2.50 OWNER’S MANUAL 40-00-0399 - A (For use with HX Effects Firmware 2.50) 0•1 ©2018 Line 6, Inc.
Contents Snapshots 25 Global Settings 38 Using Snapshots 25 Setting Proper Levels 38 Welcome 4 Swapping Snapshots 26 Global Settings > Ins/Outs 39 Common Terminology Updating your HX Effects Device's Firmware Top Panel Copying/Pasting a Snapshot 4 4 5 Renaming a Snapshot 26 26 Saving Snapshots Determining Snapshot Edit Behavior 27 27 Global Settings > Preferences Global Settings > Switches Global Settings > Pedals Global Settings > MIDI/Tempo 38 39 40 40 41 7 Signal
©2018 Line 6, Inc. All rights reserved. Please Note: Line 6, Helix, M13, M9, and M5 are trademarks of Line 6, Inc. registered in the U.S. and other countries. HX Effects, DT25, DT50, DL4, DM4, MM4 and FM4, are trademarks of Line 6, Inc. Apple, Mac, iPad and iPhone are trademarks of Apple, Inc. registered in the U.S. and other countries. Apple is not responsible for the operation of this device or its compliance with safety and regulatory standards.
Welcome Block Blocks are objects that represent various elements of your tone, such as individual effects, volume pedals, loopers, signal splits and merges, and Impulse Responses. Each preset can run up to nine simultaneous blocks, DSP permitting. Model Each processing block can accommodate one model.
Top Panel 1 2 SAVE 6 ACTION 4 3 1 2 3 5 7 EFFECTS MODE EDIT / EXIT 8 10 9 TAP TUNER 8 11 9 5
1. SAVE Press this button to open the Save menu for renaming and saving chang- 9. Footswitches 1-6 These capacitive, touch-sensitive footswitches have col- es to a preset. Press twice to quick save. See "Saving/Naming a Preset" 2. 3. ored LED rings that tell you the current state of the effect or item. While in Stomp mode, briefly touch (but don't press) a footswitch to quickly select the assigned effect. Touch the switch repeatedly to cycle through multiple assigned items.
Rear Panel PEDAL /EXT AMP SEND 1 19 RETURN -1- L/MONO 2 INPUT RIGHT OUTPUT L/MONO RIGHT IN MIDI OUT/THRU USB -2- 12 13 14 15 12. PEDAL/EXT AMP 1-2 Two expression pedals can be connected to the HX 16 DC IN POWER 20 17 18 16. MIDI IN, OUT/THRU Connect the HX Effects hardware to your MIDI gear for Effects device and assigned to adjust a wide variety of parameters.
Quick Start HX Effects in your Amp's Effects Loop (Post Effects) Some guitarists prefer to place time-based effects such as delay and reverb (sometimes called "post" effects) between the preamp and power amp sections of their amp. If your amp has an effects loop, the HX Effects device can accommodate these setups with ease, with or without additional pedals (such as overdrive, fuzz, and compression) before the amp.
4-Cable Method Expression Pedals and/or External Amp Control Of course, the most flexible way to hook things up is with some effects (typically drives, wahs, and compressors) before your amp's preamp and others (the aforementioned delays and reverbs) in its effects loop. This is commonly called 4-Cable Method and, fortunately, your HX Effects device can do this too.
Stomp Mode Bypassing an Effect Stomp mode is where you'll spend most of your time, as it most closely resembles the feel and behavior of a traditional pedalboard. Press the assigned switch.
Choosing an Effect Editing Effects To change an existing effect, briefly touch its footswitch and then turn the Big Knob. 1. To select an effect for editing, briefly touch its footswitch. The first three parameters appear and the scribble strip displays white brackets, indicating its parameters are controlled by the knobs: To add an effect to an empty footswitch, briefly touch the switch and then turn the Big Knob.
2. Press the switch of the effect you want to edit. TIP: Touch a stomp switch for one second to spill all parameters across multiple scribble strip LCDs to view them more easily: 750ms 50% A Major 50% 0.0dB +2 Time Feedbk Key Scale Mix Level V1Shft 10.0 Right50 33% 66% 10.0 Center +4 V2Shft V2 Lvl V2 Pan V1 Scal V2 Scal Root 10.
