Mini Helix - HX Stomp...

[NoirBass]

1 hour ago, Cato said:

After a a month or two of umming and ahing about whether to get the HX Effects or the Stomp and watching countless reviews/tutorials on both I've finally put my order in and, subject to the vaguaries of the delivery service, the Stomp arrives on Monday.

You will not regret it.

[walshy]

3 hours ago, Cato said:

After a a month or two of umming and ahing about whether to get the HX Effects or the Stomp and watching countless reviews/tutorials on both I've finally put my order in and, subject to the vaguaries of the delivery service, the Stomp arrives on Monday.

I shall be doing the same one some of my pedals sell! Hopefully not too long 🤤

[tonyclaret]

On 06/02/2019 at 20:59, tonyclaret said:

Hi,

Would one of these work for changing presets on the Helix Stomp? Seems like a cheap option if so.

https://www.tomtop.com/p-i3858.html?currency=GBP&Warehouse=CN&aid=gplaukyly&mid=10000018477&utm_source=SEM&utm_medium=Google+Adwords&utm_campaign=TT_PLA_YLY&utm_content=2945&gclid=CjwKCAiAqOriBRAfEiwAEb9oXesxl9U-WIY1HFNiLpXZauZRvtaBju3a5YG59vTNQmgcQIrda4tGWRoCkpIQAvD_BwE

What am I doing wrong kids? I bought the above mentioned switcher which I intended to use as fs4 and fs5.
I went in to global settings and set fs4 as preset up and fs5 as preset down. Attached with a trs cable, it goes up but it won't switch down? Am I missing a setting? Cheers in advance 😁

[OzMike]

I think there's a config option that determines whether the external connections operate as a switch or expression pedal; perhaps the second one is set to 'Expression' instead of 'Momentary' (or something similar)?

[stoo]

7 hours ago, OzMike said:

I think there's a config option that determines whether the external connections operate as a switch or expression pedal; perhaps the second one is set to 'Expression' instead of 'Momentary' (or something similar)?

Yep - it's global settings -> preferences -> EXP/FS Tip which needs to be set to FS4 instead of EXP1

[Cato]

It arrived about 2 hours ago, I thought I'd just plug it in quickly to check it was working before having a proper play with it tomorrow.

2 hours later and I'm only a fraction of the way through the presets and I've started the process of putting together my own effects chains.

I'm definitely going to have the read the online manual, (the 'cheat sheet' instructions it comes with are pretty basic) but so far, so fantastic.

Edited February 18, 2019 by Cato

[tonyclaret]

On 17/02/2019 at 20:12, stoo said:

Yep - it's global settings -> preferences -> EXP/FS Tip which needs to be set to FS4 instead of EXP1

Thank you! Doing my tree in that was. All sorted 👍

[Al Krow]

Finally(!!) managed to getting round to spending some time with my Helix Stomp yesterday.

I've got an impending sense of foreboding...for a LOT of the dedicated pedals on my board!!

Started by just mucking about with a guitar dirt (02 preset) and I thought "hmmm...this is actually pretty tasty - with a bit of tweaking, both my Aftershock and Grizzly Bass could be feeling the heat!"

Then went on to set up a 'First filter' patch. Very simple -found the (Mu)Tron sim which is available in both up and down sweep and thought I'd have a bit of fun creating an Aggie Filter twin patch. Ended up just with the up-sweep rather than both together. Well blow me! It's good - A/B'd it with the Fwonk and MXR BEF and I thought "live, this is going to get me 90%+ of the way there" i.e. very usable. For the record - I never felt that about the quality of either the drive or filter effects sims on the B3n. And these were just the first couple of dedicated effects areas I've looked at. 

Am I already thinking that this is worth the premium over the Zoom B3n (and by extension the rest of the Zoom multifx range). Too right I am!

[la bam]

It's a different class. To be honest, it's criminal they are selling these so cheap. It's worth it for ANY of the amp models alone.

[Cato]

The only disappointing thing on the Stomp is the synths. The tracking is so bad on most of them that for all intents and purposes they're completely unusable.

One of the synth effects (I forget which one) can't even be relied on to reproduce the correct note, which has the interesting but not particularly useful effect of changing everything you play into a semi random series of unrelated notes.

In every other area the effects and amp sims are absolutely first class.

Edited March 1, 2019 by Cato

[Al Krow]

10 minutes ago, Cato said:

The only disappointing thing on the Stomp is the synths. The tracking is so bad on most of them that for all intents and purposes they're completely unusable.

One of the synth effects (I forget which one) can't even be relied on to reproduce the correct note, which has the interesting but not particularly useful effect of changing everything you play into a semi random series of unrelated notes.

In every other area the effects and amp sims are absolutely first class.

That's useful to note. I'm half expecting my end-2019 board may be down to something like a Stomp + Future Impact, which would tie in with your views on the Stomp being a crap synth pedal.

That would still be a major cull! 

