I recently purchased an IK Multimedia Tonex pedal, and it's solved a lot of problems for me. Let's start at the beginning of the story. I have always wanted a Kemper Profiler but didn't want to spend $2,000 on one. When I heard about the Tonex pedal, I was excited because you can get the same technology as a Kemper for only $399.
About a month ago, I bought my wife Chelsea a Tonex pedal because she wasn't using the Line 6 HX Stomp she had. The HX was just too complicated for what she wanted to do. Once I heard the Tonex pedal, I immediately bought another one for myself.
This was a big change because I have been using Line 6 products for about two decades. I guess you can say that I ended up switching from my HX Stomp to the Tonex pedal... sort of.
I'm still using my HX Stomp for all my effects like delay, reverb, chorus, wah, the looper and more. Now, I use the Tonex pedal as the amp for my rig when recording or playing live in a situation where I have to plug direct into the PA.
Don't get me wrong, I still love my HX Stomp, but I was never completely sold on the feel of the Helix line of Line 6 products. I still think they are one of the best all-in-one solutions for recording or playing live without an amp. The Tonex just feels better to me, and the online community of people using the capture technology is great. You can pop on www.tone.net and download a capture of pretty much any amp on the planet.
I'll still be using my HX Stomp for fly gigs with my wife and all of the time-based effects on my pedal board, but the Tonex has solved some big problems for me. I go through these in detail in the video, and there are plenty of sound samples that compare the Tonex and HX Stomp.
It's funny, though. I don't think either of these products sounds better than the other. The feel is another thing. Let me know what you think in the comments. Below are the advantages I see to each unit.
Happy tone hunting,
Nate
Advantages of the IK Multimedia Tonex Pedal:
1 - Price - The Tonex pedal only sets you back about $399, while the HX Stomp will cost you around $699.
2 - Feel - The feel of the Tonex pedal was better to me. My only gripe with the HX Stomp is that the feel is just a little off.
3 - Time - I spend much less time tweaking a tone for videos or jam tracks. When you are a dad of a two-year-old, every minute counts.
Advantages of the Line 6 HX Stomp Pedal
1 It Does EVERYTHING! - Amps, distortion, delay, reverb, audio interface, chorus, flanger, overdrive, looper... I could go on.
2 Traveling - It's fantastic for fly gigs when you have limited space for carrying gear.
i have an old line 6 fm4 and line 6 mm4... i dust them off every now and then and plug them into an old alesis midiverb ii (with it's glorious 80's 16-bit technology) and some old boss pedals... my collection started with the gear my idols used :-)
i got a lot of friends gigging... it is definitely interesting to see the gear pros pick when they're the ones that have to schlep it around vs. when they've got a team of roadies.
i also fully get the issue of feel... both from how a pedal reacts to the guitar, and the interface between the musician and the pedal... i bought a boss od-200 at one point... i hate…