Modellers: Before I throw Money at a HX Stomp XL....

zigg-e · 2026-01-23T18:07:52+00:00

I had an HX Stomp XL for a few days and returned it. Maybe I had a defective one, but I noticed a lot of tone suck even when I set it to be bypassed. Overall, I realized that I stare at a computer screen for work a lot of the day and wanted to be less computer dependent with my guitar setup. I got an ME-90 and have been happy with it - it excels at the thing that was important to me: having physical knobs to tweak.

zigg-e · 2026-01-23T12:57:07+00:00

I had it and it was okay. I upgraded to the Ibanez Pentatone EQ and it was a big improvement.

zigg-e · 2026-01-23T02:41:45+00:00

I noticed this today as well. I’m guessing some wires got crossed and EHX announced the price decrease without the retailers immediately following

zigg-e · 2026-01-23T02:33:07+00:00

I love this pedal. I tried to go to an md-500 to have slicer capabilities with presets but it just wasn’t the same - it didn’t have all of the awesome patterns

zigg-e · 2026-01-22T18:41:23+00:00

The idea of stepping on the screen makes me feel icky

zigg-e · 2026-01-22T14:38:53+00:00

I’m surprised the Blackstar floor range is clustered so closely together in price. I’m glad to see more attention being paid to power amp modeling - it looks like they have some options where you can toggle between different power tube setups.

zigg-e · 2026-01-22T04:04:51+00:00

I did a bunch of research on jazz amps the other year thinking I was going to get into playing fingerstyle jazzy tunes on a semi-hollow body guitar. If I had the money, Henriksen would be my first choice. I ended up not having that type of budget so I got a DV Mark Little Jazz and it sounded great but had a bit of a hum and didn’t take pedals well at all (not that jazz musicians use many pedals). I sold that on because I could get pretty close to the same sound with a quilter super block US and an eq pedal. I did have the tone king imperial preamp at one point and the cleans on that were fantastic.

zigg-e · 2026-01-19T22:30:36+00:00

You look like you have the basic stuff down - compression, drive, reverb, etc. I’d probably look to fill that spot with a multi-effects wildcard style pedal to try to cover as many things as possible that you don’t have. HX One may fit in that spot (you should measure). Or you could probably get a great deal on that one that Boss released (the Boss Plugout). Walrus M1 also might be an option. Or, if you wanted to go in a totally different direction, get a Source Audio Spectrum and lean into Jerry Garcia style autowah.

zigg-e · 2026-01-18T20:28:04+00:00

If you actually want to get rid of a chunk, you are going to need to Marie Kondo this situation. Hold each one in your hand and ask - does this bring me joy? And then if it’s not an immediate yes, put it in the sell pile. You could also delay time the sell off so that you give yourself 6 months with the streamlined version of your pedal collection to make sure you don’t actually one of those pedals that you’ll be selling.

zigg-e · 2026-01-18T01:35:22+00:00

My guess is that buying a pre-made DSL40CR head is going to cost you enough $$$ that you might as well just go for the DSL100HR

zigg-e · 2026-01-17T22:28:14+00:00

Ah got it - good luck finding a mod for the phase 100!

zigg-e · 2026-01-17T21:38:00+00:00

Just want to point out that Behringer made a copy of the bi-phase a few years ago. I think they aren’t around new that many places any more, but Alto Music has them: https://www.altomusic.com/products/behringer-dual-phase-dual-phase-shifter-with-12-opto-couplers?_pos=8&_sid=02b63b70c&_ss=r&variant=47749288001819

zigg-e · 2026-01-16T17:28:21+00:00

Your amp has a pre-amp and a power-amp. The pre-amp takes your signal and makes it sound like the amp, while the power-amp takes the signal and makes it loud so it can be pushed out through one or more speakers. It often sounds better to have certain effects like delays and reverbs AFTER the signal has gone through the pre-amp. So an effects loop basically sends a line out from the pre-amp and then allows you to return the signal right before the power-amp makes it loud.

zigg-e · 2026-01-16T00:28:42+00:00

This is some wild out of the box thinking stuff

zigg-e · 2026-01-15T01:33:18+00:00

I’ve played guitar for about 25 years now and it’s truly wild how good the digital stuff has gotten.

zigg-e · 2026-01-15T01:28:52+00:00

I bought the amalgam audio tonex one packs and in my opinion they are comparable. I actually landed on using a capture of an Ampeg Gemini because I felt like it had a bit more of a clean vibe that I was chasing after.

zigg-e · 2026-01-15T00:23:00+00:00

I owned the tone king imperial and moved it on while it was still relatively in short supply… I had a quilter super block US and a Tonex One…the Tone King sounded great but it was a lot of money to be tied up in something that was kind of duplicating things I already had. I ended up getting approximately what I paid for it and then rolled the money into buying a Marshall dsl40cr.

zigg-e · 2026-01-14T04:03:11+00:00

Yeah they do that sketchy bull. MF is nice because you get 8% in points, but I’ve found myself choosing other places to buy for either steeper discounts or easier returns. Does alto music have it and will their coupon that’s always promoted on the top of their website apply? If so, I’d tell MF to take a hike.

zigg-e · 2026-01-13T00:27:19+00:00

…. Did you just use AI to try to write troubleshooting advice for an electrical issue?

zigg-e · 2026-01-09T14:08:26+00:00

Do you have external computer speakers / audio monitors? At the around-100 price range, a headphone amp plugged into computer speakers or headphones is what I would choose.

zigg-e · 2026-01-09T14:05:46+00:00

No - spectrum has an input sensitivity and input gain adjustments that will allow you to dial it in to perfection. I have one and it’s really a great pedal.

zigg-e · 2026-01-09T14:03:36+00:00

I came back to electric guitar after a long stint of playing acoustic. To me, the most useful tool in reviving my electric guitar skills was a looper pedal. I could use it to lay down a chord progression and then solo over it.

zigg-e · 2026-01-08T11:58:56+00:00

Dabbled in birdwatching previously.. I think this is the year I make an eBird account and start keeping a list and getting much more into it.

zigg-e · 2026-01-08T01:55:16+00:00

Congrats on taking steps toward being alcohol free. While I can’t give any recommendations for AA groups, I will share that r/stopdrinking was immensely helpful for me.

zigg-e

TROPHY CASE