Edited March 1, 2019 by Al Krow

[Cato]

I did read somewhere online that the tracking issue with the synths can be improved to some extent by introducing some compression into the effects chain, but I've not tried it yet.

I sort of thought the Helix would be the last pedal I ever bought but I'm seriously considering getting something like a Future Impact. Weirdly the reverbs on the Helix, which I absolutely love,  have also got me thinking about the Strymon Big Sky as well.

[CameronJ]

I’ve been touring with nothing but my bass + Stomp for the past 8 months and not missed my pedalboard at all. I mean not even a little bit. Was at home last weekend and took the pedalboard out of storage just to have a little muck about. It genuinely felt like more hassle than it was worth. The bulk of it (and it’s “only” a Pedaltrain Metro 20) was a bit painful compared to the portability of the Stomp. Debating which pedals to sell now...

[tonyclaret]

3 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Finally(!!) managed to getting round to spending some time with my Helix Stomp yesterday.

I've got an impending sense of foreboding...for a LOT of the dedicated pedals on my board!!

Started by just mucking about with a guitar dirt (02 preset) and I thought "hmmm...this is actually pretty tasty - with a bit of tweaking, both my Aftershock and Grizzly Bass could be feeling the heat!"

Then went on to set up a 'First filter' patch. Very simple -found the (Mu)Tron sim which is available in both up and down sweep and thought I'd have a bit of fun creating an Aggie Filter twin patch. Ended up just with the up-sweep rather than both together. Well blow me! It's good - A/B'd it with the Fwonk and MXR BEF and I thought "live, this is going to get me 90%+ of the way there" i.e. very usable. For the record - I never felt that about the quality of either the drive or filter effects sims on the B3n. And these were just the first couple of dedicated effects areas I've looked at. 

Am I already thinking that this is worth the premium over the Zoom B3n (and by extension the rest of the Zoom multifx range). Too right I am!

Glad you have sussed it out, I ain't dialed any filters that work well in a live situation so far. 🤔

[stoo]

I've had my stomp for a couple of weeks now - and while it sounds great, I've been finding the three footswitch implementation a bit limiting. Even the old Zoom B3 managed to let you use the same 3 switches for stomp on/off, patch selection and tuner access...

So I raided the spare parts drawer and knocked up a double footswitch to let me cycle through stomp/scroll/preset/snapshot modes on one switch, and tap/tuner on the other. It works OK, and it at least made controlling the thing from my feet just about viable, if still a fairly clumsy affair.

And then I kept noticing mentions of the Morningstar MC6.... looks like a great bit of kit, but I couldn't justify the price - especially as once I've got more used to the Stomp and got sounds and settings dialled in, I may well be happy with just using the stomp on its own or with the double footswitch..... So back to the spare parts drawer it is then..... A bit of 3d printing, soldering, crimping and (quite a lot of) swearing later, I present the Afternooningstoo MC8 !

OK, so it's a bit rough and ready compared to the real one, but it works, it's got even more buttons, and I think it only owes me about £30 in parts total.... and the only thing I had to buy in specially was the MIDI socket!

[CameronJ]

25 minutes ago, stoo said:

I've had my stomp for a couple of weeks now - and while it sounds great, I've been finding the three footswitch implementation a bit limiting. Even the old Zoom B3 managed to let you use the same 3 switches for stomp on/off, patch selection and tuner access...

So I raided the spare parts drawer and knocked up a double footswitch to let me cycle through stomp/scroll/preset/snapshot modes on one switch, and tap/tuner on the other. It works OK, and it at least made controlling the thing from my feet just about viable, if still a fairly clumsy affair.

And then I kept noticing mentions of the Morningstar MC6.... looks like a great bit of kit, but I couldn't justify the price - especially as once I've got more used to the Stomp and got sounds and settings dialled in, I may well be happy with just using the stomp on its own or with the double footswitch..... So back to the spare parts drawer it is then..... A bit of 3d printing, soldering, crimping and (quite a lot of) swearing later, I present the Afternooningstoo MC8 !

OK, so it's a bit rough and ready compared to the real one, but it works, it's got even more buttons, and I think it only owes me about £30 in parts total.... and the only thing I had to buy in specially was the MIDI socket!

Bloody hell. I think I speak for a few people when I say you might have a market in building and selling more of these footswitch controllers in various configurations. Good work sir!

[mingsta]

I've been downloading Jon Willis's patches off his Facebook group, the man is something of a wizard and a heaven send to lazy gits like me. 

He's done a few synth patches and they all tracked great. I thought it was only analogue pedals that have tracking issues, you shouldn't have any issues with digital like the stomp, right?!? 

 

[LukeFRC]

8 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Finally(!!) managed to getting round to spending some time with my Helix Stomp yesterday.

I've got an impending sense of foreboding...for a LOT of the dedicated pedals on my board!!

Started by just mucking about with a guitar dirt (02 preset) and I thought "hmmm...this is actually pretty tasty - with a bit of tweaking, both my Aftershock and Grizzly Bass could be feeling the heat!"