Swapping Footswitches Customizing a Footswitch If you want to change the location of Stomp mode footswitches, you can quickly swap two footswitches. If you want to customize the text label displayed on a scribble strip, or change the footswitch's LED color, follow these steps. 1. Touch the stomp switch you want to customize and press ACTION. IMPORTANT! Swapping footswitch locations does not affect the actual order of effects.
Preset Mode Saving/Naming a Preset Adding and editing effects is all well and good, but at that point, why not just get a bunch of separate pedals? One of the main advantages of boxes like the HX Effects unit is the ability to store many different "pedalboards"—each with potentially different effects, configurations, and settings—and recall them all with a single footswitch press. These pedalboards are saved as presets. SHORTCUT: To quickly save any changes to the current preset, just press SAVE twice.
TAP Tempo 2. Pluck an individual string on your guitar. When a box left of center is lit, your string is flat. When a box right of center is lit, your string is sharp. When the center box on the lower row is lit, the top row of smaller bars can be used for more precision. When both arrows are illuminated, your string is perfectly in tune. Press TAP/TUNER repeatedly to set the tempo in BPM (Beats Per Minute).
Effects Distortion Models The HX Effects device includes all the effects of the Line 6 award-winning Helix guitar processors. These are found in the Mono and Stereo subcategories in the model list. In addition, the HX Effects unit includes selected effects from the classic DL4, DM4, MM4, and FM4 stompboxes as well as M13, M9, and M5 processors; these appear in the Legacy subcategory. Some Legacy models process the signal in mono, and others in stereo.
Dynamics Models Modulation Models Model Subcategories Based On* Model Subcategories Based On* Hard Gate Mono, Stereo Line 6 Original Harmonic Flngr Mono, Stereo A/DA Flanger Autoswell Mono, Stereo Line 6 Original Courtesan Flngr Mono, Stereo Electro-Harmonix® Deluxe EM Tube Comp Legacy Teletronix® LA-2A® Dynamix Flngr Mono, Stereo Line 6 Original Red Comp Legacy MXR® Dyna Comp Chorus Mono, Stereo Line 6 Original Blue Comp Legacy BOSS CS-1 70s Chorus Mono, Stereo BOSS® CE
Modulation Models Delay Models Model Subcategories Based On* Model Subcategories Based On* Jet Flanger Legacy A/DA Flanger Elephant Man Mono, Stereo Electro-Harmonix® Deluxe Memory Man AC Flanger Legacy MXR® Flanger Multi Pass Mono, Stereo Line 6 Original 80A Flanger Legacy A/DA Flanger Ping Pong Legacy Line 6 Original Freq Shift Legacy Line 6 Original Dynamic Legacy TC Electronic® 2290 Ring Modulator Legacy Line 6 Original Stereo Legacy Line 6 Original Rotary Drum Leg
Reverb Models Filter Models Model Subcategory Based On* Model Subcategories Based On* Hall Legacy Line 6 Original Mutant Filter Mono, Stereo Musitronics® Mu-Tron® III Echo Legacy Line 6 Original Mystery Filter Mono, Stereo Korg® A3 Tile Legacy Line 6 Original Autofilter Mono, Stereo Line 6 Original Cave Legacy Line 6 Original Voice Box Legacy Line 6 Original Ducking Legacy Line 6 Original Octo V Tron Legacy Musitronics® Mu-Tron® III Legacy Line 6 Original '63 Spring
Volume/Pan Models Model Subcategories Based On* Volume Pedal Mono, Stereo Line 6 Original Gain Mono, Stereo Line 6 Original Pan Stereo Line 6 Original Stereo Width Stereo Line 6 Original Common FX Settings Parameter Description Drive Adjusts the amount of overdrive, distortion, or fuzz. Bass Adjusts the bass level. Mid Adjusts the midrange level. Treble Adjusts the treble level. Speed Adjusts the speed of the effect, with higher settings providing faster rates.
Impulse Response (IR) IMPORTANT! IR blocks within the HX Effects device's signal flow reference an IR by its index number (1-128), not the actual IR file. For example, if you happen to replace or delete "IR 12" from the HX Edit application, it will affect any presets containing IR blocks with "IR 12" selected.
