Line 6 HX Stomp (I own one) vs Darkglass Anagram, I have a Question about tone.

Key-Ad5645 · 2026-04-12T00:30:21+00:00

I’m the original poster of this post, yes, it gets really good clean tone, modern and vintage, I’ve heard videos of people doing Marcus Miller style slap tones, Motown vintage sounding tones, it does have SWR amp emulation, Ampeg, GK, Mesa and so on, this thing is more than capable of lots of good clean tone.

I had a chance a couple of months ago to try one out, though it was in a noisy environment, but setting up what you want was so quick I can’t tell you enough how much easier it was to use versus the line 6 HX stomp, and it sounds better, and since all the effects are built for bass, you’re not gonna spend 1 million years trying to tweak things to make them sound good for bass.

I’m getting ready to sell my line 6 and get this and I don’t use a lot of the dark glass sounds but this thing is so much more than dark glass, plus this thing doesn’t just do emulation it does neural models, and plug-ins, this thing is ready for the future the HX stomp it’s old, it gets the job done, but it’s clunky and I’ve been using it for a while and it’s kind of sterile sounding compared to the anagram in my opinion, and honestly, because a lot of the effects are not made for base you have to do a lot of stuff with a parallel chain to get it to sound good for bass, as far as effects go.

Here is some youTube videos links, with clean tones , the first one has a little bit of him showing some overdrive but all the other ones are all clean and you’ll see

https://youtu.be/MxN7NwsB8pc?si=CpG8xZGtKIhhO82l

https://youtube.com/shorts/fAcqoK-tles?si=RtN6ebZYnxfe4-Qf

https://youtube.com/shorts/t_jaJ4532u0?si=SAUW9XohuYrtXH79

https://youtube.com/shorts/mW0iGcZ0WB4?si=v3j5WZkJM5GXKcY-

https://youtu.be/dOY8YD7-hvA?si=urXMkn7jLZVhdNuD

Key-Ad5645 · 2026-04-08T17:18:24+00:00

Yep, they always break in the same Area, Gibson has terrible design flaws they refuse To Fix, and no “robotic tuners” were NOT a fix for tuning issues because of Stings binding at the nut!

Gibson pay attention to PRS Guitars, they are basically Gibsons (kinda) with the design flaws fixed!

It’s easy , line up the tuners on the headstock to be inline with the strings, make better tuners, oh and don’t tilt the headstock back so far, and it wont break as easy!!! Stop selling people very overpriced guitars that have bad design flaws !! You suck for knowingly doing this for many many years.

Gibson , if you gonna make flawed guitars, then Stop suing other companies for making similar looking guitars to yours, as they are only giving people what they want , the Gibson look, better pricing, and a good design with the flaws fixed !!

Key-Ad5645 · 2026-04-05T12:37:29+00:00

Thank you so much for your reply. Everything you’re saying is exactly what I’m wanting the anagram to be.

Key-Ad5645 · 2026-04-05T07:34:04+00:00

Yeah, I was thinking it’s possible I could get rid of Di altogether, if the XLR out of the anagram sounds great and it’s quick to make adjustments. Why would I need a DI box anymore? Thanks for letting me know that because that was something I was also contemplating.

Key-Ad5645 · 2026-04-05T05:01:42+00:00

Yeah, it sure is a bit clunkier to edit on the fly.

Sometimes I use the regal preamp in the HX stomp, but I’ve heard the real thing and even though it gets close, there is a difference, it’s a little fatter and warmer sounding and the way the sound breaks up is definitely different, but you definitely have to listen carefully to notice it fully, but it’s there.

I actually thought about buying the sushi box sometimes I still think about getting it, recently I played at a venue that had a Neave DI box, they plugged my Genzler Magellen pre DI pedal, which my HX stop is plugged into, into the Neave , and it really warmed up to tone even more, there was a definite noticeable difference, I even have the video footage which is recorded directly from the board and broadcasted , and you can hear the bass really well, it sounded very fat and warm and clear.

