgeous
Particle Verb, presumably a
reference to the Red Panda Particle
granular delay and reverb. The
ability to run every eff ect in stereo
means that the combination of
delay, chorus and reverb can be
used to quickly build up radical,
atmospheric patches for use in
parts of a recording or song.
The drives on off er are excellent,
and into a small tube amp we also
found the boosts allowed us to
drive the amp into saturation, or
up the ante for soloing. With a real
drive in front, the unit was able to
keep up, and the interaction
between external drive, HX and
amp was close to indistinguishable
from stacking two real drive
pedals. The rest of your pedals,
analogue or digital, had better
watch out: the HX Eff ects might
just replace the lot.
Alex Lynham
LINE 6 HX EFFECTS
Happy with your amp but like the look of the Helix? Read on....
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TOUCH-
SENSITIVE
Editing patches is
done by lightly
touching – not
pressing down – on
patch switches
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ROTARY
Most patch
changes are easily
accessible via the
main rotary knob and
three parameter
controls
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MENU
Additional
options, such as
signal routing are
accessible via the
menu button
TYPE: Multi-effects
pedal
CONT ROLS: 8 x
footswitches, 6
assignable, 2 x sets
of menu buttons, 1 x
main rotary push
knob and 3 x
parameter knobs
SOCKETS: Stereo in/
out, 2 x send/return,
USB and MIDI in, out/
through
BYPASS: Buffered
POWER: 9V power
adaptor, supplied
CONTA CT: Yamaha
Europe 0844 811 1116
line6.com
AT A GLANCE
LINE 6 HAS ADDED ADDITIONAL
OUT-THERE SOUNDS TO THE HX
£540
FEATURES
SOUND QUALITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
BUILD QUALITY
USABILITY
OVERALL RATING
SUMMARY
Photography: Neil Godw in
REVIEW
97
JULY 2018 TOTAL GUITAR
TGR307.gear_line6.indd 97 5/23/18 12:51 PM