The HX Effects is legit

[guitarman3001]

johnnyg88 has issues with the helix noise, maybe you guys don't notice it or turn a blind eye to it, but he's on his 2nd helix and still has the same issue, i just thought i'd share the article since he doesn't seem to be the only one.

here's a bunch more, they all must be imagining the noise right

Noise with HX effects

So I just received my 2nd HX effects. The first I sent back because of noise issues. My hope, in this unit vs pedals, was to eliminate background hum.. not so much it ended up being louder than my old pedals. I tried so many combinations to reduce noise floor- different guitars, using amp vs just...

line6.com

HX Effects Noise / Hissing Issue

I understand that there were certain production releases that have this issue (link below) and I am having the same problem. It is not noticeable when playing, but when the guitar is completely muted, it is very obvious both from the amp and when miced into the house speakers. I would like to hea...

line6.com

HX FX Loops hiss

Are the HX Fx loops naturally noisy when using fuzz or drive pedals? My HX unit doesn’t have any hiss running into either of my amps but if I put my D.A.M Drag n Fly fuzz or the Boss SD-1w into one of the loops I get a stack of hiss. Neither pedal is that noisy when not in the loops and the fuzz ...

line6.com

Very noisy FX loops

Hi, It seems like my FX loops are very noisy. I have this external pedal (Maxon AF-9) that I would like to integrate into my signal chain. If I put it between my guitar and the guitar in then everything is perfect. But whenever I put it in the FX loops I get this loud noise even if the pedal isnt...

line6.com

FX Loop Noise - still useful or DOA?

So Ive been trying to get along with the new Drop and Freqout pedals. My initial plan was to put them each in a loop (talkbox too, but still on its way here) and then utilize the loops via Snapshots to turn them on/off on my appropriate song specific presets and on my lead snapshots (for the freq...

line6.com

Noise in send/return on Helix

I recently acquired a MXR EVH Flanger a few weeks ago and a Freqout pedal today.. If a create a send/return in the Helix and put one of the pedals in first position(tried 1,2,3,4 send/return)....it creates a lot of noise when either pedal is on (unusable). When off no noise/hiss. If I put it seco...

line6.com

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/helix-noisy-fx-loops.1817325/

HX Effects - extremely noises fx loop

Got the HX Effects today. used the templates and also did a few of my own 4 cable method presets. wow the loop is super noisy, thought I was doing something wrong and spent about 3 hours swapping cables, changing how I set up the preset and still very noisy. The only way I could get rid of the no...

line6.com

there's threads from 2020 too. ymmv

L6 sent me a replacement and it has the same noise the original one had. Basically, using it with the BluGuitar Amp1 in 4CM creates some hiss when I'm on the amp's dirt channels. Since the second one directly from L6 is doing the same thing as the first one, I pretty much resigned myself to accepting that that's the way it is.

Fortunately the Amp1 has a noise gate which takes care of it when I'm not playing. I haven't tried the HXFX with any of my other amps yet though. Maybe I should to see if it hisses with the rest of my amps, none of which have noise gates....

Thread date != production date. L6 acknowledged a defect in a component in a limited run of early units. You can see discussion about it in the giant HXFX thread here.

Bought my HXFX the first week they came out, played it for years before discovering the noise defect a couple months ago when I started using various fuzz devices in the loop.

L6 sent me a label, repaired it the same day they received it, and it’s being delivered tomorrow. I will report back on success. So far I’m very happy with how they handled it.

I agree with others here that the linked review was pretty meh. I’m in agreement with the reviewer in that I prefer my outboard drive pedals, but there were several statements that were flat out incorrect, such as his assertion that you need a computer to edit the unit. I’m able to access everything from the face of the unit. Just a lazy review.

Did you get yours back yet? Did they fix the noise?

 

[guitarman3001]

Sorry to report,, the noise is happening with my other amps too. Unfortunately at this point the HXFX is 90% unusable to me. The only amp I can use it with is ironically, the one I initially noticed the problem with - the BluGuitar Amp1. Only reason I can use it with the Amp1 is because the Amp1's noise gate can quiet the noise when I'm not playing. But none of my other amps, about 8 or 9 of them, have built in noise gates so the HX is useless with those amps.