Then went on to set up a 'First filter' patch. Very simple -found the (Mu)Tron sim which is available in both up and down sweep and thought I'd have a bit of fun creating an Aggie Filter twin patch. Ended up just with the up-sweep rather than both together. Well blow me! It's good - A/B'd it with the Fwonk and MXR BEF and I thought "live, this is going to get me 90%+ of the way there" i.e. very usable. For the record - I never felt that about the quality of either the drive or filter effects sims on the B3n. And these were just the first couple of dedicated effects areas I've looked at. 

Am I already thinking that this is worth the premium over the Zoom B3n (and by extension the rest of the Zoom multifx range). Too right I am!

I have a Zoom B3n 
I typically don't use much in the way of effects. But do use compression and the amp and cab sims.
My only gripe about the B3n is how difficult I find it to set everything for unity gain in my patches. (Mind you I probably end up adding way more than I need to patches 'just in case' so it's not like it's a 3 block patch) 

(Why don't more of these boxes have some kind of visual signal monitoring like a digital desk?)

Based on that kinda use... worth the extra you think? 

 

[Al Krow]

2 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

I have a Zoom B3n 
I typically don't use much in the way of effects. But do use compression and the amp and cab sims.
My only gripe about the B3n is how difficult I find it to set everything for unity gain in my patches. (Mind you I probably end up adding way more than I need to patches 'just in case' so it's not like it's a 3 block patch) 

(Why don't more of these boxes have some kind of visual signal monitoring like a digital desk?)

Based on that kinda use... worth the extra you think? 

Hey Luke - I'm not a massive amp and cab sim user (yet!) so my first reaction would have been "probably not, stick with the B3n".

However, coincidentally in response to my post earlier today @la bam said:

8 hours ago, la bam said:

It's a different class. To be honest, it's criminal they are selling these so cheap. It's worth it for ANY of the amp models alone.

Which is obviously very relevant to you.

My gut sense is that just in the same way folk have found an improvement in the B3n over the B3 due to a newer chip set and greater processing power, that same point but with an even bigger step up would appear to be present from the B3n to the Stomp. And it's this greater processing power which is underpinning the greater realism and quality of the effect sims in the Stomp. 

 

[CameronJ]

8 hours ago, la bam said:

It's a different class. To be honest, it's criminal they are selling these so cheap. It's worth it for ANY of the amp models alone.

This. The quality of the sims coupled with the routing flexibility (split paths etc) make this thing such a powerhouse of tonal flavours.

[la bam]

The routing is an absolute gem of an idea.

I said a few years ago - what's the point of modelling a svt and 8x10 cab, then putting it through say my 6x10 then through the pa?

The helix allows me to have 2 simultaneous outputs and options - 1 sends a modelled svt and modelled 8x10 cab with a modelled mic to foh pa, the other sends just the svt to my actual cab.

Magic.

[walshy]

So close to pulling the trigger today! I’m still tempted with this fella to replace my main pedal board, just wondering who uses live with a bass rig? I run Cali 76 compressor, Tech 21 drive, full tone bass drive as my main run ( Buffer at the front of the loop and an Emma Discombobulator too ) all through a Barefaced 610 and a DB751.

Hmmm

[Al Krow]

8 minutes ago, walshy said:

So close to pulling the trigger today! I’m still tempted with this fella to replace my main pedal board, just wondering who uses live with a bass rig? I run Cali 76 compressor, Tech 21 drive, full tone bass drive as my main run ( Buffer at the front of the loop and an Emma Discombobulator too ) all through a Barefaced 610 and a DB751.

Hmmm

Ah, you just bought the DB 751 in the FS? How are you finding it and what did you have before?

Half of me is very jealous: my ears hate you; my back informs me it doesn't  

[CameronJ]

9 minutes ago, walshy said:

So close to pulling the trigger today! I’m still tempted with this fella to replace my main pedal board, just wondering who uses live with a bass rig? I run Cali 76 compressor, Tech 21 drive, full tone bass drive as my main run ( Buffer at the front of the loop and an Emma Discombobulator too ) all through a Barefaced 610 and a DB751.

Hmmm

A Stomp will replace all of that with ease - and more. I’m doing a mental inventory of which pedals to sell at the moment. Other than my analogue octavers, almost everything else is on the chopping block.

[walshy]

17 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Ah, you just bought the DB 751 in the FS? How are you finding it and what did you have before?

Half of me is very jealous: my ears hate you; my back informs me it doesn't  

No I’ve had the 751 for a while now, it’s unbelievable and worth the extra weight, I think the Barefaced cab balances it out 😂 The sound is amazing. That’s why I’m wondering if I ‘need’ the helix? 

 

17 minutes ago, CameronJ said:

A Stomp will replace all of that with ease - and more. I’m doing a mental inventory of which pedals to sell at the moment. Other than my analogue octavers, almost everything else is on the chopping block.

Ah really? I’m mighty close to buying 🤔