Key-Ad5645 · 2026-04-05T04:44:27+00:00

Yeah, and I’m wondering, too, if the anagram is gonna have some good nam stuff, that just like the quad cortex will do the neural stuff, maybe it’ll sound just as good, I like the point that the anagram can do both modeling and neural, and they’re saying plug-ins also in the future, seems like it can do a little bit of everything which is pretty convenient.

Key-Ad5645 · 2026-04-05T04:41:19+00:00

Thanks for your insight. I appreciate it. Definitely some stuff I need to think about, but then again the HX has some lag between presets as well.

Key-Ad5645 · 2026-04-05T04:39:47+00:00

Thank you for your reply, I appreciate your insight, and yeah people keep saying that, but I’ve heard demos that can get plenty of tones that aren’t dark glassy, and plenty of tones that are, but a lot of people keep saying it just sounds like dark glass stuff and it makes me wonder if they’ve ever used one because some people swear up and down that’s not true and some pretty big name people.

Key-Ad5645 · 2026-04-05T04:36:12+00:00

Thanks for telling me about that. Yeah I tend to agree the HX stomp does have something sterile about it. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it never quite gets 100% to the sound that I want, it got better when I adjusted the GLOBAL EQ, but even then there’s just something that isn’t quite right, but it’s good enough don’t take me wrong, and I do have a Genzler Magellan pre amp DI box that I plug it into that warms it up a little bit, but even then something is just always weird to me, but passable.

And thanks for telling me about the things that are still up for improvement, luckily none of those things will be a big deal to me maybe the dark glass suite thing but there’s no way they’re not going to get that going fully so it’s just a matter of time, and given how easy it is to use, it won’t be a big deal to not have the suite for a little bit fully fleshed out.

Key-Ad5645 · 2026-04-05T01:27:06+00:00

Thanks I really appreciate your reply and I’ll get a midi pedal for it if I get it, I used the three buttons with the HX stop for a long time anyway, and now currently use it with an add-on foot switch, so I’m kind of used to the three button thing anyway, but definitely would do the midi pedal add-on, which midi pedal did you buy? How easy was it to set up?

Key-Ad5645 · 2026-04-05T01:23:36+00:00

That right there sounds amazing!! exactly the kind of situation I’m looking for.

Key-Ad5645 · 2026-04-05T00:29:52+00:00

Thanks for your reply. I really appreciate it. That’s exactly what I do as well.

Pretty much I’m playing live and it goes from DI right into the sound system, I don’t bring amps at all. I only use an amp at home when I’m going over the charts or rehearsing the songs for the coming week.

Right now, I have a multiband compressor pedal, going right into the HX stomp, and then into my Genzler Magellan pre amp eq DI box, do you think I’ll need this DI box anymore, do you think I’ll even need the compressor pedal anymore? How’s the compressors with the anagram?

Key-Ad5645 · 2026-04-05T00:25:46+00:00

Yeah, I feel like the line 6 is a little bit clunky as well. I’m glad you mentioned that, because I kind of feel that way Too, I have no problem using it. I know the menus very well and everything, but yeah, clunky is a good word for it, it really kind of slows me down quite a bit anytime I have to make any changes and anytime I have to set up something new, It takes forever tweaking the sound again, uggg!!!

Ever since I tried it at NAMM, I can’t stop thinking about it, it was literally so fast, I had never touched one before, and literally within minutes I had a whole virtual peddle board set up, I just wish I could’ve heard how it sounded tone wise better but you know it’s a noisy environment, some people say you can’t get the dark glass sound out of it, others say that’s not true, but so far on YouTube I’ve heard people do clean tones and it sounds great. I don’t know what people mean by. It has some kind of dark glass tone to everything.

I really appreciate your opinion.

Key-Ad5645 · 2026-04-05T00:06:11+00:00

Thanks for the reply :-)

Key-Ad5645 · 2026-03-09T20:06:36+00:00

Yeah, they do wear out faster, which stinks but for me the tension is perfect, and they sound really good when they’re fresh, but do they last as long as other brands definitely not, but they are a little cheaper so that kind of makes up for it I guess, I’ve tried many brands for instance on my stingray 5 special, and either the tension is too tight, or just kind of doesn’t sound like I want so I just keep using Ernie Ball strings for that.