Looper Send Settings Knob Parameter Description 1 Send Adjusts the level sent to your external devices. 2 Dry Thr Adjusts the level of the signal passed through the Send block, independent of the Knob 1 (Send) level. Normally, this should be set to 0.0dB. The HX Effects device can add one mono or stereo Looper block per preset. The Looper can exist anywhere on either Path 1 or Path 2.
Switch Description Step on to start recording a loop. Step on to end the loop and immediately start playback. Step on to overdub additional parts. Step on again to stop playback. If you make a mistake on your last overdub, step on UNDO to erase it. Step on to play the recorded loop once through. Recording at full speed and then switching to 1/2 speed will also drop the loop down one octave.
U.S. Registered Trademarks * All product names used within this owner's manual are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development. Arbiter is a registered trademark of Sound City Amplification LLC. Maestro is a registered trademark of Gibson Guitar Corp.
Snapshots Depending on how you set them up, snapshots can act as four variations of the same tone, four drastically different tones, or any combination thereof—all within the same preset. In many cases, a single preset's snapshots may accommodate all the various tones required for a song. In Preset mode, the current preset's scribble strip displays a small camera icon. Its number indicates the current snapshot. Using Snapshots 1.
Swapping Snapshots SHORTCUT: Hold ACTION and press a parameter knob to quickly remove any controller assignment (including the Snapshots controller). The small value nodes disappear, indicating no controller is assigned to it. 1. Touch (but don't press) the two snapshot switches you want to swap until the following dialog appears: NOTE: You can also manually assign the Snapshots controller (see "Assigning a Controller").
Tips for Creative Snapshot Use Press the DELETE switch to delete the selected character and shift all following characters to the left. • Delete all characters to remove the custom label, after which the footswitch label displays its normal assignment. 3. Turn Knob 3 (Switch Color) to select the desired color for the footswitch's LED ring (or turn it off). • 4. When finished, press the OK switch. • Saving Snapshots • • Normally, you should leave this set to "Auto Color.
Signal Flow Up to nine simultaneous effects are represented by blocks spanning the bottom three screens. The currently selected block's model name appears at Footswitch 3. To select a block, turn the Big Knob. Although most users should expect to spend the vast majority of their time in Stomp and Preset modes, the Signal Flow menu is where you reorder effects (independent of footswitch location), assign multiple effects to the same switch, and create parallel routings.
Bypassing Blocks in Signal Flow View 2. Touch Footswitch 3 and turn Knobs 1-3. While adjusting parameters, the values briefly appear on the scribble strip: A Stomp mode footswitch is the most obvious method for turning an effect block on and off, but the HX Effects device can also engage or bypass a block automatically when moving an expression pedal.
A couple advantages of parallel routing: EXP 1, EXP 2 Moving the expression pedal automatically enables (or bypasses) the block. • Selecting EXP 1 or 2 displays Knob 1 (Position) and Knob 2 (Wait) on the second page. Position determines where in the expression pedal's travel the block is enabled or bypassed. 0% is heel down; 99% is toe down.
Configuring Split Block Options Split > Crossover Settings It is possible to customize the options for a Split block to determine how your signal is fed into Paths A and B. Knob Treble frequencies are sent to Path A and bass frequencies are sent to Path B. TIP: Remember that both Paths A and B are stereo signal paths, therefore, the same routing and block principles still apply to each Path - see "Block Order and Stereo Imaging" on page 32. 1.
• The stereo version of an effects block will use roughly twice as much DSP as a mono version of the same block. Therefore, there is no sense to adding a stereo block before an IR or other mono type block (since the signal will be summed to mono anyway - see "Block Order and Stereo Imaging"). • • Some model categories have “Simple” blocks, which utilize less DSP than others.
Controller Assign NOTE: To manually access the Controller Assign menu, press the CONTROLLER ASSIGN switch. 2. Press the LEARN switch. The HX Effects device provides a wide variety of tools for controlling your tone during a performance.
Tips for Creative Controller Assignment 4. If desired, press and turn Knob 1 (Min Value) and Knob 2 (Max Value) to set the range you wish to control. • TIP: To reverse controller behavior, swap the min and max values. 5. Press • to return to the Home screen. • SHORTCUT: To assign a parameter to the Snapshots controller, it's even easier—just push and turn the parameter's knob. The value bar displays small value pixels, indicating it's now assigned to a controller.