I made a new video of the issue as it's happening with the second HXFX and an Orange CR120.

 

[eoengineer]

L6 sent me a replacement and it has the same noise the original one had. Basically, using it with the BluGuitar Amp1 in 4CM creates some hiss when I'm on the amp's dirt channels. Since the second one directly from L6 is doing the same thing as the first one, I pretty much resigned myself to accepting that that's the way it is.

Fortunately the Amp1 has a noise gate which takes care of it when I'm not playing. I haven't tried the HXFX with any of my other amps yet though. Maybe I should to see if it hisses with the rest of my amps, none of which have noise gates....




Did you get yours back yet? Did they fix the noise?

Sorry to report,, the noise is happening with my other amps too. Unfortunately at this point the HXFX is 90% unusable to me. The only amp I can use it with is ironically, the one I initially noticed the problem with - the BluGuitar Amp1. Only reason I can use it with the Amp1 is because the Amp1's noise gate can quiet the noise when I'm not playing. But none of my other amps, about 8 or 9 of them, have built in noise gates so the HX is useless with those amps.

I made a new video of the issue as it's happening with the second HXFX and an Orange CR120.

Ugh. I’m sorry this is happening to you. I’ve not had a chance to test mine yet, but will today and get back to you here.

I should note that what I was getting was closer to a wall of hissing or static that seemed broadband. What you are showing here sounds a little more like a bad connection to me. I’m sure you probably have, but have you checked the cables making the loop connections?

That kind of noise would be a deal breaker for me with the HXFX as well.

 

[eoengineer]

L6 sent me a replacement and it has the same noise the original one had. Basically, using it with the BluGuitar Amp1 in 4CM creates some hiss when I'm on the amp's dirt channels. Since the second one directly from L6 is doing the same thing as the first one, I pretty much resigned myself to accepting that that's the way it is.

Fortunately the Amp1 has a noise gate which takes care of it when I'm not playing. I haven't tried the HXFX with any of my other amps yet though. Maybe I should to see if it hisses with the rest of my amps, none of which have noise gates....




Did you get yours back yet? Did they fix the noise?

Whelp...mine is still exhibiting the issue as well. My Barber Burn Unit, Rat, and Carcosa Fuzz all become unusable in either of the loops. With anything approaching high gain, it’s a CRAZY wall of noise.

I’m not able to test 4cm right now.

I want to believe this is a fluke but that’s a little tough to swallow if you read how this thread has unfolded.

I’ll need to hit up support on Monday.

@Frank Ritchotte

 

[guitarman3001]

Whelp...mine is still exhibiting the issue as well. My Barber Burn Unit, Rat, and Carcosa Fuzz all become unusable in either of the loops. With anything approaching high gain, it’s a CRAZY wall of noise.

I’m not able to test 4cm right now.

I want to believe this is a fluke but that’s a little tough to swallow if you read how this thread has unfolded.

I’ll need to hit up support on Monday.

@Frank Ritchotte

That sucks but at least I feel a little better knowing it's not just me and I'm not imagining things.

Not sure how they're going to fix this. They sent me a replacement unit and fixed yours, but my replacement and your fixed one still have the problem. What's next? I already reopened my support ticket and messaged Frank.

I did another experiment just now. If I run guitar > HXFX input, then HXFX send > amp input, but don't connect the rest of the cables to the amp's FX loop, basically just what's placed in front of the amp, it's fine, no loud hum.

If I run guitar > amp's input, then amp's FX send > HXFX return, and HXFX out > amp's FX return, basically nothing from the HX in front of the amp, but the effects from the HX that I run in the loop connected, that also works fine, no loud hum.

But as soon as I complete the 4CM circuit and run both the effects placed in front of the amp and the effects placed in the loop all connected via 4CM, that's when I get the loud hum/hiss/noise.

If you're running your dirt pedals inside the HXFX's loop, you're basically doing the same thing. I'm running my amp's dirt channel inside the HX's loop. Whatever is going on inside the HXFX when everything is connected in this manner is causing hiss, hum, white noise, etc that gets amplified whenever you run anything with high gain inside its loop.