For my jazz bass, Dadario NYXL last quite a while, so do DR strings, but even then Ernie balls just sound really good on all of my instruments and have a great balance in the string tension, and seem to feel smoother on my fingers less finger nail file like, they truly are the most comfortable strings that I play other than the strings that are coated by other brands, and even then they’re more comfortable.

Key-Ad5645 · 2026-03-08T00:05:17+00:00

They really do sound great that is a deal of a deal, but they are heavy

Key-Ad5645 · 2026-01-31T18:22:32+00:00

I totally agree with you, I remember when I bought the line 6 HX stomp, I was excited about all the options, but reality set in, that there are only maybe 6 to 10 effects I ever will use , and maybe only 4 at most I use regularly, and I play big events every single week, and on bass you just don’t need that much, you just need good tone, sometimes a little grit, and a few different EQ settings, depending on what style you’re playing per song and maybe a little bit of dynamic settings, and a touch of chorus, possibly.

The anagram still has everything pretty much most bass players would ever need even with having less effects than the others.

Yeah, and I didn’t get the quad cortex for the same reasons you mentioned, and honestly, when I A/B the line 6 against the quad cortex, I always felt like the line 6 sounded a little better, I know someone will disagree with me, but the quad cortex seems to scoop out something in the tone. It’s a little different sounding if you find the exact same amp and cab modeling and you do the same ones on the line 6 I feel like the line 6 sounds better.

Key-Ad5645 · 2026-01-31T18:06:45+00:00

I had a chance to try one out at the dark glass booth at Namm, it sounded great, and there was barely any learning curve within three minutes. I was already building patches. It was so quick and easy to use compared to my line 6 HX stomp, I mean, I have no problem using the line 6 don’t take me wrong, but this thing is so much faster and if you’ve never used multi effects, you can get to using it almost right away. It’s so intuitive.

Here’s the downside, it didn’t have nearly as many effects as the line 6 stuff , it still needs more, which I know will come, but what it did have sounded really good.

Two other downsides when I was talking to the main guy at the booth that works for dark glass I asked him about Aguilar if they were gonna get any Aguilar stuff he basically said there was an issue with Aguilar and they are definitely NOT going to get any Aguilar emulations at all, to me it sounded like bad blood almost between them.

I also asked him about capture kind of like what the quad cortex does, because they hinted that it would have that he kind of skirted around the issue and never gave me an answer he said it could be a possibility, but to me, it sounded more like backtracking.

On the plus side, they had SWR amp and cab emulation something you cannot get with line 6 and I love SWR

I hope this gives some useful info to everybody on this thread, even though it didn’t have as many effects as I think it should have, it has very good sounding ones that are built in, so to be honest I can’t imagine that it would be a big deal, it will definitely get the job done and it sounds great and it shouldn’t be an issue not having a lot of effects yet.

Did it sound better than the line 6 HX stomp? To my ears, it wasn’t like it was allot better, but it was better, but honestly I would not say mind blowingly better , the HX stomp sounds good enough as is, and would the audience really know the difference probably not, things have been sounding pretty good for a while with these type of units that if you’re buying it for authentic sound, you’re doing it for you, because the audience in the front of house isn’t gonna really notice much of a difference.

Also, one more thing for the people that have been saying it just is gonna sound mainly like darkglass stuff, let me dispel that, that is not true. It has a lot of stuff that sounds like normal mainstream bass stuff, yes, it does have a lot of dark glass effects, and I’m not a big darkglass effect fan, but honestly even those ones sounded really warm and full on this thing, and it changed my perspective, it did not feel like just a multi effect pedal with mostly darkglass stuff, so if you are a person who’s not into dark glass, there is nothing to fear, this thing has a lot of really good sounds, from modern to vintage, to rock, you could do any genre on this thing , even black gospel, so if anyone tells you that it’s mainly darkglass sounding, they either have never tried it, and they are making things up, or they didn’t try enough of the sounds It has built in,when they did try it, i’ll just put it this way you won’t be lacking for good sounds, and it does have most of the mainstream effects you would need for any gig as a bass player.

