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Helix Stomp - Pedal Board Wars!


Al Krow

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The Helix Stomp has clearly proved massively popular as an effects pedal as evidenced by the fact the Mini Helix - HX Stomp thread has more followers and had more replies in the space of six months than any other effects thread ever and there are a lot of us who have splashed out on one.

But how good is it really? How does it stack up against dedicated pedals? I know several of us have ditched entire pedal boards in favour of just the Stomp and there are plenty of convenience and cost issues for doing just that.

Well it's been out for 9 months now and it would be great to hear your unvarnished thoughts on which dedicated pedals the Stomp holds its own against and which pedals don't yet have anything to fear from this one-stop little wonder box.

The story so far:

1. HX Stomp 1 vs Mooer Lofi (bitcrushers / sample rate reduction) 0 

2. HX Stomp 0 vs Digitec Mosaic (octave up) 1

3. HX Stomp 0 vs Panda FI (synth) 1

4. HX Stomp 0 vs Boss RC 30 (or virtually any decent Looper) 1

Edited by Al Krow
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Helix Stomp vs Mooer Lofi (bitcrushers / sample rate reduction) 1-0 to Stomp

The Mooer (around £50 from Andertons) is a good intro to the world of bit crush / sample rate reduction but has a very limited usable range pretty much with one parameter. 

The bit crusher (small knob) is not particularly useful - pretty much just adding white noise. The sample rate reduction (big knob) has a 'usable range' going anti-clockwise from 5pm to 1pm (any futher than 12 noon anti-clockwise and you rapidly get into a beyond human hearing frequencies). My own preference being in the 3pm to 4pm range which does add something to the low E and B strings.

The Helix provides a whole range of usefully tweakable parameters on its bitcrush effect and it was fun putting together a 'gated' bitcrush on the Stomp that's only triggered when you dig in hard by setting the open and close levels appropriately. Not something you could being to imagine doing on the Mooer.

Edited by Al Krow
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2. Helix Stomp vs Digitec Mosaic (octave up) 1-0 to Mosaic

On octave up the Stomp has a slightly clanky latency which feels pretty tinny. The Mosaic is noticeably 'smoother' and provides a very usable octave up.

I was kinda hoping for better here on the part of the Stomp as it managed to get a pretty decent octave down: tracks tightly to around a low F# with minimal latency. Tonally a bit bland, but I may be able to sort that separately. Doubt it will ever do an OC2, although I've since been advised to check out the Stomp's square wave capability in that regard. But for thickening up the bass line, which is what I've pretty much used oct down for, it'll do just fine. So no need to splash out on a dedicated octave down pedal for my purposes.

However, the Mosaic is definitely staying on my board for now! (sorry @bassfan :))

Edited by Al Krow
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34 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

dear god - are you going to go through every effect ever? 

Haha - well only if folk want to! You don't have to follow this thread matey 😋

But I am genuinely interested to find out what folk think the Stomp does well and what it's not so good at. 

And who knows, some others might be interested in whether a Stomp is going to cut it for the particular effects they are looking for it to do?

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  • 3 weeks later...

I think this thread would really benefit from audio comparisons. It’s much easier to ‘hear’ differences or similarities and as @Al Krow has quite the collection I’d be up for hearing his examples to keep the ball rolling. 

GB will be posted down this week. 👍🏽

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14 minutes ago, krispn said:

I think this thread would really benefit from audio comparisons. It’s much easier to ‘hear’ differences or similarities and as @Al Krow has quite the collection I’d be up for hearing his examples to keep the ball rolling. 

GB will be posted down this week. 👍🏽

Yes, sound clips and knowing what settings you are using on the Stomp - and the stand alone pedal - would be invaluable as well as helpful for other Basschatters wishing to make similar comparisons. 

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16 minutes ago, JohnR said:

Al. If you were to write a book on this topic I would be first in the queue to buy it. 😀

John - you are, as ever. too kind. But... 😄 

Hopefully the wider BC community of Stomp owners will step up - if we each contributed two comparative reviews we would probably have 50 or so! 

Oh, it looks like I've done my two 🤗

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If I've understood, we're not looking for direct comparisons of the model in the helix vs its inspiration, just effects of the same type and whether we prefer what the stomp has to offer?