Command Center 3. Turn the Big Knob to select the command source (Instant 1-6, Footswitch 1-6, or EXP Pedal 1-2). The source name appears at Footswitch 3. 4. Turn Knob 1 (Command) to select the type of command you wish to transmit. The HX Effects device also just so happens to be a world-class master remote control for your entire pedalboard or live rig.
Bank/PC (Program Change) Page Knob Parameter 1 2 Ext Amp Description 2 MIDI Ch Sets the Bank/Program message's MIDI channel (116). When set to "Base," the HX Effects device follows the Global MIDI channel, which is set from the "Global Settings > MIDI/Tempo" page. 3 CC00 Sets the CC#00 (Bank MSB) value. Select "Off" if the receiving device shouldn't respond to Bank MSB. 1 CC32 Sets the CC#32 (Bank LSB) value. Select "Off" if the receiving device shouldn't respond to Bank LSB.
Copying and Pasting a Command Clearing All Commands 1. Turn the Big Knob to select the source containing the command you wish to copy and press ACTION. 1. From the Command Center page, press ACTION. 2. Press the CLEAR ALL COMMANDS switch. 2. Press the COPY COMMAND switch. The following dialog appears: 3. Select the destination to which you want to paste the command—even in a different preset—and press ACTION. Clear all Command Center assignments? CANCEL OK 4. Press the PASTE COMMAND switch.
Global Settings 2. Using Knobs 1-3, set levels according to the following table: Jack Guitar or bass with passive pickups INPUT Guitar or bass with really loud or L/MONO, active pickups RIGHT Keyboard, synth, or drum machine The Global Settings menu contains additional parameters that apply to all presets, such as input and output levels, footswitch configurations, etc. 1. Press to open the Menu.
Global Settings > Ins/Outs Page Knob Parameter 1 2 Description 1 Input Level Choose "Inst[rument]" when connecting a guitar, bass, or stompboxes to the HX Effects device's input jack(s); choose "Line" when connecting synths, drum machines, the sends from mixers, or other line-level sources. If your guitar or bass has really loud active pickups, try both "Inst[rument]" and "Line" and trust your ears.
Global Settings > Switches Page Knob Parameter 1 Description 1 Stomp Select When set to "Touch," touching a Stomp mode switch selects its assigned item(s) but pressing doesn't. When set to "Press," pressing a Stomp mode switch selects its assigned item(s) but touching doesn't (helpful if you insist on playing barefoot). When set to "Both", either touching or pressing will select the assigned item. 2 Stomp Mode By default, Stomp footswitch mode displays 6 stomps.
Global Settings > MIDI/Tempo Page Knob Parameter 1 2 3 Description 1 MIDI Base Ch Sets the system base MIDI channel that the HX Effects hardware uses for both receiving and sending MIDI communication via MIDI and USB. Note that MIDI messages assigned from the Command Center page can be set to any MIDI channel. 2 MIDI Thru When on, MIDI OUT also acts as a MIDI THRU; that is, it passes through any MIDI messages received at the MIDI IN jack.
MIDI The HX Effects device receives and transmits MIDI messages via its 5-pin MIDI In & Out connectors, as well as via USB, providing functionality with just about any MIDI hardware or software gear you may want to use with it. USB MIDI operation is functional with Mac & Windows computers, as well as with iPad or iPhone mobile devices.* Also see "Global Settings > MIDI/Tempo" for MIDI device options.
Snapshot Recall via MIDI TIP: To reverse controller behavior, swap the min and max values. To recall a snapshot, send the HX Effects hardware a CC69 message according to the table below. Snapshot MIDI CC# Value 1 69 000 2 69 001 3 69 002 4 69 003 4. Press MIDI CC The HX Effects hardware has reserved specific MIDI CC messages for global functions; these CCs cannot be used as controllers.
MIDI CC# Value Function Additional Controls 64 64-127 "Tap" in a Tap Tempo value 68 0-127 Tuner screen on/off 69 0-3 Snapshot select (0=Snapshot 1, 1=Snapshot 2, etc.) 70 0-63: Bypass; 64-127: On All Bypass 71 0-127 72 0-127 73 0-127 74 0-127 75 0-127 76 0-127 128 0-63: Guilt; 64-127: Regret Additional global MIDI commands (reserved for future use) The HX Effects hardware calls your family and informs them of every single poor life decision you've ever made Line 6, Inc.