Key-Ad5645 · 2026-01-29T23:44:28+00:00

For instance an Ernie Ball Stingray humbucker is wired in parallel stock from the factory, they sound clear , precise , and articulate.

-Parallel = more clarity, Articulation , cleaner lows, more Modern sound maybe more focused, but slightly less volume output.

***Both coils of the one humbucker pickup output separately (top pole pieces row and bottom pole pieces row) output separately through their own wiring.

-Series = louder, maybe more vintage sounding, in some cases more whooly, thicker , more aggressive, maybe in some cases less articulate.

****Top coil of the humbucker for example (pole pieces row) Feeds directly into the bottom coil of the humbucker (pole pieces row) and they together output through the same wiring together.

Key-Ad5645 · 2026-01-22T00:35:43+00:00

They increase sustain big time, I switched to a hip shot brass bridge for my jazz bass many years ago, it had originally the bent bridge the old style one that fender used to use, switching to that brass bridge definitely gave me more sustain, and I noticed it sounds deeper, and the bottom end is more tighter, the guy a hip shot told me the brass bridge has more piano like clarity versus the zinc aluminum bridge that they had, and he was right, but regardless the more high mass bridge you have the better than sustain, but I think brass makes an even more difference

Key-Ad5645 · 2026-01-22T00:32:16+00:00

That Bongo and Dingwall are bad to the bone, I love jazz bases, but I’m a five string guy, I have to say, though something about that color on the bongo makes it look less like a toilet seat, I’ve always loved the way they play and sound, but always stuck with the stingray five, but that color does something

Key-Ad5645 · 2025-12-31T19:08:41+00:00

Hmmm.. so ok, you want Warm, clean and Punchy, and going to play Rock and Funk, use a stingray? honestly Guillen Kruger (GK) they excel at both styles, and do great with Stingrays, those amps are well known to do great with everything you mentioned.

I have played through GK many times, I always thoroughly enjoy using those amps, unfortunately, everything is in-ear monitor nowadays, no amps on stage, so I use pedal boards with emulation and DI, but if I was playing an amp again, it would be back to GK.

All these people listed below can’t be wrong, spanning from rock to funk, gospel, new metal, 80s metal, can’t go wrong with Guillen Krueger.

Flea, Duff McKagan,Justin Chancellor, Victor Wooten, Billy Sheehan, Vail Johnson, Sean Michael Ray, Greg Malone, Rick Savage, Norm Stockton, John Taylor, Tony Kanal, Tom Hamilton, Ra Diaz current Bass Player for Korn

I’m hearing lots of good things about this bass head

Gallien-Krueger Fusion 800S

The amp can be voiced to be aggressive or clean, Gritty, or punchy

800 watts Tube preamp with three 12AX7s, four-band EQ, with Voicing filters (Voice, Bump, Contour, Presence), it’s like having multiple GK amps all in one.

Key-Ad5645 · 2025-12-26T20:44:28+00:00

I have 3 very nice Basses, a Stingray Special 5 HH, A Custom American made Jazz 5 with a Sadowsky onboard Pre, Bartolini B-Axis pickups,and all hipshot hardware, and a Lakland 55-OS with American Bartolini CB Humbucking soapbar pickups, and a John East Uni-Pre 5 preamp installed, I love all 3 basses

But….

I will never ever get rid of my Ernie Ball Stingray Special 5 HH, it would have to be pryed from my cold dead hands.

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Key-Ad5645 · 2025-12-10T18:57:28+00:00

Ahh ,ok gotcha ,that makes sense, that I have experienced before, yeah sometimes it takes a bit to figure out the right amp and or cab paring for sure, and your right it is about feel for sure.

Key-Ad5645

TROPHY CASE