I could definitely play ball with this one, and happy to audio/vid comparison too if it's wanted! 

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4 minutes ago, TJ Spicer said:

If I've understood, we're not looking for direct comparisons of the model in the helix vs its inspiration, just effects of the same type and whether we prefer what the stomp has to offer?

I could definitely play ball with this one, and happy to audio/vid comparison too if it's wanted! 

Sounds great!

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Bit of a cop out there 😀

I know you’ve been using a lot of filter pedals and comparing them recently for instance so it would be useful to have some audio showcasing your experiences but I’m sure others will step up to the challenge. 

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37 minutes ago, krispn said:

Bit of a cop out there 😀

Just a bit!

38 minutes ago, krispn said:

I know you’ve been using a lot of filter pedals and comparing them recently for instance so it would be useful to have some audio showcasing your experiences but I’m sure others will step up to the challenge. 

Agreed, I've seen you ( @Al Krow not Krispn!) state several times that the filters and synths in the Stomp are not as good as the real thing. Now I'm happy to admit I know absolutely nothing about filters and synths, they're not really something that interest me that much, but playing around with the various models in the Stomp I'm getting what to my ears sounds just as good (whatever that means to you) as some of the clips that I've heard from folks on here. But as I said, it's not something that I know anything about so I'm sure folks with way more knowledge and experience than me will be able to tell me what I'm missing. 

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Haha - same to you @Osiris with regard to the Stomp compression vs dedicated compressors. I'll happily add a couple more when folk have contributed their tuppence two-comparisons worth...

The synths on the Stomp are not in the same league as a Future Impact. Sadly I can no longer compare 'cos my FI has now departed pending the imminent arrival of its successor, but I'm sure Mr @HazBeen will be able to confirm. It's like comparing a Non League club to the Premier League.

@LukeFRC - obviously this thread is gonna bore you senseless, so no need to lurk...😂

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But I've not been banging on about how good the compressors are like you have over the filters and synths! And we all know that talking to you about compression is like clapping with one hand 👐🖐️ 😀

20 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

The synths on the Stomp are not in the same league as a Future Impact.  

So you keep saying. But what you don't say is how or why, or provide any evidence (sound samples, videos etc) to support that claim. You know me well enough to know that I don't take anything at face value. We're back to Hitchens Razor; That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence. 

Or is it time to revive what was the best thread ever on any internet forum, despite its original ephemeral life span;

 

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58 minutes ago, Osiris said:

Now I'm happy to admit I know absolutely nothing about filters and synths, they're not really something that interest me that much...

Not something to worry your pretty little head over, then is it? 😋

18 minutes ago, Osiris said:

Or is it time to revive what was the best thread ever on any internet forum, despite its original ephemeral life span;

Agreed - that's likely be a better use of both our time 😎

In the meantime, I'm going to spend some quality time practising my one hand clap technique...

Edited by Al Krow
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On 09/07/2019 at 20:22, Al Krow said:

However, the Mosaic is definitely staying on my board for now! (sorry @bassfan :))

Just seen this.  It’s only a matter of time Mr Krow. It still has my name on it. 😂

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15 minutes ago, bassfan said:

Just seen this.  It’s only a matter of time Mr Krow. It still has my name on it. 😂

Bite the bullet, you know you want to.

https://kytary.co.uk/digitech-mosaic/HN153214/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIraeav-bu4wIVDbTtCh3ZtQnGEAQYASABEgIy9PD_BwE

4 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

So this sounds like a reason not to buy a stomp... 

Don't bite the bullet you know you don't want to.

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5 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Haha - same to you @Osiris with regard to the Stomp compression vs dedicated compressors. I'll happily add a couple more when folk have contributed their tuppence two-comparisons worth...

The synths on the Stomp are not in the same league as a Future Impact. Sadly I can no longer compare 'cos my FI has now departed pending the imminent arrival of its successor, but I'm sure Mr @HazBeen will be able to confirm. It's like comparing a Non League club to the Premier League.

@LukeFRC - obviously this thread is gonna bore you senseless, so no need to lurk...😂

I confirm... not even close I am afraid.

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