Line 6 puts all of the Helix effects into a box that will slot into any pedalboard
LINE 6 HX ONE £299
CONTACT Yamaha PHONE 01908 366700 WEB uk.line6.com
Besides its units with amp/speaker and effects simulation, Line 6has a range of multi-effects pedals that put just the effects from those more complex units into astompbox format. You could trace the lineage back some way –names such as the M13 and M9 come to mind. And while the HX One may have the same effects as the current HX Effects, it most readily resembles the diminutive M5; like that unit, you can only use one effect at a time.
Nevertheless, you get over 250 different algorithms to choose from, making the HX One a nicely compact source of any effect you may wish for. While your pedalboard may already have everything for your basic needs, it could be that at times you feel you’re perhaps lacking a certain type of modulation pedal, a particular flavour of overdrive or an extra delay with a different delay time. The HX One is the pedal that can supply that.
In Use
The algorithms are neatly laid out in categories and can be scrolled through to find the one you want, but the key to using the pedal live would be to populate as many of the 128 presets with the effects you’ll want to use, suitably tweaked to taste using the three soft knobs. The pedal has a preset mode you can enter by briefly pressing down on the two footswitches simultaneously, and you can then scroll to the next wanted preset with the Effect knob or by using the footswitches to scroll up or down. Aquick press on the Effect knob, or the two footswitches together, will load said preset.
Now, there’s aconundrum in that if you’re using the pedal as a fuzz or wah, you may want it at the front of your chain –but if you’re using it for delay or reverb you’d probably want it at the end of the chain or in an amp’s effects loop. If you’re using the pedal in amono or stereo chain, you have that choice to make (or maybe buy two pedals!). However, the right input and output double as a return and send respectively, so for full flexibility you can connect to the amp via the four-cable method and assign the effect in each preset to be either in front of the amp or in its effects loop. Neat.