It has to be something in the implementation of the HXFX's internal loop. Or.... could we both be doing something wrong? Could it be a ground loop or other ground issue? I've tried with the amp and HXFX on the same power circuit and on different circuits and it made no difference.

I'm always willing to accept that I'm missing or overlooking something....

Man, I've talked about this before and hate to say it again but I tried replacing my regular pedalboard with a Line 6 M13 years ago and regretted it. I went back to regular pedals and was perfectly happy for 7 or 8 years. I started reading up on the HXFX and against my better judgement decided to give an MFX unit another go. The HXFX wasn't cheap and I'm long past any return period so I'm in it for the long haul right now but I'm regretting having gone this route. I should have learned the first time.

 

[ljholland]

 

[guitarman3001]

I enjoy videos like these. Here's what I got from it, in addition to my own experiences.

sd1 model was closer to the original than than the ds1.

Original Rat is better than the HX Vermin. The HX's Rat model isn't bad, and I could use it, but the original is still better, admittedly, a subjective opinion.

Big Muff model is excellent. To me indistinguishable from the pedal. I use this one for a few songs.

I have a Phase 90 and the pedal gives me a more pronounced effect than the model. I'm not sure if this is because the HX's built in loop used in 4CM has a problem and this could be affecting it or if it's just that the effect isn't as pronounced in the model as it is in the real pedal.

Is the Annihilator model supposed to be a Fuzz Face? It didn't sound alike to me.

The Boss CE model is excellent.

Space Echo model is excellent. Another one that to me was indistinguishable in this video.

The Flangers are very close. I hear a difference in the vid but unless I was A/B-ing them back to back I probably couldn't tell you which was which. I use one of the flangers. Perfect for Barracuda and Ain't Talkin 'bout Love.

They did a good job with most of the effect models.

Unfortunately, until Line 6 can fix the noise issue when set up in 4CM, they're all useless to me right now. Very frustrating!

 

[joesatch]

tried to use it in 4CM, experienced massive tone suck, returned it

 

[guitarman3001]

tried to use it in 4CM, experienced massive tone suck, returned it

sorry to hear it. I wish I would have tried it with my other amps from the beginning. I probably would have returned mine too. But like I said, I'm waaaay past the return period so I'm in it until Line 6 figures out how to fix it.

 

[TubeStack]

I have a Phase 90 and the pedal gives me a more pronounced effect than the model...

I found the Legacy phase to be much better than the new Script one, weirdly.

I still use my Whirlwind Orange Box pedal though, as I love that pedal and might as well.

 

[ljholland]

Unfortunately, until Line 6 can fix the noise issue when set up in 4CM, they're all useless to me right now. Very frustrating!

I have no noise at all in 4CM. You have a bad unit or there’s something else going on like a ground loop.

 

[MartinC]

Straight in the front of the amp for me ... 2CM ...

Just need my amp to give me as good a base clean tone as I can get.

 

[Mincer]

I still wish the analog mod delay sounded as good as it does on my DL4.

 

[guitarman3001]

I have no noise at all in 4CM. You have a bad unit or there’s something else going on like a ground loop.

Are you running the amp clean or do you have a good amount of distortion set on the amp itself? If I use the amp's clean channel it's fine. But on the amp's dirt channel, noise.

 

[ljholland]

Are you running the amp clean or do you have a good amount of distortion set on the amp itself? If I use the amp's clean channel it's fine. But on the amp's dirt channel, noise.

I tried some experiments this morning to be certain I'm accurate. I tested using the HXFX with the Bluguitar Amp1 Mercury Edition. I turned off the noise gate on the Amp1 to make sure that didn't interfere with the testing. I used headphones plugged into the Amp1's record out to make sure I could really hear any noise if it were there.

I plugged straight in, using the clean, Plexi, and high gain channels as a baseline. On the high gain channel, there's obviously some amp noise.

For the test, I ran the HXFX in front of the Amp1 with my usual effects (bypassing the loop block), without plugging the cables for 4CM (clean/Plexi/High gain). I then tried the same setup and patch in 4CM (loop block turned on).

I couldn't hear any difference in the noise levels and there wasn't any hiss.

