Line 6 HX Effects
106
Guitarist June 2018
W
hen it comes to having
something to plug a guitar
into, the Line 6 Helix floor
processors are all that some players could
possibly need. For others, however, they
are overkill. A guitar and a Helix that’s
connected into the PA can be the sum total
of your live rig – as long as experienced
ears are taking care of the front of house
sound and your onstage monitoring – but
many players just want to use Helix for
its effects through their existing amp,
largely consigning the onboard amp and
speaker simulation to redundancy in live
performance and leaving some pondering
the need for all that extra capability and
yearning for something smaller with just
the effects. Well, if that’s you, the wait is
over. Line 6 says that this latest Helix HX
Effects is designed for the guitarist (and
bassist) who embraces traditional amp
and pedalboard rigs.
The HX Effects is an eight-footswitch
box with versatile connectivity that’s
pretty comprehensive as far as effects
are concerned. We get all 117 effects
from the Helix series as well as another
77 from previous Line 6 pedals, like the
DL4, and the ones that the HX most
resembles: the M9 and M13 stompbox
modellers. These effects are arranged
in presets, constructed from a chain of
up to nine blocks, each of which can host
an effect so, DSP permitting, you can have
up to nine effects simultaneously.
You can use the HX either in Preset
mode using footswitches, or in Stomp
mode where each footswitche engages
a particular effect just like a standard
pedalboard. Immediate switching
between Preset and Stomp modes is
accomplished with the Mode footswitch
so perhaps the most practical view of the
unit is as a collection of pedalboards that
can be called up for use in different songs.
Although you probably wouldn’t
describe the HX Effects as compact, it’s
only slightly bigger than a couple of Big
Muffs side-by-side, so it’s small enough
to fit onto a pedalboard alongside other
pedals. Of course, it’s completely feasible
to use the HX Effects in isolation but
many more options open up if you use it
alongside other pedals and, not just in-line
either, as a couple of onboard send/return
loops let you integrate external pedals
wherever you like in a HX preset signal
flow with switching from the HX. A loop
can, alternatively, allow amp connection
via the four-cable method.
Line 6 HX Effects
Line 6 puts all of its Helix effects and more in a smaller package
that could revamp, or replace, your pedalboard
Words Trevor Curwen Photography Phil Barker
PEDALBOARD
MANUFACTUR ER
LINE 6
MODEL
HX EFFECTS
PRICE
£540
CONTACT
YAMAHA UK 01908 366700 /WWW.LINE6.COM
Video demo http://bit.ly/guitaristextra
Line 6
GIT433.peds_line6_hx.indd 106 17/04/2018 13:44