 

[guitarman3001]

I tried some experiments this morning to be certain I'm accurate. I tested using the HXFX with the Bluguitar Amp1 Mercury Edition. I turned off the noise gate on the Amp1 to make sure that didn't interfere with the testing. I used headphones plugged into the Amp1's record out to make sure I could really hear any noise if it were there.

I plugged straight in, using the clean, Plexi, and high gain channels as a baseline. On the high gain channel, there's obviously some amp noise.

For the test, I ran the HXFX in front of the Amp1 with my usual effects (bypassing the loop block), without plugging the cables for 4CM (clean/Plexi/High gain). I then tried the same setup and patch in 4CM (loop block turned on).

I couldn't hear any difference in the noise levels and there wasn't any hiss.

OK, good to know. At least there's hope. But several people have reported the issue even on "repaired" units and replacement units including a few people on this forum. Just on this thread @eoengineer is having the problem on his fixed unit. And I've had the issue with several amps using different cables (I've tried regular 1/4" instrument cables, 12" patch cables with the Amp1, and yesterday a PedalSnake with the Orange) and with the amp and HXFX connected to different power circuits and also the same circuit. It's not a ground loop, at least not one that's external to the HXFX.

 

[eoengineer]

I have no noise at all in 4CM. You have a bad unit or there’s something else going on like a ground loop.

A bad unit would actually be a great outcome, because I’m becoming less and less certain there isn’t a design problem with the HXFX. Line 6 has stated the hiss is not present with all devices and rigs, and that this is caused by out of tolerance components.

While I do get some additional noise and coloration with my Mesa Mark III in 4cm, the issue is SUPER obvious if I patch seemingly any high gain drive in either of the 2 loops and run into the front end of any of my amps. My Rat, Barber Burn Unit, and Carcosa fuzz produce a wall of static.

At this point I’d love to try a scientific comparison because I want to know this can be fixed. L6 is known to have great customer service, I’m hoping it lives up to its reputation.

I’m starting to regret not returning this back when they acknowledged the issue shortly after release.

 

[TubeStack]

Never had any noise issues with mine.

 

[guitarman3001]

A bad unit would actually be a great outcome, because I’m becoming less and less certain there isn’t a design problem with the HXFX. Line 6 has stated the hiss is not present with all devices and rigs, and that this is caused by out of tolerance components.

While I do get some additional noise and coloration with my Mesa Mark III in 4cm, the issue is SUPER obvious if I patch seemingly any high gain drive in either of the 2 loops and run into the front end of any of my amps. My Rat, Barber Burn Unit, and Carcosa fuzz produce a wall of static.

At this point I’d love to try a scientific comparison because I want to know this can be fixed. L6 is known to have great customer service, I’m hoping it lives up to its reputation.

I’m starting to regret not returning this back when they acknowledged the issue shortly after release.

At this point I'm very guardedly optimistic. So far they "fixed" yours, which didn't do anything, and they replaced mine with one that has the fix already implemented, and the new one isn't any better. But I'm still hopeful that they will figure this out.

That said, I'm already seriously looking into alternatives. Came across the Mooer GE300 Lite earlier today. It looks like it has the same functionality but with amp models, IRs, and based on the effects list in the user manual, much better dirt pedal models and even has LFO controlled autowahs.

I'd hate to write off the HXFX as a loss...it would be a very expensive loss for me, but if L6 can't figure it out, it's only usable to me with the Amp1 because of the Amp1's noisegate. And that's just for live use. I still couldn't record with it. I'll either need an alternative to the L6 or just put my old pedalboard back together. I can't have all the pedals I want on the board at the same time but at least the ones I did have worked.

 

[guitarman3001]

Never had any noise issues with mine.

Are you running it in 4CM with your amp's gain channel or with a dirt pedal in the HX's effects loop? The problems have to do with the HXFX's built in effects loops, and only apparent when you're using something with high gain in the HX's loop. Either a high gain amp wired in 4CM, or a high gain pedal in the HX's loop.

Clean amp or low gain amp or low gain pedal in 4CM = no overly problematic noise. But introduce anything with moderate to high gain in 4CM or in the HX's loop, and the units that have the issue will cause a bunch of noise.

And if you're using the HX in the amp's loop but not in 4CM, just wired up as any other pedal in the loop, that's fine too.